Steven A. Häggmark
Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian Mission and World Religions
Mission in a diverse, multicultural world doesn't come to us naturally as a piece of knowledge, says Steven Häggmark. We may like to simplify it, but mission is a complex thing that seminary students ought to wrestle with. The same goes for faith and the pursuit of understanding.
"I'm a great follower of Anselm's dictum that faith really always seeks understanding," says Häggmark. "It's not just simply the understanding but how to seek that I really want to instill in students. What does it mean to be a seeker? What does it mean to have your faith drive you in seeking to understand the world and people in it and the various faiths that they adhere to?"
As associate professor of Islamic Studies and Christian Mission and World Religion, Häggmark helps future church leaders navigate the complexities of the global religious landscape. Häggmark has encountered these complexities throughout his life, from his Lutheran Sunday school's annual visits to the local Buddhist temple in Kingsburg, Calif., to his study in philosophy and comparative religions at San Francisco State University and his years of teaching in Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Singapore.
Häggmark points to Indonesia, home to more Muslims than the entire Middle East and with a different brand of Islam, as an illustration of the complexities inherent in mission. He considers Islamic studies an integral part of Luther Seminary's curriculum. "Where is the global church for the most part a minority?" Häggmark says. "It's usually in Muslim-dominated settings in the world, and so to understand Islam is to further understand the challenges that the global church is facing."
Häggmark challenges students to reflect critically on what they're learning rather than cling to simplified ideas, such as the idea that mission and evangelism are the same thing. "We encounter a world in which a good part of mission is finding ways to seek justice with our brothers and sisters and sisters, not simply for them," he says. "There's no sense in which mission has to presuppose conversion before you can work together in mission...no, mission actually precedes that."
Häggmark joined the Luther Seminary faculty after six years as both an adjunct instructor at Luther and visiting Professor of Religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. Since 2008, Häggmark has also served as director of Luther Seminary's Global Mission Institute.
Steven A. Häggmark Biography
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I'm a great follower of Anselm's dictum that faith really always seeks understanding. It's not just simply the understanding but how to seek that I really want to instill in students. What does it mean to be a seeker? What does it mean to have your faith drive you in seeking to understand the world and people in it and the various faiths that they adhere to?
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