Newsletter

Beginning with Number 8, the latest newsletter will appear first. Number 7 is at the bottom.

NEWSLETTER

Religion Department, Georgetown College

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Number 8 Summer, 2004

Usually the Religion Department graduates three to six majors and four to eight minors. This year the totals were astounding – for the Department anyway: 14 majors and eight minors. Majors included Josh Bobbitt, Nikki Booker, Liz Cool, Lee Aaron Davis, Susan Dayton, Jacob Giesecke, Brian Hodge, Staci Maynard, Josh Powers, Britt Riley (in December), Sara Ramsey, Danny Russell, Adam Schell, and Victoria Seyler. Jason Edwards, Elizabeth Jolley, Shannon Lisby, Jessica Lowery, Georgeanna Meredith, Hollie Miller, and Amanda Stovall completed the minor in Religion, while Kari Charron completed the Youth Ministries minor.

At the Academic Awards assembly on April 30, the Department recognized Staci Maynard and Susan Dayton as the outstanding seniors in Religion, Josh Hearne as the outstanding rising senior and recipient of the Weller Award, and Ben McKown as the outstanding student in New Testament Greek. In even-numbered years, the department awards the Hilke prize, for a student judged outstanding by the department, this year to Melanie Menshouse.

Georgetown continues to send a number of students to seminary at various schools. The department is aware of the following choices made by this year’s graduates. Josh Bobbitt, Beth Jolley, and Education major Susan Fraley will attend McAfee School of Theology at Mercer; Staci Maynard will attend The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Jacob Giesecke will go to Oxford; Danny Russell and Josh Powers will enter the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky; Nikki Booker plans to enroll at the Lexington Theological Seminary.

The Religion Department is delighted to announce the appointment of Ms. Sheila Klopfer as its newest faculty member. Chosen from 35 candidates, Ms. Klopfer will begin teaching in the Fall of 2004.

She grew up on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, where her family served as missionaries to the Indian people. Through her parents she learned by example the importance of servantship in the Christian ministry.

After graduating from high school, she attended college at a state university in New Mexico, receiving both her B.A. in elementary Education and her M.A. in History. Throughout college she was actively involved in the Baptist Student Union, serving on the council, teaching Bible studies and participating in summer missions. Passionate about being active in the local church, Sheila served as both a youth minister and music minister at various times throughout her college and seminary years. Following college, she taught middle school social studies for four years and coached volleyball, basketball, and track.

Through this experience she developed a love for her students and for the teaching profession. She felt led to attend seminary, where she received a Masters of Arts in Theology and is finishing her doctorate in Theology, specializing in Church History and Theology. In seminary, Sheila served as a graduate assistant, which deepened her love and interest for teaching students. She looks forward to her move to Kentucky and the opportunity to teach and interact with people at Georgetown.

In addition to his usual general education courses, this year Dr. Asher taught two seminars: Galatians and Romans (which now serves as the senior seminar for the department) and Greco-Roman Religions. The latter seeks to introduce students into a field that he studied extensively at the University of Chicago but previously had not been able to teach. In addition to his teaching, Dr. Asher published an article entitled "2 Peter 3:5-7, Celsus, and the Successive Destructions of the World by Water and Fire," revised an older article on Ephesians 6, began a new book project on 2 Peter 3, and published four book reviews in Catholic Biblical Quarterly and Choice.

"Doc" Birdwhistell returned to the classroom full-time after a Spring '03 sabbatical. On sabbatical he compiled extensive bibliographies of (1) Baptist writings concerning ministry, especially the ministerial "call;" and (2) Baptist autobiographies and biographies.

He also did detailed research in newspaper archives for his project The First Fifty years of Basketball in Anderson County, Kentucky. He hopes to complete his writing, extensive collecting of photographs, and collecting of oral history interviews (done with help from a grant from the Ken-tucky Historical Society) by the beginning of basketball season this fall. This project will be kept in the Anderson County Public Li-brary and in the Anderson County Museum in Lawrenceburg. He considers his work a "scholarly approach to a non-scholarly sub-ject." It fits roughly into "Kentucky Social History."

During the past academic year Dr. Lunceford has continued to teach his usual load of classes, with a few extra duties thrown in. In addition, he taught a course at the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky in “The Revelation” during the fall semester. He also reviewed a book for Choice and wrote an article for the Biblical Illustrator entitled, “Weddings in Ancient Israel.” He thinks it will be published in the Spring, 2005, issue. In the spring semester, he taught another honors section of the Gospels course. Hopefully the response will make this an annual event in the future. For that course he shifted from the lecture method of teaching to an inductive method. He will be on sabbatical for the upcoming semester and will be continuing his research into influential wo-men mentioned in the Bible. He hopes this research will one day become a book.

On a personal note, Dr. Lunceford continues to enjoy very much being a “newlywed.” His wife, Rev. Stacey Cruse, is now the senior chaplain for the area of Hospice of the Bluegrass covered by the Frankfort office.

Dr. Redditt spent much time this year translating 46 articles from the German encyclopedia Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart for publication in the English-language version, which will carry the title Religion in Past and Present. He also wrote an article on Jeremiah and civic religion, which will appear this summer in the Review and Expositor. He spent this summer writing papers and beginning an introduction to the Major and Minor Prophets for Eerdmans. For several years he has put his lectures on PowerPoint to show in class. In May he added several hundred color photos to those lectures for his general education courses.

NB: Inclusion of a book here does not mean that the recommending faculty member or the Religion Department endorses the ideas in these books.

Hanson, Victor Davis Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power. New York: Anchor Books, 2001.

Sandness, Karl Olav. Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Lamott, Anne. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. New York: Random House, 2000.

Hengel, Martin. The Four Gospels and One Gospel of Jesus Christ. New York: Trinity Press International, 2000.

Fussell, Paul. The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-1945. New York: Random House, 2003.

Hall, Douglas John. The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003.

Webster, John. Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Marsden, George M. Jonathan Edwards: A Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

Watson, Francis. Agape, Eros, Gender: Towards a Pauline Sexual Ethic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Rossing, Barbara R., The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2004.

Sullivan, Clayton, Rescuing Jesus from the Christians. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002.

Von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Dare We Hope “That All Men Be Saved”? San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988.

Dunn, James D. G. and J.W. Rogerson, eds. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.

Horne, Milton P. Proverbs-Ecclesiastes. Smyth & Helwys Commentary; Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2003.

NEWSLETTER

Religion Department, Georgetown College

Number 6 Summer, 2000

It has been a year and a half since the Department was able to produce a Newsletter. For that lag, we apologize. We hope this newsletter will fill in any gaps in a reader's information.

The members of the Department enjoy hearing from alums. We share news like parents of children far away. We have even been known to brag about who gets the most mail. So, all you silent types, whether you graduated five or fifty-five years ago, please let us hear from you. Even if you wish to fuss at us, please do so. If you wish for us to spread your news, and if the Chair (who edits this piece) does not lose your note, it will dutifully appear here. If you are online, you may write: predditt@georgetowncollege.edu .

The graduating class of 2000 included five majors: December graduate Joy Walker (who attended Golden Gate Seminary in the Spring of 2000 and will attend Regent University in the fall), Chris Brown (who will attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary), Lisa Burris (who served the department faithfully for four years as its student assistant), Tony Shouse (who will attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary this fall and is pastoring the Covington Baptist Church in Westport, and Becky Caswell (who plans to marry this summer).

Minors included Alan Redditt (who plans to attend McAfee Divinity School at Mercer), Ebony Staton (who received the President's Award at graduation and plans to enroll at Princeton Theological Seminary this fall), Daniel Wainright (Minister of Youth at Grace Baptist in Lexington), Buddy Harned, Emily Bolin (who married GC student Tim Miller this summer; both contemplating seminary and foreign missions), Deanna Fowler, Rachel Powell, Christen Woody (who married Gary Egan, major, 97), and Lindsey Lee (who won the Christian Service Award at the Baccalaureate service in May and who will serve two years as a journeyman with the International Mission Board).

The graduating class of 1999 included three majors: Ben Crace (who spent a year on a Rockefeller Grant in Qatar), Chad Acklin (who will begin theological studies in the fall at Fuller Theological Seminary), and Anna Tidwell (who is studying at SWBTS).

Minors included Joy Burns (who is acting this summer at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville), Alesha Caldwell, Sarah Davis, Kimberly Ellis, Kimberly Powell Evans, Jason Poteet, John Ragheb (who has been doing graduate study at the University of Kentucky, but has applied to Lexington Theological Seminary), Melanie Kay Seever, Yoko Shibata, Arlene Sparks, and Denzil Allen Vanderpool, II.

Here is a sampling of the mail the department has received over the last two years.

Allison Adcock (minor, 94) earned an M. A. from the Yale Divinity School and became the Residence Hall Director and Associate Chaplain at Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus

John Birchett, Jr. (major, 97) is studying for the M. Div. at the Beeson Divinity School at Samford University.

Tim Boyce (minor, 97) became the pastor of the Mussel Shoals Baptist Church in Owenton in August of 1997. He married Laura Lynn Mix in April 2000.

Nathan Calvert (minor, 99) has been working in a Presbyterian Church in California. He married GC alum Emily Zett-woch.

Kristin F. Chaudoin King (minor, 93), hopes to finish her Ph. D. in Organizational Communications before going with her husband to Germany in October.

Shannon Dodson (minor, 97) was studying at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She notified the department that she was to be married in August 1998.

Chris Dotson (major, 93) graduated from Central Baptist Theological Seminary and is serving as an associate pastor in Mt. Airy, N. C.

John E. D. Patton (major, 97) has served as the Associate Pastor at Faith Baptist Church since June, 1999.

Todd Probus (Youth Ministry minor, 96) is serving in Evansville, IN, married GC alum Kelly Brown in the summer of 1999, and will enroll at SBTS in the fall of 2000.

Jennifer Roeder Rainwater (major, 92) and husband Ross (GC, 90) continue their music evangelism ministry. Jennifer also released a new CD of Christmas music, her second album.

Phillip DeWayne Sowell (major, 97) graduated from SBTS in the Spring of 2000 and accepted the pastorate of Ewing Baptist Church, Ewing, Kentucky.

George Walker Redding Lecturship. The Department has its own lectureship now, named in honor of George Walker Redding, a member of the Religion faculty from 1943 to 1973 and chair for many of those years. The first lecturer was Dr. Alan Culpepper, dean of the McAfee Divinity School of Mercer University. The second lecture was Dr. Molly Marshall of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. In September, 2000, Dr. David Garland of the Truett Divinity School at Baylor will give the lecture, and Philip Yancey, popular writer on the New Testament especially has agreed to speak in September of 2003!

Internships. The Department continues to develop internships. That effort received a significant boost in 1999/2000 when the First Baptist Church of Frankfort set aside money for up to two interns per semester. In the summer of 2000, six students are involved with internships there or elsewhere.

Departmental Self Study. In preparation for the College's upcoming self-evaluation for re-accreditation, the Department conducted its own self-study and invited Dr. Ronnie Littlejohn of Belmont University to make an on-site visit. Dr. Littlejohn recommended that the department consider a new course in spiritual formation. Other changes under consideration include adding another course or two of a professional nature.

New Faculty Member. For the academic years 1998/9 and 1999/2000, the department continued with four full-time faculty members. Beginning in the fall of 2000, department members will welcome a fifth faculty member, Dr. Jeff Asher, Ph. D. from the University of Chicago. Dr. Asher is a native of Lexington, for years a member of Boone's Creek Baptist Church, and a graduate of the University of Kentucky. For several years he worked in construction before pursuing a theological education.

Dr. Birdwhistell reports two splendid years. He enjoys teaching tremendously, especially a new course, Life and Faith of the Baptists. Preparation for the course renewed his interest in Baptist history, and he spent the summer of 1999 researching and writing a 5000 word history of the last 50 years of the Bracken (KY) Baptist Association. He also enjoyed digging deeper into the story of the first Separate Baptists in the Southeast, including the lives of Daniel Marshall and his wife, Martha Stearns Marshall.

On the family front, daughter Cory has finished two years at the UK Law School, while son Dan is a rising senior at Washington and Lee University in Virginia (on a prestigious Coca Cola scholarship, said to be harder to win than admission to Harvard). He has won a Truman scholarship for graduate study.

Dr. Hoyle continues her research in the areas of Christian Missions and Women's Studies. Her paper "Queens in the Kingdom" (a study of the influence of the Girls' Auxiliary) has been accepted for publication in a book edited by Dana Robert. She also read an invited paper at Boston University in December, 1999. On campus, she headed a group of faculty who designed a new interdisciplinary minor in Women's Studies and will be the Ph. D. in charge for accreditation purposes. The Department hopes that Ms. Gretchen Ziegenhals will be the hands-on director of the program and become a regular part-time member of the Religion Department. Dr. Hoyle also was invited by the senior class to be the faculty speaker at their graduation dinner.

On a personal note, Dr. Hoyle and her husband Rick are adopting an infant daughter named Jessica. On her occasional forays into the academic world, Jessica has charmed the socks off of everyone on campus, especially the folks on the third floor of Pawling Hall (where most Religion faculty are housed). The third floor of Pawling is affectionately known on campus as the "family values floor." The eight faculty with offices there have a total of fourteen children (some grown, of course). One advantage to having an office on the floor is that from time to time small children show up at one's door with home-baked cookies and other goodies.

During the 1998/99 academic year Dr. Lunceford wrote an article on prostate cancer to be published by Salem Press in a journal entitled Aging. (No comments are required by any reader!) He had an article on "Orphans in Ancient Israel" published in the spring issue of Biblical Illustrator, and he wrote five exegetical articles which were published in the January, 1999 issue of Lectionary Homiletics. Along with teaching a total of 27 semester hours and serving as advisor to 27 freshmen he has been working on a manuscript on Parody and Counter-Imaging in the Apocalypse which he hopes will be published in the not-too distant future. Other professional activities have included the performance of five weddings, preaching a total of four services at two churches and giving the prayer at the annual service of the hanging of the greens and at several athletic events. He also gave the Cawthorne Lecture on the subject "Biblical Women Weren't always Submissive," and joined the other Cawthorne Fellows in making a brief presentation to incoming freshmen.

Along with Dr. Redditt he attended the meetings of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature in Orlando.

During the 1999-2000 academic Year Dr. Lunceford has spent most of his "spare" time working on his Manuscript, Parody and Counter-Imaging in the Apocalypse. He has completed it except for indices and frontal matter. He submitted it to Baylor University Press, but because of limited publishing and a decision not to publish Biblical studies at the present they declined to publish it. He is presently seeking other avenues for publication. His article "New Heaven and New Earth" appeared in the Summer, 2000 issue of Biblical Illustrator. He gave invocations at one football playoff game, one men's basketball game, three volleyball games, two women's basketball games, one volley-ball banquet, plus a benediction at the latter. He continues to serve as a deacon at Faith Baptist Church. He and Dr. Redditt, joined by Dean of the Chapel Dr. Dwight Moody, attended the meetings of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston.

The last two years have seen the appearance of two books by Dr. Redditt. His commentary on the book of Daniel appeared in 1999 in the New Century Bible series, now published by the Sheffield Academic Press. In the summer he received a Pew Foundation grant through Georgetown to work on a new commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah. In March of 2000, a volume he co-edited in honor or Dr. James L. Crenshaw appeared. It is entitled Shall Not the God of All the Earth Do What Is Right? and was published by Eisenbrauns. Dr. Redditt also has an article in the volume on Malachi 1:2-3. (Both books are available through Amazon.com.) This spring he attended a conference at Baylor University on academic freedom at religiously affiliated schools.

As Dean of the Chapel, Dr. Moody teaches the survey of Acts through Revelation each fall. He also taught the preaching class in the Spring of 1999. In May of 2000 he conducted a tour to Israel and the Sinai, with two Georgetown students included, who received college credit for taking the tour and completing related assignments. Dr. Moody's radio program "In the Meetinghouse" is now aired on seven different stations, including WRVG, 89.9 on the FM dial.

NB: Inclusion of a book here does not mean that the recommending faculty member or the Religion Department endorses the ideas in these books. Rather, inclusion here simply indicates the importance of a book.

Barbara Kingsolver. The Poisonwood Bible. New York: Harper Flamingo, 1998. Also recommended by Dr. Hoyle.

Written by the Kentucky-reared daughter of former medical missionaries in Africa, this compelling novel takes place in the old Belgian Congo (now Zaire) in the 1960's. The story is told in turn by the women of the Price family, including a mother and four daughters, who recount the daily trials and complications of cross cultural living and communication.

The "voiceless" person in the story is the father, missionary preacher Nathan Price, whose zeal and lack of cultural sensitivity cause all sorts of problems for the family. If you are interested in family dynamics, missions strategy, exotic locales, frightening adventure, or American colonialism, you should be fascinated by this appropriately lengthy novel.

Edwin S. Gaustad. Liberty of Conscience: Roger Williams in America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1991.

This brief, well-written biography of one of the major pioneers of New England history is a classic. While only briefly a "Baptist" churchman, Williams (c.1603--c.1683) exerted tremendous influence on the Baptists= approach to the issues of religious liberty in the colonies. Gaustad is intimately acquainted with the primary sources for Williams, which he quotes extensively.

William G. McLoughlin. Isaac Backus and the American Pietstic Tradition. Boston: Little, Brown, 1967.

A century after Roger Williams, Isaac Backus (17623-1806) was the major Baptist spokesman for religious liberty in the colonies.

McLoughlin masterfully guides us through the complicated story of the Great Awakening in New England and its aftermath in a new kind of Baptist witness in the colonies, which quickly spread south and became the seedbed of Southern Baptistism.

Winterhalter, Robert and George W. Fisk. Jesus' Parables: Finding Our God Within. New York: Paulist, 1993.

Maxwell, Marcus. Revelation. Doubleday Bible Commentary, New York: Doubleday, 1998.

Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts. Fundamentalism and Gender, 1875 to the Present. New Haven: Yale University press, 1993.

Spencer, Aida Besancon. Beyond the Curse: Women Called to Ministry. Nashville: Nelson, 1985.

Spencer has convincingly made the point that in creation men and women were equal -- and argues cogently that this state of affairs continues to be God's intention. She thoroughly dismantles much of the chauvinistic exegesis of Scripture that subordinates women to men with a careful exegesis of her own based on a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and the writings of the "Church Fathers." She affirms that Christ frees us from the curse of sin, and that we are long overdue for moving "beyond the curse." From both Old Testament and New, she highlights women such a Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Prisca, and Junia who held positions of leadership and authority, which in their society were normally reserved for men. Regarding New Testament teaching she concludes that the New Testament provides overwhelming proof, first that women held and were approved in positions considered authoritative in the first century, and second that women were given gifts from God to fill positions for which churches now ordain people (p. 96). She asserts that "The New Testament records people who are both called to and described as holding each of these three top positions: apostle, prophet, and teacher" (p. 97).

Spencer is no radical hater of males by any stretch of the imagination. Her book is strengthened by a section in which her husband writes in response to the arguments of the author. He expresses full support for his wife's min-istry and complete affirmation of her as an equal partner in ministry. This book is a "must read" for anyone who wants to get a truly biblical view of Christian leadership and ministry.

This readable historical atlas of the Bible follows the biblical text and sheds light on the historical background of each biblical book. It is beautifully illustrated with color photos, and color maps appear on most pages.

A tip to the reader: this atlas is available through Christian Book Distributors (CBD), P. O. Box 7000, Peabody, MA 01961-7000 for $27.95 plus shipping and handling. Full price is $39.95. Incidentally, they might still have a copy of Dr. Redditt's commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi in the New Century Bible for $5.95.

Odil Hannes Steck. The Prophetic Books and their Theological Witness. St. Louis: Chalice, 2000.

Written by one of the foremost Old Testament scholars in Germany and translated by Dr. James D. Nogalski, former professor of Old Testament at Southern Seminary, and one of the finest Baptist Old Testament scholars today, Steck's book focuses on reading prophetic books (in this case mostly Isaiah) as shaped by tradition over time. He is not interested as much in methods like reader criticism.

Two tips to the reader: Also worth reading is Steck's book Old Testament Exegesis: A Guide to the Methodology. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995. It too was translated by Nogalski, who studied under Steck at Zurick. It is more thorough, though not necessarily better, than Douglas Stuart's Old Testament Exegesis, 2^nd edition, revised and enlarged, published by Westminster. Also, look for Chalice Press to publish more excellent biblical studies.

NEWSLETTER

Religion Department, Georgetown College

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Number 7 Autumn 2003

We are sorry that we have not communicated with you since the summer of 2000. Much has happened during that time; we will offer you a Religion Department view on it. Please respond to us. In past years we have published some of the information readers sent back. This year we will share only a little of it, since much of the information is several years old and may be obsolete now.

Write to Us, Please

Please keep us informed of your whereabouts and what you are doing. We love to hear from you, even if we are late with this Newsletter and do not include it. You may contact the newsletter either through snail mail at the college, addressed to Dr. Paul L. Redditt or by e-mail at predditt@georgetowncollege. edu.

The college underwent a re-accreditation visit from SACS in the Spring of 2002. That included a review of the department too, a review which we passed with no recommendations. In preparation for that visit, however, the department prepared a lengthy self evaluation, and invited Dr. Ron Littlejohn from Belmont University in Nashville to visit and critique our study. We concluded that our curriculum, with a heavy emphasis on the Bible, is appropriate for a

Baptist college, but that we needed to add an additional course or two in Church his-tory and to add one or more courses in practical studies, particularly in spiritual for-mation. The former has been accomplished.

Dr. Hoyle Leaves

We are sad to announce that Dr. Lydia Hoyle, Associate Professor of Religion, has resigned, effective at the end

of the 2002/3 academic year to accept a post as professor of church history at the Campbell University Divinity School.

Dr. Hoyle began her tenure in the department with one course in the Fall of 1990. She was invited to join the department the next year upon the retirement of Dr. Vernon Mallow. She has brought grace, cheer, rigor, and a feminine touch to the department. She has excelled academically, both teaching and writing, and has served as a role model for women in ministry, as well as leading a support group by the same name. She had a major role in designing the college’s “Women’s Studies” minor.

Dr. Hoyle was invited by seniors to speak at the senior banquet on two occasions. In her last address she spoke of being deliberate about what one does. She then set out to practice what she preached, as she and husband Rick decided to open their family to foster children, one of whom they adopted: daughter Jessica.

The department wishes the Hoyles the best as they begin their new lives in North Carolina.

Technology Strikes the Department. In preparation for the SACS review, the Department established as its goal to have all syllabi on line. A couple of people (Dr. Moody and Dr. Redditt) actually set up web sites; others accomplished the task through Blackboard. Dr. Redditt has put all of his courses except his upper-level topics class in OT on PowerPoint and makes those notes available through Black Board. JOKE: Do you know the definition of a college lecture? That is the process whereby information moves from the notebook of the professor to the notebook of the student without passing through the mind of either! PUN: Now thanks to Blackboard that result is virtually possible.

BTW, readers are invited to view the departmental website by getting on the college’s web, choosing “Academics,” then “Religion.” Be sure you have your sound turned on if you read the Top Ten Reasons for Majoring in Religion. You might also check out the short video clip on Regent’s Park College, Oxford.

Redding Lectures

In Newsletter 6, the Department reported it now has its own endowed lectureship, named in honor of George Walker Red-ding, a member of the Religion faculty from 1943 to 1973 and chair for many of those years. The first lecturer was Dr. Alan Culpepper, dean of the McAfee Divinity School of Mercer University. The second lecturer was Dr. Molly Marshall of Central Baptist Theological Seminary. In September, 2000, Dr. David Garland of the Truett Divinity School at Baylor gave the lecture. In 2001 Father Michael Buckley, Ph. D., director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College and a recognized expert on Christian Higher Education, gave the Redding Lecture on that topic. In the Fall of 2002, the Department reached all the way to Wilmore to invite Dr. Ben Witherington, well-known critic of the Jesus Seminar, to give the lecture. On September 23, 2003, Mr. Philip Yancey, popular writer especially on the New Testament, has agreed to give the Lecture. He will be followed on September 28, 2004 by Dr. Richard Hayes of Duke, and in 2005 by Dr. Grant Wacker, also of Duke.

Awards

At the annual Academic Awards Day convocation in 2001, the Religion department presented the following prizes: Outstanding Graduating senior to Tom Hodges and the Weller Award for the Outstanding rising senior in religion to Curt Kruschwitz. In 2002 re-cipients included: the Outstanding Graduating senior, Curt Kruschwitz; Hilke Scholarship Winners Meredith Holladay and Nancy Jane Brooking; Outstanding Student in New Testament to Andy Hale; Weller Award winner, Courtney Carter. In 2003, the prizes went to Courtney Carter as the Outstanding Senior in Religion, Andy Hale as the Outstanding Student in Greek, and Susan Dayton as the recipient of the Weller Award.

Five students graduated in May 2001 with a major in Religion: Brian Baker (who will be re-enrolling at Southern Seminary this fall), William Scott Nall (attending medical school), Rachel True, Cody Davidson, and James Thomas Hodges (working on a Master’s degree at UK). Ten students completed a minor in Religion: Summer Bertram, Carrie Blair, Ryan Coatney, Rebekka Crowe, Emily Heckman, Stacey Hemlepp, Karen Krieg, Alison Sturgill (married and working for Passport), Charles Warger, and David Willis (mar-ried and worked in admissions for Georgetown for a while).

Four students graduated in 2002 with a major: James Belcher (attending med school), Curt Kruschwitz (International Mission Board journeyman in Germany), Will Runyon, and (deleted for security reasons). Minors included Crystal Adams, Bradley Embry, Emily Harrison, Rebecca Johnson, Gina Klass, Clint Miller, Brandy Oglesby, Chuck Pace, Jason Richardson, Daniel Stebbins, Brock Terry, John Paul Varo, Stephanie-Marie Webster, and Kerri White. Incidentally, Harrison and Pace won the prize for outstanding senior students in mathematics.

Four students graduated in 2003 with a major: Nancy Brooking, Courtney Carter, Meredith Holladay, and Jerica Wallace. Minors included Joshua Bailes, Leslie Conver, Laura Davis, Amanda Dunlap, Ashley Gill, Kourtney Gordon, Andrew Hale, Melissa Mahurin, Kathleen McKown, Dustin Neel (will attend med school at U.K or Vanderbilt), Shannon Ann Scott, Sarah Tackett, and Marcus Whitaker.

Seminary Bound

A larger-than-usual number of Georgetown students are seminarians or seminary bound. Emily Harrison, James Hatch, and Chris Brown are attending Asbury. Shelley Burdine and Courtney Carter will attend Candler at Emory. Jonathan Bow is studying at the Cincinnati Bible Seminary. Another student (name deleted for security reasons) is at Fuller Theological Seminary, Jodi Norman at Golden Gate, and Jennifer Hernandez at Gordon Conwell. Jason Springs is working on a Ph. D. at Harvard. Ty Kays is at Lee University, Taylor Morris Judd at Lexington Theological Seminary, Charles Pace at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, and Luke Nowell at McAfee School of Theology of Mercer. Meredith Holladay will attend Princeton. Daniel Glaze attends Richmond, and will be joined by Joshua Bailes, Amanda Dunlap, Susan Reed, and Renee Kenley, as well as the Student Ministries intern Scott Stafford. Brian Baker attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, but was forced to withdraw due to a resurgence of cancer. It is once again in remission, and Brian expects to re-enroll at Southern this fall. Also attending Southern will be Leslie Conver (in church music), Ryan Coatney, Joy Walker McMinn, Clint Miller, Lindsey Lee, Rachell Powell, Mike Sapp, and Tony Shouse. Brian Niemeier is working on his doctorate. Anna Tidwell is at Southwestern Baptist Theoogical Seminary. Truett Semi-ary at Baylor has attracted Josh and Becky (Caswell) Speight,and Charles Warger. Christy Craddock, Ashley Gill, Katie McKown, and Jerica Wallace will join them this fall. Christina Cooley is at the Wake Forest University Divinity School. Cody Davidson is married and attends the White Divinity School at Gardner Webb in North Carolina, as does Will Runyon.

Incidentally, Yoko Shibata (minor, 2000) was admitted to the University of Washington to work on her Master’s Degree in School Psychology.

Barbara Allen (minor, 1989) was ordained as an Episcopal minister on June 24, 2000.

Recent Seminary Grads

Graduated but Continuing

Newly Weds

Allison Mae Adcock (minor, 1994) to Val Allen Melgosa on May 11, 2002. She uses the double name Adcock-Melgosa.

Allison Sturgill Gillaspie (minor, 2001) has married and was working for Passport at last word.

Chris Brown (major, 2000) to Asbury Seminary student Jessica Jane Barber on June 28, 2003.

Missionary

Gulf War

Matthew Campbell (major, 1998) is serving as a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Army in Iraq. He finds it barren and beaten, and badly in need of social and economic help. He is engaged to be married in May, 2004, if the Army cooperates and brings him home.

Members of the Department have fared well in faculty recognitions. Each year the Marshall Center for Christian Ministry recognizes a faculty member for Christian Service. The award is named for Dr. George Walker Redding, long-time chair of the Department. It was funded by the family and by other friends of the College. The first Religion fa-culty member to win was Dr. Lydia Hoyle in 1999. In the past three years, two more have been so honored: Dr. Joe Lunceford in 2001 and Dr. Paul Redditt in 2003.

The College also recognizes one faculty person per year for outstanding teaching, an award established by loyal alums Don and Chris Cawthorne. The first member in the Department to win the award was Dr. Lunceford in 1997/8; Dr. Redditt received it in 2000/1.

Dr. Asher has been at Georgetown now for three years and has found them enjoyable. While he primarily teaches the two introductory New Testament courses (“The Gospels” and “Acts through Revelation”), he has also taught courses on the “Historical Jesus” and the “Corinthian Correspondence.” Next year he is scheduled to teach two new courses, one on “Romans and Galatians” and the other on “Greco-Roman Religions.”

In addition to teaching he also enjoys doing research. He published his first book, entitled Polarity and Change in 1 Corinthians 15. Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur Theologie 42. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000. Also, as part of a team, he recently completed a translation of Cornutus (a Stoic allegorist) that he hopes will be published by the Society of Biblical Literature. In addition, he published an article (SPEIRETAI: Paul’s Anthropogenic Metaphor in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44,” Journal of Biblical Literature 120/1 [2001] 101-122) and just completed another on Ephesians 6, along with writing eight book reviews.

He has also been invited to present a paper on Cornutus to the Department of Classics at the University of Texas in January, 2004. It is expected that this paper will be pub-lished in a collection of essays on Cornutus and allegorical interpretation. He looks forward to the coming years and hope that they will be as rewarding and enjoyable as the first three.

The last couple of years have been busy and mostly enjoyable to Dr. Birdwhistell. He has cherished being part of the Department of Religion and received tenure in April of 2001. He has continued to elaborate on the “Introduction to Ministry” course and added a new course, “Christianity in the Modern World,” to his list of offerings. He has taught “Baptist Heritage” at Georgetown, at Lexington Theological Seminary, and this summer at the new Baptist Seminary of Kentucky. He is contemplating a new course, “The History of the Bible.”

Study-wise, he continues to research Baptist church families and Baptist life in Central Kentucky. Since moving to Lawrenceburg, his home town, in mid 2001, he has developed a lively interest in local history, especially, as you might expect, in the sports history of his home area. He projects writing a narrative history of Anderson County somewhere down the road.

He has also become deeply interested in Baptist ministry: how Baptists have called, nurtured, and trained ministers down through the years. In light of the current “min-ister shortage” among Baptists (and most denominations), the topic is important. This interest has dovetailed with the grant the College received from the Lilly Foundation for the study of vocation.

On sabbatical leave in the Spring of 2003, and in conjunction with the grant, he prepared a “vocation-related” writing and research project for use in the required course on the gospels, which he hopes will be helpful to students. In addition, he has spent some time in the Louisville Seminary library researching the Baptist ministry topic.

Georgetown College and Faith Baptist Church continue to be “home.” Doc taught a couple of summer school courses in July, and will re-turn to a full-time class load in the fall.

The years since the last News-letter have been very eventful ones for Dr. Lunceford. He received the Marshall Center Award for Christian Service in the spring of 2001. He has continued to serve on the Ox-ford Advisory Board, which is charged with the responsibility of screening prospective students for the Oxford Program. Perhaps the highlight of this period, as far as academics are concerned, was the spring of 2003, when he taught an honors section of REL 231 (new number for the Gospels class). He had eleven of the brightest freshmen students on campus for this pioneering course (although his colleagues had to take over for him for three and a half weeks in the middle of the semester when he was fighting a bout with shingles!).

At the personal level this period of time has been a tumultuous one for Dr. Lunceford. As you probably already know, his wife, Ora, died of cancer on March 1, 2001. He has since married the Rev. Stacey Cruse, and has thoroughly remodeled his house. This required, among other things, moving out into an apartment for four months--a real challenge due to Stacey's two very active twelve year old sons. (Talk about putting a relationship to the test right off the bat!) The house turned out beautifully, and his relationship with Stacey even more so.

Dr. Lunceford continues to teach full time, and when asked when he will retire he always gives the same answer: "When it stops being fun!" He continues his research on the book of Revelation, and published eight book reviews for Choice Magazine during these years.

Dr. Redditt has been busy as usual with publications. He co-edited with Aaron Schart of Essen, Germany, a book entitled Thematic Threads in the Book of the Twelve. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 325; Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003. The volume contained sixteen papers read at the Formation of the Book of the Twelve Seminar of the Society of Biblical Literature, read between 1999 and 2002, plus one article especially prepared for the volume by co-editor Schart.

Redditt has also published a number of articles, including one for former student Oleg Turlac, who publishes a journal entitled Pulse of Ministry at the College of Theology and Education in Moldova, and another for former colleague Dr. Robert Kruschwitz in Christian Reflections, as well as an article entitled "Rhetoric of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology," Perspectives in Religious Studies; Festschriftfor Page Hutto Kelley. Kelley was one of Redditt’s Hebrew professors at Southern Seminary. His most recent publication was an article entitled “Zechariah 9-14: The Capstone of the Book of the Twelve,” in Bringing out the Treasure; In-ner Biblical Allusion in Zechariah 9-14. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003.

Redditt has completed 17 years as chair of the Department, and has been appointed for another term by the Provost, Dr. William Pollard.

Paul A. Holloway, Consolation in Philippians: Philosophical Sources and Rhetorical Strategies, SNTMS 112 (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).

Bruce W. Winter, After Paul Left Corinth: The Influence of Secular Ethics and Social Change (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001).

John Polkinghorne. The Faith of a Physicist. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.

Ute E. Eisen. Women Officeholders in Early Christianity. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2000.

Donald Harman Akenson. Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus. Oxford: Ox-ford University Press, 2000.

By Dr. Redditt

Anna L. Grant-Henderson. In-clusive Voices in Post-Exilic Judah. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2002.

Daniel L. Smith-Christopher. A Biblical Theology of Exile. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002.