Archive for October, 2016

Student Spotlight

by   |  10.17.16  |  Students

Zane Witcher is a first year GST residential student, was recently highlighted in myACU News. The article begins,

“Zane Witcher delivered his first sermon when he was 14 years old. His grandparents attended a small church of 20 people, and they needed a preacher for a Sunday service. He said that first sermon was “rough,” but soon not only his grandparents but other churches were asking him to preach.”  Read the full story here.

Carmichael-Walling Lectures

by   |  10.07.16  |  Announcements

You are invited to join us for the inauguration of ACU’s Center for the Study of Ancient Religious Texts and the 30th annual Carmichael-Walling Lectures at Abilene Christian University on Thursday, Nov. 3.

Father Justin of Sinai will give the Carmichael-Walling Lectures –Encounters in the Desert: Holy Books and Sacred Texts – as part of an inaugural celebration featuring special events, distinguished speakers, and an opportunity to see rare book and manuscript treasures.

Schedule: 

  • 10 a.m.: Father Justin (St. Catharine’s Monastery) — “Illustrating the Ladder of Divine Ascent: An Illuminated Manuscript of a Spiritual Classic (Sinai Greek 418)”
  • 1 p.m.: Dr. Mark Hamilton (Abilene Christian University) — “Who’s Afraid of Ancient Texts? Rediscovering Old Words for a New Era”
  • 2 p.m.: “Texts as Teachers: Reports on Current Scholarship at ACU” (CSART researchers)
  • 4 p.m.: Father Justin, “Newly Recovered Manuscripts of the Scriptures from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai”
  • 7 p.m.: Father Justin, “‘For Moses Wrote of Me’: Reflections From Mount Sinai”
  • 8 p.m.: CSART reception

In collaboration with the Museum of the Bible and the Special Collections and Archives of ACU’s Brown Library, a select number of rare books and ancient manuscripts will be on display.

Father Justin (pictured at left, top) is librarian in the Monastery of St. Catharine at Mount Sinai, Egypt, one of the oldest Christian institutions in the world. He studies and cares for some of the most important manuscripts and artifacts in existence anywhere.

Mark Hamilton (pictured at left, bottom) serves as the Onstead Professor of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University. He is the author or editor of numerous books and articles focusing on Israelite conceptions of society within their ancient Near Eastern context, as well as on biblical theology.

Lectures are free, open to the public and will take place in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building on ACU’s campus. For more information, contact Jeff Childers at childersj@acu.edu. More »

Our Spiritual Worship

by   |  10.05.16  |  Uncategorized

Our Spiritual Worship

ACU Graduate Chapel – 9/14/16

Judy Siburt

In 1967 my husband, Charles Siburt, and I came to ACU for graduate school to prepare for ministry to the church. I earned a Masters in Education/ School Counseling and Charlie an M.Div. While here I taught school, and Charlie preached in Lingleville over by Stephenville. We were rich students….we had no idea how rich our time at ACU truly was and how it would change our lives forever. We had the experience of studying under the likes of: Lemoine Lewis, Abraham Malherbe, Everett Ferguson, Carl Spain, Tom Olbricht, John Willis and others.

New worlds opened to us. We were taught how to think, how to learn, and how to develop the life of the mind. It allowed us to make lifelong relationships with people who shared our calling, our values, and our commitment to ministry. We began to form a “good” theology that included knowing and enjoying God and training ourselves so the communities where we would contribute would flourish.

You students are answering the same call to ministry we responded to almost 50 years ago. You are learning what it means to truly live out spiritual worship. You get to talk about God. You are challenged to learn from others who have thought about God, read about God, and spoken about God over the centuries. You get to dialogue daily with contemporaries who also have committed to live out God’s good and pleasing will for their lives.

As one who has experienced this process as the wife and ministry partner of the late Charles Siburt, as one who has raised two sons who both sat where you are today as M.Div. students, I can assure you the process of “renewing your minds,” More »