COURTESY: GST Facebook
Saturday, April 12, the formerly known Graduate School of Theology held its 30th anniversary celebration on West Campus, inviting alumni, faculty, staff and academicians from other universities.
During the gala dinner celebration held in UTCC, the dean of the Graduate School of Theology announced that the school will now be known as Azusa Pacific Seminary.
“The reality is we’ve always trained students like a seminary, but we decided that we wanted a better way to convey what we do,” said Don Thorsen, chair of the Department of Theology and Ethics.
The name change was decided after nine months of planning, according to Thorsen.
“Seminaries are usually independent, and graduate theology programs are usually within larger schools,” Thorsen said. “But we wanted a name to better convey what we do, which is a seminary program, to potential students and everyone else.”
Earlier in the day, the celebration included a book sale and signing in Heritage Court, featuring “Strength to be Holy,” an anthology written and compiled by present and past members of the seminary’s faculty that “reflects the Wesleyan Holy tradition,” said Thorsen, who edited the anthology.
Other faculty members who were present to sign their publications included professor in the Department of Theology, John E. Hartley, chair of the Department of Advanced Studies and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program, Gary Black Jr., and professor of Graduate Biblical Studies, Karen Strand Winslow.
The 30th Anniversary Celebration also included a photographic exhibit of the school’s last 30 years, displayed at the Duke Art Gallery.
A topical panel featured the school’s last three deans and current dean, T. Scott Daniels, Ph.D. Thorsen, who has been at APU for 26 years, moderated the panel discussion on “The Importance of Theological Education in the Weslyan Holiness Tradition.”
According to Thorsen, Les Blank. Ph.D., founding dean of the Graduate School of Theology was not able to attend the celebration. Blank, who founded the graduate school in 1983, could not attend due to poor health.
The keynote speaker, Leonard Sweet, spoke during the gala dinner which featured music from APU’s String Quartet and the Korean Choral Group.
“I’ve been a fan of what God has been doing there for the last 30 years,” said Sweet a theologian, author and futurist. Sweet said he previously taught a two-day intensive at APU’s San Diego regional center on semiotics, or the study of “reading the signs of the times.”
Sweet explained that Jesus told Christians to “read the signs of the times.”
“I raise people up to be part of the Tribe of Issachar (ancient tribe of Israel) to read the signs of the times and to be able to see what is going to happen in the future,” Sweet said.