Joan L. Beck
Cornelsen Director of Spiritual Formation and Pastor to the Community
Email: jbeck@lstc.edu
Phone: 773-256-0696
Education | Profile | Published Works | Sermons
Education
B.A. Valparaiso University
M.Div. Luther Seminary
M.A. University of Oregon
Profile
Joan has more than 25 years of ordained ministry experience serving congregations and campus ministry, all in the Oregon Synod (ELCA). In work with groups and individuals, Joan encourages people to listen and talk to God and respond authentically. She uses the Bible, literature and the arts, worship and other spiritual practices as resources for this growth in faith.
Since earning a certificate in spiritual direction from the Mercy Center in San Francisco (1995), Joan has continued to give and receive spiritual direction. She also studied on sabbatical with Walter Brueggemann, Kathleen O'Connor, and Brian Wren, and has accepted influence from the Rev. Eric H. F. Law (developing cultural competency for leadership in a diverse, changing world); Bowen family systems theory (focusing on one’s own functioning in the midst of anxiety); and ecumenical colleagues in a three-year "Pastor-Theologian" program of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey.
Before coming to LSTC in 2010, while still in the parish, Joan directed the field education program and taught homiletics at a small ecumenical seminary in Salem, OR. She is blessed with three adult children and a wonderful spouse, the Rev. Dr. John H. Beck. Joan gardens, knits, and does desktop publishing, walks and bikes, and plans to make a quilt one of these days.
Published Works
and Donna Herzfeldt-Kamprath, “Camelot” Currents in Theology and Mission, Vol 38, No 2 (April, 2011) 136 - 139