Agosto Named Academic
Dean of Hartford Seminary
For Immediate Release
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(HARTFORD – March 18, 2008) -- Heidi Hadsell, President of Hartford Seminary, has named Efrain Agosto, Professor of New Testament and noted Pauline scholar, as academic dean of the Seminary.
The appointment was ratified by the Board of Trustees at a meeting on March 17.
“We are very pleased that Efrain has assumed this new position at Hartford Seminary,” Hadsell said. “Efrain is creative, he loves Hartford Seminary, he understands the issues of theological education, and he enjoys the collaborative atmosphere at the Seminary.”
Agosto came to Hartford in July 1995 after serving on the staff of the Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston for 12 years, the last five years as director of this inner-city urban theological education program, a campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. At Hartford Seminary, he also has directed El Programa de Ministerios Hispanos (Hispanic Ministries Program).
Agosto has a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell and completed his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies at Boston University.
Asked about his priorities as dean for Hartford Seminary, Agosto said, “As a Christian and New Testament scholar, I would like to immerse myself more in the interfaith realities of Hartford Seminary. I have always been a strong supporter and have learned much from the exchanges that we as faculty have undertaken with our students and faculty from other faiths, especially Islam. Now as dean, I would like to learn and understand even more this vital aspect of our life together. I also want to be sure that I understand more fully all of our curricular programs, where all our faculty colleagues fit into delivering what we promise in our programs and courses, and how we can continue to invigorate our faculty research and teaching so that those students who come to us from all over the world and from all walks of life are given the best possible theological education.”
“Diversity, dialogue and faith commitments are the most important aspects of our reality,” Agosto said. “These in turn motivate our work as teachers, researchers, writers and practitioners of theology and faith, whether we are students, faculty, administrators or stewards of Hartford Seminary.”
Agosto said, “For me the strongest points of the seminary include our presence in a capitol city - the city of Hartford - from which we can do so much more in terms of interfaith exploration, interracial dialogue, and international connections. In other words, Hartford is a great example of thinking and acting ‘local’ so that we can think and act globally. Our interfaith and international commitments and our long-time tradition as a Christian ecumenical seminary in an urban center of Southern New England, that is essentially one-third Latino, one-third African American and one-third white and other communities, makes for a great confluence of resources for high quality theological education and reflection."
Agosto was born and raised in New York City; his parents came to New York from Puerto Rico in the 1950s. He attended New York City public schools and received his B.A. from Columbia University in 1977. Agosto was nurtured in New York Hispanic Pentecostal churches and was a licensed preacher for the Hispanic Assemblies of God in the 1980s.
He has served on the pastoral staffs of Hispanic Pentecostal, Baptist and Congregational churches in New York, Boston, and East Hartford, CT. He was interim pastor at Boston’s Hispanic Community Church (United Church of Christ) in 1994, and part of an interim pastoral team at the Iglesia Cristiana Nueva Esperanza (UCC) in East Hartford in 1999, where he continues to worship as an active lay member.
In his work in New Testament studies, Agosto teaches, researches and writes on the Pauline Epistles, especially the leadership and ministry of Paul and others in these communities. He has published several articles and book chapters on these topics.
His book, Servant Leadership: Jesus and Paul (Chalice Press), was published in November 2005. It studies issues of social status, leadership practice and theology in the Jesus movement and Pauline Christianity, with implications for the practice of religious leadership today. He has a forthcoming commentary, in Spanish, on Paul’s Corinthian correspondence.
Agosto has taught courses in Paul and His Urban Churches, New Testament Introduction, Readings in Pauline Theology and Ministry, and with Professor Carl Dudley of Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion Research, New Testament Tensions and Contemporary Issues. His most recent interests include teaching and writing in the area of Latino biblical hermeneutics, and a course entitled Reading the New Testament through the Eyes of the Oppressed.
Agosto’s wider service has included the Final Selection Committee and Mentor for the Hispanic Theological Initiative, a scholarship and mentoring organization which seeks to develop Latino and Latina doctoral candidates in religion and theology. He also served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Theological Schools, Committee for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession of the Society for Biblical Literature and was formerly a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees of Hartford Seminary. Currently he serves as chair of the Seminary’s Center for Faith in Practice.
Agosto succeeds Dr. Ian Markham, who resigned a year ago to become dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA.
For further information, please contact David Barrett, Director of Public and Institutional Affairs, at (860) 509-9519 or dbarrett@hartsem.edu. Photos of Efrain Agosto are available, and he is available for interviews.
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