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Seminary News
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Nieman
Named to Faculty of Hartford
Seminary
The
Board of Trustees of Hartford Seminary and President Heidi Hadsell
have named The Rev. Dr. James R. Nieman, author of the forthcoming
“Common Signs: Local Practices for the Whole Church,” to the
faculty at Hartford Seminary. Nieman
will be Professor of Practical Theology, effective January 1, 2005. He
will join the Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion Research. “I
am delighted that Jim Nieman will be joining the faculty at Hartford
Seminary,” Hadsell said. “Jim is a creative thinker who has shown
great skill in working with congregations in America today. He is an
excellent scholar who understands how to apply academic skills to
analyze practical, every-day issues.” “And
Jim has a deep commitment to the vitality of congregations, across
denominational lines. He has worked extensively to help faith
communities understand what it takes to remain, or become,
organizationally vital through liturgy and preaching,” Hadsell said. Since
1992, Nieman has been Professor of Homiletics at Wartburg Theological
Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. He has directed the Master of Sacred
Theology program at the seminary. When
asked why he is coming to Hartford Seminary, Nieman said, “First,
the school has a national reputation as a place that is tremendously
open and adaptable to cutting edge issues and approaches in
theological education. The innovative directions Hartford has taken
over the years and the willingness to support its faculty in those
directions is evidence of a healthy institutional environment. “Second,
through the years I have become personally and professionally familiar
with several present and past faculty members, during joint teaching
or collaborative work on research projects. I have great respect for
their academic acumen and great enjoyment of these folks as delightful
and interesting people. Finally, I relish the opportunity to serve in
a school that brings together contextual, interfaith, and dialogical
approaches to being a Christian seminary committed to ministry in and
for the world.” Prior
to his academic service, Nieman served as pastor of Iñupiaq Lutheran
Church in Anchorage, Alaska, and at Zion Lutheran Church in Clayton
Center, Iowa, both congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
America. His
areas of specialization are homiletics, rhetoric, practical theology,
congregational studies, and ecclesiology. Nieman is currently exploring
how local theologies can use critical pedagogies; theories of action
that offer a connection between practical theology and other forms of
research; seeing religious practices as a point of interreligious
engagement and understanding; and the relation between preaching and
Christian feasts, seasons, and the occasional rites. Nieman
has a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta and a Master of Divinity
from Wartburg. He is co-author of “Preaching to Every Pew:
Cross-Cultural Strategies.” Nieman
was president of the Association of Practical Theology from 2002 to
2004 and serves on the Board of Directors of the Louisville Institute. At
Hartford Seminary, he said, “I hope to give specific attention to
three goals for research and teaching that are on the horizon for
practical theology today. These are (1) clarifying how theological
practices can be a place of mutual attention in readiness for and
improvement of public ministry; (2) exploring how religious practices
in various traditions can be a space for interfaith engagement and
understanding; and (3) nurturing a conversation among various
professions (theology, law, medicine, arts, social work, etc.) about
how our work intersects in and through human practices.” Outside work, Nieman reads, as he says, “in many different areas beyond theology,” and enjoys hiking.
For
further information, contact David S. Barrett, |
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