Summer semester break and arrival of Ron and Kathy Herms

Update from Tübingen
 by Birgit Hallmann
INSTITUTE 
In August, everything is a bit quieter in Tübingen. The University is on semester break and students and Institute staff are recovering during their well-deserved summer vacation. In the Institute, the large outer door malfunctioned. A control board had burned out and the office and all the inventory "was unprotected for 24 hours." I thank the Lord that nothing was stolen or destroyed during this time. Resourceful craftsmen then solved the problem in a "typical German way" until the arrival of the spare part. Just in time for the arrival of our new Institute Director Ron Herms  on September 1st, everything is intact again . 

 As the summer days turn to Fall, preparations for the winter semester begin and we look forward to the new academic year and new opportunities for ministry through the work of the Institute. 

Ron and Kathy Herms arrived in Tübingen on September 1st to commence their new roles: Ron, as Director for the Institute; Kathy as Donor Relations Officer for TCM. While the first weeks here include the logistics of an international move and settling into their new surroundings, the early work will include preparation for teaching, learning the operational systems of the Institute, and making early connections with colleagues and partners at Eberhard Karls Universität here in Tübingen. They are grateful for the prayer and support of so many EES - TCM partners and excited about what lies ahead. Please pray for their family (5 adult children in the U.S. and the Netherlands) and for the details of establishing a home and base here in Germany.

Farewell Prof. Stuckenbruck

Update from Tübingen  
by Birgit Hallmann 
University

Farewell lecture by Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck 20.07.2026
on 20.07.2026, Loren Stuckenbruck was bid farewell by LMU for his well-deserved retirement. Many friends and companions gave him the honor. The event was musically framed by contributions from his family from the USA. Ron Herms had "secretly" traveled from the USA and announced a "commemorative publication" in honor of Loren.

With the start of August comes the end of the summer semester and our academic year in Tübingen. Over the next few weeks Institute staff will be taking some vacation time to rest up a bit and then begin to prepare for the next academic cycle which begins in October. Nevertheless, these days are still very busy. The last meeting of the EGC f. NT this semester on July 22 was very well attended. Dr. Anna-Maria Schüssel (Uni Tübingen) presented a very interesting topic about “The Long Night - A Historical Assessment of The Synoptic Judas-Traditions “

Institut
At the same time, Ron and Karen Herms are moving to Tübingen. In Tübingen, a number of bureaucratic tasks have to be completed (e.g. the change in the board of the “Verein” from Dennis Lindsay to Ron Herms and the corresponding change of the entries in the official register of associations). On the USA side, farewells are taking place and boxes are being packed for transport to Germany.We wish all of our students who are now traveling home for the semester break as well as our new Director a blessed trip.

Summer Semester is slowly coming to an end

Updates from Tübingen    

by Birgit Hallmann 

Visitors and Guests:
The summer semester is slowly coming to an end and we continue to keep very busy.
In the last few weeks, we were able to host three special speakers of the English-German Colloquium f. NT in our rooms. Everyone was very happy and grateful for this opportunity in the middle of Tübingen's old town and only 4 minutes away from the Theologicum.

Dr. M. Adam at the EGC f. NT, June 2026

1. Dr. M. Adam, Univ. Zürich: “Autorschaft und Autoritätskonstruktionen in antiker jüdischer und griechischer Literatur“ (Authorship and Constructions of Authority in Ancient Jewish and Greek Literature)

2. Dr. J. Müller, Univ. Dresden:“ Das Verhältnis von Johannes und den Synoptikern aus der Perspektive antiker Kompositionspraktiken. Ein Werkstattbericht“ (The relationship between John and the Synoptics from the perspective of ancient compositional practices. A workshop report)

Dr. Heiko Wojtkowiak at the Institute f. Christian Origins, in front of the Stuckenbruck library, June 2026

3. Dr. Heiko Wojtkowiak, Univ. Göttingen:“ Vielerlei Stimmen – Perspektiven auf Geld im Neuen Testament“ (Many Voices – Perspectives on Money in the New Testament). 

New Director for the Institute from September
In addition, we are intensively preparing for the start of Ron Herms and his wife Kathy as the new Director of the Institute in September. We hope that all bureaucratic hurdles will be overcome by the end of the summer holidays and are very much looking forward to the reinforcement.

TCM board members visit Tübingen

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN   
by Birgit Hallmann
Institute:

The past month has seen a flurry of activity in our work in Tübingen. The German-English Colloquium in New Testament has become a truly international forum of scholars and participants. In the most recent session we had a presentations from Prof. Markus Lau, Würzburg about “Numismatic palimpsests. The narrative materiality of Jewish uprising coins against the background of the Roman Judaea Capta coinage“, J. Hirschberger,Tübingen: „Wittenberg Hebrew Studies using the example of Philipp Melanchthon“ , Dimitris Kazakidis (Greek): „The Ascension of Moses: A Reconstruction of an Ancient Text“ and Dr. Ron Herms (new Director of the Institute): “The spirit of Abel: an exploration of petitionary prayer in 1 Enoch 22”.
This month we were also pleased to welcome Dr. Tony Twist, President of the EES and TCM, along with Vice President Christian Witzmann, for a brief visit to Tübingen.
They also met with Birgit Hallmann and the new director Ron Herms and his wife Kathy, who were in Tübingen for a few days, for Ron's lecture at the EGC f. NT and to prepare for their move in autumn. With great luck, they found a nice apartment on the third day of the visit and were accepted as tenants. What a blessing!

University:
Dr. Leopold Lucas-Prize 2026 awarded to Amy Gutmann
In other news, this year's Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize was awarded to the diplomat and political scientist Amy Gutmann.
The prize of the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Tübingen honors Gutmann's commitment to pluralistic democracy and international dialogue. The award ceremony took place on May 15 in the University's New Aula. At the same time, the Dr. Leopold Lucas Young Scientist Prize, which is awarded for an outstanding dissertation at the University of Tübingen, was awarded to Joel Klenk, a former participant of the EGC f. NT.

Introduction of the new Director of the Institute

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN
by Ronald Herms

Dear Friends,

Warm greetings from Fresno, California! My name is Ronald (Ron) Herms and I am very pleased to introduce myself as the next Director for the Institute for the Study of Christian Origins (ISCO). With an anticipated start date of 01. September 2026 in view, Kathy and I look forward to making Tübingen our home and joining the inspiring mission of EES. We are currently navigating the necessary steps to prepare for this move. Our first opportunity to visit the Institute will be in May 2026 where I will also give a presentation in the weekly English-German Colloquium for the New Testament. As Kathy will also serve EES in a part-time capacity (donor relations), I am so grateful for the support of the TCMI leadership team. In particular, the guidance from Dr. Dennis Lindsay (outgoing Director) and Birgit Hallmann has been truly humbling.

The mission and work of the Institute resonate deeply with my passion for training leaders in both academic and church leadership settings. The Institute has a rich history of serving students from a wide range of backgrounds with courses in theological language acquisition (English and German) as well as serving church leaders and scholars through a weekly Colloquium, a tri-annual International Seminar, and other educational opportunities. This work is done in collaboration with the Protestant Faculty at the Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen and I look forward to building on the strong foundation that is already in place. I hope to apply my experience of over three decades in both higher education and ecclesial settings to continuing to develop the ISCO’s course offerings and training partnerships.

_________________

Profile:

Ronald Herms is a community advocate, public speaker, scholar, and teaching pastor who has served in leadership roles since 1989. In higher education settings, his roles have included: academic dean, associate professor in biblical and theological studies, graduate program director, thesis advisor, and curriculum developer. Until recently he served Fresno Pacific University as Dean of the School of Humanities, Religion, and Social Sciences. He is currently serving as interim lead pastor for Butler Church in Fresno, CA. With a PhD in New Testament from the University of Durham (UK), Ron’s research interests include early Jewish apocalyptic literature, the book of Revelation, the Catholic letters, NT eschatology, Christian origins, justice studies, and contemporary apocalyptic expressions in popular culture (movies, art, literature, environmental concerns, race relations). He and his wife Kathy are parents of 5 adult children and 3 grand-pets.