Initiative Category: Theology & Ministry
The Trinity community gathered last week in the Grand Lobby to celebrate Provost Aaron Kuecker, Ph.D., on the recent release of Social Identity Commentary on the New Testament. Kuecker co-edited the book with Brian Tucker and contributed two chapters.
The book, published by T&T Clark, is a comprehensive Bible resource that highlights the way the New Testament seeks to form the social identity of the members of the earliest Christ-movement. According to the publisher, “By drawing on the interpretive resources of social-scientific theories-especially those related to the formation of identity-interpreters generate new questions that open fruitful identity-related avenues into the text. It provides helpful introductions to each [New Testament] book that focus on various social dimensions of the text as well as a commentary structure that illuminates the text as a work of social influence.”
Along with his editing work, Kuecker wrote the book’s chapters on Luke and Acts.
Speaking on the topic of Reformed Protestantism in the Dutch East Indies in the 1600s, Dr. Yudha Thianto, Ph.D., professor of theology and department chair, provided the keynote at Wheaton College’s recent Graduate Students Conference.
Thianto was accompanied to the April 21 conference by Trinity students Dustin Huckstep, Sabrina Rodriguez, Katherine Newendorp, Alaina Kats, Avery Johnson, Jonathan Sturrus, Jinho Yang, and Cassidy Buss.
“Inheritance” was the theme of this year’s annual conference, which celebrates students from the Biblical and Theological Studies department and their research and accomplishments. The conference is a time for faculty, students, and guests to come together to engage in discussions and fellowship. Topics ranged from the early Christian church to the modern period.
The title of Thianto’s keynote address was: “Reformed Protestantism in Seventeenth Century Dutch East Indies: Cultural Encounters, Struggles, and Progress.”
Thianto, who is the incoming president of the Calvin Society, has been teaching at Trinity since 2001. He earned his Ph.D. in historical theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. Originally from Indonesia, his current research focuses on the history of the earliest establishment of the Dutch Reformed Church in the East Indies (now Indonesia) in the seventeenth century.
Last July, 30 Trinity students along with Keith Starkenburg, Ben Ribbens and Becky Starkenburg will be travelling to Israel for a 10 day study trip.
Dr. Ben Ribbens, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology, was recently featured on the New Books Network podcast. Host Michael Morales, professor of biblical studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminar, interviewed Ribbens about his book, Levitical Sacrifice and Heavenly Cult in Hebrews.
The New Books Network is a consortium of podcasts dedicated to raising the level of public discourse by introducing serious authors to serious audiences. Listen to the podcast here.