The ATS is a membership organization of more than 250 graduate schools that conduct post-baccalaureate professional and academic degree programs to educate persons for the practice of ministry as well as for teaching and research in the theological disciplines. In the process of becoming accredited, Grace was first accepted as an associate member of ATS then began its candidacy process. The seminary conducted a comprehensive self-study before undergoing a site visit by the ATS accreditation team, who recommended Grace for approval by its Commission on Accrediting.

Dr. Jeff Gill, dean of Grace Theological Seminary, spoke about the opportunities afforded to Grace students as a result of the accreditation. “In addition to the strong affirmation of the excellence of our school, accreditation allows Grace to apply for student scholarships from large foundations like Eli Lilly and the Kern Family Foundation. We also look forward to a greater recruitment pool of prospective students since ordination in many denominations requires a degree from an ATS-accredited seminary.”

Grace has been granted full initial accreditation for a period of five years, which is the maximum awarded by ATS.

For more information about Grace Theological Seminary or to submit an application, please visit gts.grace.edu or call Lee Compson at 877.607.0012.

Goals of the Grant:

• Assist future FGBC leaders with the tuition costs associated with a residential Grace Seminary degree program.
• Enhance the theological, spiritual, and practical ministry training of FGBC current and future leaders enrolled in Grace Seminary.
• The hope is to use these funds as “seed money” for obtaining other matching gifts for FGBC students enrolled in Grace Seminary.

Conditions of the Grant:

• Four students in the 2010- 2011 school year will receive 33% of the tuition cost of their entire program (residential M.Div. or M.A.).
• The tuition grant will be forgiven over a three year period after graduation if the graduate is employed full-time within the FGBC.
• Repayment of the load will begin 1 year after graduation if the graduate is not employed in a FGBC ministry. Exception of these terms must be approved by the Dean.

Additional Opportunities for Grant Recipients:

• Students will be invited to attend one Central FOCUS Retreat with registration fee covered by the Seminary.
• Students will attend one FGBC Leaders Luncheon at no expense to the student
• Students will be placed in an FGBC church for the required degree program apprenticeship.

Interviews for Scholarship consideration will be held March 1^st – 5^th.  These should be scheduled through Tonya Cardin tonya.cardin@grace.edu in the Seminary Administration office MC 215.

The Grace Village Retirement Community Educational Fund has been established by a committee of residents and staff from Grace Village.  The purpose of the fund is to grant an award to a recurring Grace College student who wishes to further their education in Healthcare, Healthcare associated careers, and Seminary.  The recipient must demonstrate through their academic record at the college level, the ability to satisfactorily complete their chosen course of study.

For an official application, contact Lee Compson at compsorl@grace.edu

 For further details about the scholarship itself, contact Renea Salyer at renea@gracevillage.org

The deadline for submitting the application is April 1.

Dr. Tiberius Rata

Chair, Biblical Studies Department
Professor of Old Testament Studies
Grace College and Theological Seminary

Does it take a village?  Issues in Ezra-Nehemiah authorship

The authorship of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah has been the subject of continuous debate, conjecture, and research.  Because both Ezra and Nehemiah write in the first person, many scholars agree with the Talmud that Ezra wrote most of the work, while Nehemiah finished it.  Most scholars also suggest that an editor/compiler put the book together in its present form.  My paper will examine the textual and linguistic arguments for and/or against these options, with a special emphasis on the analysis of the Hebrew/Aramaic employed in both books.

Matthew S. Harmon, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of NT Studies
Grace College & Theological Seminary

http://bibtheo.blogspot.com/

Title: Letter Carriers and Paul’s Use of Scripture

Abstract:

Within the discussion of Paul’s use of Scripture, scholars have frequently wondered how his predominantly Gentile congregations would have recognized his often subtle allusions to and echoes of the Old Testament, let alone their broader context. One solution has been to suggest that the carrier of the letter played a role in further explaining its contents. In order to assess the validity of this possibility, this paper begins by exploring the role of letter carriers in the ancient world. A survey of the Pauline epistles indicates that although his letter carriers performed a similar range of tasks; they were more than merely letter carriers. They were similar to Greco-Roman envoys, sent as a manifestation of Paul’s parousia and authorized to act on his behalf. As a result of this survey two implications emerge for the study of Paul’s use of Scripture and the audience’s competency to recognize it: (1) Paul’s use of envoys suggests they were authorized to further explain the contents of the letter, including his use of Scripture; (2) Given the letter’s role to mediate the very presence of Paul himself, it is reasonable to conclude that his envoys engaged in teaching, a central component of his own ministry. Thus there are solid grounds for suggesting that Paul’s letter carriers played a role in helping the audience to recognize OT allusions and echoes, as well as their original context.

The theme of the meetings is Ethics and Mission.  The title of Dr. Stallter’s paper is “Ethical Challenges for U.S. Expatriates in the Use of Cultural Intelligence for Problem Solving in a Second Culture.”  Papers will be selected at this regional meeting for inclusion in the program of the annual meeting of EMS at Minneapolis in September and then for publication.

ChristianColleges.com compiled their list of top blogs and broke them down into several categories including general theology, criticism, history, etc. To see the entire list, go to www.christiancolleges.com/blog/2009.

This third Old Testament volume in InterVarsity Press’ celebrated “Black Dictionary” series offers 148 articles covering all the important aspects of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth, and Esther. More than 90 contributers have provided information for this book. To read more, visit www.ivpress.com/cgiivpress/book.pl/code=1783