DR. SERENE JONES NAMED UNION’S SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT

UNION NEWS SPRING 2008 UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK January 2008 Immersion Experiences

Ending Poverty: An Immersion Experience Commemorating Interdisciplinary Course in Ecumenical Theology the 40th Anniversary of MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign at the Facoltà Valdese di Teologia, Rome

Union students explore the reality of poverty Dean Euan Cameron (right) with Union students in Rome in the Mississippi Delta and along the Gulf Coast

One of the two January Poverty Immersion courses, sponsored and Sixteen Union students took part in a January travel seminar facilitated by Union’s Poverty Initiative, offered students the to Rome, Italy, to study at the Facoltà Valdese di Teologia, the opportunity to explore the reality of poverty in the Mississippi seminary of the Waldensian Church. Delta and along the Gulf Coast. Commemorating the 40th The Waldensian Church is a progressive Reformed tradition anniversary of the Poor People’s Campaign launched by Martin church with roots in the Middle Ages. The Waldensians are a Luther King, Jr., in December 1967, students from Union and sev - Protestant religious movement which was founded in France in eral other institutions, traveled to Marks, Miss. and other towns the 12th century but which is now centered in Italy. and cities in Mississippi, as well as Tennessee, Alabama and areas of the Gulf Coast, to learn from community and religious leaders Co-sponsored by the Melanchthon Ecumenical Center and the involved in the growing movement to end poverty. American Waldensian Society, the course was designed to explore issues of Protestant identity, traditions, and history in the context Students prepared for the trip by learning about theories of pover - of dialogue between Christian traditions. ty and race, the history of organizing in Appalachia and the South, and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and the Poor The faculty from the United States—Union’s Academic Dean, People’s Campaign. Throughout their travel, they spent signifi - Euan Cameron; Gabriella Lettini ’92, ’04, an ordained minister of cant time discussing the theological implications of building a the Waldensian Church who teaches theological ethics at Starr movement led by poor people to end poverty and exploring the King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif.; and Dawn unique role of religious communities in this effort. DeVries, a professor of Systematic Theology at Union Seminary in Virginia—along with an impressive roster of lecturers from the A Student Reflects on the Poverty Immersion Waldensian Seminary and other institutions in Rome, took full he landscape of the Mississippi Delta is breathtaking. Cyprus advantage of the setting in Rome to explore issues of religious his - “T trees rise above swampy waters, empty January fields of cot - tory and archaeology, of ecumenical and interfaith contacts, and ton fade into winter crops studded with the machines that replaced religious and ethnic diversity in Italy. generations of slaves and then sharecroppers in the fields. We feel the presence of a history not long past, but too often forgotten. The fear A Student Reflects on Ecumenical Learnings in Rome and bravery of runaway slaves has seeped into this ground. The evil n every corner, Rome reminds you that she has existed of slavery and the deep-seeded violence of racism and poverty are “O thousands of years. Rome has aged beautifully and graceful - forefront in our minds. ly. Perhaps this visceral connection with the past is the reason that Romans resist, or simply do not see, the social dynamics that are Analysis and academics—as important as they are—do not give us changing their culture. Yet, Rome is changing with the influx of enough. This land calls for song, for prayer. People find work now immigrants and the influence of its religious minorities. We learned in casinos that have seized upon the economic desperation here in that whether these changes will yield positive or negative fruits Tunica county. White business and political leaders still redraw depends upon the ability of the culture to accommodate the ‘other.’

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SPRING 2008 • Issue Number 48

Published by

UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK Publications Office 212-280-1510 Features 3041 Broadway, New York, NY 10027

inside front cover Managing Editor Joann Anand January 2008 Immersion Experiences for Union Students [email protected]

Class Notes, In Memoriam 2 Dr. Serene Jones Development Office Named Union’s Sixteenth President E-mail class notes to [email protected] 5 Tributaries of Psyche and Spirit E-mail death announcements to Converge at Union Theological Seminary [email protected] 9 Writers Nine Honored with 2007 Unitas Award Joann Anand 12 “Pressing Toward the Mark” – Trailblazers 2008 Laura D’Angelo Jane Duffield Marvin M. Ellison ’81 Megan Joiner James J. Kempster Departments Leah Robinson Rousmaniere 14 Board Corner Photos 19 Union Online Joann Anand Jane Duffield 20 Alumni/ae Council Susie Hermanson ’07 Ron Hester 21 Class Notes Kevin McGee cover photo: Ronald Aubert 24 Metropolitan Friends of Union Visit Union’s Web site 24 In Memoriam at www.utsnyc.edu AND register for MyUnion, your access to a wealth of alumni/ae services and information

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 1 Serene Jones Named Union’s Sixteenth President Groundbreaking appointment of first woman to serve as Union’s president in its 172-year history coincides with the year long centennial celebration of laying the cornerstone for the Seminary’s present home in Morningside Heights

nion Theological Seminary is operated with great dedication to Upreparing to welcome feminist Union. “I am grateful to each member of theologian Serene Jones as the the Search Committee but, above all, I Seminary’s sixteenth president and the want to acknowledge Mike Johnston’s first woman to hold that office at superb leadership as chair of the Search Union. Dr. Jones will assume the presi - Committee,” Callard said. dency on July 1, 2008. Gary Dorrien ’78, Reinhold Niebuhr As journalist Chris Herlinger ’93 point - Professor of Social Ethics, spoke to ed out in his story for the Religion Union News from his perspective as a News Service, this presidency will also faculty and alumnus member of the represent a generational shift: “Jones, Search Committee and as a colleague in 48, succeeds 74-year-old Joseph C. the theological field. Hough Jr., who is retiring after serving “Serene Jones is a person of immense nine years in the post.” gifts and promise,” Dr. Dorrien said. Dr. Jones, the Titus Street Professor of “She is a brilliant theologian, teacher, Theology at Yale Divinity School (YDS), and strategic thinker with a radiant per - comes to Union after seventeen years sonality who is deeply committed to on the Yale faculty. At present she also theological education. For years the lat - Serene Jones serves as chair and faculty member of ter commitment has caused her to resist Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies the lure of invitations outside the theo - at Yale University. Jones has held facul - logical field. Now she is giving up a top- ty appointments at Yale Law School and of-the-field position at Yale, entailing in the Department of African American four faculty appointments, to help Studies and Religious Studies. Union realize its potential as an institu - “In the intellectual Christian tion. This is a great day for Union." “Dr. Jones’s exceptional leadership style world, Union Theological and distinguished scholarship make her Seminary has long held a the ideal person to lead this vibrant the - “Dr. Jones’s exceptional preeminent position shaping not ological institution, which has been home to notable scholars Reinhold leadership style and distinguished only American religious life but its Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, and Dietrich scholarship make her the ideal cultural and political values as Bonhoeffer,” Chairman of the Board of Trustees David Callard said in his person to lead this vibrant well. At the present historical announcement to the community. theological institution… ” moment, in North America and “With Dr. Jones’s vision and commit - ment, Union is positioned not only to globally, Union stands ready to continue its role as a leading institution Dr. Jones expressed her hope and vision assume this role with renewed of theological education but also to be a for the Seminary as it moves into the vigor, intellectual acuity and strong voice at a time when religion, next chapter of its life and mission. with all its pluralistic manifestations, abiding faith… ” “In the intellectual Christian world, has become an increasingly powerful Union Theological Seminary has long and divisive issue.” held a preeminent position shaping not Mr. Callard credited the successful out - only American religious life but its cul - come of the six-month presidential tural and political values as well. At the search to the efforts and good judgment present historical moment, in North of an excellent search committee, which America and globally, Union stands

2 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 ready to assume this role with renewed practitioners as politically significant, really are, individually and communally, vigor, intellectual acuity and abiding global agents. not just who we were.” faith,” Jones said. “With the foundation “It is to help us understand and value Dr. Jones addressed this theme recently laid by President Hough, with an out - the everyday practices of religious in an article on the future of faith and standing faculty and student body, and women around the world, practices that citizenship for “Reflections,” a YDS with a location in New York City, keep our communities going and keep publication, excerpted here: Union is wonderfully positioned to be our sense of hope and possibility—when the hub for building and sustaining reli - For a Christian theologian like myself, it exists—alive and flourishing,” Dr. gious and political dialogue and part - this fomenting sense that ‘God- Jones explained. nerships. I look forward to being part of matters’ really matter to so many is this exciting community, whose future exciting. Not since the 1960s have we promises to outshine even its past.” “Union is the ideal place to seen such intellectual seriousness about faith. But it’s clearly not an easy Dr. Jones is a prolific and popular schol - observe and to develop a new ar in the fields of religion and gender endeavor. Opinions are strong, stakes studies. In addition to publishing 37 language for describing a global, are high, and our disagreements gener - articles and book chapters since 1991, ate gale-force intensities. Inevitably, redefined church-in-the-making .” she has delivered a long list of profes - these conflicts speak to what we value sional papers and public lectures across most—our deepest desires and most the United States and around the world. enduring commitments. From 1996-2006, Jones served on the She is the author of Feminist Theory and advisory board of the Wabash Center By imploring our God, our faith, our Theology: Cartographies of Grace (2000) for Teaching and Learning in Religion world, our nation, our neighbor, and and Calvin and the Rhetoric of Piety and Theology at Wabash College in our deepest selves—what visions will (1995). She co-edited Feminist and Indiana, and since 1999 she has co-con - draw us into the future? What Womanist Essays in Reformed Dogmatics vened the Constructive Theology language and hopes will unite us? (2006), Constructive Theology: A Workgroup, a national organization of Contemporary Engagement with Classical What cultural particularities will progressive theologians. Themes (2005), Liberating Eschatology: enrich us, and what resilient, stubborn Essays in Honor of Letty Russell (1999), Dr. Jones told Unions News that she is faithfulness will compel us? Are these and Setting the Table: Women in delighted to become the first woman political questions or faith-based Theological Conversation (1995) president of Union but also would have queries? In many of the old models, been equally excited to be its twelfth they are neither, but in a world of Dr. Jones earned her M.Div. from Yale woman president. American Idols and car bombs and a Divinity School (1985) and her Ph.D. dazzling, dancing market of consumer in theology from Yale University “The reality is that 80 percent of grass - desires, it’s hard to imagine questions (1991). She holds a B.A. from the roots, faith-based programs are carried more radical—and more faithful. University of Oklahoma (1981) and is out by women practitioners, and the an ordained minister in both the majority of seminary students today are “Such a sea-change has not been experi - Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) women,” she said. “However, women enced since the Protestant Reformation,” and the United Church of Christ. She still run up against the stained-glass Jones told Union News . “Faith has never grew up on the campuses of schools ceiling, and we need to understand that been more alive than when it’s been in where her father, Disciples theologian, women’s ministries and spiritual leader - the midst of social change. I see author, and retired professor Joe Jones, ship are flowering, often outside Union as the ideal place to observe taught—Christian Theological Seminary ordained ministry.” and to develop a new language for in Indianapolis and Yale Divinity Dr. Jones sees a hunger for new ways of describing a global, redefined church- School, as well as Phillips University in seeing and describing the changing in-the-making.” Enid, Oklahoma, where he served as landscape of religion worldwide. president. Opportunities for the Union family “It is clear that the old categories or to get to know Dr. Jones in the Fall, Serene Jones is the recipient of numer - labels do not apply,” she said. “The both on campus and around the country, ous awards and honors. She has lines between liberals, evangelicals, will be posted on Union’s Web pages received grants from the Pew Scholars Pentecostals, etc. have become blurred, as they are scheduled. and the Louisville Institute and is cur - and theology needs to develop a vocabu - rently co-principal investigator on the lary to reflect the emerging church. As Be sure to register as a member of “Women, Religion, and Globalization an example, spiritual pluralism is not just MyUnion , Union’s online community Grant” for the Henry T. Luce Initiative in the domain of the external social for alumni/ae and friends, so that you on Religion and International Affairs. world, but is a reality that defines the will also receive e-mail announcements The grant is designed to help policy internal spiritual world of many. We of these opportunities. analysts learn to see women religious need to see and understand who we www.utsnyc.edu

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 3 January 2008 Immersion Experiences for Union Students (continued) in January 2008. They met with local activists and organizers, Mississippi Delta Immersion Trip (continued) listened and spoke, sang and wrote. The mission of the Poverty district lines, and white and black children are still educated Initiative is to ‘raise generations of religious and community in separate schools. leaders committed to building a movement, led by the poor, to “We are interlopers of a sort, observers here on the Poverty end poverty.’ The Delta was one step along the way.” Initiative’s January Immersion Trip. We didn’t leave New York Reflection by M.Div. student Megan Joiner City as tourists or to seek out racism and poverty in the South Photograph by Susie Hermanson, M.Div. ’07 and point morally-superior fingers. Rather we are here to explore connections between people working to end poverty Additional reflections from the Mississippi Delta trip can be throughout the country. Nearly 55 of us are retracing Martin found at http://povertyinitiative2008.blogspot.com/. Luther King, Jr.’s steps of the winter of 1967-68 as he worked on the Poor People’s Campaign—a national effort to recognize and Second January Poverty Initiative Trip, organize poor people across the barriers of race and geography. “Appalachia: Train the Trainers” “The small town of Marks, Miss. ‘was where King wept,’ our A second January Poverty Initiative trip, “Appalachia: Train guides and colleagues tell us. Later that year, although King had the Trainers,” engaged seminaries, colleges, universities, and already been killed, a mule train left Marks as thousands of poor community organizations in an exploration of the realities of people traveled to the nation’s capital to demand their freedom poverty and community organizing in Appalachia as well as and take back their humanity. Union students, Poverty the curriculum and pedagogy of immersion trips. Reflections Initiative staff, and members of the Media Mobilizing Project of from participants in that course can be found at: http://pitt - Philadelphia crisscrossed Mississippi and Tennessee for ten days timmersion.blogspot.com/.

Ecumenical Immersion in Rome (continued) “The actual manifestation of this accommodation may that minister to the immigrants by helping them integrate depend on the success or failure of two pending pieces of into Italian society (language skills, etc.) and combat the legislation, one aimed at insuring religious freedom and the growing problem of racism in Italy. other aimed at improving the lot of immigrants. “The trip concluded with visits to two Early Christian histor - “I was fascinated to learn about the history of the Jews in ical sites, the Church of San Crisogono and the St. Priscilla Rome, the oldest diaspora community, dating back to 130 catacombs. At St. Priscilla, many of the wealthy elected bur - B.C.E.… Tears of sorrow welled in my eyes when I learned ial with the poor as a sign of solidarity and a common witness. that on October 16, 1943, the Fascist Italian government These were believers, not just belongers. deported 1,023 Italian Jews and only 16 of them came back “As I pondered the early church, I thought about what Paul alive after the war (an episode dramatically illustrated in the wrote to the Christians who lived in this city about 50 C.E. , movie “Facing Windows” that we viewed one evening). ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. “The Islamic community is a newer community in Italy, with Live in harmony one with another.’ (Romans 12:15-16a). a 20-year rather than a 2,000-year history. Islam is the second “Although written to address the conflict brewing between largest religious group in Italy and boasts of the largest mosque the Gentile Christians who thought themselves superior to in Europe, but unlike the Jews (officially recognized in 1987) the Jewish Christians, the same instruction is being applied and the Waldensians (1984), it is not officially recognized as today by those Waldensians and others attempting to relieve a religion…. Thirty-three percent of the immigrants to Italy the escalating suffering of immigrants and to combat the are Muslims. Even though they have been productive mem - prejudices against them. bers of Italian society for up to three generations, it is nearly impossible for them to obtain citizenship. “For me, the feast of knowledge provided so generously by the Waldensian faculty reflects another passage from the same “Our hosts, the Waldensians, represented the Protestants, the chapter and book, ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be third religious minority community to which we were transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may exposed. The Waldensians seem to be mounting a new “refor - discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable mation,” advocating social change in the government, the and perfect.’ (Romans 12: 2). media, and academia, while often questioning the Roman Catholic Church. Faculty from the Waldensian Seminary, for Although the children of the Reformation in Rome are living instance, is called upon by the Italian media to provide a in a different cultural context and—like the early Christians counter-point to the actions and pronouncements of the reli - in their city—are a religious minority, their Christian witness gion that most Italians profess. The Waldensians, as members is strong and one to be emulated.” of the Protestant Federation, play an active role in projects Reflection and photo by M.Div. student Jane Duffield

4 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Tributaries of Psyche and Spirit Union Spirit Is Breaking Barriers Around the World Thanks to Converge at Union Theological Seminary Visionary Graduates of the by Laura D’Angelo Psychiatry and Religion Program

Where does a nice Buddhist go to study psychoanalysis? JAE HOON LEE , P H.D. ’90 The answer—Union Theological Seminary—was a bit of a mind bender for Pilar Union graduate Jae Hoon Lee is usher - Jennings. The Christian seminary seemed an unlikely place for a Buddhist of 25 years ing the first generation of psychoana - to land. But Jennings discovered that Union’s Psychiatry and Religion program lysts into South Korea —and many are attracts students of different faiths from around the world. The big draw is the theology-fluent. In 1996, Dr. Lee program’s chair, Ann Belford Ulanov ’62, ’67, a theologian, Jungian analyst, author founded the first and only psychoana - of 19 books, and one of the world’s most respected scholars in the growing field of lytic institute in his country, the psychology and religion. Korean Object Relations Institute for Union was the first seminary to pair the oft-contentious disciplines: psychology and Psychoanalysis in Seoul. He had vision religion. Like spouses in a marriage gone sour, the relationship between the fields was and verve, but no books. Modern psy - marked by skepticism, derision and outright hostility. Psychoanalysis charged religion choanalytic texts were unavailable in with encouraging people to pray away their problems, and religion accused psycho - the Korean language until Lee translat - analysis of reducing the divine to a father complex. Each staked out its territory and ed 40 books, including four by Ann remained vigilant for signs that the other might be stealthily creeping over. Belford Ulanov. Today, five faculty Union’s Psychiatry and Religion program has tried to bridge the gap, to remind the members teach 100 students in the chilly couple of their deep bond and shared goals. “Ages ago psychology and religion institute’s four-year program, which were in the same riverbed. Care of souls was the precinct of psychology and religion. includes courses on psychoanalysis and The pastor, the abbot, or the nun gave a great deal of psychological advice,” Dr. theology, and one popular seminar Ulanov said. “In the twentieth century, depth psychology became its own discipline titled: “Ann Ulanov.” with many different schools and points of view. It became differentiated from religion Lee was stunned by the country’s crav - and two rivers were formed: one went into psychology and the other into religion. ing for psychoanalytic wisdom in the “At the end of the twentieth century, it was as early 1990s when, as a rookie professor if the two tributaries were flowing back at a Korean seminary, he offered an together,” Ulanov said. “There was a growing unprecedented class on psychoanalysis. recognition that each needs the other.” The To his shock, a crush of more than 150 dialogue between theology and religion grew students and auditors packed the class - urgent in America after 9/11. Horrified by the room that usually held 20. The strong destructive force in religion, people turned to showing —repeated each year —pro - theologians with questions about good and pelled Lee to New York, where he met evil, suffering, and God. Psychoanalysts with his mentors—Ann Ulanov and explored psychic factors that could turn reli - her husband, Barry—who encouraged gious people into killers. In the tributaries of Lee to pursue his dream to open an psychology and religion, hunger and malaise institute. Lee credits the Union spirit began to burble. for his courage. “Union encourages us to be pioneering, to go beyond the “On 9/11, Americans joined the people in boundaries and try something ground - the rest of the world who have been terror - breaking, not just to stay inside the ized,” Ulanov said. “Attacked on our own confines of a church but to go into the Pilar Jennings, a Ph.D. candidate soil, we were forced to feel the effects of that in Union’s Psychiatry and Religion world with a mission,” he said. violence—the helplessness, the rage and the program, often studies in the Burke Library next to the Buddha grief. It woke people up to how precarious life could be. And it galvanized big questions HAUKUR INGI JONASSON , P H.D. ’06 like: ‘What do I believe in?’ ‘What am I living for?’ ‘What am I willing to die for?’ Haukur Ingi Jonasson, a graduate of the ‘Where am I guilty?’ ‘What gifts have I failed to use? ’” Psychiatry and Religion doctoral pro - gram, calls on that spirit to push theol - Jennings had been working towards a doctorate in medical anthropology at ogy and psychology into new places. Columbia University. Shaken by the attacks in her city and influenced by her deep - Dr. Jonasson, a faculty chair in the ening spiritual practice, she decided to change course and become an analyst. “I felt engineering department at the very strongly that I wanted to be trained in a way that was fully integrated. At the University of Iceland, is changing the very least I didn’t want to be in a program where I would feel defensive around way engineers and business people spiritual inquiry,” she said. continued – next page continued – page 7

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 5 Psyche and Spirit (continued) She sought advice about where to study from Buddhist psychoanalysts like Jeffrey Rubin and Mark Epstein. “They agreed that a Ph.D. program in clinical psychol - ogy might be a frustrating experience for me, because it would in no way make space for spirituality,” she said. In those conversations, Ulanov’s name kept com - ing up. “I decided that I wanted to study with someone like Ann who had a real commitment to the conversation between religion and psychology.” For years, the Psychiatry and Religion program has helped budding analysts tune into the spiritual lives of their patients and to the sacred aspects of the therapeutic hour. It encourages aspiring Professor Ann Ulanov (center) with 2006 graduates Haukur Ingi Jonasson and Lisa Cataldo clergy to make self-care a priority and to plumb the depths of their own psyches don’t read about them through an inter - all schools of thought and are required before entering congregational life. preter. Students really are up against the to put that in critical dialogue with reli - material. That material gets into them gious texts. We are encouraged to push The program began in 1956 as a teach - and rearranges them and requires them that conversation deeper and deeper. ing experiment, supported with grants to do work on themselves and in their We are invited to a place of real deep from Old Dominion Foundation, a jobs. It is demanding, and exciting and encounter when psyche and spirit meet. Mellon interest. Directed by distin - rewarding,” she said. We don’t just do it in an academic way, guished psychiatrist Earl A. Loomis, the we experience it. There is a meeting of program boasted three full-time faculty our own psyche and spirit,” she said. members, nine part-time clinical associ - “On 9/11, Americans joined “I'm not the same person I was when I ates, and a secretary. Some courses were started.” held at local hospitals. After grants had the people in the rest of the world run out, Union assumed funding for the who have been terrorized…. ” It was Union’s insistence on the gap program. In the 1980s, school-wide between psyche and soul that attracted budget cuts left Ulanov as the program’s Christopher J. Carter, then a Pentecostal sole administrator and full time profes - During a seminar on “Aliveness/ who had worried that Union would be sor. Under her tenure, the focus shifted Deadness,” students discussed the theo - too liberal for his tastes. After earning from psychiatry (a medical specialty) to logical implications of a theory by psy - the M.Div. and Th.M. from Princeton psychoanalysis (an exploration of the choanalyst Phillip Bromberg, who asserts Theological Seminary, Carter searched unconscious mind). that each of us has a “multiplicity of for a Ph.D. program in psychology and selves,” not one true self. To be fully religion. This year, as Union celebrates its 100th alive, he argues, is to be aware of those year in Morningside Heights, the cen - “Ever since I was a young kid, I wanted “selves,” observe them and relate to tennial theme, “Breaking New Ground,” to know what drives humanity toward them. For Jennings, this resonated with aptly describes the work undertaken by the divine. I knew it had to be in us,” the Buddhist concept of “no-Self” that Psychiatry and Religion graduates Carter said. “Science doesn’t answer it; says our identity is an illusion. We are around the world. (Sidebar, pages 5 & 7) philosophy doesn’t quite get it; and changing processes, not fixed beings, she psychology on its own doesn’t get the explained. Bridge—not merge benefits of recognizing the intuitive/ Union’s program honors the gap Episcopal Priest Amy Lamborn objected spiritual dimension.” to the theory’s implicit rejection of the between psychology and religion and Many seminary programs seemed to Christian idea of a self that is made in asks students to make their own links. merge the two fields, using psychology to the image of God. It was the prospect of Students read theorists like Freud, Jung, explain spirituality, or theology to this kind of interchange that brought Bion, Winnicott, Klein etc. and put explain the reality of the psyche. A con - Lamborn to Union from Indiana. “At their ideas in dialogue with concepts versation with Ulanov showed Carter Union, we’re invited to hear another’s that include Black, feminist and post- how Union stood apart. “I was amazed at experience and tradition and honor that modern theologies. her ability to have a real discourse difference without giving up our identi - “At Union, we read the primary sources between psychology and theology while ties. We read psychoanalytic theory from in psychology” Ulanov explained. “We respecting each discipline as having its

6 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 own rich history. She didn’t try to mix them together, but presented a real, convincing bridge.” The Christiane Brooks Johnson Chair in Psychiatry and Religion In 1989 the Seminary announced the creation of the Christiane Brooks Johnson Carter’s goal to become a psychologist Chair in Psychiatry and Religion, which is occupied by Ann Belford Ulanov. The has been no more supported by African chair was endowed by the Johnson family—parents Arthur and Anne Hale Americans than by Caucasians. He and Johnson ’56, brother Randall Hale Johnson, and sister Joy Sanborn Johnson—to David Asomaning ’03, who began doc - celebrate the memory of Christiane Brooks Johnson, one of 16 passengers tragi - toral studies together in 1992, are the cally killed in the January 1987 Amtrak train accident outside of Baltimore. first two African Americans to complete Christy Johnson, as she was called, had a great interest in the field, and confident the Ph.D. program in Psychology and that Psychiatry and Religion was where she would have excelled, her family felt Religion at Union. “There’s a suspicion that this would be a fitting and lasting tribute to her. of mental health services in the Black community, a little less than suspicion of the penal system. That’s because the fields of psychology and social work HAUKUR INGI JONASSON (CONTINUED ) have been used to streamline and con - think about their work. The Fulbright scholar is one of Iceland’s first psychoana - tain African Americans,” he said. lysts, and the first to infuse psychology and theology into a university business The reality and perception are slowly curriculum. changing. “As more and more African “As theologians and people of faith, we tend to think we are the only people aim - Americans enter the field, there’s more ing for God. What about the idea that all humans are trying to do that? It’s all too and more trust.” easy to say we are the ones working on justice, and then point our fingers at the business world,” he said. “We need them and they need us. Forcing the idea of God upon engineering students does not work, but helping them to understand their goals in terms of the abundant life and the common good seems to fascinate them.” Along with management courses, Jonasson teaches courses like Christianity and Psychoanalysis and Religion and Mental Health . “Engineering students love it. It’s like pouring water on dry ground,” he said. “They have such a thirst for that kind of insight.” When students use theological and psychological ideas to assess projects, the pay - offs are huge. In a recent class, one group of Jonasson’s students rejected a bid by an outside liquor company to help market colorful drinks to young people. Another student group chose to work with the Icelandic and Norwegian Red Cross Psychiatry and Religion Ph.D. on plans to build an emergency hospital in Afghanistan. candidate Christopher Carter

Some students enter Union’s doctoral CLAUDE BARBRE , P H.D. ’04 program after having experienced unconscious forces run amok in congre - But there’s no need to go to South Korea or Iceland to witness the Union spirit. gational life, or after having witnessed Union alumnus Claude Barbre is working here in New York City, nudging psycho - human suffering crying out for psycho - analysis from its cozy corners into pockets of poverty. Barbre runs the Harlem logical savvy. Felicity Brock Kelcourse Family Institute (HFI), which provides long-term psychotherapy to the city’s need - ’98 was working as a Quaker minister in iest children and their families —for free. Forget the couch, HFI analysts get on the Midwest. “I remember one day look - their knees and play with blocks, clay or whatever else their little patients need to ing out on the congregation of 150 peo - help make sense of their worlds. Therapy sessions, paid for by grants and donations, ple and feeling overwhelmed. There was are held in the children’s schools so not to tax overburdened care-providers. a woman whose daughter was pregnant “Children who suffered trauma and cannot talk about things directly play out and wanted an abortion, and the woman distress and crisis. It’s very relieving and healing for them to do so. The analyst is was against it. There was a congregation - invited into their world and reality and can witness the trauma and speak to them al leader who was bipolar…. There was about their troubles through the shared space of play,” Dr. Barbre said. And it another woman who had been hit by a works, according to HFI research slated to appear in the Journal of Child beam that fell on her during a tornado Psychotherapy , a publication of the Anna Freud Centre in London. When children and had chronic pain,” she said. “The are helped by therapy, adult family members often seek treatment themselves, experience of their suffering and my own allowing HFI to challenge the erroneous view that psychoanalysis is a method suffering at the time made me want to solely for the privileged. “Psychoanalysis’ emphasis on what helps a person feel know (psychoanalytic) theory.” alive can be a great resource in a society that sometimes deadens the attempts of individuals to express creative will,” Barbre said. “All of us need each other to continued – next page become more human, more alive.”

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 7 knows how to educate people and how scholarly eye was brought to bear on Psyche and Spirit (continued) to help them develop their own voices.” spiritual experience. It was as if anything The desire to be more useful that led Dr. Oh said that some second-generation spiritual was good, without questioning Kelcourse to Union’s doctoral program Korean-Americans embody the anxiety whether it served as a defense or maybe continues to inform her work as associ - and depression of his homeland—a fed narcissistic grandiosity, etc. For that ate professor of pastoral care and coun - country painfully segregated for more reason, it didn’t gain a lot of respect in seling at the Christian Theological than 50 years. They are the alienated psychoanalytic circles,” Cataldo said. Seminary in Indiana. “I wanted to train young adults, without jobs, who live as Following writers like Ulanov, Buddhists ministers so that they wouldn’t be as shut-ins in their parents’ homes. “The have made inroads with scholarly explo - clueless as I was when I started out,” said parents come to me and ask me to pray rations of the relationship between the Kelcourse, editor of the book Human for their children,” said Oh, a junior psyche and spiritual practices, like medi - Development and Faith . pastor at a Presbyterian church in New tation. Still, Christian and Jewish ana - Jersey. “They don’t want me to talk to lysts are largely silent about the spiritual them because they don’t want people to dimensions of their work, even though “Union gives you the intellectual know.” Bolstered by his new faith in the many patients and analysts are religious. and psychological chops to healing power of religion and psycholo - “There hasn’t been any conscious con - gy, Oh presses—ever so gently—for the nection between the analysts’ religious dialogue in both worlds. ” parents to consider therapy for their lives and their lives as analysts,” Cataldo children. said. “It’s a blind spot. We’ve made It was an encounter with a traumatized efforts to talk about the analyst’s sexual - American veteran of the Korean War Can this Marriage be Saved? ity, class, and race. But we don’t talk that thrust Whachul Oh into the sticky In this post 9/11 age, psychology and about the analyst’s religion.” religion are learning that they have web of psyche. A native of South Korea, On the other hand, many people cling to much to gain by talking. Psychoanalysts Oh was an M.Div. student at Vanderbilt a distrust of the psychoanalytic process. are curious about spirituality, and Divinity School when he interned as a “We’re all afraid to confront and experi - reli gious leaders understand the power of chaplain at the Nashville Veteran’s ence our own suffering and wounds. unconscious forces. Still, there is a long Hospital in Tennessee. There, he met a Doing the psychological work means way to go, according to Lisa Cataldo, a veteran who confessed to a spirit- taking yourself apart, losing the image of 2005 Ph.D. graduate from Union. She crushing guilt he had harbored for who you think you are. There is a lot of wants to help analysts integrate their decades. As a soldier, he had escaped loss involved and nobody likes loss. On spiritual lives with their analytic prac - from the Chinese army and into villages the surface, people are afraid it will tices. “We need to take religion out of where he could no longer differentiate undermine their faith if they see that the closet,” said Dr. Cataldo, an assistant North Koreans from South Koreans. “He their insides are complex and yucky. professor of pastoral counseling in the killed many Koreans and felt over - Once you confront the ugly, messy parts Fordham University Graduate School of whelmed by shame,” Oh said. The man’s of yourself, you lose the ability to judge Religion and an analyst in private prac - inability to get past the trauma aston - people and to split the world into us and tice. “Not all religion is neurotic.” ished Oh, who, for the first time, ques - them. The very thing you condemn in Religion moved underground after Freud tioned the healing power of religion. “I other people, you have in yourself,” accused it of feeding obsessions and delu - thought: He’s Christian, so why is he not Cataldo said. “There is only us.” able to solve his anxiety?” sions. “Religion became a measure of a Fluent in theology and psychology, As a student, Oh had examined theolo - person’s neurosis,” said Cataldo. “It was Union grads are uniquely positioned to gy through lenses of culture, politics, virtually impossible to be religious and talk about the sacred aspects of analytic class, and race. “But I had never thought an analyst. You’d be going against the work and the notion that sometimes the about the internal lives of human father (Freud) who said religion is an agent of change is not the analyst, but beings,” he said, adding that many illusion. There are lots of vestiges. grace. And they can talk to clergy about Koreans see psychological inquiry as the Among them is the fear of seeming anti- the value of moving inward, to the unex - stuff of atheists. intellectual.” amined places, so that the nasty inside In recent years, there’s been a spike in After being accepted to Union’s doctor - parts are accepted rather than projected spiritual inquiry evidenced in psychoan - al program, he faced more practical chal - into the world, Cataldo said. “Union alytic seminars and journals publishing lenges, he said. “I was a Korean immi - gives you the intellectual and psycholog - articles like “Nothingness and grant, a husband, and father of two chil - ical chops to dialogue in both worlds.” dren with anxieties about surviving, and Narcissism” or “Opening Psychoanalytic struggling with language barriers and Space to the Spiritual.” Laura D’Angelo ’07, a journalist and an M.Div. graduate of Union’s Psychiatry and Religion cultural blocks. Ann Ulanov helped me “It started on the margins with a kind of program, is training to become a psychoanalyst to analyze these phenomena. She helped spirituality that had a New-Agey at the National Psychological Association for me focus on my issues and how to approach and was wary of organized reli - Psychoanalysis in New York. express my life through my studies. She gion. The problem was that no critical,

8 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Nine Distinguished Alumni/ae Honored with 2007 Unitas Award

On October12, 2007, Union alumni/ae honored nine of their Barbara Gerlach, M.Div. ’71 own. The Unitas Awards, established in 1994, bear witness to the faith and perseverance of Union alumni/ae who exemplify the John Mack, M.Div. ’71 (1942-2008) Seminary’s academic breadth, its diversity and inclusiveness, and This husband and wife served together in ministry at First the range of vocations its graduates follow. Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington D.C. from 1985 to 2007 when they retired. The couple, who Recipients represent all of the Union graduates who have distin - for 22 years led the congregation of this resilient, inner-city, guished themselves in the church, academy, and society—across multiracial and multicultural church to be open and the country and around the world. welcoming to all, were unwavering in their commitment to Unitas awardees are nominated by their fellow alumni/ae and by equality—not only with their individual congregants, but current and former faculty. Information about deadlines for also through their outreach to the surrounding community submitting a nomination and providing the required supporting and their human rights work in Latin America. materials can be found www.utsnyc.edu/unitas . The Union community was heartbroken to learn that John had been stricken with high-altitude pulmonary edema and pneumonia while trekking with Barbara in William E. Gibson (1921-2006) the Himalayas in November, shortly after they accepted S.T.M.’51, Ph.D.’72 their Unitas Awards. Presbyterian minister William E. Gibson, a theologian/ Following six weeks in hospitals in Nepal and India, ethicist and director emeritus of the Eco-Justice Project, John was flown home by air ambulance, but doctors Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy at Cornell could not reverse the damage to his lungs. During his University in Ithaca, NewYork, was at the forefront of the final days at home, John said he was in the right place, eco-justice movement. His visionary work helped educate with the right people. churches, campuses, and communities about the basic values and virtues that shape eco-justice—always relating He died at home on January 15, surrounded by his specific environmental problems to issues of hunger, ener - loving family. John’s extended Union family is pro - gy, lifestyle, sustainable economy, good work, peacemaking, foundly thankful for his life and his amazing legacy. and environmental justice for all.

Karen Hessell ’93 (right) read the posthumous Unitas Citation Alumni/ae Council member Ruth Garwood ’96 (center) honoring William Gibson, which was accepted by his widow, Julia introduced Barbara Gerlach and John Mack Gibson (center). Dieter Hessel (left) presented the tribute to Dr. Gibson. Dr. Gibson’s grandson and daughter, Daniel Jaworski and Deborah Gibson Jaworski (second row) were present to celebrate this honor. Awards continue – next page

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 9 Union’s 2007 Unitas Awardees (continued)

Coleman B. Brown, M.Div. ’59, Ph.D. ’79 Mark K. Juergensmeyer, M.Div. ’65 Mark Juergensmeyer is director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies and professor of sociology and religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Juergensmeyer is an expert on religious violence, con - flict resolution, and South Asian religion and politics. Among his dozen critically acclaimed books is Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence , the win - ner of the 2003 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Six of Dr. Brown’s former students from Colgate (three of them also Union graduates) were on hand to emphasize the impact Brown has had on their lives. Surrounding Dr. Brown (center) are Michael Caine ’89, who read the citation, David Traverso, Paul Fraser ’75, Chris Hedges, who introduced Dr. Brown, Chris Vecsey, and Alisa del Tufo ’81.

Coleman Brown, professor emeritus of philosophy and reli - gion and university chaplain emeritus, Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y., has played a major role in the formation of generations of Colgate students. As former student Chris Hedges has written of Dr. Brown: “I was gently instructed, chastened and humbled by an intellect that soared as high Mark Juergensmeyer (center) flanked by friends as his integrity.… Everything I have ever done in my life John Rice ’67 and S. Wyndham Anderson ’64 has been measured against the standards he set.…he taught me the only goal worth having was the struggle to live the moral life.” Penna Rose, M.S.M. ’68 Penna Rose—a gifted musician who has conducted at Lloyd W. Chapin, M.Div. ’61, Ph.D. ’67 Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, as well as on Broadway—is the director of chapel music at Princeton University, where she oversees the musical program at the University Chapel and directs the 80-member Chapel Choir. She is loved and admired by the Union community as the energetic and encouraging artist-in-residence who has directed the Seminary Choir for several decades.

Trustee Helmar Nielsen (right), introduced Lloyd Chapin (left) to the audience Lloyd Chapin is vice president for academic affairs, dean of the faculty, and professor of philosophy of religion at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Fla. During his 40-year career in higher education, he has had a far-reaching impact on thou - sands of faculty and students, and during his 27 years at Professor of Worship Janet Walton ’79 (right) introduced Eckerd he has shepherded the young institution into a Unitas Awardee and Artist-in-Residence Penna Rose (left) vibrant, thriving model of excellence.

10 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Marvin A. McMickle, M.Div. ’73 Katie Geneva Cannon, Ph.D. ’83 Marvin McMickle—pastor, author, seminary professor, and Katie Cannon is the first African-American woman to politician—has led Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, receive a Ph.D. from Union and the first African-American Ohio, since 1987. Under his leadership the church has woman to be ordained in the United Presbyterian Church become one of the most influential African-American (U.S.A.). Dr. Cannon is Annie Scales Rogers Professor of congregations in the city. Christian Ethics, Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, Richmond, This “preacher’s preacher” is also professor of homiletics at Virginia. Her teaching and research focus on Christian Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio. He is the ethics, Womanist theology, and women in religion and author of six books and dozens of articles that regularly society. She is the author or editor of numerous articles and appear in professional journals and magazines, and he is seven books including Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the actively involved in Ohio politics. Soul of the Black Community and Black Womanist Ethics .

James A. Forbes, Jr. ’62 (right) introduced Kimberly Jordan ’97 (left) introduced Marvin McMickle (left) to the audience and her trailblazer role model Katie Cannon Calvin O. Butts III ’75 (center) added a special tribute

Have you tried the Seminary's Landmark Guest Rooms? The Landmark Guest Rooms, owned and operated by Union Theological Seminary, are reasonably-priced overnight accommodations located on the first floor of Hastings Hall. Each of our 25 air-conditioned guest rooms is NON-SMOKING and comes with:

• Private bath • Cable television • Iron and hair dryer • Miniature refrigerator • Daily housekeeping services • 24-hour access front-desk security • Free local telephone service and wireless Internet access • For long-distance, guests use a cell phone or phone card Landmark has a large number of loyal guests who return year after year. It is always a good idea for Union alumni/ae to plan their trips, book their rooms early, and ask about the Union alumni/ae discount. Visit the Landmark Guest Rooms online at Phone 212-280-1313, any day between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. for reservation and cancellation policies, etc.

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 11 ”Pressing Toward the Mark” – Trailblazers 2008 Fourth Annual Trailblazers Celebration salutes Union's Black Alumni/ae ”I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 3:12-14 The four-day Trailblazers celebration, February 25-28, and the Rev. Dr. Ella P. Mitchell ’43. The complete photo honoring Union’s Black alumni/ae celebrated “All those album of this event and information about Trailblazers whose efforts have brought us this far and in whose footsteps 2009, as it becomes available, can be found at we follow.” The highlight of this year’s service of celebration www.utsnyc.edu/trailblazers . was a special tribute to the Rev. Dr. Henry H. Mitchell ’44

FIRST ROW : Carolyn A. Knight ’80; Raphael G. Warnock ’94,’06; Leslie D. Callahan ’96; Henry H. Mitchell ’44; Ella P. Mitchell ’43; James A. Forbes, Jr. ’62; Yolande Herron-Palmore ’79; Alexis Y. Southerland ’03; Monte M. Chandler ’02 BACK ROW : Mark S. Kellar ’96; Bernadine Ladson ’03; Debra Johns Murray ’04; Violet L. Dease ’01; Emil M. Thomas ’80; Seth W. Pickens ’06; Patricia A. Reeberg ’85; Dionne P. Boissiere ’04

The Rev. Dr. William D. Watley ’80, The Rev. Dr. Carolyn Knight ’80 Musical performance by the pastor of St. James A.M.E., Newark, N.J., president, “Can Do Ministries!,” Atlanta, Harlem Youth Chamber Ensemble delivered the special tribute message gave the keynote address for the celebration (formerly the Harlem Girls Choir)

12 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Those Preachin’ Women A lunch by and for Union women honored Mother Ella Mitchell (front- left), who opened doors and created a platform to lift up the voices of African American women preachers and educators worldwide. Four of the Union alumnae (second row) fea - tured in Dr. Mitchell’s four volume series, THOSE PREACHIN ’ W OMEN , participated in an informal discussion about ministry, mentoring, and the struggles of being women preachers in a religious world that is still predomi - nantly male: Suzan Johnson Cook ’83, Yolande Herron-Palmore ’79, Laura B. Sinclair ’83, Sharon E. Williams ’80. Seated in the front row with Ella P. Mitchell ’43 (left) is Thelma Adair (widow of A. Eugene Adair ’43).

Students unfurl a scroll bearing the names of Union’s Black Alumni/ae A detail of the scroll shows this year’s honorees

Save the Dates for 09 CELElBaRAzTIOeNrSEsRVIC2E:0 THUilRbSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2009* raSpecial tribute to the founders T of Womanist religious thought The Reverend Dr. Jacquelyn Grant ’82 The Reverend Dr. Katie G. Cannon ’83 Dr. Delores S. Williams ’91 *Additional programming February 23-27 Stay tuned to www.utsnyc.edu/trailblazers The ceremony ends with the traditonal passing of the flame

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 13 Board Corner Board of Trustees Meet Union’s Newest Trustees as of February 11, 2008 Sharon M. Davison , an attorney with extensive expe - rience in capital markets, securities regulation and DAVID J. C ALLARD ’67, chair compliance, and banking regulations, was elected to C D OUGLAS ADES ’69 Union’s Board of Trustees at the October 2007 board AIYOUNG CHOI meeting. She serves on the Development and the Educational Policy Committees. SHARON M. D AVISON Ms. Davison is general counsel and chief compliance BARBARA FIORITO officer for Libertas Holdings LLC and Libertas JAMES A. F ORBES , J R. ’62 Partners LLC. She has held similar positions at 3V BLAKE FRANKLIN Capital Management and U.S. Trust Company of SCOTT HARSHBARGER ’67 New York and previously served as senior counsel and director of the Special Investigations Unit of the New WILLIAM E. H AVEMEYER York Stock Exchange, Inc. SALLY HERNANDEZ -P IÑERO Davison earned her undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1976, received WILLIAM H. H UDNUT III ’57 her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1979, and was subsequently admitted to the STEPHEN M. H UDSPETH New York State Bar Association. BRENDA G. H USSON ’83 Davison is an elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a former moderator of ANNE HALE JOHNSON ’56 the Presbytery of New York City. MICHAEL J. J OHNSTON A member of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, Davison is EMMA JORDAN -S IMPSON ’88 co-moderator of the Form of Governance Task Force, co-chair of the Dinner MICHAEL J. K ELLY Committee Shared Interest, and a member of the New York Presbytery Committee on Ministry. She completed service last year as a member of the Board of Directors DOUGLASS T. L IND ’64 of Johnson C. Smith Seminary in Atlanta, one of the ten theological institutions JOAN MAGNETTI ’72 of the Presbyterian Church (USA). JOHN D. M AGUIRE

J. R OLANDO MATALON J. Rolando Matalon , who serves as rabbi at BART MCDADE Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York City, was DALE MCNULTY elected to Union’s Board of Trustees in October 2007. CALVIN M. M EW ’73 He serves on the Development and the Educational Policy Committees. JAMES P. M ORTON ’64 Rabbi Matalon was born and raised in Buenos Aires HELMAR NIELSEN and studied at the Seminario Rabinico LEON PACALA Latinoamericano. Matalon continued his studies for SALLY PEDERSON the rabbinate at the Jewish Theological Seminary in DAVID PURVIS New York, receiving his ordination and Master of Hebrew Letters in 1986. SUSAN K. R EED

ANN REYNOLDS After his ordination, Rabbi Matalon came to Congregation B’nai Jeshurun on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to share the pulpit JAMES S. S LIGAR with his mentor and friend, the late Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer. Together they trans - WILLIAM G. S PEARS formed the small, declining synagogue into a revitalized congregation, which today ELLSWORTH G. S TANTON III has a membership of more than 1,800 households committed to an inclusive

JOHN W. S WEETLAND approach to liturgy and community and dedicated to the work of education, social justice, and interfaith cooperation. ARTHUR E. T ROTMAN Rabbi Matalon has shown a deep commitment to the causes of peace, social justice, MICHAELA WALSH and Jewish study. In addition to joining Union’s board, he serves on the boards of a H. M ITCHELL WATSON , J R. number of other agencies and organizations including American Jewish World JOHN C. B. W EBSTER ’60 Service, American Friends of Parents Circle, Rabbis for Human Rights –North MARY H. W HITE America, Beit Tefillah Israeli-Tel Aviv, and the International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, Doha, Qatar (International Advisory Board). He is the recipient of BLENDA WILSON awards from the New York Board of Rabbis and the Jewish Peace Fellowship.

14 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Faculty/Board Panel How Do Issues in the Current Election Process Help Us to Discern the Spiritual Needs of Our Time?

t was February 11, 2008, and the height of the Democratic Trustee John Maguire moderated a panel comprising Professor Iand Republican Primary frenzy. Faculty members and Mary Boys and two seasoned politicians who are members of Union’s Trustees—Democrats, Republicans, and Independents Union’s board—Sally Pederson, who served two terms as —gathered, as they do several times each year, for discussion Lieutenant Governor of Iowa, and Scott Harshbarger, former of a timely topic that relates to theological education . Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Discussion at this particular gathering revolved around the Excerpts from the presentations and the conversation that theme of “How Do Issues In the Current Election Process resulted follow. Help Us to Discern the Spiritual Needs of Our Time?”

Trustee John D. Maguire, Senior Fellow, Institute for Democratic Renewal/Project Change Change, vision, experience, of a key missing ingredient: Action-sparking compassion. perseverance, the future, tough - 3. Masses of people are yearning for a radical reduction in ness, security … the effluvia of warfare and combat. You’ve seen the signs: “War is not this campaign season’s rheto - the answer.” They know that a narrow construction of ric. But toward what do these “American values”—in contrast to global interests— words point, and with what lead us downward. They increasingly wonder to them - human yearnings do they selves—often out loud—if the doctrine of dominance connect? Do the words touch could be diminished and we might enter into interna - our deepest selves? tional cooperation rather than relentless global competi - Why, of all the issues we tion, becoming neighbors rather than enemies and might be discussing, do recovering an old vision of the worldwide human family. citizens find themselves here 4. The ritualized humiliation of the poor and the dispropor - John D. Maguire in early 2008 focused on the tionate incarceration of—as if they were unneeded— topics dominating present political discourse? people of color, especially young men, is belatedly being Let’s go down deep, well below the surface, and ask: What recognized as inhuman, self-defeating, and unacceptable. do the issues, as they’ve been framed, tell us about our deep - 5. The yearning for a safer, healthier, more wholesome est human yearnings? Do the language and the topics of this planet is surely growing. Fewer proponents of protecting campaign reflect profound human hunger, deeper spiritual the earth are being instantly dismissed as wussy tree needs? What deep down might they be addressing? What huggers. More are realizing that Earth is our Mother and might they be reflecting? deserves motherly respect. The current election process is stirring yearnings and 6. There is an inchoate yearning to be asked to make mean - bringing to awareness deep emotions, deeper hopes. Here ingful sacrifice even when “Things” seem king and are seven . unchecked consumerism reigns, a sense that it will require restraint and some giving up of some things if 1. The most thoughtful yearn for some alignment between social equity and balance—and just plain joyful life—are pronouncement and action, fidelity of deeds to words, a to be realized. firm connection between rhetoric and the real. James Baldwin once said of Martin Luther King, Jr: “King suc - 7. There is a yearning to reclaim the moral strength that ceeds as no other person in our time to carry the battle we’ve demonstrated in our better moments. Listen to with his words into the individual human heart and whom the candidates invoke. What do they symbolize? makes its resolution the province of the individual. The Is it Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan? truth of what he says is reflected in his action and moves Or, is it Abraham Lincoln, FDR, John Kennedy, Martin us to rise and act within.” Luther King? 2. An outraged sense is bubbling up that the bimodality The election process of 2008 is, I aver, a crucial turning regarding wealth—the obscenity of an oligarchy of the point. If it yields four more years like the previous eight or overwhelmingly wealthy, the growing sea of the poor and more, our country could indeed implode…. Another out - cripplingly struggling, and the widening chasm between come could produce a world in which hopes, being them—just isn’t right and that the non-wealthy and the increasingly expressed in great parts of the process, would non-powerful need a champion. We’re growingly aware be realized. panelists continue—next page

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 15 Current Election Process /Spiritual Needs of Our Time – continued Scott Harshbarger ’67, Attorney Sally Pederson, former two-term Lieutenant Governor of Iowa and former Attorney General for the I am so pleased to be part of this discussion. After Commonwealth of Massachusetts the army of reporters and photographers followed the candidates out of Iowa on January 3—those As I look at this issue, I am tempted to say of us in Iowa have been suffering from some form that for most people asking how political of withdrawal that leaves us with political opin - issues being discussed today help us dis - ions no one is any longer interested in hearing. cern our spiritual needs might well be the same kind of oxymoron you feel when a My minister, Dr. David Ruhe, at the UCC lawyer—who teaches ethics but who ran church I attend in Des Moines, has a theory for public office as a politician—is now about why progressive Christians are more polit - standing before you to talk about funda - ically engaged now than in recent election mental values. cycles. He believes that people who have thought of themselves as in the mainline, specif - Sally Pederson ically members of established Protestant denom - inations, more and more find themselves pushed toward the sideline of society. “We mainline folks have found our voice, in part, because be feel ourselves being pushed around.…,” he says. “And, more importantly, there is genuine moral outrage in many circles regarding some of our present trends and policies. Somehow in our political conversation the term ‘moral values’ has been reduced to specific stands on abortion and sexuality.… But a lot of people see profound moral issues at stake elsewhere, such as denying civil rights; a foreign policy that sanctions invading a nation that never attacked us; a growing gap between rich and poor; millions of people without health care; material glut - tony that leads to woeful stewardship of the earth, and our often xenophobic Scott Harshbarger approaches to immigration issues.” John has framed this eloquently and Sally He adds: “To many progressive Christians these are faith-grounded moral issues has carried it to a very important level. Let that are profoundly energizing. But caring about these issues does not lead me make a few observations, because I do everyone to the same political conclusions about how to approach them, let think there are solutions at the end of the alone to particular candidates.” day. Whether we can reach them is the That’s why I worked with former Iowa Lieutenant Governor Joy Corning, a question. I do think they are defined much Republican, to co-author an op-ed piece for the Des Moines Register, titled more in terms of how we find “Common “Please Don’t Use Religions as a Wedge” published in December 2007. We Cause”—something John Gardner spoke don’t agree on political parties, we don’t agree on the best presidential candi - about over 37 years ago. [Gardner was the date, but as people of faith, we believe our faith should inform our values. founder of the citizens’ advocacy group by that name.] As Bill Coffin loved to say, “It is one thing to say with the prophet Amos, ‘Let justice roll down like mighty waters.’ It is another thing altogether to work out Democracy is not a spectator sport; citi - the irrigation system.” zenship is not a unilateral proposition. It’s about mutuality of obligations, and what I believe our strongest spiritual yearning is to feel at one with God, to live in we ought to look to is ourselves in the God’s love. We can only do that if we are connected to others through love. mirror. Do we see reflecting back what we • Many of the issues of this campaign are about how we will live together want to see as the fundamental issues? … and share this globe. We can say, and we will say, that our polit - • How will our country share its wealth and resources with its own citizens? ical leaders often lack courage in these • How will Americans and the United States relate to others issues. But we must remember where they in countries around the world? get that courage. How do you stand up for • How do we deal with the forces that divide us: racism, sexism, ageism, things if people who are supposed to stand nationalism, religious certitude, and intolerance? with you are not there?… • How do we define security and how does peace with justice As Dan Wakefield and Jim Wallis have enter the equation? said, religion and values in our society were • How does religion unite us rather than divide us? hijacked right in front of us. They weren’t These are qustions that the religious community has an obligation to help us taken out suddenly. They weren’t taken address as citizens. behind closed doors, but right in front of us…. Again invoking John Gardner, what

16 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 gives us the right to stand on the side - lines?… Mary C. Boys ’78, Skinner and McAlpin In the recent primaries, the pundits and Professor of Practical Theology the polls have consistently been wrong. When I reflect on what is happening in this very The people are deciding, and that is a exciting electoral season, I see five spiritual very positive thing.… needs manifest: a way of living with fear, with To some extent, thus far, money has not otherness, with ambiguity, with material been dictating the outcomes. That may resources, and with silence. sound strange when you look at the FEAR : Let us admit that there is much to fear in Democratic side [and the money that this world—all the more so in a globalized world Senator Obama is raising.] But think where we see and experience something of the about how he raised this money. He depth and breadth of the human condition. didn’t raise it because he was the guaran - Unstable markets…democracies like Kenya’s, teed winner… He got this money by the Mary Boys seeming to fold…Bhutto’s assassination in message, the person, the passion. In a Pakistan…all these make us aware of how quickly our lives can be changed in a democracy there is nothing wrong with single moment. My resentment is with our politicians who have become entre - raising money the right way to run a preneurs of fear: all terrorism all the time.… When we act out of fear, we do so campaign. from a constricted self—a false self. As human beings we need to acknowledge On the Republican side, the two candi - fear, to acknowledge that, indeed, mortality is on our radar screen. We need to dates left standing are the least well- confront fear in our lives and ask what is it limiting, how it impoverishes us. financed of all—John McCain and Mike But, above all, we need to cultivate the virtue of hope. Hope is a “wager on the Huckabee—and they are not out there transcendent,” an orientation to the future that enables us to be sustained in the attacking each other. That is important present moment. and means something good is happen - OTHERNESS : We need a way of living with those who differ from us. We see the ing, in my view. tremendous scars of racial and ethnic divisions across the globe. In one sense, Fundamentally, for all of us, we need to each of us is defined by belonging to a tribe of one kind or another. But tribalism think about what we want the role of is a curse, a limitation. Living in enclaves produces pundits for every ideology…. religion to be, because it is not that it Pollsters have reduced us to an age, or class, or racial, or gender cohort. This should not be engaged. It is that we increases divisions. Our commitment must be to building a civil society, seeking abandon the fray if we do not stand up the “Common Good.” We need not “Facebook” but to be “face-to-face with the for what we believe in and vote with our other.” convictions.… AMBIGUITY : Our culture is obsessed with celebrity. It is captivated by sound bites We’ve figured out how to win elections (“I didn’t major in math but in miracles”). But spirituality takes us into the realm in this country, in both parties, by seg - of not knowing—“The Cloud of Unknowing”—that rightly makes us suspicious menting the population… I’m not sure of absolutes and respectful of complexity. The cloud of unknowing, however, is we win that way.… very different from ignorance, which fixates on simplistic solutions and falls prey How do we get out there and evangelize to propaganda. with those who don’t agree with us? MATERIAL RESOURCES : We need a spirituality involving our use of material What has impressed me about the resources. How much do we really need? Jesus reminded us: “Take care! Be on Obama campaign, and Deval Patrick’s your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abun - victory in Massachusetts, was the deci - dance of possessions.” Luke 12:15. Our use of the goods of this earth is a deeply sion of people to rise above partisanship. spiritual matter.

Will the way we wage this presidential SILENCE : We need to disconnect in order to be centered and cultivate attentive - campaign avoid division and polariza - ness. I think of Simone Weil, the great French Mystic, who wrote that what we tion? If you watch younger people and most need, and the reason we study, is to cultivate the virtue of attentiveness. those outside the political insider group, “Not only does the love of God have attention for its substance; the love of the candidates who have attracted them our neighbor, which we know to be the same love, is made of this same sub - tend to be those who can rise above the stance. Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but partisanship. That’s what energizes peo - people capable of giving them their attention. The capacity to give one’s ple, and that is what intrigues me. attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a mira - cle; it is a miracle.” (Simone Weil, “Reflections on the Right Use of School Current Election Process/Spiritual Needs Studies with a View to the Love of God,” from her Waiting for God ). of Our Time ( discussion—next page)

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 17 Trustees’ News and Notes Election Process and the Spiritual Needs of our Time (continued) Blenda J. Wilson The conversation that followed the faculty/board presentations centered on the Blenda Wilson is serv - theme of oneness . Some of the questions and comments are reflected below: ing as acting president Q– Trustee and Episcopal Priest Doug Lind ’64 of her alma mater , “There is that wonderful notion from the Gospel of John that we all may be Cedar Crest College, in one, and I’m wondering, from your perspectives, how you think that can Allentown, Pa., while a happen. Where can the oneness be in all the divisions that we have? We national search for a have learned at Union to respect the wonderful differences that we have, permanent president and that is one of the things I celebrate about living in this country. But takes place. how does one find a way to live out that notion that we are all one?” Dr. Wilson, who served as the first presi - A– Panelist Sally Pederson dent and chief executive officer of the Nellie Mae Foundation from July 1999 “I think there is a role, especially for people of faith, to play in keeping until December 2006, was formerly the candidates honest and principled. As Paul Krugman pointed out in the New president of California State Universit y York Times today, there was a very hopeful moment in the presidential cam - –Northridge. In 1998, she became the paign last month, when a number of Jewish leaders signed a letter condemn - first woman to head a four-year higher ing the smear campaign claiming that Senator Obama was a secret Muslim. education institution in the state of That’s people standing up and being ethical.… You don’t have to be for or Michigan as chancellor of the University against a candidate to say ‘We think people should play by a certain set of of Michigan. A nationally known speak - rules that don’t define someone as other or evil .’” er on higher education policy issues, A– Panelist John Maguire Wilson is a past chair of the former “Right after Martin Luther King’s speech at The Riverside Church in 1967, American Association of Higher where King talked about oneness —international oneness, the human family, Education. She was a director of the the beloved community —he was asked, ‘How do you create that?’ Federal Reserve Bank of Boston from His response was: ‘You don’t create it, you come to recognize it.’ 2003-2007 and, in 2006, became the first woman and African American to Chair It’s there, but it’s very hard to see. Therefore, the task is the cultivation of the Board of Directors of the Boston Fed. the capacity to see the oneness even through all the ostensible differences.” Q– Trustee and Physician Mary White John C.B. Webster ’60 “I’d like to use my own lack of the feeling of oneness as an example. When John Webster’s most I vote, I do it passionately, thoughtfully, and with pride. Yet, when I see the recent book, A Social result of my vote, no matter what administration, I’m often deeply ashamed History of Christianity: of many things that happen in this country. I’m just wondering if others in Northwest India Since this room also feel this spiritual division, and I’m also wondering if this is 1800, was released in contributing at all to the polarization that is happening around the country.” hardcover by Oxford University Press in A– Panelist Scott Harshbarger November 2007. The “As Bill Moyers has been telling us, this is not an accident, but a fairly delib - book traces the history, erate attempt to demean and diminish government—the result of people formation, spread, and maintenance of calculating our civic worth by our net worth.… His point is that the cyni - the Christian community in Northwest cism hurts us and depresses people. Cynicism stops people from participat - India in the nineteenth and twentieth ing.… We are the greatest democracy in the world, but less than 30 percent centuries. Dr. Webster served as a mis - of the people are even voting.…” sionary and diaconal worker in India for A–Trustee, former four-term Mayor of Indianapolis, and former U.S. the Presbyterian Church (USA), 1963- Congressman William H. Hudnut III ’57 81 and 1994-2001. He has written “As a person who has run in 16 elections, I have been listening for specific extensively on Christianity in India and words, one of which is hope . I think that’s a very important thing for anyone has periodically taught Church History in politics to communicate. The other word is civility .… I think that one of courses at Union. the contributions that religion can make—and not just Christianity— is to An article by Dr. Webster for the lift the level of discourse in such a way that we can all be more civil with International Bulletin of Missionary each other.…” Research , Vol. 32, No. 1 (January 2008), The primaries occurring after this discussion have continued to highlight the which details the background, sources, divisions within the two major parties rather than end them. And the role of conceptualization and readership for religion in the Presidential campaign remains prominent, as does the range of this book, can be found online at related ethical and moral issues of concern to people of faith. http://www.omsc.org/ibmrcurrent.html.

18 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Union Online by James J. Kempster Do you know your Union history? Find the answers to the following A Timeline of Union’s History ground breaking for the present campus in Morningside Heights. questions, and many more, on I must confess that, when I came to the Union Timeline at Union in October 2006, I knew only I invite you to spend some time with www.utsnyc.edu/timeline . the basics about the Seminary. Of Union’s groundbreaking history at course, I could recite names like www.utsnyc.edu/timeline . Whether • Which came first: the graduation Niebuhr and Tillich, and I was friends you were here as history was being made of John Bunyan Reeve, Union’s with two alumnae from the M.Div. or are looking for a place to make some first Black student, or Abraham program. But that was about the extent new history of your own, you will no Lincoln's issuance of the of my knowledge. doubt find something of yourself on the Emancipation Proclamation? Timeline. I was therefore introduced to the • What seminary joined Union's Seminary’s 2003 publication The Spirit Featured Alumni/ae Churches memorial service after of Union , which had been compiled and We will soon launch a new feature on Kristallnacht in 1938? edited by Nancy Lassiter Huggin and the Union Web site that celebrates the • What prominent theologian could laid out in a newspaper format by role Union alumni/ae have played in Wingate Lassiter. often be seen walking his dog on churches throughout our history and the Claremont Avenue during his years Huggin had drawn her stories from pastoral work they continue to do in on the Union faculty? Robert T. Handy’s A History of Union churches today. Theological Seminary in New York • What Union alumna stood in In addition to a list of Union alumni/ae (Columbia University Press, 1987), the stocking feet on a milk crate in currently working in churches around Union Archives Oral History Project Grand Central Station to lead a the world, we will feature one (1999), Union News magazines, the 1967 antiwar rally? alumni/ae church every few weeks— Seminary archives, and special inter - highlighting their mission, vision, • Of the eleven Episcopal women views. She had brought them to life ministry—along with a statement from a ordained “irregularly” in thematically and visually with photo - Union alumnus/a pastor of the church. Philadelphia in 1974, how many graphs and illustrations. You can learn more about this new fea - were Union alumnae? As I read the publication, I was stunned ture at www.utsnyc.edu/alumchurch es . at the depth and breadth of the Seminary’s rich history of passionate social action, vital theology on the van - guard, creative arts and worship, and Does This Web Site Make Me Look Skinny? enthusiastic engagement with world Assessing, Strategizing and Developing a Web Site issues and events at each moment of its that Reflects Your Church or Non-Profit Organization history. I was not only amazed by the stories that TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2008, 6:30 – 9:00 P.M. unfolded in the pages of The Spirit of How well does your Web site reflect the mission and vision of your church or Union , I came to love the details within non-profit organization? Does it attract new members, new leaders, new sup - the stories that connected the charac - porters and those most in need of your services? Does it serve as an essential ters of the past with the wonderful peo - and dynamic mode of communication for your community? ple I meet at Union today. And I was On May 6, James Kempster, Union’s Associate Director of Development for immediately determined to build the Online Communications, will lead a workshop designed to help your organi - same material on Union’s Web site, zation address these questions, identify its Web site needs, and strategize future giving it room to grow as the Seminary Web development with your community and mission in mind. Mr. Kempster continues to make new history. will also present an intriguing list of tips, tricks, and services that can help any With the help of many people, especial - organization quickly jump-start a new or existing Web site to serve its commu - ly second-year M.A. student Ian Cliffe, nity better and attract new Internet audiences. we have built a “Timeline of Union’s Learn more on Union’s Web site at www.utsnyc.edu/online . History” on the Seminary’s Web site to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 19 Alumni/ae Council News Class Notes by Marvin M. Ellison ’79, ’81 1930s N. Dermott McInnes , S.T.M .’32, t the close of a momentous week On behalf of Union’s more than 7,000 turned one hundred years old on January Awhen three candidates for Union’s alumni/ae, the Council members also 16, 2008. During his ministerial career, presidency each interviewed on-campus, presented several gifts to Joe and Heidi: McInnes served as minister in several the members of Union’s Alumni/ae a week’s stay at Council member Dan Canadian churches before settling in Council gathered in the Refectory Friday Spencer’s cabin on the edge of the North Vancouver to become the very evening, February 1, 2008, to celebrate Tobacco Root Mountains in Montana, first chaplain at the Lions Gate Hospital. Joe and Heidi Hough’s ministry at the plus round-trip airline tickets; a gift cer - 1940s Seminary during the past nine years. tificate from L.L. Bean; and a bouquet of Ella Pearson Mitchell, M.A .’43, and flowers. When presented with the sur - Council convener Jim Osterholt hosted Henry Mitchell , M.Div .’44, widely prise vacation package, Joe beamed and the dinner; Ruth Garwood offered a known as pioneers in the field of Black exclaimed “Yes!” prayer of thanksgiving; and Alison preaching and Christian education, were Boden, Gabriella Lettini, and Tom honored in January 2008 with Distinguished Alumni/ae Awards from Philipp shared words of appreciation ALUMNI /AE COUNCIL for Joe’s leadership, and for Heidi’s the Claremont School of Theology in Margaret P. Aymer ’96, ’04 Claremont, Calif., where they earned constant encouragement and support, their doctoral degrees. during difficult, even tumultuous times Alison L. Boden ’91 Robert Keifer Nace , M.Div .’49, received at the Seminary. Michael Bourgeois ’95 the 2007 Association for Clinical A formal “Declaration of Sentiment” Lynda S. Clements ’74 Pastoral Education, Inc. Distinguished was also read, which said this to Joe: Service Award at the ACPE Annual Marvin M. Ellison ’81 “Your most visible accomplishment has Conference in Dallas, Texas. He and his been to rescue Union during a time of Mary F. Foskett ’89 wife, Ruth Carbaugh, live in retirement in Peterborough, N.H. extreme financial exigency. Only a small Christa Fuller Burns ’75 part of the extended Union family real - 1950s Ruth E. Garwood ’96 ized the seriousness of the financial crisis LaRoy E. Seaver , M.Div .’52, has pub - confronting the Seminary, and you have Sharon N. Key ’86 lished A Man from Elk City: How A had to educate us about the challenges Small Community Molded a Life and opportunities before us. Not only did Margaret Barnes Lehrecke ’53 (AuthorHouse, Bloomington, Ind., 2006). you provide leadership in resolving that Gabriella Lettini ’92, ’04 Seaver retired from active pastoring in crisis, but you also led us to clarify our 1987, then served as the first paid James W. Osterholt ’74 academic and ministerial mission in the director of Lincoln Urban Ministries, where he organized the Minority AIDS process. This accomplishment alone Thomas J. Philipp ’62 Education Committees. ranks you as one of Union’s most distin - Carl J. Richter ’94 guished presidents.” Joseph B. Tyson , S.T.M. ’55, Ph.D. ’59, Alain O. Silverio ’00 has published Marcion and Luke-Acts: A The Council went on to acknowledge Defining Struggle (Columbia: University that while Joe’s tenure as president has Dr. Daniel T. Spencer ’83, ’94 of South Carolina Press, 2006). Dr. been “marked by crisis, difficult deci - M.B. Walsh ’98 Tyson is a Fellow of the Westar Institute sions, and tumult,” it has also been and of the Christian Scholars Group on marked “by repair, reconciliation, and Christian-Jewish Relations, sponsored reinvigoration.” by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College. He is “Our beloved Union is stronger and retired as professor emeritus of Religious more secure because of your efforts,” the Studies from Southern Methodist Council concluded, and “We are thank - University, where he taught for 40 years. ful for [Joe’s] persistently courageous and Frederick Buechner , M.Div .’58, has a faithful leadership in strengthening new book out this year, Secrets in the Union so that it will be able to sustain its Dark: A Life in Sermons (HarperCollins, mission to the church and the world for 2007). The book contains his most years to come.” memorable sermons.

20 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Class Notes William C. Gaventa , M.Div .’72, was awarded the prestigious COMISS Medal in John G. Truitt Jr. , M.Div .’58, received January 2008 for his 30-year ministry to persons with developmental disabilities the Outstanding Service to Elon Award and the persons and systems that serve them. He is the fifth recipient of the by the Elon University Alumni award since its inception in 1988. The medal is the highest honor bestowed by Association in October 2007. Truitt is a the COMISS Network, a national, ecumenical support and advocacy network member of the National Alumni for chaplain and pastoral care ministry in specialized settings. Executive Board and co-president of Gaventa currently serves as director of Community and Congregational Supports Elon’s Golden Alumni. at the Elizabeth M. Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities in New Isaac B.O. Akintemi , M.Div .’59, has Brunswick, N.J., and as associate professor of pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson returned home to Ondo, Nigeria, follow - Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. ing retirement from the Anglican priest - hood. He formerly served in Ondo as provost of the Cathedral Church; in Kenneth Axelson , S.M.M .’65, retired in Charles Patterson , Ph.D .’70, author of Lagos, Nigeria, at All Saints Church; and June 2007, after serving in full-time 11 books, has published his first novel, as foundation bishop of Ijebu Diocese. music and worship positions for 42 years, Last Rites . (Booklocker.com, Inc., most recently as Director of Worship and October 2007). The book is about a 1960s Fine Arts at the First United Methodist young man who follows his father and Church, Houston, Texas. In November, grandfathers into the ministry, only to Gurdon Brewster , M.Div .’62, S.T.M .’71, he accepted a part-time position as realize later he made the wrong choice. has published a new book titled No organist/choirmaster at St. Thomas Turning Back: My Summer with Daddy Mark S. Hanson , M.Div .’72, was re- Episcopal in Houston. King (Orbis Books, October 2007). elected in August 2007 for a second term Ian G. Scott , S.T.M .’65, retired on May as leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Mano Hardies , S.M.M .’62, retired in 31, 2006 after 23 years as minister of Church in America. Hanson also serves November 2007 after 50 years in the Greenbank Parish Church in Edinburgh, as the president of the Lutheran World music ministry at Central United Scotland. Scott has served for 40 years as Federation. Methodist and Grace Evangelical a parish minister. Lutheran churches in Lansing, Mich. He Joel Garner , Ed.D .’73, was awarded the also served at Trinity United Methodist John Ankele , M.Div .’67, and co-produc - 2007 Turquoise Chalice Award by the Church in Grand Rapids. er Anne Macksoud have released their New Mexico Council of Churches. latest documentary, “Beyond Politics of Father Garner has been the Prior of William “Bill” Youngkin , M.Div .’63, Life and Choice: A New Conversation Santa Maria de la Vid Priory since 1985, has found a new calling in retirement About Abortion,” on DVD. This docu - and has also served most of that time as from ministry. He is co-chairman of the mentary attempts to creates a space pastor for Our Lady of the Most Holy United Church of Christ Southwest where both sides can explore ways of Rosary Church. Garner also chairs the Ohio/Northern Kentucky Association bridging the divide and moving forward Ecumenical Institute for Ministry. Global Partnership Program. In this together. Information about the film can position, Youngkin is in charge of part - Calvin O. Butts, III , M.Div . ’75, accept - be found at the producers’ Web site, nering with a Presbyterian teacher’s ed the Council of Churches of the City www.olddogdocumentaries.com/docu - college in rural Rubate, Kenya. of New York (CCCNY) award for excep - mentaries.htm. tional service on October 20, 2007. Dr. James Adams , M.Div .’65, retired in Butts, senior pastor of the Abyssinian 2004 and has been following his passion 1972s Baptist Church in New York and presi - for fencing since then. He is currently Dick Millspaugh , M.Div .’70, received dent of SUNY Old Westbury, has served U.S. champion in men’s foil for ages 60 the Department of Veterans Affairs as president of CCCNY for the past ten and over. Adams, who holds the doctor - (VA) 2006 Secretary’s award for years. He stepped down from that posi - ate from San Francisco Seminary, served Excellence in Chaplain Service. tion at the end of 2007. Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania, Millspaugh was selected for the 2007 Ohio, and Missouri before moving to award from more than 1,000 VA chap - 1980s Maryland, where he was pastor of the lains in 154 VA medical centers across David M. Rider , M.Div .’80, S.T.M .’01, Rockville Presbyterian Church for 25 the nation. He also serves as a communi - has accepted a call from the Board of years. From 1978 to 1983, Adams reports ty representative to the Association for Trustees of the Seamen’s Church he and his wife, Margee Iddings, Clinical Pastoral Education Regional Institute of New York and New Jersey M.R.E. ’63, were the first clergy couple Council and is active in the Association (SCI) to be the organization’s ninth in the Presbyterian Church to be work - of Professional Chaplains. president and executive director. Rider ing as co-pastors, each on full time salary. previously served as managing trustee of the Episcopal Church Medical Trust and senior vice president of the Church Insurance Company.

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 21 Emmanuel Martey , Ph.D .’92, has Warren Thomas , M.Div .’00, received Class Notes continued recently been inducted as the ninth his board certification from the National Maren Tirabassi , M.Div .’80, is the chairman of the Ghana Presbytery. Association of Catholic Chaplains in author of 13 books, most recently Caring Martey, the author of over 33 publica - October 2007. He has been serving as for Ourselves While Caring for Our Elders tions, is currently a lecturer at the Trinity Catholic Chaplain at the Jewish Home (Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, 2007); a chil - Theological Seminary, Legon. He is a and Hospital in Manhattan since 2000. dren’s book titled Footlights and Fairy theological consultant for African Dust (Publishingworks, Exeter N.H., Partnership Consultation (APC) to 2007); and Before the Amen, Resources develop an African roaming theological for Worship (Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, faculty to build capacity of pastors and lay 2007). Tirabassi is the pastor of Union people in Africa. Congregational UCC in Madbury, N.H., Mary C. Thomas , M.A. ’95, and her and travels throughout the country facil - husband, David Spence, have announced itating clergy and lay workshops on cre - the birth of a son, Tucker Louis Spence, ative worship, youth ministry, elder-care born on February 25, 2008. concerns, and liturgical writing. Akintunde E. Akinade , Ph.D .’96, Alisa Del Tufo , M.Div. ’81, was one of received the E. Vance Davis 21 social entrepreneurs from the United Distinguished Service Award in October States, Canada, Mexico, and Central 2007. Akinade received the award for America inducted into an international teaching at High Point University fellowship by Ashoka: Innovators for the (North Carolina), where he is an associ - Violet L. Dease , M.Div. ’01, has Public at a special ceremony on February ate professor of world religions. been named the assistant pastor for 25, 2008, in Miami. Del Tufo founded Paul B. Raushenbush , M.Div .’96, is the historic Abyssinian Baptist CONNECT in New York to help end the editor of the recently released Church in Harlem—becoming the family and gender violence. Centennial Edition of Walter first woman to preside over the Marvin M. Ellison , Ph.D .’81, and Rauschenbusch’s Christianity and Social ordinances in Abyssinian’s 200 Judith Plaskow have edited a new book Crisis (HarperSanFrancisco, 2007). years of Christian witness. Dease titled Heterosexism in Contemporary has served on the ministerial team Kevin R. Johnson , M.Div .’99, was World Religion: Problem and Prospect under the tutelage of Senior Pastor installed as pastor of the Bright Hope (The Pilgrim Press, Ohio – 2007). Calvin O. Butts, III ’75 since 1998. Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pa., in Abraham K. Ackah , S.T.M .’86, has October 28, 2007. Previously, Johnson been elected and consecrated Bishop of served under the Rev. Dr. Calvin O. the Anglican Diocese of Wiawso in the Butts III, M.Div .’75, at Abyssinian Kathryn Madden , Ph.D .’02, accepted Western Region of Ghana, West Africa. Baptist Church in New York City. the 2007 Social Responsibility Award Since his time at Union, he has been from the New York Society of Rhonda Rubinson , M.A .’99, became lecturing at the St. Nicholas Theological Association Executives (NYSAE) for the interim pastor at St. Philip’s Seminary in Cape Coast, Ghana, and Project Care, a new mental health care Episcopal Church in New York City in also doubling as a parish priest. program of Blanton-Peale Institute and September 2007 Counseling Center. The program reach - 1990s 2000s es out to service men and women who John A. Nelson , M.Div .’91, was recent - have been scarred, both emotionally and Carol L. Kessler , M.Div. ’00, was a ly installed as the new pastor for Niantic physically, during their time in Iraq and major contributor and the co-editor with Community Church in Niantic, Conn. Afghanistan. Dr. Madden is president Louis James Kraus of The Mental Health He previously served as senior pastor of and CEO of the Blanton-Peale Institute. Needs of Young Offenders (Cambridge the Dover Church in Dover, Mass. University Press, September 2007). Mark Davidson , S.T.M .’03, has begun Alison Boden , M.Div .’91, has celebrated doctoral studies with Professor John Sara Lamar-Sterling , M.Div .’00, is the the publication of a new book titled Swinton in Aberdeenshire, UK. newly installed pastor at First and Women’s Rights and Religious Practice Summerfield United Methodist Church Leah Hauser , M.Div .’03 joined The (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2008). on the Green, New Haven, Conn. Federated Church in Fergus Falls, Minn., Susanne Scholz , S.T.M .’91, Ph.D .’97, Previously, she served as associate pastor as associate pastor in October 2007. has celebrated the publication of her at the Park Avenue United Methodist Hauser previously worked as chaplain at book, Introducing the Women’s Hebrew Church in Manhattan. Lamar-Sterling New York Presbyterian Hospital in New Bible (T&T Clark International, also serves on the Commission on Higher York City, after serving for two years November 2007). Education of New York and is the chair - with the Peace Corps in East Africa. person of its campus ministry.

22 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Katherine Higgins , M.Div .’03, has returned to New York as one of four A Reunion at Union—Cousins Finding Each Other in 1950 students admitted to a pioneering clini - cal pastoral supervisory education pro - Wilberta Naden finds Mary Alice Naden gram at the HealthCare Chaplaincy. by Wilberta N. Pickett, S.M.M. ’52 The new program, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and a comple - On a warm September day in the fall of 1950, orientation was underway at mentary grant from the Henry Luce Union. I joined students from across the nation, from across the globe, as we Foundation, will eventually be linked to piled into a bus that took us around Manhattan to visit churches, the East an accredited doctoral-level program. Harlem Protestant Parish just in its infancy, and what else I don’t remember. Somebody—probably Dean of Students George Webber—pointed out signifi - Lorraine Tollan , M.Div .’03, is working cant landmarks as we were introduced to Union’s history in New York City. on the Regional Network Program for the Scottish alumni/ae, which hosted All day long I sat with a friendly young woman who, I learned, was from Seattle Prof. Christopher Morse ’68, ’76 during and was living at Windham House, the housing provided for Episcopalian his recent lecture tour in Scotland. women seeking the MRE degree in the days before women could easily seek ordination. As a student in the School of Sacred Music, I let her know I was Ellen M. Larson , M.Div .’04, has been from Indiana and temporarily living in an apartment on Riverside Drive called to serve three united congrega - because McGiffert Hall didn’t have enough rooms to accommodate all the tions in Aberdeenshire, U.K. women students. We exchanged small talk all day, commented on the impres - Jennifer Aull , M.Div. ’06, and her partner, sive houses of worship, but were a bit perplexed by learning the differences of Ann Kansfield, co-pastors of Greenpoint worship [styles] being promulgated by the School of Sacred Music and the Reformed Church in Brooklyn, were fea - model of worship at East Harlem.… tured in the Metro section of the New York It wasn’t until the end of the tour that we finally asked each other for our Times in February for the fledgling soup names. When she said “Mary Alice Naden” I gasped. I was “Wilberta Naden.” kitchen they have started at their This is not a common name in the United States. We found that we both Greenpoint church. claimed England as our family’s country of origin. Hers came from Birmingham Amy Frances Strano , M.Div. ’07, will be in 1890, through Ellis Island and straight to Kent, Washington. Mine came ordained to the Unitarian Universalist from Taddington, Derbyshire, in 1845, sailed to New York City, up the Hudson Ministry by the congregations of the River, followed the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to Chicago, finally taking Fourth Universalist Society in the City a canal boat to Morris, Illinois, and settling on a farm in Plattville, Illinois. of New York and All Souls Unitarian There seemed to be no obvious connection. Church of All Souls, N.Y.C. on Sunday, After that, we saw each other occasionally, not being in the same classes. After April 13, 2008 at 5 p.m. at All Souls, graduation, we kept in touch, and years later, after we both married and raised 1157 Lexington Avenue at 80th Street. families, we began researching our genealogy. Through Father Dennis Nadin, a retired Anglican priest in Harrow and the director of the Naden/Nadin Society in England, we have learned that he has traced both our families back probably to Longnor above Birmingham. Although there is no confirmed close connection, Mary Alice and I have decided that our roots are strong enough from the same source to make a connection and to declare Stay in Touch… that we are indeed related. We will Friends and classmates want to hear call ourselves cousins! about the milestones in your life. I have visited Mary Alice three E-mail your classnotes to: times in Washington State—once [email protected] for in Kent, twice in Seattle—and we inclusion in the next Union News. talk. We like each other and we OR mail to know one thing: we are united by our relationship through that aca - Kevin McGee demic, theological giant—Union Union Theological Seminary Theological Seminary. Developmemt Office 3041 Broadway Wilberta Naden Pickett, S.M.M.’52, Thanks be to God! New York NY 10027 (left) lives in suburban Pittsburgh. Mary Alice Naden Legge, M.A.C.E. ’52, (right) lives in Exeter House in Seattle.

UNION NEWS Spring 2008 23 An Event-full Year for the Revitalized Metropolitan Friends of Union

he revitalized Metropolitan Friends of Union (MFU) turned one year old in TFebruary 2008. A series of stimulating events during their first year included a lunch in March 2007 with Professor Paul Knitter, who spoke about his work in inter - faith dialogue; a program in May 2007, where Union’s Professor Mary Boys and Professor Sara Lee of Hebrew Union College, in Los Angeles, discussed Christian- Jewish understanding; the annual Fall reception hosting 11 international students; and a special evening event in September 2007 with Professor John McGuckin and Ph.D. candidate Norris Chumley, who introduced their film, “Sophia—in the Desert, Sharing the Christian Wisdom Tradition.” MFU looks forward to another year of “friend-ship” as Union officially celebrates 100 years on Morningside Heights and also pays tribute to its president, Joseph C. Hough, Jr., whose leadership has set Union on a strong path to the future. The goal of Metropolitan Friends of Union in this centennial year is to achieve a membership of one hundred, and they cordially invite you to join them.

“Metropolitan Friend” Marie Wilson greets incoming S.T.M. student Yoon In Young

In Memoriam Grant M. Selch ’29 Earnest Price, Jr. ’48 Hayward L. Levy ’62 R. Donald Clare ’34 James M. Winn ’48 David Ramsey ’63 Richard S. Emrich ’35 Omar R. Buchwalter ’49, ’53 Robert W. Wegter ’64 Charles W. Lee ’36 George Swartzfager ’49 Ralph C. Chandler ’65 Robert H. Barber ’37 Joseph W. Coutret ’50 Lyle R. Guttu ’65 Rudolph Roell ’37 William A. Irish ’50 G. Phillip Durkee ’66 J. Gordon Chamberlin ’38,’52 John D. Thomson ’50 H. James Nersoyan ’66 Paul Robinson ’38 ’51 Robert L. Campbell ’51 Carl Menifee Wilson ’66 Katherine Reuter Leonard ’39 William E. Gibson ’51, ’72 Lee Soo-Min ’67 Geoffrey M. Styler ’39 Felix O. Lehner ’51 Samuel Ayodele Ojurongbe ’68 James A. Glyer ’42 Winston A. Johnson ’51 Richard Westenburg ’69 Robert F. Klepper ’42 James F. Ross ’52, ’55 John H. Mack ’71 Enid Sara Pugh Beecham ’43 William F. Andrews ’53 Louis P. Rogge ’84 John P. Dillenberger ’43,’49 Barbara Deitz Mehl ’53 William J.Toth ’91 Wendell Q. Halverson ’43 Charles E. Book ’54 Gideon Khabela ’92 Virgil Allard ’44 Joseph D. Chelette ’54 Angelo M. Paiano ’00 David S. Burgess ’44 R. Lansing Hicks ’54 Timothy Fauvell ’05 John Darr ’44 John P. Psillas ’56 FORMER BOARD Charles G. McCormick ’44, ’46 Donald M. Crank ’57 James B. Igleheart Richard W. Firth ’45 E. Burton Davison ’58 John H. Boller, Sr. ’46 Jean D. Lange ’58 FORMER STAFF Theodor Marcus Mauch ’46, ’47, ’58 George Stierwald ’58 Eileen Tobin

Frederick T. Schumacher ’46 Thomas J. Davies ’59 FORMER FACULTY Marilyn F. Butler ’47 David H. Fitzsimmons ’62 Edwina Wright Mildred Hermann ’47, ’67 Bienvenido D. Junasa ’62 Walter Burghardt

Union’s annual All Saints and All Souls Day memorial service will take place on Monday, November 3, 2008, in James Chapel. This annual service gives the Seminary community an opportunity to remember family, friends, alumni/ae, and faculty, throughout the world who have died during the past year.

24 UNION NEWS Spring 2008 Recent Events at Union

Professor John A. McGuckin (pictured with an icon of St. Nicholas) was Professor Paul F. Knitter was inaugurated as Paul Tillich Professor of installed as the Ane Marie and Bent Emil Nielsen Professor of Late Antique Theology, World Religions and Culture on February 20, 2008. Dr. Knitter’s and Byzantine Christian History on December 6, 2007. Dr. McGuckin’s inaugural address, “Doing Theology Interreligiously: Union and the Legacy installation address,“Byzantine avenues to theological insight: the Strange of Paul Tillich," is available as a podcast on Union’s Web site. Case of Santa Claus,”is available as a podcast on Union’s Web site.

50th Reunion/Union Days October 2007

Class agents for the 50th Reunion Class, The class of 1957 enjoyed time between their scheduled William H. Hudnut III and Mary Ann Lundy, Reunion activities catching up with former classmates. relax in the Quad before lunch with their class.

The photos above and additional images from these events and other events can be viewed on the new photo album page of Union’s Web site: www.utsnyc.edu/PhotoAlbum Union Theological Seminary Non-Profit 3041 Broadway at 121st Street Organization New York, New York 10027-5792 U.S. Postage PAID Hackensack, N.J. Permit #1037

Special Benefits for Union Alumni/ae Access to More than 100 Major Religion and Theology Journals via ATLAS® Now Available We are pleased to announce an exciting new benefit for alumni/ae who are registered members on the Seminary’s Web site. By logging on with a MyUnion user name and password at www.utsnyc.edu , our alumni/ae can now access ATLASerials® (ATLAS®) free of charge. ATLASerials® is an online collection of more than 100 major religion and theology journals selected by leading religion scholars and theologians. Users can research the history of a topic from as early as 1924 to the present through more than 211,000 articles and book reviews combined. Available titles include: Catholic Biblical Quarterly Hebrew Union College Annual Christian Century International Journal for the Psychology of Religion Christianity Today Journal for Preachers Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture Journal of the American Academy of Religion Cross Currents Living Pulpit Harvard Theological Review If you are not yet a member of MyUnion, you can register at www.utsnyc.edu . Just click on the login link located at the top left-hand corner of the home page. AND: Union graduates can also request the new Union Alumni/ae I.D. card by contacting Kevin McGee at 212-280-1590 or [email protected] or by sending him a written request. The card will identify you as a Union alumna or alumnus to the Union desk attendant when you visit campus, and it will also identify you to the Columbia Library staff if you wish to register for reading privileges at the Burke or other libraries in the Columbia Library system.