VOLUME 28, NUMBER 1 FALL 2010 T h e SPie

Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Graduate Department of Religion, and Oberlin Graduate School of Theology

Muddyon Knees T h e SPie Volume 28 • Number 1 • Fall 2010

The Spire is published by Vanderbilt University Divinity School in cooperation with the Office of Development and Alumni/ae Relations. Let- ters to the editor are welcomed, and alumni/ae F e a t u r e s of the Divinity School, the Graduate School’s Department of Religion, and the Oberlin Grad- uate School of Theology are encouraged to sub- mit news of their personal and professional accomplishments to: 6

The Spire From the Phraseological to the Real: John Frederick Oberlin Quadrangle Lived Theology and the Mysteries of Practice Office 115 Professor Charles Marsh of the University of Virginia 411 21st Avenue, South constructs a practical theology that weaves together Nashville, Tennessee 37240-1121 confessional convictions and transformative practices in the totality of the theological life. by e-mail: [email protected] ______James Hudnut-Beumler, 16 Dean and the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History On Muddy Knees By transforming a meager plot of tilled earth into a teaching garden, Victor Judge, BS’77, MS’79, Vanderbilt Divinity School student Seth Terrell finds intimations of Editor, Lecturer in Literature and Religion, the Divine in rows of collard greens, squash, and zinnias. and Registrar

Zacharey Austin Carmichael, BA’10, MDiv1, Editorial Assistant 22 Kitty Norton Jones, MDiv’98, A Sermon for Holy Wednesday Executive Director of Development and Professor Ted A. Smith, director of the University’s Program in Alumni/ae Relations Theology and Practice, illustrates how supersessionist readings of the Scriptures invite Christians to bear false witness against Jews Meagan Burton-Krieger, in ways that distort the theological significance of the cross. Assistant Director of Development and Alumni/ae Relations

Jenni Ohnstad, Designer and Assistant Art Director 24 ______The Syntax of Dreams Vanderbilt University is committed to the principles Inspired by a poem from the canon of e.e. cummings, of equal opportunity and affirmative action. student Jane Herring explores the theological tension between heart and mind. “Vanderbilt” and the Vanderbilt logo are registered trademarks and service marks of Vanderbilt University.

© 2010 Vanderbilt University

Labyrinth International Peace Garden The Scarritt-Bennett Center Nashville, Tennessee photographed by Andrea Tucker, doctoral student in ethics and society, from the Divinity School’s photography exhibition, Sense of Sight 2009

Fall 2010 1 A r o u n d t h From the Dean quadrAngle

Liberation Theology Turns 40

When I was Hungry, You Gave Me Food

By JAMeS HUDNUT-BeUMLeR, PH.D. DeAN AND THe ANNe POTTeR WiLSON DiSTiNGUiSHeD PROFeSSOR OF AMeRiCAN ReLiGiOUS HiSTORy

he Bible begins in the Garden where the most local food that we can. every food need of the inhabitants is Recent graduates of the Divinity Tmet and concludes in a scene where School practice organic family farm- twelve different fruits ripen, one each ing while some of our students work month. in between these events, it is remark- on food security issues. Others able how much food, thirst, and hunger fig- address the nutritional needs of ure within the Bible. poor urban neighborhoods by work- Famine motivates Jacob’s sons to go to ing to mitigate “food deserts.” Con- egypt, resulting in exile. Manna makes cern for those who grow food and survival in the wilderness possible after the who consume it has increased inter- exodus. Gleaning the fields causes Ruth to ests in food safety, in just trade pric- meet Boaz, without whom there would be no ing, and in the labor practices King David. related to food produced beyond The Psalms are full of allusions to God’s our shores. PRofessoR elena olazagasti-segovia provision for human beings, perhaps most And then, there is hunger. The memorably, “Thou preparest a table for me recession has made problems sur- o commemorate the fortieth anniver- in the presence of mine enemies. Thou lead- rounding food and shelter worse for sary of the publication of A Theology of est me beside still waters,” from Psalm 23. many people here in Nashville, as Liberation, Father Gustavo Gutiérrez, During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says elsewhere. Again that need has T O.P., (center) returned in November to Van- not to worry about what you will eat or engaged our students and faculty in derbilt Divinity School to participate in the drink, and asks, “is life not more important advocacy programs as witnessed John Russell University’s year-long series, Liberation The- than food?” yet, He also teaches His follow- ology in Latin America: Poverty, Politics, and ers to pray, “Give us this day our daily “… food-related issues transect our History. The Dominican priest and Peruvian bread.” The central sacramental act of those theologian, who delivered the 1990 Cole Lec- followers becomes a meal of bread and wine, traditional Vanderbilt Divinity tures at the Divinity School, presented a pub- but in Corinth, their feast is not shared well lic lecture titled “Liberation Theology: Forty by the early Christians. everywhere you turn concerns with justice, compassion, years Later.” He also addressed students in the Scriptures there is food, or its absence. enrolled in Professor Fernando Segovia’s Given all the ways sustenance figures in ecology, and faith.” courses in Latin American Biblical Criticism the traditions of Jews, Christians, and people and Materialist Biblical Criticism (repre- of other faiths, you would think more of the never before in my time at the School. Works sented in the photograph) and in Professor religious would get the point. There is some- of mercy and love, undergirded by memory Douglas Meeks’ foundational course, Con- thing both inescapable and holy in the links of this column’s opening reference, are never structive Christian Theology. Father Gutiér- between food, water, and life. i, for one, am far from our minds at the Divinity School. rez currently holds the John Cardinal O’Hara amazed by the distance between our source Food is also more present in our spiritual life Professorship of Theology at the University John Russell material and our contemporary religious as a School. We celebrate the end of every of Notre Dame. The anniversary series is preoccupations with sex. Happily, we here at school week by observing a Friday eucharist sponsored by the Center for Latin American Members of the class of 1959 who gathered for their fiftieth-year reunion year at the Divinity Vanderbilt Divinity School are seeing new when we are reminded that a shared meal Studies at Vanderbilt. School included Betty Parker, Gene Davenport, Sara Minehart, Tona Chandler, Patsy Hilliard, and encouraging signs of attention to the speaks beyond what words can say. Paul Phillips, Ashley Pogue, Joyce Farnsworth, Gordon Minehart, Pat Chandle, David Hilliard, staff of life. What is most interesting is how This issue of The Spire features the work Dean James Hudnut-Beumler, Ensign Johnson, and Bev Farnsworth. food-related issues transect our traditional and hope our community brings to the Vanderbilt Divinity concerns with justice, perennial human hunger for bread and jus- compassion, ecology, and faith. We see these tice. i trust you will be enlightened and concerns throughout our institutional life. in moved by the stories you read. our weekly community coffee hour, we serve

2 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 3 Vanderbilt Divinity School Celebrates Donors Founder’s Medalist 2010 PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN RUSSELL

auren Baker Smelser White, MTS’10, embers of the Divinity School’s donor society, Schola Prophetarum, were honored at a became the ninety-first Founder’s dinner for their generosity and support of theological education at Vanderbilt. Medalist in the history of Vanderbilt L Father edward A. Malloy, PhD’75, president, emeritus, of the University of Notre University Divinity School during Com- M Dame and for whom the Malloy professorship in Catholic studies at the Divinity School is mencement 2010. The Founder’s Medals named, served as guest speaker for the dinner. have been awarded since 1877 and are pre- sented to the degree candidates earning first honors for scholarship within the ten schools comprising the University. As the daughter of medical missionaries, Lauren developed an interest in religious plu- ralism while living among the people of Tan- zania, india, and the Caribbean where she witnessed the frailty and resilience of the human spirit. Upon earning her baccalaureate from Harding University and her graduate degree from Abilene Christian University, she Father Edward A. Malloy, fondly known during became a teacher of writing and currently his studies at Vanderbilt as “Monk,” was one of serves on the faculty of Columbia State Com- the first two Catholic priests to earn a doctorate munity College. Lauren believes that through from the University. A member of the Holy narrative, we can discover our likenesses and Cross religious order, Father Malloy has served can begin to “think empathetically” despite previously as a trustee of the University Board our cultural differences. of Trust. As a student at the Divinity School, she translated the knowledge she acquired in the theology classroom to her work as a volun- teer at the Campus for Human Development where she taught creative writing to individ- Among the guests attending the Schola Prophetarum dinner were Father Patrick Kibby, pastor of uals displaced by homelessness. Through the Saint Stephen’s Parish in Nashville; Vanderbilt University Provost Richard McCarty, Ms. Shelia power of language Lauren endeavored to McCarty, and Father Joseph Patrick Breen, pastor of Saint Edward’s Parish in Nashville. restore a sense of dignity and worth to the marginalized. Under the direction of Professors John Thatamanil and William Franke, she defended her master’s thesis titled, “Christ- ian Hermeneutics in the ‘Now’ and the ‘Not yet’ of God’s Logos: embodying Christ through Kenosis in Comparative Theological During Father Malloy’s visit to the University, Readership.” Her graduate studies in litera- members of the Notre Dame Alumni Association

ture intersected with her studies in theology Daniel Dubois were guests of the Divinity School for a lunch- to propose an “adverbial lens” for faith seek- eon in honor of Father Malloy. Among the repre- Founder’s Medalist Lauren Baker Smelser White is congratulated by Vanderbilt University ing inter-religious understanding. sentatives from the Divinity School were Paul Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos during Commencement 2010. DeHart, associate professor of theology; Mary Louise O’Gorman, MDiv’84, director of pastoral care at Saint Thomas Hospital; and Douglas Meeks, the Cal Turner Chancellor’s Chair of Wesleyan Studies at the Divinity School.

Patout Burns, the Edward A. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies at the Divinity School; the Most Reverend David R. Choby, the eleventh Bishop of the Diocese of Nashville; Dr. Shirley LaRoche, MTS’98; and Dr. Katherine Haynes visit during the cocktail hour prior to the dinner.

4 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 5 and social justice in the american south. I er at Berlin University. his doctoral disserta- F R O M T H E think his work offers an example of a fresh tion, completed at the ripe old age of twenty- way of writing practical theology, which is a one, had been praised by the great Karl Barth subject we might wish to return to—the mat- as a “theological miracle.” The book had been ter of practical theology as writing—some- published in Berlin by Trowitzsch and son time in the course of our conversations. three days before he set sail for New york and Phraseological to the Real I would like to speak this evening on the would receive favorable reviews. Lived Theology and the Mysteries of Practice theme, “From the Phraseological to the real: Bonhoeffer had also recently completed lived Theology and the Mysteries of Prac- his second book, his Habilitation thesis in sys- tice,” and explore with you, while revisiting tematic theology entitled Act and Being, which a chapter in the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a some of you know as a conceptually dazzling kind of practical theology that weaves and youthfully ambitious exercise that together exuberant confessional convictions attempts nothing less than a complete over- and dynamic, transformative practices in the haul of the German philosophical tradition in totality of the theological life. view of the axiom Christus als Gemeinde Kathleen Cahalan and James Nieman existieriend. a lack of self-confidence was not remind us that the basic task of practical the- then, or ever, a problem for Bonhoeffer. ology is to nurture and nourish “faithful dis- But when Bonhoeffer left New york ten cipleship.” Ted smith invites us in his essay months later, he departed with a new sense of By Charles Marsh, Ph.D. to consider a way of writing and teaching vocation. The technical terminology that dis- Professor of Religion and Society and Director of the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia shaped by “theological histories of practice.” tinguished his writings and teaching until Following their lead, I would like to share 1930 began to fade and a language more with you a theological narrative of practice— direct and expressive of lived Christian faith Editor’s Note: The Spire is grateful to Professor t is a great honor to be with you tonight and generative material for theological or, more precisely, of theological encounter emerged in its place. and to have been invited to give this inquiry. For these patterns and practices are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Union Theological and transformation—that shows how prac- In Tegel prison in 1944, Bonhoeffer would Marsh for granting permission to publish the lec- opening address. I have learned so not just ways of “doing things,” but they are Seminary, 1930 recall the first american visit as one of the much about practical and pastoral theol- also ways of “saying things” (as the historian three decisive and transformative influences ture he delivered at Vanderbilt University Divini- ogyI from the work of Dorothy Bass and Wayne Meeks has written in one of his essen- in his life. “I don’t think I’ve ever changed “I don’t think I’ve ever changed very much,” [Bonhoeffer] wrote, Craig Dykstra and the remarkable team of tial studies of early Christian communities); very much,” he wrote, “except perhaps at the ty School during the conference,” Theological Edu- pastors and theological educators who pro- practices and patterns are “communicative.” “except perhaps at the time of my first impressions abroad and under time of my first impressions abroad and cation for Life Abundant: A Conference in Chris- duced this superb volume, For Life Abundant. What does it then mean to appropriate the under the first conscious influence of father’s It is exciting now to be part of these conver- lived experience of faith with the same care the first conscious influence of father’s personality. It was then that personality. It was then that I turned from tian Practical Theology,” sponsored by the Val- sations, and I trust that my contributions and precision with which we read and inter- [the phraseological to the real].”i tonight will enrich our work over our two pret texts? Might that task produce new I turned from [the phraseological to the real].” My friend, the historian David Nelson paraiso Project on the Education and Formation of days together. models for partnerships between theolo- Duke, in papers written before his untimely For the past fifteen years, I have had the gians and practitioners? These are some of low graduate students, they would often tices and disciplines not only nurture and death in 2000 at the age of forty-nine, said People in Faith and hosted in conjunction with good fortune of writing, researching, and the questions central to our work. light up and say, “That’s why I decided to nourish discipleship, teaching and writing, that Bonhoeffer’s school year in america cul- teaching “lived theology,” and it has been Many of our students bring with them an study theology in the first place!” In Pete but are, as Craig Dykstra wrote in an earlier tivated in him “a new kind of moral pas- Vanderbilt’s Program in Theology and Practice. my privilege to carry out this mission in the intense hunger for the opportunity to recon- slade and many other fellow travelers, both book, veritable “means of grace,” and thus sion.”ii It was much more than a period of company of many inspiring students, theolo- nect theology and life. For this reason the at UVa and around the nation, we are seeing “may be used by God to establish and sustain gathering facts and broadening horizons in a gians, and practitioners. theological turn to practice has found a wel- an emerging generation of theologians and all people in the new life given in the spirit.” different culture, though it was that, too. It I was once introduced as the director of come and dynamic culture in the theological scholars eager to embrace the whole of theo- I cannot think of a more illuminative story was a season of profound personal and spiri- the project on “livid” theology, and while that academy and also in the public university logical life—research, teaching, and serv- of theological transformation and the tual growth sparked by a sober reckoning may be an apt description of some of my where I teach. It is encouraging to see cre- ice—as a form of public discipleship. This is birthing of the pastoral imagination than the with the costs of being a Christian, a new- writing over the past several years, I do not ative synergies working across fields and tra- a different scene from the theological academy account of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s visit to found sense of the multi-dimensionality of think we are quite ready to make that change. ditions with maximum attention to theologi- in which I was educated during the theory- america in 1930–31. This is another way of life in Christ, and a more dynamic under- The Project on lived Theology is housed cal and hermeneutical methods grounded in laden decade of the 1980s, and it is a shift saying that my contribution to our discussion standing of the theological vocation. in the department of religious studies at the worship, liturgy, preaching, teaching, the worthy of celebration. is, I think, best rendered in storied-theology, after his visit to america, Bonhoeffer University of Virginia, and it is part of a work of mercy and justice, and the quotidian Pete’s dissertation, on “a theology of open so I invite you to join me for a while as we began calling himself a Christian—rather national reconsideration of theological voca- goings-on of congregational life. friendship,” which Oxford will publish in a retrace the steps of what Friedrich von Weiza- than a theologian—and to the dismay of tion focused on the methodological centrali- One of my first doctoral students was a few months, brings the lived experience of an ecker called Bonhoeffer’s “journey to reality.” many of colleagues and mentors, he began ty of faith’s redemptive practices in the young Brit named Peter slade, who came to ecumenical racial reconciliation initiative into In the late summer of 1930, Dietrich Bon- reading the Bible with practical and pastoral world. like the constitutive parts of the Virginia from the theology department at st. conversation with academic theologies of rec- hoeffer came to Union Theological seminary focus. his classes at Berlin University often human or the ecclesial body, our work has a andrews in scotland, by way of the Center for onciliation and friendship. and his research in Manhattan as a visiting student and post- spilled over from the lecture hall to the Bon- distinctive purpose and form. The project is the study of southern Culture at the Univer- and teaching marries an interest in practical doctoral fellow supported by the German hoeffer home in Grunewald where a group of based on the rationale that the patterns and sity of Mississippi. Pete told me that when he theology and documentary studies with his- academic exchange Program. When he young students met to pray, to read scripture, practices of Christian communities offer rich described the mission of the project to his fel- torical and sociological studies of faith, race, arrived he was a twenty-five-year-old lectur- to drink strong German coffee, to sing and

6 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 7 enjoy music—Bach, romantic Lieder and promising theme for a sermon series is that Bonhoeffer had also complained about al establishment, with a faculty of nearly always Negro spirituals—and to brainstorm “God’s path through history in the church of theology in Germany. he wrote from Berlin, forty members, that included numerous about new ways of pursuing the theological Christ.”ix The first text he mentions for such a “I’m supposed to be intellectually creative influential public theologians—none more so life. “The questions that Bonhoeffer now series is hebrews 12:1, “the verse that culmi- and grade excruciatingly dumb seminar than the indefatigable reinhold Niebuhr, posed to his church, its theology, its ethics, nates the saga of faith from creation to the papers!” More significant, however, than the still only two years away from his pastorate and its attitude to luther were new, an obvi- first Christian martyrs in chapter eleven: vexing term papers and the claustrophobic in Detroit. ous departure from the purely academic ‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by so trains, Bonhoeffer felt boxed in by institu- Bonhoeffer had never met anyone quite sphere.”iii Bonhoeffer returned to Germany great a cloud of witnesses.’”x tional constraints and the lack of a vital con- like reinhold Niebuhr, the great “dramatist “with eyes wider open than before.”iv No The verse had particular importance for nection between the classroom and the com- of theological ideas in the public arena” (in longer was it possible “for the young theolo- Bonhoeffer. he told a friend five months munity. Indeed, I think the larger context of larry rasmussen’s words), for whom prob- gian to separate his academic and pastoral later, that as he experienced a new country, Bonhoeffer’s agitated remarks suggests that ing analysis of the contemporary situation activities from the commit- Bonhoeffer had grown impatient and existential engagement in its needs and ment to his vocation.”v with the enterprise of academic conflicts were more important for theology “something had hap- Christian realism meant charting a path between theology, whether it was being than dogmatics and systematic work. pened,” Bonhoeffer’s close taught in New york or Berlin. In the concept of “Christian realism” friend and biographer, eber- utopianism and resignation, trusting in the grace and so what happened? which Niebuhr was working out in the fall of hard Bethge, noted. forgiveness of God as we stumble through this world In his two dissertations, Bon- 1930 and spring of 1931—and which would What happened? hoeffer had sought to demon- appear in its most developed form in his I raise this question not of ethical quandaries and complex political realities. strate the theological necessity of 1932 landmark book, Moral Man and Immoral only out of interest in Bonhoef- the self coming to itself in com- Society—Niebuhr intended to remind mod- fer’s biography, but, for the munity. he had written in Sancto- ern believers, and all persons, believer or rich possibilities it holds for thinking about an unfamiliar theological culture, the rum Communio that, “The structural being- not, of their thick entanglement in the sinful the reconfiguration of theology and practice churches of the New World, and a country with-each-other [Miteinander] of church- structures of the world. No man or woman in our time. still divided by race, he was searching for “a community and its members, and the mem- however sincere, well-meaning or pious let us start by taking a brief inventory of cloud of witnesses.” bers acting-for-each-other [Fuereinander] as could be afforded “final escape in historic Bonhoeffer on the eve of his first american In the twelve courses Bonhoeffer took vicarious representatives in the power of the existence from the contradictions in which visit. during his year as a sloan Fellow, Bonhoeffer church-community, is what constitutes the human nature is involved.” Christian real- he came to New york restless and focused on “philosophy of religion, theology, specific sociological nature of the communi- ism meant charting a path between utopi- unsettled. and ethics in an educational context and the- ty of love [Liebesgemeinschaft].”xiii anism and resignation, trusting in the grace The theologian and scholar Clifford ological climate quite different from the sort But he had not experienced the embodi- and forgiveness of God as we stumble Green notes that while still serving as an to which he was accustomed in Berlin.”xi as ment of such theological affirmations in a through this world of ethical quandaries and assistant pastor in the German congregation you probably have heard before, he was not community of hope and discipleship, and complex political realities. Niebuhr’s honest in Barcelona in [1929], Bonhoeffer was impressed with the theology he encountered. more to the immediate point, he had no way assessments of power and justice struck a searching for a pathway from the theological his frequent complaints of the smorgasbord- of thinking of theological education as any- chord with a generation searching for a way ideas he had embraced in his graduate stud- like character of american theological educa- thing other than the work done inside the beyond liberal idealism and Victorian qui- ies to their social expression in lived experi- tion most often accompany accounts of his academy for specialists. etism to a more realistic and sober assess- ence.vi On June 19, 1929, Bonhoeffer wrote to time in the United states, and his observa- In america, the central themes in Bonhoef- ment of the contemporary situation. his former neighbor and teacher, hermann tions at the end of the year are no less critical fer’s theological thought came to life in unex- Bonhoeffer took courses both semesters Thumm, that “principles are quite good, but than on that day in the fall of 1930 when he pected ways. The transformation can be with reinhold Niebuhr. he took both only until one is taught something better by listened in dismay as his fellow students gig- observed in three overlapping areas: in his Niebuhr’s “religion and ethics” and his the language of reality.”vii gled over luther’s doctrine of the bondage critical encounter with american social theol- “ethical Viewpoints in Modern literature,” his letters from Berlin in the fall of 1929, of the will. ogy, in his exposure to the american organiz- in which he read deeply in contemporary after his return from Barcelona to complete With so little at stake theologically, and ing tradition, and in his participation in the african american literature. Though Bonho- his second dissertation, reveal even a slight absent the Barthian rediscovery of the reveal- african american church, all of which offered effer enjoyed the courses, he found Storefront church in Harlem, New York desperation. “The air is close in Germany, ing and righteous God of Jesus Christ, the him theological friendships that crossed Niebuhr’s views bewildering. roger shinn close and musty enough to suffocate american theological seminars, lectures and national, cultural, and racial boundaries. recalls that one day after “the usual vigorous you…everything seems so infinitely banal discussions, in Bonhoeffer’s view, assumed a question period at the close of the class,” the young German, and he was bold in his don’t see how you can ascribe any ethical and dull. I never before noticed what non- completely innocuous character.xii “It has American Social Theology Dietrich approached reinhold and asked criticisms of Bonhoeffer’s theology. In significance to it. Obedience to the will of sense people speak in the trains, on the come to this,” he complained, “that the sem- n 1930, Union Theological seminary in indignantly, “Is this a theological school or a response to a remark in a term paper that the God may be a religious experience, but it is viii streets—shocking.” inary has forgotten what Christian theology New york City was regarded as the bas- school for politicians?’” Bonhoeffer’s note- “God of guidance” could be known only not an ethical one until it issues in actions xv What did he expect of the year in america? in its very essence stands for.” “The principal tion of progressive Protestant social books are interesting in this light: after jot- from the “God of justification,” Niebuhr which can be socially valued.” We might draw out attention to an doctrines of dogmatics are in utter disarray,” I ting down a few words from Niebuhr’s lec- noted sharply that Bonhoeffer’s doctrine of Niebuhr challenged Bonhoeffer on the doc- thought in North america. The student body intriguing passage in Bonhoeffer’s second he said. In america it would appear that it is was more diverse than at any time in its hun- tures on religion and ethics—“religion is the grace was too transcendent. Niebuhr pushed trine of justification and its meaning for Chris- theological examination at Berlin that offers possible to enter the ministry without having dred-year history and included african experience of the holy, transcendent experi- Bonhoeffer to think more honestly about the tians in the modern world. Justification must a glimpse into his more intimate hopes for any idea what one believes. americans, asian americans, women, and ence of Goodness, Beauty, Truth and holi- ethical content and social significance of this be embodied in responsible action and enact- xiv the year. In an essay on “choosing texts for yet amidst all the hand-wringing, we poor whites from the rural south. Union was ness”—his pen grew still. “God of guidance.” “In making grace as ed in socially transformative patterns and preaching”, Bonhoeffer suggests that one should not lose sight of the important fact the flagship seminary of the Protestant liber- But Niebuhr was equally perplexed by transcendent as you do,” Niebuhr said, “I practices. Otherwise, one would conclude, a

8 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 9 doctrine of grace vanishes into metaphysical american social theology. bled what we would later call in the United reality.”xxiv Whether or not this is a fair claim, Montgomery branch of the Brotherhood of fund-raising letter for an organizing initia- abstraction or “purely formal” doctrine. That Most of the participants in these commu- states a “service-learning experience,” what is true is that Bonhoeffer experienced, sleeping Car Porters and leader in the tive called the southern Mountain school, a kind of grace would be cheap grace.xvi nities and initiatives worked steadfastly in though it was much more than that. Webber for the first time, the teaching of theology “to National association for advancement of project inspired by his former students Dom- still, Bonhoeffer never acknowledged an the tradition of social gospel idealism; which used the course to introduce seminarians to and from embodied, situated particularity” Colored People. Dombrowski was a vital browski and horton. The vision was to cre- explicit theological debt to Niebuhr, and he is to say, in the earnest hopes of building the the lived theologies of a city in the throes of (in serene Jones’ words).xxv he saw, and he part of a remarkable (and sadly vanished if ate an “experimental school specializing in remained discontent with american Protes- Kingdom of God on earth. Clarence Jordan, economic distress and to the impressive vari- felt, the presence of Christ in these spaces of not vanquished) generation of white south- education for fundamental social change.”xxx tant thought throughout his year in New one of the founders of the Koinonia Farm in ety of Christian social ministries in New reconciliation and redemption existing out- ern progressives whose organizing and edu- This was, as I mentioned earlier, a fertile time york. Nevertheless, I think it is correct to say americus, Georgia, (which later launched york. he arranged site visits for students and side the walls of the parish church.xxvi cational efforts prepared the ground for the for experimental communities in the United that Bonhoeffer was moved and inspired by the organization habitat for humanity) accompanied them as they journeyed beyond Civil rights Move- states, and many of these traced their origins the spirit of Niebuhr’s theology, in particu- described the mission of the interracial coop- the campus to observe and take part in organ- ment of the 1950s to social Gospel convictions and quite often lar, by the vocation of a theologian who erative farm in southwest Georgia as “a izing initiatives based in the churches. [Bonhoeffer] remained grateful for the work of and ’60s. among this to seminary courses at Union. In the 1930s engaged the social order with civil courage demonstration plot for the Kingdom.” Of “In connection with a course of Mr. Web- visionaries, dreamers and idealists, an admirer of the company of south- and 1940s, the highlander Folk school and ultimate honesty. he had never met a course, these faith-based social reformers ber’s,” Bonhoeffer wrote, “I paid a visit ern dissidents we emerged as one of the most important train- theologian who encouraged robust engage- hardly had time to sift through the complex almost every week to one of these character- women and men who made great sacrifices to build should also remem- ing centers in these golden years of progres- ment in the social order or attention to poli- ways in which Niebuhr’s emerging Chris- building agencies: settlements, y.M.C.a., ber howard “Buck” sive Protestant social missions, equipping tics, race and literature; and Niebuhr’s exam- tian realist views called into question their home missions, co-operative houses, play- hope and justice in places of exclusion and distress. Kester, sherwood southern workers with skills for labor nego- ple opened up new vocational possibilities. own idealism. It speaks to Niebuhr’s sensi- grounds, children’s courts, night schools, eddy, lillian smith, tiations and mobilization and helping launch In my view, the spirit of Niebuhr’s theology tivities and wisdom, I think, that even as he socialists schools, asylums, youth organiza- Jessie Daniel ames, the Congress of Industrial Organizations is present every time we hear Bonhoeffer say was rejecting many of the theological and tions, association for advance of coloured The circle of Christian social reformers and lucy randolph Macon. (CIO); in the 1950s, highlander turned its after 1931 that grace without ethical obedi- anthropological presuppositions of the people … It is immensely impressive to see which Bonhoeffer joined at Union also long after Bonhoeffer had laid aside his attention from labor to the burgeoning civil ence is a mockery of the Cross and that social Gospel, he embraced the socially how much personal self-sacrifice is achieved, included such energetic and colorful charac- volumes of William James of harvard Uni- rights movement and helped train a genera- Christ calls us into the midst of the world’s transformative energies of the movement, with how much devotion, energy and sense ters as John King Gordon (a Christian ethicist versity—whom he read at Union in a year- tion of church-based organizers that includ- conflicts and crises; when he says, in “after encouraged innovation, and did not discour- of responsibility the work is done.”xx from Canada who was later editor of The long tutorial with eugene William lyman— ed such brilliant theological activists as rosa Ten years,” that “civil courage” and “costly age utopianism at the ground level. he The students visited the National Women’s Nation and the first human rights officer at he inquired of the other James (that is, James Parks, ella Baker, and Martin luther King, Jr. discipleship” depend “ on a God who remained grateful for the work of visionar- Trade Union league and the Workers’ educa- the United Nations), William Klein (a Presby- Dombrowski) and his new friends and These representatives of the american demands responsible action in a bold ven- ies, dreamers and idealists, an admirer of the tion Bureau of america; discussed “labor terian minister who later directed efforts to acquaintances from New york who would organizing tradition “were probably some of ture of faith, and who promises forgiveness women and men who made great sacrifices problems, restriction of profits, civil rights, reform rural schools from Berea College in disperse into various and sundry backwater the most radical Christians with whom Bon- and consolation to the person who becomes to build hope and justice in places of exclu- juvenile crime, and the activity of the church- Kentucky and then worked in racial reform hamlets and urban centers in pursuit of eco- hoeffer ever associated,” Clifford Green a sinner in that venture.”xvii sion and distress. and he unfailingly es in these fields;”xxi and studied the role of from his position at Warren Wilson College in nomic justice and racial equality. like Myles notes, “and they were radicals not only in affirmed such initiatives as the Delta Coop- churches in selective buying campaigns and North Carolina), and Gaylord White (“head horton. theory….They worked on urban and rural The American Organizing Tradition erative Farm, the Providence Farm Coopera- public policy, drawing on models and insights [from 1901] of the Union settlement in east Myles horton was a country boy born poverty, on racial justice and civil rights, on ven more formative than Bonhoeffer’s tive, the highlander Folk school, Koinonia gleaned from the British Cooperative Move- harlem, an urban ministry venture of Union from the riverboat town of savannah, Ten- union organizing, on peacemaking, and at encounter with Niebuhr were his Farm, and the numerous other experiments ment, whose work Webber praised. graduates concerned with immigrant hous- nessee, and surely represents a type of theo- the United Nations. Interestingly, some of xxvii experiences in and outside the class- in Christian community arising in the south The class also met with officials from the ing [and] public health…”). his deepest logical student and seminarian at Union them had careers analogous to Bonhoeffer e and around the nation—an admirer even as american Civil liberties Union, the nation’s relationships—from members of the ameri- inconceivable to Bonhoeffer before his year himself, being expelled from academic room with representatives of what we might call the american organizing tradition. I his own hopes for this-worldly reform were premier defender of civil liberties which can organizing tradition—were formed with in america. horton grew up in southern appointments, imprisoned, and persecuted refer here to the tradition of progressive chastened by the sober appraisals of Chris- after its founding in 1920 had focused heavi- James Dombrowski and Myles horton. rural poverty of the sort documented by by the law.” These men and women must xix Protestant thought characterized by the com- tian realism. ly on the rights of conscientious objectors James Dombrowski was a white James agee and Walker evans in their land- surely be counted among the greater “cloud mitment to piecemeal social reform and the Nevertheless, Bonhoeffer’s knowledge of and the protection of resident aliens from Methodist minister born in Florida and who mark volume, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. of witnesses” of which Bonhoeffer had gone disciplines of community building and the american organizing tradition began in deportation. When Bonhoeffer returned to attended Union and then Columbia Univer- he was educated at Cumberland College, (a in pursuit. Though it is unlikely they shared organizing. his studies with two great teachers at Union, Berlin in the summer of 1931, he told his sity, earning a doctorate in 1933 with the dis- school set up for poor whites in appalachia), similar theological views, [they] were all since Niebuhr’s arrival at Union in 1928, harry Ward and Charles Webber, and deep- brother that Germany would need an aClU sertation, “The early Days of Christian and spent many of his student summers “committed to Christian praxis, to lives and xxii xxviii a cadre of Christian social reformers had ened through first-hand participation in of its own. It is important that we recognize socialism in america.” alongside fellow working in vacation Bible schools in the careers that were lived in devotion to Jesus, turned to him for moral and financial sup- their classes in local church-based organiz- his deep commitment to civil liberties. seminarian Myles horton, Dombrowski co- mountains of east Tennessee. he was admit- and to the “public, communal, and political” xxxi port, and time and again, Niebuhr offered it ing—as well as in friendships with such the- Through his field work with Charles Webber, founded the highlander Folk school in Ten- ted to Union Theological seminary—he said requirements of the Gospel. graciously. In his marvelous book, Against ological visionaries as James Dombrowski this nearly forgotten professor of practical nessee and based his work there from later in an interview—only because the sem- the Grain: Southern Radicals and Prophets, and Myles horton. theology, Bonhoeffer found a pathway from 1933–1942. Dombrowski also established the inary was looking for a “token hillbilly.” African American Christian Tradition 1929–1959, anthony Dunbar writes that Charles C. Webber was a pastor, organiz- the theological classroom to the concrete Conference of younger Churchmen of the Whereas the aristocratic Berliner regarded he achievement of the recently pub- xxiii “without [Niebuhr’s] inspiration and practi- er, professor of practical theology at Union, social situation of Church in the world. south in 1934, was executive director of the Union theological education as sophomoric, lished translation of Bonhoeffer’s writ- cal assistance these movements might not and author of the book, A History of the Devel- In his personal recollection of his cousin’s southern Conference for human Welfare horton felt intimidated by the “extremely ings from america as a whole, which I opment of Social Education in the United Neigh- year in the United states, included in the (1942–46), edited the progressive Southern high” intellectual level at Union, and T have existed or succeeded to the extent that highly commend to you, is not only that of they did.”xviii Niebuhr’s encouraging pres- borhood Houses of New York. In the 1950s and recently-published “Volume X” of the Bonho- Patriot from 1942 until 1966, and in his role as remained always mindful of his inferior edu- highlighting the interconnections between xxix ence and his organizing and fundraising 1960s he was the National aFl-CIO repre- effer Works, hans Christoph von hase said executive director of the southern Confer- cational and cultural background. It is progressive Christian organizing in america expertise are pervasive in the letters and sentative, and the Industrial secretary for the that Bonhoeffer learned so much in america, ence educational Fund (1946–66) worked important not to lose sight of that alternative in the 1930s and Bonhoeffer’s theological exchanges of the intentional communities Fellowship of reconciliation. Webber’s “more than he probably realized.” “he behind the scenes with many of the key play- perception when we listen to Bonhoeffer’s transformations. It is also a delineation of and congregational initiatives that arose and course, “Church and Community,” which learned something that was missing in Ger- ers in the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, complaints. “the thread” that links the New york experi- flourished in a remarkably fertile period of Bonhoeffer took in the fall semester, resem- man theology—the grounding of theology in including e. D. Nixon, the President of In 1932 reinhold Niebuhr wrote an initial ences into a coherent life story. The thread

10 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 11 that weaves through Bonhoeffer’s develop- academic year at Union in a mob atmosphere in successive trials in and countless visits to harlem.”xxxviii It was as conformation with Christ, and of spiritual ment in these years and over the coming Theological seminary in scottsboro, alabama. if Bonhoeffer had forged “a remarkable kind disciplines that bring “purification, clarifica- decade, the thread that gives these years per- New york, he had Bonhoeffer’s presence at abyssinian in of identity with the Negro community,” tion and concentration upon the essential sonal and spiritual coherence is precisely this encountered very few 1930–31 coincided with significant transfor- lehmann said. thing,” as he wrote in Life Together.xlii journey from the “phraseological to the real.” black people in his twen- mations in adam Clayton Powell, sr.’s voca- Bonhoeffer’s experienced personal Under the influence of this “cloud of wit- Nowhere in Bonhoeffer’s first american ty-five years. his only tional understanding as a minister in an renewal and theological transformation in nesses,” his understanding of the lutheran encounters is that journey rendered more remark in writing came urban congregation. Powell had been the his brief but decisive participation in the doctrine of justification shifted in dramatic vividly than in his intense involvement in during his fortnight in senior pastor since 1908. he was an eloquent black church and in friendships with Frank ways. he would never again think of grace african american Christian spirituality and North africa, when he preacher and a skilled administrator. But as Fisher and the other african americans who as a one-sided affirmation spoken by God to in the churches of harlem. noted his complete bewil- the Great Depression swept over the neigh- welcomed him into their homes. his cousin, sinful humanity but a partnership between Niebuhr’s work was challenging; the derment at the sight of borhoods of harlem, Powell was inspired to Christoph von hase, would say that this the divine and the human acted out in costly american organizing tradition was inspiring; “arabs, Bedouins, and new spiritual perceptions as a pastor and cit- renewal “prepared him to summon the Con- discipleship and in the Christ-shaped but the black church felt like an awakening. Negroes sitting on don- izen. In his memoir Upon This Rock, he said fessing Church after 1933 to defend persecut- polyphony of life. his interest in the “essential Bonhoeffer’s experiences there brought theo- keys in great, picturesque he began to see a Jesus who wandered the ed Jews,” and “to become engaged at great present form of grace” was transformed into logical and personal unity to his year. If in his white cloaks,” traversing streets of harlem, standing with the poor risk to himself in rescuing individuals.”xxxix the more urgent matter of how Christians mature theology the redeemed person, “the the sun-drenched streets and distressed as friend and counselor.xxxiv The young philosophical theologian who had should act “under the constraint of grace” self in Christ,” is the new being who exists in of Tripoli in a “colorful “Day and night I heard the voice of [the sav- found american social theology an offense to and in obedience to Jesus.xliii The grace that the togetherness of Christian community, throng of peculiar fig- ior] say, ‘I was naked and ye clothed me. I doctrinal correctness now declared, “It is the frees is the grace that forms, and conforma- then as Willie J. Jennings has written in his ures.” race, or racism, was hungry and ye fed me.’” Powell spoke problem of concreteness in our ministry that tion to Christ became the key that united intriguing essay, “harlem on My Mind: Diet- had not been of concern. of the Christian’s mission to “preach the at present so occupies me.”xl doctrinal and practical concerns in the theo- rich Bonhoeffer, racial reasoning, and Theo- But early in that fall unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ,” to he was soon calling into question unex- logical vocation. logical reflection,” Bonhoeffer’s participa- semester of 1930 at bear witness to the “living reality of God,” amined assumptions that governed the Ger- What became of his friend and mentor tion in the black church became “the occasion Union, an african amer- and to make “Jesus Christ real in america man church and academy and to rethink the Frank Fisher? reverend Fisher graduated of a new becoming of the self, a new recogni- ican seminarian named and real in the world.”xxxv and he invited the nature of the theological vocation. his great from Union, taught at Morehouse College, tion of himself with and in this community.” Franklin Fisher befriend- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) young German theologian into the full life of biographer eberhard Bethge tells us that and in 1948 assumed a pastorate at the West In the black church, Bonhoeffer experienced a ed the young Berliner the community. Bonhoeffer began going to church. It may hunter street Baptist Church in atlanta. vivid manifestation of the new self in Christ, and led him gently into a religion in the United states, and was con- rudolf schade, who later taught at rein- perhaps his first, the vitality of the Christo- new ecclesial world of african american vinced that it was only among blacks who hold Niebuhr’s alma mater, elmhurst Col- His interest in the “essential present form of grace” was transformed logical self in a worshipping community. Christianity and, I would add, into a new were oppressed that there could be any real lege, recalled an encounter with Bonhoeffer In his academic writings of 1927 through way of being a Christian. religion in this country.xxxii (By the way, that is on a Monday morning after his first experi- into the more urgent matter of how Christians should act “under the 1930, let us recall, Bonhoeffer had sketched a Frank Fisher was the son of a Baptist min- albert raboteau’s point in his astonishing ence of preaching at abyssinian. Bonhoeffer bold and ambitious critique of the German ister in alabama and had been assigned to essay, “american salvation,” published in was still elated, and “beaming and enthusi- constraint of grace” and in obedience to Jesus. transcendental tradition. he objected to the the abyssinian Baptist Church as a pastoral the Boston Review in summer 2005). astic,” and he asked schade to take a walk tradition’s conception of the world-constitu- intern. his invitation to Bonhoeffer to join “Perhaps that sunday afternoon,” horton along riverside Drive. speaking excitedly in tive subject and its forgetfulness of the refor- him one sunday marked the beginning of an commented, “I witnessed a beginning of his German, Bonhoeffer shared the previous sound surprising that despite the internship Fisher’s tenure began in 1948 and ended mation axiom that only God is God. Bonho- intense six-month immersion in the african identification with the oppressed which day’s events and impressions and conveyed in Barcelona, he had never taken much of an with his death in 1960 at the age of fifty-one effer worked his way through a thicket of american congregation. In time, Bonhoeffer, played a role in the decision that led to his the thrill and joy of having had members of interest in public worship, at least until his as atlanta was taking center stage in the civil complex themes in his 1927–1930 writings the straight arrow lutheran theologian, death. Certainly I witnessed an insight that the congregation respond to his message. time at abyssinian. he fell in love with the rights movement in the south. he helped from Berlin. While they were beautiful in would begin teaching a sunday school class too few of my countrymen appreciate.” “The church people had voiced their agree- Bible and began practicing a rich devotional build quietly a vital and nurturing Christian their unfolding and explication, they also for boys and a Wednesday evening Women’s In his theological friendship with Frank ment with his points by punctuating his ser- life, centered on the Moravian Prayer Book, community in a city and region divided by produced a certain loneliness. These con- Bible study, and also assist in various youth Fisher, Bonhoeffer gained “a detailed and mon with ‘amens’ and ‘hallelujahs.’”xxxvi he which his governess had given him as a race, and the church flourished in Fisher’s cepts and categories, for all their scholarly clubs. On at least one occasion, he preached intimate knowledge of the realities of had never experienced such joy in worship. child. he organized spiritual retreats, often years of ministry. In 1957, he was one of benefits, were bereft of singing and laugher. in the pulpit of the esteemed adam Clayton harlem life.”xxxiii and he also learned quickly Paul lehmann, a fellow student and later held at his hut in the forest near Brenau, and numerous ministers arrested with Martin They were sharp but stark. Powell, sr. of the harsh realities of african american life professor of Christian ethics at Union, won- encouraged his students to read scripture luther King, Jr. for attempting to integrate Certainly, the Christian theologian must Myles horton vividly recalled an in pre-civil rights america. “When it became dered, curiously, if Bonhoeffer were not with an openness to God’s voice and the illu- atlanta’s buses during the Triple l. Cam- heartily affirm God’s “being” and God’s exchange with Dietrich on a sunday just clear on one occasion that he and Fisher spending too much time in harlem.xxxvii as mination of the holy spirit. he advocated paign. ralph abernathy took over pastoral “act” in formulating the doctrine of revela- after he had returned from a morning at the would not be seated in a Manhattan restau- early as October, Bonhoeffer signed up for a oral confession of sins and was drawn into duties at West hunter after Fisher’s death. tion; she must say that the meaning of Gothic and Tudor sanctuary on 138th street rant, he staged a two man protest and left the “Trip to Negro Centers of life and Culture in an intimate reading of the sermon on the as I have learned the story of Bonhoef- human existence is not found in her own between lenox and seventh avenues. “[Bon- restaurant in an outrage. On Thanksgiving harlem;” he secured a large bibliography on Mount. Colleagues at the university were at fer’s year in america, I have come to see that reflections but from the truth revealed in hoeffer] was excited and talkative,” horton Day 1930, Bonhoeffer joined Fisher and his rel- “The Negro” compiled by the harlem first taken aback by these “monkish” prac- it offers helpful lessons for our work at the Jesus Christ; the theologian understands that said, “and instead of going to his room he atives for turkey and trimmings in Washing- Branch of the New york Public library, and tices and made jokes about the ascetic disci- Project on lived Theology. In a profound doctrines aspire in their inner logic for social described the preaching with excitement and ton D.C., and later that same academic year, he also various orienting articles about the plines appearing in the ranks of the “evange- sense, those of us gathered here, despite dif- expression. But unless doctrine bursts into audience participation and especially the drove through the Deep south on an auto tour NaaCP, the civil rights struggle, and legal lische” faculty.xli But Bonhoeffer was now ferences of specialization, theological life, in preaching, in singing, in friendship, in singing of black spirituals. he was very emo- of the country, observing rural poverty and the aspects of the race issue. lehmann was a lit- moving in response to a new understanding method, denominational background, and acts of mercy and justice, doctrine may lead tional and did not try to hide his feelings, reign of Jim Crow the same fateful month nine tle perplexed by how relentlessly Bonhoeffer of the Christian life, and as we know, he the like, share a commitment to creating to despair. which was extremely rare for him. he said it young black men were accused of raping two pursued “the understanding of the [Negro] would only come to speak more passionately spaces that foster the revitalization of aca- When Bonhoeffer arrived for the 1930–31 was the only time he had experienced true white women on a freight train, and convicted problem to its minutest detail through books of communities of “obedience and prayer,” of demic theology through practice. I think of

12 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 13 the enterprise of lived theology in this way: exquisitely diverse ways Christ is present in classroom in Berlin became the london pas- i Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, transl. xvi Bonhoeffer, like MlK later, would say to Niebuhr that December 17, 1986, Bonhoeffer Collection, Union Theo- as the work of creating spaces where the the world. Without in any way discounting torate, where he formed alliances with leaders reginald Fuller, Frank Clark, John Bowden (New york: his conception of love was too transcendent. logical seminary, New york. First published in the Touchstone, 1997), 275. xvii Newsletter of the International Bonhoeffer society, eng- turning from the phraseological to the real is the magnificent story of God’s Triune identi- in the ecumenical movement and made Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “after Ten years,” Letters and ii lish language section, No. 39 (October 1988), 3-4. enabled and nourished. We surely do not ty, Bonhoeffer plumbs the depth and breadth sketches for the book on discipleship, the David Nelson Duke, “The experiment of an ethic of Papers from Prison, ed. eberhard Bethge, transl. reginal (radical) Justice: The Formative experiences of Bonhoef- Fuller, et al. (New york: simon & schuster, 1997), 6. xxxiii Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 150. presume to script the work of the spirit, to of God’s presence in human experience with monastic experiment in Finkenwalde, the fer’s american education,” The archives of the Burke xviii anthony Dunbar, Against the Grain: Southern Radicals xxxiv adam Clayton Powell, sr., Upon This Rock (New york: turn the freedom and adventurousness of maximum attention, and in turn crafts vivid church struggle, the retreats at the Benedictine library, Columbia University, New york. and Prophets, 1929–1959 (Charlottesville: University Press abyssinian Baptist Church, 1949), 42. theological growth into a pedagogical for- theological narrative from the exchanges and monastery in ettal, the illegal pastorates, and iii eberhard Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography, ed. of Virginia, 1981), 41. xxxv Ibid., 110. mula. still, I have seen how the imaginative transactions of worldly faith. the years of resistance and imprisonment. Victoria J. Barnett, trans. eric Mosbacher, et al. (Min- xix For more on the intentional community movement in xxxvi neapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2000), 174. ruth Zerner, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s american experi- use of resources, coupled with creative “We must be more romantic than the Friedrich Nietzsche once said that the the United states, see Tracy elaine K’ Meyer, Interracial- ences: People, letters and Papers from Union seminary” iv organizing and design of programs and romanticist, more humanist than the human- Christians would need to sing better songs Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 3. ism and Christian Community in the Postwar South: The Paper Delivered at the February 4-8, 1976 International events, brings to life spaces that encourage a ist, but we must be more precise,” Barth said before he would believe in their redeemer. v hans Pfeifer, “learning Faith and ethical Commitment Story of Koinonia Farm (Charlottesville: University Press Bonhoeffer Congress, Geneva, switzerland, 269. of Virginia, 1997); Marguerite Guzman Bouvard, The new way of teaching and writing theology. in one of my favorite quotations. his life’s Christians have beautiful songs to sing, and in the Context of spiritual Training Groups. Conse- xxxvii Ibid., 11. quences of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Postdoctoral year at Intentional Community Movement: Building a Moral World Dietrich Bonhoeffer did not become a work was to magnify the terms of that preci- a reinvigoration of theology and practice, xxxviii New york City, 1930-31,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer Yearbook, vol. (Port Washington, Ny: Kennikat Press, 1975); and Martin Paul lehmann cited in hase, “From the Phraseologi- practical theologian as such, at least in the sion. Bonhoeffer’s was to live into, and to rendered so well in John Witvliet’s words, as 3, forthcoming, 9. B. Duberman’s excellent study, Black Mountain: an cal to the real,” 597. exploration in Community (Garden City, Ny: anchor xxxix sense in which that term is used to describe a narrate, that precision as he experienced it in “the joyful embrace of the…multidimension- vi hase, “From the Phraseological to the real,” 597-598. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, letter of June 19, 1929, in Barcelona, Press, 1973). field of the discipline although I would say the polyphony and mystery of life in Christ. al complexity of life in community…in view Berlin, New York: 1928–1931, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works xl Bonhoeffer cited in Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 183. xx Bonhoeffer cited in Mary Bosanquet, The Life and Death of the writing he forged in the crucible of the Bonhoeffer’s turning from the phraseologi- of the larger horizons of God’s redemptive [DBW], vol. 10, ed. Clifford J. Green, transl. Douglas W. xli Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 203. stott (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008), 186. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (New york: harper and row, 1968), 84. church struggle models the action in particular times and xlii xxi Ibid., 203. best kind of practical theolo- places,”xlv this reinvigoration vii Ibid. Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 162. Bonhoeffer’s turning from the phraseological to the real xliii Ibid., 182. gy: a theology that confesses, and embrace help illuminate the viii DBW 10: 178. hı It is not clear whether Bonhoeffer knew of the FOr until coming to the United states, even though the peace xliv Jones, “Practical Theology in Two Modes,” 201. that preaches, that prays, that is not then a matter of translating theology to practice; promise of our theological ix DBW 10: 385. organization was founded in 1914 at a railroad station in xlv John Witvliet, “Teaching Worship as a Christian Prac- rejoices, that proclaims the future. We might speak of a x Ibid. Germany when an english Quaker named henry hodgkin tice,” For Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological amen and the yes, that it is about the revitalization of theology as a way of life. social theology that is more lib- xi Clifford J. Green, “editor’s Introduction to the english and the German lutheran social reformer Friedrich sig- Education, and Christian Ministry, ed. Dorothy C. Bass encourages and sustains the eral than liberalism, more evan- edition,” in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Barcelona, Berlin, New mund-schultze pledged to partner in peace making even and Craig Dykstra, (Grand rapids, MI: William B. redemptive practices of the church; a theolo- cal to the real is not then a matter of translat- gelical than evangelicalism, but more pre- York: 1928–1931, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 10, ed. though the two countries were at war. Out of this pledge eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 148. Christians gathered in Cambridge, england in December gy, which even should the church fall into ing theology to practice; it is about the revi- cise! and who knows but that this may have Clifford J. Green, transl. Douglas W. stott (Minneapolis: xlvi Jones, “Practical Theology in Two Modes,” 211. Fortress Press, 2008), 21. 1914 to found the Fellowship of reconciliation. The FOr- ruins, cleaves to the mysteries of Christ’s talization of theology as a way of life. It is happened at Union had Bonhoeffer not left Usa was founded one year later, in 1915. xii DBW 10: 306. presence in the world. about theology nourished in shared confes- after six weeks in that momentous summer xxii Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 162. xiii Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sanctorum Communio: A Theological years ago I surmised in my first book—a sional affirmations and prayerful discern- of 1939—and certainly it may still happen xxiii Study of the Sociology of the Church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer “Christian socialism,” Time, Monday, May 11, 1931. monograph on Bonhoeffer’s philosophical ment of the situation, about writing and yet! Works, vol. 1, ed. Clifford J. Green, trans. reinhard xxiv DBW 10: 602. influences—that the shape of his theological teaching amidst the struggles and joys—the In the end, how sincere we truly are, how Krauss and Nancy lukens (Minneapolis: augsburg xxv serene Jones, “Practical Theology in Two Modes,” For thought differs from Karl Barth, his single joyful sorrows, in raboteau’s unforgettable desperate and committed we are to this Fortress, 1998), 191. Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological Education, greatest influence, in one important respect: words—of disciples in community. work, is revealed by how demanding we are xiv richard Fox, Reinhold Niebuhr: A Biography (New york: and Christian Ministry, ed. Dorothy C. Bass and Craig in its attention to the worldly shape and In this manner, the turning from the willing to be on our discipline, how coura- Pantheon Books, 1985), 125. Dykstra (Grand rapids, Mich.: William B. eerdmans experiential detail of divine revelation. phraseological to the real reminds us that the geous we are to break with academic fash- xv Niebuhr cited in DBW 10: 403; and in Bethge, Dietrich Publishing Company, 2008), 201. Barth’s bold retrieval of the language of relation between academic theology and ion, if fashion obscures life, how willing we Bonhoeffer, 160. xxvi hans Christoph von hase, “‘Turning away from the Christian orthodoxy began with the affirma- practical theology is best understood as a are to be honest and to accept difficulty. Bonhoeffer wrote on august 7, 1928 to his friend Phraseological to the real:’ a Personal recollection,” in Bonhoeffer, Barcelona, Berlin, New York, 597. tion of God’s aseity, with the priority of mutually enriching dialectic. The tensions serene Jones is correct in her cautious, but helmut rößler of the contrast between his former aca- demic life as a student and his current life as the pastor xxvii Green, “editor’s Introduction,” DBW 10: 32-34. God’s Trinitarian identity over God’s partic- ignited in the theological encounter of lived encouraging forecast, that “[theologies of of the German-speaking congregation: in the latter, xxviii ular ways of being present in experience. experience are creative and “productive,” as practice] may well be poised to take a strong see Frank T. adams, James A. Dombrowski: An Ameri- “work and life genuinely converge, a synthesis that we can Heretic, 1897–1983 (Knoxville: University of Ten- Barth argued that in ascribing objectivity to serene Jones wisely notes in her essay, “and lead—over other disciplines—in charting a all probably sought but hardly found in our student nessee Press, 1992). Dombrowski’s dissertation was pub- God (as we must do when speaking of God the urge to resolve them should be new, enlivened course for a form of theolog- days—when one really lives one life rather than two, or lished as The early Days of Christian socialism in amer- as the source of all things and of Jesus Christ resisted.”xliv The turning from the “phraseo- ical education that is both globally respon- better: half a life; it lends dignity to the work and objec- ica (New york: Columbia University Press, 1966). tivity to the worker, and a recognition of one’s own limi- xlvi xxix as God’s witness to humanity), we must logical to the real” might best be construed sive and intellectually rich”! May our tations [Grenzen] of the sort acquired only within con- Myles horton, The Long Haul: An Autobiography (New carefully distinguish between God in God’s as a dialectical pattern essential to the vitali- endeavors help us to clarify the challenges crete life.” york: Doubleday, 1991), 35. triune life as such—in God’s primary objec- ty of Christian theology, and thus must be and promises of this new course, borrowing after returning to Berlin, Bonhoeffer wrote in a cor- xxx Dale Jacobs in The Myles Horton Reader: Education for tivity—and God as God comes to humanity left “irksomely unresolved.” hope from each other, calling on the wisdom respondence with Detlef albers, the teacher of history Social Change, ed. Dale Jacobs (Knoxville: The University and geography at the German Protestant school in of Tennessee Press, 2003), 33. in the revelation of Jesus Christ—in God’s To wit: Bonhoeffer does not stop writing of our tradition, the guidance of the spirit Barcelona, “Perhaps today . . . ‘spirit’ [Geist] really is to xxxi Green, “editor’s Introduction,” DBW 10: 34. secondary objectivity. Indeed, the lordship theology after 1931. he would offer a semi- and the fellowship of the saints, sharing our be found in the particular, that is, precisely in the ‘mater- xxxii of Christ over all creation—voiced so unfor- nar on “hegel’s Philosophy of religion,” lec- joys and sorrows, as we journey together with ial,’ in concretely given reality—and precisely not in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, letter to Martin rumscheidt, gettably in the 1934 Barmen Declaration— tures on ninetheenth-century Protestant God in these uncertain but powerful days. ‘intellectuality’ [Geistigkeit]. DBW 10: 126. affirmed the inviolability of the first com- thought, and a Christology course, which mandment in an era of life-killing idolatry. would be published as Christ the Center. But Bonhoeffer’s theological journey proceeds Bonhoeffer situates theological teaching and along the path opened up by Barth—it is best writing in the flow of particular (and partic- understood within a Trinitarian framework— ularly intense) lived pastoral and political even as Bonhoeffer turns his sights to the realities; and in time, indeed after 1934, the

14 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 15 am standing at the edge of a plot of earth I dried world resting on his shoulders. Warm “Which ones did you grow?” her mother rainless days, for little boys, are nothing to asks as she clasps the hand of a younger sis- have slowly learned to love. The sun is trem- cry over. Sunshine meant swimming, base- ter in her right hand and holds an infant in ball, and an endless stretch of time to catch her left arm. bling as it rises, already warm on my I fish and fireflies. But now, in the quietness of “All of them,” the girl says giggling. browned arms. There are tiny droplets of morning my bedroom on a dry July night, my wife Her mother fills a sack of vegetables, and I utter the words of primitive prayers some she has never eaten fresh before in her dew that arrive softly just before dawn and cover my grandparents and parents pieced togeth- life, and timidly offers a blessing for her chil- each new cucumber. I watch as the dew quickly er for long healthy rains. Let Your showers dren and the meal they will share. The young spill on this dry and thirsty land. Give us this girl’s little hands have gently buried the vanishes in the summer heat. The span of earth day our daily bread. Like the rains in the spring seeds. They have worked to harvest the veg- that water the Earth, so shall the Lord come to us. etables, and now the family will walk home before me was somewhat unremarkable a year For the first time in my life, I am tangled to prepare a fresh, non-processed meal. ago—another plot of lawn in a realm of concrete. deep in prayer for the growth of squash, and It is a meager plot of tilled earth, with cucumbers, and beans. These beans are not bamboo poles towering from the soil with Perhaps the men who routinely swept over the mine alone, for they belong to those who are bean stalks attached, but an existence higher also praying for just another meal to make it than I has brought us together. The garden grass with the churning blades of their customized through the day. has broken ethnic and socio-economic lawnmowers observed the signs of the past still I am wondering, as I pick collard greens boundaries. We have, if even for a single in the garden, how we can rebuild a compro- meal, been reconnected with the land and lingering. Once, long ago, there were bountiful mised community? Why does it seem that also with the Divine. Slowly, the mysteries of access to healthy food is a privilege only our connection are being unlocked. blackberry shrubs tracing the perimeter. In a way, granted to the economically stable sector of I am meditating, as I scrape the dirt from I am still longing to grasp this plot of earth that is society? underneath my fingernails, on the gaps that exist in my conception of justice and how I now a garden and has been given a new purpose “I constantly find myself in a am struggling to bridge them. The soil which I choose to describe as reconciliation. The knows no race or income. The blessings spo- posture of prayer—I kneel to ken over life-giving meals are not limited to plot is being renewed with a purpose it held long a particular era or dialect. Instead, there are weed; I kneel to break the soil; echoes of thanks whispered in Southern ago. Fresh, clean food is harvested here. drawl and in Arabic. and I kneel to plant seed.” You will see, if you look closely, that at I am surrounded by enormous church the western edge of the garden there is a row steeples that seem to scrape the clouds. There The sun will remain in the sky for a cou- of zinnias with colors too vivid to assign are strip malls and luxury cars and fast food As a field education intern with Mobile ple more hours. I watch as it falls over the names like orange, pink, or purple. A Loaves and Fishes, Seth Terrell raises a eateries surrounding the garden at Mobile roofs of high-rise, low-income housing proj- twelve-year-old child, surrounded by a Loaves and Fishes. Hillsboro Road is bustling “teaching garden” on the grounds of ects in the Cayce Housing Development just world of concrete, lifts a zinnia to the sun. Woodmont Christian Church where he with honking passers-by hurrying to their east of downtown Nashville. Through the There is the child. There is the flower. And destinations. With their digital phones harvests food and teaches children the collective vision of the board of trustees and Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed art and science of growing vegetables. buzzing in their ears and their car windows the executive director of Mobile Loaves and like one of these. tightly rolled up, the drivers are unable to Fishes, the staff and I have initiated an effort hear the worshipful sounds of the earth as to bring healthy food to impoverished areas The essayist earned the baccalaureate in history she awakens. I crouch to the soil and gather of the city. Cayce Homes is among the older and Biblical studies from Freed-Hardeman from the vine a ripe tomato that will soon be and more economically deprived areas in University and served as a campus minister at found on a supper plate of a single mother. Nashville and home to residents of various the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State I am changed by the garden, maybe even cultures including immigrant families from University and Radford University before more than it is changed by me as it is tilled Ethiopia and Sudan. Each Monday, in coop- enrolling in Vanderbilt Divinity School. While and watered. I constantly find myself in a eration with the Martha O’Bryan Center of living in Virginia, Seth and his wife, Crystal, co- posture of prayer—I kneel to weed; I kneel to Cayce Homes, a group of middle-school directed a community center, Common Ground, break the soil; and I kneel to plant seed. My children volunteer to learn about healthy in an impoverished area of rural Appalachia. He mud-caked knees are sore from hours spent eating habits by planting and harvesting identifies himself as a member of “an unbroken firmly pressed to the ground. My hands, the healthy vegetables in our garden. As soon as lineage of Scots-Irish farmers” who appreciates same hands that will type term papers on a group of volunteers from Mobile Loaves the beauty of growing fresh food. During the subjects of ethics and theology when classes and Fishes and I pull our food truck into the 2010-2011 academic year, Seth serves as a field resume, are calloused. When I lie exhausted Cayce community, I am surrounded by education intern with Mobile Loaves and Fishes, in bed at night, minutes before I drift to sleep, young, familiar faces. The Martha O’Bryan an initiative that serves food to the hungry in these same hands are folded, begging for one students have come to welcome me to the Davidson County. Motivated by his conviction ON MUDDY of humankind’s most ancient wishes: rain. neighborhood. Their eyes are brightened as that ministry and justice must intersect to I am beginning to understand why, in the they notice the fresh vegetables they have address poverty and food security, Seth hopes to last years of his life, my grandfather, who planted, watered, and harvested. return to the foothills of Appalachia to establish a was a life-long crop and cattle farmer, would A small girl points her finger at each item. ministry that interweaves history, liturgy, gaze over the sun-baked pastures and fields “Those are cabbages, those are collards, and music, art, and sustainability while continuing and sit in silence until an unbroken chorus of those are squash,” she tells her mother, her to educate communities about food security. whippoorwills resounded over the parched voice rising with excitement. earth. My grandfather felt the weight of that

BY SETH DILLON TERRELL, MDIv2 Steve Green 16 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 knees 17 face and thoughtful way about him. He had back of the truck. As I was serving Cowboy a been in a wheelchair since he was nineteen, cup of coffee, he asked for sugar. I turned to having nearly lost both of his legs in an the condiment stock in the truck and was dis- accident. I noticed that his feet were appointed when I realized I had left the swollen because he was not wearing shoes, sugar at the church. Cowboy was so kind only socks, even in the cold January weath- when he realized how flustered I was that I er. The second week we met, I brought him had no sugar to offer. He told me that I was a pair of slippers and a small backpack in so sweet I could stick my finger in his coffee which I had placed a pair of sandals for and it “would sweeten up just fine.” later wear. Around the sixth week, Ricky About ten minutes later Cowboy came asked me for a three-dollar co-payment for running to the truck, and I noticed he was a prescription that he needed to help con- carrying an old oatmeal box. trol a respiratory infection he had contract- “Here, I want you to have this,” he said. ed from being out in the cold. He had insur- I opened the cardboard canister and dis- ance coverage but no money for the small covered that it was full of sugar. At this co-pay fee. I did not have any money with moment I realized the power and truth in

Steve Green me on that Friday, but I directed him to the hospitality—a man I had come to serve, quate, my desire was to serve hot, home Campus for Human Development. served me. It was in that moment that I real- cooked meals for individuals. During my final I had not seen Ricky in several weeks, and ized my vocation to its fullest; I am called not semester in Divinity School, I discerned my vocation in the kitchen of Woodmont I find solidarity with my brothers and sisters by getting to know their Christian Church’s South Hall where I pre- pared meals for the homeless of Nashville faces and their stories over a shared meal. There is a mysterious power who waited every Friday in the parking lot of behind sharing a meal; one may call it “communion.” the downtown First Baptist Church. It is through this weekly venture that I truly Re-envisioning learned the meaning of “southern hospitality.” one Friday afternoon a friend of his told me just to serve charity to the homeless and dis- HOSPITALITY At Second Harvest Food Bank, I would that Ricky had been found in a hotel room placed, but I am called to be in relationship “open shop” for the meal I would prepare. where he had succumbed to his illness and with the homeless as neighbor. Moving from Charity to Solidarity For creating the first meal, I purchased meat- suffocated to death. An infection that could What I have learned thus far, and am con- balls, broth, potatoes, spinach, salad, and have been controlled and treated resulted in tinuing to learn, is that charity can be unin- a man’s death because he did not have acces- tentionally demeaning. Too often charity BY CAITLIN DALLY, MTS’10 fruit. I was able to cook meatball soup, served with a side salad, and fruit for dessert. The sibility to medicine. comes in a hierarchical model: the privileged trucks that we used to deliver the food My friendship with Cowboy also devel- serving the poor. This model assumes that proved to be another challenge. Up until my oped that first Friday. After serving several the individual receiving the charity has noth- efore I moved to Nashville, I had pre- My passion is cooking. When I moved to first day of service, I had never driven any- people in the parking lot, I still had a large ing to offer in return, and discourages the Nashville to attend vanderbilt University, I thing larger than a four-door sedan, so I was amount of soup left, and my colleagues and possibility of sustainable change. conceived notions of what the South took a position as House Director for a soror- anxious to say the least. The large, white I decided to drive to Tent City. In this com- My position of privilege and my theolog- ity on campus. The most coveted responsi- munity, approximately seventy-five to one ical education require me to seek solidarity was like. Thoughts of southern hospital- Chevy trucks are cumbersome with their B bility I held at the house was preparing the oversized cabs where food, clothing, medi- hundred homeless individuals lived in tents with others. I find solidarity with my broth- ity were steeped in dreams of down home cook- Monday night chapter dinners. Cooking for cine, and hygienic products are stocked. Hot under the Jefferson Street bridge near down- ers and sisters by getting to know their faces over 200 girls can be a daunting task; howev- water tanks in the back provide for hot coffee town Nashville. Since May 2, 2010, the resi- and their stories over a shared meal. There is ing, front porch swings, and tall glasses of sweet er, I gained tremendous insight into the and tea to be served with the meals. dents have been displaced by the severe a mysterious power behind sharing a meal; flood in Middle Tennessee. one may call it “communion.” tea and lemonade. In the two years I spent artistry of large-scale cooking. As the weeks On our first day out, the weather was cold, passed, I began to notice that occasionally and there were snow flurries in the forecast. I I had met Cowboy on a previous visit to As I continue to prepare meals, I find I am becoming acclimated to the South (I hail from the more food had been prepared than was con- cautiously drove myself and two volunteers Tent City and was amazed when he remem- living into a calling to re-envision hospitality. sumed. Not wanting the food to go to waste, bered my face. Cowboy resided in a structure What I discovered while studying at the great white North of Wisconsin), I came to real- downtown and made several stops to inform I was motivated to look for constructive people that we would be serving in the made from old billboards, doors, wooden Divinity School and from my field education ize through my experiences that this dreamy ways to give the food to those in need. church parking lot. I was surprised to see fragments. He immediately welcomed me placement at Mobile Loaves and Fishes is In a chance meeting after final examina- how many people showed up the first day. and showed me where to park before that I am not called to save the world by vision of southern living does not extend to all tions, I met Tallu Schuyler, Director of We served close to thirty-five people during informing other community members that preaching memorable sermons. I am called Nashville’s Mobile Loaves and Fishes, a pro- the food truck was ready and waiting. to feed people. southern tenants. Despite this unsettling truth, the first stop of the afternoon. In the parking gram that serves lunches and provides cloth- lot I made friends with individuals that most My classmates, Dave Hoch and Elizabeth there are remarkable organizations attempting to ing and hygienic items to the homeless and consider Nashville’s untouchables. Two people Coyle, and I could not distribute the food The essayist currently serves as a campus minis- working poor of Nashville. Although the I encountered that first day will be forever fast enough. We served another forty people ter for Central United Methodist Church in transform this vision into reality. peanut butter and jelly or the meat and cheese inscribed in my memory, Ricky and Cowboy. that afternoon in Tent City. People were most Kansas City, Missouri, where she is developing sandwiches that are regularly served are ade- Ricky was in his forties and had a kind excited for the hot coffee served out of the an initiative to serve the hungry.

18 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 19 THE RECIPE FOR Dignity BY ZACHAREY AUSTIN CARMICHAEL, BA’10, MDIv1

aitlin Dally purchased the ingredients Grains surpassed the standard less steal utensils to serve meals with as Caitlin’s efforts reveal the importance of Upon defending his senior thesis titled recommended portion, and opposed to using paper or plastic tableware. integrating organizations that have common “Exploring the Determinants of Rising Almond for the Friday meals from Second the vegetable and meat food Not only was this environmentally friendly, interests. Woodmont Christian Church, Pollination Fees in the United States,” the essay- groups achieved 90% and 60% but Caitlin also conveyed a message of Second Harvest, and Mobile Loaves and ist received his baccalaureate in economics with Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tenn- C of the standard respectively. importance and dignity to those whom she Fishes all have a commonality in that they departmental honors from the College of Arts and essee, an organization founded in 1978 by citizens The only food group not served. The heart of her ministry is revealed provide resources to serve hungry individu- Science. He is enrolled in the Divinity School and addressed in Caitlin's meal through her understanding of the role of the als, and their collective energies allowed in the Graduate School where he is pursuing the concerned about the presence of hunger within was dairy although Parmesan humble servant, namely to be aware of the Caitlin to make a significant difference in the master of divinity degree and the master of arts cheese was used as a topping lives of others. Perhaps Caitlin’s example degree in economic development while serving as their community. The organization collects food unspoken attitudes conveyed to those seek- for the spaghetti. The lack of a ing a warm meal. She not only served their will provide motivation for other servants to the editorial assistant for The Spire. that would be discarded, inspects the food, and dairy component accounts for physical faculties but also their right to be be creative in their efforts to help those who the shortage of total cup serv- treated with decency and respect. are hungry. distributes it to non-profit agencies dedicated to ings: .74 cups as opposed to serving the hungry. Due to the donations provid- the recommended 1.83 cups; however, out of a total of 3.83 Multiples Under $10: A Recipe to Serve 60 ed by individuals and agencies, Second Harvest is oz recommended for the other food groups, the meal sup- Daily able to provide high quality food at significantly plied 3.40 oz, which com- Price per Pound/ Numbers of Daily Recommended reduced prices. An example of Caitlin’s expendi- prised 88% of the recommend- ed portion size. Total Cost Servings Recommended Serving Size tures for a typical meal can be seen in Column 3 Before making a final eval- Food Quantity1 (in U.S. dollars)2 per Person3 Serving Size4 per Meal5 uation of Caitlin’s meal, there of the table. are three items that need to be Grains addressed. First, the salad was Bread 60 slices (60 oz) – 1.00 oz In order to prepare the meal, Caitlin was composed primarily of able to use, free of charge, the kitchen facili- Spaghetti 5 lb (80 oz) 0.18/0.90 1.33 oz spinach, which is one of the ties of Woodmont Christian Church. After (whole grain) most nutritious vegetables to 2.33 oz 6.00 oz 2.00 oz preparing the meal at Woodmont, Caitlin include in a diet. Spinach is drove a catering truck provided by Mobile Steve Green extremely rich in antioxidants Meat Loaves and Fishes to First Baptist Church on Leah Knox, MDiv3, serves a meal to citizens of Nashville’s and contains many vitamins Meatballs 4 lb (64 oz) 0.25/1.00 1.07 oz Broadway where she served the meal in the homelesss community. and minerals that are not 5.50 oz 1.83 oz church's parking lot. Mobile Loaves and 1.07 oz found in lettuce or other typi- Fishes uses catering trucks to distribute food The heart of her ministry is revealed cal salad greens. Furthermore, to displaced persons and holds the costly Vegetables Caitlin often had surplus food, food vendor's license Caitlin needed to serve 6 through her understanding of the role thereby allowing individuals Canned Tomatoes 1 large can 0.36 0.21 cup food legally within Nashville's city limits. For to receive more than one serv- Onions7 1 lb (16 oz) – 0.03 cup more information about Second Harvest and of the humble servant, namely to be ing. It is also important to note 8 Mobile Loaves and Fishes, please visit their Salad 11 lb – 0.50 cup that Caitlin provided only one websites at www.secondharvestmidtn.org and aware of the unspoken attitudes conveyed 0.74 cup 2.50 cups 0.83 cups meal among three that should www.mlfnow.org. compose an individual’s daily Caitlin’s primary objective was to provide to those seeking a warm meal. intake. Therefore, Caitlin’s Dairy/Other a meal that was not only inexpensive but tion size of each food group needed per meal did not need to contain all of the com- Cheese (topping) 1 lb (16 oz) 0.17 – – also filling, nutritious, and inviting. meal. These figures are listed in Column 6 ponents of the USDA dietary recommenda- Although the qualitative characteristics of Coffee 1 lb 3.00 – – and will serve as the standard with which to tions. For instance, the daily recommended her meals are difficult to evaluate, the meal’s – 3.00 cups 1.00 cup compare the nutritional qualities of Caitlin's serving of dairy products can be met at nutritional components can be compared to meal. Column 2 displays the quantity of each breakfast or dinner and does not necessarily a quantifiable benchmark. Total 23 lb / 368 oz $5.43 3.40 oz 11.50 oz 3.83 oz food group Caitlin purchased. The figures in need to be consumed at lunch. So based on According to the United States 0.74 cup 5.50 cups 1.83 cups Column 2 were divided by the number of the quantifiable evidence and these addition- Department of Agriculture (USDA), a people being served (60) in order to obtain al notes, it stands to reason that Caitlin did healthy diet consists of four major food the amount of food received by a single indi- provide a nutritional meal that was filling to groups: grains, meats, vegetables, and dairy vidual, and this conversion is reflected in those she served. 1 1 lb = 16 ounces. products (Column 1). The USDA recom- 2 Prices provided by Caitlin Dally. Column 4. But to highlight simply the nutritional 3 mends that each food group be consumed in Ounces per Person = (Ounces Purchased/60 People). Though the math is tedious, it provides a aspects of Caitlin’s meal would be a disserv- 4 Provided by USDA (www.mypyramid.gov). given proportions daily, and these specific 5 convenient way for evaluating Caitlin's meal ice to her work. Caitlin recognized the (Daily Rec. Serving Size/3) = Daily Rec. Serving Size per Meal. quantities are listed in Column 5. Assuming 6 8 fluid ounces per measuring cup. against a nutritional standard. Of the four importance of the image she portrayed to 7 that an individual eats three meals per day, Approximately 3–4 onions. recommended food groups, three are signifi- those she served. The most vivid illustration 8 Approximately 6 oz of spinach per cup: (3oz*60 people) ~ 11 lb of salad. these daily portions can be divided by three cantly represented within the spaghetti meal. of this was her use of glass plates and stain- to obtain a rough approximation of the por-

20 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 21 with the prophets or the writings—it is clear bly to supersessionism, Christian preachers goodness and faithfulness of a covenant- that God will answer this lament with some need to sharpen our vision and steel our keeping God. kind of restoration. Lamentations do not mark nerves by remembering some core theologi- The work of holy Wednesday for Chris- A Sermon for Holy Wednesday the end of covenant. Lamentations are the stuff cal convictions. Supersessionism involves not tians, then, is to prepare ourselves to receive a BY TeD A. SmITh, Ph.D. of covenant relationship with God. Indeed, only distorting the Bible but also telling lies gospel that does not depend on lies about Jews, ASSISTANT ProfeSSor of eThICS AND SoCIeTY Jews still read the Book of Lamentations on the about Jews that involve lies about the cross lies about the cross, and lies about God. This is DIreCTor of The ProGrAm IN TheoLoGY AND PrACTICe 9th of Ab, the day the tradition assigns to the and lies about the character of God. harder than we might imagine, as those lies are destruction of the two temples and the expul- The worst forms of supersessionism invite deeply woven into text and tradition. Such sion of Jews and muslims from Spain so that Christians to bear false witness against Jews preparation requires developing the critical it could become a Christian nation. Lamenta- in ways that distort the theological signifi- capacity to know lies when we hear them—or tions do not mark the end of the covenant. They are part of what it means to be in ongo- “Supersessionism involves not only distorting the Bible but ing covenant relation with the God we meet in the Bible. That is a thought that should give us also telling lies about Jews that involve lies about the cross pause. It is a thought that begins to prepare us for the days to come. And it is a thought the and lies about the character of God.” Editors Note: Upon hearing the homily Professor Smith delivered in All Faith Chapel on Wednesday of Holy (12:1). The planter sends a slave to collect rent, lectionary invites us not to have. but the tenants beat him up and send him back To make the supersessionist story work, speak them—and the courage to say, “No”— Week, members of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School community encouraged us to publish the text of empty-handed. The planter sends another you have to read Lamentations as describing cance of the cross. Who killed Jesus? The his- to interrupt even the smooth workings of slave. Same result. The planter sends more a final, total destruction. And you have to read torical record is complex and incomplete, and his sermon based upon Lamentations 2:1-9 and Mark 12:1-11. We are pleased to honor their request. sacred liturgy, when supersessionism threat- slaves. The tenants beat some and kill others. mark’s parable as about all Jews, even about the New Testament points fingers in many ens to steal the show from gospel. None of them gets paid. And so the planter all of Judaism. That is, you have to read the directions—including directly at God. But I parable in a way that ignores the words on the have come to think that playing CSI with the Such preparation also requires a readiness he dean has charged the worship readings because they are not intended to be sends his own beloved son, saying, “They will page. Before the parable, mark takes pains to death of Jesus is a fancy, nasty way of evading to offer something to which we can call peo- committee with providing services there. But on special days, even mid-major respect my son.” But the tenants kill the son tell us that Jesus is talking to “the chief priests, the theological significance of the death of ple to say, “Yes.” That offering might still be a that are “from the whole community, special days like holy Wednesday, the lec- and throw his body out of the vineyard. And T i the scribes, and the elders” (11:27). And at the Jesus. After all, the best voices in the Christian sticking point between Jews and Christians for the whole community.” No single serv- tionary pairs readings from the old and New so, the parable says, the owner will come in end of the parable, mark makes clear that tradition have always had a simple answer to and others—but it matters where we get ice can accomplish that goal by itself. The Testaments and invites associations between person to destroy the tenants and give the these leaders understood the parable to be this question. Who killed Jesus? In the words stuck, and how we conduct ourselves once we charge calls for different approaches in dif- them. vineyard to others. about them. They are right. The parable is of today’s opening hymn, “‘Twas I, Lord are there. The good news of holy Week is not ferent weeks. This week’s service grows out Today’s lessons are just such a pair. Lamen- The lectionary’s pairing is not exactly sub- framed, then, by references that make clear the Jesus, I it was denied Thee: I crucified Thee.” that Jews forfeit the covenant and so make of North American reformed and Presbyte- tations sings a song of grief at the destruction tle. I expect you have already connected the identity of the tenants in the vineyard. They We Christians have met the tenants in the room for those who believe in Jesus. The good rian Christian traditions. I hope you will feel of Jerusalem and the exile of many of its peo- dots as the lectionary has numbered them. But are the chief priests, scribes, and elders. The vineyard, and they are us. news of holy Week is that the steadfast love free to pray with me, pray against me, or not ple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.e. Today we let me make it plain. The vineyard is not just chief priests, scribes, and elders are Jews. But I think a supersessionist reading of these of the Lord endures forever. God’s covenant to pray at all: to regard the whole service read one of its most devastating sections. “The the temple, not just Jerusalem, but covenant they do not stand for all Jews in every time and or any other texts also requires a lie about with Israel endures. And Christians dare to with the detached curiosity of relationship with God. The vineyard place. They do not even represent all the Jews God. It comes down to this: Does God keep hope with the Apostle Paul that in the life, a sociologist or the benevo- is the covenant; the wicked tenants “Lamentations do not mark the end of the covenant. in their own day. mark 12:12 distinguishes God’s promises? The supersessionism of the death, and resurrection of Jesus, his followers lent bemusement of a demo- are the Jews; and the son they kill is these leaders from “the crowd,” which lectionary would say, “Until we really do are grafted into this covenant, adopted into cratic ironist. You may well They are part of what it means to be in ongoing Jesus. And so the Jews kill Jesus and includes Jews, and who the leaders fear would something bad.” or “God keeps promises, just the covenant that will never be forfeited, find yourself moving lose the covenant. The Jews are des- resist efforts to kill Jesus. To make these lead- not with Jews.” But these are slanders. It is because it rests on the goodness of God. between these postures as the covenant relation with the God we meet in the Bible. olate and damned, and the covenant ers stand for all Jews, let alone Judaism itself, better to sing, “The steadfast love of the Lord What could Christians do this holy service develops. I may, too. is given to others—Gentiles, Chris- you must wrench this text in directions it does endures forever.” It is more truthful to sing, Wednesday to get ready for that great mys- In the Western Christian That is a thought that should give us pause.” tians, Presbyterians. The followers not want to go. The parable denounces one “Great is thy faithfulness … morning by tery? I have no idea. But we can start by say- liturgical year, today is of Jesus supersede the Jews in the particular group of Jewish leaders at one par- morning new mercies I see.” God makes and ing “No” to lies and “Yes” to gospel, even Wednesday of holy Week. holy Wednesday Lord has become like an enemy,” verse 5 of vineyard of the covenant. Now I am a lec- ticular time. And, mark says, these leaders keeps promises. And God’s new promises do while we wait. is not a great day. There is no grand dramatic chapter 2 reads. “he has destroyed Israel.” tionary preacher, but you need to be willing to give a violently wrong answer to the question not displace God’s prior promises. The ritual, as there is for each of the days that fol- Verse 7 deepens the refrain: “The Lord has criticize even what you love. And the lec- Jesus poses. And so they are cast out of the covenant with Noah is not invalidated by the i low. Some traditions have made and beaten an scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary.” tionary would give Christians a supersession- I am grateful to two colleagues for conversations vineyard—as Jewish leaders had been cast out covenant with Abraham, and the covenant around this sermon. Amy-Jill Levine offered extraordi- effigy of Judas, but that is one practice better And so the singer cries, “my eyes are spent ist story to help them prepare for the Three previously. But God can cast out a miserable with Abraham is not annulled by the narily helpful commentary on two different drafts of the left behind. Wednesday of holy Week is a day with weeping; / my stomach churns; / my bile Days. king like Ahab without invalidating the whole covenant with moses. God keeps God’s sermon. Susan hylen taught me to notice crucial details of preparation, a lesser day, a day to get ready is poured out on the ground / because of the If that interpretation of these passages in mark 11-12. much of what is worth keeping here is covenant with Abraham. promises, even as God makes new promises. for the great Three Days to come. destruction of my people, / because infants seems “natural” and “obvious,” it is only due to their influence. responsibility for the sermon’s To make these two texts work in a superses- Whatever hope Christians have depends on how could one possibly prepare for what and babes faint in the streets of the city” (v. 11).ii because we have rolled in these hateful ruts failings is mine alone. sionist way, you have to blend them together in exactly that faithfulness of God. rejecting ii Christians say will happen next? The revised The lectionary pairs this lament for for so long. You have to distort each of today’s Bible quotations are from the New revised Standard ways that distort them both. I would like to say supersessionism, then, is not about Christians Version. Common Lectionary has one idea. You prob- Jerusalem with a parable from mark. You may lessons to make it fit a supersessionist narra- that supersessionist readings always require being tolerant or open to the “other,” as good ably know that the lectionary schedules long know the story. “A man planted a vineyard, tive. Lamentations is a song addressed to mangling some detail of the text. That is true as those qualities might be. rejecting supers- stretches of time when the readings proceed put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine God, a song that unfolds within an ongoing today, but it is not always true. essionism is not about our character at all. It is independently of one another. You do not press, and built a watchtower; then he leased relationship. And when the book of Lamenta- When Biblical texts seem yoked impossi- about the character of God. It is about the need to look for connections between the it to tenants and went to another country” tions is read in its canonical context— whether

22 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 23 mother and I packed his lunches and sorted “oh, you never gave me one minute of ease one of the circles back into place before “You will be late for church if you don’t go his clean laundry according to the sport so it trouble,” she says sincerely. “We never it slides down her cheek. on and get dressed.” would be easier for him to pack his gym bag. fussed. You never did one thing to hurt your “You are not going to save me,” she says, “Just give me an interpretation,“ I say. Then, an ugliness rises up in me. An mother.” and tells me more. I hear the horrible words, “okay,” he says… “The church is dead. The angry little person living in me suddenly “oh mother,” I say. the sad words, and I know they may be true, girl is dead. Lots of people we know are dead stands up straight and speaks. “What is your name?” she asks with fresh but what I know most of all is they are not and doing the best they can to ignite a spark “You were raised by her. I was raised to be curiosity. what is real. She is in there somewhere, of feeling alive. We’ve been there. We could be her,” I say. The phone line goes quiet. knocking these words together like pieces of there again. You can’t mother everyone who “oh,” he says, finally. “oh.” We are both 2010 October flint, trying to ignite the light of her own soul. comes to you with need. You don’t have to uncomfortable with what has been put into Constructive criticism from a second cousin I tell her I love her, and she suddenly revive the church or the girl. If you stay con- words. who tells me, “Women should be mothers, attaches herself to my breast, like an infant, nected to God, if you let God live in you, you not ministers.” Then she inquires, “So what but with terrible fangs. The pastor comes out can see them with God’s eyes. You can see is your ministry?” smiling. I ask him what to do, and he says to God in them, and you can live a life that 2010 August follow the Book of Order. exhibits your love for God, but that’s all you I have finished mother’s laundry and am What do you say to those voices —in the her parents arrive in a metallic sand-col- can do. You are a human being. You can’t do putting away her clothes in her dresser world and in your own head—who want to ored Audi. They are dressed in beautiful what only God can do, but you can let God do The Syntax drawers before I come back to Nashville to know what tradition legitimizes you, what woolen suits. They smile. They are so happy something through you. And following the begin my third year of theological studies at Scripture says about you, where God is in I am going to take their daughter. They are Book of Order isn’t bad advice, though it will Vanderbilt Divinity School. all this? more dead than she is. only get you so far. It doesn’t matter if you are “You are so pretty and faaaaat. Do you at martha o’Bryan Center or at of Dreams just eat everything you want all the time all reflections on The Book of Order 2010 November Sunday school in Brentwood, all day long?” In my night prayers I ask God to guide me. I I ask God to show me the way, to make me you can do is follow the rules and She stares at me like a character from a ask God to show me the way, to make me a a good mother, to show me my ministry, see God in everybody you meet, no Dickens story, a child marveling at a plump good mother, to show me my ministry, and matter who they are or what socialite imagining the bowls of cream and my dream becomes a nightmare. and my dream becomes a nightmare. they’ve done.” plates of meat she must eat to accomplish I am training at a church to become a “Nice,” I say. “or it could have BY JANe herrING, mDV2 after college in ’91, about why I won’t come such roundness. chaplain. The pastor is dashing. he has the “Such a handful,” they say. been the onion rings we ate at midnight.” home for Christmas. he points out that I “What is your name?” she asks in a sweet most magnificent mane of hair I have ever “No, I can’t!” I say. I take the girl and on my way to the early service, I turn on have walked away from two rich men, a hus- voice. seen, chestnut brown in thick, well-behaved since feeling is first unlatch her from my breast and put her in the radio and hear the last few seconds of an band in ’95 and a fiancé in ’97, neither of “I’m Jane, mama,” I say. waves all about his head, cut at the perfect the trunk of their car. They are disappointed, interview with musician mark ronson. The whom cared if I went to school, or worked, “You are mama?” she asks, confused. angle to accent his chiseled jaw. The congre- and the pastor is angry because they did not music plays… who pays any attention or learned. he doesn’t understand why I do “I am Jane. You are my mother.” gation loves him and is growing in member- write a check for her counseling session. “I want somebody to love me what I do. I don’t have answers for him. “oh, my Jane. I am so proud of you. I love ship under his care. “I don’t think I got the right training for I want somebody to be nice to the syntax of things Then the conversation changes when he you so.” I wait outside his office in a newly reno- this,” I exclaim. See the boy I once was in my eyes brings up mother. She has locked in on who I am and asks vated space, perfectly appointed with cus- “follow the Book of Order,” Pastor hand- Nobody's gonna save my life…” “She wasted her life. I don’t want to do me about Annie and Stan and mason and tom made furniture, the lighting so heavenly —e.e. cummings some says, “but next time, get the check that. I don’t want to waste my life like her.” It Sally and Chris for the fifth time that day. She and the carpet lush under my feet. Sitting before you put her in the trunk.” After two years in divinity school, I have comes out in a rush of frustration. I have doesn’t get all the names right, but she knows beside me is a young girl waiting to see him, I go home. Stan binds my chest in white learned that the only resolution to the theo- never heard myself say this. what she means, and so do I. She tells me the too. She is there for a counseling session. She cloth and feeds me. Annie Grace and I read a logical tension wrought by conflicts between 1991 Journal Entry “You think she wasted her life?” There is a story of how I homeschooled Chris when he is thin and sad. her hair is malnourished, book. She sounds out the letters and makes the heart and the head is joy. Joy comes from “I have come across the Atlantic ocean. I deep, quiet shock in my brother’s voice. had his “troubles,” and she tells me about hanging like damp yarn over her skull. her words. I feel the life coming back to me. I the Spirit and engulfs the calculating mind don’t know why, but I had to get away. I got “I don’t think she wasted her life,” he mason and how I became his mother and fingernails grow to an astonishing length. light white candles all over the house, and and the wanting, worried heart. You can no away, but now I realize when I close my eyes replies. I am glad he is not angry. his words stood up for him to his “real” mother (she is They appear to be painted black until I real- we sit breathing in the light. I think of the girl more manipulate joy than you can the Spirit. to pray, there is mother inside me. I mistook relieve me. he loves our mother and believes still the “real” one), and she tells how I found ize the color comes from dark blood pooling in the trunk of her parents’ car. I know I can’t ministry must be courageous enough to hold her for God, I think. I have never felt so lost her life has been good. mother’s life means my way with Sally, and how I have grandba- in the tissue under her nails. save her, but I can imagine her at that picnic a vision for joy until we are delivered from and alone. how will God ever find me? something beautiful to him. I can hear her in bies and how I have a son-in-law who has the I suddenly imagine her laughing with in the sun, and I hold that picture of her in the nightmare. how will I ever find God? mother didn’t his voice; he feels loved by her, accepted, same immune problem Daddy does. friends, walking through a park to a picnic case it helps her find her way there one day. Come holy Spirit, Come. free my heart to make me, God did. Surely there is a reason cherished. I know that feeling, too, but for “You saved them. They needed you.” hav- set under a shade tree. She is happy and calm. I wake up worried about Annie. She is dream a new dream. Order my mind. Take for me to be alive.” me it turns from warmth to suffocation with- ing a family—as untraditional as it is—is the She knows who she is, unworried, interested sound asleep, both dogs curled up on the bed up residence in me. out warning. one accomplishment I have done that she in life. with her. I wake up worried about the church Amen. We are eight years apart and have never can remember and relate to now. She turns to speak to me and narrates ter- 1997 and the girl. mason is visiting this weekend. I A conversation with my brother who has known each other very well. I hear this “They saved me, mama,” I say. rible scenes from her life, the actions she look in on him, asleep in the blue TV light. he The author earned her baccalaureate in interdisci- called to say “merry Christmas.” grown man speak of his mother. It is lovely. “oh, I am so proud of you,” she starts over, commits against herself, the actions others flies to minnesota monday. I put clothes from plinary studies from the University of Memphis I am living in Pittsburgh, finishing an It is beautiful. I want to be the one who feels “I love you so.” have committed against her, the way life falls the washer into the dryer and press the start before receiving the master of fine arts degree mfA. We don’t talk often. The dialogue is these clean, uncomplicated feelings of appre- To break up the cycle, I ask a new ques- through the dead hole of her soul. I reach out button. I bring coffee back to bed and wake from the University of Pittsburgh. Her essay is slow at first, but he begins to ask me ques- ciation for her. The gap between me and my tion. “What is your most favorite thing about my hand, and she recoils. her eyes are ashy Stan, and tell him about the dream. We talk from a chapter of her autobiography composed tions about my divorce, about what I will do brother closes as I imagine the source of his me, mother.” I make a face and we laugh. I circles of black construction paper, held until Annie and the dogs get up. during the 2010 fall semester for the course, for work, about why I went away to france feelings and remember the careful way love that I can make her laugh. together with elmer’s glue. She reaches up to Writing About Religion.

24 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 25
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Alumni/ae Class Notes

Joseph Fred Cloud Jr., BA’44, BD’47, Significance of the Megilloth, published by the and thought. He is also the recipient of the Among the awards he has received are the Journal of College and Character. This article College in Kalulushi, Zambia. Crawford DMin’90, has received the Lifetime Edwin Mellen Press. Gladson is an adjunct Hunter-Hamilton Award, the highest honor Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion explores both the historical and contempo- trained her Zambian colleagues on applying Achievement Award for Human Rights professor of Old Testament at Columbia for teaching at Davidson College where of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Meritorious rary relationships between faith and service bar codes and Library of Congress labels to from the Tennessee Human Rights Commis- Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, he serves as the J.W. Cannon Professor of Service Medal, the Army Commendation at some of the nation’s private, non-sectari- books and on adding volumes to the sion. He currently serves as chairperson of and minister, emeritus, at First Christian Religion. Medal, the Joint Services Achievement an colleges and documents the shift from library’s database. the Tennessee Fair Housing Council and as Church in Marietta, Georgia. Medal, the Senior Army Aviator Badge, and religious to community service concerns at board chairman of the World Cultural Ann B. Day, MDiv’78, president of the E. the Air Assault Badge. He was inducted into several colleges that occupy an important Musa Dube, MA’96, PhD’97, received the Exchange. Lloyd Wayne Saunders, MDiv’73, serves as Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Founda- the Fort Benning Officer Candidate School’s niche in American higher education, includ- Ann Reskovac Courage Award at the Scar- curator for Counter Cultures: The Secret Lives tion, received the annual PRIDE Interfaith Hall of Fame in 2000. Seoul Christian Uni- ing Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Bates. ritt-Bennett Center’s annual awards dinner James Heininger, BD’53, is the author of of Games, an exhibition on the anthropology Award during the 2010 PRIDE Interfaith versity in Korea awarded him an honorary As the Virginia Rice Kelsey Dean of the on November 20, 2009. She serves as a pro- Name, Rank, and Serial Number: One Thou- of table games on display at the San Diego Service at Old South Church in Boston. The doctor of divinity degree in May 2010. William Jewett Tucker Foundation and fessor in the department of theology and sand Days of Working for Uncle Sam, a chroni- Museum of Man. first minister to receive the Interfaith Chaplain of Dartmouth College, Crocker religious studies at the University of cle of his career in the United States Army Award, Reverend Day also was the first R. Charles Grant, DMin’83, serves as the argues that Dartmouth is unusual among Botswana where she became the first from 1943–1946. Patricia Beattie Jung, MA’74, PhD’79, is the Open and Affirming (ONA) program coor- associate pastor for senior adults and pas- her peers in keeping faith and service Motswana woman professor on the human- author of God, Science, Sex, and Gender: An dinator for the United Church of Christ toral care at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian together in one office and that this union is ities faculty. In the African theological schol- James M. Lawson Jr., D’60, was one of four Interdisciplinary Approach to Christian Sexual Coalition for LGBT Concerns, serving from Church in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. both problematic and fruitful. arship, Dube initiated curriculum revisions honorees at the 39th Annual Nashville Ethics, published by University of Illinois 1987–2007. The initiative assists UCC con- in the context of HIV and AIDS by introduc- Human Relations Awards. The organization Press. Co-authored by Aana Marie Vigen, gregations and other settings in developing Martha J. Reineke, PhD’83, was honored at Laura Hobgood-Oster, MDiv’89, is the ing relative literature, articulating an HIV endeavors to advance awareness about bias, the book follows the intersection of theolo- public statements of welcome into their full the University of Northern Iowa’s annual author of The Friends We Keep: Unleashing and AIDS theology, and training other bigotry, racism, and threats to human rights. gy and science and incorporates feminist life and ministry to persons of all sexual ori- faculty meeting as the 2009 recipient of the Christianity’s Compassion for Animals, pub- scholars on mainstreaming HIV and AIDS theory. The essays address how human sex- entations, gender identities, and gender Ross A. Nielsen Professional Service Award lished by Baylor University Press under the in the curriculum. Julius R. Scruggs, BD’68, DMin’75, was uality and gender function within Christian expressions. for meritorious internal and external service guidance of associate director Nicole Smith elected as president of the National Baptist contexts and investigate the complexity of to her profession, the university, and organi- Murphy, MTS’99. The book includes stories Marcia Mount Shoop, MDiv’96, is the Convention USA, the nation’s largest and sexuality in humans and other species. Jung zations within the wider community. A pro- of saints who were accompanied by ani- Cliff Cain, DMin’81, was the 2010 recipient author of Let the Bones Dance: Embodiment oldest predominantly black denomination serves as the Oubri A. Poppele Professor of fessor of religion, she also is the first recipi- mals, explains the different roles of ani- of the Franklin College Faculty Teaching and the Body of Christ, published by West- with roughly 7.5 million members. Health and Welfare Ministries, as professor ent of the Excellence in Liberal Arts Core mals—as pets, as food sources, and as co- Excellence Award given to faculty members minster John Knox Press. The book is of Christian ethics, and as the academic Teaching Award, which is presented annual- inhabitants of the planet—and addresses who exhibit excellence in “mastery of sub- Shoop’s response to contemporary Chris- Darrell Berger, BA’70, MDiv’73, is the dean for curriculum and degrees at Saint ly in recognition of distinguished teaching issues such as fighting pet overpopulation, ject, effective communication of informa- tianity’s practice to address spiritual, men- author of Straight Talk from Wild Thing, co- Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, in the university’s liberal arts program. taking a public stance against puppy mills, tion, respect for all students, and a belief tal, and emotional issues but to ignore the written with former Phillies pitcher Mitch Missouri. welcoming animals to church, rethinking that all students can learn.” Cain, who body; consequently, many believers are Williams and published in April 2010 by J. William Harkins, MDiv’86, PhD’01, has the use of animals for sport and entertain- served as professor of philosophy and reli- uncomfortable with their bodies. Shoop Triumph Books. Reverend Berger serves as Glen Stewart, MDiv’74, DMin’75, is the been awarded diplomate status in the ment, eating mercifully, and offering hospi- gion at the Indiana institution of higher addresses this “dis-ease” with a theology minister of the First Unitarian Universalist author of the article “A Wrinkle in Time: No American Association of Pastoral Coun- tality. Hobgood-Oster holds the Elizabeth learning, has been named professor, emeri- that is attentive to physical experience and Church of Essex County in Orange, New Previous Trip to Haiti Could Prepare Me for selors and approved as a supervisor for the Root Paden Chair in Religion at Southwest- tus, and now teaches in the department of suggests how worship services can more Jersey. the Chaos of My Last Visit,” published in American Association of Marriage and Fam- ern University in Georgetown, Texas. classics, philosophy, and religion at West- fully invite God to inhabit every part of the alumni point of view section in the 2010 ily Therapists. Reverend Harkins serves as minster College in Missouri. whom we are—including our flesh and Richard Alan Bunch, MDiv’70, DD’71, has spring issue of Vanderbilt Magazine. priest associate at the Episcopal Cathedral Carol Richardson, MDiv’93, is the author written a new collection of poems titled blood bodies. Luke Gregory, MA’81, assistant vice chan- of Saint Philip in Atlanta and maintains a of Aging Well—Be Your Best Self Forever, pub- Keener Sounds in the Currents: Selected Poems. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C, PhD’75, presi- cellor for health affairs and chief business private practice at the Brookwood Center lished by CreateSpace publishers and has He also has contributed poems to Tonight: dent, emeritus, of the University of Notre Carol Orsborn, MTS’97, PhD’02 , is the development officer for Vanderbilt Univer- for Psychotherapy. been described as offering a “uniquely com- An Anthology of World Love Poetry. Currently Dame, is the author of Monk’s Tale: The Pil- author of The Year I Saved My (downsized) sity Medical Center, has assumed an prehensive view of what it means to be he teaches history at Solano Community grimage Begins, 1941-1975, published by the Soul: A Boomer Woman’s Search for Mean- expanded role in seeking new business David Schnasa Jacobsen, MDiv’86, MA’93, whole and healthy while aging as beautiful- College in Fairfield, California. University of Notre Dame Press. This is the ing…and a Job, published by Vibrant Nation development opportunities for the Monroe PhD’97, is the author of Kairos Preaching: ly as possible, given life’s unpredictable and first volume of a three-part autobiography Books. Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Speaking Gospel to the Situation, published by varied circumstances.” The book synthe- Fred M. Harris, MDiv’70, was named that chronicles his life from his beginnings Augsburg Fortress Press. sizes both Eastern and Western perspectives According to The Reporter, the medical cen- Echol Nix, MDiv’98, professor of religion at Alumnus of the Year by the Vanderbilt as a middle-class Irish American Catholic and offers strategies that may empower ter’s newspaper, Gregory will devote much Furman University, is the author of Ernst Divinity School Disciples at the 2009 boy with a gift for basketball, to his calling Jon Thompson Carlock, MDiv’88, DMin’89, people to bring more love into their lives, of his time to the mission of maternal and Troeltsch and Comparative Theology, published General Assembly Annual Alumni to become a Roman Catholic priest, to his has been appointed to the Hannibal Seagle their bodies, their relationships, their choic- child care. by Peter Lang Publishing Group. Nix inves- Luncheon in August 2009. earning a doctorate in Christian ethics from Bible Chair at Bethel University in McKen- es, as well as their overall sense of purpose Vanderbilt University. tigates the methodological attempts of the- Samuel J.T. Boone, MDiv’83, has retired zie, Tennessee. in life. Jerry Gladson, MA’73, PhD’78, is the ologians Troeltsch and Robert Neville for from the United States Army after more than discerning Christian normativity and argues author of The Five Exotic Scrolls of the Hebrew Karl A. Plank, MDiv’77, PhD’83, has Eileen Crawford, MTS’94, associate direc- thirty-eight years of service. His final tour of Richard Crocker, PhD’88, is the author of that both thinkers offer creative insights for Bible (The Scrolls of The Song of Songs, Ruth, received a Boswell Faculty Fellowship for a tor of the Vanderbilt University Divinity duty was as the Commandant of the United the article “Faith and Service in Private theology that make possible a critical com- Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther): The sabbatical to pursue research on biblical Library, recently helped establish a modern States Army Chaplain Center and School. Non-Sectarian Colleges,” published in the parison of truth claims regarding the validity Prominence, Literary Structure, and Liturgical intertextuality and modern Jewish literature library at Zambia International Theological

26 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 27 of Christianity in and for a historically con- poem “Commemoration.” Her poem “On Lynn Myrick, MTS’08, and her husband, Nashville Wire Products with his father. He Francis Asbury Award for fostering United scious age. the Way to Emmaus” appeared in the 2009 Joel Vaughn, have moved to Carmen Pampa Obituaries helped to develop trade organizations with- Methodist Ministries in Higher Education. fall issue of The Journal of Feminist Studies in in southern Bolivia where they are working in the Point of Purchase Advertising Insti- During his tenure at DePauw, he organized Walter L. White, BD’45, Oberlin, at the age David Hadley Jensen, PhD’99, was inaugu- Religion. as Roman Catholic missionaries at the tute and Wire Fabricators Association and mission trips to Haiti, Guatemala, and the of 88. As an assistant prosecutor, he was rated as professor of constructive theology Unidad Académica Campesina, a rural col- was a cofounder of The Bomber Group, an Philippines in which over two thousand elected to the Ohio House of Representa- at Austin Presbyterian Theological Semi- Dennis C. Dickerson, MDiv’07, is the lege that is a division of the Catholic Uni- organization of men who served in World students participated. tives for eight terms and to the Ohio Senate nary on March 11, 2010. His latest published author of African American Preachers and Pol- versity of Bolivia. As missionaries, they are War II, either flying or maintaining the B17 for six years. During his time in office, he work is a chapter titled “The Bible and Sex” itics: The Careys of Chicago, published by the teaching English, working in campus min- airplane. John C. Snyder Jr., BD’57, on August 11, authored and co-sponsored bills that elimi- in the book The Embrace of Eros: Bodies, University Press of Mississippi. As a vol- istry, and serving as mentors to first-year 2009, of Georgetown, South Carolina. He nated sales tax on prescription drugs, Desires, and Sexuality in Christianity pub- ume in the Margaret Walker Alexander students at the Franciscan university. Hugh V. Ferguson, MDiv’54, on December served the Georgetown County Advisory amended probate codes of Ohio, modern- lished by Fortress Press. Series in African American Studies, the 25, 2009, of Julian, North Carolina. A staff Board to Coastal Carolina University and ized bank procedures, strengthened book presents the neglected, early twenti- Lillian Hallstrand Strahine, MDiv’09, was sergeant during World War II, he was was a member of the Georgetown County shoplifting laws, and founded the Ohio David Perkins, MDiv’03, was featured in eth-century precedents to the black clergy ordained as a minister in the United Church awarded the Bronze Star for valor in combat Library System Board of Trustees. As an State University campus at Lima. He served the cover story of the 2009 fall issue of his activism that emerged during and after the of Christ on July 25, 2010, in Benton Chapel. and the Good Conduct Medal. He served active member of Duncan Memorial United as a pastor to the Wayne Methodist Church undergraduate alma mater’s magazine, Geor- civil rights movement by examining the She currently serves as a chaplain in the several churches in the Tennessee and Hol- Methodist Church in Georgetown, he and the Cairo Methodist Church. gia College Connection. He is currently writ- leadership of Archibald J. Carey Sr. and department of pastoral care at Vanderbilt ston conferences of the United Methodist served as former treasurer, was a chancel ing his dissertation for the graduate depart- Archibald J. Carey Jr. in the African University Medical Center. Church. choir member and spent many years as a H. Fred Blakenship, MDiv’48, on January ment of religion at Vanderbilt University Methodist Episcopal Church. Dickerson teacher for the Francis Asbury Sunday 7, 2010, at the age of 96. A retired minister and serves as the administrative director of serves as the James M. Lawson Jr. Professor Caitlin Dally, MTS’10, and Steven Mason, Daniel W. Tohline, MDiv’54, on June 13, School class. and district superintendent for the Ten- the Program in Religion in the Arts and of History at Vanderbilt University and is MDV’10, were married on October 16, 2010, 2010, of Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 84. nessee Conference of The United Methodist Contemporary Culture at the Divinity the author of Out of the Crucible: Black Steel- in Benton Chapel at Vanderbilt University. After serving in the navy during World War Sidney M. Stine, MDiv’57, on October 7, Church, he established the congregations at School. workers in Western Pennslyvannia, 1875–1980 II, he attended Centenary College where he 2010, of Clarksville, Tennessee, at the age of Saint Luke’s and Riverside Methodist and is and Militant Mediator: Whitney M. Young Jr. Zachary Gresham, MTS’10, and Rachel trained for church ministry and furthered 87. Reverend Stine was a retired United credited for raising the first million-dollar Mark Edward DelCogliano, MTS’04, Gresham welcomed their first child, a son his education at Vanderbilt University and Methodist minister who served churches in gift for the Tennessee conference. writes that he and Amy Levad were mar- Emily Rebecca Einstein, MDiv’07, and named Job Eliot, on July 11, 2010. Gresham Southern Methodist University. He served Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee. ried in June 2007. Upon defending his dis- Adam Russell Hill, JD’08, were married on is pursuing his doctorate at the University churches in Tennessee, Colorado, and Penny Roth, BD’50, at the age of 82 follow- sertation, “Basil of Caesarea’s Anti-Eunomi- May 30, 2009, at Cove Presbyterian Church of Notre Dame. Louisiana. William Ralph Bruce, MDiv’59, on June 3, ing a four-week battle with pneumonia and an Theory of Names,” which explores epis- of Covesville, Virginia. The couple was mar- 2010, of Nashua, New Hampshire, at the congestive heart failure. Born Ethel Mae temological differences in the fourth-centu- ried at the church where the bride’s mother Justin Reilly, MTS’10, and Cristi Johnson Marvan Given Frame, MDiv’55, on July 5, age of 75. As a minister for the United Bowman, she served fifty-six years in Chris- ry Trinitarian debates, DelCogliano was serves as the minister. Einstein is employed Reilly welcomed their first child, a son 2010, of Charleston, South Carolina, at the Methodist Church, he served congregations tian ministry at the Evangelical Reformed graduated from Emory University in by the Tennessee Justice Center, and Hill is named Samuel Augustine, on August 1, age of 84 from the effects of Parkinson’s dis- in Massachusetts and New Hampshire for Church in Evansville, Indiana. August 2009. He and his wife have moved in private practice as an attorney. 2010. Reilly serves as regional coordinator ease. A World War II veteran of the Ameri- thirty years. to Minneapolis where they teach theology with Commonwealth Catholic Charities in can Theatre of Operations, he was awarded Ralph E. Dessem, BD’51, MST’56, on May at the University of Saint Thomas in St. Woodrow Lucas, MTS’07, was one of two the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, and an honorary doctor of letters from West Vir- George R. Corbitt, BD’60, on December 29, 13, 2010, of Breckenridge Village in Paul. His served as translator for the book, recipients of a doctoral Trailblazer Award assists parishes in developing leadership ginia Wesleyan College. An ordained elder 2009, of Oak Forest, Illinois, at the age of 76. Willoughby, Ohio, at the age of 83. He For Your Own People: Aelred of Rievaulx’s Pas- for 2009 from the National Black MBA Asso- among parishioners for the work of social of the United Methodist Church, he served He served Saint Paul’s United Church of served Methodist churches and was a mis- toral Prayer, published in 2008 by Cistercian ciation at its annual meeting in New ministry. various appointments throughout West Vir- Christ in Woodsfield, Ohio, and Bethel Unit- sionary in Bolivia. Publications and edited by Marsha L. Dut- Orleans. ginia and was appointed district superin- ed Church of Christ in Beloit, Ohio. A mem- ton of the University of Ohio. Selah Woody, MTS’10, serves as the admin- tendent of the Beckley District. ber of the Association of Professional Chap- Elwood Fleming, BD’53, on December 6, Michelle R. Nielsen Ott, MTS’07, serves as istrative assistant for the master of arts lains, he served also as chaplain at Advo- 2009, of Parkersburg, West Virginia, at the age Jill Lynnae Snodgrass, MDiv’04, completed a reference and instruction librarian for Illi- organizational leadership program at Devel- Kenneth Lewis Bohannon, BD’56, on Octo- cate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, of 83. He was a United States Marine veteran her doctorate in practical theology with an nois Central College in East Peoria. opment Associates International, a nonprof- ber 3, 2009, of Northport, Alabama, at the Illinois. having served in the Pacific during World emphasis in pastoral care and counseling it organization in Colorado Springs, Col- age of 78. A colonel in the United States War II and was a United Methodist minister, from Claremont School of Theology. After Craig Pope, MDiv’07, and Ashley Pope orado, dedicated to providing education Army Reserve after a military chaplaincy Clifton C. Johnston, MDiv’63, on July 13, serving various churches in the West Virginia, defending her dissertation, “Shelters or welcomed their firstborn, a son named Ben- and developing mentors for Christian lead- career spanning thirty-two years, he served 2009, of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, at the Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Nebraska Con- Sanctuaries? Practical Theology, Pastoral jamin Andrew, to their home on July 3, 2009. ers and their ministries. also as hospital chaplain for the University age of 70. A retired United Methodist minis- ferences. He also taught summer classes at Care and Counseling, and Homelessness,” of Alabama in Birmingham until 1993. ter for the Tennessee Conference, he also the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas she was appointed associate director of The Troy Stemen, MTS’07, and Liz Delise Under his leadership the pastoral care was district superintendent for Columbia, City, Missouri, and was the associate pastor Clinebell Institute, the pastoral counseling welcomed their second child, a son named department grew to become an integral part Tennessee. at Washington United Methodist Church in and psychotherapy training institute of the Theodore Stewart, to their home on January of patient care at UAB. Washington, West Virgina. Claremont School of Theology, and is pur- 8, 2010. Richard E. Hermann, BD’64, on January 17, suing ordination in the United Church of William F. Lamar Jr., BD’57, on January 13, 2010, of Martin, Tennessee, at the age of 70. David L. Rollins, A’53, on June 27, 2010, of Christ. Anna Russell Kelly, MDiv’08, and Chisto- 2010, of St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of He was an educator at Volunteer State Com- Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 87. He pher Knox Freidman, MTS’07, were mar- 76. He served as chaplain of DePauw Uni- munity College for seventeen years in Gal- served as president of Alpha Tau Omega Lisa Dordal, MDiv’05, received the 2009 ried on May 29, 2010, at Christ Church versity for twenty-three years. Among his latin, Tennessee, and at Dyersburg State fraternity while attending Wittenberg Col- Betty Gabehart prize for poetry at the Ken- Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee. accomplishments were a Danforth Campus Community College for thirteen years in lege. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air tucky Women Writer’s Conference for her Ministry Fellowship in 1971 and the 1996 Dyersburg, Tennessee. Corps in 1941 and after the war helped start

28 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 29 Schola Prophetarum Donor Society

Philip Marvin Niblack, BD’67, on August Curtis D. Coleman, DMin’76, on March 27, Annual gifts to Vanderbilt University Divinity Harold Elmore, MDiv’55, and Sylvia Elmore Alumni/ae and Friends Friends of the School between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010 In honor of The Reverend Kitty Norton Jones, 28, 2009, of Manchester, Missouri. An 2010, of Athens, Georgia, at the age of 75. (Gifts of $500–$999) ordained elder in the United Methodist An ordained United Methodist minister Divinity School MDiv’98 Church, he served churches in Missouri for who served churches in the Montgomery Chancellor’s Council Jane Entrekin, BA’51 Carol Adams, MA’59, and David Adams, MDiv’58 William J. Ervin and Suzanne Ervin Smothers Mary Lea Bryant, MEd’07, and Rick L. Bryant, MTS’04 thirty-seven years. He is the author of Trees District of the Alabama-West Florida Con- ($10,000 or more) June Wheeler Blankenship, on September First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee Calvert City United Methodist Church, Planted by the Waters, a novel set in south- ference, he accepted in 1966 an appointment 15, 2009, of Nashville, Tennessee, at the age The Barney and Carol J. Barnett Fund Mary and John Folger Calvert City, Kentucky east Missouri where he was reared. to the faculty of Athens College where he of 83. Beloved wife of H. Fred Blankenship, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Dr. and Mrs. Walter W. Frey Frederick Clifford, Oberlin’46 held the positions of dean and professor of MDiv’48, she taught school and Sunday The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations John P. Greer, BA’72, MD’76, and Gay N. Greer, BSN’74 Anita Cochran, BA’59, and Bill Cochran, BA’59 James E. Alexander, DD’72, L’76, on Febru- religion. school for children and adults, organized Shirley and Jack Forstman Luke Gregory, MA’81, and Susan Gregory The Cookeville District of the United Methodist ary 20, 2010, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United Methodist Youth Fellowships and 4- Liz Hauer, BSN’55, MLS’66, and Chris Hauer, In honor of Dr. Jeffrey Balser and Church, Cookeville, Tennessee at the age of 80. He served in the United Alan Vernon Shields, DMin’81, on July 28, H clubs, Bible schools, and Brownie troops, MDiv’55, PhD’59 Mrs. Melinda Balser Riggins Earl, MDiv’69, PhD’78 States Navy from 1947 to 1955 and in the 2009, of Nashville, Tennessee. After serving and was a leader in the United Methodist Lillian Hazelton Paula Grout, BA’67, MTS’06, and Jim Grout, BA’66 Robert Ford, MDiv’59 Estate of George L. Herpel, BA’43, and June L. Herpel reserves from 1955 to 1967 and achieved the in the United States Army from 1943–1945 Women serving as the organization’s presi- Frank Gulley, PhD’61, and Anne Gulley Stuart Gulley, BA’83 The Henry Luce Foundation Annemarie Harrod, PhD’87 Andrew W. Harrell, BA’70 rank of chief warrant officer. An elder in the with the Northern Command in the Euro- dent. Francis Asbury Palmer Fund Toni Heller, MTS’05, and Richard Heller Jr., M.D. Donald F. Heath, PhD’73 United Methodist Church, he was appoint- pean Theatre of World War II, he worked Joe Nix Quin, BA’54 David Hilliard, MDiv’59, DMin’80, and Patsy Hilliard Carolyn Higginbotham, MDiv’83, and ed dean in 1981 of the School of Manage- for the Tennessee Valley Authority from Idella Harrelson, on September 9, 2009, Walter Rein, MDiv’62, and Janell Rein Jean and Ed Jenkins Jim Higginbotham, MDiv’83, PhD’05 ment at Oklahoma City University. 1949-1956. He served three churches during wife of Vanderbilt University Divinity Anthony Rose Gerald Kirksey, BE’71, JD’86, and Susan Kirksey Paula Hoos, MS’75, PhD’82, MDiv’01 his thirty-two years of ministry: Shawnee School dean and professor, emeritus, Walter Judy Thompson, BA’69 Gary L. Kornell, MDiv’71, and Karen Kornell Kitty Norton Jones, MDiv’98 Samuel Kibicho, PhD’72, in April of 2009. Presbyterian Church and Iroquois Presbyte- Harrelson. Cal Turner, BA’62, and Margaret Turner Pat and Kassian Kovalcheck John Richard Jones, MA’77, PhD’82 He was the first Kenyan principal at Saint rian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and West End United Methodist Church, Forrest Lammiman, MDiv’69, and Barbara Lammiman Ryan LaMothe, PhD’94 Paul’s United Theological College and later Hillwood Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Rachel Love Steele, on August 7, 2010, of Nashville, Tennessee James and Berta Laney Phil A. Lepanto, BA’95 became chairman of the department of reli- Tennessee. He was a past president of the Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 58. An Shirley LaRoche, MTS’98 In honor of The Reverend Thomas C. Hummel gious studies at the University of Nairobi. Downtown Kiwanis Club where he was a attorney, she served as an elder for the Dean’s List Sally Levine Robb Nash, MSN’07, and Marcella Nash George B. Lynch, MD’92, and Amy Lynch, M.D. Bill Parsons, BA’66, MAT’68, and Evelyn Parsons Remembered by his students as being “thor- member for over thirty years. Downtown Presbyterian Church in ($5,000–$9,999) In honor of The Reverend Tom Laney Nancy W. Ray ough, diligent, and patient,” he is recognized Nashville. Deborah O’Daniel Cantrell, MA’07, PhD’08 Robert Maphis, MDiv’64 In honor of Dean James Hudnut-Beumler and by the Academy as one of the great African H. James Smith Jr., MDiv’87, on July 13, Heidi and James Hudnut-Beumler In memory of Mrs. Ruth Bowman Maphis The Reverend Heidi Hudnut-Beumler Christian theologians of his generation. 2010, at the age of 66 after an extended ill- Norma Ingalls Dan Matthews, D’58, and Diane Matthews Diane Sasson and Jack Sasson ness. He worked for the State of Tennessee In memory of Mr. Christian E. Hauer Sr. Doug Meeks, AS’63, and Blair Meeks In memory of Professor Howard L. Harrod Glenda S. Webb, MDiv’73, DMin’77, on as a forensic toxicologist and served church- and Mrs. Anna Lee C. Hauer Jacqueline Merritt, MTS’06 Becca Stevens, MDiv’90, and Marcus Hummon, D’88 July 2, 2010, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at es in Middle Tennessee for the Methodist Magee Christian Education Foundation Patricia Mouer, MDiv’94, and Joseph Mouer Laura Trent, BS’75, BSN’77, and Tom Trent, JD’79 the age of 61 from the effects of pneumonia. Church. Frank McArthur II, BA’64, and Kathy McArthur Susan and Jim O’Neill, M.D. MaryGoodloe Tucker, BA’93, and David Tucker Ordained in the Christian Church, Disciples Elizabeth Pankey-Warren, MDiv’87, and Vincent Walkup, MDiv’71, DMin’84 of Christ, in Kentucky, she was the first Joshua Mzizi, MA’94, PhD’95, of the Uni- Member’s Level Christopher Warren Frederick L. Ware, MDiv’91, PhD’99 woman minister to serve the Elkton Church versity of Swaziland where a memorial lec- ($1,000–$4,999) Bill Paulsell, MDiv’59, MA’61, PhD’65 Joe Pennel, MDiv’64, DMin’77, and Janene Pennel (Gifts under $499) in Madisonville, Kentucky. She worked as ture has been established in his name. Kay Beasley, BA’56, and Earl Beasley, BA’55 Harrell Phillips, MDiv’63, and Alice Phillips Dorothy Achor, D’58, and William Achor, an editor for both the Methodist Publishing Daniel Beck, MA’80 Anne and Charles Roos MS’54, PhD’58 House and the Upper Room Methodist Pub- Mary Ann and Bill Blaufuss Marlin Sanders, BA’53, MS’55, and Bill Sanders, BA’42 Lee Richard Allard, MA’82, MTS’92 lishing Company. Burt J. Bogitsh MarLu Scott, MDiv’03 Edric Allen, DMin’76, and Geraldine Allen Randy Boone, MDiv’78, PhD’87 Gene Shanks, BA’69, and Susan Shanks Nancy Ann Andersen, PhD’99 Beth Boord and Henry Ambrose Donald J. Cherney, DMin’76. A Lutheran Beth Pattillo, MDiv’90, and Randy Smith, Niels-Erik A. Andreasen, MA’69, PhD’71 Bob Bottoms, DMin’72, and Gwen Bottoms minister and retired clinic director for the BA’84, MDiv’88 Milton P. Andrews Jr., Oberlin’45, MDiv’48 Cheryl Brown, MS’77, and Ted Brown, Waccamaw Center for Mental Health in Ann Soderquist, MDiv’96 Sandra Ward-Angell, MDiv’85, and MDiv’79, PhD’88 Saundra and Alex Steele Stephen Ward Angell, MA’87, PhD’88 South Carolina, he served in the United Arthur Burrows, MDiv’65, MST’67 Carol Transou, GS’60, and Bedford Transou, Troy Apple, D.V.M. States Air Force during the Korean War. He Betty and David Buttrick BA’57, MDiv’60 Amy Marian Ard, MTS’02 also led the construction of new church Cathedral of the Incarnation, Nashville, Tennessee Ann VanDervoort, MDiv’83, and Ellen True Armour, PhD’93, and H. Barbee Majors buildings in Morristown and Clarksville, Mary Sue Cheek Robert L. VanDervoort, M.D. Emily Askew, PhD’04, and Viki B. Matson Tennessee, and East Troy, Michigan. He vol- Darby Ray, PhD’96, and Raymond Clothier, MDiv’92 John Van Nuys, MDiv’91 Kelly Lane Ayer, MDiv’04 unteered as chaplain for American Legion Rita Collett, BA’74, and John Collett, MDiv’73 Jeanne and Henry Varnell Richard Joseph Babb, MDiv’81 Mary and Charlie Cook Post No. 186, VFW Post No. 10804, and Lit- Gene Vaughan, BA’55, and Susan Vaughan Nanette Bahlinger, MTS’98 Don Cottrill, MDiv’71, and Glennell Cottrill tle River Elks Lodge No. 2840. The Washington Foundation C-J Bailey, DMin’63 Margaret Parks Cowan, PhD’90, and John D. Cowan Betty and Bernard Werthan Robert A. Baker, Oberlin’57 In memory of Mrs. Idella A. Harrelson Gudrun and Bob West, M.D. John David Baker-Batsel, MDiv’59, MA’62, MAL’63 Tom H. Cross, MDiv’61, and Ruth Cross Linda T. White, MDiv’94, and Raymond D. White Bill Balch, MDiv’63 Ann B. Day, MDiv’78, and Donna E. Enberg Ridley Wills, BA’56, and Irene Wills Lawrence H. Balleine, MDiv’75 Dee Doochin, MLAS’97, and Jerry Doochin, BA’52 Justin Wilson, JD’70, and Barbara Engelhardt, M.D. Isam E. Ballenger, DMin’76 Donna Dykes, PhD’76, and Ray Dykes, James Frederick Barber, MDiv’69, DMin’71 MDiv’70, DMin’73 William Joseph Barger, MDiv’85 Kimberlee Maphis Early, MDiv’81, and Robert Early, Emily Barker, MDiv’82 BA’71, MDiv’76 Sam Barnett, BA’56, MDiv’59 30 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 31 Tanya Barnett, MDiv’98 Joanna Carnahan, BA’61, and James Burt Davis, DMin’80 Terrence L. Freeman, MDiv’72, DMin’73 Harold C. Henderson, MDiv’57 Katie M. Ladd, MDiv’96 In honor of Professor Sallie McFague Malcolm Carnahan, MDiv’63 Danielle Thompson, MDiv’06, and Joshua Bradley Richard Park Fricks, D’69, MS’78, PhD’81, and Doug Hendrix, MDiv’80 Nadia M. Lahutsky, MA’79, PhD’84, and Warren Glenn Barr, MDiv’68 Amy Carr, MDiv’93 Davis, MTS’04, MA’08, PhD’10 Genevieve B. Fricks Jack H. Henton, MDiv’57 Edward J. McMahon II, MA’79, PhD’84 Karen Pennstrom Barrineau, MDiv’91 Jerry B. Carr, MDiv’58, DMin’75 William C. Davis, MDiv’49 Richard Frothingham, Oberlin’51 *Richard E. Herrmann, MDiv’64 Priscilla B. Lampert, D’67, and Ralph J. Lampert, Elbridge W. Bartley Jr., MDiv’40 Clyde Cassimy, DMin’81 William G. Davis, MDiv’82 Janice K. Fruth, MS’67, and Michael P. Fruth, Kimberly Hibbard, MDiv’07 BA’61, M.D. Robert Steven Bass, DMin’83 Mary Allison Beasley Cates, MDiv’03 Stacia Dearmin, MTS’91 MA’69, PhD’75 Allie Jane Higgins, MDiv’05 Robin and Tom Laney David Baughman, D’77, and Constance Baughman Merrill O. Challman, MDiv’47 Daniel G. Deffenbaugh, PhD’99 Stephen Lewis Fuchs, DMin’92 Thomas E. Hines Jr., DMin’78 In honor of Professor M. Douglas Meeks Samuel M. Beaty, MDiv’53 Jeremiah P. Chamberlin, MDiv’87 Jane Kieve Depee, BSN’62, MSN’63, and Ron Gaddie, MDiv’66 Richard S. Hipps, DMin’87 Susan L. Lausch, MDiv’80 Carlos L. Beck, MDiv’70 George P. Chandler, MDiv’59 George W. Depee, MDiv’61 Russell N. Gillimore, MDiv’60 Judith K. Hoffman, MDiv’91 B.F. Lee, MDiv’55 Amelia Becker, MTS’95 Palamittathu V. Chandy, DMin’74 Rory Cooke Dicker, MA’94, PhD’98, and William C. Gannaway, DMin’82 Priscilla Hohmann, MDiv’05 Robert E. Lee, MDiv’57 Deborah Beckley, BS’71, MS’72, and Harlan Beckley, H. McCreal Chapman, DMin’76 Paul DeHart Stephen Y. Gantt, DMin’78 Ruth Ramsdell Holden, MDiv’69 G. Douglass Lewis, MDiv’60 MDiv’72, MA’74, PhD’78 Robert A. Boyd Clanton, DMin’86 Dennis C. Dickerson, MDiv’07, and Mary Dickerson William J. Gardiner, DMin’81 Basye Holland, MA’72, MTS’02 Robert H. Lewis Jr., BA’58, MDiv’61 Gilbert W. Beeson Jr., MDiv’63 Douglas Ralph Clark, MA’84, PhD’84 Angela Marie Dillon Brenda S. Gardner, BA’75, MLS’78, and F. Eugene Holly, MS’60 William B. Lewis, D’56, PhD’63 Donald Beisswenger Janice Earlene Clark, MA’70, and Donna Dodson, BS’94, MDiv’00 Jim Gardner, MDiv’86 Lawrence T. Holmer, Oberlin’63 Sister Elizabeth Ann Liebert, PhD’86 Marty Bell, MA’88, PhD’90 Terry L. Clark, MDiv’71 William E. Dodson, MDiv’73 Mae M. Gautier, MDiv’60 Eric C. Holmstrom, MDiv’78 Barbara Hickey, MA’99, and David E. Ling, Darlis Berkenpas, MDiv’85 Anthony J. Cmelak, M.D. William E. Dorman, MDiv’70 William R. Gentry, MDiv’55 Molly O. Holtsford, D’57 MAT’68, PhD’69 H. Leon Berry, MDiv’44 In honor of Chloe Cmelak and Luca Cmelak Josephine Doubleday, BA’48, and Myrl Gephaart, Oberlin’64 Charles G. Hosay, MDiv’62 Suzanne G. Listemann, MDiv’86 Louis E. Bertoni, Oberlin’55 Edward F. Coffman, BA’42, MDiv’44, DMin’72 Bennett B. Doubleday, E’46 Laura Hayes Gladson, EdD’85, and Donald E. Howitz, Oberlin’56 Jack M. Loflin, MDiv’59 Perry H. Biddle Jr., DMin’73, and Sue Biddle James Raymond Coffman, DMin’80, and Nancy M. Dover, MDiv’68 Jerry A. Gladson, PhD’78 C. Phillip Huckaby Jr., MDiv’59 John N. Lozier, D’77, and Joceline E. Lemaire Martha Prather Bishop, D’66 Mary Kathryn Coffman Clare Golson Doyle, MDiv’88, and Linda Hughes Glenn, MDiv’85 Mark R. Huffman, MTS’90 Laura Mann Magevney, BA’91, JD’97, MDiv’98, and Ed Blackburn, DMin’85 Alan E. Cole, DMin’72, and Marylyn Cole Lloyd A. Doyle, MDiv’88 Caroline Wallis Goddard, MDiv’91 Roosevelt Hughes Jr., D’78, and Grace Hughes Hugh M. Magevney IV, BA’91, MBA’98 Frank E. Blair, MDiv’74 Harry A. Cole III, MDiv’70, DMin’81 David R. Drain, DMin’72 Billy Starr Goforth, DMin’86 Mary Fran Hughes-McIntyre, MDiv’73 Blake Austin Mann, MTS’05 Louis Blankenbaker, MDiv’73 *Curtis D. Coleman, DMin’76 Joseph D. Driskill, MDiv’71 Henry J. Golson, MDiv’63 Richard C. Hulbert, MDiv’68 Herbert R. Marbury, MA’00, PhD’03 Joseph Daniels Blosser, MDiv’05, and Allison Blosser Alice Brunson Coleman, MLS’67, EdS’79, and Paul A. Duffey, MDiv’45 Steve R. Gordy, MDiv’76, PhD’84 John W. Hulme, MDiv’53 In honor of Mrs. Annette R. Marbury Diane Luton Blum, MDiv’80, and Gillis Byrns Coleman, PhD’76 Keith Randall Dull, DMin’80 Dianne D. Gore, BA’67 Stephanie Wood Hunt, MTS’89, and Marlene E. Marengo Silva, MBA’08 Jeffery W. Blum, MDiv’80 In honor of Professor Walter Harrelson Victor W. Dungan, MDiv’63 David E. Goss, MDiv’63 Noel McReynolds Hunt, MD’89 Coleman C. Markham, PhD’67 Joel Blunk, MDiv’89 Monica A. Coleman, MDiv’98 Kenneth A. Dunivant, MDiv’78 Earl F. Gossett Jr., MDiv’57, PhD’61 Susan E. Hylen and Ted A. Smith Ronald K. Marmaduke, Oberlin’58 Bruce J. Borgerson, MTS’89 Thomas B. Conner III, BA’88 Sanders R. East, MDiv’59 Robert Buck Goyer, DMin’76 Randy Hyvonen, MDiv’73, and Karen Hyvonen Richard S. Marsh, MDiv’70 Chappy Bradner, MDiv’69 Alice M. Cook, MDiv’84 Rebecca Jorgensen Eberhart, MDiv’00, and George Robert Graham, MDiv’90 Immanuel Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee Joretta L. Marshall, MA’89, PhD’92 Mark L. Bramlett Jr., AS’46 Joan Cook, PhD’89 Timothy Reinhold Eberhart, MDiv’00, MA’07 William Walter Graham, MDiv’92 Lyle Jackson Linda M. Martin, MDiv’93 Kathleen E. Brandt, MDiv’85 In memory of Mrs. Idella Harrelson Thomas W. Eblen, MDiv’71 Ruth Wade Grant, BS’77, and R. Charles Grant, William E. Jacobs, Oberlin’51 Earse Mauler Jr., Oberlin’52 The Reverend Fr. Joseph P. Breen Sandra Hooper Cook, MA’60, and Clifford Alan Edge, MDiv’82 MDiv’76, DMin’83 Daniel P. Jamros, PhD’86 F. Howard Maull, MDiv’70, and Glady L. Lytle-Maull Patricia Brock, MDiv’05 John Thomas Cook, MDiv’63 Fred P. Edie, MDiv’86 George H. Gray, DMin’80 Dierdre W. Jarrett, MDiv’94 Homer L. McCall, MDiv’78, DMin’80 Bill Brockman, MDiv’58, and Margaret Brockman Faith M. Cornwall, MDiv’66, DMin’74 Gwen Efird, BSN’59, and Gene Efird, MDiv’60 David J. Graybill, PhD’77 Jerry L. Jeffords, MDiv’70, DMin’76 Annie and John S. McClure Brookmeade Congregational Church, John G. Corry, DMin’81, and Shirley Corry Allen V. Eikner, PhD’62 Craig A. Green, MDiv’95 Jonathan L. Jeffords, MDiv’90 Mary N. McCullough, BS’80, and Nashville, Tennessee Nena Couch, BA’72, MMus’75, MLS’83, and Emily Rebecca Einstein, MDiv’07, and Todd Howell Green, MA’06, PhD’07, and Nancy Jacobs Jenkins, MDiv’05 John H. McCullough, MDiv’79 In honor of Professor David G. Buttrick Peter Coccia, MA’80 Adam Russell Hill, JD’08 Tabita Green Andrea Kersh Johnson, MDiv’03 Lane C. McGaughy, MA’69, PhD’70 Eleanor Brooks, BA’77 Ann G. Cover, MDiv’01 John D. Elder, Oberlin’57 Julie Greenberg, MTS’06 Charles Michael Johnson, G’78 Robert G. McGehee, D’78 William F. Brosend II, MDiv’79 Martha Jane Reineke, PhD’83, and In memory of The Reverend Nils Johnson Jr. In honor of Professor Jay Geller James T. Johnson, MDiv’63 Robert S. McGinnis Jr., D’71 Joseph E. Brown Jr., BA’61 William Ira Cozart, MS’77 Patterson D. Ellis, DMin’75, and Rhonda G. Ellis John W. Gregory, MDiv’68 Linda Joyce Johnson, MDiv’77 Charlotte I. McLain, MMus’67, and Rosemary Brown, MDiv’77 Fred B. Craddock Jr., PhD’64 Joe Elmore, MDiv’56 Frank P. Grisham, MDiv’52, MALS’58 Norma and Dale Johnson Michael McLain, PhD’68 Jonathan D. Brumberg-Kraus, PhD’91 Billy E. Craighead, MDiv’55 Bobby H. Ely, MDiv’62 Lisa Gwock, MTS’05 Warren H. Johnson, Oberlin’54 Ross H. McLaren, MDiv’78, MA’82, DMin’85 In honor of Professor Daniel M. Patte Catherine Cralle-Jones, JD’89, MDiv’89, and William Dean Emerson, MDiv’91 Jennifer Hackett, MDiv’00 George K. Jones, MDiv’58 William S. McLoud, MDiv’72 William T. Buckner, MDiv’57, and Frances N. Buckner Philip N. Jones, MA’06 John C. Endres, PhD’82 Ardella Hager, Oberlin’65 Paul H. Jones, MA’84, PhD’88 Allan J. McNicol, MA’72, PhD’74 William Buice, DMin’85 Barry Steele Crawford, PhD’78 Sarah Fairbank, MTS’98, JD’98, and Guy B. Hammond, PhD’62 William B. Jones, PhD’65 Donna Jean McWhirter, MDiv’87 Richard Alan Bunch, MDiv’70, DD’71 William C. Creasy, Oberlin’54, DMin’71 William F. Blaufuss III, MBA’95 Elissanne C. Hammonds, MDiv’00 Patricia B. Jung, PhD’79, and Shannon Jung, PhD’73 Paul W. Meier, MDiv’02 Ken Burnette, MDiv’57 James L. Crenshaw, PhD’64 Diane Faires, MDiv’09 Joan M. Haner, Oberlin’59 Curt D. Keller, MDiv’83 The Memphis Annual Conference of the United Marcella Burris, MDiv’55, MA’57, and Boyd Burris Catherine A. Crimi, MS’98 John P. Fairweather, MDiv’69, MA’72, PhD’75 Chris Hankins, MTS’91 Thomas G. Kerns, MDiv’54 Methodist Church, Brownsville District, Meagan and Eric Burton-Krieger Carolyn T. Crocker, D’74, and Richard R. Crocker, Joseph Burton Fanning, PhD’08 Thomas H. Hardin, MDiv’72, MEd’85 Virginia Kessen, BA’78, MDiv’82, and Brownsville, Tennessee John Butchko, MDiv’80 MDiv’73, PhD’88 Doris and Ed Farley Jane E. Harper, MDiv’93 Mike Kessen, D’82 The Memphis Annual Conference of the United Frank M. Butler, MDiv’78 Robert H. Crumby, DMin’73 Bevington H. Farnsworth, MDiv’59, DMin’80 Fred M. Harris, MA’70, MDiv’70 Jeff Keyes, MDiv’61, MA’68, PhD’77 Methodist Church, Paris District, Paris, Tennessee Mary R. Butler, BSN’57, and Harry A. Butler, PhD’59 Rebecca S. Curry, MDiv’76 Melissa Beigler Faulkner, MDiv’92 Sharman K. Hartson, MDiv’02 Rex D. Kibler Jr., MDiv’90 Lady Love Merryman, D’87 Namjung Byun, MTS’90 Lorna Daigle, MA’84, and Clifton J. Daigle Wesley C. Fears, MDiv’79, and Rebecca Bodamer Fears Charles D. Harvey, BA’51, MDiv’54, MA’62 David B. Kidd, MDiv’70, DMin’86 Joe C. Meux, JD’56, MST’67 Shane T. Cadden, MTS’99 David R. Damon, DMin’74 Jamison Allen Fee, MDiv’99 Beth Harwell, BA’57, and Rob Harwell, BA’57 Harold E. Kieler, MDiv’57, MA’63 Paul Miguel, Oberlin’63 Stephen A. Caldwell, MDiv’71, and Lindy Caldwell Mary Louise Danner, GS’61, and Jeanne T. Finley, MDiv’05 Sarah Klaassen, MDiv’09, and Jamie Haskins, MDiv’09 Carolyn L. Kimbrough, A’62 Dale Miller Jr., MDiv’49 Mark W. Calvert-Rosenberger, DMin’53 Charles E. Danner, MDiv’63 Eleanor Daly Finnegan, MTS’05 Pamela C. Hawkins, MS’77, MDiv’97 Angela Gay Kinkead, MDiv’97 John T. Miller, D’71 Thomas E. Camp, DMin’53 Katheryn P. Darr, PhD’84, and John A. Darr, PhD’87 First Presbyterian Church, Franklin, Tennessee Douglas D. Hawthorne, MDiv’74 Erika Callaway Kleiner, MDiv’02 Perry S. Miller, DMin’87 Alan R. W. Campbell, MST’67, and Louise Campbell David Allan Darrow, MA’82, PhD’87 Marie M. Fleischer, MDiv’70 Warren E. Haynes, MDiv’55 John W. Knoespel, DMin’80 Bonnie and Mark Miller-McLemore Linda S. Campbell, MDiv’80 Randal Lee Daugherty, MDiv’82, and Ronald B. Flowers, MDiv’60, MST’61 Michael J. Heard, MDiv’79, and Gail Eichelberger Millard B. Knowles, MDiv’54 R. Gordon Minehart, MDiv’59 Kenneth L. Carder, DMin’80 Rhonda Daugherty Rose Holland Force-Cook, BS’78 Rebecca M. Heller, MDiv’00 Ann W. Koelemay, BS’53, and Ralph L. Koelemay, Walter E. Mischke Jr., MDiv’56 Anne B. Carey, MTS’95 Myra Agee Davenport, MLS’68, and Furman Clark Ford, DMin’64 Claire Helms, MA’63, and John Wayne Helms, BA’51, MDiv’54 Steven A. Monhollen, MDiv’72, DMin’73 Anne Cargill, MA’75, and Jim Baker, MDiv’74 Carl W. Davenport, MDiv’60, PhD’68, MLS’71 John Mark Forrester, MDiv’83 MDiv’65 Robert F. Kohler, MA’92, and Judith Kohler Harold L. Montgomery, MDiv’60 Dwight Carlson, Oberlin’66 Gene L. Davenport, MDiv’60, PhD’68 E. Quinn Fox, PhD’99 Thomas L. Helton, MDiv’75, and Mary Helton Susan Hutcheson Koose, MTS’98 John C. Montgomery Jr., D’52 David R. Davis, MDiv’70, DMin’77 Paul Nimrah Franklyn, PhD’86 Joseph G. Hembd, Oberlin’65 Robert L. Kuyper, MDiv’68 Bobby J. Moore, MDiv’61

32 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 33 J. Scott Moore, BS’74 Kathy Woods, MEd’95, and Salem United Methodist Church, Mark M. Strothman, MDiv’79 George Williamson Jr., MA’70, PhD’71, and Sarratt Society Kathryn B. Moore, Oberlin’66 Gordon Peerman III, DMin’90 Clarksville, Tennessee Mary S. Stumb, BA’57, and Paul R. Stumb III, Carol Williamson Individuals who have made planned gift Maurice B. Moore, MDiv’56 Ernest C. Pennington, BA’60, MDiv’64 Janet Todd Salyer, MDiv’02, and Carson L. Salyer BA’56, MD’60 Sherry S. Willis commitments to the Divinity School W. Eugene Moore, MDiv’50 Peter W. Peters, MA’73, PhD’79 Lisa Dordal, MDiv’05, and Laurie Samuels, MEd’05 Roy T. Sublette, MDiv’55 K. Janelle Wilson Jennifer Stokes Morgan, MTS’97 Andrew R. Peterson, MDiv’93 James H. Sandlin, MDiv’69, and Susan H. Sandlin William Jenkins Summey Jr., PhD’04 In memory of Mr. William Maurice Jarvis Elbridge W. Bartley Jr., MDiv’40 Roderick K. Morgan, MDiv’74, DMin’75 Frederick C. Petri, MST’64 Jill Sawoski Shashaty, MDiv’02, and Vinson H. Sutlive Jr., MDiv’56 Keith A. Wilson, MDiv’79 Beth Boord William B. Morgan Jr., MDiv’74, DMin’76 Tom Pexton, Oberlin’58, and Connie Pexton Michael Sawoski Shashaty, MD’03 James E. Syphers, Oberlin’68 Mary L. Wilson Rick Bryant, MTS’04, and Mary Lea Bryant, MEd’07 George E. Morris, MDiv’63, D’70 Gary A. Phillips, MDiv’74, PhD’81 Saxon C. Scarborough, MDiv’79 John T. Talbott, MDiv’85 Kathleen L. Wolff, MSN’83 Randal Lee Daugherty, MDiv’82 Paul Morris III, MA’87 Jack C. Phillips, MDiv’63 Sheryl Ann Scates, MDiv’04 Mark Anthony Tapajna, MA’89 In honor of Mr. Jim Price Kimberlee Maphis Early, MDiv’81, and William W. Morris, DMin’73 Paul L. Phillips, MDiv’59 Karen D. Scheib, PhD’94 W. Garie Taylor, MDiv’61 Judith Fisher Wolfgang, MDiv’81 Robert Early, BA’71, MDiv’76 Michael Morse, Oberlin’66 Garnet E. Pike, MDiv’69, DD’72 Richard Schiemann, D’64, PhD’66 Robert J. Teitelbaum, MTS’01 James Paul Womack, MDiv’73 Dorothy Parks Evins, MDiv’67, MLS’70 Brantley E. Motes, MDiv’64, DMin’76 Cynthia D. Pitcock, MA’57, and James A. Pitcock, M.D. Anita Woodcock Schmid, MS’81 The Tennessee Annual Conference of the Laurence N. Woodruff, MST’67 Doris and Ed Farley Stephen Muncie, MDiv’79 In honor of Professor James P. Burns Jr. Kurt G. Schreiber, MTS’03 United Methodist Church, Clarksville District, Glenn R. Woodson, DMin’81 Shirley and Jack Forstman Andrea Roth Murdock, MTS’02 Ruth L. Pitts, MA’60, PhD’68, and Bill L. Pitts, Darla Schumm, PhD’02, and Clarksville, Tennessee David O. Woodyard, Oberlin’65 Walter Harrelson Spencer C. Murray, PhD’71 MDiv’63, PhD’69 Jonathan F. Harris, MDiv’00 The Tennessee Annual Conference of the Richard E. Wrangle, MDiv’58 Toni Heller, MTS’05, and Richard Heller Jr., M.D. Katherine Cotten Oates, MTS’94, and Karl A. Plank, MDiv’77, MA’80, PhD’83 Donna Jeanne Scott, EdS’75, MDiv’85 United Methodist Church, Cookeville District, Bill G. Wright, MDiv’59 David M. Hilliard Jr., MDiv’59, DMin’80 Daniel B. Murrey, M.D. Mary Lynn C. Polk, MA’70, and N. Keith Polk Jr., D’71 Sally Smith Scott, MEd’83, and Cookeville, Tennessee H. Elliott Wright Jr., MDiv’62, MST’67 William J. Hook, PhD’92, and Theresa Hook Charles S. Myser, MDiv’83, DMin’85, and Charles H. Poole, BA’49, MDiv’51, MA’57, and Steven G. Scott, MDiv’84 The Tennessee Annual Conference of the United Julian H. Wright Jr., JD’92, MDiv’92, and Amy Wright Robert T. Ireland, MDiv’73, DMin’74, and LaCretia Myser Ruth C. Poole, BA’64, MA’66 Charles W. Scragg Jr., MDiv’56 Methodist Church, Murfreesboro District, Selena A. Wright, MDiv’08 Jo Beth Ireland Helen L. Nablo, MDiv’90 William J. Postler, MDiv’75 Julius R. Scruggs, MDiv’68, DMin’75 Murfreesboro, TN Kenneth R. Wyant, MDiv’72 Malcolm Jones, A’45, and Catherine Jones Susan E. Warner Nance, MDiv’90 James J. H. Price, MA’72, PhD’77 George Russell Seay Jr., PhD’08, and Tara Lynn Seay Penny and Gene TeSelle Robert O. Wyatt, MTS’03 B.F. Lee, MDiv’55, and Ruth Lee G. Frank Nason, BA’83 Robert W. Prim, MDiv’86 Martha W. Sedgwick, MA’74, and James Curley Thomas, MDiv’84 Sanford W. Wylie Jr., DMin’84 Ron Matthews, MDiv’80, and Pat Matthews Archie L. Nations, PhD’60 Carol Ann Tate, MDiv’00, and K. C. Ptomey Timothy F. Sedgwick, MA’74, PhD’75 Marcy Hobbs Thomas, MDiv’03 Henry G. Wyman, Oberlin’61 Frank D. McArthur II, BA’64, and Kathy M. McArthur Nancy G. Neelley, MDiv’03 Richard L. Qualls, MDiv’85 Henry J. Segars, MDiv’57 Ashley D. Thompson Donald A. Yaussy, Oberlin Virginia McLeod, MDiv’75 Dennis P. Neenan, MDiv’75 Richard T. Quinn, MDiv’08 David J. Seitz, MDiv’67, DMin’82 James W. Thompson, PhD’74 Shelli Renee Yoder, MDiv’02, and Heston Milligan, MDiv’47, and Sue Milligan Richard R. Neil III, BA’60, MDiv’64 Erin A. Racine, MDiv’08 Elmo B. Self, PhD’68 John Mark Thompson, PhD’65 Joshua Edward Perry, JD’02, MTS’02 Michael K. Morning, MDiv’79, and Sharon Wickland Anne K. Nelsen, MA’68, PhD’77, and Nancy J. Ramsay, MA’83, PhD’87 Margaret Ann Crain, EdD’91, and Jack L. Seymour, Gene R. Thursby, MDiv’64 Carroll M. Young, A’56, MSN’80, MS’88, PhD’91, Kitty Norton Jones, MDiv’98 Hart M. Nelsen, PhD’72 Sandra Lee Randleman, JD’80, MDiv’99 MDiv’73, DMin’74, PhD’83 J. David Tidwell, MA’77 and Frank Neiswender Jack C. Phillips, MDiv’63 Don D. Newland, Oberlin’59 Peter D. Rasmussen, D’64 Sandy P. Shawhan, MDiv’97 Diane P. Tobias, MLS’80, and Kenneth Matthew Young, MDiv’90 Joe Nix Quin, BA’54 Alice S. Nichols, MDiv’04 Harold D. Ray, MDiv’60, and Fay H. Ray In honor of Professor Amy-Jill Levine Charles E. Tobias, MDiv’82 Fred E. Zacharias, Oberlin’56 S. Daniel Rosemergy, MDiv’82, DMin’88, and Donald N. Nichols, Oberlin’65 David Redding, Oberlin’53 Ruth Ann Sheets, BS’75, MDiv’88 Edmund W. Tratebas, D’60 Linda Gibson Zelenka, BA’64 Jan Rosemergy Jane Ellen Nickell, MDiv’00 Jenny Redding, MDiv’05, MEd’07 John C. Shelley Jr., MA’73, PhD’77 Robert J. Trobaugh, PhD’66 Carol B. Zwick, G’75 MarLu P. Scott, MDiv’03 Kaye P. Nickell, MDiv’02 Paul L. Redditt, MA’71, PhD’72 Vance R. Sherwood, D’72 James F. Tuohy, DMin’78 J. Samuel Shelby, MDiv’41, and Elaine Shelby Eric M. Nitzberg, MTS’01 Fred M. Reese Jr., MDiv’54 Florence and Dexter Shurney Helen Lee Turner, MDiv’75, DMin’76 Mills-Buttrick Society Ada T. Smith, BSN’47 Mark A. Noll, MA’74, PhD’75, and Ruth Noll Catharine L. Regen, MAT’55, MDiv’90, and Meredith B. Siler, MDiv’06, and Steven R. Siler Anne S. Turner, MLS’71, and Ronald G. Turner, Gina L. Tollini, MDiv’91 Gifts from religious organizations between Douglas N. Norfleet, MDiv’84, and Barney B. Regen, A’60, JD’68 Landa Harris Simmons, MDiv’82 JD’73, MTS’00 Carol Transou, G’60, and Bedford T. Transou Jr., July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010 Ashley M. Norfleet William P. Reid, Oberlin’53 Richard L. Sinex, D’77 Kelly Turney, MDiv’91 BA’57, MDiv’60 James C. Norton, BA’75, MDiv’78, and Linda Norton Suzanne Rhinehardt, LCSW, BS’88, and Willie Antoni Sinkfield, MDiv’94, and Kristy Sinkfield Paul Bruce Tuttle, MDiv’86 Brookmeade Congregational Church UCC, V. Ann Van Dervoort, MDiv’83 Donald A. Nunnelly, DMin’84 Eric A. Rhinehardt, MTS’89 Paul L. Slentz, MA’79, MDiv’98 David A. VanEpps, MDiv’67 Nashville, Tennessee Woodrow W. Wasson, BA’39, MA’40, MLS’67 James D. Oaks Jr., MDiv’80, DMin’91 Carl E. Rhoads III, MDiv’68 James L. Smalley Jr., MDiv’67 Peter van Eys, BA’77, MDiv’80, and Patti van Eys Calvert City United Methodist Church, Robert O. Wyatt II, MTS’03 Lauren M. Odell-Scott, MA’80, and Frank G. Rice, DMin’65 Judy G. Smith, BA’55, and David H. Smith, MDiv’54 Jonathan David Vance, MDiv’91 Calvert City, Kentucky Carol B. Zwick, G’75 David W. Odell-Scott, MDiv’80, PhD’89 Elizabeth Ann Richardson, MDiv’84 Donna Elizabeth Smith, MDiv’95 Gregory Kyle Vickers, MA’86 Cathedral of The Incarnation, Nashville, Tennessee April Oglesby Woodrow W. Richardson Jr., MA’69 Jerry C. Smith, MDiv’68, DMin’70 Nancy Victorin-Vangerud, MDiv’86, PhD’95, and First Presbyterian Church, Franklin, Tennessee This donor report includes gifts received from July 1, Thomas W. Ogletree, PhD’63, and Mary-Lynn Ogletree Joanne F. Ricketts, MA’57, and Judith Elaine Smith, MDiv’80 Robert D. Victorin-Vangerud, MDiv’86, PhD’95 First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee 2009, through June 30, 2010. If you have made a gift after Mary Lou O’Gorman, MDiv’84 Lewis M. Ricketts, MDiv’57 Norris E. Smith, DMin’76 Paul Raymond Waddle, MA’81 Immanuel Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee this date, please accept our sincere gratitude and know Mary Aquin O’Neill, RSM, MA’74, PhD’81 Sunny Buchanan Ridings, MDiv’04 Roy L. Smith Jr., G’59 David S. Wade, MDiv’78 The Memphis Annual Conference of the that your generosity will be acknowledged in our next In honor of Professor Peter C. Hodgson Jerry A. Ridling, MDiv’69 Felix M. Snell, MDiv’60 C. Byron Waites, MDiv’55 United Methodist Church, Brownsville District, report. While we have made every effort to ensure the Noel D. Osborn, PhD’78 Patricia R. Robbennolt, MDiv’57 Robert H. Spain, MDiv’54 Charles A. Wallick, MST’67 Brownsville, Tennessee accuracy of this list, please inform us of any omissions or In memory of Mrs. Emma Ruth Osborn Frank C. Roberts, MA’69, PhD’73, and Doris Roberts Garry D. Speich, MDiv’69, DMin’84 Ann Markham Walsh, BA’60 The Memphis Annual Conference of the United errors by calling 615/322-4205. Robert G. Osborn, MDiv’78 Elizabeth A. and Logan W. Robertson LuAnne Marie Stanley Hook, MDiv’92 Mervyn A. Warren, DMin’75 Methodist Church, Paris District, Paris, Tennessee Marc E. Overlock, JD’87, MDiv’87, and Roger D. Robison, Oberlin’45 Robert H. Stegall, MDiv’66, D’77, and Kay Stegall Anne and Christopher Was Salem United Methodist Church, *deceased Wendy R. Overlock Lauren Miller Roden, MDiv’09 Susan Elizabeth Steinberg, MDiv’92 Garrett Waters Clarksville, Tennessee Hollis M. Owens III, MTS’94 David R. Rodgers, MDiv’87 Glen J. Stewart, MDiv’74, DMin’75 William D. Waters Jr., MDiv’65 St. Augustine’s Chapel, Nashville, Tennessee James C. Pace, MSN’81, MDiv’88 David G. Roebuck, MA’89, PhD’97 Jean Hart Stewart, BA’46 Robert N. Watkin Jr., PhD’69 The Tennessee Annual Conference of the Melita Padilla, MDiv’97 David L. Rollins, A’53, and Mary M. Rollins Sidney M. Stine, MDiv’57 B. Michael Watson, DMin’75 United Methodist Church, Clarksville District, Jean S. Palmberg, BA’58 David C. Roos, D’73, and Glenda L. Ross Joseph E. Stock, MDiv’60 Dorothy Jones Webster, MDiv’83 Clarksville, Tennessee Linda C. Parker, MDiv’79 Dan Rosemergy, MDiv’82, DMin’88, and Frank Andrews Stone, Oberlin’52, DMin’53 Martin L. Espinosa, MTS’90, and Renita J. Weems The Tennessee Annual Conference of the Adrienne M. Parker, BA’65, and Robert E. Parker, Jan Rosemergy In memory of Professor Herbert Gordon May Sidney Childs West, MA’69, and Dan C. West, D’69 United Methodist Church, Cookeville District, BA’65, JD’67 Richard L. Rothman, MDiv’55 William C. Stooksbury, D’87 Stephanie Ann Wherry, MDiv’08 Cookeville, Tennessee Donna Ann Parramore, BA’83, MDiv’02 Gary D. Rowan, MDiv’96 Pamela L. Strader, MDiv’88 John L. White, MA’68, PhD’70 The Tennessee Annual Conference of the Carol A. Parrent, BA’56, and Allan M. Parrent, Paula Rudy-Brown, MDiv’87 William J. Strickland Sr., PhD’67 Robert Howell White Jr., MDiv’65, DMin’70 United Methodist Church, Murfreesboro District, MA’55, MDiv’61 Barbara McBride Russell Teresa Lockhart Stricklen, MDiv’87, PhD’01 J. Kenneth Wilkerson, MDiv’56, PhD’67, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee Pamela B. Pearce, MA’73, and Michael R. Russell, MDiv’85, G’05 Frederick C. Stroebel, Oberlin’53 Gail Wilkerson West End United Methodist Church, Larry W. Pearce, MDiv’73 Elizabeth H. Russell, BA’62, and Rollin O. Russell, Lynn Strother Hinkle, BS’71, MDiv’01 John P. Williams, MDiv’64, and Anne P. Williams Nashville, Tennessee MDiv’61, DMin’62 34 T H E S P I R E Fall 2010 35 Vanderbilt Divinity School Board of Visitors 2010–2011 Mary and Charlie Cook, Chairs Mary Ann and Bill Blaufuss Gwen and Bob Bottoms Vincent Campbell Dee and Jerald Doochin Julie Greenberg Susan and Luke Gregory Stephen Handy Beth and Rob Harwell Toni and Richard Heller Heidi and James Hudnut-Beumler Barbara and Forrest Lammiman Diane and Daniel Matthews Kathy and Frank McArthur Dorothy and Alex McLeod Vicki and Thomas Moon Carole and Ed Nelson Susan and Jim O’Neill Tom Patterson and Mike Eldred Janene and Joe Pennel Sandra Randleman Diana Reed Laurie and Flip Rice Marlin and Bill Sanders Ann Soderquist Saundra and Alex Steele Mary and Paul Stumb Judy Thompson Julie and Jim Tuerff Carol and Bedford Transou Betty and Bernard Werthan

What a Pieta by Samuel L. Dunson, Jr. American (born 1970, Dayton, Ohio) oil on canvas 35”x 43” courtesy of Ken Morrow from the exhibition Lamentations Religion in the Arts in Contemporary Culture Vanderbilt University Divinity School

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Crossing Thresholds

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