Pittsburgh Theological Seminary will host the annual Schaff Lectures Wed., March 24 at the Seminary. Keynote speaker Dr. Daniel Aleshire, executive director of The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, will present “Finding Our Way in the Wilderness: Theological Education and Ministry in a Changing Church and Society”. The lectures are free and open to the public.
This year’s events include “Egypt: The Past that We Think the Seminary Served” at 11:30 a.m.; “Wilderness: The Changing Seminary and Church” at 4:30 p.m.; and “Promise: A Faithful Future for Theological Education for the Church” at 7:30 p.m. Lectures will be presented in the Knox Room. A dinner will also be held on campus at 6:00 p.m. in the Kadel Dining Hall. Reservations are required for the dinner only. Cost is $10. Aleshire will also speak at the First Presbyterian Church in Youngstown Tues., March 23 at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. For more information, contact the church at 330-744-4307.
Contact the Seminary’s Continuing Education Office at or 412-924-1345 for more information about the Schaff Lectures or to make your dinner reservation.
Aleshire has worked with ATS since 1990, first as an associate director and later as associate executive director. An ordained minister, Aleshire is a graduate of Belmont College, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and George Peabody College for Teachers. He served on the faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1978 to 1990 and, before that, as a research scientist at Search Institute in Minneapolis, where he worked on projects related to theological education, church-related higher education, and youth service agencies. Prior to that appointment, he was pastor of Bergen Baptist Church in Waldwick, N.J. He has written extensively on issues of ministry and theological education, Christian spirituality, and Christian education. He is co-author of Being There: Culture and Formation in Two Theological Seminaries (Oxford, 1997), which received the 1998 Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. His articles have appeared in, among others, Commonweal, Christian Century, Theological Education, and the Journal of Supervision in Ministry.
The Schaff Lectures are named in honor of the late David S. Schaff. For 23 years, Schaff taught church history at Western Theological Seminary on the north side of Pittsburgh, one of the antecedents of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Before becoming a professor in 1903, he held two pastorates. Schaff wrote extensively in the area of church history and co-edited the well-known and often consulted Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia. He completed the unfinished work of his father, Philip, who had begun the History of the Christian Church before his death. The younger Schaff also wrote two books on the life of John Hus.
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is a graduate professional institution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Founded in 1794, the Seminary is located in Pittsburgh, Pa. and approximately 320 students are enrolled yearly in the degree programs. The Seminary prepares leaders who proclaim with great joy God’s message of good news in both word and deed. PTS is rooted in the Reformed history of faithfulness to Scripture and commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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