VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/27/13)—Dan Brockway has been awarded the ABCUSA Theological Fellowship for 2013 by the Emerging Theologians Task Force for American Baptist Churches USA. Brockway is a Ph.D. at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, focusing in Systematic Theology with a minor in Theology and Culture, expecting to graduate in 2015.
The purpose of the American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) Theological Fellowship is to foster emerging theologians who desire to make significant contributions to ABCUSA life through their scholarship, work, and ministry. The ABCUSA Theology Fellow (2013) is considered to be an outstanding, emerging theologian, currently engaged in doctoral studies (Th.D. or Ph.D. only) within the fields of religion, biblical studies, or theological studies who shows promise and commitment to the life of the denomination. The first recipient of the Fellowship was Amy Chilton Thompson in 2011.
As thedenomination’s Theology Fellow, Brockway will be presenting a paper at the ABCUSA Theology Conference, a pre-Mission Summit/Biennial event to be held June 20, 2013, at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas, entitled “Baptists and the Spirit: Living into God’s Future.” He has also been awarded a bursary that will cover his expenses for attending the event.
“I grew up in an American Baptist church and am currently pursuing ordination with the denomination. It is my firm belief that ABCUSA is uniquely equipped to contribute to the global theological roundtable. We are one of the most ethnically and theologically diverse expressions of Christianity in the West; our comfort with otherness has been proven through years of missional engagement across the globe,” said Brockway.
“Mr. Brockway’s outstanding application showed his commitment to the theological life of the denomination in scholarship and ministry. The Emerging Theologians Task Force looks forward to the contributions we expect that he will make throughout the years,” said Jennifer W. Davidson, Ph.D., chair of the Emerging Theologians Task Force and assistant professor of Worship and Theology at American Baptist Seminary of the West.
Before his Ph.D. studies, Brockway received a Master of Divinity, concentrating on Theology, from Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Media from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
“My work in systematic theology is driven by a call to teach,” said Brockway. “I am currently pursuing that calling by working as a Teaching Assistant and Field Education Advisor at Fuller Theological Seminary. My goal is to eventually serve as a theology professor at the undergraduate level of an American Baptist college or university. I want to invest in the future leaders of our churches—not only clergy, but doctors, lawyers, and artists—sharing my love of theology with students while opening their eyes to a God and a church that is more expansive and diverse than they might realize.”
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.