Sabbatical!

I'm really excited to say that I'm about to start on a 3 month period of study on the theology of adoption.  I'll be blogging through this sabbatical study period, both to help process my thinking but also to keep up to speed the awesome congregation who are so graciously affording me the time.  Here are the details:

As any of the four people who have read this blog know, our family’s experience of pursuing an adoption was a transformative one.  Not only was it an enormously stressful two years, but it was one of profound spiritual growth.  God used the process of adoption to open my eyes to the biblical concept of adoption and I began to investigate this biblical theme to great benefit both personally and vocationally.  I became aware of a doctoral seminar on the doctrine of adoption was offered at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.  I applied and was accepted as a Special Student. 

I’m really looking forward to digging deep into the theology, but I also plan to use the time to do some writing, both academic and personal.  I have been encouraged by many people to share our adoption story and the theological insights it brought to light.  What will come of it?  The greatest work of theology written in the twenty-first century!  Or, something less.  Who knows.  But, I couldn’t realistically make much progress on any kind of similar project in the midst of daily pastoral work, so I'm immensely grateful to my church for giving me time away to sharpen my understanding of the theology of adoption, reflect theologically on the last couple years, do some writing, and also, welcome a baby that's coming in March!

If you're interested in following along you are welcome!