NOBTS Spanish program experiences rapid success
By Timothy Cockes, NOBTS
NEW ORLEANS (BP) — Another result of the record-setting fundraising success New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) has recently experienced is the establishment of the seminary’s online Spanish program.
NOBTS officially launched the program in the fall of 2021 as a shift from offering Spanish education at a campus extension center.
Instead of one physical location, degrees at the undergraduate and graduate level can now be earned fully in Spanish from anywhere in the world through live-taught online classes.
The program allows Spanish-speaking students to interact with professors and classmates via online video conferencing, while also allowing students the flexibility to watch recorded lectures at their own convenience.
The program started off small, with seven graduate students and 15 undergraduate students during its first semester.
This semester, the program has around 140 students, with almost 100 of those students being in the undergraduate program and the remainder being in the graduate program.
Among current students, more than 10 different states and five different nations are represented.
Fabio Castellanos, director of Spanish online education at NOBTS, said the rest of the seminary has been incredibly supportive of the new program.
“God has been so merciful with us,” Castellanos said. “The seminary has been very supportive. The Caskey Center has been supportive in offering opportunities for Hispanic pastors to have scholarships.
“It has been a kind of team effort within the seminary to support the Spanish program. The result has been great. We have been growing little by little. It has been a great blessing to see the first fruits of this.”
This past spring, the Spanish program celebrated its first-ever graduating class of seven students from the master’s program.
Several of these students, including some from outside the country, traveled to New Orleans to attend graduation on campus. Many of these students met their classmates, Castellanos and other professors for the first time in person.
One of those students, Alvaro Pardo, described the Spanish program as a “gift.”
“It (the program) provided the flexibility to study at my own pace, which was crucial for balancing my responsibilities,” Pardo said. “But beyond that, the program’s content was exceptional, and the professors, who were truly passionate about their subject, made every class a rich experience.
“Studying the Bible in Spanish felt like coming home. Being able to delve into the Scriptures in my native language allowed me to connect with the text and my peers on a much deeper level.”
Duvy Guzman, another student from the graduating class, said his experience with the program was “exceptional.”
“From the very beginning, I felt supported by both the professors and my classmates,” Guzman said.
“The course content was deep, relevant, and always pushed me to improve, allowing me to grow not only intellectually but also spiritually. Studying in my native language enriched the experience even more, enabling me to connect with the materials on a very personal level. I not only learned from the professors but also from my classmates … I felt that we were all on this spiritual and academic journey together, which was very rewarding and left me with experiences and knowledge I will always treasure.
“I am deeply grateful for the quality and effort that the seminary dedicates to each class, making every student feel valued and an integral part of the community.”
Guzman said attending graduation in the spring was “an unforgettable experience.”
“Visiting the NOBTS campus felt like coming home, a place where I was able to meet in person the professors and classmates with whom I had shared so much during my studies,” Guzman said.
To learn more about the NOBTS Spanish program, click here.
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SWJT names ‘Mere Christian Hermeneutics’ its 2024 Book of the Year
By Karen Garcia, SWBTS
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) — “Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically” by Kevin J. Vanhoozer has been chosen as the 2024 Book of the Year by the Southwestern Journal of Theology (SWJT) in the fifth annual edition of the honors, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) President David S. Dockery announced Dec. 2.
The award recognizes a top overall Book of the Year and the top books in 12 categories related to various academic disciplines. Books are nominated by the residential faculty of Southwestern Seminary and Texas Baptist College, the seminary’s undergraduate school. Dockery and Malcolm B. Yarnell III, editor of the Southwestern Journal of Theology and research professor of theology, coordinate the process, which also identifies books that receive honorable mention commendations in each category.
“The Southwestern Seminary faculty members have made excellent choices related to the 2024 Book of the Year awards, a process coordinated by the Southwestern Journal of Theology,” Dockery said. “Faculty members from all five schools joined together to offer their insights regarding 2024 publications in various fields of study such as Biblical and theological studies, church history, apologetics and Christian worldview, worship, ministry studies, education and counseling, as well as evangelism and missions. The process reflects the wide-ranging engagement of the Southwestern faculty with the best of Christian scholarship.”
“It is our hope that the recommendations will be helpful to students, pastors, and church leaders,” he added. “We offer hearty congratulations to those recognized in each category. Particularly, we salute Kevin Vanhoozer for his brilliant, award-winning work on Mere Christian Hermeneutics.”
Dockery edited “Confident Witness: Evangelism and Apologetics for the 21st Century,” which took the top prize in the Evangelism/Missions/Global Church category. He and Yarnell co-wrote “Special Revelation and Scripture,” which was awarded an honorable mention in the Theological Studies category.
Other faculty-authored or faculty-edited books that received honorable mention awards included “Criswell: His Life and Times” by Chancellor O.S. Hawkins, which received an honorable mention in the Baptist Studies category; “1 & 2 Chronicles: A Commentary for Biblical Preaching and Teaching,”co-authored by Joshua E. Williams, professor of Old Testament and director of Research Doctoral Studies, and Southwestern alumnus Calvin F. Pearson, adjunct professor in pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary’s Houston campus, which received an honorable mention in the Biblical Studies category; and “Ancient Wisdom for the Care of Souls: Learning the Act of Pastoral Ministry from the Church Fathers,” co-authored by Coleman M. Ford, assistant professor of humanities at Texas Baptist College, and Shawn J. Wilhite, associate professor of New Testament at California Baptist University, awarded an honorable mention in the Preaching/Ministry/Leadership category.
