The Covenant Award, bestowed annually, celebrates the efforts of individuals who have made distinctive contributions towards strengthening the partnership between Gustavus Adolphus College and member congregations of the College’s Association of Congregations. Alumni, pastors, Association delegates, faculty, staff and students are eligible for the award.
Gustavus President Jim Peterson will present the 2007 Covenant Award to the Rev. Dr. Darrell Jodock on April 28 at the Association of Congregations annual meeting.
Jodock is the first Drell and Adeline Bernhardson Distinguished Professor of Religion at Gustavus. As holder of the endowed chair since 1999, he has a responsibility “to represent and teach the Lutheran tradition within the faculty and College, to help interpret and articulate the church-related identity of the college, and to inaugurate educational projects of benefit to the ELCA and the College.”
Keenly interested in the College’s relationship with the Church, Jodock is a frequently requested speaker for adult education in local congregations, continuing education classes for clergy, faculty workshops, and presentations for college administrators. He is recognized as a resource theologian worldwide. In 2006, Jodock drafted the Statement of Church Relatedness for the College. At Gustavus, he has served on the 2003 Nobel Conference Committee, the faculty personnel committee, the Honor Board, and the board of the Center for Vocational Reflection. In 2002 he helped design (and continues to serve as an advisory board member for) Pastor-to-Pastor, a program encouraging pastoral excellence sponsored by Gustavus and the Southwestern Minnesota Synod-ELCA.
Jodock’s teaching interests include Lutheran studies, Christian-Jewish relations, history of Christian thought, and nineteenth century theology. He received the Wallenberg Tribute Award in 1993 and had a key role in founding the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, for which he has served as chair and board member. He was a founding member of the Association of Teaching Theologians of the ELCA in 2002. He has published extensively on topics of modernism, Christian doctrine and theology, and is actively involved in Christian-Jewish dialogue. Most recently, he co-authored and edited a book on Jewish-Christian relations, scheduled for publication by Fortress Press in 2007.
An ordained pastor rostered in the Southwestern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA, Jodock received his bachelor’s degree in 1962 from St. Olaf College, his divinity degree in 1966 from Luther Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale University in 1969.
Gustavus Adolphus College Association of Congregations
“Our mission is to strengthen the presence of the Church in the College, and the presence of the College in the Church.”
The board of directors of the Gustavus Adolphus College Association of Congregations welcomes nominations for the Covenant Award. If you would like to nominate someone that you deem to be worthy of this award, please contact the Office of Church Relations at (507)933-7001 for a nomination form.
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