This article is from the EMU News Archive. The approximate date of publication was in April 2005. Current EMU news is available at www.emu.edu/news

2005 Seminary Commencement

Eastern Mennonite Seminary will hold its 56th annual commencement 3 p.m. Saturday, Apr. 30, in Lehman Auditorium on the EMU campus. The baccalaureate and commencement services are open to the public.

J. Nelson Kraybill, president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., will give the commencement address during the ceremonies. EMS dean Ervin R. Stutzman will preside and confer degrees or certificates on the 28 members of the seminary class of 2005. The seminary will award 19 master of divinity degrees, one master of arts in religion degree and three master of arts in church leadership degrees. Five persons will receive the certificate in ministry studies.

A baccalaureate service planned by the graduating class will be held 7:30 p.m. Friday, Apr. 29, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building. Graduating seniors will share vignettes of how they have experienced Christ’s transforming light throughout their seminary career. A reception for seminary graduates, their relatives and friends will immediately follow the baccalaureate in the seminary fellowship area.

Dr. Kraybill has been AMBS president since 1997. Earlier, he taught high school in Puerto Rico, pastored a church in Vermont and was program director at the London Mennonite Centre in England. A frequent speaker in congregational and conference settings, he has taught widely on issues of mission, allegiance, early church and the book of Revelation.

A graduate of Goshen (Ind.) College, Kraybill received a masters degree from Princeton (NJ) Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va. In addition to articles in various publications, he is the author of "Miscarriage: A Quiet Grief," co-authored with his wife Ellen G. Kraybill (Herald Press, 1990), "Imperial Cult and Commerce in John's Apocalypse (Sheffield Academic Press, 1996) and "On the Pilgrim's Way: Conversations on Christian Discipleship During a Twelve-Day Walk Across England" (Herald Press, 1999).

-article by Jim Bishop