Religion in Culture Lecture
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At 2p.m. on February 26th, Professor Herman
Waetjen visited the Department to deliver a public lecture
as part of the Religion in Culture Series. His lecture
was entitled "Power Plays in the Gospel of Mark."
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Prof. Herman Waetjen was educated at the Concordia
Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO, and at the University
of Tuebingen, Germany, where he received his doctoral
degree in 1958. Dr. Waetjen taught at the University
of Southern California from 1959 to 1962; from 1962 until
1996 he taught New Testament at San
Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California,
and at the Graduate
Theological Union in Berkeley, where he is now the Robert
S. Dollar Emeritus Professor of New Testament.
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Waetjen has written numerous articles on such diverse topics
as the "naked youth" in the Gospel of Mark, homosexuality
in antiquity, the quest for the historical Jesus, and African
myths, fables, and stories.
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He is the author of three books: The
Origin and Destiny of Humanness: An Interpretation of the
Gospel According to Matthew (1976); A
Reordering of Power: A Socio-Political Reading of Mark's Gospel
(1989); and Praying
the Lord's Prayer: An Age-Old Prayer for Today (1999).
He is currently at work on a book about the Gospel of John.
In addition, he has led numerous study tours of Egypt, Turkey,
Greece, Israel and Jordan. He has also taught and studied
in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
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Herman Waetjen was Prof. Trost's
thesis advisor at the Graduate Theological Union; Emeritus
Professor William Doty also studied with Waetjen in the 1960s.
The Department is particularly pleased that Prof. Waetjen
was able to join us, share some of his research, and renew
old acquaintances.
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Interested in reading an online article by Prof. Waetjen?
Then please see the following: "The
Origin of Jesus Christ: Matthew 1:1-25" or "The
Construction of the Way into a Reordering of Power: An Inquiry
into the Generic Conception of the Gospel according to Mark"
(PDF), Journal of Religion and Theology in Namibia, 2, 2000.
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As with all recent Religion
in Culture Lectures, Prof. Waetjen's visit was
made possible by funds from the College of Arts & Sciences'
Anonymous Lecture Fund for the Humanities.
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Prof. Trost, who organizes the Department's
public lectures, introduces Prof. Waetjen.
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Prof. Waetjen begins his lecture, "Power
Plays in the Gospel of Mark," concerning the social
and economic contexts of the ancient text
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REL graduates Mark Premo-Hopkins and Jeremy
Privett (middle) attended the
lecture. Mark, who also double majored in Communications,
plans to attend law school in the fall at The University
of Chicago and Jeremy is currently enrolled in The College
of Education here at The University of Alabama.
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A view of the recently refurbished Manly
207--the Department's main classroom. The lecture was attended
by people from across campus and the city.
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Among those attending was Rev. Ken Smith
of the Wesley Foundation (middle).
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Prof. Steve Jacobs who, along with Profs.
Trost and Doty, and REL students Josh McDonough, Matthew
Satcher, and John Parrish, attended lunch with Prof. Waetjen
at the University Club prior to the lecture.
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Waetjen's book is one of the three major
texts studied in Prof. Trost's "The Gospel of Mark" seminar
(REL 420). Pictured here are two seminar participants: Bethany
Powell (left) and Ryan Garner,
REL major (middle)
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Prof. Waetjen explaining the social context
of the Gospel stories.
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