The Old Fool foolishly did not seek college or seminary training in his youth, but in my 87th year I attended a lecture in the Sermon on the Mount Chapel of the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. (To take a visual tour of the chapel click here.) After the lecture I asked President Sara Wenger Shenk if I could register as a seminary student. She told me that the registration office was open!
I recall that I watched the provost of Eastern Mennonite University grow through his adolesence in Florida, and the publisher of my books is the dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary. So, if I had a daughter living in Park View, Va., I would probably try to enroll in that seminary. If I had studied in seminary as a youthful student, I’m sure I would have been changed and much of my past which I treasure would have changed also. Oh well! So much for impossible dreams.
Greg Boyd delivered the lecture I listened to at AMBS and he is returning in 2015 for a lecture on the renewal of the Anabaptist Movement
Sara Wenger Shenk posted on her blog a piece from Dr. Jewel Gingerich Longenecker, associate dean for leadership education and director of the Anabaptist Mennonite Bible Seminary’s Church Leadership Center. Shenk notes that Longenecker’s recent presentations to the Constituency Leaders Council of Mennonite Church USA received widespread and heartfelt appreciation. Here is a link to those presentations.
The fact that the constituency leadership council is pondering the possibility that the Bible can unite us fascinates the Old Fool. While I think it improbable, I remain an optimistic possibilitarian. My favorite Old Testament verses were spoken by Job while sitting on the ash heap scraping the puss from the boils on his skin. My favorite New Testament verse is from a letter supposedly written by the disciple whom Jesus loved.
This short post took so long to write because I’ve been reading the posts linked to above. I recommend them for reading and pondering.