Whitworth Theology Department Annual Newsletter 2026

A message from Department Chair Haley Jacob

Dear friends of the Whitworth Theology Department,

What a wonderful 2025-26 academic year it has been! As always, our theology majors spent the year thinking deeply about life's critical questions, learning biblical narratives and languages, and building lasting relationships with one another that will carry them well beyond their time at Whitworth. We are grateful for the ways in which our students have poured so much of themselves into their studies and relationships this year, and we are honored to have been asked to join in the good work that God is doing in their lives. Below is a taste of the adventures and events that filled our social calendars this year, as well as information about our student achievements and theology graduates.

Department Events and Highlights

• Ice Cream Social: We launched the 2025-26 academic year with ice cream! Theology majors and faculty gathered in the courtyard to the Beeksma Family Theology Center and shared about their summers of work and adventure. It's always great to reconnect after a summer apart!
  

  
  

• Third Annual Backpack Trip: The theology department adventured once again into the woods of the Idaho panhandle. Fourteen students and four faculty spent a night at Upper Priest Lake. In their packs, students carried all the essentials and plenty of non-essentials: hammocks, decks of cards, fly rods and even watercolor paint sets for capturing the views. Watching students build friendships; learn new skills; and have conversations about theology, Scripture and life reminds us that we, as faculty, truly do have the best job in the world.
  

  

• S'more Theology Bonfire: In October, we held our annual S'more Theology Bonfire in Pirates Cove. As usual, it was a wonderful time of hearing from theology students and faculty, and welcoming students interested in the major.
  

  

• Gingerbread House Competition
  

  

• Donut Day: Spring Term Kickoff.
  

  

• Senior Sendoff Picnic: In late April, faculty and five graduating seniors gathered to share a final meal and memories together at Jonathan Moo's house. Students shared their favorite highlight from their time at Whitworth, their immediate plans for after graduation, and how we (and you!) can pray for them. See their responses below! We will miss having them in our classes and offices, but wish them every blessing on their paths ahead. 
  

  

Student Achievements

• Senior Jasmine Schmidt was chosen as the recipient of the Outstanding Theology Senior Award, which recognizes her consistent record of academic excellence.
• Senior Isaiah Lindsley is the department's recipient of the annual Zondervan Theology Award, which recognizes both his academic excellence and his leadership in various endeavors on campus.
• Freshman Dori Germain is the recipient of the Zondervan Greek Language Award.
• The Theology Writing Award was given to Maddie Bjazevich for her paper, "The Beatitudes as a Response to the Israel-Palestine Conflict," written for Professor Haley Jacob's fall 2025 class, Biblical Peace in the Holy Land.

Graduating Seniors

Six students are graduating with theology degrees this year.

• Zaanan Bane: Zaanan notes his gratitude for Associate Professors Miller and Wynne, for the ways in which they were instrumental in helping him navigate difficult times as a student. Zaanan is currently a full-time youth pastor at Timberline Church in Spokane, a track and football coach at Mountainside Middle School, and runs the Fellowship of Christian Athletes there. He is also getting married in September. Congratulations, Zaanan!
• Jayda Lauti: A highlight for Jayda was participating in the Ecology & the Bible Jan Term course taught by Jonathan Moo at Tall Timber Ranch, as well as her time working as the theology student assistant worker. Jayda will spend the summer at home in Oahu before embarking on a year-long adventure with World Race, visiting 11 countries in 11 months. Her long-term goal is to pursue a degree in counseling.  
• Isaiah Lindsley: Isaiah's favorite memories includes the gingerbread house building event each December. He also notes his particular gratitude for all the learning opportunities along the way, as well as the friendships that were built. Isaiah is currently an intern at STCU. He hopes one day to own his own business, as well as to serve somehow in the work of the church. Isaiah and his wife are expecting their first child this September. Congratulations, Isaiah!
• Jasmine Schmidt: One of Jasmine's highlights was the Jan Term Backpacking with the Saints course she took with Associate Professor Miller. For the immediate future, she will live and work on the Leim farm and anticipates starting seminary in one-two years.
• Charis Tiamson: One of the things Charis is most grateful for during her time at Whitworth is her caring professors, especially the ways in which they had patience with her as she navigated a new culture and wrestled with whether she should continue in school. (She did, and we're so proud!) Charis plans to move to New York City and pursue grant writing for nonprofits. What comes after that will depend on her visa status, but her dream would be to remain in the United States and pursue seminary or graduate school for public relations.
• Reeves Oakman: Reeves notes that the highlight of his time was having incredible professors who would field all of his questions about theology and Christian living. Reeves is currently living in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he is on staff with Young Life.
  

  

Our Gratitude

Because of you, theology faculty are able to support our students in numerous ways beyond the classroom. We are grateful for the Welch Foundation and the funds they have donated to help support students who lose the Washington College Bound grant by declaring a theology major. We were also able to offer $53,300 to 20 theology majors out of additional merit and need-based departmental scholarships, made possible by many of you.

Additionally, we are grateful for the many one-time or monthly gifts that our supporters have made. In the departmental events noted above and in hours spent over coffee in the Mind & Hearth, your donations have allowed us to create a department in which every theology student feels "at home" and is able to connect with one another and with faculty. From roasting s'mores around a campfire to camping together at Upper Priest Lake, your gifts have made this departmental ethos possible. Additionally, we as faculty are extremely grateful. Your donations allow us to participate in conferences and scholarship in a way that would otherwise be impossible. On behalf of all of us, thank you.

Faculty Highlights

Most Influential Professors: Congratulations to Jonathan Moo and Josh Leim for being nominated "Most Influential Professor" by the class of 2026!

Excellence in Teaching Award: Congratulations to Samantha Miller for her reception of the 2025-26 Excellence in Teaching Award!

Program Assistant Debbie Stierwalt's Retirement: She may not be a member of faculty, but for 18 years Debbie Stierwalt has single-handedly kept the theology department running. Her presence in the department has been a gift on so many levels. Her enthusiasm for any and all social events, the myriad of ways in which she has mentored students (and faculty!), and her gentle spirit that has reflected Christ to all who cross her path will be sorely missed. Congratulations on your retirement, Debbie! You will be dearly missed, but we wish you all the best in this new chapter of life.

On behalf of the entire theology department, thank you for all the ways in which you have invested in us as faculty and in the students whom we are called to teach and mentor. So much of what we do is because of you. May the Lord bless you and your loved ones. May he refresh your soul this summer and bring you his peace. Please keep this department and our students in your prayers.

Keeping Christ at the center,

Haley

Haley Jacob (2015-present) Professor of Theology (effective July 1, 2026!), Theology Department Chair

Three highlights stand out from this year:

• In the fall, I taught a new course titled Biblical Peace in the Holy Land. The students were all first-year honors students who were thrown into the deep end of college from day one. We wrestled with recent politics in the Holy Land and the ways in which various sectors of the American church have responded to such politics. Students grappled with the biblical narrative and how it speaks to the restoration of divine peace for all people in all places, despite political ideologies at play.
• Another highlight was the opportunity to speak at the West Coast Presbyterian Pastors Conference at Mount Hermon in California. It was lovely to be in the midst of the towering redwood trees, enjoying encouraging conversations with pastors who are wrestling with their vocations as shepherds of God's people in these turbulent times.
• Various people decided that I should be promoted to full professor! I guess I'm now officially a mid-career academic! 

 

Josh Leim (2015-present) Associate Professor of Theology

One of the most rewarding and demanding tasks of this year has been launching our new Introduction to a Flourishing Life course, which all incoming and transfer students take during their first semester (over 600 students!). Joelle Czirr (psychology) and I direct the course, working with a team of 27 faculty members to help integrate our new students into the Whitworth community and education of mind and heart. Along with many other aspects of the course, Joelle and I have continued refining the podcast we developed for the course, the "Whitworth Flourishing Project," which you can find on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube. We had the opportunity to interview some fantastic scholars and practitioners on the question of human flourishing, including Curt Thompson, Miroslav Volf, Felicia Wu Song, Rebecca DeYoung, Justo González, Kristin Du Mez, Warren Kinghorn and more. Beyond the Flourishing Life course, I have continued to delight in teaching various courses on the Gospels and New Testament theology. I am currently working on a writing project that examines the nature of pistis ("trust/faith") in the New Testament vis-à-vis attachment theory and the relationship between divine and human agency.

 

Samantha Miller (2020-present) Assistant Professor of Theology

I ran the second year of our pilot Wilderness Spirituality program for faculty spiritual development last summer, thanks to a $30,000 grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning Theology and Religion. It was such a great time to connect with colleagues on a backpacking trip and to experience wilderness spirituality as I already do with students. It was especially meaningful to have repeat participants and get to engage more deeply with people we'd already built relationships with. My third book came out this spring, John Chrysostom: An Introduction to his Life and Thought (https://wipfandstock.com/9781666770339/john-chrysostom/). It was fun to have written a book for my friends on the weird dead guy I study, and more fun to celebrate its release with them! The real highlight of the year, though, was teaching my Jan Term Monasticism course, which took students to St. Gertrude's Monastery in Cottonwood, Idaho, where we immersed in life with the elderly sisters for two and a half weeks. Students got to pray, serve, eat and talk with sisters and discovered new depths of spiritualty.

 

Jonathan Moo (2010- present) Bruner-Welch Chair of Theology, Professor of New Testament and Environmental Studies

As I finish another academic year full of fruitful ministry, speaking, teaching and research, I am immensely grateful for the stimulating and supportive community at Whitworth and the joy of working alongside extraordinary colleagues and students.
 
I will keep this short, because despite protestations to the contrary from my colleagues who insist we continue sending out these reports each year, I am unconvinced that anyone reads these individual updates. But at least it provides a brief moment to reflect on God's goodness and faithfulness each year.
 
I have on my desk the near-final proofs of my commentary on Revelation, due to be published in the autumn Zondervan's Story of God series. I've also begun more intensive work on my next book, The Theology of Revelation, under contract with Cambridge University Press as a part of their 'New' New Testament Theology series. I was able to make some initial progress on the book while working during the summer of 2025 in the Burke library at Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University in New York City, which provided me access to extensive resources not easily available in Spokane. We were there as Stacey pursues a side gig as fine art appraiser, for which she is now qualified. Life in Manhattan was really rather wonderful – endless art, museums, music, fun people, good food, libraries and Central Park. But it was good to return to Whitworth and Spokane in the fall too.
 
I continued to speak and preach frequently this last year in a variety of venues, ranging from local churches to academic conferences to online courses to podcasts. A particular highlight was speaking and preaching at the Great Lakes Theology Conference in November 2025 at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Mich., where one of our own Whitworth undergraduates, Charis Anne Gonzales Tiamson, won the top student preaching award.
 
My wife Stacey and I led 27 students on an exceptionally delightful Jan Term trip, and we continue to love our students. As I write, we are preparing for two back-to-back CORE 650 trips for Whitworth to Turkey and Greece. We are truly blessed.

 

Jeremy Wynne (2010-present), Associate Professor of Theology

Though I only taught this past fall (on account of my spring sabbatical), it was such a productive and fun time. There seems to be an important shift happening in the classroom. Students are more open and curious than they have been the last few years. They want to have more difficult discussions and to hear perspectives from the other side. We are still struggling with the way that AI tech is changing the classroom. But for all the good stuff, thank you Lord!

The bulk of my energy last fall went toward a new course called Global Readings of the Bible. The course was designed as a marriage between a great-themes-approach to the Bible and an introduction to Christian faith across the globe. It was probably too ambitious, but the students were earnest with the material and generous with me. I think we were all struck by the near-universal recognition of Scripture as unique and authoritative, as well as the differing ways our cultures can help and hinder our formation. But the thing I heard about most had to do with the high cost of being a Christian in so much of the world today. For my Christian students, this raised so many questions about what we in the U.S. might do to support them, what we might learn from them, and some serious examination of what we're doing with our own lives and freedoms.

Research has kept me busy. Last fall, I completed an article on Jonathan Edwards' amazing view of eternal life, as well as a pair of book reviews. And with my sabbatical, I am starting a couple of new things. The first is a book-length project on the faithfulness of God and the important role that promises occupy in human life. Faithfulness has always been difficult, but the late modern mood poses some special challenges. The second project is a look at what's required for the Christian faith to flourish in Japan today, and why ministry there is so difficult. I don't hide my love for Japanese culture and the people I've met there. This summer, though, Betsy and I are spending a total of six weeks travelling, serving and listening to the church in Japan. So this is an incredible opportunity to do some thinking and research on the ground. I am especially grateful for invitations to teach at Aoyama University in Tokyo. 

Our family is doing well. I'm grateful to First Presbyterian Church for granting Betsy her own sabbatical this summer. I expect it will be so restorative for her! Hannah has given great reports about her first year at Whitworth. And I'm happy to say that after all of Asher's deliberations, he's also chosen to attend Whitworth next fall. (And not a moment too soon. He has one of the worst cases of senioritis I've ever seen.)

Please continue to remember us all in prayer. And if you're in the area, visit! This is still your home.

Peace and contentment to you all. God is good every day.

Emeriti Faculty

Keith Beebe (2001-23), Professor of Theology

Greetings from my home at Monte Vista Grove in Pasadena! Here are some highlights of the 2025-26 year since my last newsletter post:

• Summer 2025: In June, I had a great week connecting with dear friends, colleagues and family in Spokane while attending the OCE Ministry Summit. I also enjoyed using public transportation for "stay-cation" day trips (exploring L.A., Oceanside, San Juan Capistrano and Riverside) and overnight visits (Ventura) in the SoCal region.
• Fall 2026: After a year and a half of slowly unpacking the remainder of my moving boxes and figuring out storage issues in a smaller living space, I finally got fully moved in and feel more at home. (I'm especially glad to have transformed the half of my study that had served as a storage "junk room" piled high with boxes into a light-filled, cozy reading area!)
• Winter 2026: My internet went down for a full four weeks over the Christmas holidays, which was followed by a subsequent serious computer hack that required scrubbing my hard drive, canceling and re-opening all my credit card and bank accounts, and changing countless passwords…a reminder of the blessings and curses of our technological age.
• Spring 2026: On the upside of technology, in mid-March, I was one of seven presenters for a joint online conference of the American Society of Church History and the Scottish Church History Society, delivering a paper titled, "The Unlikely Revival: 'The Extraordinary Work of the Spirit at Cambuslang' (1742)." After a two-year hiatus during my transition to SoCal, it has been good to resume my research and writing projects.

Throughout these seasons, I've been attending Fuller Seminary's semiweekly "Public Reading of Scripture" breakfasts, serving on MVG's Residents Executive Council, getting involved with San Fernando Presbytery (where I was ordained), and reading and researching at the Huntington and Fuller Seminary libraries. I also eat lunch on the dining patio several times a week with my newer friends here at the Grove. Life is good!

May you experience the presence and abiding love of our Lord Jesus Christ in the coming year!

Grace and peace to you,

Keith

James Edwards (1997-2015), Professor Emeritus of Theology

Warm greetings, dear Friends!

Janie and I are in our third year in Colorado Springs, enjoying our new life in our old hometown. We remain ever grateful in mind and heart, however, for the blessings of our years at Whitworth and especially for you, our dear friends.  

Despite the simpler and welcome routines of retirement, our lives remain full. Janie paints, teaches art to homeschoolers, walks with friends in the Garden of the Gods, and as always, develops friendships at First Presbyterian Church and remains the consummate hostess in our home. For myself, the commentary on Genesis that I began writing in spring 2020 when COVID-19 struck finally appeared in print this spring (In the Beginning: A Commentary on Genesis and Its Reception in the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Pillar). What my next book will be – or if I'll write another – I don't know. Years ago, I made a list of books I wanted to write, and a Genesis commentary was the last. I haven't added another book to the list. I now enjoy reading much that my writing commitments required me to forego (including finishing Barth's 13-volume Kirchliche Dogmatik in total – I'm now in volume 8). I continue to speak at conferences (occasionally), but my standing commitments are an (old) men's hiking group ("Last Man Standing") every Thursday, and teaching a long-established adult Sunday school class (Pathfinders) on Sunday mornings (some of the students who were in my college class when I was Minister of Students here in the 1970s are now in Pathfinders!).  

The big event of the past year was leading a tour of Turkey in October. Three pastor friends in California asked me to plan and lead the tour (which I did), and then they all decided not to go (I know, it sounds like Jesus's parable of the Great Banquet). Janie and I threw the tour open to friends past and present, and a crew of 30 fit and faithful friends accompanied us on a superb tour. Following the tour, Aydin Aygun, friend and guide, treated Janie and me to an equally superb week-long tour of Mesopotamia in eastern Turkey. My only regret is that I had not visited this region, so connected to the patriarchal narratives of Genesis (e.g., Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, Haran, Göbekli Tepe, and Edessa) before writing my Genesis commentary!

Grace and peace to you all!

Jim Edwards

Karin Heller (2003-25), Professor of Theology

My first year of retirement is coming smoothly to an end! It confirmed that it was the right decision at the right moment. As much as I enjoyed busy lecture days and working with students, I now enjoy to read, write and meet with people in a wonderful carefree way.

As usual, I spent my summer preparing to present at a conference near Cologne/Germany. This year, my presentation is titled "Doing Theology – off the box but not without direction." I also submitted my manuscript on Overcoming Gender Divides by Doing Theology at Christmas. My conclusion focused on the urgent necessity to adopt a conversational mode of doing theology between women and men while simultaneously seeking and finding God with one another in crisis situations proper to the modern and postmodern world. In other words, the article is meant to be an advocate for a holistic model in contrast to the usual, wide-spread propositional model of doing theology!

Then, in the fall, for the first time in my life after more than 50 years, I spent a wonderful entire week in Vienna/Austria visiting my niece and enjoying Austrian culture to the brim. It put me in high moods from which I was suddenly brought down to earth in December as I realized that something was wrong with my right eye. The medical staff of our local University Hospital diagnosed the detachment of the implant after my cataract surgery 18 years ago for which nobody could give an explanation, except "well, that can happen." In January, I underwent a very complex surgery of retrieving the old and replacing it with a new implant. I could have never imagined being up for a very long healing process, which is only coming to an end as I write these lines. It was sad to have to postpone to next fall my guest lectures at the University of Besançon. But it was a great experience to find myself in the hands of a quite exclusively young and talented female team of doctors, tangible sign that women now make significant progress in leadership positions as for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Life is very fragile, but it seems that I am now in line for a next round of new adventures. What I enjoy most at this point of my life is to finally have time to analyze in depth my present theological understanding in the light of breakthroughs and backlash proper to the Roman Catholic Church worldwide since the Second Vatican Council, one of the things I missed most during my 22 years of full-time tenure at Whitworth. For both Catholics and Protestants alike, the key for overcoming divides of whatever nature will always come down to the following three indispensable attitudes, namely: to respectfully listen to one another; to be patient; and to work with perseverance on one's spiritual inner transformation with constant vigilance for not misusing personal power. It will still be a very long road to go but I am happy to contribute to the journey via the 2025 Karin Heller Charity Remainder Unitrust in support of the Whitworth Theology Department as its members continue to extend events, teachings and other opportunities in line with theology and gender-related topics.  

With my best greetings from Angers/France. Stay safe and healthy!  

Roger Mohrlang (1978-2016), Professor Emeritus of Theology

Warm Christian greetings to you from Rockwood at Whitworth!

After three years, our day-by-day life here in assisted living has become very regular. My days begin with early morning exercise, prayer, Scripture and hymns from the British Methodist Hymn Book. After breakfast, Dottie and I have devotions and prayer together. The rest of the day is typically filled with caregiving and frequent medical appointments, dealing with Dottie's strokes and multiple myeloma and my macular degeneration. (This year, Dot experienced several falls, shingles and a broken collarbone.) After her long afternoon nap, weather permitting, we enjoy a bike ride together (Dot on her three-wheeler, me on my 48-year-old Raleigh) through our neighborhood. After supper, we typically read (I'm enjoying Christian biography) and have guests over to tell us the story of their lives. Later in the evening, I exercise before we close the day together with prayer. I then play hymns on the keyboard as Dot goes to sleep.

On June 5, we will celebrate 50 years of marriage – and what a blessed marriage it has been! Every day I thank my dear wife for her enthusiastic "OH YES!" when I asked her in 1976 if she would marry me. How grateful I am for my wonderful wife and our marriage; what a gift she has been as we have ministered together all over the world.

Every day, we pray that the Lord would fill us with his Spirit and use us in every way he can. For me, that means sending short Kamwe Scripture passages frequently by email to my Nigerian friends, and encouraging my former students (in China, Japan, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria, England and the U.S.) in their commitment to Christ.

I am now 84 years old, and with people dying all around me, I am continually reminded that the absolute most important things in life are the things of Christ and the gospel – the things that have eternal value. So that is what we seek to live for and to share with the people around us.

Two other points:

First, I hope you who are my former students have a chance to read my two books listed below (Paul and His Life-Transforming Theology: A Concise Introduction and My Life: A Story of God's Grace). I would be delighted to get your response to them.

Second, I would love to get an email from you who had me in class, telling me (a) what you especially remember about the class and (b) what you are doing now; I would really like to hear from you. And when you get to Spokane, Dottie and I would love to see you and hear the story of your lives. Do drop by! (Just ask at the desk for our room number.)

Every day, I pray for you; that you would be strong in your faith in Christ and your commitment to serving him and the gospel.

The Lord bless you, dear friends!

Roger

"God's gift to us is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord."  (Romans 6.23)

"What's the point of life? For me, the whole point of life is Christ – Christ is what I live for!" (Philippians 1:21)

Gerald Sittser (1989-2020), Professor Emeritus of Theology; (2015-present) Senior Fellow in the Office of Church Engagement

Greetings, dear friends!

I finally retired fully in June, having completed many years of service at Whitworth. I finished my last project for the Office of Church Engagement, which was a series of 55 teaching videos and study guides to train lay pastors. Some of Whitworth's best contributed. I should add that one of Whitworth's best is retiring this year. It is hard to capture in words the significant contributions Debbie Stierwalt made to our department and to the campus. I join many in proclaiming, "Debbie, we salute you!"

My heart is filled with gratitude for Whitworth. I arrived in 1989, having had 10 years of pastoral experience and fresh with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. From 1989-2025, I taught more students than I can remember, graded more exams and papers than I can number, served on many committees, studied, read and wrote books, raised my children under Whitworth's wings, and built lasting friendships that have endured. Its mission matters.

Pat and I moved five years ago to the South Hill. Four of our five kids live within five minutes of us, as well as 10 of our 12 grandchildren. We see some configuration of them nearly every day. But we continue to give ourselves to other endeavors, too. Pat sees clients two days a week and mentors several young women. I spend time with pastors in town, still lecture here and there, and continue to write. My New Catechumenate is being beta-tested in 15 churches. The church needs something that will help it thrive in a post-Christendom environment. Europe has become increasingly secular, America increasingly heretical. Isaiah 58 tells me to help rebuild the foundations.

Pat and I, as well as my sister and brother-in-law, just returned from two weeks in Belgium and the Netherlands. Oh, to behold the Van Eck Altarpiece in Ghent; view the paintings of Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Rubens; take in the thousands of miles of canals and dikes in the Netherlands; and mourn over the countless gravestones in Flanders Field! It was almost too much. The trip included a day dedicated to visiting the villages that my grandparents grew up in and immigrated from in their 20s to make a new life for themselves in America. I found gravestones with family names and gazed at the Dutch Reformed churches they attended. It was very meaningful. It felt like returning home.

My heart is heavy during this season of life, as I'm sure yours is. I carry a deep concern over the state of Christianity in America, as evidenced by the political disorder of our country. I long to see the church's renewal. At its best, it has no competitors; at its worst, it can do much damage. Lord, have mercy.

Jerry Sittser