Office of Academic Affairs

Faculty In the News / Scholarly Accomplishments

(as of May 21, 2012)

Holsinger Named “Top Prof"
Professor of History Don Holsinger received the 2012 “Top Professor" award from Ivy Honorary, SPU's chapter of National Mortar Board. Don gave an address titled “Engaging the World and Changing the Culture" at the April 28 induction ceremony. Congratulations, Don!

Wolfe Receives Honorary Doctorate
Writer in Residence and director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing program Gregory Wolfe has been awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He was also inducted into the school's “College of Fellows."

Wall's New Book
Professor of Christian Scriptures Rob Wall defines and defends “the canonical approach" to biblical interpretation in the new book Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views (S. Porter and B. Stovell, eds., Downers Grove: IVP, 2012), recently published in InterVarsity Press's widely used “Spectrum Multiview" series. In this new book, five scholars, each a practitioner of a particular hermeneutical strategy, set out the key features of their method and underlying epistemology before gathering together around Matthew 2 to illustrate how their interpretive methods produce different although often complementary readings of a single sacred text. Each then engages the other's readings to evaluate the merit (or lack thereof!) of their interpretive findings. Another of Rob's articles, "Salvation's Bath by the Spirit: A Study of Titus 3:5b-6 in Its Canonical Setting," is now published in The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament & Christian Theology, (I.H. Marshall, V. Rabens, C. Bennema, eds., Eerdmans, 2012), pp. 198-212. This collection is a festschrift for the British New Testament scholar Max Turner. In this study, Rob seeks to rehabilitate the neglected epiphany passage found in Titus 3 as the fullest expression of Pauline pneumatology in the New Testament. This is, in part, because here it is combined in a rich theological formula and the distinctive Pauline emphasis on the transformative work of the Spirit with other biblical traditions (Pentecostal, Johannine, and Matthean) to form an integrative whole.

Koenig Presents Paper
Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies Sara Koenig presented a paper titled “Make War Not Love: David as an Exemplar of Masculinity in 2 Sam 10-12" at the Pacific Northwest Regional Society of Biblical Literature on May 13.

MFT Professors, Alumna Give Presentation
On April 29, Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) faculty Scott Edwards, Tina Schermer-Sellers, Claudia Grauf-Grounds, and MFT alumna Leslie Savage gave a presentation at the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine annual conference in Seattle. Their research presentation, “Patients' Narratives of Their Relationship With Chronic Pain: How They Describe Mindfulness and Well-being," focused on initial findings from a joint research project with the Seattle Arthritis Clinic.

Castelo's Essays Published
Associate Professor of Theology Daniel Castelo recently had two essays published. His chapter "Reclaiming the Future: The Challenge of Moltmann's Eschatology" in Juergen Moltmann and Evangelical Theology: A Critical Engagement (Sung Wook Chung, editor; Eugene; Pickwick, 2012), 197-214, analyzes appreciatively and critically the end-times theology of Moltmann, a past SPU Day of Common Learning speaker. Also, Daniel authored "Toward Pentecostal Prolemomena II: A Rejoinder to Andrew Gabriel" in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology 21 (2012): 168-180, which was a response to an article by Gabriel from last year titled "Pentecostals and Divine Impassibility: A Response to Daniel Castelo," also in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology 20 (2011): 184-190. In the rejoinder, Daniel offers his most developed critique yet of the "classical theism" category used by many theologians in their God-talk.

Steele Presents Research on Christian Prison Literature
Professor of Moral and Historical Theology Rick Steele taught a four-session class on Christian prison literature at one of the Washington state correctional facilities for women during April. He presented his findings, titled "Teaching Christian Prison Literature in Prison," to the Church History section of the Pacific Northwest regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature/American Schools of Oriental Research at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, on May 11.

Eveland's Article Published
An article co-authored by Assistant Professor of Marketing Vicki Eveland titled "Role of the Internet Site in the Promotion Management of Sports Teams and Franchise Brands" was published in the Journal of Promotion Management, Volume 18, Issue 2, April 2012. Her co-authors were Steve McClung, Daniel Sweeney, and Jeffrey D. James. Read the article online. [link]