Update from Tübingen

by Dennis Lindsay

WE’RE FINALLY HERE!!! After almost four months of preparation and transition, Karen and I arrived back in Tübingen at the end of September. There are still a million details to tend to (down considerably from about 10 million details!), but the heavy lifting is behind us and the joy of ministry lies directly ahead.

At the Institute we are shifting into high gear as we prepare for the start of the Winter Semester in mid-October. The normal ministries of the Institute are all set to resume this fall. We have students, professors, and visiting scholars signing up to read papers at our German-English Colloquium for New Testament – both in person and via Zoom. And I am looking forward to the two classes I will teach in Theological English and Theological German. I don’t yet know the enrollment numbers, but it will be a real joy to engage with students here in theological discussion, reflection, and deeper learning. Thank you for your support of the European Evangelistic Society. I look forward to sharing more about our ministry in the coming months.

Visit of Dennis Lindsay - new Institute Director- in Tübingen

by Dennis Lindsay

After 30 years the Lindsays are making Tübingen their home once again!  This was home for Karen and me from 1985-1992 when I was working on my doctorate at the University here and served as pastor of the Christliche Gemeinde.  In the intervening years, we served at Springdale College in England and then, the past 22 years, at Bushnell University in Eugene, Oregon.  I have now stepped into the role of Director for the Institute for Early Christianity, and Karen and I have spent the month of July in Tübingen preparing for our permanent move later in September.  It has been a whirlwind of a month as we have shopped for an apartment (we’ve got one!), as we have navigated the bureaucracy of obtaining residence permits and other legal requirements (we’re making progress…), and as we’ve had our house in Eugene on the market for sale (just received and accepted an offer this past weekend!).  The Lord has been paving the way for us to transition into this new ministry, and we are most grateful.  We’ll be back in the States in August/September to complete the sale of our house, free ourselves from the years of accumulated “stuff”, and get our essentials packed and moved to Germany.  And, of course, we will spend lots of time with our daughter Mia, who is entering her senior year at the University of Portland!

In the meantime, the ministry and the activities of the Tübingen Institute continue to take place through the end of July, when the “summer semester” comes to an end.  The weekly German-English Colloquium for New Testament has continued to attract and engage participants from all over the world, both through the in-person and simultaneous online (Zoom) opportunities.  I have been “initiated” into the online platform of the University so that we can begin our offerings of Theological English and Theological German when the winter semester begins in October. I have also had preliminary discussions with Prof. Tilly of the Protestant faculty about our next co-sponsored international symposium. We’ll keep you updated on that as we make further plans.

The publication of essays from the last symposium on the Lord’s Prayer will be released this fall. At Loren Stuckenbruck’s initiation, we decided to delay the publication a few months so that we could include in the frontispiece a special dedication to Dr. Beth Langstaff.  We are grateful for Loren’s work on this and it will provide a wonderful and fitting tribute to Beth and her work, not only on this volume, but throughout her ministry here in Tübingen as Institute Director.

As always, Birgit Hallmann continues to provide invaluable support for our work here, and we are grateful for her faithful service and always cheerful disposition.  I couldn’t imagine stepping into this new role without her assistance.

I would ask you to keep Karen and me in your prayers as we continue to navigate this major life transition.  We are excited about the opportunity to serve here once again, and I look forward to providing updates in the future.

Blessings,

Dennis Lindsay

Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize 2022

by Birgit Hallmann

Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize 2022 awarded to the Judaist Maren Niehoff on May 10.

This year's Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize of the Faculty of Protestant Theology was awarded to historian, Judaist, scholar of religion and literature Maren R. Niehoff. She is Max Cooper Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She was honored for her interdisciplinary approach to questions of the relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Greco-Roman culture. The Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize is endowed with 50,000 euros.

Maren Niehoff has presented extensive research on Philon of Alexandria and Jewish biblical interpretation. She has shown how cultural transfer processes take place and what effects they can have, said the committee awarding the prize.

Institute

The English German Colloquium for NT is enjoying very brisk demand this semester. For the first time in a few years, we have to put off speakers until the winter semester, although the group is meeting weekly again.

Topics in May:

Romans 7 in Context (D.Schumann, Tübingen); Exodus Motifs in the NT Writings (Prof. Kowalski Dortmund); Desacralizing „Acts“. Early Christian Apocrypha „Ascents of James“ (Rec.1.27(33)-71) ( Aleksei Volchkov).

We are also preparing for the visit of the new Institute Director, Dr. Dennis Lindsay, and his wife in July. This will e.g. include preparations for the Lindsay family's move to Tübingen and planning for the resumption of the Theological German and Theological English classes in the Wintersemester.

Orbituary Dr. Beth Langstaff

by Birgit Hallmann

Psalms 36:10
O let there be no end to your loving mercy to those who have knowledge of you, or of your righteousness to the upright in heart.

Orbiturary
Dr. Beth Y. Langstaff – Foell
* 20. June 1961 (Sydney, Australia) † 20.03.2022 (Tübingen, Germany)

„End? No, the journey doesn´t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take.“
 J. R. R. Tolkien

It was with great sadness that we learned last week that Beth Langstaff lost her battle with cancer and, and trusting in the resurrection, was called away into the hands of the Lord.

We grieve with all who knew her and whose lives she enriched. Especially with her children Jessica and Jonathan and all her family in Minnesota.

For more than 12 years, Beth served as Director of the Institute for the Study of Early Christianity in Tübingen (EES), Germany. She has also taught classes (online) at Bethel College and for TCMI in Heiligenkreuz.

At the funeral at her home in Betzweiler on March 29th, some of her academic colleagues were present (e.g. Prof. Dr. M. Tilly, University of Tübingen and Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck, University of Munich) and paid tribute to her outstanding achievements in the field of Christian research.

In her classes at the University of Tübingen, she not only contributed to supporting a new generation of theology students in their preparation for doctoral studies, but she has given many students from all over the world and from various religious traditions access to the Christian faith with her classes in theological German and English.

In addition to her scholarly contributions, Beth was always volunteering in her home church to help those around her (including her home group and clothing closet).

Many peoples‘ hearts are heavy these days as we must go on without her.  She left us far too soon.

It gives us comfort that she had the opportunity to say goodbye to her children and to prepare them for their further journey, trusting in God's protection.

War in Europe

By Birgit Hallmann

At the end of the current semester and in the midst of preparations for the summer semester, Europe finds itself in what for my generation is an unprecedented crisis situation. Our prayers go out to the people of Urkaine, the surrounding regions and Russia "as we place our trust in the Lord and follow His lead in the coming days" (Dr. Tony Twist).

Tübingen, like other parts of Germany, is preparing for the arrival of larger streams of refugees from Urkaine, while students are demonstrating for an end to Russian attacks.

In this time of uncertainty and fear, I am very grateful for the technical achievements of the Corona Pandemic, which allows me to meet online brothers and sisters of TCM and the EES and join them in prayer (e.g. the All staff prayer meeting each Wednesday afternoon and the monthly meetings with EES board Dr. Dennis Lindsay).

Please join us in prayer.