NYTS Announces a New Academic Dean

NEW YORK, NY (July 11, 2018) The Board of Trustees of New York Theological Seminary has unanimously appointed Dr. Efraín Agosto to serve as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Academic Dean effective July 1, 2018. Dr. Agosto’s appointment follows the five-year tenure of the Rev. Dr. Kirkpatrick Cohall.

Dr. Efraín Agosto joined the faculty of NYTS in July 2011 as Professor of New Testament Studies. His scholarship focuses primarily on the Pauline Epistles, with a special interest in the leadership of Paul and others who were serving in ministry in these communities. Among his publications are Servant Leadership: Jesus and Paul (Chalice Press, 2005), and a Spanish-language commentary on I and II Corinthians, Corintios (Augsburg Fortress Press, 2008). He is also interested in how biblical studies impacts contemporary issues. He and colleague Professor Jacqueline Hidalgo of Williams College have co-edited a forthcoming volume, Latinxs, the Bible and Migration (Palgrave Macmillan Press, due out October 2018). In the past, Dr. Agosto served on the Steering Committee of the Hispanic Theological Initiative, and represented NYTS on the Governing Board of the Hispanic Summer Program. He is currently the Chair of the Society of Biblical Literature Council (Board), the professional organization of biblical scholars. At NYTS he teaches courses in New Testament Introduction, Pauline Studies, New Testament Leadership and Ministry, and Latino/a Hermeneutics, and has chaired the Faculty Certificate Program Committee. “I am pleased to accept this new role at NYTS. I have thoroughly enjoyed these last seven years as part of a wonderful faculty serving a terrific student body. Now to provide additional academic leadership as Vice President and Academic Dean is a challenge that I welcome,” he says.

Formerly, Dr. Agosto served as the Academic Dean (2007-2011), Professor of New Testament and Director of the Programa de Ministerios Hispanos at Hartford Seminary (1995-2011). He was born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn. His parents, the late Efrain and Emerita Agosto, came from Puerto Rico in 1951. Dr. Agosto graduated from Columbia University with a BA (1977) before moving to Boston to complete his MDiv at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1982) and his PhD at Boston University (1996). He served as Assistant, Associate and then Director of the Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston, a campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (1983-1995) prior to his appointment at Hartford Seminary. He also served in assistant and interim pastorates in Pentecostal, Baptist and Congregational churches in New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, including at the historic Second Spanish Baptist Church in East Harlem, New York. A book of sermons based on that experience, Preaching in the Interim (Judson Press), is forthcoming in September 2018. Dr. Agosto continues to be sought after as a preacher and pastoral teacher. He is currently a Licensed Minister with the United Church of Christ and a member of The First Church of Christ in Hartford.

“I am delighted that Dr. Efrain Agosto has agreed to take on the responsibilities of Vice President of Academic Affairs and the Academic Dean. He continues a long tradition of strong academic leadership at NYTS. His vision and leadership combine to make for a promising future. The academic life of the Seminary is in good hands with Dean Agosto,” said NYTS President, Dr. Dale T. Irvin.