Rev. Charles Vincent Shemwell, pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Johnson City, TN, has successfully defended his Master of Sacred Theology (STM) thesis at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne (CTSFW). Congratulations!
His thesis was entitled, “The Hero of Enlightenment Stood on his Head: A Study of the Eighteenth-century Struggle against Traditional Lutheran Catechesis and Johann Georg Hamann’s Defense in Three Socratic Texts.” The thesis was supervised by colleague Dr. Roland Ziegler (thesis advisor) and reviewed by the readers of the thesis committee, Prof. John Pless and Dr. Gifford Grobien. Getting into rather tough and challenging German primary sources of Hamann, even for the German natives, Vincent has masterfully presented Hamann’s apologia of the traditional catechesis when the passivity of catechumen, particularly represented by the question-and-answer format of Luther’s catechism, was being replaced by instructions that highlighted the use of reason. This thesis engages in the philosophical background of the past centuries that had helped move the church’s catechetical tradition away from the rhythm of God’s speaking/our hearing, and His gifts giving/our being given to of His gifts. It was refreshing to know more about Johann Georg Hamann. Another superb study and STM thesis. STM program is very proud of Vincent’s scholarly achievement for the sake of the church. Once again, congratulations!
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