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!

Auf Wiedersehen, Tübingen!

NEWS FROM TÜBINGEN

Auf Wiedersehen, Tübingen!

by Dennis Lindsay

After three years of service as on-site Director of the Institute for the Study of Christian Origins, Karen and I moved back to the US at the end of October. We loved living and working in Tübingen and we already miss our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and students—as well as our lovely apartment and its surroundings. We wish we could have stayed longer. Family priorities, however, made clear to us that it was time to return to our home in Eugene, Oregon. 

The past three years were very eventful for the work of the Institute as we emerged from the “standstill” brought on by the Covid pandemic and amplified by my predecessor’s (Dr. Beth Langstaff) untimely death. We gave priority to shoring up our relationship with the University and restoring the regular course offerings and activities of the Institute—including the 2024 International Symposium on “The Great Commandment” that we co-sponsored with the Protestant Faculty. We upgraded the instructional technology in the Institute seminar room, paving the way for even greater outreach with our service to international students and scholars. The German-English Colloquium is thriving and we are booking scholarly presentations—online and in-person—into the 2026 summer semester. 

And, in spite of this latest transition, I am happy to report that our Tübingen ministry continues full speed ahead. Birgit Hallmann faithfully provides day-to-day on-site administrative support, and from my new home in Eugene I continue to serve in my role as Institute Director, participating in the weekly English-German Colloquiums via Zoom and teaching several online courses. In the meantime, the EES is working diligently to appoint a new director who will take up the baton of leadership on-site in Tübingen.

We are grateful for your continued prayers and support during this time of transition—both for the Institute and for the Lindsay family.