The Funerals of George H.W. Bush
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SPRING 2019 The Funerals of George H.W. Bush PAGE 26 VTS Spring 2019 .indd 1 5/15/19 6:36 AM Table of Contents RATHER CURTIS PHOTO: The Rev. Kim Jackson ’10, the Rev. Sandra Wilson, the Rev. Caron Gwynn ’06, the Rev. Canon Paula Clark ’04, the Rev. Canon Dr. Rosemarie Duncan ’05, ’13, the Rev. Judy Fentress-Williams, Ph.D., the Rev. Kim Coleman ’01, the Rt. Rev. Phoebe Roaf ’08, and the Rev. Canon Dr. Michele Hagans attending the Martin Features Luther King Jr. commemoration. 10 Dr. Timothy F. Sedgwick Retires 14 History of the Dean’s Cross Dr. Sedgwick’s impact on VTS and the Episcopal Since 2009 VTS has honored 30 “servant leaders,” Church is recognized. including ordained and lay, authors, and a First Lady. 18 MLK Jr. Commemoration 26 Interview with Russ Levenson Every April for the last 13 years, Virginia Seminary The Rev. Russ Levenson Jr., D.Min. ’92 offers a comes together to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin unique historical perspective of faith interpreting Luther King, Jr. politics at the services for former President Bush. Virginia Theological Seminary Magazine is published three times per year (January, May, and September) for alumni and friends by the Communications Office, Virginia Theological Seminary, 3737 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA 22304. Editorial comments should be directed to [email protected]. 2 Virginia Theological Seminary Magazine | Spring 2019 VTS Spring 2019 .indd 2 5/14/19 4:10 PM PANOX-LEACH ELIZABETH Table of Contents PHOTO: 14 In 2014, the Rt. Rev. James (Bud) Shand awarded former Secretary of State, the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, with the Dean’s Cross for Servant Leadership in Church and Society. Students and friends honor Dr. ‘14 Sedgwick after his final class of PITTS the 2018/19 academic year. 10 KRISTEN PHOTO: Departments 4 Dean’s Message 6 Faculty News 17 On Holy Hill ON THE COVER 20 Academic Affairs and Student Life The casket containing former President 22 Bicentennial Celebration George H.W. Bush arrives for his funeral service at the National Cathedral in 24 Scene at VTS Washington, D.C. on December 5, 2018. The Rev. Russ Levenson Jr., D.Min. ’92, 36 Center for Anglican Communion Studies rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas, preached at the service. 38 Lifelong Learning Photo by Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images 40 Advancing VTS 42 Alumni News & Notes 47 Board of Trustees www.vts.edu | Virginia Theological Seminary Magazine 3 VTS Spring 2019 .indd 3 5/14/19 4:10 PM FROM THE DEAN Current VTS students, from all degree programs and all classes, gather on the Moore Terrace outside Immanuel Chapel’s north entrance. TRAINING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: Resisting the Temptation to Be too Trendy or too Traditional The Rev. Melody Knowles, Ph.D., “dilute” the purity of the program. Meanwhile, the vice president of Academic Affairs progressives want a radical, new alternative curriculum. and associate professor of Old Virginia Theological Seminary has decided to avoid these Testament, allowed herself a smile two extremes. Instead, a classic via media emerged. This is a as the faculty finished voting on the curriculum that makes Christ central and equips graduates revised Master in Divinity (M.Div.) to serve the Church effectively. These are the key features of curriculum. It was the culmination the new M.Div.: of a three-year process that • A grounding in the classical subjects—a Biblical included input from alums, current language is still required (it is so important that students, members of the Board of Trustees, and Contextual graduates realize the distance the text traveled when Ministry supervisors. Mitzi Budde, D.Min., head librarian, translated); foundational courses in Old and New had been leading the process; the Rev. James Farwell, Testament have been enlarged; and Theology, Ethics, Ph.D., professor of Theology and Liturgy, had progressed it and History are all still central. during Vice President Knowles sabbatical in 2018. Finally, • An imaginative middler year that makes Field Education at the January 2019 faculty retreat the votes were taken; central. No longer is Field Education just for Sunday the chief academic officer of the Seminary, Melody, had a morning; students are now expected to commit to 24 result. Faculty colleagues had come together; there was a hours a week at their ministry site. consensus about the shape of the curriculum. • An extensive array of contemporary courses. Skills in Christian Education, Pastoral Theology, Mission, and The temptations of our time are the extremes. The Congregational Studies are required to be taught. traditionalists do not want any change. One inch will • Tracks that create options, including two tracks that 4 Virginia Theological Seminary Magazine | Spring 2019 VTS Spring 2019 .indd 4 5/9/19 7:47 AM FROM THE DEAN ’91 MATHES JAMES REV. RT. THE PHOTO: enable specialization. For the church planter, we have residential theological education. Our placement rates a New Mission Practices Track; for those who want hover at 100%. As the faculty did this important work, to engage with the “nones” (spiritual but not religious we realized that we have an important responsibility. The crowd), we have the Spirituality Track. future of our tradition depends on getting this right. • And an incredible array of electives. We make sure that those interested in specialized questions have space to As this work was finished, I couldn’t help but think take a class in that area—from interreligious (we have of Johann Sebastian Bach. At the end of his musical a Muslim faculty member) to interdisciplinary (from art manuscripts, Bach would add the initials SDG–Soli Deo to community organizing) to cross-cultural engagement Gloria–For the Glory of God Alone. In the end, this is programs (many overseas). always our prayer. May God give us the wisdom to get it right, and may our work glorify God. We remain committed to the work of formation in residence. It is the environment of study that makes all the difference. Yours in Christ, Edges are rubbed off as one shares table fellowship every lunch time; the discipline of daily worship creates a habit that lasts a lifetime; and the network, we know from the Church Pension Fund, creates connections that forge The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D. opportunities both upon graduation and later. Dean and President Virginia Theological Seminary is currently providing over 25% of the clergy in the Episcopal Church who undergo www.vts.edu | Virginia Theological Seminary Magazine 5 VTS Spring 2019 .indd 5 5/9/19 7:47 AM FACULTY NEWS FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: MARK JEFFERSON In celebration of Virginia Theological Seminary’s Bicentennial countdown, the Rev. Mark Jefferson, Ph.D., promoted by the Board of Trustees this May as the full-time assistant professor of Homiletics, accepted Dean Markham’s challenge to preach 200 sermons between October 2018 and October 2023. Here he is in his own words. ’19 EVELYN SHAWN PHOTOS: THE CHALLENGE: I love to preach, I strategic areas in the country and different places around the world, believe in the teaching of preaching, building relationships with preachers. multiplying our efforts to help and so I was excited that my dean and We have a Lilly Foundation grant strengthen preaching. president had enough confidence in that allows us to build peer-based what we were doing as a homiletics cohort groups. And out of those THE MATH: The math is 40 sermons a department to give me the chance to cohort groups, we’re going to create year. If a church offers two services do this. maps of clergy care that allow people each Sunday, that’s 20 Sundays, and to strengthen their preaching. And so 40 sermons times five is 200. My goal WHY 200 SERMONS: Number one, I’ll visit these places, and then people is that we’ll exceed 200, which means we want to champion preaching have already recommended places that I will have to preach more, but excellence across the Episcopal they hope that we would travel and that’s a joy and not a big deal. tradition and throughout the world. come share the gospel. And then out We hope to do that by going to of that, we will teach preaching in 6 Virginia Theological Seminary Magazine | Spring 2019 VTS Spring 2019 .indd 6 5/9/19 7:47 AM FACULTY NEWS BACKGROUND: I’m ordained Baptist. I grew up Pentecostal in different forms of nondenominational. I went to a Methodist Seminary, and I have taught at Baptist, UCC and Presbyterian seminaries. The Episcopal Church is a wonderful experience because it is something that is so different from my general walk of life in terms of my faith commitment. It’s a joy to learn more about the tradition, which has also ’19 connected me to American history and global history through the BURGESS Anglican tradition. PETE COMING TO VTS: I was recommended PHOTO: by a homiletics colleague of mine, The Rev. Mark R. Jefferson, Ph.D., the Rev. Allison St. Louis, Ph.D. ’00, the Very Rev. Ian and it just seemed to work out from S. Markham, Ph.D., and the Rev. A. Katherine Grieb, Ph.D. ’83, participated in a lively there. In 2016, VTS was looking discssion at the kick-off of the Continuing Education series in September 2018. for someone to fill in for a professor who served well here and went on to to Pastor Richard Wills. I’ve been urges us to continue to transform and another school. My name was passed around great preachers in terms change through the power of Christ.