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Smith Neck Friends Meeting welcomes Seid as new pastor
DARTMOUTH -- Dr. Timothy W. Seid, an enthusiastic student and teacher of the Bible, recently became the new pastor of the Smith Neck Friends Meeting in South Dartmouth.
Dr. Seid (see photo) became pastor at Smith Neck in February, replacing John P. Rider, who served until last year. Quaker ministers do not use the courtesy designation "Rev."
The new pastor earned his doctor of philosophy degree from Brown University where he was enrolled in a program of "History of Religions -- Early Christianity" in the university's department of religious student.
Affiliated with both the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and the American Baptists Churches in the U.S.A., Dr. Seid explained "there really is not that much difference. Both religious groups traditionally promoted human rights such as freedom of religion, women's suffrage and abolition of slavery, a peace testimony and the gospel mission of relieving suffering around the world."
"The vitality of the Quaker experience is that the same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles speaks to us today and makes real in our lives the life of Jesus," said Dr. Seid, who explained that he has a "passion to study and teach the Bible -- to understand the Scriptures within their historical context, and translate that to contemporary human experience."
Dr. Seid, who describes himself as "a preacher's kid," is the son of Rev. and Mrs. William E. Seid, both graduates of the Moody Bible Institute. Timothy Seid moved several times during his youth, for a time residing in New Era, Mich., where he met his future wife, Suann. Timothy and Suann would later attend and graduate from the Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music.
Dr. Seid earned his bachelor of arts degree in Biblical studies and Biblical languages from Grace College, a Grace Brethren institution, and a master of arts in theological studies from the Wheaton College Graduate School in Illinois.
Dr. Seid has always had an interest in both the academic study of Christianity and the Bible, and the professional ministry. Most of his education has been directed toward preparation for teaching at the college level, although he enrolled for a year at the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Ill.
A portion of Dr. Seid's doctoral dissertation at Brown, "The Rhetorical Form of the Melchizedek/Christ Comparison in Hebrews 7," is being published in the conference proceedings of the 1996 Malibu Conference on Rhetoric and the Scriptures.
Dr. Seid is a contributor to the forthcoming "Eerdsman's Dictionary of the Bible." His "Interpreting Ancient Manuscripts Web," an introduction to the study of the manuscripts of the New Testament, may be found at: http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/mss/overview.html
Services are conducted at 10 a.m. on Sundays at the Quaker meeting house, located at Smith Neck and Rock o'Dundee Roads and dating back to 1819 (the Quaker presence in Dartmouth dates back to the 1690s). A children's Sunday school runs concurrently with the services during the school year. In his first sermons, Dr. Seid preached from the Old Testament Book of Job and, more recently, he has been discussing "Biblical Women/Quaker Women."
"While most Quaker meetings are unprogrammed -- silent worship with members sharing as God leads -- Smith Neck Friends Meeting is a programmed worship very similar to Protestant services," Dr. Seid said, adding," There is usually some time allowed for unprogrammed worship."
Timothy and Suann Seid reside in the meeting house's nearby parsonage on Smith Neck Road with their five daughters, Abby, Heidi, Emily, Lauren and Tabitha.
A clergyman who also has another job during the week, Dr. Seid is computer service manager at Kinko's of Middletown, R.I.
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