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FULLER Magazine Fuller Seminary Publications
2019
Fuller Magazine, Issue 013, 2019 - Worship and Art
Fuller Theological Seminary
Lauralee Farrer
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Recommended Citation Fuller Theological Seminary and Farrer, Lauralee, "Fuller Magazine, Issue 013, 2019 - Worship and Art" (2019). FULLER Magazine. 13. https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/fuller-magazine/13
This Periodical is brought to you for free and open access by the Fuller Seminary Publications at Digital Commons @ Fuller. It has been accepted for inclusion in FULLER Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Fuller. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ISSUE #13 | WORSHIP AND ART FULLER
STORY Daniel Dama, pictured above, draws on his lifelong love for music and the arts to creatively share his faith with others across West Africa p.28 THEOLOGY This issue looks theologically at worship and art with a collection of articles curated by the Brehm Center’s Todd Johnson p.42 VOICE Guided steps lead readers through the Prayer of Examen and a diversity of voices reflect on discernment p.76 POSTER 1 on a 1950s-era hand-crank printing press, they create a new create they press, printing hand-crank a 1950s-era on hand-carved with wood type lead and using month every poster buildings poles and telephone on them hang and images, Kagey, Says paste. wheat and staples with Seattle throughout to as likely just We’re there. see them will people know “We good news. the about talk to as we are good about pizza talk their of See more we love.” city the with a dialogue begun We’ve 98–99. and 74–75, 4, 11, pp. on posters , created by Kagey and and Kagey by , created ministry, each year the campus hosts an artist to share his or her his share to artist an hosts campus the year each ministry, community seminary our art for compelling provide to and work started was Program Residence in Artist campus’s Our engage. to Jiminez.” Martín by 2014 in Beautiful Angle project, arts a guerilla of Working community. Seattle the engaging of as a way Llewellyn The poster here, and others throughout the magazine, are part are magazine, the throughout others and here, poster The 2007, by Lance Kagey and Tom Llewellyn. Lance Lance Llewellyn. Tom and Kagey Lance by 2007, Fire Mercy, Fire Kagey was the featured Artist in Residence at Fuller Northwest Northwest Fuller at Residence in Artist featured the was Kagey campus our of walls the enlivened has work “His 2017–2018. for executive Sigler, Shannon says ways,” thought-provoking in in been has instrumental who Cascadia, Brehm of director we believe “Because program. Residence in Artist the developing for preparing those for important is eyes the of discipleship that
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STORY | THEOLOGY | VOICE FULLER ISSUE #13 | WORSHIP AND ART
SEMINARY LEADERSHIP Mark Labberton President Mari L. Clements Acting Provost Brent Assink Chief of Philanthropy Tod Bolsinger VP and Chief of Leadership Formation Theresa Edy-Kiene VP, Strategic Planning and Change Management Lauralee Farrer Chief Storyteller and VP of Communications + Let the Dreamer Awake and Sing Marcus Sun VP of Global Recruitment, Admissions, Marketing, and Retention Bill Clark Senior Advisor “The senses are our bridges to the One context at a time: Lance Kagey, world. Human skin is porous; the world Artist in Residence at Fuller Northwest, CREATIVE PRODUCTION flows through you,” says John O’Donohue is just such an artist, engaged in a Lauralee Farrer Editor in Chief in his book Anam Cara. If the theology unique dialogue with Seattle through Tamara Johnston Senior Producer section of this issue reveals anything, it the hand-printing and random hanging Becky Still Senior Editorial Manager Michael Wright Editor is how the expression of worship and art of original works around town. His art, Aaron Dorsey Communications Inclusion Liaison is embodied, and that this embodiment found opposite this page and throughout Robert Bethke Director of International Communications affects both what we absorb as the world the magazine, is thought-provoking and Kathryn Sangsland Project Manager flows through and what we release back vital, but it is the artist himself who is Nate Harrison Senior Photographer and Video Storyteller into it. If astronomer Carl Sagan and in dialogue with the city, crossing the Katy Cook Lead Designer songwriter Joni Mitchell are correct—“we distance between thought and stranger. Denise Louise Klitsie Principal Illustrator are stardust, we are billion-year-old “The purpose of theology—the Randall Cole Design and Production Consultant Lucy Kim, Salomon Kim, Joanne Yoon, Sergio Zapata carbon”—not only the world flows in and purpose of any thinking about God,” says Translation Services out like breath, but an eternal cosmos, Wiman, “[is] to make the . . . aspects Elijah Davidson Web and Digital Media Manager too. If the imagination can stretch that of the divine that will not be reduced Susan Carlson Wood Proofreader far, is it so great a leap that we, first to human meanings more irreducible enlivened by the breath of God in Eden, and more terrible, and thus ultimately CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS still exhale that breath back into the more wonderful.” This is why, he goes Giovanny Panginda world? Might our service be the simple on to claim, “art is so often better at COVER act of breathing out the presence of God theology than theology is.” It most Daniel Dama, photographed by Nate Harrison in a thousand places? certainly is true that art tells a tale of This territory is not new to artists God that theology cannot (to which THEOLOGY SECTION ADVISORY BOARD or worship leaders—or those called most theologians will attest), and vice Keon-Sang An PhD, Associate Professor of Bible and Mission to intercessory prayer. I have referred versa. But this seminary is peopled D. Scott Cormode PhD, Hugh De Pree Professor of Leadership Development before to the artist as intercessor, with those who embody both theology Kurt Fredrickson PhD, Associate Dean for the DMin and bridging the gap between suffering and art at once. Daniel Dama, whose Continuing Education and hope (Rom 5:3–5) with one foot beautiful visage graces the covers of this Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen DrTheol, Professor of Systematic planted firmly in each. Why? No one in magazine and whose story is told within, + 1000 Flowers, Theology their right mind would remain in such is evidence of this dual embodiment 2006, Lance Mark Labberton PhD, President Kagey and Tom Kara E. Powell PhD, Executive Director of Fuller Youth Institute and tension by choice, yet some artists do so of God’s presence as theologian and Llewellyn. “The Associate Professor of Youth and Family Ministry to become a bridge themselves, so that musician, prompting the question, why Tacoma Dome Brad D. Strawn PhD, Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of the others might cross over them. “There choose between worship, theology, and Integration of Psychology and Theology Flower appears is a kind of consciousness,” confirms art when we might embody all? here,” says Kagey. Marianne Meye Thompson PhD, Dean of School of Theology and George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament Christian Wiman in his book My Bright “This poster + LAURALEE was displayed at Jude Tiersma Watson PhD, Associate Professor of Urban Misson Abyss, “[that] involves allowing the world FARRER is chief Tacoma’s annual Miyoung Yoon Hammer PhD, Associate Professor of Marriage to stream through you rather than you storyteller and Art Festival as an and Family Therapy always reaching out to take hold of it. vice president of installation called, . . . People, occasionally, can be such aptly enough, communications. works, creation streaming through them.” 1000 Frickin’ How might we be such people in a world Flowers.” See Issue #13 2019 more of Kagey’s of catastrophic change and rage fatigue? FULLER magazine (ISSN 2377-5432) is published for the global community work on pp. 2–3, + of Fuller Theological Seminary. The editorial content of FULLER magazine reflects 11, 74–75, and the opinions of the various authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily 98–99. representing the views of Fuller Theological Seminary. We are a free publication of Fuller Theological Seminary. If you would like to make a contribution or if you have inquiries, please email [email protected]. © 2019 by Fuller Theological Seminary. Produced in limited quantities. 5 FULLER MAGAZINE | FULLER.EDU/STUDIO ISSUE #13 | WORSHIP AND ART
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STORY THEOLOGY VOICE
A Cloud of Witnesses 12 A Hopeful Picture 22 An Artistic Sensibility 34 Introduction 42 Psalms: A Biblical Model Voices on the Prayer of A cross-country trip reveals both the challenges As she watches teen moms reflect on Longtime professor Al Dueck merges Todd E. Johnson, Guest Editor of Art 60 Examen 76 of racial stereotypes and the blessings of nontraditional images of Mary, Joyce del his interest in pottery with theology and W. David O. Taylor hospitality Rosario finds implications for ministry psychology as a way to connect head and Voices on Discernment 88 heart Much Ado about Kneeling 44 Todd E. Johnson Hip Hop Hermeneutic 64 Redemptive Entrepreneur 16 A Song in His Heart 28 Dwight Radcliff DEPARTMENTS Drawing on his lifelong love for music, Daniel Combining determination with a creative spirit, The Art of Peacebuilding in a Meghan Easley helps new ventures do “extreme Dama uses the arts to share his faith with Divided World 49 Exploring the Role of From Mark Labberton, President 8 good” in their work others across West Africa Roberta R. King Embodiment in Worship 68 Alexis D. Abernethy Recent Faculty Books and Publications 94 The Catastrophic Poetry of the Cross 54 Culture Care: An Assumption Benediction 96 Kutter Callaway of Abundance 72 Makoto Fujimura About Fuller 97
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Paying Attention Prestando atención
관심을 갖다
From Mark Labberton, President
When I was a student at Fuller many years Living as a disciple of Jesus requires paying bilities affect our capacities. Human beings are attentive care our survival depends. So and Banksy have in common is that they are ago, a friend and fellow student took me one attention in God’s name—to God, to our only ever localized and fallen beings. Technolo- too are friends, who see and hear us with acutely attentive. How they see, what they day on a tour of five California missions. On neighbor, and to our world. We exercise and gy can make us feel a bit like we are multi-pres- uncommon gaze and compassion. Teachers see, and how they help the rest of us to see, the broadest level, we could see that these express our attentiveness in countless and ent, but we are in the end only “here.” Yet we bring their attention to their discipline in feel, recognize, and understand are criti- complex, even controversial expressions varied ways, and undergirding it all is the are made in God’s image, with an ability to order to pass that along to their students. cally important. Strangely, artists and art of California history held a great deal in pervasiveness of God’s own faithful attention. remember and to imagine, to rehearse and to Scientists observe, note, and probe to are sometimes perceived by people as dis- common. What my friend enabled me to see, The God “who never slumbers and sleeps” anticipate, to live in only one place but to attach discover through their trained attentiveness cretionary. In fact, they are essential to our however, was that beyond the superficial attends with unflinching truth, mercy, and to what may be happening thousands of miles what and how our world is. collective attention since at their best they similarities were subtle and profound differ- justice. Human beings have been created in away. We analyze and synthesize. We see, but will enhance, intensify, and pixilate what ences that reflected the distinct story of each God’s image to manifest God’s attentive care. we see through a glass darkly. Artists and artistry reframe and intensify life manifests and to what we must respond. tribe and location. The gospel was similar our attention. The province of the artist is and different in each place. It was a lesson We do this as finite creatures, of course: the Specialist observers come in many forms. peculiarly and remarkably to pay attention. We could not and would not be able to know in paying attention. only way any of us can do so. Our limits and lia- Parents are chief among these, on whose What Mozart and Coltrane, or Michelangelo our neighbor, ourselves, or the world around
+ President Mark Labberton in his office, seated Cuando era estudiante en Fuller hace y lugar. El evangelio era similar y diferente duerme ni se adormece” atiende con verdad siempre localizados y caídos. La tecnología Los observadores especializados vienen en in front of a painting of his own inspired by a muchos años, un amigo y compañero de en cada lugar. Fue una lección en cuanto a inquebrantable, misericordia y justicia. Los puede hacernos sentir un poco como si es- muchas formas. Los padres son los prin- whirlwind. estudios me llevó un día a un recorrido por prestar atención. seres humanos han sido creados a la imagen tuviéramos presentes en varios lugares y cipales entre ellos, de cuyo cuidado atento cinco misiones de California. En general, de Dios para manifestar el cuidado atento ocasiones, pero al final solo estamos “aquí”. depende nuestra supervivencia. También lo pudimos ver que estas edificaciones, incluso Vivir como discípulo de Jesús requiere de Dios. Sin embargo, estamos hechos a imagen de son los amigos, que nos ven y nos escuchan expresiones controversiales de la historia de prestar atención en representación de Dios: Dios con la capacidad de recordar e imaginar, con una mirada y compasión poco comunes. California tenían mucho en común. Lo que a Dios, a nuestro prójimo y a nuestro mundo. Lo hacemos como criaturas finitas, por ensayar y anticipar, vivir en solo un lugar, Los maestros prestan atención a la disciplina mi amigo me permitió ver, sin embargo, fue Ejercemos y expresamos nuestra atención supuesto: esa es la única forma en que cual- pero para participar en lo que puede estar para poder transmitirla a sus alumnos. Los que más allá de las similitudes superficiales de maneras innumerables y variadas, y en quiera de nosotros puede hacerlo. Nuestros sucediendo a cientos de kilometros de distan- científicos observan, anotan y prueban para había diferencias sutiles y profundas que el fondo de todo esto está la omnipresente límites y responsabilidades afectan nuestras cia. Analizamos y sintetizamos. Vemos, pero descubrir a través de su atención entrenada reflejaban la historia distinta de cada tribu y fiel atención de Dios. El Dios “que nunca capacidades. Los seres humanos son seres vemos a través de un cristal oscuro. el qué y cómo de nuestro mundo.
수년 전 제가 풀러의 학생이었을 때 저의 친구이자 다르기도 했습니다. 이 경험은 저에게 관심을 갖는다는 긍휼과 정의로 관심을 보이고 계십니다. 인간은 하나님의 결국 “여기”에 있을 뿐입니다. 하지만 하나님의 형상대로 사랑으로 우리를 살피고 우리의 이야기를 들어줍니다. 동료였던 학생이 어느날 저를 캘리포니아의 다섯 것이 무엇인지 배우는 레슨이 되었습니다. 세심한 관심을 드러낼 수 있도록 하나님의 형상대로 만들어진 우리는 기억하고 상상할 수 있는 능력과, 과거를 교사들은 학생들에게 지식을 전달하기 위해 자신의 분야에 개 선교 투어로 데려갔습니다. 거기에서 우리는 창조되었습니다. 돌아보고 미래를 기대할 수 있는 능력, 한 지역에 살면서도 관심을 갖습니다. 과학자들은 숙련된 주의력을 통해 우리가 캘리포니아 역사에 대한 복잡하고 심지어 논란의 예수님의 제자로 산다는 것은 하나님과 이웃, 그리고 우리가 수천 마일 떨어진 곳에서 일어나는 일에 관심을 가질 수 살고 있는 세상이 무엇이고 어떻게 존재하는지 관찰하고, 여지가 있는 문제의 표출들이 가장 큰 수준에서 보면 살고 있는 세상에 대하여 하나님의 이름을 통해 관심을 물론 우리가 하나님의 관심을 드러내는 길은 오직 유한한 있는 능력을 가지고 있습니다. 주목하고, 탐색합니다. 많은 공통점을 가지고 있음을 보았습니다. 그런데 갖는 것을 말합니다. 우리는 무수히 다양한 방법으로 피조물로서입니다: 그것은 우리 중 어느 누구도 그렇게 그 친구는 그런 피상적인 유사점들을 초월하여 각 우리의 관심을 표현하고 행사합니다. 이런 우리의 관심을 하지 않을 수 없는 유일한 방법입니다. 우리가 가지고 있는 관찰의 전문가들은 여러 가지 형태가 있습니다. 부모들은 예술가와 예술성은 우리의 관심을 재구성하고 부족과 그들의 지역이 가지고 있는 독특한 이야기가 뒷받침하고 있는 것은 하나님 스스로가 우리에게 신실한 한계와 책임은 우리의 능력에 영향을 미칩니다. 인간은 그런 관찰자들 중 최고라고 할 수 있는데, 이는 우리의 강화시킵니다. 예술가의 주무대는 독특하고 놀라운 반영되는 미묘하고 심오한 차이점들을 이해하도록 관심을 갖고 계시다는 사실입니다. “졸지도 아니하시고 오직 국지적이고 타락한 존재일 뿐입니다. 과학 기술이 생존이 그들의 세심한 관심에 달려있기 때문입니다. 방식으로 주의를 기울이는 데에 있습니다. 모차르트 도와주었습니다. 복음은 각 지역마다 비슷했지만 또한 주무시지도 아니하시는” 하나님은 굽히지 않는 진리와 우리를 다재다능한 것처럼 느끼게 할 수는 있지만 우리는 친구들도 이와 비슷하여서, 그들은 평범함을 넘는 시선과 (Mozart)와 콜트레인(Coltrane), 미켈란젤로(Michelangelo)
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us without music, movement, visuals arts, and parents and friends, politicians and poll- power, race, fear, and security that dominate and language. These are the effluences of sters, along with plumbers and launderers, US culture. Disciples are meant to attend to thought and emotion that refract and embody fruit pickers and cooks. the world through the lens of Jesus Christ. what we perceive. Our artists pay obsessive We are to see through the faithfulness, attention to the visible and invisible. Their It has often been said that we become like honesty, and courage of God to our vulner- creativity speaks about what is apparent and that which absorbs our attention most. By able, beautiful, and suffering world, so that inaccessible, about subtleties and voids. This this measure, the current crisis of the evan- we may respond to and serve in love what is their passion and their burden. The arts gelical church in America is what it reveals has been entrusted to us. How we see is to show us we are human and depict our agency about what fixates our attention. Rather affect who we see. Who we see reveals who and impotence, our beauty and horror. We than revealing that evangelicals look like and what we worship. To whom and to what must have artists. And we also must have the life and love of Jesus, polls and actions are we paying attention and why? scientists, and mathematicians, and analysts, reveal that we look more like the idols of
Los artistas y el arte replantean e intensifi- y lenguaje. Estos son los efluentes del iglesia evangélica en América es lo que can nuestra atención. La meta del artista es pensamiento y la emoción que refractan revela aquello en lo que fija su atención. En peculiar y notablemente el prestar atención. y encarnan lo que percibimos. Nuestros lugar de revelar que los evangélicos reflejan Lo que Mozart y Coltrane, o Miguel Ángel y artistas prestan atención obsesiva a lo la vida y el amor de Jesús, las encuestas y Banksy tienen en común es que son suma- visible e invisible. Su creatividad habla de las acciones revelan que nos parecemos más mente atentos. La forma en que ven, lo que lo que es aparente e inaccesible, de sutilezas a los ídolos del poder, la raza, el miedo y la ven y la forma en que nos ayudan a ver, sentir, y vacíos. Esta es su pasión y su carga. Las seguridad que dominan la cultura de los reconocer y comprender al resto de nosotros artes nos muestran que somos humanos Estados Unidos. Las y los discípulos están son de importancia crítica. Extrañamente, los y representamos nuestra agencia e impo- destinados a servir al mundo a través de la artistas y el arte a veces son percibidos por las tencia, nuestra belleza y horror. Debemos lente de Jesucristo. Debemos ver a través personas como discrecionales. De hecho, son tener artistas. Y también debemos tener de la fidelidad, la honestidad y el valor de esenciales para nuestra atención colectiva, científicos, matemáticos, analistas, padres Dios para con nuestro mundo vulnerable, ya que, en el mejor de los casos, mejorarán, y amigos, políticos y encuestadores, junto hermoso y sufriente, para que podamos intensificarán y pixelearán lo que la vida dice con plomeros y lavadores, recolectores de responder y servir con amor aquello que y a lo que debemos de responder. frutas y cocineros. nos ha sido confiado. Lo que vemos afecta a quien vemos. Lo que vemos revela a quién y No podríamos conocer a nuestro prójimo, a Se ha dicho a menudo que nos convertimos qué adoramos. ¿A quién y a qué prestamos nosotros mismos o al mundo que nos rodea en lo que más absorbe nuestra atención. atención y por qué? sin música, movimiento, artes visuales Según esta medida, la crisis actual de la
+ Yellow Limo, 와 뱅크시(Banksy)의 공통점은 그들이 첨예한 주의력을 우리가 알고 있는 예술가들은 눈에 보이는 것과 보이지 관심을 사로잡는지를 통해 드러나게 됩니다. 여론 조사와 2004, Lance 가졌다는 것입니다. 그들이 어떻게 보고, 무엇을 보는지와 않는 것에 강박적인 관심을 갖습니다. 예술가의 창의력은 대중의 반응을 통해 드러나는 것은 복음주의자들이 Kagey and Tom Llewellyn. Lance’s 그들이 어떻게 우리가 보고, 느끼고, 인식하고, 이해하는데 무엇이 명백하고 무엇이 접근하기 어려운지를 말해주고, 예수님의 삶과 사랑을 닮았다는 것이 아니라 미국 문화를 daughter Emily 도움을 주는지는 매우 중요합니다. 이상하게도 사람들은 미묘하고 공허한 것에 대해 말해줍니다. 이것은 그들의 지배하는 권력, 인종, 두려움, 안전이라는 우상과 더 Kagey created 종종 예술가와 예술이 개인의 자유재량에 속한 것이라고만 열정이며 짐이기도 합니다. 예술은 우리가 인간임을 닮았다는 것입니다. 제자들은 예수 그리스도라는 렌즈를 the artwork for 생각합니다. 그런데 사실 예술가는 공동체의 집단적 관심에 보여주고 우리의 행동 능력과 무력함, 우리의 아름다움과 통해 세상에 관심을 기울여야 하는 존재입니다. 우리는 이 this poster. Says 필수적입니다. 최상의 예술이 구현되고 있을 때 예술가들은 두려움을 묘사합니다. 우리에게는 예술가가 필요합니다. 연약하고 아름답고 고통받는 세상을 하나님의 신실하심과 Kagey: “Emily stated that the 삶이 드러나는 방식과 삶이 무엇에 반응해야 하는지를 그리고 과학자, 수학자, 분석가, 부모들과 친구들, 정치인, 정직과 용기를 통해 보아야합니다. 그럴 때 우리에게 맡겨진 yellow rectangular 강렬하게 그려내기 때문입니다. 여론 조사자, 배관공과 세탁소 주인, 과일을 따는 사람과 것들에게 사랑으로 반응하고 섬길 수 있게 됩니다. 우리가 shapes were 요리사도 필요합니다. 어떻게 보는지는 우리가 누구를 보는지를 결정합니다. limousines, so 우리는 음악, 춤, 시각 예술, 언어가 없이는 우리의 이웃, 우리가 누구를 보는지는 우리가 누구를 그리고 무엇을 it must be so.” 우리 자신, 또는 우리 주변의 세상을 알 수 없을 것입니다. 사람들은 우리가 관심을 가장 많이 쓰는 것을 닮아간다는 예배하는지를 보여줍니다. 우리는 누구에게, 그리고 무엇에 Find more posters from Kagey and 이런 예술 활동들은 우리가 인식하는 것을 굴절시키고 또 말을 종종 합니다. 이런 기준을 따른다면, 현재 미국의 대하여 관심을 기울이고 있습니까? Llewellyn on pp. 구체화시키는 생각과 감정이 분출되어 나온 것입니다. 복음주의 교회가 직면하고 있는 위기는 무엇이 교회의 2–3, 4, 74–75, and 98–99.
10 STORY
a cloud of witnesses A cross-country trip reveals both the challenges of racial stereotypes and the blessings of hospitality
Written by MICHAEL WRIGHT Photographed by BRANDON HOOK
h e n m y f e l l o w alum Andre Henry [MAT ’16] Andre is the better dancer between the two of us!). W asked online if any white male friend would be What might be an intimidating conversation on the willing to join him on his cross-country drive to move from fraught topic of racism anywhere else was softened by Los Angeles to Orlando, Florida, I said yes. “It’s more our friendship and those long bright hours in a dusty likely we’ll be treated differently together than either of Kia, the road thrumming beneath us. “I don’t get to us will be treated alone,” he said. When I asked him if take a break from this,” he told me one afternoon, I could help with anything before we left, Andre asked as we pulled away from a gas station where he was me to pick up a “baby on board” sticker for his car. As followed by the security guard. “I was born into a an African American, he said, “we’re pulled over all the world where my skin has a certain meaning socially, time, but we’ve learned this sticker or even empty baby and I have no choice in that matter. I can’t just not be seats help humanize us.” We’ve learned. I winced thinking Black,” he said. “Like you can’t change the perception of how that knowledge came to be, how it was passed of those 30 people in that all-white gas station,” around like a rule of thumb—a technique I’ve never had I said. “Exactly, and that’s the thing people miss. to use. “I haven’t had to think that much about how I’m It’s not just about how you identify yourself, right? perceived in the world—that seems like quite a mental There’s also something about being identified.” And load to me,” I said. “Yeah, that’s called racial stress, but that security guard identified my friend as a threat, I you just get used to it, you know?” Andre said. think to myself, staring at my own white hands on the It was the first conversation of dozens, beginning steering wheel. the gift of traveling with Andre: a weeklong chance Traveling from family to Fuller staff and alumni to see up close what it’s like to walk through the and their own networks of friends along the way, we world in his skin. “It’s hard to deny the different brought these conversations with us, grateful for the experiences we’re having when they’re happening so hospitality that could contain the stories we carried. closely together,” he told me. Sure, we discussed race “The cloud of witnesses isn’t just people who’ve and theology and politics—we’re seminarians, after passed—it’s those of us who are living, too,” Andre all—but the real education came when we were treated said after our first day. “We’re part of that cloud of differently in gas stations and fast food restaurants, witnesses, and I feel like we’re experiencing the kind when Andre’s anxiety over a cop driving by would spill of hospitality that God would want us to practice.” I over into my seat, and even when we compared the still think about that trip and the hospitality that made music of our childhood (listen to the difference between it possible, how for one week that cloud carried us Stevie Wonder and James Taylor, and you’ll know why across the country—and how it still carries us now. + Andre (left) and Michael (right) share a laugh before leaving on their trip upon discovering they’ve dressed alike. They took audio equipment to record their conversations on the road; listen to excerpts of their reflections on race, hospitality, and more at Fuller.edu/Studio.
12 13 MONDAY Lingenfelter encouraged him as he integrated his a living room with walls covered in degrees and When we arrived in Tempe, Arizona, our first Potawatomi heritage with Christian ministry. awards. “Almost every Black friend I know has a night, Tim and Katie Hoiland ushered us to a living room where no one is allowed to actually warm meal waiting on the dining room table. We Thanks to Lauralee Farrer, vice president of live,” Andre told me, laughing. “I don’t have my were online friends first, and I quickly learned in communications, we had a place to stay that college degrees—my parents have my college person that Tim wasn’t an alum as I’d thought— night in Tulsa: with her niece and nephew Liz and degrees!” After Andre sang songs in the living but an “honorary Mouwist” and close friend to a Dominick Montgomery—and their four children. room, we drove on to Columbia, South Carolina, number of PhD students who had studied under They hadn’t finished unpacking from their own grateful for Andre’s childhood friend Michelle, who the president emeritus. Naturally, as a result, our move to the city a few days prior, but they hosted stayed up until the early morning to welcome us. dinner conversation on racism and politics was one us anyway, giving us a tour of their empty rooms of “convicted civility,” and it easily drifted into the and the dreams that filled them. “One day I’m SATURDAY living room, only interrupted by the joyful slobber going to have a table in here for a massive feast,” On our last day we decided to swing by Savannah, of their Boston Terrier Gus (short for Augustine, of Dom told me, waving to an empty dining room. We Georgia, stopping to see Andre’s childhood friends course). When we left the next morning, Andre told stayed up for hours as Dom and Andre swapped Isaac and Tatiana. Crossing over Martin Luther me, “It’s not just that we are welcome here, but stories of being racially profiled, sharing the kind King Jr. Blvd., Andre reminded me that the town our whole story is welcome here. We can bring the of laughter that only comes from recognizing each used to be a port city for the slave trade, a hard fact exact experience we’re taking across the country, other’s stories as their own. The next morning to ignore as we walked into a coffee shop inside a and it’s welcome in their home,” he said. As we as Liz was packing breakfast for their kids, she converted plantation home. Isaac and Tatiana told reached out to the Fuller community on social grabbed extra baggies of Cheerios for us, raised us that when a local church found a record book media for other hosts, we could feel that same her hands and said, “The Lord bless you and keep in the basement with an unnamed enslaved man welcome spilling out before us. you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and listed as a tithe to the church, they had to decide grant you peace.” whether or not they were going to bring the records TUESDAY up to the sanctuary. I wondered if that church had We had no place to stay in Albuquerque, but THURSDAY the courage to bring their painful history into the thanks to Will Stoller-Lee, director of Fuller On the way to Nashville we turned our car light—and if we had that courage, too. Colorado, we connected with Casey Church [DMiss conversations into a live video feed, inviting the ’13] who knew indigenous families in the area. wider Fuller community to reflect with us as we SUNDAY After texting back and forth in the afternoon, we discussed our different experiences in gas stations Our host Nicole Higgins [MACCS ’10] knew she had the address of our host family for the night: along the way, and how conversations about race wouldn’t be around when we arrived in Orlando, so friends of friends Jon and Tawanna Lansa, two shifted when we approached them through close she left us a key under the mat and fresh-baked buoyant Hopi Christians with a home filled with proximity and friendship. As comments came in cookies on the table. After such a nonstop road trip, heirlooms of their ancestors. When we arrived, we from students and alumni from around the nation, walking through that door felt like a homecoming. marveled at their kindness to two strangers and it was easy to sense that larger community beyond Our FULLER studio team had written on Nicole’s the friendships that delivered us to their front door. the edges of our single trip. work in an earlier magazine, and once she arrived, Over tea, Andre asked them about reconciling their we were living inside that story’s growing edge. We faith with a history of oppression that often came We arrived at my parents’ home outside of Nashville chatted in the living room about the intersection at the hands of Christians. “I think a lot about the with another warm meal waiting for us—this time of justice and friendship, her hope for the largely displacement of indigenous people in this country with my family, members of their church, and alum segregated city, and how she always asks herself, so that ‘America’ could be built. I think about Gary Mumme all gathering to hear us play songs “what voices am I not listening to?” people who are living the consequences of that Andre had written. “When I was a kid, I’d clean the history,” Andre said. Tawanna told me that when house while my mom was away, turn a desk lamp It’s a question that can only come from humility and Jon had a motorcycle accident that damaged his into a spotlight, and surprise her with a show when a desire to know the beloved community—that’s memory, she had to restore it one heirloom and she got home,” Andre shared. “They were family what we experienced all along our trip, with each photo at a time. “It was a long road—with so concerts, and tonight feels exactly like that.” When opened door and each set table. Nicole took us to much history, where do you start?” Andre and I the songs were over, we talked in the space the a local Cuban restaurant later that night. I looked were asking the same question about our country’s songs created, inviting the gathering into the same around and thought of all the lives we witnessed long history of racism, and as we listened to one ongoing conversation Andre and I were having on through the week, imagining them around a single another around the table, I wondered if we were the road. table. I took another bite of plantains and listened, learning how to answer. their voices drifting into the humid air. FRIDAY WEDNESDAY When we arrived at Andre’s childhood home in MICHAEL WRIGHT [MAT ’12], storyteller, is an On the way out of the city, we met Casey to Atlanta, we shared Jamaican patties, music, and editor for FULLER magazine and studio. thank him for his help and, chatting over coffee, memories of Andre’s late mother, Mackie. “This BRANDON HOOK [MAT ’16] is an art director at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Find more of his heard about his work on the complexities of is my first time to come home without her being work at brandonjhook.com. Christian faith in indigenous contexts—and how here,” said Andre, and her absence filled the rooms. Fuller professors Roberta King and Sherwood His sister gave me a tour of the house, including
14 15 STORY
Combining determination with a creative spirit, Meghan Easley helps new ventures do Written by KATHERINE LEE “extreme good” in their work Redemptive Entrepreneur Photographed by BRANDON HOOK
16 17 e g h a n e a s l e y [m at ’16] has a memory from her characterized by creativity rather than overt spirituality. If M elementary school days. She had just come home USC was a place where people asked “why” often—the from school, and her father asked for her backpack. Taking “little whys” that make good design possible—Fuller out her pencil case, he began to tape a bunch of pencils was the space where Meghan enjoyed the affirmation together—and then gleefully declared, “I think I have it!” and exploration of the “greater whys.” “At USC, there Meghan was puzzled. “You have what, Dad?” He explained were very few Christians in my cohort of 50,” she says, that it was a prototype for a portable oxygen tank: one to “and often the case studies we looked at on poor social replace the 60-pound albatrosses that at the time kept entrepreneurship highlighted Christian organizations. But the infirm and elderly immobile. Dissatisfied with seeing it wasn’t a hostile environment. My faith was pruned there, such individuals having to choose between respiration and I think it grew. I saw my colleagues struggle with the or mobility, Meghan’s dad had just designed a solution. contours of social good outside of a Christian framework. Eventually his pencil prototype went to market to become a And where they couldn’t root the work in the worldview mainstay of home healthcare, an industry he has remained that I held, my community at Fuller helped me to do so.” in to this day. “My father has been a lifelong entrepreneur. Moreover, her theological training helped her understand I grew up with him ripping things apart and recreating social entrepreneurship as not just simple renewal or social them to show me what’s possible,” Meghan says. It seems uplift, but as one of many extensions of God’s grace and that it was catching, as she came to bring that same redemption. unorthodox, innovative spirit to her own graduate study and Meghan sees so much potential for the church and subsequent work. theological education to embrace our culture’s current When Meghan began as a theology student at Fuller, enthusiasm about entrepreneurship. “Think of how much she thought she would end up pursuing a vocation in youth our world is shaped by it today! Uber. Facebook. Apple. We ministry. Her studies began well, but quickly became need innovative Christian voices in these industries,” she cumbersome to her. Starting to sense that youth ministry says with conviction. “I’m not simply talking about ‘how wasn’t the right path after all, Meghan felt stagnant and to be a Christian at my job.’ I mean that beyond our moral trapped. “It seemed to me that the program equipped you influence in the marketplace, we should also channel our for certain tracks—pastoral or academic tracks that my energy to make the world more just, more whole, more peers all envisioned following after graduation,” she recalls. beautiful. Why wouldn’t we want to do that? Why wouldn’t “Over time I realized I wasn’t headed in those directions. we want to shape the overarching values of our startup But I didn’t know where I was headed.” culture so that it is redemptive instead of exploitative? This She spoke with her sister over the phone and expressed can be a key part of our Christian witness.” her concerns. Her sister, convinced that Meghan was After Meghan graduated with both master’s degrees, hungering for practical application, mentioned “social she began dialoguing with a Fuller trustee who mentioned entrepreneurship.” “I had never heard that term before, an organization called Praxis, founded in 2010 with a but I googled it and found a master’s program at USC in mission to advance redemptive entrepreneurship. According social entrepreneurship,” Meghan says. “The program to Praxis, redemptive entrepreneurs are those who spend was designed to help for-profit and nonprofit leaders bring themselves on behalf of others, using their personal and business acumen to problems like poverty, violence, and organizational power “to bind up the brokenhearted, other forms of inequity and injustice. That sounded great. to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from But the deadline to apply was just two weeks away,” she darkness the prisoners” (Isaiah 61). They renew culture out laughs. After she hurriedly prepared her application and of love for their neighbors. Praxis’s endgame is to produce was accepted, Meghan faced a dilemma: which degree such leaders by creating an ecosystem that supports them: should she pursue? Inheriting her father’s distaste for an mentors, wise funders, other practitioners, and the spiritual either/or choice, she paved a third way and pursued both practices and resources required to launch redemptive her Fuller and USC degrees in tandem. ventures. Meghan’s mixing and matching of coursework at Meghan was sold on the mission. In fact, bringing her the two institutions proved to be catalytic in her own dad’s innovative spirit to the table, it felt like her dual theological integration. Alongside her peers at USC, she degrees had been her own prototype of preparation for this was encouraged to imagine the ways that business could kind of work. “Praxis was truly the first place where I met produce social good and renewal; it was an experience investors and philanthropists who weren’t just looking for
18 19 “I’m not simply talking about ‘how to be a Christian at my job.’ I mean that beyond our moral influence in the marketplace, we should also channel our energy to make the world more just, more whole, more beautiful. Why wouldn’t we want to do that?”
the kudos that come with responsible social responsibility, other organizations and government agencies to multiply like so many are today,” she says. “They were—and are— the impact. The end result: more children of God living in focused on extreme good.” safe conditions, freed from the exhaustion and fear of life Convinced this was the right environment for her, in survival mode. Meghan joined the Praxis team and moved to New York It’s quite possible to imagine Meghan herself as one City. She now works in their Accelerator program, and of these Praxis alumni in the future. “We talk frequently she is quick to clarify that her work is more than just about our own ‘cherished topic,’ the space where there introducing founders to a community of investors and is possibility for redemptive entrepreneurship but none philanthropists. “It’s true that many come to us in their yet present,” she explains. “I care a lot about sustainable growth phase looking for philanthropists or funders. But food systems, maybe because my mother was a nurse after becoming a part of our community, they walk away and taught me to appreciate the significance of nutrition with a reimagined sense of leadership,” she stresses. for healthy living. The need became clear to me when I “They no longer feel the need to compartmentalize or was attending USC—a school that caters to the appetites ‘postpone’ their faith.” This type of spiritual formation of privileged students, yet right outside campus are seems to have real value: Praxis “alumni” ventures are poor neighborhoods with very few fresh food grocers. So staggeringly successful, with a 92 percent survival rate. perhaps I will focus on this challenge. Perhaps most significantly, they are making a tangible “I know that I can’t settle for the mindset that this impact on people across the globe. Take, for example, system will always be broken,” Meghan insists. “I can’t two ventures that are part of Praxis’s network: New Story, accept that food deserts will always exist. That’s fatalism, a nonprofit created to address homelessness through not faith in the kingdom at hand. ‘No’ doesn’t always have affordable housing, and ICON, a construction technologies to be the answer. We can fix these things.” company created to revolutionize homebuilding. Because Such determination brings to mind that memory of of their affiliation with Praxis, they have now joined forces Meghan’s father and his pencil case prototype: it was his to build affordable homes through 3D printing. In less than natural expression of the creative impulse God has placed 24 hours, they can construct an entire home for a family in each of us. Like her father, Meghan is committed to in need for a mere $4,000. The prototype debuted at the being the hands and feet of Christ in the world as he 2018 SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas, and generated “makes all things new.” significant media attention. In 2019, New Story and ICON will build communities in several developing countries, KATHERINE LEE [MAT ’12] is the director of utilizing local materials and labor and improving as they development for foundations in Fuller’s Office of Development. go through community engagement and feedback. Just as BRANDON HOOK [MAT ’16] is an art director at important is that they are not looking to monopolize the Caltech in Pasadena, California. Find more of his work market. Their technology will be open source, allowing at brandonjhook.com.
20 21 STORY
As she watches teen moms reflect on nontraditional images of Mary, Joyce del Rosario finds implications for ministry
Written by RACHEL PAPROCKI Photographed by LINDSEY SHEETS
e r fa c e re f l e c t in g the digital glow, a teenager be safe and warm and loved.” Though Joyce didn’t become a H studies a projection of an oil painting by Canadian mother in this exact way, she began spending her weekends artist Tim Okamura called Courage 3.0. The teen’s eyes volunteering at a residential home for teen moms in the Bay flicker over the image of a young Black woman clad in a Area of Northern California. There, she became captivated by man’s undershirt, coming to rest on the bundle cradled in the stories of the young women under her care. the woman’s arms, a baby concealed by the lush folds of To Joyce, these young women’s likes and dislikes, their a blanket. Seated in a classical portrait pose in front of a family and immigration histories, their schooling, even their graffiti-covered wall and crowned with a halo, the mother relationships to local and national governments were much holds her chin high as her gaze points toward a distant more than mere details about their backgrounds or factors that horizon. The teenager, a young mother herself, finally may have contributed to their young motherhood. These were describes what she sees: “To me, the way she’s looking, I see precious aspects of these women’s identities—and of their that the future is in her head.” children’s identities—that Joyce saw as essential to understand “Motherhood is so much more than just a physical and honor if she was going to minister to them well. relationship between a parent and child,” Fuller doctoral Some, but not all, of the young women had been virtually student Joyce del Rosario says. She sees something mystical abandoned by their families and their partners. From varied in the bond that witnesses to the nature of God, especially in socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicities, they were in high untraditional kinds of mothers and unique depictions of them. school or working their way through their pregnancies, growing From Seattle, Washington, Joyce was raised in a bustling bellies tucked into the teenage uniforms of hooded sweatshirts Methodist home surrounded by her extended Filipino family. or sundresses from the mall. No matter their circumstances, “Growing up, I had random people in my home all the time,” Joyce helped these young moms-to-be pack their hospital Joyce remembers, recounting stories of Filipino aunties and bags and prep their birth plans, ready to rush to the maternity distant cousins, everyone sharing responsibilities: men and ward at any hour of the day or night. women, across generations and blood ties. Joyce’s family Joyce became the director of that home, a position she was always growing and changing shape, giving her broad held for four years. Much more than the two weeks at a time definitions of hospitality and community. she initially imagined spending as a foster mom, “I didn’t During her nine years on staff with Young Life, Joyce began realize God would give me five years of foster parenting and to think about starting a family of her own as a foster parent. grandparenting with I don’t even know how many families!” “Even if I was only able to house a child for a couple of There were so many different kinds of motherhood, Joyce weeks,” she felt, “those would be two weeks that child would found, her own experience of fostering through leadership not
22 23 “We forget that Jesus first came least among them. beanie tucked under the old-fashioned robe?—teenaged moms When Joyce decided to pursue doctoral work in Fuller’s wondered about this mother’s apparent lack of femininity, to a teenage School of Intercultural Studies, she transitioned out of her work giggling about the “dad way” she held baby Jesus. And speaking with the teen mom home to move to Pasadena. Yet those young of dads, where was Joseph? Not all teen moms are single, but moms she cared for so deeply, along with the Filipino aunties Mary often seemed to be. and so many others who influenced her own upbringing, stayed Responding to a traditional portrait of the Virgin of girl who in the back of her mind. She progressed through her coursework Guadalupe, a Mexican American mother recalled a shift in the with only a general idea of her research interests until one day, way she saw Jesus illustrated when she became a Christian and in a missiology seminar discussion, she became passionate began attending a nondenominational church, where instead of about the idea that Protestants need to broaden their conception having golden brown skin, Jesus was often decidedly white. But was socially, of and ideas about Jesus’ mother, Mary—and that this could this painting of the Virgin draped in the star-studded emerald have powerful implications for ministry. David Scott, Joyce’s green traditional in Mexican Catholic imagery, radiating light advisor, saw the light bulb go on for her. with a whole-body halo, reminded her of the holy families of her economically, “That’s your dissertation topic,” he told her—and she childhood with flowing dark hair and bedecked in rich textiles. agreed. Recalling the insights her teen moms had about their And contemporary paintings like Courage 3.0 both illustrated responsibilities to their children and their position in the world, the teens’ upbringings and spoke prophetically to their hoped- she wondered about the connection between the narratives of for futures. One young woman saw the way her own parents and even young moms, often the intended recipients of Christian outreach, raised her to envision a future outside of their impoverished and the unmarried, teenaged Mary, who was God’s own vehicle neighborhood, as well as the hope she had for her own child: of outreach to all humanity. “We forget that Jesus first came to “They would always take us to places where they knew it a teenage girl who was socially, economically, and even legally was not typical for people who live in a poor city to be,” the legally vulnerable. God chose to enter into community with Mary first,” teen recalled. In Okamura’s painting, she felt, “it just looks Joyce says. like they’re going places with the confidence she has. That At her advisor’s encouragement, Joyce revisited her teen background has nothing to do with her life, even though she lives moms and others in the Bay Area to probe their responses to there.” vulnerable. images—icons, many of them quite nontraditional—of the holy Joyce’s research questions elicited honest, confessional family. Indeed, images of Mary had the potential, Joyce found responses through visuals alone, responses about what it means in her research, to evoke teenage reflection on more than just to reimagine one’s self as a parent in the context of high school, maternity, inspiring questions about culture and romance, the or without a partner, or without a home—what it means to God chose past and the future. venture on a new path, perhaps alone, brimming with new love Shown an orthodox icon depicting Mary with large, lashless and still unsure of what might come. She works toward a holistic to enter into eyes set in a long face and with covered hair—was that a knit Protestant vision of Mary, bringing that to bear on ministry community with Mary first.”
24 25 to teenage mothers. What might happen, Joyce wonders, if churches remember Mary in their ministries to young mothers with unplanned pregnancies? How many more conceptions of the holy family might we imagine, helped both by real-life stories of today’s teen moms and by rich, diverse imagery of the many different kinds of motherhood? “Context matters,” Joyce says of working toward truly compassionate ministry to the unique needs of young mothers. Using what she’s discovered in the teens’ connections to the paintings, she wants to foster ministries to both privileged church communities and the neighborhoods they seek to serve. Through images like Okamura’s, Joyce encourages congregations to creatively handle the tension of welcoming new life and family bonds that might seem out of place. And through such images, those privileged church communities might come to see a Mary that’s quite different from the white young woman so many picture her to be: she might be any ethnicity, and she might just be wearing a beanie under that robe. The young moms Joyce interviewed recreate versions of the holy birth narrative independent of the biblical text and true to life—and true, Joyce says, to God’s redemptive vision accomplished through an unmarried mother. They just needed images they could identify with and aspire to, ones that illustrate the best of what they see in themselves and their babies: “strong, resolute, and fearless of what the present and future holds,” according to Joyce. As one of the young moms said: motherhood is holy, and “a hopeful picture.”
Chapala Bakery #2 + , Miguel Pichardo. RACHEL PAPROCKI [MAT ’14] is the manager of This mural, located on Worcester Fuller’s Writing Center. Avenue in Pasadena, California, LINDSEY SHEETS is a video editor and colorist depicts the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, for FULLER studio. one example of many similar images of Mary painted on buildings throughout the Los Angeles area.
26 27 STORY
A SONG IN HIS HEART
Drawing on his lifelong love for music, Daniel Dama uses the arts to share his faith with others across West Africa
Written by CARLA SANDERS Photographed by NATE HARRISON
28 29 aniel dama is intensely committed to his mission: their performances,” Dama remembers. “I always followed Dsharing the gospel across West Africa not just in them, sometimes late in the night, in order to capture the words, but through the music he so deeply loves. “I way they performed. Later, I imitated them clandestinely want to save my people,” the Fuller PhD student says because I would be rebuked if a family member should see with passion—and, as a missionary with an organization me sing like men from the wrong caste.” called the Joint Christian Ministry, that means traveling Dama began composing his own indigenous songs, throughout 15 countries, from Chad to Senegal, helping and experimented with making bamboo flutes and small, others know the joy he’s found in Christianity. It can be a guitar-like instruments. None of this was good news to his tricky, often dangerous business, as just getting from place family. “My mother rebuked me terribly, saying, ‘Don’t be to place in a region that’s both arid and tropical, desert a curse for our lineage and family!’ My uncles and aunts and jungle offers distinct challenges. likewise menaced me. All of that intimidated me beyond “Sometimes we have to book public transportation,” description. As a result,” he confesses, “I abandoned he says, “which means that in a small car meant for four making music and accompanying praise singers”— people, they’ll put, like, 15. Sometimes the driver cannot heartbreaking as that was for him. even reach the pedals. Someone else—a passenger—has His love for music wasn’t the only way the young to press them. If the car breaks down, it will take four to Dama butted heads with his elders. Another point five hours to get it fixed. If you’re on a bus, someone might of contention was his first name: Daniel. After his give you a goat to hold. Sometimes we have to take a boat birth, American missionaries in Goro village asked for on a river, traveling hundreds of miles. Then, when we permission to name the new baby boy—and, surprisingly, jump from the boat, we have to walk about 20 miles in the his grandfather granted it. Throughout his childhood, jungle. Sometimes you find poisonous snakes on the road. young Dama despised his name because it was so foreign The mosquitoes are everywhere.” and unusual. “I was very angry because I was the only “It’s very interesting,” he says with a smile, “to be a boy with this name!” says Dama. “For years, I kept missionary in Africa.” asking my grandfather to change my name, but he told For this married father of four with a gracious, engaging me to keep it.” personality, the path has been winding and littered with Raised in the Islamic faith, Dama came to Christianity obstacles from his early days. Dama, as he is known to in his late teens, inspired by a man who’d been traveling everyone, spent his childhood in Goro village in northern to his village on a rickety old bicycle for 25 years sharing Benin, a small, close-knit community where his grandfather his Christian faith. Dama went on to earn a diploma in was chief. He is a member of the Fulani tribe, one of Theology and Religious Education from Baptist Theological the largest ethnic groups in Africa, numbering upwards Seminary in Nigeria, and—now feeling the freedom, away of 25 million people. Because of his paternal lineage as from home, to renew his interest in song—followed it with a “noble,” he was expected to eventually follow in his a bachelor’s degree in music. “Like Amos, I heard the grandfather’s footsteps. call of God,” Dama recounts, “and I felt deep inside me Dama, however, had other ideas. He wanted to become that I had a message to take to my people via music.” a musician—part of a different caste in his region’s social He further equipped himself to do just that by coming to hierarchy. “That caste includes goldsmiths, praise singers, Fuller, in Pasadena, for an MA in Intercultural Studies—an musicians, cobblers, weavers,” he explains. “All are experience that expanded his perspective. culturally at the service of the nobles, which my family was. “At Fuller, students from all nations filled the Given that I am not by cultural norm from that lineage, it classrooms, and we learned from each other and shared was seen as a taboo that I become a singer. But God gave experiences,” he says with enthusiasm. “We learned about me talent, and I loved music!” the power of listening and how to talk with people of other As a child in Goro, he witnessed many ceremonial faiths. People have stories to share and things to say, if we events that drew praise singers or “griots”—traditional will only create space for them. I discovered that talking musicians and storytellers—from the region, and he was about art and culture can be one way to start conversations intrigued. “My interest was focused on these musicians and and find common ground.”
30 31 “ART AND CULTURE ARE A COMMON GROUND FOR EVERYONE.”
When he finished his master’s degree in 2014, Dama official cultural advisor, helping to oversee similar events took that knowledge back to West Africa—and founded the for a wide swath of West Africa. He turned down the offer, Fulani Christian Festival of Art and Culture, a three-day wanting to devote himself fully to the missionary work that event that’s been held every year since. As he talks about leads him all over West Africa—whether that’s crammed in it, he opens a video on his phone of a previous year’s a car, carrying a goat on his lap, or dodging snakes in the festival. Men, women, and children crowd together on the road—connecting with those of other faiths and cultures ground in a covered area, sitting row upon row, waving, through both word and song. He carries with him music swaying, and singing along with the music. Woven cloth CDs, cassettes, and hymnals on his journeys, giving them and leather hats and other items sold by festival crafters out with Bibles, recorded sermons, and literature, all in adorn them. On stage, performers sing, drum, and strum the Fulani language. songs of praise. Among them is the tall, commanding “My people are hungry for something, but they don’t presence of Dama, who leads the music, sings, and often know what,” Dama says, and it’s his mission to help feed plays drums or the hoddu, a small stringed instrument. that hunger with his faith. To his great joy, he now has He gleefully taps the small phone screen with his long, support from his family, too. Dama’s parents both became elegant fingers and points to the children sitting cross- Christians, as did many other relatives—the same people legged on the floor in front. “Look at the children, look at who couldn’t understand his call to be a praise singer so them!” he says. “I love to see the children—so happy, so many years before. “Today, my mother, aunts, and uncles involved.” sing the songs and dance to the music I make for the glory About two thousand people came from all over West of God, who endowed me with this exceptional gift,” says Africa for that first festival—”even non-Christians sent Dama with delight. their youth and children,” he notes. This delights Dama, What’s more, Dama now sees that first name he was because this was his hope for the festival: that it would, given as one of the many blessings of his life. “Today, I in a region where young people are sometimes recruited am still Daniel, and am profoundly grateful for the name I by radical groups, draw them into a different kind of life. carry. Because, like him, I am a warrior, and my weapon is Though certainly not true of most Muslims, Dama says, the word of God. My name was very prophetic!” “there are extremists who say to Fulani youth, ‘Fight the West—fight the infidels.’ But at the festival, we are CARLA SANDERS is a donor communications teaching them not hate but love. Art and culture are a specialist in Fuller’s Office of Development. common ground for everyone.” NATE HARRISON is the senior photographer and director of photography at FULLER studio. Find more The Fulani festival has been so well received that of his work at NateCHarrison.com. Dama was asked by the Minister of Culture to be an
32 33 STORY
AN ARTISTIC SENSIBILITY
Longtime professor Al Dueck merges his interest in pottery with theology and psychology as a way of connecting head and heart
Written by MICHAEL WRIGHT Photographed by NATE HARRISON
34 35 “At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is . . .”
—T. S. ELIOT
h e n a l d u e c k was first interviewed for a faculty from their convictions in their own contexts,” Al remembers. W position in Fuller’s School of Psychology, he At the installation service the next day, he lectured on the brought his own handmade pottery to the Geneva Room language of psychology and theology, framed by the tower of for his theological examination. “It was one of my best Babel, Pentecost, and “The Language of Fire,” a poem by bowls,” he remembers. “I placed it in front of me on the Janzen commissioned for the day: “Now let our tongues, like table and never made mention of it.” The faculty asked leaves, fall from their careful hold, / our fists release, trusting him about atonement theory, his Mennonite background, the tree which bore us; / Christ in our roots and crown, and more, and when the questioning was done, he picked Spirit-wind loosening. . . .” up the bowl and started to walk out. “But Al—what about Word began to spread around campus about the the pot?” a professor called out from the back of the professor who used pottery to teach about psychology and room. He responded, “That’s how I integrate theology and theology. In one chapel service, Al gave malleable clay to psychology.” half the audience and dried clay to the other half to preach Al grins as he recounts the story in his corner office some about the Incarnation and being open to the Spirit. He 20 years later, books and more of his own pottery lining the ended every “Introduction to Integration” course by bringing walls, the windows cracking as they cool from the direct his potter’s wheel to class, giving each student a small sunlight. In one framed picture near his desk, his grandson’s piece of clay to mold in their hands as he worked on the hands rest on Al’s while he shapes clay on a potter’s wheel. wheel, offering a class-long meditation on the importance “Art has everything to do with how you bring together of centering, intuition, and faith. “We want certainty and spirituality and psychology,” he says. “It’s integration with therapeutic techniques that we know are sure to work, but an artistic sensibility.” After teaching for decades at the as people made in the image of a mysterious God, there are seminary, he’s demonstrated to Fuller over and over what parts of us that are mysterious,” he says. Like guiding clay that sensibility might look like. into beautiful forms, “being a therapist is a creative process. When Al was installed in 1999 as the first Evelyn and It pulls on that which is not in consciousness, which is Frank Freed Professor of the Integration of Psychology and intuitive. And that demands a process of self-emptying by Theology, he applied an artistic sensibility to his installation. the therapist. It is all an incredible mystery.” Rather than only offering a lecture, he hosted an evening For Al, pottery was more than just a classroom of music and poetry the night before in the Pasadena illustration—it had become a therapeutic practice for Mennonite Church. An accomplished cellist and pianist himself decades earlier. “After several years in academia, I performed, the Mennonite poet Jean Janzen read from her was living too much in my head,” he remembers. “I knew work, and donor Evelyn Freed and ethics professor Glen that emotionally I was missing important cues in my work as Stassen both presented reflections on integration. “That was a therapist. Starting my own personal therapy was a process very exciting; all of these people were trying to do integration of softening, of moving from head to heart.” Soon after
36 37 beginning his own therapy, he discovered shaping clay on a to decolonize our understanding of culture—which we wheel as a way to reconnect his mind to his body. often assume is like Christendom,” he says. “We have to Over time Al began looking not only to pottery, but decolonize power constantly, not give it its desired rule. to the arts in general as pedagogical tools to share with I want people like that therapist to discover they have a others and offer a valuable space for reflection. Now, from heritage of their own.” the classroom to the therapy office, he offers students More recently, through a generous grant given to Fuller’s and clients alike poetry by Wendell Berry or Mary Oliver, China Initiative, Al has traveled throughout China to dialogue paintings by Marc Rothko or Chagall, and books like My with scholars about psychology, religion, and developing Name Is Asher Lev and Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on uniquely Chinese therapeutic models. “It’s not just us Water: Reflections on Faith and Art to help them connect lecturing—it really is an exchange. We have real dialogue,” their intellect to their bodies and relationships. Storytelling, he says. “That’s always my hope.” In one case, Al took he believes, is essential. “In novels, I’m always seeking out Chinese American students on a trip, and he was energized glimpses of redemption. There’s also an implicit ethic on to watch as the students discovered their own cultural how to live one’s life,” he says. “Novels give me a concrete background. “To hear them speak in their own voice gives and imaginative display of human nature. We need a point me incredible joy; it brings tears to my eyes every time.” of commonality between faith and healing, and I believe Working on a wheel, a potter cannot force how the clay that stories are one such point of contact.” takes shape. Molding the clay takes intuition and stillness. Al is most energized when this artistic sensibility blends “It’s a long process of learning, but there’s an incredible with his deep commitment as a Mennonite to justice and moment when under your hands the clay is centered, still elevating marginalized voices. More than just engaging art and turning,” Al says. “T. S. Eliot would have called this and culture for himself, Al has traveled around the world the ‘still point of the turning world.’” Without this essential empowering indigenous communities who seek to rediscover step, the clay will wobble in the potter’s hands or even lose the values of their own art and culture. He’s taken students balance and collapse on the wheel. “My bowls remind me to Guadalajara and Mexico City to study state violence and of a communion chalice; there’s a cup, and then it flares the paintings of Diego Rivera. He coauthored a book with out at the top,” he reflects. “There’s a hollowing out and an Gladys Mwiti on African indigenous Christian counseling openness to transcendence.” He gestures beyond the bowls and emboldening African readers to use their proverbs and and toward the sky, standing in the middle of his office with stories in their own therapeutic practices. On one trip to two open hands. Nairobi, an African therapist approached Al after Gladys’s lecture and said, eyes brimming with tears, “Is Gladys really MICHAEL WRIGHT [MAT ’12] is editor for FULLER telling us that it is okay for us to use our ancient proverbs in magazine and studio. therapy? We were always told that as Christians we needed NATE HARRISON is the senior photographer and director of photography at FULLER studio. Find more to leave behind our past.” Al answered with an impassioned of his work at NateCHarrison.com. yes. “An indigenous spirituality of psychology requires us
+ Find photos of Al Dueck’s finished pottery on Fuller.edu/Studio. 38 39 WORSHIP AND ART
Introduction Psalms: A Biblical Model of Art Todd E. Johnson | p. 42 W. David O. Taylor | p. 60
Much Ado about Kneeling Hip Hop Hermeneutic Todd E. Johnson | p. 44 Dwight Radcliff | p. 64
The Art of Peacebuilding in a Exploring the Role of Divided World Embodiment in Worship Roberta R. King | p. 49 Alexis D. Abernethy | p. 68
The Catastrophic Poetry of Culture Care: An Assumption the Cross of Abundance Kutter Callaway | p. 54 Makoto Fujimura | p. 72
41 hortly after the turn of the century, Eddie Gibbs, Fuller’s not have a Brehm Center, we would have to create one. for guiding artists of faith, the relationship between symbolic WORSHIP AND ART McGavran Professor Emeritus of Church Growth, declared competence in and out of church, and the importance of having by Todd E. Johnson Sthat the 20th century was the era of the orator, but that the Our work focuses on the intersection of theological investiga- an awareness of current cultural trends. Other essays will Guest Theology Editor current century would be the era of the artist. Even before Dr. Gibbs tion, engaging the cultural shifts in the world around us, and explore the power of cross-cultural communication and commu- made his proclamation, the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, studying worship with the intention of providing resources nity building through art in a world where the distance between and the Arts was a part of Fuller. Its existence acknowledges a for its planning, leading, and execution—however tradition- local and global is becoming reduced, as well as the emotional shift in our culture and world away from the dominance of words al, however innovative. In that spirit, this theology section of and spiritual impact of practices and symbols on the faithful and texts to the preponderance of nonverbals. We daily encounter FULLER magazine explores worship and art in the 21st century, at worship. Finally comes a word of challenge for all to take an the world of symbols and art: from the logos that identify brands to considering a sample of theological themes that have emerged for active role in creating and caring for the cultures we inhabit. the images, sounds, and poetic words we encounter in the media, our research and study on worship and the arts across Fuller’s in our homes, and in our churches. One needs only to review the three schools. Ultimately, we hope to resource and inspire thoughtful, appro- changes in Protestant worship over the past 50 years to see how priate strategies for living one’s faith in this new age amidst all much nonverbals have increased in our worship services in both In the essays that follow, you will find explorations of a biblical its challenges and possibilities. quantity and importance. Given Gibbs’s assessment, if Fuller did touchstone for the use and understanding of art in ministry and
oco después del comienzo de siglo, Eddie Gibbs, el profesor emérito ación de Gibbs, si Fuller no tuviera un Centro Brehm, tendríamos para saber cómo guiar a los artistas de fe, la relación de la com- ADORACIÓN Y ARTE McGavran de crecimiento de la iglesia en Fuller, declaró que el que crear uno. petencia simbólica dentro y fuera de la iglesia y la importancia Por Todd E. Johnson Psiglo XX fue la época del orador/a, pero que el siglo actual sería de tener una conciencia de las tendencias culturales. Otros la época del artista. Incluso antes de que el Dr. Gibbs hiciera su proc- Nuestro trabajo se enfoca en la intersección de la investigación ensayos explorarán el poder de la comunicación intercultural y lamación, el Brehm Center, que es el centro de Adoración, Teología y teológica, involucrándonos en los cambios culturales en el mundo la construcción de comunidades a través del arte en un mundo las Arte, ya era parte de Fuller. Su existencia reconoce un cambio en que nos rodea y estudiando la adoración con la intención de pro- donde la distancia entre lo local y lo global se está reduciendo, nuestra cultura y en nuestro mundo, que se aleja del dominio de las porcionar recursos para su planificación, liderazgo y ejecución, así como el impacto emocional y espiritual de las prácticas y los palabras y los textos, a la preponderancia de los "no verbales". A diario sea esta tradicional o innovadora. En ese espíritu, esta sección símbolos en los adoradores. Hacia el final, tenemos una palabra nos encontramos con el mundo de los símbolos y el arte: desde los logo- de teología de la revista FULLER explora la adoración y el arte de desafío para que todos tomemos un papel activo en la creación tipos que identifican las marcas hasta las imágenes, los sonidos y las en el siglo XXI, considerando muestras de temas teológicos que y el cuidado de las culturas que habitamos. palabras poéticas que encontramos en los medios de comunicación, surgieron para nuestra investigación y estudio sobre la adoración en nuestros hogares y en nuestras iglesias. Uno solo necesita ver los y las artes en las tres escuelas de Fuller. En última instancia, esperamos encontrar e inspirar estrategias cambios en la adoración protestante en los últimos 50 años para ver adecuadas y serias para vivir la fe en esta nueva era en medio de cuánto han aumentado los medios no verbales en nuestros servicios En los ensayos que siguen, encontrará estudios bíblicos funda- todos sus desafíos y posibilidades. de adoración, tanto en cantidad como en importancia. Dada la evalu- cionales para el uso y la comprensión del arte en el ministerio,
풀러의 맥가브란 교회 성장학 명예교수인 에디 깁스(Eddie Gibbs)는 반드시 하나를 만들어야 했을 것입니다. 탐구들을 보게 될 것입니다. 아울러, 로컬과 글로벌의 거리가 줄어들고 예배와 예술 새로운 세기가 시작 되자 연설자들의 시대였던 20세기에 반해 현 세기는 있는 세계 속에서 예술을 통한 문화간의 의사소통 및 공동체 구축의 힘, 아모스 용 예술가의시대가 될 것이라고 선언 한 바 있습니다. 이 같은 깁스 박사의 주변의 문화적 변화로부터 분리 되지 않고, 얼마나 전통적이며 얼마나 실천과 상징들이 예배하는 신실한 그리스도인들에게 미치는 정서적 및 선언 이 전에도 예배, 신학, 예술을 위한 브렘 센터(Brehm Center)는 풀러의 혁신적이냐 상관 없이 예배를 계획하고, 이끌며, 실행하기 위한 자원들을 영적 영향을 다루는 에세이들도 읽게 되실 것입니다. 마지막으로 우리가 일부였습니다. 이 센터의 존재 자체가 우리 문화와 세계 속 변화, 즉 말 제공하려는 의도를 가지고 예배를 연구하며 신학적 연구의 교차점에 살고있는 문화를 창조하고 돌봄에 보다 적극적인 역할을 감당할 것을 도전 (word)과 글(text)의 지배로부터 “비언어non-verbals)”의 우세로의 변화를 초점을 맞추게 된 본 FULLER 매거진의 신학 섹션은 3학교의 예배와 예술 하는 글도 만나실 것입니다. 입증 합니다. 우리는 매일 상징과 예술의 세계를 만나게 됩니다. 이는 상품을 관련 연구들 가운데 발견 된 신학적 주제들을 고려하며 21세기의 예배와 식별하는 로고에서부터 미디어, 우리들의 집 및 교회에서 마주치는 이미지, 예술을 탐구 합니다. 궁극적으로는 새로운 시대의 모든 도전들과 가능성들 속에서 믿음의 삶을 소리, 그리고 시적 단어에 이르기까지 다양합니다. 지난 50년 간의 개신교 살 수 있도록 사려 깊고 적절하며 전략적인 자원과 영감을 제공하기를 예배의 변화를 검토하는 것만으로도 예배 가운데 비언어적 요소가 그 양과 이어지는 에세이들을 통해 사역에서의 예술의 사용과 이해, 신앙의 소망합니다. 중요성 모두에서 얼마나 많이 증가 했는지를 알 수 있습니다. 깁스 (Gibbs) 예술가들을 인도할 수 있는 성경적 시금석들, 교회 안팎에서의 상징적 의 평가를 고려할 때, 만약 풀러에 브렘 센터 (Brehm Center)가 없었더라면 능력 사이의 관계, 현재의 문화적 추세에 대한 인식의 중요성에 대한
42 43 THEOLOGY
MUCH ADO ABOUT KNEELING
Todd E. Johnson
Todd E. Johnson, a faculty member ometimes it is the most ordinary things each service gathers the people together to at Fuller since 2005, currently holds that evoke the most extra-ordinary re- hear the Word of God read and preached, and the Brehm Chair of Worship, Ssponses. This is the case with things then invites them to communion at the table. Theology, and the Arts and is theo- we do or encounter regularly because they In this church, people are invited forward logical director of the Brehm Center. become such an intimate part of our lives. to receive the bread and cup of the Lord’s His scholarship includes writings in When they change, or when their interpre- Supper by kneeling at a rail around the the arts, homiletics, liturgy and ritual, tation changes or is called into question, table. Their renovation raised the question and spirituality and mysticism. An we often experience enough discomfort to of whether it might be more expedient to ordained minister in the Evangelical respond—often with great emotional heft. offer the communion elements to the com- Covenant Church, he has a wide range Such is the case with kneeling. municants standing, because serving can of experience in education, ministry, take quite a bit of time with each recipient and social services. Some of John- KNEELING: POSTURE AND PIETY kneeling. Maybe they should not use a com- son’s works include Performing the First Lutheran is a thriving church in the munion rail in their new space? This raised Sacred: Theology and Theatre in center of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The vitality the question, “What does it mean to kneel?” Dialogue, Common Worship in Theo- of this historic church is evident in the logical Education, and the multimedia robust attendance it draws at three weekend Answering that question is a challenge. resource Living Worship. He earned services. So robust, in fact, that it is under- Kneeling is a ritual gesture that is a symbol, both an MA and PhD in theology at taking a renovation of its worship space not a sign. A sign would have only one the University of Notre Dame. to better accommodate the congregation meaning or referent. A stop sign on the and its services. First Lutheran’s worship street or road means “stop.” A symbol has runs the spectrum from a Saturday night more than one meaning or referent. If you service accompanied primarily by piano, put a stop sign in a frame and hang it in an art to a more formal organ and choir service gallery it could mean many things, leaving it early Sunday morning, to a service led by open to multiple interpretations—and no one a worship band later Sunday morning. Its single interpretation might be more correct existing space accommodates the most tra- than another. ditional second service well, but less well the first and third, given the arrangement of the Kneeling at communion has a history. chancel and seating. Further, because of its Kneeling has long been a posture of humility central location, it is often the host of civic and contrition, often used when offering gatherings such as high school and college prayers of confession or as a sign of respect choir concerts; the congregation hopes to in Judaism. The Lord’s Supper was in its continue to accommodate such events in its earliest expressions a meal concluding with new space. Being a growing church with a the sharing of a common cup and bread as broad worship bandwidth requires a space a sign of unity in Christ (1 Cor 10:16). In this that can accommodate the entirety of that case people probably received it reclining at bandwidth well—and then some, in this case. the table, as was the customary posture of dining then. Over time, the practice of gath- Surprisingly, it is the core of First Luther- ering for an evening meal shifted to gath- an’s worship, not its breadth, that created ering for a morning service for the reading the most interesting challenge for their ren- and preaching of Scripture, followed by the ovation plans. Although their services vary reception of the cup and the bread alone as a in music style and expression, they are all fossil of an earlier meal. In this case, people standard “Word and Table” services—that is, most likely received it standing after they
44 came to the table. Kneeling became common nick, then quarterback of the San Francisco after the 12th century when the bread and Forty-Niners, chose to sit on the bench during the cup were seen to be literally the physical the performance of the National Anthem body and blood of Christ after the Synod of while his teammates stood facing the flag. Lateran in 1059. In this case kneeling at He did this for the first two preseason games ARTFUL THEOLOGY reception was a posture of both contrition without being noticed. It was the third time (not presuming to be worthy to receive) and that proved not to be a charm for Kaepernick, Maria Fee veneration (acknowledging the presence of as a photo of the field posted on social media Christ in the elements). Later, this was such accidentally captured his sitting during the a contentious point for Protestants that anthem, the first time it was publically ac- Given the time to create art as ronment, our mutual needs, conjunto with agencies of trinitarian theology, Kim the sake of all bodies. Somatic many prohibited kneeling during the Lord’s knowledged. When Kaepernick was asked part of their seminary training, our delights and horrors, our stemming from embodied used the visual motif of the theological contemplation re- Supper. The “Black Rubric” in the Book of his reason for sitting during the anthem, he many students in Fuller’s organic selfhood in context.”2 contextual realities. This type braid to deal with issues of connects faith with work, the Common Prayer dating back to 1552, for replied, “I am not going to stand up to show Capstone Theology and Art By contrast, Capstone student of theological practice invites alienation, race, and cultural sacred with the profane, the example, defended the controversial practice pride in a flag for a country that oppresses course explore, expand, or Caitlyn Ference-Saunders’s cultural sources—life lived in diversity. The project consist- material with the spiritual. of kneeling by declaring it a sign of “humility Black people and people of color. To me, this improve areas that, in their project employed these the flesh—to drive analysis ed of two parts. In the first While art is not gospel and and gratitude,” but not an acknowledgement is bigger than football, and it would be selfish estimation, Christian theology features as a means to theolog- toward liberating acts. In fact, stage, Kim directed a series of does not save, it can free the of any presence invoked upon the elements. on my part to look the other way. There are has failed to satisfactorily ically investigate the virtues of when it comes to problem creative workshops to explore imagination to see the evidence bodies in the street and people getting paid engage. Hence, their thesis the historical church. Drawing solving, artist Theaster Gates these concerns through con- of God’s redeeming hope in the Kneeling, however, can mean more than any leave and getting away with murder. . . . This projects fall in line with philos- on her theater training, she led notes that creative opera- versations with teams of three world—in ways that perhaps of the above interpretations. It can mean to is not something that I am going to run by opher Simone Weil’s conclu- a band of committed seminar- tions become the means to held in conjunction with their should become a part of every some that communion is a private, interior anybody,” he explained. “I am not looking for sion that “creative attention ians through devised theater “master the [art] form,” which choreographed entwining of seminarian’s faith training. moment with God, and kneeling and re- approval. I have to stand up for people that means really giving our atten- and performance-based ex- also enables persons to “un- long strands of fabric. The flecting for a moment at the rail allows for are oppressed. . . . If they take football away, 1 tion to what does not exist.” ercises. Over a period of six derstand the world.” Gates’s array of fabric choices by color ENDNOTES that. For others, it might be a moment of my endorsements from me, I know that I 1 These students’ imaginative months, the community-build- activity of constructing cultural and pattern alluded to the pos- 1. S. Weil, Waiting for God (New York: intimate connection with the pastor who stood up for what is right.” and physical negotiations sub- ing program also produced venues by renovating aban- sibility of differences tightly Harper Torchbooks, 1951), 149. each week serves them the bread, creating sequently yield a heftier sense a vocabulary of movements, doned buildings in Chicago’s dwelling together as a unified 2. J. McClendon, Ethics: Systematic a personal link with their spiritual guide The context of Kaepernick’s comments was (Nashville: Abingdon of God, others, and self. For vocal phrases, and impas- South Side informed his knowl- entity. Developed for various Theology, vol. 1 and caring minister. For others, it may not the rash of deaths of young, mostly unarmed, Press, 2002), 85. this reason, I have found that sioned narratives that cul- edge of building construction, ages, the sessions took place 3. M. Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft mean anything explicitly; it just feels right. Black men and boys, often by police, from the the paired investigations of art minated in a choreographed the urban landscape, and at conferences, Christian gath- (New York: Penguin, 2009), 199. That is because our bodies develop routines death of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, and theology enhance student performance piece entitled negotiating the bureaucratic. erings, and schools. For the 4. T. Gates, “A Conversation with Hamza that become familiar and allow us to attend to Eric Garner in New York and Michael formation, doing so in the fol- Rehearsing the Virtues of God: In the spirit of Fluxus artist second stage, all of the braided Walker: Theaster Gates,” in But to Be through them to the God we worship. To Brown in Missouri in 2014, and the many , Regen Projects exhibition, lowing ways. A Story of Faith and Fortitude. Joseph Beuys, Gates poses chords were collected to create a Poor Race change that routine, for whatever very victims between and since. The reactions Los Angeles, January 15, 2017. Her project echoed the conclu- the question to all: “Could the an installation piece entitled sound reason, will make a certain number to these deaths were numerous protests and WHOLE-BODY INTELLECT sion of Matthew Crawford, who artist consider herself inside a Remem-bearing as Refugees. of people feel like they are not celebrating a nationwide response that crystalized into Pairing the investigation of art argues that “real knowledge bigger problem, and as a result After its initial display in a communion anymore. the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Kaeper- and theology exercises a whole- arises through confrontations bring aesthetics, bring taste, church, it was exhibited in nick was hoping that his sitting would be a body intellect that includes the with real things.”3 Through bring passion, and bring form” multiple secular and Christian Kneeling as a symbol has great potential to sign of his disappointment with our nation’s somatic and affective realm. Ference-Saunders’s thesis, the as part of the solution?4 If the contexts. effectively communicate many meanings at inability to live up to its values of freedom Because of the concrete nature Christian practice of regularly artist is open, the devising and once, with different people prioritizing one and equality for all of its people. of art making, these thesis meeting together to confront the formal qualities of the art The Capstone Theology and Art over another. This makes kneeling a very projects fill a void left by “real things” was broadened will inform maker and viewer course provides an avenue for effective ritual action, but also a potentially But sitting is not kneeling, and this is where disembodied practices of the to include external play as a in relevant and revelatory ways. embodied demonstrations of controversial one in Christ’s churches. the story takes an unexpected and often Christian faith. These nascent means to connect to inner life. This kind of exploration ulti- faithfulness, inviting collabo- untold twist, thanks to Nate Boyer. Boyer theologians ask, why do believ- mately leads to transformation. ration and offering community KNEELING: PROTEST AND PATRIOTISM was a devoted Forty-Niners fan. He was ers profess one thing but do PROFOUND ANALYSIS building opportunities. Through Maria Fee, a PhD candidate In the same way, kneeling is also a very effec- also a former Green Beret and, for a very the opposite or nothing at all? Theological and creative ex- BRIDGING THE SACRED AND song, video, dramatized story, at Fuller, is an artist with tive ritual action, but also a potentially con- short time, a professional football player. Why is theology often abstract ploration not only accesses SECULAR art installations, poetry, and an MFA in Painting and MA troversial one, outside of Christ’s churches in After his service as a Green Beret, Boyer to the point of ignoring actual whole-body wisdom, but The integrative qualities of more, these student endeavors in Theology. As an adjunct the broader culture. That potential has been went to the University of Texas, where he human circumstances or ex- also applies a more thorough the Capstone thesis project are exploring the intersection professor, she delves into realized thanks to former NFL quarterback became a 29-year-old freshman member of periences? Ethicist James Mc- approach whereby praxis also endeavor to bridge the of the human and the divine theology and art through Colin Kaepernick. The meanings and inter- their football team and led the team onto Clendon once expressed that informs theory and vice versa. social worlds belonging to the supported by Christ’s incarna- courses like Visual Arts and pretations of kneeling in this instance are as the field each week carrying the American Christians have falsely believed This is one of the modalities secular and sacred. This was tion. It is his body that furnish- the Christian and Capstone complicated as they are in churches. flag. Upon graduation he tried out for NFL that ethics has nothing to do of Hispanic/Latinx theology the case in Hyung-in Kim’s es the capacity for theological Theology and Art. teams as a “long-snapper” for kicks from with “our bodies, their envi- that links theological analysis project. Grounded in concepts exploration with the body, for In the 2016 NFL preseason, Colin Kaeper- the line of scrimmage. He did not make the
46 47 THEOLOGY
THE ART OF PEACEBUILDING IN A DIVIDED WORLD
Roberta R. King
Forty-Niners, but did play in the preseason One kneels out of respect for a fallen comrade sion? How do we interpret kneeling during was driving to an evangelical church with and with growing momentum, the Middle Roberta R. King is professor of com- for the Seattle Seahawks. He has since been on the battlefield. My own daughters, in their the national anthem? Or at the communion my Israeli-born friend, Summer. It was a Eastern newcomers moved to the front and munication and ethnomusicology at involved in many charities, in particular lacrosse and soccer games, would “take rail? How does one know, after all, what and I typical balmy Southern California evening. started to line dance, men clasping hands and Fuller. Her publications include MVP (Merging Vets and Players), helping a knee” when a fellow player was injured who is right? Kneeling is a ritual action, an But it would not be a typical service in that holding them high in the air with large smiles Pathways in Christian Music Commu- both veterans and professional athletes make and being attended to. The players agreed embodied symbol, which opens up many church that evening. Summer (whose given on their faces. Then the church members and nication: The Case of the Senufo of the transition to life after their prior career. to kneel, hoping that it would communicate possible interpretations. When a gesture like name is Samir) and I first met in a Middle the local community gingerly came forward, Côte d’Ivoire, Music in the Life of the what they intended: a demonstration during this is attached with something valuable in Eastern music ensemble that brings together attempting to join in. Young women in African Church, and (un)Common Given his background, Boyer was asked by the National Anthem, not a protest of the our lives, like church and worship, nation people originally from North Africa and the their hijabs brought out their smart phones Sounds: Songs of Peace and Recon- the Military Times to comment on Kaeper- anthem, flag, or country. The next game, and patriotism, its interpretations can be Middle East with others to enjoy the music of to capture the excitement. It was a sponta- ciliation among Muslims and Chris- nick’s sitting during the anthem. His Kaepernick and Reid knelt on the sideline contentious and divisive. their cultural heritage. Like that group, this neous moment where multiple barriers were tians, with an accompanying response was to pen an open letter to Colin during the anthem while Boyer stood beside event would celebrate Middle Eastern music. breaking down. Joy and delight abounded. documentary film. King has served as Kaepernick. In the letter he stated how them, hand over his heart. There are so many factors in interpreting As we entered the church, I found lightheart- director of chapel and developed an much he respected Kaepernick as a player symbols, such as personal experience, tra- ed laughter and joy as a diverse group, among That night, an Arabic folkdance migrated innovative curriculum in Global Chris- and person, especially his support of char- The practice of kneeling went as viral as dition, context, intent, history, and opinions them both Muslims and Christians, anticipat- along with the refugees into a local church tian Worship and Witness (Ethnomu- ities including those for veterans. Yet he the letter had, with some members of all of our peers, for starters. That is why, as ed the evening’s concert. half a world away from its origins and sicology). Before joining the Fuller confessed his anger at hearing of his sitting NFL teams kneeling during the anthem, a Christians, we ought to be sensitive to inter- brought joy and hope to all involved. The faculty, King was based in Nairobi, during the anthem. At the same time Boyer practice that still continues in football and pretations of symbols in and out of church, The concert began with a West African griot1 church, located not far from where an Kenya, and served with WorldVenture recalled his experience in the Green Berets, other sports. There were attempts to inter- to allow us to be better neighbors in and from Senegal performing on the kora, a 21- Islamic terrorist attack had just taken place, for 22 years. She has taught and witnessing the results of genocide in Darfur pret the act in “nonpolitical” terms, such out of church. By understanding that inter- string harp-lute. The concert proceeded with not only sponsored a benefit concert that held workshops in more than 20 and other tragic expressions of racism, a as declaring that the players—and at times pretation of symbols is a complex and often more Middle Eastern music, followed by an evening, they also fostered a peacebuilding nations. racism he lamented is still part of his own their coaches, owners, or general managers— emotional process, we move into a posture of informative intermission. One of the church event via music-making. What, then, are the beloved country. In the end he hoped Kaeper- locking arms while kneeling was a sign of humility and dialogue. It is with this posture leaders explained how a number of local dynamics behind the performing arts and nick would stand for the anthem, while en- solidarity. Some players simply do not come of humility and dialogue that we can embody churches had been coming together to help peacebuilding?2 couraging him to fight on against injustice out onto the sidelines until after the anthem an engagement of the gospel with our in- Syrian refugee children get established in and racism. He concluded his letter, “I look to avoid the entire controversy, which has creasingly diverse worlds of understanding their local schools and find a place within the PERFORMING ARTS AND PEACEBUILDING forward to the day you’re inspired to once had its own mixed response. A variety of ex- within and beyond the church. After all, larger Southern California community. In today’s global era, when sounds of violence again stand during our national anthem. I’ll pressions of kneeling have evoked a variety of many of our most powerful ritual actions and conflict mute sounds of joy and delight be standing there right next to you. Keep responses. Some are favorable, pointing out are so ordinary, so ingrained into our bodies To round off the musical evening, a long- es- in God-given life, “musicking”3 and the per- on trying . . . De Oppresso Liber.” This last that it is raising consciousness of significant and their memories over the years, that our tablished Jordanian immigrant of Palestin- forming arts are joining hands in innovative phrase is the motto of the Army’s Special issues that need to be discussed as a country. experience of them is almost precognitive. ian descent came forward and began playing approaches to peacebuilding. This takes Forces, traditionally translated as “to free Others are dismissive, pointing out that it We enter into such practices leading with our his oud. As a Christian, he sang, “Salaam, place through the building of healthy rela- the oppressed.” 2 is disrespectful, disgraceful, and dishonors hearts before minds, feeling before meaning, salaam, yarabi salaam” (Peace, peace, oh my tionships, central to working toward peace. the anthem, flag, and nation. Once again, making these very delicate and not-so-ordi- Lord, peace)—a song that drew out a wistful As John Paul Lederach argues, “Peacebuild- The letter went viral and caught the attention the simple act of kneeling, which in certain nary conversations indeed. longing and nostalgia for everyone in the ing requires a vision of relationship.”4 He of Kaepernick, in particular because of the contexts becomes a symbol, is open to many room. Next, he sang “How Great Thou Art,” maintains that there must be a capacity to evenhandedness of its approach—leading to interpretations, simultaneously uniting and ENDNOTES alternating between Arabic on the verses and imagine “the canvas of mutual relationships a conversation between Boyer, Kaepernick, dividing groups of people. English on the chorus, with the intention that and situate oneself as part of a historic and 1. S. Wyche, “Colin Kaepernick Explains Why He Sat During and fellow Forty-Niner Eric Reid. In this everyone in the audience could participate at ever-evolving web,”5 or peacebuilding efforts National Anthem,” NFL website (August 27, 2016), www.nfl conversation they looked for a new symbol, KNEELING: INTERPRETING THE ORDINARY IN EXTRAOR- .com/news/story/0ap3000000691077/article/colin-kaepernick some point. will collapse. Enter the performing arts. They a gesture that would respect the flag, yet DINARY TIMES -explains-why-he-sat-during-national-anthem. function as agents for building relationships. demonstrate a feeling of disappointment What does it mean when a person gets down 2. Read Nate Boyer’s letter to Colin Kaepernick at the Army But then he launched into a well-known Not only do they foster moments of imagining with the current state of affairs in light of on one knee to propose? Or rests on both Times website (August 30, 2016), www.armytimes.com Arabic folk song, totally shifting the dynamics mutual relationships, but they also have the /opinion/2016/08/30/an-open-letter-to-colin-kaepernick what the flag represents. Boyer suggested knees beside their bed with hands folded? Or of the concert. The song evoked a nostalgia potential to propel people into experiencing -from-a-green-beret-turned-long-snapper. kneeling. Kneeling was a sign of solidarity. kneels in church during a prayer of confes- of better times and of being at home. Slowly one another as human beings.
48 49 Significantly, the same stage, creating an embodied Lederach observes metaphor of the possibilities of coexisting the following: as neighbors. Such embodied metaphors point toward building healthy relation- The artistic five minutes, I have found ships among global neighbors. By coming rather consistently, when it is given together around a common cause, music space and acknowledged as some- and the performing arts open up social thing far beyond entertainment, ac- spaces where “relationships are built and complishes what most of politics has interaction takes place.”8 been unable to attain: it helps us return to our humanity, a transcendent journey PERFORMING ARTS AND SOCIAL SPACES that, like the moral imagination, can build Performing arts require social spaces, a sense that we are, after all, a human com- which become arenas for relating with munity.6 one another. We know that “Performance is a rich and complex social affair wherein Building a sense of human community phors and poetics. Each musical piece and group meaning is processed and negotiat- through the arts emerges out of a range of associated activities generated metaphor ed.”9 It is in the social interaction of a per- metaphors that allow people to rise above upon metaphor, creating a web of symbols. formance event that people experience and the actualities of their current life situa- The performance of song, for example, create new meanings and attitudes toward tions. united the metaphors inherent in the lyrics, their global neighbors. These are spaces melody, harmony, the type of instruments where peoples from totally different walks PERFORMING ARTS AND EMBODIED METAPHORS used, and the inclusion of dance, plus of life can come together. They foster safe In peacebuilding, the performing arts appropriate clothing. This confluence of spaces of relating and processing relation- serve as embodied metaphors on multiple metaphors combined in exponential ways ships, both good and bad, in public settings. levels. Not only do they metaphorically that resulted in an overarching embodied When encounter and engagement with speak into our inner lives creating spaces metaphor of human relationships. peoples of different groups are sensitive- of imagination, but they also move us into ly entered into, shifts in attitudes toward experiencing and interacting with one The concept of “musicking,” which one another take place and an openness to another. The strength of the performing embraces all activities related to a concert, attachment toward global neighbors is ini- arts is just that: they are meant to be expe- helps us further understand this aggre- tiated. I call these social arenas “Musical rienced, often moving people into deeper gation of embodied metaphors. At the Spaces of Relating.”10 levels of communication. Thus, the arts Fez Festival of World Sacred Music,7 for contain the capacity to impact peoples and example, serving Arabic coffee as global “Musical Spaces of Relating” foster nego- societies in ways that transform their rela- attendees enter the Moroccan concert hall tiating relationships across a continuum tionships. Building a sense of community functions as a gesture of hospitality. Going of five different levels and stages.11 Rela- was one of the major outcomes from the further into the auditorium, after finding tional attitudes and behaviors range from concert that evening. More significantly one’s seat among a sea of peoples from exclusion and enmity to willingly relating for the church, the concert engendered an around the world, the focus turns to the as neighbors. They include (1) enmity and opportunity to practice Jesus’ command Al Kindi Ensemble with the Munshidins exclusion toward people who are differ- to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke (whirling dervishes) from the Damascus ent, (2) encounter with others, (3) engage, 10:27). Mosque standing next to the Tropos Byz- (4) embrace, and (5) relating as neighbors. antine Choir of Athens on the same stage. A brief analysis of the Syrian Benefit How was this accomplished? The perform- Here are two contrasting faiths, histor- Concert described earlier demonstrates ing arts fostered a unique mixture of meta- ically at odds with one another, sharing the dynamics of these five stages.
50 51 THE DIVERSE ECOLOGY OF FULLER’S CHAPEL
By Julie Tai and Edwin Willmington
Fuller’s community is what you darity that is often difficult to of God’s one family. When we would be patient and gracious to might call a diverse ecology. An navigate. Multicultural worship embrace the global breadth of us as we listen, learn, take risks, ecosystem is comprised of the levels the playing field and Christian life and worship by lis- and sometimes fail, because physical environment and the life requires representatives from tening to and entering into one “multi-everything” worship does that inhabits it. Chapel services various cultures to be involved another’s narratives, we make a not come with a formula. It takes at Fuller gather students, faculty, in the decision-making, design, strong theological statement that humility, courage, and trust by Stage 1: Enmity and/or Exclusion. Peoples of a delight in being together. A sharing of joy and attend to our own well-being.”12 Learning alumni, and staff—both residen- and leadership for the service, both honors and glorifies God. both the worship leaders and the different nationalities who had not had any and being themselves provided impetus for about our neighbors, in this case through tial and online—from various adding in each one’s experience, community to worship well. As in previous long-term contact, such as newly the people from the local community to join “musicking,” created pathways for relating as ethnicities, nationalities, lan- style, and tradition. It is easy Sometimes our planning and any ecology, there is a beautiful, arrived Syrian refugees and a local Southern in the dance. A shared common humanity neighbors, listening to them, and initiating di- guages, cultures, socioeconom- to slip into being multiethnic leading feels a bit like an ex- delicate, and fragile balance. California community, now have the oppor- was recognized. Joy filled the room as people alogues that foster sustainable communities ic statuses, and theological and but monocultural, where repre- periment in experiencing God’s We pray that our chapel might tunity to come together around a music event. were enjoying being together and relating as of peace—and loving them as ourselves. liturgical convictions. Leading sentation turns into tokenism. grace in many forms. Yet, contribute in a small but integral neighbors. worship in a context with such We purposefully select diverse while we know that it would way to keeping Fuller’s ecology Stage 2: Encounter. New neighbors are Adapted from Global Arts and Christian Witness, by variety is a great task, but one worship leaders to help avoid be easier if everyone agreed healthy, balanced, and thriving— entering into the musical space and finding Stage 5: Relating as Neighbors. The talking Roberta King, copyright © 2019. Used by permission worth pursuing. such pitfalls. This intentional on a single denominational or and perhaps also to benefit the themselves encountering peoples of differ- in the room rose to a peak level as the music of Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing diversity is equally part of our cultural approach, it would not ecology of Christ’s church near ing faiths, nationalities, and languages. The finally stopped. People were in no hurry to Group. This is the diversity that makes liturgical ecology. best express our worship. We and far. benefit concert provided a space to meet the leave. The excitement carried on, and many up Fuller’s liturgical ecology, and have learned that our worship needs of newcomers while also providing an experienced a desire to continue on, to not ENDNOTES like all ecologies, there must be Naturally, such diversity leads has become deeply formative opportunity to share common interests and, let the music stop. The potential for living a sustainable balance to allow to the use of multiple languag- in our community’s faith. We 1. The term griot refers to a “class of hereditary professional above all, demonstrate a willingness to be together as neighbors in peace and the all parts of Fuller’s community es in almost every service. We have learned from others as we musical and verbal artisans” originating in the Senegambia together. groundwork for deeper dialogues of sharing region of West Africa. More generally, griot can also refer to to thrive. In making worship particularly use Korean, English, stretch out our arms to embrace life and one’s faith in God had been estab- any “African oral historian, praise-singer or musician, regard- choices for Fuller’s chapel, there and Spanish in any given service the traditions and cultures of Stage 3: Engage. Musical performance became lished. less of birthright.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and is freedom that comes from not to celebrate the three language our brothers and sisters in faith. the main reason for coming together. Inviting Musicians, ed. S. Sadie, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University having one particular liturgical programs we have at Fuller and We have learned to value the Press, 2001), 10:427. West African and Middle Eastern perform- In sum, peoples from different walks of life tradition to follow. This allows to welcome our friends who creative nature of what we do— 2. Story adapted from R. R. King, “Global Arts in Peacebuilding ers to share their unique music was a sign of can freely enter into musical spaces relating and Interfaith Dialogue,” in Global Arts and Christian Witness: us to honor all traditions when speak different languages. We no week is the same as the week generous hospitality. The host churches recog- at different levels of understanding and from Exegeting Culture, Translating the Message, Communicating it comes to prayers, postures, also acknowledge that language before or after. Since we cannot nized a people’s “home” music as significantly different religious perspectives. They find Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, forthcoming 2019). and ritual patterns, drawing is only one component in doing assume that everything is under- Julie Tai is director of chapel, important. Indeed, a people’s cultural music their common humanity through performing 3. Christopher Small maintains that “music” is an action verb, from various forms and molding multicultural worship. Learning stood by everyone, as leaders what he calls “musicking.” Thus, “to music is to take part, in overseeing all aspects of Fuller’s is a key part of their identity. As the evening arts like music-making, and thus experience them into a creative service of people’s stories and cultural we are challenged to plan with any capacity, in a musical performance.” See his book Musick- weekly services. developed, the long-term locals could begin the possibilities of living together as neigh- ing: The Meanings of Performance and Listening (Middletown, worship. As denominational alle- practices is key to integration prayerful sensitivity to all, always to sense the distinctive differences between bors. CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1998), 8. giance among our students has and intersectionality and keeping willing to be hospitable and in- music cultures. They were entering into 4. J. P. Lederach, The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of faded in recent decades, we our ecology in balance. structive. We have found that Middle Eastern ways of life and identity. This MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS IN A DIVIDED WORLD Building Peace (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 10. are able to collect from all tra- as new students worship with 5. Ibid. became especially evident when the concert In today’s challenging global climate, music ditions to convey new meanings While the process of reflect- us, the sounds of other musical 6. Ibid., 153. moved beyond mere listening into participato- and other performing arts offer social arenas 7. The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music is a nine-day event to those who gather for worship. ing Fuller’s diversity—and styles and languages become ry elements of dancing, clapping, and affirm- for engaging and embracing our neighbors. that takes place annually in Fez, Morocco. It brings together The challenge, of course, is the larger diversity of Christ’s their own over time. ing vocal exclamations, common to much They promote peacebuilding through perfor- a global audience around music, religion, and dialogue. The creating a balance that allows church around the world—in non-Western music. While some were fully mance events—for example, “musicking”— examples cited here are from my ethnographic notes made all members of our community our worship experiences can be Worship change does not come during the 2008 event. For further information and this year’s engaged, others were still proceeding on a lis- that allow people to experience being in each to be represented and respected. a bit messy at times, we have easily. It is slow work. It is hard program see https://fesfestival .com/2018/en/. tening-only level. Then the pivotal moment other’s presence through non-aggressive and 8. Lederach, Moral Imagination, 183. come to see the many benefits to let go of one’s preferences occurred and the concert participants moved non-threatening means. People come together, 9. R. R. King, “Music, Peacebuilding, and Interfaith Dialogue: Fuller has a great breadth of in- of welcoming these issues. for worship and enter into a into a full embrace of one another. often experiencing profound moments of joy, Transformative Bridges in Muslim-Christian Relationships,” In- ternational, ethnic, and cultural Christian unity does not place new model, if only once a week. Edwin Willmington is director of respect, and dignity. Relationships are initiat- ternational Bulletin of Mission Research 1, no. 15 (2016): 205. diversity, providing an oppor- one expression of worship over We have learned to be patient the Fred Bock Institute of Music, 10. Ibid., 207. Stage 4: Embrace. The folk song elicited direct ed and allowed to thrive. The truth of Miroslov tunity to celebrate our unity in another. Worship has divided so and gracious as we introduce which is part of the Brehm Center 11. Ibid., 205–7. for Worship, Theology, and the Arts. participation on multiple levels. The Middle Volf’s admonition rings true: “We are created 12. M. Volf, “Living with the ‘Other,’” in Muslim and Christian worship around those cultural many churches, but to value all new practices to our commu- Easterners were propelled to complete the not to isolate ourselves from others but to Reflections on Peace, Divine and Human Dimensions, ed. J. D. expressions. A multicultural traditions and cultures speaks nity, because sometimes such expectations of the music performance. It engage them, indeed, to contribute to their Woodberry, O. Zümrüt, and M. Köylö (Lanham, MD: University approach to worship leadership great volumes about our desire change is painful. In return, we called forth dancing, a joining of hands, and flourishing, as we nurture our own identity Press of America), 12–13. requires mutuality and soli- to express our faith as members pray the community we serve
52 53 THEOLOGY
THE CATASTROPHIC POETRY OF THE CROSS
Kutter Callaway
Kutter Callaway, assistant professor he catastrophic. Great are you, Lord Wait a minute. That can’t be right, can it? The only problem is that we need a new set within earshot has any idea what Jesus is of theology and culture at Fuller, is Are we really supposed to take Jesus at of lenses to see it, much less come to grips talking about: “He must be calling for Elijah. actively engaged in writing and TIt’s the starting point for any theology Really? Are the bones of this woman a testa- his word here? There is of course no easy with its many implications. Yes, let’s see if Elijah comes to rescue him!” speaking on the interaction between worth its salt. ment to God’s greatness—the woman suffer- answer to this question, but Paul calls the (Mark 15:35–36) It may also be why, for theology and culture—particularly ing from cancer in her bone marrow? Will cross a “scandal” for a reason (1 Cor 1:23), and So we have embarked on a quest to find new everyone who was not a firsthand witness to film, television, and online media—in In fact, if Christian theology is unable to the earth—should the earth—shout praises it isn’t simply because the idea of God aban- conversation partners for theology. Along these events, the only appropriate response both academic and popular forums. address the core traumas that haunt the con- to a God who would rob her three young doning God is logically counterintuitive. the way, we have focused very little energy to the death of God was, is, and continues to Books he has authored include temporary cultural imagination, it might as children of their mother? As the congrega- Instead, as Jürgen Moltmann has suggested, on the “New Atheists”—that small group of be art, music, image, and narrative. Indeed, Breaking the Marriage Idol: Recon- well say nothing at all. tion sang this stanza over and over again, it the scandal of Jesus’ experience of god-for- outspoken atheists whose faith in scientism there has been no shortage of artworks structing our Cultural and Spiritual became clear that we were no longer stating sakenness is that it makes theologians out of and staunch commitment to diatribe over focused on the crucifixion, whether histori- Norms, Watching TV Religiously: Tele- These were only a few of the thoughts anything; we were questioning everything. us all—believer and unbeliever alike: dialogue would rival that of any religious cally speaking or in our post-theistic context. vision and Theology in Dialogue, and running through my heart and mind one It wasn’t “Great are you Lord!” It was “Are fundamentalist. Instead, we’ve been far And it is likely because there really is no Scoring Transcendence: Contempo- Sunday morning at church not too long you great, Lord?” Our praises had become [I]s not every unbeliever who has a reason more energized by what Simon Critchley better (or other) mode by which humans rary Film Music as Religious Experi- ago. Our congregation was singing songs of laments in their offering. for his atheism and his decision not to (himself an atheist) has called the “faith might capture, express, and otherwise ence. He also contributed to God in worship like we always do, and as is often believe a theologian too? Atheists who have of the faithless” and what Alain de Botton explore such a profound incongruity than the Movies, Halos and Avatars, and the case, my wife and I were standing with We weren’t the only group of Christians something against both God and faith in (also an atheist) describes as “Religion for in and through these poetic means. Don’t Stop Believin’. Callaway served our daughters in the row just behind our who had gathered together that day to sing God usually know very well whom and Atheists.” in pastoral ministry for nearly a good friend and her three young children. songs to a God who seemed to be impotent, what they are rejecting, and have their In other words, both the death of God and decade prior to teaching at Fuller. or indifferent, or just plain absent in the face reasons. Nietzsche’s book The Antichrist Given our broader interests in the theo- the divine apostasy it entails expose the Still, this Sunday was different than most. of tragic circumstances. Rather, through has a lot to teach us about true Christiani- logical significance of art, aesthetics, and limits of any theology that exclusively After enduring a battery of tests, radiation music, poetic utterance, and corporate ty, and the modern criticism of religion put popular culture, the working title for our employs syllogistic reasoning or deductive treatments, chemotherapy, and a stem-cell singing, we were bringing to speech what forward by Feuerbach, Marx and Freud is project is “The Aesthetics of A/theism.”2 logic. Approaching Jesus’ cry on the cross transplant, our friend’s leukemia, which countless other women and men of faith still theological in its anti-theology. Beyond The primary aim of this project is to demon- in this way is like attempting to determine had been in remission for nearly two full were also voicing on that otherwise unre- that, moreover, there is a protest atheism strate what it looks like to engage in a robust, how much a piece of music weighs. It’s a years, had now returned. And no amount of markable Sunday morning. In concert with which wrestles with God as Job did, and for mutually enriching conversation with category mistake. Along similar lines, to singing would change that. this great cloud of witnesses, we drew upon the sake of the suffering of created beings atheist artists and contemporary cultural suggest that, in the crucifixion, God became the power of metaphor and poetry to artic- which cries out to high heaven denies that artifacts, not simply because they offer us a an atheist—even if for a moment—is not to Of course, because of their age, neither her ulate a “groaning too deep for words” (Rom there is a just God who rules the world in concrete point of departure for theological accuse the Father or Son of blasphemy, nor children nor ours were fully aware of what 8:26)—an elemental cry of desperation, love. This atheism is profoundly theologi- reflection, but also because there is some- is it to dabble in illogical untruths that lead it all meant. So while they laughed and sang borne from an experience of the catastroph- cal, for the theodicy question—If there is thing about art and aesthetic experience to some other kind of heresy. It is rather together and misbehaved as they did nearly ic, aimed directly at the Divine. a good God, why all this evil?—is also the that is integral to the entire atheological to reject the logic of the atheism/theism every other Sunday morning, we mostly fundamental question of every Christian enterprise. Which brings us back to Jesus’ polarity altogether, acknowledging instead cried. A strikingly similar cry of lament crossed theology which takes seriously the question cry on the cross. that a distinct kind of poetics resides within the lips of Jesus himself while hanging that the dying Christ throws at God: “My the heart of the Christian faith—a mood or No. We wept. on the cross: “My God, my God, why have God, why have you forsaken me?”1 As Jesus’ death by crucifixion demonstrates, sensibility toward life that seeks new coordi- you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33; Ps 22:1). the juxtaposition of seemingly incompatible nates in the wake of the death of God. Interestingly enough, our weeping didn’t Jesus was quoting Psalm 22, but surely he For some time now, my colleague Barry ideas (e.g., God forsaking God) is often too stop us from singing, but it did color the wasn’t proof-texting. Rather, he was artic- Taylor and I have been exploring this very counterintuitive, too radical, too challeng- G. K. Chesterton made a similarly subver- music in a discernable way. Namely, instead ulating in poetic form the central trauma notion—that something profoundly theo- ing for our staid sensibilities. It’s partly sive claim in his aptly titled Orthodoxy: of proclamation, the words we sang shifted around which the entire theological project logical might be taking place in the name why people almost always misunderstand into a form of divine interrogation: turns: divine abandonment. On the cross, of atheism. In doing so, we have stumbled what Jesus is saying, especially religious When the world shook and the sun was the Father really does forsake the Son. upon a somewhat surprising realization— folks. His final words of apostasy are no dif- wiped out of heaven, it was not at the cru- And all the earth will shout your praise Somehow, and in some way, God apostatizes that something scandalously “atheological” ferent. In spite of the fact that he is quoting cifixion, but at the cry from the cross: the Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing against God’s self. is also taking place in the name of theology. well-known Scripture, it seems that no one cry which confessed that God was forsaken
54 55 of God. And now let the revolutionists whose anguished cries simply emerge from choose a creed from all the creeds and a a different religious (or nonreligious) stand- god from all the gods of the world, carefully point than our own. Rather than set us at weighing all the gods of inevitable recur- odds with one another, the catastrophic rence and of unalterable power. They will poetry of the cross invites each and every not find another god who has himself been one of us to enter a space in which despair FORMING ARTISTS, STRENGTHENING CHURCHES in revolt. Nay (the matter grows too diffi- and faith meet, a space where the “faith-ful” cult for human speech), but let the atheists and the “faith-less” are neither enemies nor Shannon Sigler themselves choose a god. They will find opponents, but fellow sojourners. only one divinity who uttered their iso- lation; only one religion in which God Put differently, whether we are “believers” Sounds of an electric guitar, loud of relationship-building and that the church is still the nexus began inviting us—propelling in her own sanctuary; a painter seemed for an instant to be an atheist.3 or not, life’s meaning remains elusive and and distorted, emanate from a theological education with our for God’s work in the world, and us—into the story of God. Artists captured congregants’ weekly opaque—always just out of reach. And broken-down sauna building in cohort of five churches. The that artists have much to teach began to shape our worship in journeys in Seattle in a series of If Chesterton is correct (and I think he is), that’s why, when my little community of the woods next to the Wenatchee Cascadia Residency cultivates our churches about how to revitalizing ways. artful maps. And John: he took then the core event of Christianity is not so faith discovered that one of our own would River. Hardly a suitable recording generative relationships between cultivate living experiences of his album back to his home much a demonstration of supreme faith, but once again have her life turned upside down studio, it smells like cedar and artists and ministry leaders Christian encounter. We believe John approached me after our church, and then to a Capitol of divine abandonment. As such, it consti- by cancer, all we could do was cry out in sounds otherworldly. I knock on who are mutually dedicated that artists can plunge us into first worship time together and Hill nightclub—a location where tutes what Paul Ricoeur might call a “con- song. We sang not because it alleviated our the door, but John doesn’t hear to the artistic renewal of the the story of God—and equip our asked if he could have a copy most had likely never heard the cordant discordance.” It is neither logical fears or distracted us from the unanswered me. He keeps grinding on the Pacific Northwest region and churches to do the same in the of our liturgy. He had struggled story of God. nor illogical, but rather paralogical. And questions that continued to plague us, but guitar. It turns out later that my its churches. midst of a cynical and individu- to find a shape for his worship it is for this very reason that both theology because speaking in propositional terms knock made his record. The river alistic culture. album—an album of fear, joy, Liturgical patterns of worship and atheism need poetry and metaphor. would have been a category mistake. It noise is in there, too. The Pacific Northwest, or gratitude, emotion, and ques- have become a place where They need aesthetics, for they are both would have been offensive, possibly even “Cascadia,” can be an interest- Each evening during the retreat, tions. The liturgy gave shape to humans can ask hard questions. inherently trafficking in matters “too diffi- heretical. In any other context, our words I’ve learned a lot from John since ing place to do ministry. One our cohort participated in the his creativity. And our commu- Worship becomes a place for cult for human speech” as Chesterton says. would have been words of praise, but in I first met him, when he was a of the most unchurched areas ancient ecclesial rhythms of nity of diverse traditions helped both deep joy and expansive Propositional language alone simply proves this context, they became a form of “protest new Christian. He’s always been in the nation and a land of re- Gather, Word, Response, and him shape it. Worship began to pain; for guitar fuzz and un- inadequate for navigating these complex re- atheism”—a railing against the god-forsak- a musical prodigy. His band, ligious “nones,” it is a place of Sending, using the lectionary shape his individual art, just as comfortable emotions. We are alities. Which means that, taken from the enness of the world. We joined our sister in Lonely Forest, toured with Death few boundaries and norms. Tra- as the source of our Scripture his art had given embodiment to allowed to be transformed by perspective of the divine paralogic of the song on that day for the same reason that Cab for Cutie, and he recently dition is inherently suspect. We readings. This simple liturgy the liturgy. Since then, he has the Spirit of God as we experi- cross, what is truly heretical is not apostasy Jesus chose poetry rather than prose for got back from Germany where are a culture of “living our (indi- bound our team together— told me often how grateful he ence our personal stories being per se, but any attempt to “make sense of,” his last words: because some tragedies are he was promoting his new solo vidual) truths” with no support artists and pastors from diverse was for that experience—and engulfed by God’s story. The “rationalize,” or otherwise “logically explain” simply unspeakable. To adapt that well- album. But the first time I heard system. Through conversations congregations that included the sauna. John was shaped church needs artists, and artists Jesus’ despairing cry to the God who had so known exclamation from Mark 9:24: “We John play was in an old gym with pastors, cultural leaders, Presbyterian, Assemblies of and formed as a musician and need the church. And some- obviously forsaken him. believe; God, help our unbelief!” at a Christian camp a couple and artists in our region over the God, Nondenominational, Evan- worship leader through our times they need a run-down of years ago. Sitting on a blue last five years, we have learned gelical Covenant, and Free Meth- program, even as he will shape sauna by the Wenatchee River. Many strong and loud voices would have us The catastrophic. It’s more than a starting exercise ball, he cried a little that this “spiritual but not reli- odist. Not surprisingly, most of and form others through his believe otherwise—that matters of faith are point. It’s the constitutive feature of any while sharing a song that would gious” climate craves experience our artists—and some of our music and worship leadership. simple and straightforward and that we all faith modeled on the cross—that world-shat- eventually become the first he over institutional involvement, pastors—had never encountered Like the wise scribe in Matthew exist at one or the other end of a very clear tering event where Jesus not only uttered wrote for a worship album. This particularly as it relates to the these rhythms or the lectionary. 13:51–52, we are training polarity. Either we are orthodox “believers” our isolation in the form of poetry, but also, is the album he was finishing up church. People in our region pri- people for kingdom service to or heterodox “non/unbelievers,” “faithful” even if just for a moment, was an atheist too. recording in the sauna that day. oritize outdoor experience, yoga, Slowly, over the course of the bring both the old and new out or “faithless,” “theists” or “atheists.” The third space communities, beer two weeks, our artists identi- of the treasures of our faith. recent return of both secular and religious ENDNOTES I was spending two weeks with culture, food culture, and the fied ways to live into our liturgy. forms of fundamentalism has only made 1. J. Moltmann, five artists and five pastors list could go on. Our musicians reworked hymns; Our artist residency has been this polarization worse. The New Atheists Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology, trans. M. Kohl (Minneapolis: Fortress at the Grunewald Guild Artist visual artists brought natural a place of creative liturgical may not believe in the God of radicalized Press, 2000), 15–16. Retreat Center in Leaven- I’ve been asked why we don’t objects in from the outside incubation. Artists and pastors religious sects, but they share the same 2. A book by the same name will be available later this year worth, Washington, as part of simply host a Christian artist for reflection; an author recast come together to tell and retell Shannon Sigler is the executive penchant for absolutizing their claims to as the lead volume in the Brehm Center’s New Engagements the Brehm Center’s Cascadia residency outside of the Psalm 23 through multiple the story of God, and they take director of Brehm Cascadia, knowledge and truth over and against all with Culture series, a new line with Fortress Press coedited by Kutter Callaway and Barry Taylor. Residency Program—in which church. Wouldn’t it be easier? creative lenses. Magical things these experiences back into their based in Seattle, where she and those who see the world differently. It’s no 3. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (Chicago: Moody Publishers, artists are invited to be “Artists The church is so messy and began to happen. The lection- local congregations. Our poet her team care for artists and small wonder that both camps are often 2009), 162. in Residence” at churches in sometimes opposed to the arts. ary texts and liturgical pattern took her recast 23rd Psalm into build bridges between art and referred to as “militant,” for to them, we the greater Seattle area. The Wouldn’t there be less red tape, of Christian worship gave the a Good Friday service; a textile church communities. Learn more are all at war. But to offer up a lament in two-week art-making retreat less relational difficulty? Well, artists a space to play, to artist created an installation about the Cascadia Residency at the form of a faithful protest isn’t to be at was the culmination of a year yes. We’re convinced, however, innovate, and to embody. They exploring themes of “sanctuary” cascadiaresidency.com. war with anyone, especially not with people
56 57
THEOLOGY
PSALMS: A BIBLICAL MODEL OF ART
W. David O. Taylor
W. David O. Taylor, director of Brehm rotestant Christians, evangelical Prot- commend the Psalter because it is here spell out the name of the Lord, an intimate, tenderness,” as Martin Luther once put it. If Texas and assistant professor of estants in particular, are known as that we observe how a community practic- personal presence. We would fail to catch metaphor is one of the defining character- theology and culture at Fuller, is the Ppeople of the Word. Although the arts es art in faithfulness to God for the sake of this nuance if we did not attend to the way istics of the arts, as plenty of philosophers author of The Theater of God’s Glory have played an important role in Protestant the world that God so loves. The following, in which poetry works. The point for us suggest, then with the Psalter on our side and of the forthcoming books Worship history, especially in its hymnody, they then, are five features that characterize today? In the Hebrew mind, prose is not we can say that the arts remain central to and the Arts: Singular Powers and the have usually played a subsidiary role to the Psalter’s practice of art making and the seen as a more faithful way than poetry to the work of Christ in the world. The arts Formation of a Human Life and the word-based, cognitive-oriented activi- power of such art in the life of God’s people get at the truth—of God, of humans, of the open up the world of metaphor and symbol Honest to God: The Psalms and the ties that favor facts over stories and reason throughout the ages. world. They’re both capable of doing so, but that engages our imaginations about a God Life of Faith. He is also editor of For over imagination. But this implies a false they do so in their own distinctive ways. By beyond our full com- the Beauty of the Church: Casting a dichotomy between the Word and the arts. First, the psalms are poetry. This is implication this means that art is a no less prehension, while Vision for the Arts and Contemporary It also might fail to perceive the aesthetic perhaps to state the obvious, but the reliable or appropriate means of communi- nonetheless offering Art and the Church: A Conversation nature of the Bible and the manifold ways obvious often needs stating. In the psalms cation than discursive, prose, or proposition- us the true knowl- between Two Worlds. An Anglican in which the revelation of God comes to us it is through poetry—and not despite poetry al forms of expression. edge of that God. priest, he has lectured widely on the through artistic media. So while the Bible or beyond poetry—that faithful worship arts, from Thailand to South Africa. matters to Protestants, one might ask: What occurs. This begs the question: How does Second, the psalms traffic in metaphori- In 2016 he produced a short film on exactly does it mean to have a biblical vision poetry mean? A fully satisfying answer cally rich language. A metaphor is a figure the psalms with Bono and Eugene for the arts? lies beyond the scope of this essay. A pre- of speech whereby we speak of one thing Peterson, available to view on liminary response could be drawn from in terms of another. In the psalms, the Fuller.edu/Studio. The answer to this question hinges largely the work of the English professor Laurence knowledge of God is not to be discerned on on which scriptural text is privileged as Perrine and the Hebrew scholar Robert the other side of metaphor; it is discerned a departure point and used to authorize a Alter.1 Together their works suggest that through the metaphor. Take “the Lord is my practice of art making. Do we begin with poetry communicates in ways that say more shepherd,” for example. The Lord is not of Genesis 1 and 2, with its story of the primor- and say it more intensely, more densely, and course an actual shepherd by profession, dial creation and the command to cultivate more musically than does ordinary language. like a Tunisian goatherd. Nor is the point the garden and construct a theology of arts Hebrew poetry does this through similes, simply to say that the Lord generically cares from there? Do we start with Exodus 31 and ellipses, rhythm, hyperbole, assonance, and for his people. The metaphor of shepherd the Spirit-empowered work of Bezalel? Do parallelism. These are the ways that a poem involves much more than that. As Old Tes- we build off the narratively constitutive means a thing in the psalms. Consider the tament professor John Goldingay reminds work of Jesus in the Gospels? Perhaps Phi- beginning of Psalm 8, for example: us, the image of a shepherd in Israel was not lippians 4:8 is the key text that opens up a a gentle one. Shepherds were rough char- way forward for the artist? Or the Book of O Lord, our Lord, acters who at times had to become ruthless Revelation: might its hyperrealist vision of How majestic is Your name in all killers to defend their flocks.2 a world turned upside down by the second the earth, coming of Christ illumine the path for Who have displayed Your splendor The metaphor of shepherd evoked artists of faith today? above the heavens! memories of Moses. It evoked associations Third, in the psalms the sensory is a . . . When I consider Your heavens, the with Israel’s exodus. It evoked an image way through to the knowledge of God. As I These options, attractive as they may be, work of Your fingers, of wildernesses where sources of water write in my book The Theater of God’s Glory, ignore possibly the most obvious starting The moon and the stars, which You have were scarce and wild animals endangered the arts engender a way to grasp the world point: the Psalter. The Psalter commends ordained . . . (Psalm 8:1,3) the safety of sheep. It evoked non-cozy through our physical senses, give us a feel itself to us for many reasons. It has func- pictures of great kings, as sovereign lords, for things that we might not be able other- tioned for 2,000 years as the church’s “Your name” and “your heavens” sound who treated the people as vassals. Evoking wise to articulate, and enable us to perceive songbook, it represents one of the most almost the same in Hebrew. In Hebrew, all these images, the metaphor of the Lord what, at first glance, may seem improbable influential books in the New Testament, the sound of those words shows us how as Shepherd involves a surplus of meaning. or even impossible. The psalms invite the and it is Jesus’ most quoted book. But I the heavens, with its stars, moon, and sun, Yahweh shepherds his people with a “fierce reader to immerse herself in richly sensory
60 61 territory: of smelling, both the individual poet and the communi- That’s 0.5% of his songs that see the light intensive, and contextually meaningful ENDNOTES tasting, feeling, seeing, ty. There are three kinds of poets that we of day. Not every poem that Wesley wrote ways. They do so in ways that both comfort 1. L. Perrine, Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 5th hearing. If we wish to find in the Psalter: (1) those who are named sees the light of day in a public capacity. Not and disturb, in faithfulness to the Word of ed. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988); R. Alter, know how a psalm and known, (2) those who are unnamed and every poem of his is a masterpiece, either. God. If a biblical vision for the calling of The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 2011). means, then, we need unknown, and (3) those who are unnamed This is true, I suggest, for the Psalter as artists is on offer, then, I can think of few 2. J. Goldingay, Psalms, vol. 1: Psalms 1–41 (Grand Rapids, to say it or sing it out but known by the guild to which they well. better places to discover that vision than MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 348. loud. We cannot simply read belong. In the Psalter we have poems by the book of Psalms. 3. R. Dahl, Matilda (New York: Puffin Books, 2007), 185–86. it silently. A psalm’s meaning David and in the spirit of David. We have Psalm 70 may be one of the most carefully occurs through sensory means, poems by the guild of temple musicians: the crafted poems in the Psalter, for instance, in this case through its musicality— Korahites, for instance. We also have poems and exceptionally sincere, but this psalm which is of course what all poets might by individuals who remain anonymous. of lament lacks the agony of Psalm 12 or tell you, including Miss Honey from Roald Whether known or unknown, the poets the pathos of Psalm 22. But there it is: a Dahl’s story Matilda: whom we find in the psalms give voice both decent poem alongside great ones. And to their own concerns and to the concerns this too is good news for artists today. There was a moment of silence, and of the community. It is not one or the other. There is a place for all sorts of art in Matilda, who had never before heard great It is both. The heartbreaks of moms and our lives: some of it passable, some of romantic poetry spoken aloud, was pro- dads, the hopes of young and old, the fears it great, some of it in between. Some of foundly moved. “It’s like music,” she whis- of the working class and the anxieties of the the work will become renowned. Some of it pered. “It is music,” Miss Honey said.3 ruling class, the little people and the famous will be known only to the artist. But in the people, the artist and the non-artist—every- economy of God, all such artists matter, all The point is this. We could write a body somehow, somewhere gets a voice. such art needs to be made. theology book about injustice— and we need such books. But it This is true for artists today, in particular These, then, are five characteristics of a is in the singing of Psalm 7 that for artists of faith. Though contemporary community practice of art as we witness it we grasp injustice. We could works of art will not have the authority of in the psalms. preach a sermon about the loss of Holy Scripture, many believing artists today a friend, and Lord knows we need those feel inspired by God to use their gifts to both THE PSALTER AS AN ANALOGUE FOR FAITHFUL sermons. But when we read Psalm 88 re- speak to and speak for the church. Some of ARTISTRY TODAY sponsively, we know it from the inside. We those works, like the poetry of Venantius There are two things that we will not get say, yes, it’s just as intensely painful and Fortunatus, the stories of Dante Alighieri, in the Psalter. We will not get a single key tragically sad as that. We could talk about and the songs of Mahalia Jackson, speak to idea about art and faith that, in turn, mag- the majestic, highly exalted character of God’s people at that time and across the ages. ically translates into the biblical charter God; or, more kinesthetically persuasive, for artists of faith today. Nor will we get a we could dramatically recite Psalm 147 and Fifth, not every psalm is a masterpiece. blueprint for faithful artistry that absolves find ourselves saying, ah, yes, I see now. In This is great news. We will never know how us of the hard work of discernment. What all these ways meaning comes through the many poems failed to make it into the final we will get, I suggest, is something much sensory aspects of the poem, not beyond or edited volume of the Psalter. But perhaps better: a vision of a community of artists, of despite it. This is true, I suggest, for all the we could guess by comparison to Charles all kinds, in all times and places, who over a arts. Knowledge involves our entire self, not Wesley. As scholars reckon it, the younger long period of time make art for God’s sake just our minds. The arts, accordingly, invite Wesley brother composed approximately and for the sake of the world. These artists our whole selves to know and love God. 9,000 poems over the course of his lifetime. give expression to things that matter deeply The number of his hymns that are included to them, but they also give expression to the Fourth, the psalms operate within “the in the official United Methodist Hymnal is, deepest concerns of the community at large. tradition of David.” That tradition includes however, a surprisingly modest number: 51. They do so in poetically rich, aesthetically
62 63 THEOLOGY
HIP HOP HERMENEUTIC
Dwight Radcliff
Dwight Radcliff, a PhD candidate in hen you read the story of Shadrach, Hip Hop allowed many of them to see the own humanity as part of the imago Dei and ed political power, idolatry, and youth rebel- (New York: Lippincott, 1970). Fuller’s School of Intercultural Meshach, and Abednego refusing realities of their own neighborhoods and to affirm God as the liberator of the Bible. ling against that corruption. They don’t see 7. J. H. Cone, A Black Theology of Liberation (Philadelphia: Studies, holds an MDiv from Fuller King Nebuchadnezzar’s order, what families in the mainstream for the first the traditional European images of young Lippincott, 1970). W 8. C. H. Felder, Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and with an emphasis in multicultural do you imagine? As you scroll through the time. It was a validating and liberating ex- Generations later, James Cone looked at men in togas. Rather, they see the faces of Family (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989). ministry and African American church pages of Daniel’s third chapter, what are the perience to see and hear someone describe, Scripture and also saw a God who was on urban minorities in their cities. They see 9. Evans, We Have Been Believers. 7 studies. A Parish Pulpit Fellow and things that stand out? Do you notice that poetically and prophetically, the existential the side of the oppressed in every gener- the current political climate, they see the 10. K. B. Douglas, The Black Christ (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis William E. Pannell Doctoral Fellow, he this corrupted idol worship is attached to plight of their daily reality. Some have even ation; he saw a Christ who identified with targeting of black and brown bodies, they Books, 1994). focuses his research on the ways Hip a musical presentation? Do you reflect on expressed their introduction, or “coming,” the poor. Cone concluded that this Jesus see Black Lives Matter protestors. The 11. R. Watkins, “From Black Theology and Black Power to Afrocentric Theology and Hip Hop Power: An Extension and Hop culture has been formational for the age of these young men or their status to Hip Hop in salvific and spiritual terms. must be Black in his christological impor- contemporary world of the preacher folds Socio-Re-Theological Conceptualization of Cone’s Theology in African American preachers. In as minorities and political prisoners? Can For them, this cultural expression of urban tance and identification with the oppressed. into the ancient world of Scripture as time Conversation with the Hip Hop Generation,” Black Theology addition to serving as an adjunct pro- you visualize the streets leading to Babylon, minority life was second only to the liber- For Cone, a Black theology must consider seems to collapse upon itself in the enter- 8, no. 3 (April 2015): 327–40. fessor, he is a church planter and where the idol was erected? How does ation of salvation found in Jesus. Hip Hop the Black experience as necessary to any prise of exegesis and homiletics.12 These 12. Cleophus LaRue describes this meshing that occurs lead pastor of The Message Center, a this play back in the DVR of your mind? culture was not something to be shunned valid interpretation of Scripture. This her- preachers use titles, lyrics, and motifs from in Black preaching as follows: “To get at the heart of black preaching, one has to understand the interconnectedness multicultural, multigenerational, There is a generation of African American for the sake of being a good Christian. It meneutic became a cornerstone of Black Hip Hop because they literally see them in between scriptural texts and African American life experienc- 8 urban congregation in Gardena, Cali- preachers who are utilizing their own was, on the contrary, part of their culture theology. Cain Hope Felder and James the text. They see the ancient world grap- es.” See C. J. LaRue, The Heart of Black Preaching (Louisville, 9 fornia. His family, however, is his first cultural experience and formation to reflect and an expression of their reality. It is Evans would expound on this hermeneu- pling with the same evil and the same man- KY: Westminster John Knox, 2000). ministry. Radcliff and his wife of 20 on the pages of Scripture in a unique way. important to note that, in its genesis, Hip tic and boldly affirm, with Cone, that the ifestations of that evil that the preachers years, DeShun, have two daughters. Their hermeneutic is a refreshing new ex- Hop culture was an expression of prophetic lived Black experience must be taken into and their congregations are experiencing. pression birthed in cultural formation. At defiance against the systematic oppression account when reading Scripture. The next To be clear, this is not a process of taking a the same time, however, it is a continua- of African Americans and Afro-Caribbe- generation of scholars would build on this passage of Scripture and finding contempo- tion of the theological enterprise of critical an immigrants, who found themselves de- foundation, going further to examine—and rary correlation. Rather, this is a Hip Hop, interpretation begun by early African liberately corralled into underserved and even critique—this hermeneutic. Kelly urban lens through which these preachers American believers. overpoliced ghettos overrun with crime, Brown Douglas10 questioned if this herme- read the Bible. It is not an option or an addi- drugs, violence, and corporate greed. Hip neutic of the Black Christ did not pave the tional feature. It is part of the very herme- Studying this enterprise begins by affirm- Hop became part of the experience and way for women of color to be ignored. Her neutic they bring to the text. ing that all humans are cultural beings1 worldview of these preachers and, as such, contention was that the “Black experience,” and that culture is essential to human life.2 colors the way they view Scripture. as expressed to date, was simply a male ENDNOTES Some scholars have written on the impact Black experience. She widened the herme- 1. A. Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling of culture—popular culture or various A brief historical summation will be neutic while continuing in the tradition. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2008). aspects of culture—on the church and helpful here. Gayraud Wilmore4 and James Each generation has added to, or critiqued, 2. J. Peoples and G. Bailey, Humanity: An Introduction to , 10th ed. (Stamford, CT: Cengage believers.3 Very little, however, has been Evans5 explain how the first African the major hermeneutic at play in Black Cultural Anthropology Learning, 2015). written about the specific impact of culture American Christians arrived at their faith. theology: the Black lived experience. The 3. See C. Detweiler and B. Taylor, A Matrix of Meanings: on African American churches and preach- It was not a simple matter of assimilating Hip Hop hermeneutic being presented here Finding God in Pop Culture (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker ers. The African American preachers and slaveholding Christianity, as some assume. is, perhaps, the next generation of devel- Academic, 2003); and J. Drane, The McDonaldization of the pastors referenced here have grown up with Rather, it was a critical examination of opment in an African American theology Church: Consumer Culture and the Church’s Future (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2012). one of the most powerful cultural phenome- the hypocrisy of brutal, oppressive White that takes seriously the lived experience of 11 4. G. S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An na in recent history: Hip Hop culture. Hip Christianity that forced African slaves in Black bodies. Interpretation of the Religious History of Afro-American People, Hop was part of the background, if not the America to retain remnants of their own 3rd ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1998). foreground, of their formation. Research spirituality and worldview and actually Since part of African American preachers’ 5. J. H. Evans, We Have Been Believers: An African-American into how Hip Hop culture has been forma- forge their own Christian faith.6 They saw lived experience is within Hip Hop culture, Systematic Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992). - tional for African American preachers who in the pages of the Bible a God who created those who are now leading and preaching 6. Henry Mitchell explains that the strength of Black Chris tianity is due to “independent clandestine meetings which engage it is revealing. and loved all humans and acted decisively to congregations read the third chapter of adapted their African Traditional Religion (very close to that to liberate God’s people from oppression. Daniel differently than many of their white of the Old Testament) into a profoundly creative and authen- Those engaged in this research report that African Americans dared to affirm their colleagues. They see urban streets, corrupt- tically Christian faith.” See H. H. Mitchell, Black Preaching
64 65
THEOLOGY
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF EMBODIMENT IN WORSHIP
Alexis D. Abernethy
Alexis D. Abernethy, who has served n his book Ritual in Early Modern Europe, worship services, there are moments that Debra Dean Murphy highlights the complex music and described by Leslie Dunn and on Fuller’s faculty since 1998, is as- Edward Muir describes the shift that took many parishioners experience as powerful, cognitive, emotional, bodily, and spiritual Nancy Jones: sociate provost for faculty inclusion Iplace with the invention of the printing anointed, and convicting. What facilitates process involved in worship as she notes the and equity as well as professor of press and its effects on the Protestant these experiences? Does the worship song following: We thereby recognize the roles played psychology. Her primary research churches that arose out of the Reforma- leader’s spiritual, emotional, cognitive, and by (1) the person or people producing the interest is the intersection of spiritu- tion. Muir describes a division between the bodily engagement influence parishioners’ The “knowledge” imparted in worship . . . sound, (2) the person or people hearing ality and health, including studying lower body, with the passions and feelings spiritual experience in these moments? is a knowledge that can be known only in the produced sound, and the subjective experience of worship it contains, and the intellect and objectivity There are worship song leaders whose the doing of it. It is, at heart, bodily and (3) the acoustical and within and across ethnic and denom- of the upper body, privileging the upper over ministry leadership reflects a life in God. performative. We are habituated to and social contexts in inational groups and the connection the lower. For most Protestant churches This is related not only to a sense of God’s in the knowledge of the Christian faith by which production of worship to behavioral and this resulted in word-centered worship presence in the moment, but also to a sense the ritual performance that is worship, so and hearing occur. health-related outcomes. She has services, with most actions in worship of their connection to and journey with God that a deep unity between doctrine and The “meaning” of received grants to support her work involving speaking or singing—if not lis- as it pertains to the song they are minister- practice is taken for granted.4 any vocal sound, from a number of institutions. Pub- tening to—words. Since then, Protestants ing. The next step in our research sought to lished widely in academic journals, of all stripes have expanded their worship explore the concept of embodiment as one Worship is not simply cognitive; rather, it she edited the book Worship That repertoire but in some ways still privilege way of understanding this multidimension- is a performative religious process that Changes Lives: Multidisciplinary and words above all else. Yet we enter worship al process of engagement and exploring includes our hearts, minds, and bodies. Congregational Perspectives on Spiri- as embodied creatures. How does this fact God’s incarnational presence. Ritual fosters this deep unity between tual Transformation. shape our experience and understanding of doctrinal beliefs and embodied practice. worship? PERSPECTIVES ON WORSHIP Worship, in other words, is seen as the H. Wayne Johnson emphasizes the impor- actions and experiences of the entire person. then, must be understood My students, colleagues, and I study the tance of a revelatory focus in corporate as co-constituted by psychology of worship. One of the questions worship. He referred to this focus as the PERSPECTIVES ON EMBODIMENT performative as well we pursue psychologically is this: “What “deep structure of worship” and outlined One of the most universal embodied modes as semantic/structural factors contribute to spiritual transforma- four key dimensions: of worship is singing. Embracing a broad features.6 tion in worship?” Several mechanisms have perspective on the role of embodiment in been used to explain emotional responses We see the priority and precedence of music, John Blacking notes that “music is They argue that vocal to music from a psychological perspective, God’s self revelation and redemptive work. a synthesis of cognitive processes which meaning arises from “an including cognitive appraisal, rhythmic en- We see the need for God’s people to attend are present in culture and in the human intersubjective acoustic trainment, visual imagery, and emotional and remember that revelation. We see body: the forms it takes, and the effects it space” and any effort to ar- contagion.1 In our first psychophysiolog- that it is God’s character and redemptive has on people, are generated by the social ticulate it must include a re- ical study of worship,2 we hypothesized work that elicit worship. Finally, we see experiences of human bodies in different construction of this context. that emotion would be associated with that love and obedience are appropriate cultural environments.”5 This perspective Understanding musical ex- transformational experiences for parish- responses to God’s character and actions.3 underscores the importance of not only an pression in worship would ioners. While emotion played a role, our integrated bodily and cognitive process, but therefore include under- participants also noted the role of cognitive The focus of worship needs to center on who also the cultural context. Noteworthy here standing the producers of the sound, the lis- dimensions. People identified key cognitive God is and what God has done. The atten- is both the universality of embodiment— teners, and their social context. For worship insights that were important for this process tion of people should be directed toward that every culture’s music assumes em- leadership, this would include the song of transformation. God and his presence rather than the per- bodiment—and its particularity: that every leader and his or her process of preparation: sonality, charisma, or even musical skill of culture understands, values, and executes the social and, specifically, spiritual context Although those results pointed to unity of the worship leader. The response to worship embodiment somewhat differently. of song production. Patrik Juslin describes upper and lower body in our experience should include a deepened obedience to and these qualities as going beyond the perfor- of worship, they raised further questions. love of God. Yet embodiment has even further levels of mance and considering “the nature of the During praise and worship in corporate complexity, as again illustrated through person behind the performance.”7
68 69 Music percep- preparation process during powerfully to their own and others’ spiri- ter with God’s grace through Scripture and Washington Press, 1973), 89. tion is associat- which the song leader spends tual transformation through the work of our sense of his great mercy toward us can 6. L. Dunn and N. Jones, Embodied Voices: Representing ed with embodied intentional time with the Lord the Holy Spirit. In order to identify key pro- evoke feelings of warmth and deep grati- Female Vocality in Western Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 2–3. movements—e.g., meditating on the biblical cesses that might contribute to a worship tude. The offline manifestation of this might 7. P. N. Juslin, “Five Facets of Musical Expression: A Psy- breathing and rhythmic meaning of the song. The leader’s spiritual engagement and embod- arise as we encounter a situation where we chologist’s Perspective on Music Performance,” Psychology 8 gaits. Patrick Shove and worship leader would engage iment, we interviewed 26 music worship can extend grace to others. We might feel a of Music 31, no. 3 (2003): 273–302. Bruno Repp have noted, for with the material and apply it leader exemplars from various ethnic and similar sense of warmth and gratitude in 8. R. W. Gibbs Jr., Embodiment and Cognitive Science (New example, that “the listener does to her life and social context. denominational backgrounds.18 Primary our body that we extend toward someone York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 53. 9. P. Shove and B. Repp, “Musical Motion and Performance: not merely hear the sound of a gallop- During worship, the song leader areas of inquiry included Christian forma- in our life. Remembering the countless Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives,” in The Practice of ing horse or bowing violinist; rather, the would seek to recreate an expe- tion; the roles of embodiment, cognition, examples in God’s word of his grace and Performance, ed. J. Rink (Cambridge: Cambridge University listener hears a horse galloping and a riential space that connects with affect, and spirituality in worship; leader mercy helps us not only to speak words that Press, 1995), 59. violinist bowing.”9 Further, recent neu- the song. Throughout the process, preparation; and the congregation’s role. sound gracious, but also to reflect the grace 10. Gibbs, Embodiment, 53. rophysiological studies emphasize the offline embodiment helps prepare of God in verbal and nonverbal ways: to be 11. T. W. Schubert and G. R. Semin, “Embodiment as a Unifying Perspective for Psychology,” European Journal of role of body motion in music production the worship leader to minister and aids The most prominent themes that emerged gracious. Social Psychology 39, no. 7 (2009): 1135–41. and performance. Such movement would the process. There may be additional from these interviews were bodily signals, 12. Gibbs, Embodiment, 1. be easily perceived in response to music features of online embodiment. With the God’s action and presence, God-centric This provides an invaluable reminder that, 13. P. M. Niedenthal, L. W. Barsalou, P. Winkielman, S. such as jazz or contemporary Black gospel help of the Holy Spirit, the song leader engagement, facilitating worship, divine as Christians, our central desire should Krauth-Gruber, and F. Ric, “Embodiment in Attitudes, Social music, but it is perceived as well in music recreates the experience in her mind purpose, and continual commitment to be a life that seeks to glorify God: that we Perception, and Emotion,” Personality and Social Psychology Review 9, no. 3 (2005): 184–211. that evokes less perceptible bodily move- and body and also creates anew in part- spiritual formation. God-centric engage- would be students and followers of his Word 14. M. Wilson, “Six Views of Embodied Cognition,” Psy- ments. Perceived rhythm is viewed as an nership with the congregation. Online ment referred to the worship leaders’ focus and that the Holy Spirit would lead, guide, chonomic Bulletin and Review 9, no. 4 (2002): 625–36. imagined movement even in the absence Margaret Wilson differentiates “online” and offline embodiment both occur. on glorifying God in their worship. In and empower us. The aim of worship is to 15. Niedenthal et al., “Embodiment,” 187. of musculoskeletal movement. Conse- and “offline” embodiment,14 and Paula addition, attunement to the deep structure glorify God, but as Don Saliers reminds us, 16. R. B. Hooke, “‘I Am Here in this Room . . .’: The Practice quently, says Raymond Gibbs, “musical Niedenthal and her associates elaborate A traditional view of preaching, expressed of worship was also evident as worship this is culturally embodied and embedded: of Performance and the Learning of Preaching,” Homiletic 20 27, no. 1 (2002): 13–21. perception involves an understanding of this further: by Karl Barth, is that the preacher is a leaders expressed their desire for commu- we bring our whole lives to worship. I am 17. Ibid., 16. bodily motion—that is, a kind of empathetic herald who speaks God’s words. The per- nion with God and made regular reference thankful that we serve a God who views 18. Abernethy and Witvliet, “Study of Transformation.” 10 19 embodied cognition.” Even something we The term “online embodiment,” and the sonality and preacher’s relationship to to Scripture. They noted actions in their us holistically and helps us in our desire to 19. Johnson, “Practicing Theology.” do so regularly as listening to music opens related term, “situated cognition,” refer the words are unimportant. In contrast, body that reflected this attunement. Their worship him in spirit and in truth. 20. D. E. Saliers, “The Travail of Worship in a Culture of into a multilayered embodied experience to the idea that much cognitive activity Ruthanna Hooke argues that revelation prayers focused on yielding to and being led Hype: Where Has All the Glory Gone?,” Journal for Preachers 16 24 (2001): 28. each time we do it. operates directly on real world environ- does not occur in this way. She notes that by the Holy Spirit. Their intent was to direct ENDNOTES ments. . . . The term “offline embodiment” “the voice of God does not come to us in a attention toward God rather than using Cognitive and social psychology are making refers to the idea that when cognitive way that is removed from our historical, themselves to draw people. They also de- 1. P. N. Juslin, G. T. Barradas, M. Ovsiannikow, J. Limmo, and W. F. Thompson, “Prevalence of Emotions, Mechanisms, important contributions to our understand- activity is decoupled from the real world embodied existence. . . . In Jesus Christ, God scribed a 24/7 commitment to preparation, and Motives in Music Listening: A Comparison of Individ- 11 ing of embodiment. Gibbs defines embod- environment, cognitive operations reveals Godself not by bypassing humanity viewing spiritual preparedness for worship ualist and Collectivist Cultures,” Psychomusicology: Music, iment in the context of the field of cognitive continue to be supported by processing but by inhabiting humanity, the particu- as an ongoing orientation and desire in daily Mind and Brain 26, no. 4 (2016): 293–326. science as “understanding the role of an in modality-specific systems and bodily lar historical and embodied humanity of life to be more yielded to God. 2. A. Abernethy and C. vanOyen Witvliet, “Study of Trans- agent’s own body in its everyday, situated states. Just thinking about an object Jesus Christ. . . . God is most revealed in formation in Worship,” in Worship That Changes Lives: Mul- tidisciplinary and Congregational Perspectives on Spiritual 12 produces embodied states as if the object cognition.” Paula Niedenthal and her col- preaching not when the preacher strives This description by worship leaders reveals Transformation, ed. A. Abernethy (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker 15 leagues describe the embodiment process in were actually there. to become invisible, but rather when she is how their preparation facilitates their Academic, 2008), 197–216. body-based (peripheral) and modality-based most present in her particular, embodied ability to be attuned to God as they lead 3. H. W. Johnson, “Practicing Theology on a Sunday (central) terms.13 They offer the example of IMPLICATIONS FOR WORSHIP humanity, in the room, meeting the text.”17 worship. In a similar way, our engagement Morning: Corporate Worship as Spiritual Formation,” Trinity empathy: based on understanding another Applying this categorization of embodi- with God through Scripture reading, prayer, Journal 31, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 7, 27–44. 4. D. D. Murphy, Teaching that Transforms: Worship as the person’s emotional state, people are able to ment to worship, the worship leader then Worship leaders who more fully and syn- and fellowship reflects online embodiment Heart of Christian Education (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos recreate this person’s feelings in themselves. must have an online experience of embod- chronously embody the depth of their spir- that enhances our ability to be more Christ- Press, 2004), 325. iment with their music. This might be a itual engagement may contribute more like in our daily interactions. Our encoun- 5. J. Blacking, How Musical Is Man? (Seattle: University o
70 71 THEOLOGY
CULTURE CARE: The most influential “culture care” text ever written is Deuteronomy 6:4–9, known by its first Hebrew words as the Shema Israel: AN ASSUMPTION OF ABUNDANCE Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Keep Makoto Fujimura these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an Makoto Fujimura, director of the n solving a problem, any problem, you indeed infinite—that we can still choose to celebrity instead of faithfulness; emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on Culture Care Initiative at Fuller’s must start with the universe.” This oft-re- speak against our fears despite the world of invoke rage instead of self-con- your gates. Brehm Center, is a respected abstract “Ipeated quote from Bill Brehm—who, with scarcity we experience every day. trol. Can there be an alternative? painter, writer, and culture shaper. A his wife, Dee, gave the major gift that allows Here we find all the essential elements of enduring culture: artifacts and presidential appointee to the National the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, Artists fight against that fear. “A great artist At Fuller, we are embarking on patterns of life, external discussion and internal reflection, personal commit- Council on the Arts from 2003 to and the Arts to exist—invokes an abun- is never poor.” That’s why artists, possessing a journey of seeing Culture Care ment and multigenerational transmission. The people of Israel, now dispersed 2009, he received the American dance that seems increasingly rare in our this invisible capital, are first to be targeted as one of the critical values of throughout the world, “keep these words” to this day. And because Jesus of Academy of Religion’s “Religion and fearful world. when dictators take over; they know how the seminary. As an artist and Nazareth underscored the importance of the Shema—adding the command to the Arts” award in 2014. His work powerful this belief in abundance can be Culture Care Director at the love the Lord with all one’s “mind” as well—it is not just Jews, but Christian has been exhibited at galleries around The philosophy of “Culture Care” assumes, to free the captives. Smart despotic leaders Brehm Center, I am pursuing believers as well, who see this as the greatest commandment. the world, with recent major exhibits with Bill Brehm, a world of abundance. like Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (605–564 what it means to live and create at Waterfall Mansion Gallery in New Culture wars begin when the notion of BC) knew that it was better to bring the by “being filled with the Spirit” This text, as taught by Jesus, also gives us the best compact definition I know York, the Museum of the Bible in scarcity prevails. Common sense seems to artisans into exile first, as he valued their and invoke those values into of what it is to be a human person. A person is a complex interrelation of heart, Washington, and the Tikotin Museum indicate a Darwinian model of a zero-sum contribution to society (see Jeremiah 29). the greater culture. I call this soul, mind, and strength, designed for love. We combine heart (not just emotion in Israel. Fujimura has lectured at game of survival. But could there be an Artists and artisans of all faiths bring the theological journey into Culture in the modern sentimental sense, but the Hebrew sense of affective will—choices numerous conferences, universities, alternative? Do we dare even to ask that aroma of abundance into any world, even a Care a “Theology of Making.” It is made to achieve one’s desire), soul (the capacity for depth or fullness of self), and museums; books he has authored question? world of exile. It is in creating beauty that a journey of Christ-centered cre- mind (the capacity for cognition and reflection), and strength (the capacity for include Culture Care, Refractions, and we find the antidote to our fears and state ativity and hope, of Spirit-filled embodied action). This heart-soul-mind-strength reality of personhood is at its Silence and Beauty. It’s not just benefactors and those with control; it is in the theater of humor that we experiments and innovation. best when it is oriented toward loving God and, as Jesus emphasizes, loving abundant resources who live with the per- find resilience. It is in music and dance that But in order to gain this effect neighbor. To care for culture, then, is to care for those cultural patterns, artifacts, spective of the universe. Surprisingly, it is we survive our Holocausts. fully, we need to also be willing and institutions that most fully allow human persons to express their love for most often artists who live in the assump- to be exposed to disappointments, God and neighbor. tion of abundance, despite what the world “Culture Care” is my cultural translation of failures, and challenges. tells them. They have to. In order to create Paul’s exhortation in Galatians 5 for us to - Andy Crouch, Author, Speaker, and Fuller Trustee anything, one has to assume that we are live a “Spirit-filled life”: “But the fruit of the Artists, living in the assumption not just “fixing” the universe and “righting Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, of abundance, can learn to be it back”; instead, we are creating a new goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and artists of the feast, to be wedding universe. self-control. Against such love there is no planners of the great cosmic Makoto Fujimura’s concept of culture care as the “restoration of beauty as a seed law.” What kind of culture would be “filled wedding to come, to stare into of invigoration into the ecosystem of culture . . . a well-nurtured culture becoming In Isak Dinesen’s story Babette’s Feast, with the Spirit,” and what qualities would the zero-sum game of the abyss an environment in which people and creativity thrives” may well mean a stra- Babette, a haggard 19th-century refugee that culture manifest? and claim that “a great artist is tegic undoing of Westernized visions of culture that limit non-Western human exiled to a fjord in Norway, assumes abun- never poor.” But equally import- beauty and co-opt their creativity. Such a process begins with epistemic healing. dance despite the darkness and obvious When I pondered that question, it became ant is that all Christians, however What is a colonized culture to heal from? The answer is the colonial wound: in scarcity that envelops her. “A great artist evident to me that the world we live in— artistic they may or may not the words of Walter Mignolo, “the feeling of inferiority imposed on human beings is never poor,” she emphatically states. and, even more critically for us, our church be, can view the world and the who do not fit the predetermined model in Euro-American narratives.” Michelle Hurst, who played Babette in culture—do not often exhibit these qualities, cultures they inhabit—and can a recent off-Broadway production, pro- but instead seem driven by fear: to choose to lean into them—with a posture Culture care in the context of the Global South, then, may be imagined as the nounced the line with a stare of a stubborn fight culture wars instead of caring for and of love and care, not fear and re- restoration of the imago Dei in the erasures of coloniality—and the propagation confidence earned not from winning the loving our culture. As a result, we display jection. What great abundance of an ecology of ancestral and contemporary knowledges coexisting as embedded world, but by losing it; not out of fear-filled the face of fear instead of love; project of love might the Spirit afford us beauty, goodness, and truth in stories, artifacts, and independent cultural histo- resignation, but with extravagant generos- hatred instead of joy; reveal anxiousness then? “Against such love there is ries for centuries negated by the logic of Western logo-centrism. ity. Michelle, as the first African American instead of peace; exhibit judgmentalism no law.” actor to be cast in the role of Babette, would instead of forbearance; build walls with - Oscar García-Johnson, Assistant Provost for Centro Latino and Associate Professor of Theology and know something about that decision to jealous exclusion instead of kindness; invite Latino/a Studies choose abundance, to assume that grace is bitterness instead of goodness; celebrate
72 73 + I’m here, 2005, Lance Kagey and Tom Llewellyn. This poster was created for a classroom workshop at Tacoma’s Lincoln High School for principal Patrick Erwin and printmaking teacher Heather Conklin. Find more posters by Kagey and Llewellyn on pp. 2–3, 4, 11, and 98–99. VOICE
VOICES ON THE Prayer of Examen
The Prayer of Examen is a spiritual practice of reviewing the day to retune ourselves to the sacred in ordinary life. Usually lasting 15–20 minutes and done in the evening, the prayer prompts us to remember God’s presence, express gratitude, reflect on the day, and prepare for the day to come. The following pages use contemplative imagery captured from daily life with our coworkers to show how the prayer’s application is both organic and accessible. We encourage you to read slowly and prayerfully, using the pages as an oppor- tunity to practice this ancient prayer in your own life. Find more about the prayer online at Fuller.edu/Studio/PrayerofExamen.
76 1 ASK GOD FOR LIGHT Stop, breathe deeply, and know that you are in God’s presence. God has been with you since the beginning of your day, in every detail. As you prepare to look back on your day, ask the Holy Spirit to shine the light that will clear your vision—so you might see what God wants you to see.
“Where could I go to get away from your spirit? Where could I go to escape your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there. If I went down to the grave, you would be there too!” Psalm 139:7–8 2 GIVE THANKS Every moment in your day is a gift from God. Be thankful for all of it, even the smallest things: a patch of blue sky, the music in your headphones, a smile from a stranger. Allow gratitude to draw you into the fullness of your life.
“I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will talk about all your wonderful acts. I will celebrate and rejoice in you; I will sing praises to your name, Most High.” Psalm 9:1–2 3 REVIEW THE DAY Think back over your day: who you were with, where you were, what you did— however ordinary. Recall the sights, sounds, smells, conversations, thoughts, and feelings you experienced. What enlivened you? What discouraged you? Give your attention to those moments, and offer them to God.
“Lord, you have examined me. You know me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up. Even from far away, you comprehend my plans. You study my traveling and resting. You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.” Psalm 139:1–3 4 FACE YOUR SHORTCOMINGS As you consider your day, reflect honestly on the moments you felt out of tune with God— something you said, a missed opportunity, some way you wish you had acted differently. For what do you need forgiveness? Do you need to make things right with someone else? Look at your shortcomings, and allow God to heal them.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.” Psalm 51:10–12 5 LOOK TOWARD THE DAY TO COME As you end your day, look to tomorrow. What are you expecting to happen? What are you looking forward to, and what concerns you? Ask for God’s help in the future: to open your eyes, your ears, and your heart to see where God is working. Remember that God will again be present in all things large and small, guiding you toward fullness in your life.
“I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. The Lord will protect you on your journeys—whether going or coming—from now until forever from now.” Psalm 121:1–2, 8 VOICE
Señor, bendice nuestra Lord, bless our comunidad rica y community richly and abundantemente abundantly
Bendice nuestra ciudad, Bless our city, Lord Señor Bless all the ministries Bendice todos los that are part of the ministerios que somos body of Christ parte del cuerpo de Cristo so that the growth may para que el crecimiento be visible and palpable pueda ser visible in our city y palpable en nuestra ciudad and so that our community may a fin de que nuestra experience comunidad pueda experimentar the transformative change that comes la transformación y from you, Lord. el cambio que vienen de ti, Señor. Almighty God, we come to this place. Dios Todopoderoso venimos a este lugar. We come before your presence, Father. Venimos ante tu presencia, Padre. As we see the city from this mountain, we VOICES ON Al ver la ciudad desde want to ask you, Lord— Discernment esta montaña, queremos pedirte, Señor extend your hand of blessing and mercy. que extiendas tu mano de “If we will not balance knowing with an bendición y misericordia. And as you extend open-ended not-knowing, nothing new seems your hand of blessing to happen. We have to be trained to do it. The Y a medida que extiendes and mercy, only two things strong enough to accomplish tu mano de bendición this training in us is suffering and prayer—the y misericordia, allow our rulers to see two golden paths that lead us to a different with clarity, Lord, that shape of meaning, a different sized universe, a permite a nuestros you are calling them, different set of securities and goals for our lives. gobernantes And always toward a different, more grounded, ver con claridad, Señor, que and that you work deeper understanding of the risen Christ.” Tú los estás llamando, that they may have the opportunity to receive + Mary Ellen Azada, executive director of Fuller Careers y que Tú obras de manera blessing from you and Personal Development, reflecting on the road to que Emmaus, suffering, and discernment. Listen to her ellos tengan la oportunidad and the ability to whole sermon on the FULLER sermons podcast. From de recibir tu bendición clearly discern mission work to unexpected illness and vocational between good and evil. changes, the following voices reflect on discerning y la habilidad de discernir God’s will in the midst of complex lives—one step at claramente entre a time. lo bueno y lo malo. + Standing above the city with their arms outstretched, Emily (MACCS ’09) and David Romero pray for the city of Tegucigalpa, in Honduras, and for discernment as they minister to the children of the city. Learn more of their story in FULLER studio’s short film “Journey to Jubilee,” available on Fuller.edu/Studio.
88 89 TOD BOLSINGER: “We both connect on the notion of building your way forward. We have to put things into practice, but also attend our way forward. We have to listen as we go. As Chris- tian leaders, how do we cultivate the discern- ment that can help us decide on the way forward in our lives? What does it mean to work hard as unto the Lord as opposed to our flesh, and how do we hear the voice of the Spirit while we’re building?”
DAVE EVANS: “An overwhelming number of Christians are looking for the will of God that “There was no doubt that I was the perfect fit for looks like blue lines on an AAA map—‘this the ministry. I had so much confidence in me is the way to go; there is one preferred answer that I thought that no one else could be better to my life.’ And I don’t think that’s what the equipped for any type of ministry in Kazakh- Scriptures mean, particularly the Sermon on stan but me. And that was exactly the time the Mount. If we reframe this so that the will that God put me back into his quiver. He called of God is to live into the way of Jesus, which me back home to be in Canada. My life back will include accommodations for failure and in Canada as a whole, away from Kazakhstan, mistakes and what have you, we keep growing felt like I was inside a quiver. I felt forced to stay . . . what’s the next invitation of the Spirit where hidden by a mistake God has made. I often told I am not where I should have been? Rather God, ‘You don’t know what you’re doing.’ I felt than discerning the right answer, I’m trying to bitter, I felt agitated, and I could not find any discern the presence of the reality of God in this rest in my soul. I could not be still or quiet, and moment.” I could not trust in God’s goodness and faith- fulness or sovereignty. Rather, I doubted God. I tried to wake him up, just as Jesus’ disciples + Author and professor Dave Evans and Tod Bolsinger, tried to wake him up when they faced a storm. I vice president and chief of leadership formation, was convinced that if he were awake and loved discuss discernment and failure during Fuller’s annual the people and land in Kazakhstan, at least the New Year’s event on December 31, 2017. Explore more from Dave Evans, including discussions about vocation, way I did, he could not possibly put me, such in an interview on Mark Labberton's Conversing a well-polished arrow, back into his quiver. podcast and more on Fuller.edu/Studio. However, as time passed by, only in retrospect, I came to thank God—it was God’s grace alone that he put me back into his quiver. . . . The most dangerous moment in my life was and still is when I consider myself to be a well-polished arrow, the most well-equipped, and a perfect fit for the ministry, and I begin to grow more and more independent of God.
And God, who protects us so graciously, invites us back into his quiver, where we can realize it is not by our own competencies or “Mercy, lovingkindness, unfailing love, bound- sins, we really need help to see the magnitude might alone that we are able to participate in “ACCORDING TO less. Now what’s the context here? David knew of them. Do you have someone in your life like what he had done and knew what he had done the prophet Nathan who will tell you the truth whatever God is doing in and for the world.” YOUR COMPASSION, was wrong, but the prophet Nathan had to about yourself?” come along to really put his business out into + Eun Ah Cho, assistant professor of intercultural leadership, preaches from Isaiah 49, BLOT OUT MY the street. This was hidden. God sent Nathan + Alexis Abernethy, associate provost for faculty inclusion reflecting on impatience in ministry, stories of perseverance, and learning to endure in joy to really lay it out. Some of our sins are in and equity and professor of psychology, preaches on and humility within the “quiver” of God. Listen to her sermon on the FULLER sermons TRANSGRESSIONS.” plain view, but with other dimensions of our Psalm 51 and the struggle to discern our own failings. podcast. Listen to this sermon on the FULLER sermons podcast.
90 91 “The vision need not be clear, and I dare “It’s not like we have to get everything right, that we have to say the vision will not be clear. All that we know exactly what God wants before we take some steps. need to know is the next step. This is where Because part of discernment is taking steps. Maybe we we are called to be obedient to the vision. only know one step to take or two, but we take steps. And Indeed it is only in that next step, and the it’s in the context of stepping that we see we’ve made the step after that, and then in the one after that wrong step or that there are other steps to take. that we can be obedient. But beyond the dimness of our vision, beyond our perplex- In the book of Acts, there are three ways in which ity or exhilaration, beyond our doubts, our discernment—or openness to what God is doing—show up. dreams, our study—out there someplace in the future, the God who called Paul to PRAYER. It’s in prayer that people discern and align Macedonia and Peter to Cesarea is calling themselves to what God is up to. us all to meet the Lydias of our time, to meet Cornelius, to meet God—yes, to meet God in ENGAGEMENT WITH OTHERS. Interestingly, it’s also Lydia and Cornelius. So be it, amen.” in Acts that people discern what God is up to by engaging with others outside of themselves. They learn something + Justo González, celebrated church historian and about what God is doing by engaging in mission—which author, reflects on Paul’s changing vision on his helps them read the Bible differently. second missionary journey and encourages new and graduating students alike that though the SCRIPTURE. Prayer, engagement with others, and vision may not be clear, “God will surprise us Scripture go hand-in-hand, and they help the church in the future.” Listen to his full sermon, given discern where it is that God is going and how they might as part of Centro Latino’s 40th anniversary align themselves with what God is up to.” celebrations.
+ Joel Green, professor of New Testament interpretation, argues that discernment takes place over time through small, faithful steps and suggests that prayer, missional engagement, and Scripture can help “Awareness means suffering; awareness churches align themselves with God’s purposes. means pain—because we’re becoming aware of a lot of things that we as human beings don’t always want to be aware of. So “We have to be able to listen to God, but I healthy awareness as one matures is first also think we have to learn to really listen of all an awareness of my own brokenness, to our own hearts and what’s happening my own limitations, my own separateness within us. Otherwise, what we think is from God, my own need to reconnect. To the God might be us. So there’s discernment extent that one can start with ‘I’m incom- of learning to listen to God, to our family, plete, and there’s a greater plan; I can’t get to each other. I often think of that as atten- there on my own, I can’t get there without tiveness. Attentiveness is the opposite of being in relationship with other people or distraction. So in the history of Christian with God,’ that is the beginning of wisdom. “The thing about our lives is we stare into “learning spirituality, there’s a lot that’s written about That is the beginning of an awareness that an unknown future, and we walk forward, being attentive, being attentive to God. A I’m not my own god, that I need help.” and this is part I think of trying to make lot of times we think of being attentive as sense of things. It gets really complicated something we do when we’re quiet. We’re when you try to figure out what counts as to listen listening to God, so we have to be in this + Ted Cosse, acting dean of the School of God’s favor, what counts as a sign? When quiet room or on a retreat. But here the Psychology, executive director of Fuller Psychological and Family Services, and associate I make determinations about what God context makes such a difference again. For professor of clinical psychology, reflects on the hopes for me, and I make them based on in the me, it’s also learning to listen in the midst difficult process of becoming more aware of pain, God’s character, I’m on solid ground. But if of the city.” weakness, suffering, and ultimately joy. I look at my life and say what did I deserve and was this because of faithfulness, I find + Jude Tiersma Watson, associate professor of that’s probably either narcissism or a very urban mission, reflects on discernment in the imprecise kind of hope.” midst of midst of urban contexts. Her students (pictured) walk over constellations carved into the floor of + Kate Bowler, associate professor of the history the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles as they of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity the city.” “exegete” the city in their midst. In contrast, School, offers thoughts on Mark Labberton’s the sculpture “Chisto Del Picacho” (left) stands Conversing podcast about the struggle for at the edge of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, offering authentic faith in the midst of suffering. a prayerful view of the whole city. Explore the sermons, interviews and lectures from these pages on Fuller.edu/Studio. 92 93 FULLER MAGAZINE | FULLER.EDU/STUDIO RECENT FACULTY BOOKS Do you have a fond memory of 18 Plus: Parenting Your Emerging Adult How New Is the New Testament? First Century Judaism and Can "White" People Be Saved? Triangulating Race, Theology, Steven C. Argue and Kara E. Powell (Orange, 2018) the Emergence of Christianity and Mission the Fuller Pasadena campus? Donald A. Hagner (Baker Academic, 2018) edited by Johnny Ramírez-Johnson, Amos Yong, and Love Sechrest Breaking the Marriage Idol: Reconstructing Our Cultural and (IVP Academic, 2018) Help us honor these buildings— Spiritual Norms Edinburgh Centenary Series Compendium, Vols. 1 and 2 all that we’ve learned and the Kutter Callaway (IVP Books, 2018) edited by Kirsteen Kim, Knud Jørgensen, and Wonsuk Ma (Regnum Learning Theology: Tracking the Spirit of Christian Faith LET THE Books, 2018) Amos Yong (Westminster John Knox, 2018) relationships we’ve built here— The Christian Doctrine of Humanity: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics Justification and God’s Kingdom by sharing your stories at edited by Oliver D. Crisp and Fred Sanders (Zondervan, 2018) Seyoon Kim (Mohr Siebeck, 2018) Fuller.edu/Building. Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and A Philosophy of the Christian Religion Worship: Year C, Vols. 1 and 2 Nancey Murphy (SPCK, 2018) BUILDINGS edited by Joel B. Green, Thomas Long, Luke Powery, and Cynthia Rigby (Westminster John Knox, 2018) My name is Asher Hammer, and RECENT FACULTY ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS Miyoung Yoon Hammer’s my mom. For those of you Pasadena people, I live just LESLIE C. ALLEN, “The Structural Role of Wisdom in the Book Blackwell, 2018); “Building a New Testament Library: Matthew– “Exploring Attachment and Spirituality among Christians in China,” across the freeway from Fuller, across the of Jeremiah,” in Riddles and Revelations: Explorations into the Acts,” Catalyst (September 19, 2018), www.catalystresources.org. Asian Journal of Social Science Studies 3, no. 3 (2018): 1–16. CECIL SPEAK Relationship between Wisdom and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, DONALD A. HAGNER, foreword to D. Wenham, From Good News to M. ROBECK, “The Quiet Game, Racism, and the Azusa Street street from the Mexican supermarket, ed. M. J. Boda et al. (T&T Clark, 2018). STEVEN C. ARGUE, Gospels: What Did the First Christians Say about Jesus? (Eerdmans, Revival,” in The Pastor and the Kingdom: Essays Honoring Jack W. Vallarta. That being said, Fuller is just “‘New and Improved’ Youth Ministry: Fueling an Entrepreneurial 2018); Treasures New and Old: Essays in Honor of Donald A. Hagner, Hayford, ed. J. Nuntzinger and S. D. Moore (Gateway Academic, a hop, skip and a jump from my house, Vision to Support Emerging Generations Where They Need Us ed. C. S. Sweatman and C. B. Kvidahl (GlossaHouse, 2017). VELI- 2017); “African Pentecostal Contributions to Christian Unity,” in Most,” Journal of Youth Ministry 18, no. 1 (Fall 2018); foreword MATTI KÄRKKÄINEN, “Ecclesiology and the Church in Christian African Pentecostal Missions Maturing: Essays in Honor of Apostle and ever since Mom and Dad started to C. Clark, Adoptive Church (Baker Academic, 2018). TINA R. Tradition and Western Theology,” in The Church from Every Tribe Opoku Onyinah, ed. L. Elorm Donkor and C. R. Clarke (Wipf & Stock, letting me walk places (this is before I got ARMSTRONG, with M. U. Ellis-Blied and O. Belik, “On Landing and Tongue: Ecclesiology in the Majority World, ed. G. L. Green, S. T. 2018); “Reflections on a Term at the Gregorian University,”Pneuma my bike) I would spend my summer days the Pre-doctoral Internship: Tips for Applying, Interviewing, Pardue, and K. K. Yeo (Langham Global Library, 2018); ”Pentecostal Review 279 (May 31, 2018). SIANG-YANG TAN, “How and Why walking down to Fuller. and Finding the Right ‘Fit,’” The California Psychologist 51, no. Identity,” in Pentecostals in the 21st Century: Identity, Beliefs, Praxis, Some Therapists Are Better than Others: Empirical Evidence and 4 (Fall 2018): 38–39. CLIFTON R. CLARKE, with A. Akinade, ed. C. Constantineanu and C. J. Scobie (Cascade Books, 2018). Clinical Applications from a Christian Perspective,” Journal of I would always bring a little allowance- “Ambivalent Modalities: Mission, Race, and the African Factor,” KIRSTEEN KIM, “‘Discerning Spirit’ or ‘Discerning the Spirits’? Psychology and Christianity 37, no. 2 (2018): 183–88. BRIE A. money with me, and after a customary in Can “White” People Be Saved? Triangulating Race, Theology, and Two Paradigms of Engaged Pneumatology Illustrated by the Works TURNS, with P. Springer and D. S. Sibley, “Removing the ‘Mystery’ quick stop by the Pasadena Public Mission, ed. L. Sechrest, J. Ramírez-Johnson, and A. Yong (IVP of T. Gorringe and A. Yong,” Communio Viatorum 60, no. 1 (January in Therapy: Transparency as a Continuous Intervention in Family Library I would often buy a juice . . .” Academic, 2018). DAVID J. DOWNS, “Almsgiving and Competing 2018): 28–49; with S. C. H. Kim, “The Christian Impact on the Psychotherapy,” Journal of Family Psychotherapy (June 2018); with Soteriologies in Second Century Christianity,” Religions 9, no. 7 Shaping of the First Republic of Korea, 1945–1948,” Religion, State D. S. Sibley, “Does Maternal Spanking Lead to Bullying Behaviors (June 2018); “The Scripturalization of Letters from ‘Our Beloved and Society (June 11, 2018). PAMELA EBSTYNE KING, with R.M. at School? A Longitudinal Study,” Journal of Child and Family + Asher Hammer, then 11, read our magazine Brother’ Paul in 2 Peter,” in The Early Reception of Paul the Jew: Lerner, J. L. Lerner, C. J. Geldhof, S. Gestsdottir, A. T. S. Sim, M. Studies 27, no. 9 (June 2018): 2824–32. KENNETH T. WANG, on “disruption” and was inspired to share his Text, Narrative, and Reception History, ed. I. Oliver and G. Boccaccini Batanova, J. Tirrell, and E. Dowling, “Studying Positive Youth with W. Qi, A. L. Pincus, and L. Z. Wu, “Interpersonal Problems memories about the Pasadena campus. Later, (T&T Clark, 2018). ALVIN C. DUECK, with S. K. Muchemi and E. Development in Different Nations: Theoretical and Methodological and Acculturative Stress over Time among Chinese International he handed an essay to his mother Miyoung Yoon Hammer, chair of the Department of Marriage Ng, “Indigenous Psychotherapies and Religion: Moral Vision and Considerations,” in Handbook of Adolescent Development Research Students from Mainland China and Taiwan,” Asian American Journal and Family Therapy. He submitted it without Embodied Communities,” Pastoral Psychology 67, no. 3 (June 2018): and Its Impact on Global Policy, ed. J. Lansford and P. Banati (Oxford of Psychology 9, no. 3 (September 2018): 237–46; with J. J. Knabb, asking, she says with a laugh, because he didn’t 235–65. ERIN DUFAULT-HUNTER, “Epilogue: A Letter from the University Press, 2018); with J. M. Tirrell, G. J. Geldhof, E. Dowling, V. E. Vazquez, and M. T. Bates, “‘Unknowing’ in the 21st Century: want her to stop him. “It is sweet—and sad,” she Archdemon of Racialization to Her Angels in the United States,” A. Sim, G. Iraheta, K. Williams, J. V. Lerner, and R. M. Lerner, Humble Detachment for Christians with Repetitive Negative says, “to see what the campus has meant to my in Can “White” People Be Saved? Triangulating Race, Theology, “Measuring Spirituality, Hope, and Thriving among El Salvadoran Thinking,” Spirituality in Clinical Practice 5, no. 3 (June 2018): kids.” We agree. Thank you, Asher. Read his full and Mission, ed. L. Sechrest, J. Ramírez-Johnson, and A. Yong Youth: Initial Findings from the Compassion International Study 170–87. AMOS YONG, with T. T. N. Lim, “Acts 2 and Interreligious story and share your own at Fuller.edu/Building. (IVP Academic, 2018). OSCAR GARCÍA-JOHNSON, “The Logic of Positive Youth Development,” Child and Youth Care Forum (May Engagement: Pentecostal and Evangelical Reflections,” inWords of Coloniality/Modernity,” “Transoccidentalism,” “Geopolitics of 2018); with R. M. Lerner, J. M. Tirrell, E. M. Dowling, G. J. Geldhof, to Live By: Sacred Resources for Interreligious Engagement, ed. O.N. Knowledge,” and “Latin American Leadership,” in The Encyclopedia S. Gestsdottir, J. V. Lerner, A. T. R. Sim, and K. Williams, “The End Rose, H. Ziad, and S. M. Hessler (Orbis Books, 2018); “Theology of Christianity in the Global South, ed. M. Lamport (Rowman & of the Beginning: Evidence and Absences Studying Positive Youth of Prosperity,” in Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South, Littlefield, 2018); “Pilgrimage,” in The Evangelical Dictionary of Development in a Global Context,” Adolescent Research Review ed. M. Lamport (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018); “The Ruah Elohim Theology, ed. D. J. Treier and W. A. Elwell, 3rd ed. (Baker Academic, (August 2018): 1–14. HAK JOON LEE, “Community, Mission, and and the Hagios Pneuma in a Post-Mission World,” 2-part article, 2018). JOEL B. GREEN, “Reframing Scripture,” in Acts of Race: A Missiological Meaning of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Beloved Journal of Contemporary Ministry 4 (2018): 4–16 and 17–28; “The Interpretation: Scripture, Theology, and Culture, ed. S. A. Cummins Community for Racial Relationships and Identity Politics,” in Can Spirit Poured Out: A (Pentecostal) Perspective after Pentecost,” and J. Zimmermann (Eerdmans, 2018); “‘They Made a Calf’: Idolatry “White” People Be Saved? Triangulating Race, Theology, and Mission, in Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Theologische Beiträge zur Sendung des and Temple in Acts 7,” in The Golden Calf in Biblical Traditions, ed. A. ed. L. Sechrest, J. Ramírez-Johnson, and A. Yong (IVP Academic, Geistes: Festschrift für Barbara Hallensleben zum 60. Geburtstag, Lucas, E. Lupieri, and E. F. Mason (Brill, 2018); “The Strange Case 2018). JUAN F. MARTÍNEZ, “Preparing Leaders for God’s Work ed. G. Vergauwen and A. Steingruber, (Aschendorff-Verlag, 2018). of the Vanishing Soul,” in The Blackwell Companion to Substance in a World of Adaptive Challenge,” Theological Education 51, no. 2 Dualism, ed. J. J. Loose, A. J. L. Menuge, and J. P. Moreland (Wiley- (2018): 11–18. JENNY H. PAK, with H. Xu, R. Tu, and M. Schuberg,
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BENEDICTION: Acts that Speak the Good Word Who is Fuller? 풀러 신학교란? ¿Quién es Fuller? Narrow cubicles line the edges of Fuller Seminary’s Call Center where student callers raise funds—unremarkable in appearance, windowless, and lit by fluorescent lights. When Director of Annual Giving Kaitlin Schluter visited the office to get it ready for use by a new team of people in the fall, a blast of vibrant colors on the back wall caught her eye. “On the left a sign Fuller Seminary is an evangelical, 풀러 신학교는 복음주의에 기반을 Fuller Seminary es una institución evangélica y said ‘prayer requests,’ and on the right it said ‘prayed for,’” she remembers. “The whole wall under that second section was covered with post-it notes with handwritten prayer requests.” multidenominational graduate institution 둔 초교파 대학원으로서 하나님 나라를 multiconfesional que se compromete a formar líderes She had come to clean and, instead, discovered a global ministry. committed to forming global leaders for kingdom 위해 부름 받은 지도자 형성에 전념하고 globales para las vocaciones del Reino. Respondiendo vocations. Responding to changes in the church 있습니다. 교회와 세상 속 변화에 a los cambios en la iglesia y en el mundo, Fuller está For years, student callers had been praying in that hidden room with alumni and donors from around the world. “Many of the Call Center employees were international students,” Kaitlin and world, Fuller is transforming the seminary 반응하며 풀러는 캠퍼스 내 재학생과 transformando la experiencia del seminario tanto says, “so the room was crammed with men and women—professors, bankers, and pastors in their home countries—who would call with the same passion they had fundraising for their experience for both traditional students and those 온라인 학생들의 신학 교육 경험에 para los estudiantes tradicionales como para los que own ministries overseas.” At each station, Call Center employees would not only raise money on behalf of the seminary, but also pray over the phone for those they were calling and keep beyond the classroom: providing theological 변화를 가져오고 있습니다. 예수님을 están más allá del aula: proporcionando formación track of those prayer requests. formation that helps Christ followers serve as 따르는 자들이 성실, 용기, 혁신, 협력, teológica que ayude a los seguidores de Cristo a servir “Every call was like listening to a firsthand account of how God had been working through the generations of Fuller’s ministry,” Pramil Aruldoss [MAICS ’14] recalls. After Ken Chikonzo faithful, courageous, innovative, collaborative, 그리고 열매의 삶으로 섬길 수 있도록 como fieles, valientes, innovadores, líderes colaborati- [MDiv ’18] told a pastor on the phone that he was from Zimbabwe, the man hurriedly exclaimed he was housing someone from that very country as a guest. “He handed over the phone and fruitful leaders in all of life, in any setting. 돕는 신학적 형성에 힘쓰고 있습니다. vos y fructíferos en toda la vida, en cualquier entorno. to his guest, and we began to talk in our home language—Shona,” Ken remembers. “I could sense the furtive glances and utter disbelief in my colleagues as we shared greetings and a Fuller offers 17 master’s and advanced 풀러는 신학, 심리학, 선교학과의 Fuller ofrece 17 programas de maestría y de grado lengthy conversation, laughing at the goodness of God to connect us in such an incredible way.” degree programs—with Spanish, Korean, and - 스페인어, 한국어, 온라인 옵션 선택 avanzado — con opciones en español, Coreano y en With each call, students would write down requests—anxiety about moves and pastoral work, weddings and divorces, children’s futures and the loss of loved ones—and once online options—through its Schools of Theology, 가능한- 17개의 석사 및 박사 학위 línea — a través de sus escuelas de teología, psicología they’d prayed, the post-it would move, reminding the students to continue praying long after the phone call was over. Sensing the ministry opportunity, the callers even worked with a Psychology, and Intercultural Studies, as well as 과정을 통해 교회를 위한 풍부하고도 y estudios interculturales, así como formas ricas y psychologist on long-distance counseling techniques. “It was in my colleagues’ presence that I learned how to pray again,” Jarrod Phipps [MDiv ’17] remembers. “Each shift I would rich and varied forms of support for the broader 다양한 지원을 제공하고 있습니다. 80 variadas de apoyo para la iglesia más amplia. Cerca de listen to the exuberant, compassionate prayers of my team who perceived this role not as a mere job, but as a ministry that God had placed them in.” church. Nearly 3,500 students from 80 countries 국가, 110교파에서 온 약 3,500명의 3.500 estudiantes de 80 países y 110 denominaciones and 110 denominations enroll in Fuller’s degree 학생들이 매년 풀러에 등록하며43,000 se inscriben en los programas de estudios de Fuller “It’s like phone chaplaincy; you could feel the gravity of those prayers,” Kaitlin says, looking at the post-it notes in her hand. “To think that our students picked up the phone, started programs annually, and our 43,000 alumni 명의 졸업생들이 전 세계에 흩어져 목사, anualmente, y nuestros ex-alumnos de 43.000 sirven talking to a stranger, and ended their conversation in prayer—how often do you get that call?” serve as ministers, counselors, teachers, artists, 상담사, 교사, 예술가, 비영리 지도자, como ministros, consejeros, maestros, artistas, líderes + By Michael Wright [MAT ’12] who is editor for FULLER magazine and studio. In the image above, intercultural studies PhD student Uchenna Anyanwu shares nonprofit leaders, businesspersons, and in a 사업가, 그리고 다양한 일터의 현장에서 sin fines de lucro, empresarios, y en una variedad de memories of the Call Center with Kaitlin Schluter, then director of annual giving. The prayer wall behind them includes prayer requests and the Lord’s Prayer in variety of other vocations around the world. 일하고 있습니다. otras vocaciones alrededor del mundo. multiple languages—a prayer callers would often share with those they called.
96 97 + Hole, 2006, Lance Kagey and Tom Llewellyn. Kagey credits designer Ryan Meline for the illustration on this poster, with inspiration for the text coming from a sermon by pastor Tad Monroe. Find more posters by Kagey and Llewellyn on pp. 2–3, 4, 11, and 74–75. NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID 135 North Oakland Avenue PERMIT NO. 132 Pasadena, California 91182 LIBERTY, MO
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+ After graduating with a master’s degree in our worldwide community, and even when he leaves Pasadena again, 2014, Daniel Dama (p. 28) started the Fuller will go with him wherever he goes. In a season of preparing to Fulani Christian Festival of Art and Culture move our main campus from Pasadena to Pomona, it’s heartening back in West Africa. That confirmed to remember that successful transplants of Fuller Seminary have his commitment to “peacebuilding happened as many times as we have graduated students: through music,” he says, prompting some 43,000 times Fuller has been uprooted his return to Fuller to do and replanted, widening the global reach doctoral work. Stories of leaders formed for Christian like Dama’s connect vocations around the world.