The Rev. Dr. Ted Zimmerman ’69 will be at Gustavus Adolphus College for a weeklong residency to deliver a series of “Transfiguration Talks” at daily and Sunday chapel services from Thursday, Feb. 19 to Tuesday, Feb. 24.
The Transfiguration Talks at Gustavus have a long tradition. In 1986, religion professor Robert Esbjornson ’43, who was then also serving as interim chaplain for the College, started the tradition when he invited alumnus Thomas Anderson ’63, then pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco, to his alma mater to speak. Each year since then, the Chaplains’ Office has invited a different alumni minister to participate in the worship life of the College through these weeklong “Transfiguration Talks.”
Zimmerman was born in Beijing, China, and spent much of his youth in Hong Kong before enrolling at Gustavus in 1965. He went on to seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, earning an M.Div. degree in 1974. After serving congregations in Tennessee and Taiwan, Zimmerman moved back to St. Paul where he earned a Th.D. degree from Luther Seminary. Upon receiving his doctoral degree in 1993, he and his family moved to Hong Kong, where he has taught New Testament and Greek at the Lutheran Theological Seminary for the past 15 years.
Zimmerman will center his chapel talks on the theme of “Mission in the 21st Century” with a focus on China and Hong Kong. His residency will also compliment the College’s Global Insight program, which is spending the 2008-09 academic year focusing on China, its people, culture, and politics.
The schedule for Zimmerman’s talks in Christ Chapel is as follows:
- Thursday, Feb. 19 / “The Midwest and China: Our Mission Roots” / 10 a.m.
- Friday, Feb. 20 / “Greater China: The Scene Today” / 10 a.m.
- Sunday, Feb. 22 / “Transfiguration: Mountaintop and Valley” / 10:30 a.m.
- Monday, Feb. 23 / “Hong Kong Today: Crossroads of East and West” / 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Feb. 24 / “The Call: God’s Mission in All Directions” / 10 a.m.
For more information about Zimmerman’s residency at Gustavus, contact the Chaplains’ Office at 507-933-7446.
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