Introduction
We have lift off!
This semester the Biblical Seminary of Colombia celebrated the launch of its Masters of Biblical Interpretation program.
The dream of creating a high-quality graduate program had been years in the making. When we first arrived in Colombia in 2011, the idea had already been percolating. However, it wasn’t until 2014 when a committee finally came together to work through the herculean effort of outlining the program and getting it through the arduous accreditation process.
Seven years of back-and-forth submissions with the Colombian Department of Education finally paid off as we received a 7-year accreditation this past November.
Why It Matters
There are multiple reasons why this is a major achievement in the majority world of evangelical seminaries.
First, there are few good, quality, academically robust evangelical seminary options for college grads in Colombia (and the rest of the continent). Secondly, we want to prepare scholars for the majority world church and so this program serves as a steppingstone to further PhD studies inside or outside of Colombia.
In addition, there is a desperate need for books, articles and other resources that spring from the hearts and pens of Latin American scholars. While the U.S. and European resources are rich, they do not speak directly to these contexts where our students work and ministers. Finally, our program allows us to keep quality students from leaving for opportunities outside of Latin America.
Mode and Classes
The Masters program is a full-time two-year program, taught in a hybrid (virtual / residential) format from our state-of-the-art multi-media classroom. The class is streamed live for students who are unable to come to Medellín. Indeed, one of our students is church planting with her husband in Denver, CO. We also have fully virtual classes taught by professors who live outside Medellín or Colombia.
Our curriculum centers on advanced Greek and Hebrew training, plus diving deeper into the socio-historical background of the Bible. Our students can choose an Old Testament or New Testament path that provides in-depth exegesis (1), reflection and study of individual books of the Bible. The end goal is a Masters thesis that brings together all the biblical disciplines to bear on specific contextual solutions to different problems within the church or society at large.
Gustavo has the privilege of teaching two historical survey courses this year. The first semester is the Jewish background of the New Testament while the second semester will tackle the Greco-Roman background of the New Testament.
In the Jewish background course, students are learning about the formative history “in between the Testaments” and interacting with non-canonical primary sources. Most Christians are only vaguely familiar with this time period and its literature. These non-canonical primary sources are closer in time and theological reflection to the New Testament. Thus, they provide us with valuable insights into the thought world and the books which shaped the New Testament writers.
In all, this is a VERY big accomplishment for our school, and we are glad to be able to contribute in very meaningful ways.
(1) Careful systematic study of scripture to discover the original intended meaning of the Biblical text
The Fam
We are separated by states, countries and continents.
Emilio is set to graduate from Vanderbilt University in May (woohoo class of 2022!) and will then be relocating to San Francisco to begin work with Sumeru Equity Partners. Emilio is psyched to be working in the technology-focused growth capital sector. A dream come true for him. Alas, our dream of keeping the family somewhere in the Northeast is lost for now, but perhaps, sometime in the future, ….
Caroline is thrilled to be spending her semester abroad in Rome, Italy. Since she is a studio art major, studying in Italy is like winning the lottery. She is taking an art history class on Michelangelo (with an amazing British professor!), a drawing class with weekly excursions to museums and historical sites, and an Italian language course. A big highlight is her internship with Rolf Sachs, working 10+ hours a week as a studio assistant, where she organizes and cleans studio equipment, helps move and package artwork, and aids in running artistic test trials that involve stretching and preparing ginormous canvases, working with acrylic paint, resin, shadow photography and paper. Awesome experience!
Natalie can’t believe her 2nd semester of her freshman year at WashU is already almost ½ way done! Her STEM-focused curriculum continues this semester with Chemistry, Differential Equations, Physics and Biology. She was chosen as the first-year rep for the Biomedical Engineering Society where she helps coordinate events and co-authors a weekly newsletter. For fun, she is taking advantage of same-day student discount tickets and trying to see most every Broadway tour as it stops in St. Louis.
Rochelle is enjoying her work with Phillips Exeter Academy working remotely. She is in full implementation mode helping to convert the Exeter Summer program from their 30-year-old on-premise student information system (SIS) to a cloud-based SIS. Lots of business process analysis, flowchart design and documentation! She also had the privilege of spending 3 weeks with her mother in Texas in late January helping her to recover from a knee-replacement surgery. Joy is already driving and will be back on the golf course in no time! And Rochelle is very thankful for remote-work and a flexible hubby!
Praise
- Please feel free to send a birthday email to Caroline as she turns 22 on March 2, 2022!
- Medellin has removed the city-wide mask mandate when outdoors.
Prayers
- Growth of the Masters program
- for new students
- for more professors holding PhDs to teach in the Masters program
- for more time in the day as the professors create the masters curriculum from scratch!
- Scholarships (especially for female students)
- The cost of an entire semester in our Masters program is $1,800 USD (and less for an undergraduate program).
Happy Birthday Gustavo!
We were so happy to celebrate you, your life and your work, with old friends and new friends!