Dr. Eric W. Gritsch

The Rev. Dr. Eric W. Gritsch Memorial Fund, Ltd.
PO Box 23064
Baltimore, MD 21203-5064
bonbmore@comcast.net

2019 Fellowship Archive

GRITSCH FELLOW BRACH JENNINGS
REPORTS FROM RESEARCH IN GERMANY

In February 2019 the Board of the Eric W. Gritsch Fund proudly awarded $5,000 for European research studies to Brach Jennings, named as the second Gritsch Fellow. At the time, Brach was a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. In June 2019, the Protestant Theology Faculty of Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany, admitted Brach to the Dr. theol. degree program in Systematische Theologie.

On April 8th, 2019 Brach arrived at the University of Tubingen in Germany to study with the esteemed systematic theologian, Dr. Jurgen Moltmann, who was serving as Brach’s co-advisor at LSTC with womanist theologian and anthropologist Dr. Linda E. Thomas. Our Gritsch Fellow's interest is in the relationship between Martin Luther’s theology of the cross and the late James Cone’s black liberation theology. Brach spent the duration of Tubingen’s spring semester studying with Dr. Moltmann reading deeply in Karl Barth and theologians influenced by Barth, in order to understand Barth’s influence on James Cone. Dr. Moltmann accepted Brach for the doctoral degree in Tübingen during this time, and this acceptance was finalized by the Protestant theology faculty of the University of Tübingen on June 25, the anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. The Luther Scholar/Reformation historian Dr. Volker Leppin has agreed to be a secondary dissertation examiner, and Brach’s mentor from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Dr. Linda Thomas, has agreed to be a special external dissertation examiner, per Brach’s request. Brach’s initial intention of staying in Tübingen for 4 months turned into remaining in Tübingen to pursue the doctoral degree there! Brach’s doctoral studies will take approximately two years, with formal doctoral work beginning in Tübingen’s Winter Semester 2019. Brach is also now required to study Latin and biblical Hebrew, brush up on his Koine Greek skills, and continue to learn, study, and use the German language daily.

BRACH'S FIRST REPORT FROM GERMANY:
Friday April 12th, 2019

I arrived in Tubingen on Monday afternoon, a total of 18 hours after leaving my apartment in Chicago. I met with Dr. Moltmann on Wednesday and he gave me my first assignment due next Wednesday - to analyze the structure of the theology of the cross in the book In Search of God’s Power in Broken Bodies: A Theology of Maum by Korean feminist theologian Hwa-Young Chong. Dr. Moltmann said with his characteristic laugh that he is expecting hard work from me. I am glad to be plunging headfirst into my work, and my German is already improving. I made a commitment to myself that I would only read the Bible in German this semester (with the aid of an online dictionary, of course) to further sharpen my German language research skills.

Tubingen is beautiful and I love my accommodations at the Evangelisches Stift, a former Augustinian monastery with a rich tradition of scholars staying here through the centuries. Hegel and Schelling were just two of the notable residents!

I am attaching a photo of Dr. Moltmann’s “Welcome to Tübingen” gift to me, the German edition of his book In the End, the Beginning: The Life of Hope:

All for now

Brach

April 13, 2019

I took a walk yesterday along Tubingen's Neckar River and wanted to share some of my photos from the walk.

The beautiful duck pictured here preached Christ’s resurrection to me, in light of my jet lag still refusing to fully disappear.

The trees and water are my solace.

Finally, the building pictured is my place of residence, the Evangelisches Stift, Tubingen.

I concluded this walk refreshed (and more awake!), profoundly grateful to call Tübingen my home for the semester, and to stand in the line of Reformation scholars related to Eric Gritsch.
Now, back to my work for my Doktorvater,

Brach

April 14, 2019

This is the view directly outside my window at the Evangelisches Stift.
Related to my saying the trees and water are my solace here.

April 17,2019

Here is my reading load so far. Texts to study/analyze come as Dr. Moltmann sees fit. The Spirit is definitely at work, because these texts were not otherwise on my radar! Also pictured is the mostly clean desk in my “cell” where I do most of my work for now.

April 28, 2019

Dr. Moltmann has raised the challenge for me to begin reading Karl Barth in the original German. This volume, about election, will be used in my dissertation. Barth has been important for liberation theologies around the world, and I am exploring how he re-works Luther’s notion of the “Happy Exchange,” or, as one of my teachers at

PLTS used to say, the “sweet swap.”

All for now,

Brach

Photos from the Tubingen Castle!

There is a gorgeous castle built in the Middle Ages that is just three minutes away from the Evangelisches Stift, up a huge hill.

I finally went there today with another “Stiftler.”

I think I want to read some Luther at this stunning spot.

May 14, 2019

Some Luther in German that I’ve added to my library.

Favorite South German meal.

A beautiful creek on the way to the Theologicum at the University of Tübingen

May 15, 2019

A page of Luther in German.

Since my dissertation will have a chapter on Barth, it is essential for me to have read this explosive commentary. I’m happy to report that reading German is getting somewhat easier, but speaking the language is still quite difficult.

JUNE 10, 2019

A plaque honoring the first Lutheran systematic theologian, locates by the Evangelisches Stift. Cheers to Master Philipp Melanchthon!

Late June, 2019

More of the Neckar River in Tübingen

These rainbow garments (and undergarments, in some cases) were hung outside of the Evangelisches Stift by some Stiftlers wanting to have fun and celebrate LGBTQ pride month. I was told to go outside and have a look at something special, and was greeted by this sight.

The stairway pictured here was the only cool place in the Evangelisches Stift last week when Tübingen received the extraordinary heat wave that plagued all of Europe.

July 5, 2018

Some Exciting News to Share with the Gritsch Foundation:

On June 25, 2019, the Protestant theology faculty of Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen admitted me to the Dr. theol. degree in Systematische Theologie. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Moltmann is now the lead supervisor on my dissertation and the Luther sch

olar/Reformation historian Prof. Dr. Volker Leppin is my secondary examiner. My beloved mentor from LSTC, Prof. Dr. Linda Thomas, is a special third dissertation examiner, per my request. I asked Dr. Moltmann to take me as his student in Tübingen at Dr. Thomas’s encouragement. This development means I am leaving LSTC in order to transfer to Tübingen. I am astounded and overjoyed that the Holy Spirit has moved things in this way, and that Dr. Moltmann said yes.

Dr. Moltmann works out of the German notion of Gründlichkeit (thoroughness), so I have surprisingly spent most of my time so far reading Karl Barth and Trinitarian theology influenced by Barth. (The Gründlichkeit extended one particular week to extracting 15 pages of quotations from a section of Barth I gave to Dr. Moltmann for his critical assessment!) Although I was not expecting this outcome, I now have the springboard for bringing Martin Luther’s theologia crucis to the 20th and 21st centuries in my dissertation, and a much stronger foundation about the tradition James Cone both draws from and critiques. I suspect this was Dr. Moltmann’s intention all along.

Hopefully I can return to the states around Summer/Fall 2020 (ideally within the one year mark of when my studies in Tübingen were originally to come to an end), in order to present about my research to the Gritsch Fund. A good chunk of my dissertation writing will be finished by then, allowing for a thorough and fun presentation. In the mean time, I will be submitting an essay in the next 2 weeks about my studies this semester with Dr. Moltmann.

I am deeply grateful to the Gritsch Fund for making my initial studies in Tübingen possible through the Fellowship for Reformation Studies, and am honored to call myself a Gritsch Fellow, now as a doctoral student in Systematische Theologie at Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen.

Sending warm greetings (both spiritually and literally, given the tremendous heat lately) from Tübingen,

Brach Jennings 

ARCHIVES

The Rev. Dr. Eric W. Gritsch Memorial Fund, Ltd.
PO Box 23064
Baltimore, MD 21203-5064
bonbmore@comcast.net

Dr. Eric W. Gritsch

2019 Fellowship Archive

GRITSCH FELLOW BRACH JENNINGS
REPORTS FROM RESEARCH IN GERMANY

May 14, 2019

Some Luther in German that I’ve added to my library.