The Rev. Dr. Martha Giltinan

BA, Wheaton College (MA), 1980
MATS, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 1985
MDiv, Virginia Theological Seminary, 1988
D.Min, Trinity School for Ministry, 2012

One of the privileges of coming away to seminary is the opportunity to drink from the well of a deep and sustaining tradition so that we in turn might pass it on to others. Trinity professors and mentors both model and bear witness to this tradition. Lesslie Newbigin says, “All efforts to know must begin with something given.” For the Christian, the Scriptures and the God who reveals himself in Jesus are that “given.” Our tradition is neither static nor merely rational – it involves us in the risk of faith. For us and for our students, “there can be no knowledge without personal commitment” (Newbigin again). We must believe in order to come to know. We come alongside of others to be reliable witnesses to both the truth revealed in the tradition and the truth lived in ministry. And this is an ongoing and dynamic process of gradual integration, a process that is going on not only in me as a professor, but also, we hope, in our students.