AKMA’s Random Thoughts

Plan for Opening

Trevor and I put our heads together yesterday — okay, he put his head in proximity to my befogged, addled European-time semi-consciousness — and we worked out a plan for opening the Disseminary soon. We wanted to have one of our seminars ready-to-go at the outset, but both Wes Avram and Tania Oldenhage wished to have al,ittle more time before they offered their seminars. Not wishing to rush anyone, Trevor and I figured we could co-chair a seminar ourselves, thus availing ourselves of the opportunity to be first in line to observe any glitches in the system we envisioned, and to show by example how such a seminar might work out. So in a very short while, when we swing open the figurative doors of the Disseminary, we’ll invite applications for a seminar on the Ethics of Biblical Interpretation, s topic on which both Trevor and I have done work, and which usually elicits general interest.

Wes will offer his seminar on Spirituality and Technology, and Tania her seminar on Parables, after they’ve had chances to see a seminar in action, and they will have had time to work out the details of their plans for the seminars. This’ll give us something to offer right away, while keeping two very-valued participants on the Disseminary [clue]train. We also have recruited four authors for our Study Guides (Stephen Lahey on allegorical interpretation, Wendy Love Anderson on mysticism, J. P. Kang on Old Testament Prophets, and another as-yet-to-be-identified participant), and we’re still waiting to hear back from the scholars whom we contacted for essays (John Mbiti has been positive, but we haven’t yet pinned down what might work out for him).