John Hasenjaeger, M.A.R.

I went on from YDS to grad work in Philosophy at UCSD in the 70's, then back to seminary at San Francisco Theological Seminary in the 80's. Since I started seminary at YDS in 1966 and finished the MDiv in 1986, I like to say I was on the "20-Year Plan." I was ordained to the ministry in the PCUSA in 1987, serving a country church in Oregon and teaching Philosophy part-time at the local community college. 

I have always served as a "tentmaker" minister, and have been actively involved for almost 2 decades in the Association of Presbyterian Tentmakers [APT]. During my time away from YDS and in the times between academic pursuits, I've been a full-time organizer, doing community-organizing in Stockton CA in 1968-69, and doing boycott-, political-, and labor-organizing with farm worker and domestic worker movements in San Diego CA in 1980-83. My career has been a dialogue among ministry, academics, and troublemaking. I also pursue cycling, Latin percussion, and vocal music; in 2013 I did the 65-mile ride in the Tour de Cure benefit for the American Diabetes Association, and hope to make the 100-mile ride in 2014 [my last chance before turning 70]; I play percussion at most of the churches I'm currently freelancing with; and I sang the part of Carpenter in a production of "HMS Pinafore" in 2013 and will try out for a part in "Pirates of Penzance" in 2014. Retirement, I find, is a process of uncertain meaning: I became what the Presbyterians call "Honorably Retired" [HR] in 2009; I started letting Presbyterian Pensions and SSI send me money in 2010; and since then I've cut back from teaching 2 classes per term to 1, and then I stepped down from my last pastorate at the Bryn Seion Welsh Church, Beavercreek, OR, in July 2013, and so I'm even more fully retired than ever. In 2013-2014 I've been auditing grad classes in Philosophy, Plato and then Aristotle; in spring 2014 I'm planning to devote my extra "enrichment" study to the Gospel of Mark and the Historical Jesus. Home is in NE Portland, OR, with my wife Sharon, with all 3 of our offspring and both grandsons living within a 2-mile radius.