Moravian Theological Seminary

Faculty Spotlight: Barbara Martell

szveteczm — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 17:07:23 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Barbara Martell

Barbara H. Martell, MS Ed, MA, MS
Adjunct Professor, Formative Spirituality & Spiritual Direction

Contemplative dialogue. Holy listening. Discernment. Wisdom practices.

These are a few of the areas that we delve deeply into in our Formative Spirituality and Spiritual Direction graduate programs at Moravian Theological Seminary (MTS). Our program methodology has been called by some as the “rigors of the heart.” This means that our focus is on integrating the heart with the head and the body to create wisdom.

I love the transformative nature of the Formative Spirituality courses. Few things bring us more delight than witnessing those moments when a student is “surprised by joy” and moves a little deeper into spiritual freedom. I also value that these programs are rooted in a love for the body and for the real world.

Altar created by Formative Spirituality students for a Peace Day worship. It is covered with saris from India.

Having been a spiritual director and supervisor of spiritual directors for 30 years I am noticing the current rapid growth of interest in both giving and receiving spiritual direction. Spiritual direction now embraces all faith traditions, cultures, and geographic locations. Students from the US, Canada, England, and Czechoslovakia have attended our classes.

We have had the good fortune to study with Lucy Abbot Tucker, Mathew Wright, and Nancy Bieber, who are all respected figures in our field. Most recently the students completed their second of two Wisdom School Retreats where they follow the Benedictine example of “ora et labora” or pray and work. We emerge from these contemplative experiences renewed and transformed.

In the words of C.S. Lewis in his famous book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, “Äslan is on the move” at MTS!

Faculty Spotlight: Brigidda Bell

szveteczm — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 16:18:46 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Brigidda Bell

Brigidda Bell, ABD
Instructor of New Testament

Twenty-one works of the New Testament are letters—what does that mean for how we read them? In my teaching, I favor projects that allow students the freedom to explore fundamental questions of a course in ways that more fully express their own interests and strengths.

In the fall semester, students in my Paul & the Spread of the Gospels course thought about the question of the nature of letters by composing works of historical fiction: letters written from the perspective of a follower of Paul. Some of the letters were written to Paul, others between Christ-followers who had heard of Paul’s teachings, others with memories of a departed Paul. Each considered what Paul’s thinking provided to these people living in his time, with their own individual lives and problems.

Each letter project started with an issue that the letter sought to address in relation to Paul’s thinking. In one letter, natural disaster had struck a town and the fictional author requested help in trying to understand her role as a Christ-follower in helping her kinsfolk who sought to appease what they understood to be angry gods. Through their work students discovered what it meant that Paul’s letters are occasional: they are written in response to a particular situation, not as theological treatises.

Each letter also delved into issues of historical context necessary for creating a persuasive work of historical fiction and better understanding the world of Paul. While all students started by examining the structure of an ancient letter, each project diverged in the kind of research necessary for their creative work. One project examined ancient Greek perspectives on sexuality against which to read Paul’s ideas in Romans. Another collected ancient ethnographic perspectives on Northern peoples that the Greeks deemed “barbarians” to consider the extent of inclusivity of Christ-groups.

Through immersing students in the particularities of the ancient world, including the occasional nature of letters, this project allowed students to develop the ability to read the New Testament epistles in new ways, paying critical attention to those to whom they were addressed and how that shaped their writing.

Faculty Spotlight: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

szveteczm — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:08:29 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, MSW, LSW
Director of Spirituality Programs
Director of Spiritual Direction Training Program

The sound of the singing bowl invites us … “Come into the presence of God; pause from your normal daily activity, notice your breath, and be right here … right in this very moment … the only moment where God can be found.”

Following this sacred pause, the small group is invited to notice how they arrive …

“Take a moment and do a gentle inner scan: How is it that you come today … how do you arrive?” A one word check-in is placed in the Zoom chat box. Words such as 'open,' 'tired,' 'eager,' 'pensive,' 'anxious,' and 'calm' begin to appear in the chat box.

Each of us honestly naming ourselves into the circle. “Welcome, welcome, welcome … each part of you, welcome,” I gently offer. “Be right where you are … no need to change anything. Where you are … is where God is.”

Each month when we gather for our two-hour Group Spiritual Companioning circle, this is how we begin.

Gently … honestly … opening up space as a group … together … and within ourselves. A pause in our normal daily activity, to listen to and for the ‘still small voice of God’… together. For the remainder of the two hours together we each take turns sharing honestly where we are finding God in our lives at the moment, or where we wish to find God. We pause between sharings for silence … listening for what God might want to share. Then we take turns offering our noticings. The two hours pass very quickly, as we are caught up in hearing the heart sharings of our companions on the journey.

Group Spiritual Companioning groups launched over this past year, a continuation of the vision of the Moravian Church, Northern Province, to offer a space for spiritual companionship and formation. Dave Bennett and Betsy Miller invited me to partner with the Moravian Church Northern Province, to continue the vision that began so many years ago in the Choir System of the 18th Century Moravians. This vision was reignited in 2014 by Rick Beck, Peg Griener, Linda Toggert, Bertie Knisley, and others who said ‘yes’ to the invitation to gather Moravians in intentional Group Spiritual Companioning groups. As Director of Spirituality Programs and the Spiritual Direction Training Program at Moravian Theological Seminary, my partnership with the Northern Province is a continuation of my passion to offer sacred space to listen deeply for the presence of God.

A participant in a Group Spiritual Companioning group shared what this experience has meant:
“Group Spiritual Companioning has been a safe harbor in an unpredictable journey these last several months. Marcella has welcomed us into space to 'be' and to 'be still' in community. Even in a virtual format, I have experienced the palpable relief of the group as we set aside the many tasks of the day to reconnect with the presence of God, that is with us and communicating with us always. I always leave the circle feeling hopeful. I leave more open to offering that same grace to others.”

If you are interested in participating in a Group Spiritual Companioning group, new groups will be launching again soon. Please send an email to kraybill-greggom@moravian.edu and/or speak with your pastor.

Faculty Spotlight: Deborah Appler

szveteczm — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 18:39:24 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Deborah Appler

Rev. Dr. Deborah A. Appler
Program Director for the Master of Arts in Chaplaincy
Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

God created a beautiful world and set humans, animals, and plants to living together in this paradise (Genesis 1–3). While the humans were expelled from this first garden (Eden), the Hebrew Bible sets humans in another garden described in the Song of Songs—a space of beauty and intimacy with ups and downs. Gardens are often places of hope and life in the Bible. The nourishment and healing that come from growing food and other plants, and the very act of working the land, especially in community, can provide healing of body and spirit.

 Those of us who have tended the Widow’s House Garden continue to experience such healing and camaraderie as we plant, weed, water, and laugh together every year. This garden seeks to re-create as much as possible the colonial Moravian Garden planted near its current location on South Campus. In addition, the process of growing this garden hones our gardening skills while we learn how the Moravians used herbs to heal their community (and Lafayette during the Revolutionary War!). This garden has also been an important part of my class SEBK760 God’s Gift of Creation: Sustainability, Economic & Food Justice in the Hebrew Bible, as well as my research on Jezebel, food justice, and food.

This past year, seminary volunteers (students, graduates, faculty, and staff) collaborated with the university’s Ecology Club, who planted and watered seedlings in May and tended them over the summer. This fall, during Heritage Day, several hearty volunteers from the university pulled weeds and planted bulbs for the spring along with a cover crop that will prepare the soil for next year. Since the creation of the Widow’s House Garden, many strong hands have gently tended the fruits of this soil. This November, we will begin to plan for next year’s garden. We welcome all interested in joining us to contact the seminary office or me at applerd@moravian.edu.

Meet Brigidda Zapata Bell, Assistant Professor of New Testament

szveteczm — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 16:28:48 +0000

Meet Brigidda Zapata Bell, Assistant Professor of New Testament

Brigidda Zapata Bell joined Moravian Theological Seminary in 2022 as Assistant Professor of New Testament. Bell defended her dissertation for her PhD from the University of Toronto this summer and previously taught at the Universities of Toronto, Calgary, and Alberta in Canada. Here, she shares with us how she’s settling into her first semester and the joys of bringing her multilingual Canadian-Ecuadorian background to her teachings for a unique global perspective.

What is your impression of the Moravian Seminary community so far?

I’ve been warmly welcomed into Moravian Theological Seminary, and I’m learning that hospitality is at the center of the community. Our communal kitchen has already seen several events this year, and it is filled with undergraduates at least once a week. While I understand it has been quieter than usual, I sense that community is valued and replenished in many creative forms.

How are you finding the remote/in-person hybrid schedule?

The emergency move to teaching remotely in 2020 posed huge challenges to instructors as we rethought our teaching, but since then I think many of us have learned that online teaching also presents distinct advantages for our students. Given that many of my students work day jobs, have children at home, and/or are in placements, logging into a classroom from home or jumping into office hours while on a lunch break has made learning much more accessible for them. At this point, half of my students are in the classroom and half of them attend the class online, but all of them participate actively in activities and discussions that are planned for the hybrid classroom.

What are you most looking forward to accomplishing in your first year teaching at Moravian Seminary?

I grew up in a bilingual English/Spanish household, and like so many bilingual Americans, I was still required to take that second language in school, although in my case the second language was English. I found it as dull as you would expect, but everything I know about English grammar I learned in my ELL [ESL] high school classes. That gave me a definite advantage when it came time to take on new languages in university. It also gave me a broader perspective on how languages could be taught in the classroom. I had a few amazing teachers who were both creative and gifted at language instruction. This will be the first year that I’m teaching entry-level ancient Greek in the classroom, and I’m hoping to re-create some of the wonder that I experienced in learning from my favorite language teachers.

How does your global perspective inform your teaching of the New Testament?

I am Canadian-Ecuadorian. My mother is from a small town in Northern Ontario, and my father was born in the mountains of Ecuador. I was born in Canada but spent most of my childhood in Ecuador, returning to Canada for university. This means that I traveled back and forth between North and South America a lot as a child and had to learn to navigate cultural differences and my own hybrid identity from a young age.

I am used to people telling me what they think I am based on how they perceive me—based on how I fit into their own worldview. Many of the categories that we use to make sense of the world assume singular perspectives. Those categories don’t allow for hybridity or complexity. I recall a moment in Ecuador in grade 3 when we were learning that countries had national languages, and the teacher called on me for an example. He asked what Canada’s national language was, and when I replied English and French, he said that was impossible, that I should pick one. I recall being confused, then embarrassed; I felt he was upset that I couldn’t answer the question correctly. I hang on to that example to this day because the right answer is both, but for some reason complexity felt threatening in that moment, in that classroom, to that teacher. And I hang on to that moment because it happened again and again in different classrooms and different places, when I presented complexity that stemmed from who I was and what I knew from my own diverse experiences.

The academic study of the New Testament began in 18th-century Germany and has a long and productive history of scholarship whose interests and questions reflect the time and place of its authors. We have inherited a rich set of categories from this tradition, but these largely stem from this singular perspective. Who I am informs the questions I ask in my scholarship, and I encourage my students to bring their whole selves to the table in engaging the Bible because the way they see the world will bring a different set of questions, more complexity, and added challenge to the discipline, and will greatly enrich their learning.

Tell us about the course you’re teaching this semester.

This semester I am teaching a class on Paul’s writings. Many of the things that we think we know about Paul stem from later Christian tradition and not from what Paul says in his own letters. As a historian, it is important to me that students read Paul’s work with an understanding of the social and historical context in which these texts were written. Our modern ideas about race as biological and static, for example, come from the 19th century, yet Paul’s comments about Jews and Gentiles in Christ are often employed to suggest the racial egalitarianism of a universal gospel. Thinking about ancient constructs of ethnicity and race as fluid and essential to identity changes how we understand Paul himself, as well as his words.

For this class, my students write letters of historical fiction to Paul that engage with a particular controversy or pastoral issue that they or their group is facing. This project requires students to dig deep into particular aspects of the ancient world (geography, environment, social life, ritual practice, the culture of letter writing!), but it also pushes them to grapple with the practical consequences of Paul’s thought as received by diverse people with complex identities and rich lives as imagined by them.

What has been your favorite aspect of living in the Lehigh Valley?

I moved [with her husband, Alex, and two young daughters] from the mountains of western Canada, which are absolutely breathtaking, but the winters are very long and cold, which makes the growing season quite short. I was thrilled to see how green it is in the valley and how much wildlife appears right in my backyard. I had missed the hum of cicadas in the summer and the sight of the monarchs migrating. I’m really looking forward to a true fall and watching the leaves change.

Faculty Spotlight: Riddick Weber

szveteczm — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 17:18:03 +0000

Faculty Spotlight: Riddick Weber

Rev. Dr. C. Riddick Weber
Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry
Director, Center for Moravian Studies

Riddick Weber was invited to record music that will be part of the upcoming 70th anniversary festivities for the Moravian Brass Band Union of South Africa (BBSA). Alex Hitzeroth arranged the music and will be editing together to individual recordings sent in by numerous musicians. This follows up on similar work Riddick participated in for the Moravian Music Foundation’s virtual Moravian Music Festival in the summer of 2021.

This past summer’s festival also had contributions from South African Moravians, as well as Moravians from many other parts of the Moravian world. Riddick will also be leading the Worship Ensemble at the 2022 Moravian Music Festival in Bethlehem, which will debut several new contemporary pieces written by Moravians.

Meet Ezekiel Kassanga MATS ’21

szveteczm — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 12:06:56 +0000

Meet Ezekiel Kassanga MATS ’21

Ezekiel Kassanga MATS ’21 with his MATS Thesis Advisor Dr. Audrey West (left) and MATS Thesis Reader Dr. Deborah Appler (right)

Ezekiel Kassanga, 39, from Tanzania, shares with us what it was like to complete his Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS) degree at Moravian Theological Seminary during a global pandemic, stay connected to his family, and details his graduate thesis which he successfully defended this August.

Describe your graduate thesis and how you came to be interested in that topic.

My thesis advocates for a gracious theological response to adolescent mothers’ education in Tanzania. For moral reasons, female students who get pregnant are expelled out of publicly-funded primary and secondary schools and refused re-entry. Unfortunately, the church supports the exclusion done by the government because pregnancies outside of wedlock—even those caused by rape—are regarded as sin. More than that, pregnant students and teen mothers who are Christians are also excommunicated from the church.

Although these teen mothers can regain their primary and secondary education through alternative education pathways like private schools or open schools outside the public school system, the church withdraws its support by viewing them as notorious offenders. I have interest in this topic because I realized (with the experience of teaching in rural areas for about ten years) that the girls are compelled into adolescent pregnancies and motherhood because of their marginalized life situation. They are overpowered by poverty, violence, harmful traditions, and other social and economic forces that compel them into adolescent sexuality leading to pregnancy and motherhood. So my thesis advocates for a gracious response to the plight of these unserved girls based on the teachings and life of Jesus.

How has your education at Moravian Theological Seminary shaped your career and overall perspective?

First and foremost, my education at Moravian Seminary has helped me to achieve the dream of acquiring theological education at a Moravian institution, which is an important tool for doing ministry. I feel well-equipped and prepared in areas of theology, ministry, and leadership. Also, the seminary education has enabled me to take further steps towards advancing my professional and career goals of becoming more acquainted with Moravian theology.

How would you describe the Moravian Seminary community?

For me, the Moravian Seminary community is one of the heritages of the global Moravian church. It is open to learners of all religious traditions and cultural backgrounds and embraces diversity. More than that, its resources and culture make it the best place for Moravian students from all regions around the world to explore, learn, and practice Moravian teachings depending on one’s professional and career goals.

How was your experience as an international student studying during the global pandemic? How did you keep in touch with your family (wife, Sweetbether, and daughters Keila, four, and Celine, ten)?

Many people didn’t easily trust me when I told them that I continued to sense the African communal life in the US even during the global pandemic. With the help of communication technology, I kept in touch with my family back home. For instance, on the internet I chatted and even prayed together with my family several times. Sometimes I was able to see my little girl doing her homework and assess what she learned at school. In addition, my professors, fellow students, my Moravian pastors, and Moravian brothers and sisters were very generous to me. I also appreciated the shift to online classes during the lockdown that enabled me to finish my program on time.

How do you plan to use your seminary education when you return to Tanzania? What are your long-term goals?

I plan to use my seminary education for teaching, especially in preparing future Moravian ministers in my country. My long-term goal is to advance my expertise in Moravian theology and history to the doctorate level.

Revolutionary Journey

amy — Wed, 09 May 2018 14:12:52 +0000

Revolutionary Journey

Dena leads service in Bathore, Albania.

Big Changes in Small Places:
Dena Fortuzi’s Journey with the Moravian Church in Albania

Albania is a small country in the Balkan Peninsula with a rich religious history. Historically, there have been two traditional churches: the Albanian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Five centuries of rule under the Ottoman Empire encouraged conversion to Islam. Most recently, from 1944 to 1991, Albania was controlled by a communist government that outlawed all forms of worship. In 1967, the Head of State, Enver Hoxha, declared Albania the world’s first atheist state. Preaching religion could result in imprisonment or death.

With the end of communism in 1991, religion was allowed again and missionaries from Europe and the US began arriving. In 1993, Danish missionaries met with a group of women and their children in homes for Bible study, singing, and prayer. In that group was Dena Fortuzi and her mother. This group was the seed for what is now the Lutheran Moravian Church of Albania (Kisha Luterane e Moraviane e Shqiperise). It is supported by two worldwide evangelistic churches: The Moravian Church and the Lutheran Church.

Over the years the church grew (approximately 300 members now), and in 2010 the church became a part of the Moravian Church European Province. Dena grew with the church and is now a leader of young people, a board member, and a leader in the church. Dena continues to grow, hearing a call to be a minister and then, after four years of prayer, taking steps toward that call.

In fall 2016, Dena began taking classes at Moravian Seminary as a distance learner. As many do, she had first day jitters. She wondered how she’d feel. She was concerned she’d “feel like a stranger.” Professor Craig Atwood immediately put her at ease, announcing, “Just so you know, in this class the answer to every question is ‘Jesus.’” In spring 2017, Dena was awarded The Herman T. Frueauff Memorial Prize in Moravian History. She shares that she was excited to win the prize, but “it wasn’t about the prize . . . it was about the whole journey.”

And the journey is ongoing. The Seminary has been working with leaders of the European Province to develop the academic program for Dena’s Certificate in Moravian Studies to undergird her ordination. In addition, Dena receives financial support for her academic work from Seminary scholarships for international students and from the Home Moravian Church Albanian Task Force and the Moravian Unity Women’s Board.

Dena shares that the Moravian Church will be the first church in Albania to ordain women, and that she is on the journey toward being the first woman pastor ordained in Albania: “I will be strong because I have a strong God.”

Video Transcript
"Last fall, I started studying Moravian theology in Bethlehem in Pennsylvania at the Moravian Theological Seminary and I was a distance learner.

I was very worried before the first class because, of course--a new experience, I didn’t know how I would feel. I was concerned of feeling a stranger, yeah. But again God helped me overcome this concern. Because during the first class, Craig said, “Just for you to know, the answer in this class is always Jesus.” So this was enough to make me overcome the worry and since that day I have been looking so much forward to every coming class.

This spring, I studied Moravian History, again with Professor Craig Atwood, and to my surprise and great happiness also, I was awarded the best student prize in Moravian History. It was a real surprise. And it was not about the prize, but it was about the whole journey because it has been a great experience. It has been touching, it has been . . . In terms of knowledge, I have I feel so much grown. And this year has contributed so much for my spiritual growth. And I will always be so thankful to Craig Atwood because he has been amazing in the way that he transmitted me both knowledge and what I had need for in terms of answering my call of becoming a minister.

The Moravian Church is a living church and I know this by now. It’s not that I didn’t know this before a year ago, but I now know for sure. It is a church that inspires me, a church that gives me motivation and it is there that I find myself."

Revealing Relationships

amy — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 20:09:47 +0000

Revealing Relationships

Professor Rev. Dr. Craig Atwood & Grace Hochella

Grace sharing her gift of singing during
one of our weekly chapel services.

Scholarship funding is what enables Grace Hochella to be a chaplaincy student at MTS. But that is only part of the story.

Bach Choir auditions brought Grace to the Lehigh Valley from Washington NJ twenty years ago. The equity actress and singer, who had toured the country for several years hoping for a break, was now expecting her first child. So she left the theater and took a job as a soloist and cantor in a church, a job that she could work around caring for her newborn daughter. She sang in church. She sang Bach cantatas. She sang to her newborn daughter and life was good.

Then the diagnosis came. Her newborn had health challenges that would require cardiac surgery as a 4-year-old. Life became a constant stream of hospital stays and doctor visits. And Grace began a decades-long argument with God. Nothing she heard in the hymns, liturgy or preaching of the church helped her make sense of what she saw and experienced in the pediatric ICU.

Over the years caring for her sick child, Grace learned various home care and nursing skills which developed into an LPN certificate and eventually employment as a visiting nurse with Lehigh Valley Health Network. As she cared for her patients, she learned to value their stories and the relationship that built between them. “In talking with elderly, homebound folks, there is more going on than simply a disease process,” Grace observes. “There’s an underlying cultural dynamic of isolation. Often there is a need not only to do treatment but to validate their life and worth.” Grace was beginning to hear a call to a caring ministry that went beyond medical procedures. But it would be two more years before she could put language to that calling. It came through a radio ad on WDIY announcing Moravian Seminary’s new Chaplaincy degree.

Grace is now in her second semester of the Masters of Arts in Chaplaincy program. “Seminary classes have given me a way to explain what I felt was missing in all my early experience with the church. It’s all about relationships. It is not about what I can offer to people. I am a portal—an opportunity to allow others to tell what is important and of concern to them. And in the midst of that sharing, there is healing. And all of that comes from God and is surrounded by God.”

Among the things that she is currently thankful for, Grace observes, “I can go to school and only have to work part-time because of the financial support that many have given over the years. Because of the scholarship funds, I have been given this terrific opportunity to pursue God’s calling in my life.”

Look for Grace playing the tuba or trombone at Central Moravian Church, or in her Visiting Nurse uniform, or as the harpist playing for patients at the St. Luke’s Hospice faculty in Bethlehem. And soon, look for Chaplain Grace.

Revolutionary Companion

bonnie — Tue, 20 Dec 2016 23:29:37 +0000

Revolutionary Companion

Bob Rapp, Crossroads '13

Bob Rapp came to Moravian Seminary’s Crossroads Lay Leadership program to explore. He had just started working through United Church of Christ’s licensure program after a career as a trucker when he heard about Crossroads. It seemed like something he should investigate, and so he did. From the first class, he says, “I felt safe, and that’s such an important part of the program.” It is that sense of safety that he embodies and that he takes out into his work with some of most invisible members of our communities, homeless veterans.

He takes what he has learned and experienced in Crossroads as well as what he knows is true about himself—that he is a hands-on guy, that he was an Army Brat as a kid and knows the military lifestyle, that he sees the preciousness of life everywhere, that he is a follower of Jesus, that he has a vision for possibilities.

Rapp does street-outreach work for Hope for Veterans, a non-profit organization that provides housing and services to homeless veterans. Rapp’s job is to look for homeless veterans—in alleys, under bridges, out in the woods. When he finds someone, his next step is to be with them wherever they are until they feel safe enough to trust him, and then he helps them get into the Hope for Veterans program.

For some vets, the movement into the program occurs quickly, with others it is a longer journey that can take years. For Bob, the work is all about taking the experience of community he gained in the Crossroads program out into the world. His mission, he explains, is to foster what’s possible by working together. “A lot of people do tremendous stuff,” he says, “and we need to share that.”

Moravian Theological Seminary

Faculty Spotlight: Barbara Martell

Faculty Spotlight: Barbara Martell

Barbara H. Martell, MS Ed, MA, MS Adjunct Professor, Formative Spirituality & Spiritual Direction

Altar created by Formative Spirituality students for a Peace Day worship. It is covered with saris from India.

Faculty Spotlight: Brigidda Bell

Faculty Spotlight: Brigidda Bell

Brigidda Bell, ABD Instructor of New Testament

Faculty Spotlight: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Faculty Spotlight: Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, MSW, LSW Director of Spirituality Programs Director of Spiritual Direction Training Program

Faculty Spotlight: Deborah Appler

Faculty Spotlight: Deborah Appler

Rev. Dr. Deborah A. Appler Program Director for the Master of Arts in Chaplaincy Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

Meet Brigidda Zapata Bell, Assistant Professor of New Testament

Meet Brigidda Zapata Bell, Assistant Professor of New Testament

What is your impression of the Moravian Seminary community so far?

How are you finding the remote/in-person hybrid schedule?

What are you most looking forward to accomplishing in your first year teaching at Moravian Seminary?

How does your global perspective inform your teaching of the New Testament?

Tell us about the course you’re teaching this semester.

What has been your favorite aspect of living in the Lehigh Valley?

Faculty Spotlight: Riddick Weber

Faculty Spotlight: Riddick Weber

Rev. Dr. C. Riddick Weber Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry Director, Center for Moravian Studies

Meet Ezekiel Kassanga MATS ’21

Meet Ezekiel Kassanga MATS ’21

Describe your graduate thesis and how you came to be interested in that topic.

How has your education at Moravian Theological Seminary shaped your career and overall perspective?

How would you describe the Moravian Seminary community?

How was your experience as an international student studying during the global pandemic? How did you keep in touch with your family (wife, Sweetbether, and daughters Keila, four, and Celine, ten)?

How do you plan to use your seminary education when you return to Tanzania? What are your long-term goals?

Revolutionary Journey

Revolutionary Journey

Revealing Relationships

Revealing Relationships

Revolutionary Companion

Revolutionary Companion

Barbara H. Martell, MS Ed, MA, MS
Adjunct Professor, Formative Spirituality & Spiritual Direction

Brigidda Bell, ABD
Instructor of New Testament

Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, MSW, LSW
Director of Spirituality Programs
Director of Spiritual Direction Training Program

Rev. Dr. Deborah A. Appler
Program Director for the Master of Arts in Chaplaincy
Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

Rev. Dr. C. Riddick Weber
Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry
Director, Center for Moravian Studies