Introduction of the new Director of the Institute

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN
by Ronald Herms

Ronald (Ron) Herms

Kathy 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.

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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.

Winter Semester is coming to an end

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN

by Birgit Hallmann

Here in Tübingen, the winter semester has come to a very busy close.
The English-German Colloquium for New Testament hosted two special lectures at the end of the semester. We were also able to accommodate the visit of the two presenters, Dr. Litvinau (Munich) and Dr. Schwartz (Berlin), with overnight lodging in our guest room. I´m very happy about the "enlivening" of our rooms.

Dr. Fiodar Litvinau (Munich) presented on the topic: “Love for God in the Sapiential Compositions of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” This essay will be included in the forthcoming volume with the other papers from our 2024 International Symposium on “The Great Commandment.”

Dr. Konrad Schwarz (Berlin) finished off our Colloquium lineup for the semester with his paper entitled: „Die ethische Argumentation des Paulus im Römerbrief“ (Paul's Ethical Argumentation in the Epistle to the Romans).
And last but not least, an announcement: The EES has secured a new director for the Institute! Details to come in one of the next issues.

Successful student

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN
by Birgit Hallmann
Successful student

CONGRATULATIONS to Valentina-Andrada Minea, one of the students supported by the Institute, who successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Münster this February! She was awarded the Ph.D. for theological and Religion related research with high praise (magna cum laude). Valentina’s innovative dissertation was about "Involving Anime in Interreligious Dialogue". At the same time (January 2026), she published a methodological guide for research in religious studies, which we have now also added to the Stuckenbruck library. We are very proud of Valentina and wish her success in her next career steps!

to buy at:
Amazon.com: Books https://share.google/b3ntOdmhDFsw66apn

News from Tübingen

by Dennis Lindsay

The »Great Commandment« in Early Christianity and its 
Jewish and Greco-Roman Environment

In October 2024 the Institute for the Study of Christian Origins co-hosted, along with the Protestant Faculty of Tübingen and the University of Munich, an international symposium on the topic of Jesus’ “double command” to love God and neighbor in its historical and theological context. The papers delivered at the symposium were excellent and enlightening. We are collecting all of the contributions from the symposium, along with a few specially commissioned essays to help fill in some gaps, and we are in the process of editing them into a single volume. Mohr Siebeck Publishers in Tübingen have agreed to publish this collection in their “WUNT” (Wissenschalftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament) series. We currently project that the publication will be completed in fall 2026. Stay tuned for more details!

Happy New Year 2026

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN
by Dennis Lindsay

Happy New Year!

 This new year promises many new developments our work in Tübingen. 

Dennis and Karen Lindsay have now relocated back to Eugene, Oregon, and by the time of this publication will (hopefully!) have received their shipment container of belongings from Germany. Dennis continues to serve as Institute Director while the EES is actively searching for his replacement on the ground in Tübingen. We hope to have some exciting news to share on this front very soon in the new year.

The weekly English-German Colloquium continues to produce engaging and ground-breaking presentations of new research in various fields of New Testament studies and theological studies in general. As the word spreads and as online technology improves, we have participants and presenters from all over the globe eager to engage in this opportunity. A list of recent presentations is always available on the EES website.

This year also promises the completion of editing for and the publication of the volume of collected essays from our October 2024 International Symposium on “The Great Commandment.” This will be published in the “WUNT” series from Mohr Siebeck Publishing in Tübingen We will keep you up to date on the progress of this project.

The staff of the Institute for the Study of Christian Origins are grateful for your ongoing support of our work in Tübingen and we want to wish you a Happy New Year, full of God’s blessings!