Director/Faculty in Practices of Ministry Position Announcement

On Thursday, my mom and dad told me about this job at a Lutheran seminary.  My mom's cousin is a dean at a different Lutheran seminary, and she heard about this job opening, thought of me, and told my mom.  My parents think I would be perfect for the job.

So do I, if it's the job I want it to be.  The announcement is written so broadly that I could make it be any number of jobs.

The link ot the Global Preaching Initiative website at the bottom of the announcement intrigues me. I'll be interested to hear what the Seminary plans to do in conjunction with this initiative.  Or will that be part of the Director's job, to provide vision and leadership for this initiative?

I have a Ph.D. in British literature, not in theology or other related subjects.  My Ph.D. may be the dealbreaker for a search committee.  If they hired me, I'd be the only faculty member with a non-theology degree.

I think about my evidence of scholarly potential.  My publishing record is very eclectic, to say the least.  I've written articles for The Lutheran and I've been a regular blogger for the Living Lutheran site.  But I haven't done scholarly publishing much of any kind, and the little bit that I've done has been about literature, not theology.  So, when I look at my CV, I see evidence of potential, but I don't know if it's the kind of evidence that a job search committee would want to see.

I have a lot of non-academic training in areas which I suspect the Director of Practices of Ministry would need to have, but no official degrees or official training. I can offer a valuable perspective as someone with decades of experience but as a lay leader, not a pastor.

Part of me agrees with my parents that I should apply, just to see what happens.  Part of me doesn't want to waste anyone's time.  If I could find out that my Ph.D. in English isn't good enough, that would answer some questions.  Perhaps the next step is to send an e-mail with that very question ("Is a Ph.D. in English enough?") to the dean who is chairing the search.

Stay tuned!