Goesse Recipient of Father Norman White Memorial Scholarship
University of Dubuque Welcomes Students for 2010-2011 Academic Year
University of Dubuque Aviation Programs Retain International Accreditation
P. Mark Achtemeier
“We cannot love God deeply without knowing God deeply, and it is this deep knowledge of God in the service of love that is the goal of the church’s theological enquiry. Theology is not an end in itself, as though our own intellectual constructions were the point of it all. Theology seeks rather to point us truly and faithfully in love and awe and reverence beyond itself, toward communion with the living God. This transforming communion with God in Christ in the power of the Spirit is the deep center of the church’s life from which all authentic ministry is nourished, vitalized and empowered.” A native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mark Achtemeier worked for a time for a data-processing firm before pursuing service in the church. He was ordained in the PC(USA) in 1984, and served a pastorate in Wilmington, North Carolina for a number of years before coming to teach at Dubuque. He is a clergy spouse; his wife pastors First Prebyterian Church, Dubuque. Dr. Achtemeier is very active in church renewal work in the PC(U.S.A.) and the broader ecumenical context, speaking and writing extensively in support of that work. He is the author with Andrew Purves of Union in Christ: A Declaration for the Church, and A Passion for the Gospel: Confessing Jesus Christ for the 21st Century. He serves as a member of the Presbyterian General Assembly’s Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, and has research interests in the doctrine of the Trinity, Christology, and the relation of Christian faith to the natural sciences. |