Adam Neder (2004-present) assistant professor of theology
For me, this year was an interesting contrast between two semesters. The fall was extraordinarily full, since I taught World Religions for the first time, served on two search committees, and went through the pre-tenure process. Yet despite the workload, it proved to be a fruitful semester. We hired two excellent people (Jonathan Moo in Bible and Chad Carmichael in philosophy), and teaching the World Religions course was especially rewarding.

After teaching Theology and Film in Jan Term, I had a one-course release in the spring, which meant that the chaos of the fall was replaced by a more sane and deliberate pace, for which I was grateful. The extra time allowed me to write, to begin planning a book project, and to spend a lot of time with students outside of class. Fall 2004 was my first semester at Whitworth, which means that I arrived here along with this year's senior class. Seeing them graduate was especially poignant -- both because of how proud I am of so many of them and because I know how much I'm going to miss having them around.

This summer I will speak at a few places -- at Whitworth Institute of Ministry, at Camp Spalding, and at youth conferences in Jekyll Island, Ga., and South Padre Island, Texas. I'll also work on a couple of articles, read Anna Karenina for the first time, and spend a lot of time swimming and playing ping-pong and soccer with Janet, Claire and Mary. Janet continues to enjoy directing the children's ministry program at Colbert Presbyterian Church, and Mary and Claire love attending Evergreen Elementary.

Next January, Jim and Janie Edwards and I will lead the Reformation and German church struggle study program. I could hardly be more excited about this trip, and I'm sure that it will be the highlight of the upcoming academic year for me.