Professors publish books on love and mystery

Dr. Song-Mi Suzie Park, associate professor of Old Testament, has written her fourth book, Love in the Hebrew Bible, published by Westminster John Knox Press (WJK, 2023) this May.

One reviewer said, “Love can be sweet, beautiful, and joyous. It can also be daunting, jealous, and violent. The descriptions of love in the literature of ancient Israel are no different. In Love in the Hebrew Bible, Song-Mi Suzie Park … does not shy from the fraught complexities of these descriptions of love–by parents, siblings, friends, lovers, and God. Rather, she shows how these stories and poems portray unique ancient cultural understandings of what it means to love and be loved and how perspectives on love were intertwined with ancient Israelite conceptions of kinship, gender, and politics. Love in the Hebrew Bible is a must read for anyone interested in what the Hebrew Bible has to say about love.”

Dr. Donghyun Jeong, assistant professor of New Testament, has published his first book, Pauline Baptism among the Mysteries: Ritual Message and the Promise of Initiation (De Gruyter, 2023).

Dr. Jeong explains, “The ‘mysteries’ (or mystery cults) are the various cults that existed from Classical Greece to the Roman world in late antiquity (chronologically and geographically widespread), characterized by initiation rituals … My book seeks to answer questions such as: Why did some first-century ‘pagans’ choose to perform Christian initiation rituals? What benefits did they gain from baptism, when compared to rituals devoted to other deities in the ancient Mediterranean world? … In doing this comparative work, I seek to articulate the social realities of Pauline communities and Paul’s theology of baptism.”

Based upon his PhD dissertation, Professor Jeong’s book is intended for an academic audience. According to the publisher, this study substantiates that “Paul is an innovative interpreter of ritual who recalibrates the messages of preexisting rituals for his theological and ethical program, seeking to radically extend the implications of initiation to the embodied life of every Christ-believer. Students and scholars of New Testament, early Christianity, classics, and ritual studies will benefit from engaging this volume.”

“As a Presbyterian,” says Jeong, “I confess that ‘as a sign and seal of God’s gracious action and our grateful response, Baptism is the foundation for all Christian commitment.’ My study of early Christian baptism in the first century is a way for me to explore these theological implications in social, cultural, and historical terms. Personally, I was already attracted to things beyond human words and expressions. Although the term ‘mysteries’ and the notion of mysticism do not refer to the same thing, my study of the mysteries is partly related to my desire to explore mystic, non-linguistic aspects of religious experience.”

Professor David White retires

Professor David White was the first holder of Austin Seminary’s C. Ellis and Nancy Gribble Nelson Chair in Christian Education when he began teaching in 2005. He retired in June, leaving a significant mark on the Seminary he has loved deeply.

His first book, Practicing Discernment with Youth was published just after his arrival. In subsequent years he added four more: Awakening Youth Discipleship in a Consumer Culture (Cascade, 2007, coauthored with Brian Mahan and Michael Warren), Dreamcare: A Theology of Youth, Spirit, and Vocation (Cascade, 2013), Joy: A Guide for Youth Ministry (Wesley’s Foundry Books, 2020), and Tending the Fire that Burns at the Center of the World: Beauty and the Art of Christian Formation (Wipf and Stock, 2022).

He was invited to serve as a scholar in the Theology of Joy and the Good Life project at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture; a faculty development grant on teaching diversity from the Wabash Center; and a Templeton Foundation grant exploring spoken word poetry and joy among youth. The result of each project is widely visible at Austin Seminary.

White introduced “Practicing Beloved Community Through Stories,” a multi-year project where students (and faculty and staff) share stories about their lives and experiences—in spiritual formation groups and public events—as a way of deepening the connections within the community (2018). His experience with the Good Life project along with faculty conversations about theological aesthetics led, in part, to the “Wonder” track in the reimagined Doctor of Ministry program (2019). One of the most lasting effects he has had on Austin Seminary emerged from a conversation he shared in England with a youth ministry colleague. This led in 2016 to Austin Seminary’s partnership with the Center for Youth Ministry Training and the establishment of the Master of Arts in Youth Ministry degree. White’s advocacy for this innovative degree program has resulted in extending Austin Seminary geographically and programmatically with a near majority of our master’slevel students now studying and practicing ministry in that program.

White’s many gifts and sensibilities have inspired and informed colleagues and students for nearly two decades. We will remember his Godly Play practices, his Theatre of the Oppressed demonstrations, and his guitar playing for the faculty jazz band, Faculty Meeting (in his “Straight out of Trull” T-shirt, naturally).

The fall 2023 issue of Insights (October) will include David’s final essay for Austin Seminary as well as contributions from former students, friends, and colleagues. Matt Cardona (MDiv’19) wrote, “I will always treasure the countless hours of playing, acting, improvising, and creating alongside Dr. White. Thank you for constantly reminding me that there is something magically good about the world, that we are somehow invited into it, and that beauty shows us the way.”

Dr. Carolyn Helsel garners two new grants

Aligning with her research and teaching interests, Professor Carolyn Helsel received two grants that will enable Austin Seminary to implement projects with respect to anti-Semitism and spiritual entrepreneurship.

In the first, Dr. Helsel will research ways preachers can talk about anti-Semitism with their congregations. She plans to create videos with Rabbi Neil Blumofe, frequent Austin Seminary adjunct professor and leader of Austin’s Congregation Agudas Achim, to address some of the harmful stereotypes preachers continue to pass on unintentionally in their sermons. This program is made possible through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.

A grant through Princeton Seminary is designed to equip theological schools and students with tools to “inspire, equip, and lead congregations to become crucibles for ‘changemaking’ in their communities,” according to the language of the grant. As one of eleven recipients, Helsel plans to convene a small cohort of first- and second-year students interested in non-traditional ministries to develop their ideas with help from the Reverend Carrie Graham, founder of The Church Lab. This SpirEnt (Spiritual Entrepreneurs) Cohort will gather monthly over the course of eighteen months to learn ways to plan for and follow-through on their dreams for new ministry contexts.

Faculty News & Notes

Sarah Allen (DMin and CIM)wrote a youth mission curriculum for Presbyterian Camps and Conferences Association / Presbyterian Youth Workers Association. In August she will be leading a workshop and leading worship at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Denton, Texas, and participating in the Ecclesial Formation Discernment event of PC(USA) as a delegate from Mission Presbytery. In September she will keynote Westminster Presbyterian Church (Austin) All-Church Retreat and she will preach at First Presbyterian Church (Brenham, Texas) on November 12.

Margaret Aymer (academic dean) will preach at First Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, on October 15.

More than eighty people from institutions in three countries convened April 24-25 for “Teaching Borderlands in Theological Education: Latinx Learning Reimagined” —the first Latinx conference of its kind—hosted by Gregory Cuéllar (Old Testament). The conference was supported, in part, by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.

Ángel Gallardo (church history) shared his paper “Slavery, Scripture, and Civil War: The Long Shadow of Baptist Missionaries in Mexico” at the Baptist Scholars International Roundtable at Christ Church at Oxford University, August 6-9, 2023. The theme for the conference was Baptists and Global Mission.

Carolyn Helsel (homiletics) was granted tenure by the board of trustees in May.

Donghyun Jeong (New Testament) serves as co-chair of a Society of Biblical Studies (SBL) program unit, “Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity.” In May he joined the editorial board for Emory Studies in Early Christianity (SBL Press).

Bobbi Kaye Jones (pastoral ministry) will be participating on September 10 in the 75th anniversary celebration for Saint John’s United Methodist Church in Austin, where she served as pastor from 2001-2008.

Ludwig Beethoven J. Noya, a PhD student at Vanderbilt University, will be an instructor in Old Testament for the 2023-24 academic year.

Melissa Wiginton (Methodist studies) is leading a cohort of Methodist clergy on a learning journey in San Antonio as part of the Texas Methodist Foundation’s Courageous Leadership Imperative.