Whitworth Theology Department Annual Newsletter 2024

Dear friends of the Whitworth Theology Department,

Summer is upon us once again, and we are more than ready for the rest it promises to bring. What a wonderful 2023-24 academic year it has been! As always, our theology majors spent the year thinking deeply about life's critical questions and building lasting relationships with one another that will carry them well beyond their time at Whitworth. We are grateful for the ways in which our students have poured so much of themselves into their studies and relationships this year, and we are honored to have been asked to join in the good work God is doing in their lives. Below is a taste of the adventures and events that filled our calendars this year, as well as information about student achievements and our program graduates. 

Department Events and Highlights

• Ice Cream Social: We launched the 2023-24 academic year with ice cream! Theology majors and faculty gathered in the newly redesigned courtyard of the Beeksma Family Theology Center and shared about their summers of work and adventure. It's always great to reconnect after a summer apart!
  
  
  
  
• Second Annual Backpack Trip: The theology department adventured once again into the woods of the Idaho Panhandle. Seven students and four faculty members spent a night at Upper Priest Lake. In our packs we carried amazing food, fly rods, hammocks, decks of cards and a tent that (to the surprise of the students) had the wrong poles. You'll not be surprised to hear that these were also some of the key memories from the trip – a trip which is quickly proving itself to be a highlight for the department each year. Watching students build friendships, learn new skills, and have conversations about theology, Scripture and life reminds us that we, as faculty, truly do have the best job in the world. 
  
  
  
  
• S'more Theology Bonfire: In October, we held our annual S'more Theology Bonfire in Pirates Cove. As usual, it was a wonderful time of hearing from theology students and faculty, welcoming students interested in the major, and, of course, learning which friends are okay with the sacrilege of burnt marshmallows and which ones recognize their calling to a higher moral standard.  
• AAR-SBL in San Antonio: One of the absolute highlights of the year, at least for four theology students, was the opportunity to attend the annual American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature (AAR-SBL) conference in San Antonio. Michael St. Marie, Caleb McGever, Emma Childs and Sabine Uhler, accompanied by professors Jeremy Wynne and Haley Jacob, spent five days basking in the worlds of panel discussions, dry and exciting papers, every form of theological question, receptions, fancy hotels, and, of course, amazing San Antonio food. 
  
  
  
  
• Third Annual Gingerbread House Competition: After three years of building gingerbread houses, students are now fiercely competitive and exceptionally creative. They arrive with their game faces on. The recipients of this year's grand prize goes to the creators of "Every Single Hallmark Movie Inn": Michael St. Marie, Aiden Speake, Oliver Hammond and Katie Chilcote, led by Professor Karin Heller!
  
  
  
  
• Life and Times of Professor Karin Heller: In an effort to honor our colleague Karin Heller and to celebrate the multitude of ways in which she has served and continues to serve the Lord in her vocation as a Christian professor here at Whitworth, we invited her to share with us more about her life before coming to Whitworth. Karin invited us into her home, offered us the most decadent tiramisu, and shared stories about her life as a child in Austria and as a student and professor in various European countries. What remarkable stories she has to tell! In the end, we were honored to hear about the ways in which God has used her and shaped her into an exemplar of faithfulness and steadfastness. Thank you, Karin!
  
  
  
  
• Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt: A new event came to the department this spring – an Easter egg scavenger hunt! After a few candy games and an old-fashioned egg toss, majors and faculty raced around The Loop, reading clues tucked neatly into brightly colored eggs, before racing off to the next clue. What a riot!
  
  
  
  
• Senior Send-off Picnic: In early May, faculty and the seven graduating seniors gathered to share a final meal and memories together at Jeremy Wynne's house. Students shared their favorite highlight from their time at Whitworth, their immediate plans for after graduation and how we can pray for them. See their responses below! We will miss having them in our classes and offices but wish them every blessing on their paths ahead.
  
  
  
  

Student Achievements

• Senior Sabine Uhler was chosen as the recipient of the Outstanding Theology Senior Award, which recognizes her consistent record of academic excellence.
• Senior Michael St. Marie is the department's recipient of the annual Zondervan Theology Award, which recognizes both his academic excellence and his leadership in various endeavors on campus.
• Oliver Hammond is the recipient of the Zondervan Greek Language Award.
• The Theology Writing Award was given to Caleb McGever for his paper, "Rebuilding Kierkegaard's Broken Community," in Jeremy Wynne's course, Christian Theology, in fall 2023. Caleb will receive a $500 scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year.

Graduating Seniors

 Seven students are graduating with theology degrees this year:

• Katie Chilcote: Katie's favorite memory is eating shakshuka over an open fire in an olive grove in ancient Samaria (today's northern West Bank) while on the Israel-Palestine study abroad trip in January 2023 with Haley Jacob. Katie is unsure what her next steps will be at this point but anticipates working in the field of communication.
• Saul Cuddy: Saul's favorite memory is from his time with Jonathan Moo on the January 2023 Theology & Ecology off-campus course at Tall Timber Ranch in the Cascade Mountains. Saul remembers cross-country skiing and playing music every night in the lodge with his classmates. In addition to getting married in September, Saul anticipates finding a church where he can serve as a worship and music pastor.
• Anna Davis: Anna's favorite memories at Whitworth are the conversations, specifically those with Josh Leim. She says, "He was such a helpful guide for me throughout my entire Whitworth experience." After graduation, Anna will begin the marriage & family therapy program here at Whitworth and hopes that, eventually, God would allow her to work at Union Gospel Mission as a counselor who can "love and witness to who He is."
• Aiden Speake: Aiden's favorite memory stems from his time on the Monasticism: Old & New course at Tall Timber in the Cascades with Samantha Miller. Aiden will spend the summer in California doing carpentry work before getting married in August and then joining his new wife, Cienna, in Connecticut, where she will be a second-year student at Yale Divinity.
• Michael St. Marie: Michael's favorite memory is the time spent at the AAR-SBL conference in San Antonio in fall 2023. During those four days, Michael listened to an incredible number of papers, ate some amazing food, and was inspired to the core by what he hopes will be part of his future career in academia. After getting married in June, Michael and his wife, Megan, will move to Holland, Mich., where he will begin the M.Div. program at Western Theological Seminary and where he will serve as a research assistant to Han-Luen Kantzer Komline.
• Melia Lu Trousil: Melia's favorite memory is from her January 2023 Theology & Ecology course, where she spent three weeks cross-country skiing, studying trees, and enjoying quiet hours in the Cascade Mountains with Jonathan Moo and fellow students. After graduation, Melia will return home to Alaska for the summer, where she will wait to see what doors God opens next in her journey toward environmental studies.
• Sabine Uhler: Sabine's favorite memory is attending the AAR-SBL conference in San Antonio in fall 2023. There she was inspired not only by the female scholars who contributed to the discipline of theology and biblical studies but by the fact that they did so as leaders who are confident and brilliant. Sabine will spend the summer as a pastoral intern at Mount Republic Chapel of Peace in Cooke City, Mont. In June, she will be married to Ian, and in August, the two of them will move to Holland, Mich., where she will begin her M.Div. studies at Western Theological Seminary. There Sabine will also serve as a research assistant to Han-Luen Kantzer Komline. 

Our Gratitude

Because of you, theology faculty are able to support our students in numerous ways beyond the classroom. We are grateful for the Welch Foundation and the funds they have donated to help support students who lose the Washington College Bound grant by declaring a theology major. We were also able to offer $50,900 to 15 theology majors out of additional merit and need-based departmental scholarships, made possible by many of you.

Additionally, we are grateful for the many one-time or monthly gifts that our supporters have made. In the departmental events noted above and in hours spent over coffee in the Mind & Hearth Coffee House, your donations have allowed us to create a department in which every theology student feels at home and is able to connect with one another and with faculty. From sitting around a backcountry fire in northern Idaho to crafting theological blasphemies out of gingerbread, your gifts have made this departmental ethos possible. Additionally, we as faculty are extremely grateful. Your donations allow us to participate in conferences and scholarship in a way that would otherwise be impossible. On behalf of all of us, thank you. 

Faculty Highlights

• Bruner-Welch Chair: Congratulations to Jonathan Moo, the new recipient of the Bruner-Welch Chair. There is no one in the department more deserving of this honor!  
• Most Influential Professor: Congratulations to Assistant Professor Samantha Miller for being voted one of Whitworth's top-ten “Most Influential Professors” for the 2023-24 academic year! Well deserved!
• Visiting Scholar Ruth Bancewicz: We were privileged to have Ruth Bancewicz from the Faraday Institute of Cambridge University join us from January through March as a Visiting Scholar in Residence. You can read more about her time at Whitworth in Jonathan Moo's article. It was a delight to have Ruth in our midst!

On behalf of the entire theology department, thank you for all the ways in which you have invested in us as faculty and in the students whom we are called to teach and mentor. So much of what we do is because of you. May the Lord bless you and your loved ones. May he refresh your soul this summer and bring you his peace. Please keep this department and our students in your prayers.

Keeping Christ at the center,

Haley

A Message from Director of the Graduate Studies in Theology Program Jeremy Wynne

Even as the graduate program moves to the back burner, we have much to celebrate. Tomorrow night (May 8), Alisa May Johnson will present her master's thesis under the title, "The Blindness of Whiteness: A Theological Reckoning with the White Church and Slavery in Central Kentucky." Notably, Alisa travelled back to her home state in order to do research into primary sources. It will be an illuminating event and a true capstone to all of the hard work Alisa has put in over the last few years. As always, you'll be able to check out the final product through the library catalog. 

And speaking of hard work, we have an incredible group of new graduates crossing the stage on May 18. Among them, Nicholas Rogers was wisely chosen to read scripture during the ceremony. Send a note of congratulations to him and to our other graduates: Tom Davis, Alex Fergus, Jamie Gipson, Alisa May Johnson, Kylan Kracher, Christine Mabile and Kristianne Rogalsky. We need mature and winsome leaders like these and so, even though we'll miss them, we're full of great hope for all that God has in store.
 
Soli Deo gloria

Karin Heller (2003-present), Professor of Theology

Last summer, I was thrilled to be part of a conference titled "Being Spiritual While Doing Research" organized by GBFE (Gesellschaft Für Bildung und Forschung in Europa) near Cologne/Germany. My keynote address on "Religious Anthropology, Myth and Science-Fiction: An Invitation to a Spiritual Quest" opened for many surprising windows to renewed understandings of Christian spirituality.

It took me quite some weeks to prepare the manuscript of this contribution to the collective volume published by De Gruyter, a German publisher specializing in scholarly publications, appreciated worldwide. It allowed me to interact with Jonathan Moo, my delightful colleague from the theology department, wonderful colleagues from the University of Pretoria in South Africa and very competent German collaborators from De Gruyter.

In addition to the eight courses I taught for Whitworth, in January this year, it was my pleasure to engage in my tenth annual week of guest lectures at the University of Besançon, France. This year, the focus was on various topics related to feminism and U.S. culture, and the lectures were very well received by a large auditory, captivated by American history at the intersection of religion and politics.

Then, this April, I was part of a defense committee for a M.A. thesis in theological studies presented by my former student Jessica Jager at Portland Seminary. Her topic was "Agricultural Christology: Jesus in John 10: A call for Response in the Post-Agricultural Church." Congratulations Jessica, for your achievements! It was delightful to serve her once more on her academic journey and to come to know Portland colleagues better.

I end this academic year with a new project that will take me this time to the Károli Gáspár University in Budapest, Hungary, organizing a leadership conference on "Leaders Between Role Model and Idol." My contribution will focus on "Leading People: An Anthropological and Theological Analysis at the Intersection of Sex, Death, Power and Love."

Peace and blessings to all of you.

 

Haley Jacob (2015-present) Associate Professor of Theology, Theology Department Chair

On the whole, this was a quieter year for me, filled with more burdens than fun. "Momma said there'd be days like this!" A definite highlight from this year was the time spent with Jeremy Wynne and our four students at the AAR-SBL conference in San Antonio in November. The students were like kids in a candy store, and it was such fun to witness. A highlight from the classroom was teaching Romans this spring to a fantastic group of students, all of whom were brilliant, engaged and eager. What a gift! My scholarship this year focused on Colossians, as I finished The Preacher's Greek Companion to Colossians for Hendrickson Publishers, scheduled to be out this fall. As I write this, my garden is actively growing, my fruit trees are flowering and my summer schedule is filled with weekend adventures with toddlers. I can't wait! 

 

Josh Leim (2015-present) Associate Professor of Theology, Chair of Core 150

First, in the fall of '23, I piloted a new version of Core 150 that I've been developing over the past year. The idea behind the redesign was to onboard our students more fully to Whitworth's Christian identity and mission while also meeting the ever-new challenges our students face (e.g., anxiety, depression, loneliness, etc.). With that in mind, I designed the new 150 essentially as a course geared toward a Christian vision of holistic human flourishing. Second, and a bit ironically, in light of the new curriculum changes at Whitworth, all three Core courses will no longer be offered! Nonetheless, I am part of a team of colleagues who are designing a new three-credit, first-year experience course for Whitworth students, and much of the redesign of Core 150 will be incorporated into that new course. Third, I submitted a paper proposal to the Matthew section of the Society of Biblical Literature, which was accepted, but which I was unable to deliver because of medical issues in our family. Still, I'm developing the topic I was going to present on – some fascinating issues vis-à-vis Matthew's soteriology and Christology – as an ongoing research project. Fourth, my family and I travelled again to Costa Rica this spring so that I could teach the Whitworth CASP students studying there (a program led by Professor Kim Hernández). The group of students were/are deeply invested in their internships and studies; it was a delight and privilege to be a part of the program again this year.

 

Samantha Miller (2020-present) Assistant Professor of Theology

I'm acting as historical theologian for the Office of Church Engagement's Resilient Churches initiative again this year, which is a great way to serve the church from my expertise. I also received a $30,000 grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning Theology and Religion to run a two-year pilot Wilderness Spirituality program for faculty spiritual development out of the dean's office. I'm stoked to take some colleagues on a backpacking trip to experience the wilderness spirituality things I already do with students. The real highlight of the year, though, was teaching my Jan Term course, Monasticism: Old & New. I inherited this one from Jerry Sittser, and I've moved us away from Tall Timber and to the Monastery of St. Gertrude, where we immersed in life with a group of 70- and 80-year-old nuns for three weeks. Students learned that following God is more about being than doing by simply showing up to prayers, meals and chores, with a little sledding and snowshoeing in the mix and a lot of laughter and wisdom from the sisters!

 

Jonathan Moo (2010- present) Professor of Theology, Edward Lindaman Endowed Chair

In the last newsletter, I mused about what might lie ahead as my tenure as Lindaman Chair came to a close. Not long after I wrote that entry, we unexpectedly had to say a bittersweet goodbye to our dear friend and colleague Adam Neder, in what was a very sad loss for us but exciting new opportunity for him. Then, after a summer of full-time writing on my Revelation commentary and a time of soul-searching about my own future, last autumn brought the extraordinary gift of taking up the vacated role of Bruner-Welch Endowed Chair of Theology.

I am still dreaming about the opportunities that will come with the time and resources provided by this endowed chair to pursue my calling more fully in the service of our students and colleagues, the church and the world. I have already begun to taste of the fruits of it in recent months and look forward to seeing what Christ might accomplish in the years to come as I seek to be a faithful steward of what has been entrusted to me. 

This year brought opportunities for several public lectures and talks and the publication of a couple of essays. A highlight was participating in a consultation held in March in Assisi, Italy, on "The Feast of Creation and the Mystery of Creation." This consultation invited leaders from the breadth of the Christian church across the world, including bishops, archbishops and cardinals from the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed traditions, along with some theologians and scholars such as myself. The aim was to consider whether the Western churches might follow the lead of the Eastern Orthodox and adopt a Feast Day which focuses on the triune's God's creation of heaven and earth. Organized in anticipation of the 1,700th anniversary of Nicea in 2025, we explored at the conference the fact that God's creation of all things is the only part of the Nicene Creed that is not an explicit focus in any part of the liturgical year, and we considered what it might mean for the life of the churches and for Christian witness in the world if it were to become a part of the church calendar. Though the fruits of this gathering may take years to be realized, as the various denominational leaders now take forward our proposals, it was an extraordinary opportunity to discuss Christian doctrine and practice with sisters and brothers from around the world and to join together in prayer and worship as we sought God's will in all of this.

Another highlight of the year was hosting Visiting Scholar Ruth Bancewicz of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge, U.K.. She spent January through March on Whitworth's campus, preparing a book monograph and meeting with students and colleagues from across campus to talk with them about her work engaging with churches on issues related to science and faith. In addition to giving a public lecture on "Loving Science, Loving God," Ruth helped advise some of our students who plan to study for a semester next year at the University of Cambridge via an arrangement we have worked out with the Faraday Institute that enables Whitworth students to earn credits toward their degrees while studying for a semester in Cambridge.

This past January saw Stacey and I again leading our study program in Greece, with 27 amazing students and some of the best experiences there we've ever had. It is such a gift to see the growth and transformation that God works in the lives of students (and us too!) through such intense academic study and adventure together.

The main story of this year, however, is less exciting to relate but is amongst the most important ways I can be faithful to my calling. This is my research and writing, which is how I have spent the great majority of my time this spring semester (a sabbatical semester for me) and will spend my whole summer, at my desk studying the Greek New Testament and seeking to write about it in ways that I pray will be useful for the church. Although the scale of the work (currently a Revelation commentary) can be daunting at times, what I have been most grateful for this year is the immeasurable riches of God's Word that even the most in-depth study and attentiveness only begins to uncover.

I am always keen to hear from past students and colleagues, so do get in touch and please keep praying for us all here at Whitworth.

 

Jeremy Wynne (2010-present) Associate Professor of Theology, Director of the Graduate Studies in Theology Program

There is much to be grateful for this year: Undergrad students in genuinely good spirits and ready to work hard. An unexpected trip to AAR in November with a few of our theology majors. A first chance to teach our department's Christian theology course. A productive year of research and writing, including an invitation to debate the doctrine of purgatory at the St. Augustine Center at the University of Idaho. Ahead of us this summer? Betsy and I are thrilled to be taking the kids to Japan to see old friends and visit new places. Peace and contentment to you all. God is good every day.

 

Emeriti Faculty

Keith Beebe (2001-2023), Professor of Theology

Greetings to you, my friends!

My first year of retirement involved much more transition than I had anticipated: 

• In the summer, I moved out of my campus office after 23 years of full-time teaching, signed a residential contract with Monte Vista Grove (a PCUSA retirement community for pastors and missionaries in Pasadena, Calif.), sold my home and relinquished most of my material belongings.
• On Labor Day weekend, I moved south and joined the ranks of other Whitworth retirees – Ron and Cynthia White, Dale and Kathy Bruner, and Terry and Suzette McGonigal – at Monte Vista Grove, living out of a suitcase in temporary housing for three months until my cottage was remodeled and my furnishings could come out of storage.
• The day after Thanksgiving, my mother passed away after years of extensive health problems, and over the next month, we had two lovely memorial services for her – in Spokane (her home for eight years) and in Oakhurst, Calif. (her home for 37 years). If you ever met her, you would agree when I say she loved everyone, and everyone loved her. She is sorely missed by her friends and family, for whom she was a true blessing from God.
• In April, after four months of hard work as the executor and trustee of Mom's estate, I was able to take a break and "begin" my retirement by joining dear Whitworth friends Jerry and Pat Sittser, Terry and Suzette McGonigal, Dale Soden and Kathy Storm, and Ron and Peggy Pyle (along with a few others) – on a Rhine River cruise. It was a fun, meaningful and rich time together!

I now hope to resume work on my Cambuslang Revival book project after an 18-month hiatus. In the meantime, I miss being in closer proximity to my theology department colleagues and the broader Whitworth community but am grateful for the faculty emeriti group and being able to participate in several of their activities via Zoom. I hope you will keep in touch and let me know how you are getting along these days (kbeebe@whitworth.edu). 

Grace and blessings to you all!

Dale Bruner (1975-97), Professor Emeritus of Theology

Our good son, Michael Mears Bruner, with his family in their newly built yurt in the Colbert woods, has just finished his contribution to our collaborative project, The Four Gospels: Interpreted and Applied. In it, I interpreted the texts' original meanings, then Michael wrote applications of those original meanings to our modern world. Michael's award-winning book (the Conference on Christianity and Literature's 2019 "Book of the Year") A Subversive Gospel: Flannery O'Connor and the Reimagining of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth (IVP Academic, 2017), demonstrates his "modernity" impressively! Finally, I'm just now completing what I am tentatively entitling The Whole New Testament: Translated and Outlined. Fraternally, Dale Bruner

James Edwards (1997-2015), Professor Emeritus of Theology

Greetings and grace to you all.  

2023 was a year of major change for me. After 26 years in Spokane – years of blessing beyond measure, and of friends, colleagues and former students who are gratefully remembered but neither replaced nor forgotten – Janie and I moved to Colorado Springs. My family owns a cabin in nearby Green Mountain Falls where our daughter Corrie and our son Mark, who live on the East Coast, vacation each summer. Colorado Springs now puts us happily at the hub of family gatherings. We attend First Presbyterian Church, where I was minister of students in the 1970s!  

After four years of writing my commentary on Genesis, the finish line is now in sight, with only the introduction and final proofread left to complete before submitting the manuscript this fall to Eerdmans Publishing. How grateful I am to God for this rich and rewarding project! As for teaching this past year, the highlight was an invitation from the Catholic Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, to lecture for a week in October on the Gospel of Mark. The cathedral was filled for five nights, and the congregants and priest were gracious and stimulating hosts. 

Janie continues with her art work and is bravely undergoing both hip and knee replacements this spring. I have joined a group of old-timers (who are in better shape than I am!) that hike the network of scenic trails in the Pikes Peak region every Thursday.   

May we all, like Abraham, continue the pilgrimage of faith. Though its path be uncertain, its glorious inheritance is assured by the promise of God (Hebrews 11:8). 

Roger Mohrlang (1978-2016), Professor Emeritus of Theology

This has been quite an eventful year for us.

The highlight: on July 28, 30,000 copies of the complete Kamwe Bible were dedicated in a big celebration in northeastern Nigeria – the end of a long and arduous project that started when I began work on the then-unwritten language in 1968, 56 years ago! It's an amazing story that you can read more fully in my little autobiography, My Life: A Story of God's Grace.

In the early 1950s there were no Christians among the Kamwe; now, up to 95% of the entire population (numbering perhaps 750,000 total) call themselves believing Christians. On the fringes of the jihadist Boko Haram, they now speak of themselves, amazingly, as a "Christian community." And the translated Scripture has certainly played a role in this remarkable growth. 

However, just a few months before the big dedication, we learned that Dottie, still feeling the effects of her debilitating strokes (2017), also now has multiple myeloma (a form of blood cancer). This began a round of infusions and daily chemo medication that has left her increasingly weak, fatigued and vulnerable to falling.

As a result, at the encouragement of our son Mark, our daughter Becky and our friends, in late-July, we said a sad goodbye to our home of 45 years and moved into assisted living at Rockwood at Whitworth (apt. 2110). Though we miss our home with its happy memories of hosting students, we're grateful to be here and pray the Lord will use us in this place.

Do write; we'd love to hear from you: rmohrlang@whitworth.edu 

Be strong in all your witness and ministry for the Lord, dear friends!

Roger and Dottie

Gerald Sittser (1989-2020), Professor Emeritus of Theology

(2015-present) Senior Fellow in the Office of Church Engagement

Dear friends of Whitworth (and theology!):

Grace and peace to you all!

Patricia and I have settled into life on the South Hill after our family lived on the northside for so many years. We have grown to a family of 23 (and probably not counting!). Four of our five children now live in Spokane, all on the South Hill. They urged us to join them in our retirement.

Life is full and sweet. I continue to write, currently finishing up a rough draft of a modern catechumenate. Last summer, I also completed a rough draft of the sequel to Resilient Faith, but have decided to shelve it for now. In addition, I spend time mentoring young pastors in Spokane, leading a reading group and playing with my grandchildren. On occasion, I travel to lecture and preach, too, and I volunteer weekly with Side by Side, a non-profit my son David started four years ago.

Patricia continues in her counseling practice two days a week, and the two of us love to garden and practice hospitality. I also enjoy woodworking.

And from time to time we travel, too. In fact, we just returned from two weeks in Europe. In September, I am doing a week-long pilgrimage in Ireland with two close friends.

We want to steward these rich experiences and resources! As John Chrysostom once proclaimed, God is generous to all, though not to equal degree. He calls us to spread those gifts around so all can benefit.

Jerry Sittser

Ron White (1974-81), Professor Emeritus of Theology

On October 31, 2023, Penguin Random House published my new biography, On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

A national book tour included venues in Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia; Princeton; New York; Brunswick, Maine; Gettysburg and Louisville. A special treat was to do an event with historian Jon Meacham in Nashville.  

In January, I was pleased to speak at the Whitworth Board of Trustees winter retreat in San Diego. I spoke as part of the larger board conversation about Whitworth's identity, mission and the best way to communicate the marvelous Whitworth story in 2024.

In February, I came to the campus to speak about my new biography. What a pleasure to meet outstanding young history faculty members Elise Leal Henreckson and Aaron Griffith and some of their students. David Henreckson, Director of the Weyerhaeuser Center for Christian Faith & Learning, coordinated a marvelous day. President Scott McQuilkin hosted a dinner for my wife Cynthia and me. 

Cynthia and I live at Monte Vista Grove Homes in Pasadena, Calif., where there is a real Whitworth pipeline: Dale and Kathy Bruner, Terry and Suzette McGonigal, and Keith Beebe.