A New Era at VDS

James Hudnut-Beumler Dean and Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History

VOLUME 22, NUMBER 1 WINTER 2001 TheSPie

Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Oberlin Graduate School of Theology TheSPie Volume 22 • Number 1 • Winter 2001 Features 9 The Spire is published biannually by Vander- bilt University Divinity School in cooperation Extended Conversations Vanderbilt University with the Office of Alumni Communications & The newly appointed dean exchanges his views on theological education and Publications from editorial and business the mission of the Divinity School. Divinity School offices located at University Plaza, 112 21st Announces the 2001 Avenue South, Suite 301, Nashville, Tennessee 37203 (Telephone: 615/322-3981). The editor Antoinette Brown Lecture welcomes letters and comments from readers regarding articles published in The Spire; 16 alumni/ae of the Divinity School, the Gradu- Domestic Intervention ate School’s Department of Religion, and the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology are Alumnae intercede in the lives of battered women. Engendering Christ encouraged to submit news items of their per- sonal and professional accomplishments. Readers may correspond by U.S. mail:

The Spire 19 The Office of Alumni to be delivered by Communications & Publications Magic Bullet or Eugenics Revisited Kwok Pui-lan Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt doctoral candidate Christine Caron considers the Box 7703, Station B theological implications of the Human Genome Project. Nashville, TN 37235 The William F. Cole by e-mail: [email protected] Professor of Christian by facsimile: 615/343-8547 Theology and Spirituality Address corrections may be sent to: 22 The Office of Gift Records Episcopal Divinity School Vanderbilt University Traversing the Gray Border Cambridge, Massachusetts 201 Alumni Hall A Divinity School student examines the North America Free Trade Agreement Nashville, TN 37240 through hermeneutical lens. or updated electronically on the alumni home page at www.vanderbilt.edu/alumni 25 James Hudnut-Beumler, Dean The Anne Potter Wilson Witnesses Against Complicity Thursday, March 15, 7:30 P.M. Distinguished Professor Faculty, staff, and students from the University community protest Tennessee’s Benton Chapel of American Religious History death penalty law.

Victor Judge, BS’77, MS’79, Editor

Professor Kwok Pui-lan, the 27th Antoinette Brown lecturer, was Cathy H. Snyder, Director of Alumni/ae and graduated from Harvard University where she received the doctor- Development 30 ate of theology. A member of the Episcopal Divinity School faculty Christian Holihan, Designer since 1992, she is the author of Chinese Women and Christianity: The Road to Vanderbilt 1860–1927, Discovering the Bible in the Non-Biblical World, and Professor Jack M. Sasson charts his journey from Aleppo, Syria, Anthony J. Spence, E’75, Executive Director of to the Divinity School where he holds the Mary Jane Werthan Introducing Asian Feminist Theology. Alumni Communications and Publications Chair in Judaic and Biblical Studies.

Wisteria and Bird Vanderbilt University is committed to the principles by Chou Ju-nan 19th-century Chinese hanging scroll of equal opportunity and affirmative action. Ch-ing Dynasty On the front cover: portrait of Dean James Hudnut-Beumler by photographer ink and slight color on silk 30” x 14” ©2001 Vanderbilt University Peyton Hoge of Franklin, Tennessee 1980.093 gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard L. Boorman Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery Collection On the back cover: india ink and sandpaper etching by Nashville artist Kurt M. Lightner

THE SPIRE Winter 2001 1 Around the’ From the Dean quadrAngle PEYTON HOGE PEYTON Forrest E. Harris, Religion & the Process of Discernment Preeminent Preacher Named Distinguished Alumnus MDiv’83, DMin’91, Direc- “Is what you do important? I mean, I can Religion is powerful, and dangerous. and tragedies of human life. Religious tradi- “I have an Oberlin education and a Vander- segregationist beliefs endorsed by the Agrar- tor of the Kelly understand the need that religious organiza- Believing that God is on one’s side has tions are powerful because they are all- bilt certification, and I remain grateful to ians who advocated a South characterized by Miller Smith tions have for clerical leaders, but is that an enabled several of our finest movements for encompassing; they give an account of the both institutions,” proclaimed the Reverend a moral, social, and economic autonomy. Institute on important thing for the University to be liberation. The civil rights movement, the wholeness of things that can sustain and Doctor Gardner C. Taylor from the pulpit in “Their names should be uttered with a blister Black Church involved in?” This was one of the most anti-apartheid movement, and movements order our lives. On the other hand, when one Benton Chapel upon receiving the Divinity on the tongue for speaking lies to history,” he Studies and pres- unusual questions I had to field during my for the total inclusion of all people in the person’s or group’s sense of wholeness con- School’s distinguished alumnus award for contends. ident of Ameri- first month as dean of the Divinity School. leadership and service of churches all come flicts with another’s, religion is often the 2000. Taylor also encouraged the audience to can Baptist The questioner was a new professor who had out of this conviction of holy purpose. The source of great conflict. Pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist remember, “At the height and depth of life is College, congrat- taught in the sciences in a variety of major idea that the divine suffers with creation has So how do we sort out good religion from Church of Christ in Brooklyn, Gardner, Ober- a mystery, and we must remain engaged in ulates the universities, but never one with a divinity helped millions cope with the contingencies bad religion? How do we discern the beliefs lin BD’40, accepted the award from James L. this mystery. The Bible is not a nice, conven- Revered Doctor Gardner C. Taylor, Oberlin, school. and practices that are warranted by received Smalley, BD’67, pastor of First United tional book, and if we look at the Cross BD’40, (right) recipient of Vanderbilt Univer- Is what we do important? That’s a ques- tradition from those that are not? We work at Church, UCC, in Nashville and past presi- through rose-colored glasses and expect the sity Divinity School’s distinguished alumnus tion that faces not only the dean of a divinity the process of discernment at the Divinity dent of the alumni/ae association. Presented Cross to be rose-odored, then Christianity award for 2000. Hailed by Time magazine as school, but also, I suspect, most of you School by doing what universities do well: during the Fall Convocation on September 1, becomes crossless.” “the dean of America’s black preachers” and by reading this column. If we look at the we read and evaluate texts; we assess the citation on the award stated, “By virtue of Among the gestures of congratulations Christian Century magazine as “the poet lau- images presented to us on televi- moral arguments; we send students his preeminence as preacher, teacher, and the distinguished alumnus received at con- reate of American Protestantism, Taylor was sion and in the movies of reli- out into churches, agencies, and pastor, Reverend Taylor has brought honor to vocation was a telegram from alumni/ae chosen by the alumni/ae association for his min- gious leaders, scholars, and classrooms to learn how their his profession and to Vanderbilt University.” Vice President Al Gore, L’77, and Tipper, istry as preacher, teacher, pastor, and prophet to even religiously motivated own theologies measure up to In his convocation address, titled “A MA’76. the church and society. people, we are apt not to the issues they encounter. I Benediction for Us All,” Taylor discussed the be encouraged by what wager that many of you do we see. To the popular something very similar in media, religious leaders the work of your lives. are too often nice and Promoting a critical and Pondering An Enigmatic Trinity pious but quite beside wise appropriation of the the point. faith is difficult work in When 46 contemporary literary artists from what southern literature actually is, and it Looking at the part because accepting a the southern school of letters convened at was important for the Divinity School to Sherry Willis pages of the news sec- simplistic faith is often so Vanderbilt University in April for the Millen- serve as part of the setting for the Millennial has assumed tions, one gets quite a much easier. nial Gathering of Writers of the New South, Gathering because of the institution’s com- the responsi- different view of reli- Is what we do impor- the Divinity School Refectory was the setting mitments to diversity and social justice.” bilities of gion. Ethnic conflicts tant? I think that the for two panel discussions. (Poems from the canons of Jarman and activities often take on a religious work of this Divinity Mark Jarman, poet and professor of Eng- Daniels are reprinted on page 43 of this issue coordinator dimension. As I write, School and its graduates lish at Vanderbilt, was among the partici- of The Spire.) for the Divin- there are people in the is among the most impor- pants who explored the enigmatic trinity of ity School’s PEYTON HOGE PEYTON Indian subcontinent and tant work that can be done race, gender, and class in “The Church of Humorist and nov- Office of in the Middle East killing in a world characterized both Christ Without Christ: Conversations on elist Roy Blount Jr., Alumni/ae one another in the name of by great religious devotion Faith” while Walter Sullivan, BA’47, novelist BA’63, responds to and Develop- their faiths. Meanwhile, in the and poor religious understand- and professor of English at the University for a question on race ment. Prior to United States we have just ing. I applaud you in continuing 51 years, discussed southern writers’ critical relations in south- DAVID CRENSHAW her appoint- passed through a presidential elec- to do your part of this important relationship to the home place and the dias- ern literature dur- ment in tion season in which the major candi- work and pledge that we will continue pora during “Why We Want to Go Home ing the Millennial March, she served for five years as sec- dates appealed to transcendent aims and to do ours. Again: Conversations on Place.” Gathering of Writ- retary at the Robert Penn Warren Center purposes, used the word “God” frequently, Organized by poet Kate Daniels, associate ers of the New for the Humanities and for eight years professor of English, the conference— South. “When as administrative assistant in the Law and signaled their hope in faith-based groups James Hudnut-Beumler, attended by more than 1,000 people over Africans and Celts School’s legal clinic. Willis is studying to address many of the unfinished works of Dean justice and mercy in this society. three days—gathered in a single place and or Anglo-Saxons found themselves together in for her baccalaureate in management time virtually everyone of importance from the same region, an extraordinary social and and human relations at Trevecca the new generation of southern writers and moral stew was created that revealed the oral- Nazarene University. She and her hus- afforded the University an opportunity to ity, earthiness, metaphorical fluency, rhythmic band, Chuck, recently celebrated their “Promoting a critical and wise appropriation of the faith is difficult work renew its relationship with the region’s liter- relish, and improvisatory looseness of Southern 20th anniversary and are parents of two ary traditions. American English,” claims Blount, a Georgia teenaged daughters. in part because accepting a simplistic faith is often so much easier.” “The writers didn’t come together to native now residing in New York City and who determine what southern writing should be was among the 46 contemporary literary —Dean James Hudnut-Beumler or how the South’s literature should behave,” artists participating in the southern writers explains Daniels. “We gathered to explore conference.

2 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 3 Resistance Against Oblivion Reverence for Nonviolence Professor of Religious For the 23rd consecutive year, the Divinity In his lecture “Exploring the Holocaust through Divinity School stu- lowing the Indonesian military invasion of Studies School was among the sponsors for the the Visual Arts,” Stephen Feinstein, director of dents had the oppor- East Timor on December 7, 1975, 200,000 citi- Thomas Gre- annual Vanderbilt Holocaust Lecture Series, the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies tunity to hear Nobel zens were killed—including four of Ramos- gor was the longest-sustained series devoted to the at the University of Minnesota, discussed the Peace laureate and Horta’s 11 brothers and sisters. among the subject on a university campus in the United role of art in depicting atrocity and traced the human rights diplo- “My people were sacrificed on the altar of 19 faculty States. The theme for the 2000 series, “Arts of evolution of images representing the Holocaust mat Jose Ramos-Horta cold war and pragmatism, and now, a quar- members Remembrance,” examined how still images, beginning with Marc Chagall’s White Crucifix- deliver his lecture, ter of a century later, Indonesia is imploding who were films, paintings, and music serve as docu- ion of 1938. In this painting, revolutionary “Peacemaking: The and collapsing from the weight of arro- recognized ments that render an immediacy and inti- hordes with red flags rampage through a village, Power of Nonvio- gance,” he informed the audience. “The les- at the fall fac- mately human expression to the Holocaust. looting and burning houses; refugees in a boat lence,” in October for son from East Timor is that each individual ulty assembly Jose Ramos-Horta, DAVID CRENSHAW “The arts help us to see individuals rather gesticulate for help; a Nazi desecrates a syna- Symposium 2000— can be an agent of change.” for their 25 than numbers, emotions rather than analysis, gogue; and distressed figures in the foreground the 1996 Nobel Peace World Peace Through For his successful efforts in drawing inter- Prize laureate years of service to Vanderbilt Univer- lives and communities of the victims in their try to escape. A menorah, an eternal symbol in Reverence for Life. national attention to the Indonesian mili- sity. A founding member of the anthro- richness rather than in the hour of their Judaism, glows in a white circle underneath the Sponsored by the Uni- tary’s mass slaughters and for his role as a pology department, Gregor has served destruction,” states James Booth, professor of cross. “Although images of war, rape, and cruci- versity, the international conference com- relentless advocate for a free and independ- as chair since the department’s incep- political science and an organizer for the fixion have appeared in the past and continue to memorated the 125th anniversary of the birth ent East Timor, Ramos-Horta shared the 1996 tion. His three primary research inter- series. “As vehicles for bearing witness, the appear, exploring the Holocaust through the of Albert Schweitzer, the Alsatian theologian, Nobel Peace Prize with Indonesian Bishop ests are the native peoples of lowland arts ensure that the dead are not lost to the visual arts imposes a heavy burden on artists by musician, medical missionary, and recipient Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo. South America, psychoanalysis and cul- oblivion of forgetting, and they offer powerful those who argue that the Holocaust is impossible of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize. “Nonviolence runs counter to impulse,” he ture, and the anthropology of aggres- warnings and counsel to us in the present.” to depict,” explains Feinstein. In the six decades A native of East Timor, Ramos-Horta led explained, “and the primary cure for violence sion, conflict, and war.

PEYTON HOGE Lecturers participating in this year’s since Chagall painted White Crucifixion, over his country’s struggle for independence from is freedom from ignorance and indifference.” Bonnie Miller-McLemore, professor of pastoral series, held during October and November, 700 artists in 20 countries have interpreted and Indonesia during his exile of 24 years. Fol- theology and counseling were Stephen Feinstein, director of the Cen- depicted the Holocaust. ter for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota; Mara Vishniac Locating Children on the Kohn, daughter of the celebrated Eastern Lloyd Lewis Reclaiming the Historical Jesus European photographer has been ap- Theological Map Roman Vishniac; Sara pointed asso- Internationally acclaimed Jesus scholar Mar- because words and deeds take on their Horowitz, professor of ciate dean for cus Borg delivered the 2000 Cole Lectures to meaning in a cultural context.” Bonnie Miller-McLemore, who was pro- Jewish literature and academic audiences that represented faith traditions Author of 10 books, including The God We moted to full professor of pastoral theology Holocaust Studies at affairs and ranging from Buddhism to Pentecostal. Never Knew and Meeting Jesus Again for the and counseling at the beginning of the aca- New York University; student life at As a fellow of the Jesus Seminar founded First Time—the single best-selling book by a demic year, has returned to the Divinity and Alice Lok Cahana, a the Divinity in 1985, Borg devotes his scholarship to pur- contemporary Jesus scholar—Borg is the School following her sabbatical as a Henry survivor of the Holo- School by suing the “historical” Jesus and to determin- Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion Luce III Fellow in Theology. She currently is caust and a painter. Dean James ing the authenticity HOGE PEYTON and Culture in the completing the manuscript for her book, Let Hudnut- of the more than philosophy depart- the Children Come: Care of Children as a Reli- Beumler. 1,500 sayings attrib- ment of Oregon State gious Practice, under contract with Jossey- uted to Jesus. “There University. DAVID CRENSHAW “When I Bass for publication in 2002. began work- is a curiosity about Philanthropist As one of seven scholars chosen by the ing at the School in 1984, I never imag- Jesus and a hunger Edmund W. Cole, Luce Foundation and the Association of The- ined I would be sitting in the associate for a way of looking president of the ological Schools to receive a fellowship, she dean’s office.” says Lewis. “The role at Jesus that makes Nashville & Chat- devoted her sabbatical year to conducting continues to prove challenging, and I sense and enables tanooga Railroad research on the neglected roles of children in am enjoying having more contact with people to reclaim and treasurer of the religious thought and practice and to investi- the students and faculty.” He will con- him,” contends Borg. Vanderbilt Univer- gating why “children have dropped off the tinue teaching as an assistant professor “Without historical sity Board of Trust, map of theologians.” study, we risk losing endowed the annual of the practice of ministry. Marcus Borg (left) responds to questions follow- During the fall semester, Miller- the radical social and Cole Lecture Series ing his presentation titled “The Battle Over McLemore also participated as a peer group political vision of in 1892 for “the Jesus Today” during the 2000 Cole Lectureship. facilitator for the Lilly Endowment’s pro- Moses, the prophets, defense and advo- gram, Strengthening Congregational Leader- White Crucifixion, 1938 and Jesus. And through archeological and cacy of the Christian religion.” His gift pro- ship 2000–2003, hosted by the Louisville Oil on canvas, manuscript discoveries, we have increased vided for the first sustained lectureship in the Institute. 155x140 cm. tremendously our knowledge of the social history of Vanderbilt University. The Art Institute world of Jesus—and the more we know Writer and educational activist Parker about his social world, the more we get a Palmer will deliver the 2001 Cole Lectures. of Chicago glimpse of what his words and deeds meant

4 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 5 Extended Conversations

BY VICTOR JUDGE PEYTON HOGE PEYTON henever James Hudnut-Beum- Celebrating the ler recollects his childhood We Are Thankful Installation of the years in Detroit, Michigan, his memory immediately invokes Faculty, staff, and students Werthan Chair Wtwo scenes. He remembers the shoulder-high celebrated Thanksgiving at

PEYTON HOGE PEYTON drifts of snow, which from a young boy’s the “We Are Thankful” perspective, seemed to cover the ground for- luncheon in the Divinity ever as he and his two younger brothers School’s newly renovated walked daily to school. But the recurring Common Room. The annual childhood experience that perhaps foreshad- event was established in owed Hudnut-Beumler’s vocation as a the- 1993 and is hosted by the ologian happened in his father’s automobile. dean’s office. “I had allergies so severely that I had to go to the doctor every week for shots,” he PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAVID CRENSHAW explains. “The nearest allergist was located 30 minutes from our home, and because my mother did not drive, I had the privilege that children in the sixties rarely experienced— Jack M. Sasson was installed in September as extended conversations with my father.” the first Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Judaic Young Hudnut-Beumler and his father, and Biblical Studies at Vanderbilt University Arthur, a minister at a suburban Presbyter- Divinity School. Attending the installation were ian church in Livonia, passed the time in traf- Dean James Hudnut-Beumler, Professor and fic and the physician’s waiting room by Dean emeritus Jack Forstman, University Chan- discussing religion, politics, race, and ques- cellor Gordon Gee, Professor Sasson, Professor tions of right and wrong—subjects in which and Chair of the Graduate Department of Reli- the future dean of Vanderbilt University’s gion Douglas Knight, and benefactor Alex Divinity School would develop perennial Steele. An excerpt from Professor Sasson’s interests. This dialogue between father and installation address is published beginning on son occurred against a backdrop of racial page 30 of . The Spire tension that precipitated the Detroit riots of 1967, a time when benign suburban sprawl was a prelude to extensive white flight, a PEYTON HOGE PEYTON Welcoming the New Dean Orpha and time when Hudnut-Beumler’s family and Oswald Schrag other people of faith were challenged to remain connected to the people from whom studying the history and philosophy of since his ordination occurred two years ago University alumni Kathryn Walston Smith, view manuscripts all their neighbors wished to flee, the city’s Western religion.” when he taught first grade Sunday school. BA’53, MLS’70, and Lester Smith Jr., BE’54, from the Mary African American population. His undergraduate exploration of 19th- “It was challenging, but rewarding, to try greet the Reverend Heidi Hudnut-Beumler and Harry Zim- Whether singing in the church choir, century and contemporary history at the Col- and bring the fullness of our faith tradition to (right) at the Steele and Yount cocktail supper. merman Judaica Collection that teaching Sunday School as a teenager, or lege of Wooster in Ohio prepared him for life without relying on children being able to were displayed in observing his father minister to hospital graduate studies in church history at Union read.” the Sarratt Stu- patients, Hudnut-Beumler spent his forma- Theological Seminary in New York where he As the 15th dean of the Divinity School dent Center dur- tive years in an environment where religion received the master of divinity degree. Hud- and the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished ing the instal- was a pervasive influence. “It seemed as if nut-Beumler then matriculated at Princeton Professor of American Religious History,

PEYTON HOGE lation of the Mary we lived in the church almost as much as we University and earned the master of arts Hudnut-Beumler argues that the role of schol- The Divinity School’s 15th dean, James Hud- Jane Werthan lived at home,” he laughs, “and although I degree and doctorate of philosophy. ars in the church is to help people fathom nut-Beumler, and his wife, Heidi, were wel- Chair of Judaic always believed I would pursue a religious “I was blessed while studying at Prince- more intensely the wisdom that the Christian comed and introduced to the Nashville and Biblical Studies. The Judaica Collection of vocation, I knew before college that my path ton because part of my education included faith has to offer. “Whether one is a pastoral community in September at a cocktail supper the Divinity School Library was begun in 1945 would be different from the direction my courses and lunchtime conversations with leader, a teacher, or a participant in a faith hosted by Alex and Saundra Steele, Jane Yount, with the acquisition of the professional library of father followed.” American religious historians John Wilson community, our experiences in congrega- BA’53, and Tom Yount, BE’52. Among the Ismar Elbogen (1874–1943), a noted authority From those constructive conversations en and Al Raboteau and ethicists Jeffrey Stout tional life make our lives richer if we are

PEYTON HOGE guests who welcomed the Hudnut-Beumlers on Jewish history and religion, and has devel- route to and from the allergist’s office, the and Paul Ramsey, whose ideas helped to encouraged to understand the resources of were (left) Bette and Bill Bryant and Chuck and oped significantly through the generosity of Ray- foundation was established for Hudnut- shape me as a scholar,” he says. our traditions,” he contends, and Vanderbilt Delores Dennard. mond Zimmerman. Beumler’s curiosity in the questions of faith. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church University is proving to be the setting where “From the beginning, I have been interested (USA), Hudnut-Beumler has served the he can realize that conviction. in the larger theological and social forces that church primarily as a teacher and scholar. Two decades ago, Hudnut-Beumler influence and shape what humans believe— Even so, he frequently preaches, leads wor- became acquainted with the Divinity what we do, and how we act toward one ship, and teaches adult education classes. School’s strong reputation when he was another—so as early as college I began The most unusual assignment he accepted encouraged by a Presbyterian minister from

6 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 7 Reading the Signs of a Revival

Trying to read the signs and evidences of public Ministry Properly conduct and attitudes to see if a religious revival Understood was genuine had been a characteristic activity of American religious thinkers since at least 1741, I am not a sectarian. The sectarian believes that when Jonathan Edwards wrote his tract on “The all of life outside his or her church is dark and Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of evil. In this view, the world and therefore the God,” followed the next year by “Some world’s economy cannot be redeemed; economy Iowa to seek admission to the master of cational philosophy. “The Divinity School that I initially learned about 20 years ago Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of and world alike are but necessary evils. Many divinity programs at Vanderbilt, Yale, and The greatest challenge confronting theo- Religion in New England.” The religious revival members of contemporary Christian congrega- Union. But it was not until 1997, however, logical education, he suggests, is inextricably remains a place of rare and diverse gifts because the faculty remains of the 1950s had its skeptical questioners as tions are semi-sectarians. They believe that, on that he traveled to Nashville to speak at a related to a contemporary perception regard- well—people who asked if the increase in reli- the one hand, the church ought to have a larger Presbyterian conference at the Scarritt-Ben- ing a requirement of organized religion. dedicated to preserving the character of the institution’s mission. gious interest represented a turning to God or influence in common life. On the other hand, nett Center, wandered across 21st Avenue, “Churches, synagogues, and other religious something else. In the 1950s the question of the they tend to believe that this development is South, and walked around the University’s congregations have a natural desire to be They are scholars who represent a variety of religious traditions nature of the revival engaged both secular and unlikely ever to occur. And so while not accept- campus. served and to be served well,” he says, “yet religious thinkers, but perhaps no conclusion ing the full sectarian viewpoint, they separate “I think I passed up Vanderbilt because this desire often turns inward to the degree and who are committed to critical excellence in understanding and was as succinct or as sharply worded as that of the church from the world and divide their faith Tennessee seemed such a long distance away that the expectation is that ministers, priests, interpreting religion.” historian Eric Goldman: “Some of the new atten- from their participation in the economy. Conse- to a college student from Michigan, but liv- and rabbis will serve the congregation exclu- tion to religion was undoubtedly a sincere turn- quently, they tend to believe that the faith may ing in Atlanta for the past seven years cer- sively.” Hudnut-Beumler does not hesitate to ing to the rigors and consolations of faith,” he have something to say about how one spends tainly helped me appreciate the region,” he refute that contention. granted. “But a good deal of it was certainly a one’s money but not much about how a person admits when reflecting upon his tenure at “Good religion never stops,” he states. cation is to put people into disciplined touch by a grant from the Lilly Endowment to the false religiosity compounded of social aspira- makes a living. If it is a jungle out there, then no Columbia Theological Seminary where he “Good religion refuses to stop at the borders with past and contemporary thought,” he Material History of American Religion Pro- tions and a fervid desire to avoid thinking.” possibilities exist for transcending jungle-rule, served as dean of faculty, executive vice pres- of a group’s membership because good reli- says, “and ‘do-it-yourself religion’ is ulti- ject, which he directs, his research docu- . . .The disagreement between the religious and the church, the family, and other small-scale ident, and professor of religion and culture. gion always is about the totality of human mately hollow. You may feel better for a ments the material acts and practices of the experts, demographers, journalists, and ordinary voluntary organizations become the exclusive “The Divinity School that I initially experience with the divine. The question the- while, but you’ll know in the end that you religious past—from church salaries, non- men and women in the 1950s about the relative sphere for moral action. Human beings can be learned about 20 years ago remains a place of ological educators have to address is, ‘How put the religion together yourself. Me-first profit organizations, and fund raising merits of the postwar revival of religious interest moral in the private sphere, but the public, eco- rare and diverse gifts because the faculty do we prepare leaders who will nurture and spirituality is analogous to the behavior of schemes to church architecture and the attire highlights the essential problem of interpreting nomic, working sphere has its own rules, and as remains dedicated to preserving the charac- succor their people and lead them into a rela- the man described by the prophet Isaiah who for different religious events. the decade’s return to religion. For it is difficult pastors are often told, “You just wouldn’t under- ter of the institution’s mission. They are tionship with the divine and with fellow makes an idol with half a log, bows down “For a long time, we have paid principal to assign causes to a phenomenon whose charac- stand how it is in my work.” scholars who represent a variety of religious human beings but also guide them outside and worships the idol, and then heats his attention in American religious history to the ter is still in doubt. When faced with a situation . . . I am struck by how often students apply- traditions and who are committed to critical the confines of the congregation and into house with the other half of the log.” writings of the elite figures and theologians,” in which the dominant question at stake was, as McCall’s ing for the master of divinity program articulate excellence in understanding and interpreting constructive relationships with other West- The university, insists Hudnut-Beumler, says Hudnut-Beumler, “and while this is an magazine put it, “Is our religious as their reason for coming to seminary that their religion.” ern monotheistic religions and Eastern tradi- is a place where teachers and students integral part of our historical understanding, revival real?”, the place to begin is not with work within the church is more satisfying than The newly appointed dean perceives the tions?’ This is a challenge in Middle should contend for real religious traditions I want to get closer to a greater number of what caused the churches and synagogues to their previous secular employment. Not infre- School’s role in the University community Tennessee, throughout America, and within that have deep roots and that struggle with people from the past by looking at the arti- grow, but rather with the definition of “religion” quently, these applicants describe their former and in theological education as having two the world—relating to real life congregations problems of the human condition. “We must facts they bequeathed us, the markings of that each party to the disagreement brought to work as not merely unsatisfying but also purposes. “Our mission forces us to attend to and to real life changing society.” teach Augustinian Catholicism as well as their lives. In economists’ terms, I am paying the debate. Once the nature of the debate is fully morally compromising. I am of course glad that two dimensions: we assume the responsibil- As he ponders this question, Hudnut- Islam during the High Middle Ages, not only attention to religious labor, religious finance, understood, we may move on to comprehend some of the people who find their way into the ities of educating generations of religious Beumler is reminded of an essay recently for the wisdom these traditions represent but and capital formation.” the causes of the revival. ordained ministry are going to find a deep satis- leaders and advancing the critical under- published in the Chronicle of Higher Education. for all the baggage that accompanies them. Recovering the forgotten elements of reli- As we have seen, the situation of the 1950s faction in their calling. But I am also disturbed standing of how religion works; we attend to In “Me-First ‘Spirituality’ Is a Sorry Substitute This is preferable to ‘do-it-yourself religion’ gious communities’ pasts–the design of their was indeed one in which the pollster, the theolo- that the professional ministry is seen, at least in people and to knowledge about religion. for Organized Religion on Campuses,” UCC because other people are involved.” buildings, the clergy’s salaries, and the num- gian, and the woman on the street disagreed as part, as an escape from the real world and its These two dimensions are inseparable from minister Donna Schaper laments that religion Among the people who are centrally ber of hours they devoted to religious pur- to whether religion had made a successful come- pressures in favor of entry into a cloistered and good practice and good scholarship.” has evolved from what Paul Tillich described involved in the dean’s life are his wife of 13 poses–he believes can illumine, correct and back. Our first task is to ask, “Did they mean the sacred life. When theological schools and graduate as “matters of ultimate concern” into a form years, Heidi, also a Presbyterian minister, inspire faith communities’ contemporary same thing when they said the word ‘religion?’” Such applications make me sad for two rea- programs in religion invest their energy of counseling characterized by a highly per- and their two children, Julia, 9, and Adam, 6. practices. By researching the past, James Upon examination of the evidence it soon sons. First, ministry properly understood, is not exclusively in either practice or theory, both sonal spirituality capable of providing a mere “Through my wife and children, I have Hudnut-Beumler is participating in yet becomes clear that the definition that George an escape from the problems other disciples of components, Hudnut-Beumler believes, are momentary stay against the confusion of fast- become a fuller, richer human being with a another extended conversation, comparable Gallup used for religion differed greatly from Christ face. But more significantly, I wonder diminished, so a professional school such as paced insular lifestyles. Hudnut-Beumler greater capacity to enjoy life than I ever to those childhood dialogues with his father, that used by Abraham Heschel. For Gallup, reli- about the logic behind the escapee’s thinking. To VDS—based on the premise of the minister as thinks the argument is valid—but for a reason thought possible,” he says. “As a father I am those early conversations that illumined, cor- gion was more successful if the average number whom does this would-be minister think he or theologian and set within the context of a the author does not consider. able to experience bike riding or diving for rected, and inspired a future theologian. of people attending a religious service in the last she will be ministering? Are all laity morally modern university—complements his edu- “One of the objectives of university edu- quarters at the bottom of the swimming pool (To learn more about the Material History seven days went up. For Heschel, religion was suspect because they are implicated in the dirty all over again through the eyes of Julia and of American Religion Project, visit www. not to be counted as more successful unless job of making money and taking care of busi- Adam.” materialreligion.org.) more people were led to an obedient relation- ness? Clearly, I do not think so. Not all the hon- “Our mission forces us to attend to two dimensions: we assume the And when he is not working at his desk in ship with the God of Abraham and Jacob. For orable and important work in this world is done Room 110 at the Divinity School, he may be the man or woman on the street, religion might inside the church, and the minister who realizes responsibilities of educating generations of religious leaders and found enjoying his avocations: fishing, sail- be defined as on the rise on the basis of the pro- this truth is in a far better position to help ing, hiking, designing and crafting a piece of portion of time people seemed to spend dis- parishioners make their own contributions in the advancing the critical understanding of how religion works; we attend furniture, or making repairs around the fam- cussing religious topics over the barbecue or so-called secular arena. bridge table. to people and to knowledge about religion. These two dimensions are ily’s house in Williamson County. Hudnut-Beumler currently is completing —James Hudnut-Beumler —James Hudnut-Beumler from Generous Saints: inseparable from good practice and good scholarship.” the research for his third book, an economic from Looking for God in the Suburbs: The Religion of the Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money history of religion in the United States from American Dream and Its Critics, 1945–1965 1999, the Alban Institute the colonial period to the present. Supported 1994, Rutgers University Press

8 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 9 Returning to the Field A Revision of Piety DAVID CRENSHAW DAVID rudy Stringer, MDiv’88, remem- an extraordinarily powerful way for me to hen Mary McClintock Fulker- husband had accepted a fellowship at Van- tion.” Her interest in women’s studies, how- bers how overwhelmed she felt assume the role of minister and to under- son, PhD’86, was completing derbilt University Medical Center. “I was not ever, became firmly anchored when Fulker- when she entered Vanderbilt Uni- stand that the role is not a burden but an her senior year at the Univer- familiar with the graduate department of son began her teaching career at Duke. “As versity Medical Center to begin her opportunity for grace.” sity of North Carolina in religious studies at Vanderbilt, but being the only woman on the divinity school fac- Tfirst field education assignment. To claim the role of minister in any set- WChapel Hill, she made two decisions that accepted in the doctoral program was a ulty, I experienced the effects of my gender in “I had enrolled in the Divinity School ting, Stringer argues, is a monumental task, altered the direction of her professional life. serendipitous and extremely lucky happen- ways I previously had not known.” And since because I was in a seeking mode,” explains and in her new appointment as associate Although she would fulfill the require- ing in my life,” says Fulkerson, who earned the publication of her essay, “Sexism as Orig- Stringer, who had earned a degree in English director of field education at the Divinity ments for a baccalaureate in music perform- her doctorate in 1986 before returning to inal Sin: Developing a Theacentric Dis- at the University of Southern Mississippi. “I School, she is eager to help students enter the ance, she decided that she did not wish to Duke Divinity School to accept a faculty course,” in the Journal of the American Academy was uncertain if I wanted to enter the Acad- real world of ministry. “Field education become a concert pianist or cellist, nor did appointment. In 1994, she became the third of Religion, she continues to examine gender emy or to pursue ordination, but on that day remains one of the most formative experi- she aspire to teach music to children. Fulker- woman in the school’s history to be granted issues through her theological scholarship. I walked into the medical center, I was cer- ences in my theological education because I son also decided that she did not want to tenure. The author of Changing the Subject: tain of one feeling—inadequacy. My affilia- was able to apply the theoretical knowledge spend Friday evenings ”witnessing the four Studying at Vanderbilt with theologians Women’s Discourses and Feminist Theology— tion with hospitals had been quite limited.” from my studies to a setting where everyone spiritual laws,” a requirement for member- Ed Farley and Peter Hodgson had an indeli- where she examined different communities Two weeks after she began her fieldwork, was related by a capacity to suffer,” explains ship in UNC’s chapter of Campus Crusade ble effect upon Fulkerson’s intellectual of women and employed literary theory to

however, her apprehension subsided, and Stringer. “As the ideas from the classroom for Christ. CRENSHAW DAVID argue that the categories of feminist theology Stringer believed she was no longer in a began to interface with the lives of people, I “I know it doesn’t sound admirable, but needed to be expanded to account for seeking mode. Instead, she had begun chisel- had to wrestle with questions that didn’t my desire for a social life won over my women who are not feminists—Fulkerson ing a niche in the ministry to which she yield immediate answers, but even during undergraduate sense of piety,” admits Fulk- currently is compiling ethnographic research would devote 13 years of her professional those intervals when I was struggling for erson. But discontinuing her affiliation with based on three years of observing a commu- life. “I learned very early in my field educa- Trudy Stringer, associate director of field solutions, I was growing spiritually and pro- the interdenominational ministry did not nity church in Durham, North Carolina. tion placement that not all ministry origi- education, lecturer in church ministry, and fessionally.” halt Fulkerson’s thoughts of pursuing a reli- “An anthropologist, who had conducted nates from the pulpit—that a hospital also president of the Divinity School’s alumni/ae Convinced that field education is an inte- gious vocation in the Presbyterian church. field work in the coal mining camps of West provides boundless opportunities for inter- association gral component in the curriculum for the “I originally believed piety had to be Virginia, read my first book and expressed secting with people when they feel vulnera- minister-theologian, Stringer hopes she can exciting, and the members in Campus Cru- an interest in the chapter on Pentecostal ble and need help drawing on their spiritual For the novice chaplain, the challenge of help students discern the most productive sade made Christianity more appealing than women and my discussion of how women undergirdings.” presiding at the funeral of someone she did and challenging settings for their field expe- the church did, but the longer I participated are constrained by their class location and Stringer extended her assignment at not know and with whose family she had riences and offer support when they confront in the movement, the more I realized there their version of the Bible,” says Fulkerson. VUMC by completing an internship with been acquainted for only hours was daunt- and wrestle with the paradoxes of ministry. were inherent intellectual dampers that “She encouraged me to study ethnography patients diagnosed with hematological ing. “I suddenly realized that the survivors But Stringer also returns to her alma mater would conflict with my sense of a vocation,” because literary critical tools would not malignancies and then requested a place- had invested in me not merely the authority not only as associate director of field educa- she explains. “The only role I had seen allow me to embody the character of the ment at Veterans Administration Hospital. but the privilege of speaking for their loved tion and lecturer in church ministry but as women perform in the church was teaching practices and dynamics of a community. I After she was graduated from the Divinity one and of speaking about God in the midst president of the alumni/ae association for Sunday School; the members in Campus immediately took a course in ethnography School—where she received the Founder’s of their suffering. All I could do was take a the Divinity School, an office that she will Crusade had no conception of women and began reading postmodern cultural Medal for first honors in her class, the W. deep breath and trust that the grace in this hold for two years. becoming ministers.” anthropological literature to investigate how Kendrick Grobel Award for outstanding situation would carry me through the “To be in this environment where for Enrolling at Union Theological Seminary people appropriate the biblical, theological, achievement in biblical studies, the William funeral.” three years I learned so much is gratifying, and Presbyterian School of Christian Educa- Mary McClintock Fulkerson, the visiting E. and denominational languages available to A. Newcomb Prize for best representing the Stringer passed this initiation by asking and I’ll continue to learn by exposure to all tion in Richmond, Fulkerson immediately Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of them and how those languages are cobbled idea of minister-theologian, and the Elliott F. the family members to reconstruct the life of the thoughts and conversations that occur at discovered what she describes as “the intel- Theology together with regional languages and ethnic Shepard Prize for academic achievement in the deceased. “By using their voices, I was the Divinity School and within the Univer- lectual dimension of Christianity.” But her histories. I am hopeful my research will church history—she began her tenure as hos- able to compose a narrative based on his sity,” says Stringer, “but most importantly, studies in theology were temporarily post- development. “I was a semi-liberal, Christ- introduce new questions about catholicity, pital chaplain at Centennial Medical Center biography, to say what the family wanted I’ll be working with students who can chal- poned while she worked as a secretary dur- ian thinker with residual biblicism when I apostolicity, unity, and holiness.” in Nashville. But no sooner had she begun others to know about their relative, and to lenge and teach me.” ing the first year of her marriage to UNC arrived at Vanderbilt, but as I studied the Fulkerson’s interest in communities is her new role, she was confronted with a task pray for the graciousness and comfort of medical student, William Fulkerson, who arguments of 19th-century theologians with also reflected by her participation in the for which her previous clinical experiences God. Their request ultimately proved to be currently serves as a professor of medicine in Professor Hodgson and as I began to under- Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), an organ- had not prepared her—composing and the pulmonary and critical care division of stand Professor Farley’s critique of authority, ization founded by 20th-century American delivering a eulogy for someone she never Duke University Medical Center. “I had the biblicism from my Campus Crusade past sociologist Saul Alinsky who inspired the had met. “I learned very early in my field education placement that not all tasted the excitement of theology at Union, exploded.” creation of numerous activist citizen and “A gentleman who had suffered a fall was so I decided to matriculate at Duke Divinity The explosion also inspired Fulkerson to community groups across the lines of race, brought into the emergency room, and I was ministry originates from the pulpit—that a hospital also provides School while Bill was in medical school— explore liberation and feminist theologies class, and religious traditions. sitting with the family while the patient was although acquaintances urged me not apply through conversations with her colleagues, between life and death,” Stringer recalls. boundless opportunities for intersecting with people when they feel because ‘they didn’t believe in God at Sharon Welch, MA’77, PhD’82; and Martha “When the physicians informed us that the Duke.’” Reineke, MA’81, PhD’83. “I was awakened to patient had died, one of his survivors turned vulnerable and need help drawing on their spiritual undergirdings.” Upon receiving the master of divinity gender issues while studying at Vanderbilt, to me and said, ‘We need for you to preach degree and being called to ordination for fur- but at that time in my formation, I didn’t —Trudy Stringer, MDiv’88 his funeral.’” ther study in the Presbyterian church, Fulk- understand the constructive character of the- erson moved to Nashville where her ological discourse that reflects social loca-

10 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 11 Letters, Law, & Liturgy Derailing Prejudice:

A word is dead discrimination and for enforcing court also informed my studies in religion as I From the Underground Railroad to Gay and Lesbian orders to ensure desegregation in higher learned how communities order themselves When it is said, education. “During the fifteen years I prac- around religious aspirations and ideas,” says Outreach, an Ohio Baptist Church Maintains Sentiment ticed law, I remained interested in questions Flake, who earned her doctorate last spring of Open-Mindedness Reverend George Williamson Jr., MA’70, Some say. of appearance, reality, text, and interpreta- from the University of Chicago, “but study- PhD’71, pastor of the First Baptist tion, but I reached an interval when I wanted ing the history of religion has provided the BY REBECCA FOLMAR Church of Granville, Ohio I say it just to determine whether I could develop any factual context in which I can explore how expertise in another discipline of paramount communities maintain that order over time.” Begins to live importance to me—religion.” Her attraction to American religious his- t the First Baptist Church of outreach to gays and lesbians.” Columbus region left the First Baptist Church That day. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of tory is inextricably related to being a descen- Granville, Ohio, head pastor George In 1991, the denomination passed its first of Granville that had always served as his Latter-day Saints, Flake explains that the dant of the Mormon pioneers who traveled Williamson, MA’70, PhD’71, and his homophobic resolution stating that homo- home church, but there was little decrease in congregation are no strangers to sexuality is incompatible with Christian the membership. Because of the national and —Emily Dickinson dramatic history of the Mormons in the to Salt Lake City but later settled in Arizona, American story has contributed to her keen Flake’s home state. “My heritage stems from controversy.A After two decades of ministry teaching. Williamson’s congregation, how- international attention this controversy s a student of literature, jurispru- sense of religion’s place in the world. “Reli- a group of people who in many ways and outreach to the gay and lesbian commu- ever, had established a strong relationship attracted, the church became extremely uni- dence, and religion, Kathleen Flake gion has an effect in people’s day to day lives defined diversity in the 20th century and nity and years of struggle with local and with the gay and lesbian community, so they fied and experienced an influx of gays, les- understands the intricacies of lan- that we often want to explain away because who were in conflict with American law; regional Baptist associations, the congrega- adopted a strong stance against the resolu- bians, and people who were skeptical of guage. She concurs with the argu- of the pluralism in our culture; we prefer to consequently, I am interested in how law and tion of 300 members is now part of the Asso- tion and lobbied against such exclusiveness. organized religion. mentA of the 19th-century American poet think of religion as an ideological commit- the American people accommodate diver- ciation of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists To counter the denomination’s position, “People in Granville have witnessed strik- Emily Dickinson, whom she counts among ment, but the religion of which I am a prac- sity. Our differences undoubtedly will con- that accepts gay, bisexual, and transgendered Williamson and church members expanded ing transformations occur in the lives of peo- her favorite authors, that the life of a word ticing member has taught me a different tinue to increase, and society has to make congregants. their outreach to gays and lesbians and took ple who have been alienated from the faith,” does not conclude whenever the word is pro- view—that religion necessarily affects the room for the differences.” Equally interesting is that Granville’s First a definitive stance on homosexuality: gay says Williamson. “We’ve witnessed the nounced. The newly appointed assistant pro- seemingly mundane decisions and provides To illustrate the tension between religious Baptist Church differed from other Baptist and lesbians are created by God in every Gospel coming alive in the lives of people.” fessor of American religious history at the ways of ordering not just one’s moral life but liberty and the accommodation of pluralism, congregations by serving as a stopping point respect, including their sexuality. Historically, First Baptist Church has set Divinity School knows that language can virtually all of life. I cannot help but be inter- Flake currently is preparing a manuscript on the Underground Railroad and assisting Granville’s First Baptist Church became itself apart from other congregations since transcend temporality and topicality and ested in religion as much as I am interested titled Mr. Smoot Goes to Washington: the Politics African Americans during and after the Civil involved with other American Baptist the Civil War when it was “a center of aboli- that a single word’s life is sustained by the in life—as one who lives it.” of American Religious Identity, 1900-1920, a his- War. The congregation’s attempts to maintain churches on the East and West coasts that tionist sentiment.” Church records unearthed power of one’s imagination. The transition to the formal study of reli- tory of an early 20th-century political trial the sentiment of open-mindedness that char- had active ministries to gay communities. in the early 1990s reveal that the church expe- “I always have been interested in issues gion proved as easeful for Flake as the earlier about the seating of a United States republi- acterizes the church’s history have been suc- The relationship among these similar rienced its first wave of controversy when it relating to personal perception and public move from belles lettres to law. While con- can senator who was an apostle and hierarch cessful because of the persistence and churches evolved into an organization called became involved in the Underground Rail- order,” says Flake when commenting on her tinuing her work in the Civil Rights Office, in the Mormon church. Over one million peti- influence of Williamson. the Association of Welcoming and Affirming road. transition from studying Restoration drama she attended Catholic University and was tions were filed in opposition to Senator He describes the three years he studied Baptists that achieved, as Williamson notes, At a time when the Baptist faith commu- to becoming a lawyer and her recent graduated in 1995 with a master’s degree in Smoot’s election, and by researching the tes- Christian ethics with Dean James Sellars, Jim “a notoriety from opponents in the denomi- nity was opposed to higher education and entrance into the Academy as a church histo- liturgical studies. “The sense of public order timonies delivered during the three years of Laney, and Howard Harrod at Vanderbilt nation who thought the organization to be especially to the idea of educating women, rian. “While I was studying English litera- that influenced my interpretation of the law the trial—a senate investigation Flake com- University as an extremely exciting time more influential than in fact it was.” First Baptist Church of Granville founded a ture at Brigham Young University, I became pares to the Iran Contra Affair—she hopes to because the program in Christian ethics had In response to the AWAB, the local Baptist men’s college in 1831 and a women’s college curious about appearance versus reality and CRENSHAW DAVID illuminate how the nation’s legislature become a separate department from theology association in Columbus initiated a move in in 1851; both institutions eventually merged the relationship of text to interpretation as I included Mormonism within the protections prior to his entering the Divinity School. As a 1994 that resulted in the Granville church to form Denison University. The church also read the plays of Wycherley, Congreve, and granted by the First Amendment and how member of the first class of the newly consti- becoming disfellowshipped at the local and was an advocate for the Women’s Christian Sheridan.” this accommodation allowed for later accept- tuted program, Williamson claims he could regional levels. “We would have been Temperance Union in Ohio from 1860 to After receiving her degree in English, ance of such diverse groups as Muslims, Hin- not have been more fortunate because there removed as a congregation from the national 1870, and one century later supported the Flake contemplated pursuing doctoral stud- dus, and the religious movements of the was a one-to-one student-faculty ratio. body as well,” contends Williamson, “but by Civil Rights Movement. ies in American literature and teaching in a sixties and seventies. Upon his graduation from Vanderbilt, the time news of AWAB reached the Ameri- “We went back and recovered a long his- university; however, she decided it was too Flake contends that the Divinity School is Williamson became chaplain and assistant can Baptist Convention, there was enough tory of involvement in issues in which the soon to make a commitment to the class- a setting where her questions about text and professor of religion at Vassar College in concern about the implications this contro- downtrodden and oppressed were being room. Seeking a different professional expe- interpretation will be received and chal- Poughkeepsie, New York, where he taught versy had for Baptist principles of local championed at considerable cost to the rience, but one that would complement her lenged. “The diversity that Vanderbilt is will- for 11 years. In 1981, he began his pastorate at church autonomy and sole freedom of the church at various periods in its history,” says interest in language and the interpretation of ing to embrace is extraordinary and makes the First Baptist Church of Granville, a pre- individual to interpret scripture.” Williamson. “These revelations have proven texts, she enrolled at the University of Utah the University a lively community, both dominately rural region located east of The church’s appeal to be retained as a to be very inspiring for today’s congregants School of Law and worked for the American intellectually and spiritually. I have col- Columbus. Recognizing an opportunity for cooperating church at the national level was at Granville’s First Baptist Church who are Civil Liberties Union before traveling to leagues who are wonderful conversation ministry, the congregation began an outreach granted in June 1999; in October of the same involved in contemporary social issues.” Washington, D.C., where she served as a trial partners for discussions on religion, and the program for the gay and lesbian community. year, the church was accepted by another attorney in the Office of Civil Rights. students bring their own questions to the “The controversy that characterized much regional association, and the congregants A sophomore in the College of Arts and Science “I don’t understand how anyone could classroom—and I like what that requires of of American religion over the gay and lesbian became members of the Rochester-Genesee where she is pursuing a degree in communica- grow up as child of the sixties and not have me as a teacher.” movement was late coming to the American Association of American Baptist Churches in tions, Folmar is an intern in the Department of a commitment to social justice issues,” says Baptists,” explains Williamson, “although it upstate New York. Alumni Communications and Publications for Flake, whose legal career provided opportu- Kathleen Flake, assistant professor of American reached the American Baptist family about As a result of the congregation’s decision the 2000-01 academic year. She hails from Birm- nities for working against race and gender religious history the same time we were getting involved in to join AWAB, the executive minister of the ingham, Alabama.

12 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 13 Domestic Intervention

Alumnae Alter the Plight of Battered Women Jaynes-Andrews knew she needed more long-term safety and survival of a battered wondering how her career of 39 years of The two alumnae began thinking of ways education. Believing that her experiences as woman and her children?” teaching elementary school children and to find resources for women fleeing their bat- BY VICTOR JUDGE an abused woman could be used construc- Drawing from her experiential wisdom, preparing generations of teachers for the terers and decided the most feasible strategy tively, she considered studying psychology Jaynes-Andrews knew the answer to the classroom could serve her during the retire- was not to wait upon the legislators to offer heryl Jaynes-Andrews, MTS’92, does batterer and becoming a statistic or leaving and becoming a counselor. As she disclosed question—emergency cash funds. An analy- ment years. Jaynes-Andrews was planning solutions. Together with Georgia Mattison, a not wince in disbelief when she reads him and becoming a homeless mother. her story and inquired about financial aid sis of public policy since the late ‘70s reveals to move to Boston and begin her doctorate in lobbyist and founding member of the Boston the latest statistics on domestic vio- During their marriage, Jaynes-Andrews’ during an interview at Vanderbilt’s Gradu- that in 1978 both the House and the Senate social work at Boston College, but her story Food Bank, they conceived the idea of form- lence documented by the Atlanta Con- husband provided her a cash allowance but ate School, the assistant dean suggested that approved measures to provide emergency as a survivor of domestic violence made an ing a non-profit organization with the mis- stitutionS . forbade her to have a separate checking she also review the programs of study cash so victims could become physically indelible impression on Kendall. sion of promoting the safety of abused She is not appalled upon learning that in account and discretionary use of his credit offered by the Divinity School. removed from their batterers and receive WOODIE S. KNIGHT S. WOODIE the United States a woman is battered every cards after he learned she had overdrawn “I walked across campus toward Benton assistance as they tried to stabilize their lives, 15 seconds, nor does she doubt that 90 per- her funds at the bank. As a wife, however, Chapel, arrived unannounced at the Divinity but the bills were never reconciled in com- cent of American women will have to sup- she had no physical assets or credit history School, told my story to the admissions staff, mittee. These concerns were addressed again port themselves financially at an interval of because the family income was deposited and departed with an application for admis- in 1984 under the Child Abuse Prevention their lives. solely in her husband’s name. sion and an offer of a 60 percent grant in aid. Act which funds emergency shelters and The quietude that descends upon Jaynes- Without independent economic resources, The die was cast, and I began graduate sends grant money to the states; however, no Andrews as she ponders these figures cannot Jaynes-Andrews was a likely candidate for school in the fall.” guidelines were developed for intervening in be interpreted as the silence of indifference. entering the cyclical pattern of abuse, flight, family violence problems. Instead, her stillness conveys a regretful yet and returning to the batterer. “The two high- Deconstructing the equation With the passage of the Violence Against undeniable confidence in the statistics and in est predictors that a woman will return to the Two “interventions” at the Divinity School Women Act in 1994, Congress voted to spend the projection made by the American Med- abuser after she leaves a shelter are her lack altered the direction of Jaynes-Andrews’ life. $1.62 billion over a period of six years to ical Association that 25 percent of women in of financial independence and having While studying with Professors Sallie address the “war in American homes.” This this country are victims of domestic violence. dependent children,” says Jaynes-Andrews. McFague, Mary Ann Tolbert, Jane Barr, and legislation appropriated funds for training As a social worker, Jaynes-Andrews “A middle-class wife who flees a batterer Renita Weems, she was introduced to the legal and criminal justice professionals, for repeatedly sees the evidence that supports husband and applies for public assistance discipline of feminist theology and began to developing resource centers, and for emer- these numbers, evidence she cites when will not qualify for benefits because the fam- deconstruct the patriarchal paradigm that gency shelters. But in the endeavor to win addressing the National Coalition Against ily income is based on his salary, and she always had informed her religious sensibil- the war in American homes, there were no Domestic Violence or when urging congres- needs emergency cash as transitional assis- ity. “My professors at the Divinity School funds designated for housing, medical and sional delegations to support reauthorization tance for establishing a new life and liberat- freed me from the fundamentalist screen sur- mental healthcare, legal fees, education and funding for the 1994 Violence Against ing herself from the flight-return syndrome.” rounding my life,” contends Jaynes- job training, or childcare. Women Act. But whenever she discusses the Andrews, “and I understood that the safety “Feminists worked extremely hard dur- battery of women, she speaks not only as a Casting a new die of a woman and her children is more impor- ing the Carter administration to introduce a social worker or as a graduate of Vanderbilt Instead of going to a shelter, Jaynes-Andrews tant than the fundamentalists’ interpretation bill at the federal level that provided benefits University Divinity School where she stud- contacted Donald Beisswenger, a Vanderbilt of the sanctity of marriage.” for ensuring the long-term safety of the vic- ied pastoral care and feminist theology. University Divinity School professor emeri- Then one day after her class in pastoral tim, but after the bill passed both Houses Sheryl Jaynes-Andrews also speaks from the tus of church and community, and his wife, theology, Professor Liston Mills took her and was delivered to committee, Reagan was perspective of a survivor—a survivor and a Joyce, who direct the Penuel Ridge Retreat aside and confided, “I don’t think you’re elected president and deliberations on the mother who is committed to helping bat- Center in Ashland City, Tennessee. She asked going to be able to work for a church because bill ceased,” says Jaynes-Andrews. “The tered women receive the financial assistance the Beisswengers if she could live temporar- they still have patriarchal governing struc- government is willing to intervene in the vio- that can help them escape the cycle of injury, ily at the spiritual retreat center’s hermitage tures, and you shouldn’t have to depend on lent act but not willing to pay for the flight, and return to victimization—a pattern until she was able to afford a small, one-bed- a church hierarchy to support you in your resources that could advance a woman’s that results in the deaths of 2000 American room apartment and overcome her fear of work.” Mills suggested she enter a joint freedom from the violence.” women annually. being stalked. degree program with the University of Ten- Although she had earned a baccalaureate nessee School of Social Work. A chance reunion Economics of battering in elementary curriculum and instruction During her fieldwork with the Metropoli- One day in 1993 as she was leaving Provence Jaynes-Andrews remained in a marriage for from The University of Memphis, Jaynes- tan Development Housing Agency, Jaynes- Bakery in Hillsboro Village, Jaynes-Andrews 25 years because the strict fundamentalism Andrews had not taught school in recent Andrews began researching the literature on encountered Earline Kendall, MA’66, that governed her religious upbringing val- years. To secure immediate employment, she battered women, and discovered that in PhD’77, a professor of the practice of educa- ued the sanctity of marriage over the safety went to work in food services. At 5:00 A.M. 1989, there were only 84 references in the tion at Vanderbilt who also had taught of women and children and because she did she began making salads at McDonald’s; at academic journals. “As I researched the stud- Jaynes-Andrews’ children at the American not have access to funds that would allow 8:30 A.M. she changed uniforms and worked ies, I realized that the findings on battered Child Day Care Center in 1970. As they her to secure housing upon fleeing her bat- eight hours at Honeybaked Ham, and at 5:30 women addressed more questions about renewed their acquaintance, Kendall lis- terer. She could have sought refuge in a shel- P.M. she changed uniforms again and deliv- men: Is mandatory arrest effective? What tened to Jaynes-Andrews story of survival To help battered women achieve financial independence and begin new lives, two VU alumnae— ter for 30 days but unless Jaynes-Andrews ered pizzas for Domino’s into the late treatment for the batterer yields the most and was curious to learn more of the effects Sheryl Jaynes-Andrews, a survivor of domestic violence, and Earline Kendall, professor of the prac- could obtain employment that would pro- evening hours. positive results? The further I investigated, of domestic violence on young children. tice of early childhood education, emerita—have founded Financial Resources for Women and Chil- vide her the income to lease an apartment, Unless she wanted to spend the rest of her the more I realized a crucial question had not Kendall already was anticipating her dren (FRWC), a non-profit organization that is based on the microlending model of the Grameen she faced the possibility of returning to her life working three jobs for minimum wage, entered the equation—what ensures the retirement from Vanderbilt in 1998 and was Bank in Bangladesh.

14 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 15 Magic Bullet or Eugenics Revisited:

women and their children and reducing fam- For an agency that supports battered domestic violence, but for women to become ease and thus, suffering, by purifying the ily homicide by providing microloans to women to receive an initial grant from survivors of domestic violence, they have to Are We Prepared for the Human Genome Project? gene pool. While the Human Genome Project shelters and agencies committed to helping FRWC, two criteria must be met. To ensure achieve financial independence so they can BY CHRISTINE CARON, MTS’92 spent extensive time and money to reach victims of domestic violence. that an applicant for a microloan under- become emotionally independent of their these goals, 3% of its funding supports dis- Kendall was inspired by the work of stands the importance of managing money, batterer.” very day one can pick up a newspa- haps mental, differences arise. Once the cussion and education to address the multi- Muhammad Yunus, PhD’71, who founded the shelter must implement a financial liter- When Kendall was named professor per and read an article proclaiming genome is mapped, geneticists and biomed- ple ethical, legal, and social issues the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, one of the acy curriculum and require all loan appli- emerita on the occasion of her retirement, her the newest genetic discoveries—the ical engineers, therefore, would develop concerning the use of the Human Genome largest rural banking systems in the world cants to complete the coursework in graduate students were uncertain of how to obesity gene, hereditary links of diagnostic mechanisms that could predict Project data. that has loaned more than $1 billion to over budgeting finances. And to instill within the honor their professor for her commitment to EAlzheimer’s disease, the creation of Dolly, disease prevalence and therapeutic treat- two million impoverished women. In recog- battered woman a sense of fiscal responsibil- the education of children. She told her stu- stem cell therapy to fight cancer, and prelim- ments, such as drugs or genetic engineer- Property rights nition of his work for helping the ity, the loan must be repaid, with interest, dents that she did not want them to purchase inary research in human cloning. These reve- ing, to combat medical conditions. and discrimination Bangladeshi women secure microloans by beginning the week following loan approval, gifts for her, so they decided to establish the lations challenge our beliefs about how life As of June 2000, over At the beginning of the project, the major- which they could become entrepreneurs, cre- even if the recipient can only pay one dollar. Earline Doak Kendall Professional Develop- begins and how death may be stalled. We are 96% of the human genome ity of legal and ethical conflicts cen- ate an income, and improve their family’s The microloans are repaid to the shelter ment Fund whereby Vanderbilt alumni fascinated by the concept of clones; we mar- was mapped, and scientists tered on consumer issues such as well being, Yunus received in 1996 the inau- that received the grant from FRWC, and each could contribute to Kendall’s work at FRWC. vel at the ways that we can grow particular expected to finish the property rights. Researchers depended gural Vanderbilt Distinguished Alumnus shelter has the prerogative of setting the “This specific fund provides financial aid to organs in animals and transplant them into blueprint by December, on subjects to donate materials to ana- Award. interest rate. Union Planters Bank learned of battered women who are continuing their humans; we strategize to use genetics to 10 years ahead lyze; subjects needed the researcher’s Because of another commitment, Kendall FRWC’s efforts and responded by offering education to improve their skills and keep age and diseases at bay. of schedule. Pharma- expertise to analyze and to interpret the could not be on campus to meet Yunus when free checking accounts to the loan recipients, enhance their employment opportunities,” Through the influence of the media, the ceutical companies genetic codes. Questions emerged: If a cer- he accepted the Alumni Association’s award, and churches are contributing funds to says Kendall, “and from my years of teach- average layperson has heard of the Human and high-tech tain gene marker were found from a person’s but she instructed a colleague to deliver her match the women’s savings and loan repay- ing, I know that education fosters independ- Genome Project while others can provide a genetic compa- genetic code, then who owns the genetic business card directly into Yunus’ hands. ment. Through the generosity of volunteers ence.” basic definition of genetics. Proponents tout nies are de- material? If the map constructed were a “When Mr. Yunus learned that we were who also serve as mentors to the battered “But to achieve that independence, bat- the project as the “magic bullet of the 21st veloping compilation from many persons, then how interested in using the Grameen Bank as a women during their transition to financial tered women need a continuum of century;” however, critics view it as a “new diagnostic could research companies and institutions model for our organization, he was more independence, pre-owned cars have been resources,” says Jaynes-Andrews, “and our form of eugenics to rival the Nazi experi- tests to patent the data as their invention? This issue than gracious and helpful,” says Kendall. provided so the women have access to reli- mission at FRWC is to spawn as many ments of World War II.” (Thomas Shannon deter- is particularly relevant because it affects how “He made it possible for us to travel to Wash- able transportation to and from their work. resources as we can so that more survivors citing Jeremy Rifkin, XI). No matter the per- mine research money is recouped through exclu- ington, D.C. and attend the World Bank’s “Sheryl and I are realists,” admits can tell their stories.” spective, molecular genetics of the 21st cen- sive property rights. The argument is that if meeting on microcredit that he been asked to Kendall. “We’re aware this organization To learn more about Financial Resources tury not only will revolutionize our health a company spends millions of dollars to coordinate. We were participants with the never will eradicate the social problem of for Women and Children, visit www.frwc.org. care system but also challenge how we find the cancer gene, should they not queen of Spain, the president of Peru, and understand ourselves as human beings. charge others for the information? other officials from developing countries Although we may be mesmer- However, the other side contends that who were interested in establishing self-sus- ized by the quest for “The chromosomal information belongs to taining loan programs.” Through the influ- Alumni & friends of Vanderbilt University Divinity School are invited to enroll in Holy Grail,” we do not com- all of us and cannot, as any other ence of Yunas, whom Kendall describes as a pletely understand the anatomical discovery, be patented. person of ineffable goodness, Financial machinations of the The tentative resolution is that com- Resources for Women and Children was cre- “God’s Economy and the Global Human Genome Project, nor panies can patent the procedures used ated, a non-profit organization headquar- have we considered fully its to discover the material but cannot tered in Boston that awards small grants to implications. patent the material. domestic violence programs. Economy in the New Millennium” Another focus of the project con- In only three years, FRWC has received Constructing the cerns testing and screening of fetuses contributions from supporters in 20 states. human blueprint and newborns to determine Victims of domestic violence at a shelter in genetic defects. While chro- Madison, Tennessee, and at the Women’s In 1990, the Department of mosomal testing such as and Resource Center of Newport & Bristol Energy and the National Insti- a workshop conducted by amniocentesis and chorionic Counties in Rhode Island are the first benefi- tute of Health gained $3 billion Douglas Meeks villus sampling allows ciaries of this grassroots effort to help bat- from Congress to begin the the Cal Turner Chancellor’s prospective parents to know tered women while programs in Cincinnati, Human Genome Project. The Professor of Wesleyan Studies about the presence of a Ohio; Madison, Wisconsin; Kissamee, plan was to coordinate research genetic mutation, the infor- Florida; and Saint Louis, Missouri are inter- and data from national and Tuesday, March 20, 2001 mation does not predict the prob- ested in collaborating with FRWC. international institutions in analyzing genetic mutations or mistakes that may ability nor the severity of the disease for the “This organization is like yeast for mak- genetic material from various organisms and For further information regarding registration and the workshop fee, cause diseases. No current treatment proto- child when born. Thus, parents are conflicted ing bread; ” says Kendall. “We merely pro- persons. From the information gained, please contact the Divinity School’s Office of Field Education at 615/343-3994. cols are available beyond experimental pro- as to how to read the test results. They know vide seed money that can allow women to researchers would construct a common cedures, which means that only symptoms of their child has a predilection for a disease but get beyond an emergency state so they can genetic map for all human beings—the diseases, not the disease itself, currently are are uncertain if the disease actually will man- create a safe environment for themselves and Continuing Education Units (CEU) will be awarded. human blueprint known as the human treated. However, this is the largest promis- ifest. Given that therapeutic procedures are their children.” genome. It is assumed that from the genome we could learn where our physical, and per- sory note of the project—to end human dis- not available, the options are continuation or

16 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 17 termination of the pregnancy. What is inter- not satisfied with a particular trait such as lenge is one that divinity school students, ing. As the use of genetics grows, couples “What often is lost in the conflict is that every person has some sort of esting is that we now can test adults for their sex or height, one could feasibly change or theologians, ministers, and scholars of reli- and persons need help to interpret genetic predisposition for certain diseases such as eliminate the fetus’ genetic makeup to insure gion need to address. information in relation to their values. How- mutation; whether or not that mutation makes a difference in disease Huntington’s, polycystic kidney disease, and certain genes stay in the genome while oth- Throughout the past 10 years, the differ- ever, there are not enough trained genetic forms of breast cancer. As with fetuses, there ers disappear; consequently, medicine’s goal ent faith traditions have attempted responses counselors to cover the increased use of pattern is unclear still; therefore, it becomes difficult when we wish to are no ways to “cure” the mutations, so would be genetic manipulation rather than to the issues that the Human Genome Project genetic testing and screening. If we wish per- many ask, “What should we do with the care of human beings. raises. As one would expect, the responses sons to make informed and faithful deci- discriminate among people based on genetics when we do not know information?” While the possibility of ridding vary and depend usually upon the tradi- sions, then faith communities must assist in Insurance companies and employers may our lives from certain traits or diseases tion’s view of science as it relates to the prac- value integration. Again, we do not have to the meaning of the mutation or what impact the environment will desire access to the information because such may appeal to us, the tice of faith. Some faith communities have become genetic counselors, but we need to have on a person’s genetic makeup. This fear of discrimination points details help them to determine who is “at reality is that many fac- official policies that embrace the discoveries cultivate resources and spaces for persons risk” and who may need more health tors such as environ- of genetics while others condemn it as “play- within our faith communities to discuss and to what I think are the largest concerns about the Human Genome care dollars. Then they can refuse to mental exposures, ing God.” Others remain silent. Whatever to determine moral decisions as they relate to cover an at risk population or request lifestyle choices, the official stance of your faith community, genetic information. This has been the task of Project—genetic determinism and eugenics.” that particular persons pay higher and personality as theologians, ministers, and religion schol- theology in the past and remains a great premiums. Citizens do not want oth- effect illness and ars who interact with people of faith, there challenge to faith communities for the future. —Christine Caron, MTS’92 ers to know their genetic makeup for disease. To corre- are three tasks in which we As theologians and ministers, we must fear of genetic discrimination. What late disease to a should become engaged. engage these issues not only as personal results are major battles around ques- Our first responsi- matters but also on the political level. For tions of privacy, health and life insur- bility is to educate example, is a $3 billion project a good use of ance, and employment criteria. What ourselves concerning our financial resources when the majority of Resources: often is lost in the conflict is that every person the Human Genome United States citizens do not have health Kelves, Daniel and Leroy Hood, eds. The has some sort of mutation; whether or not that Project and genetics, insurance? Should insurance companies Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the mutation makes a difference in disease pat- especially as it relates have access to our personal genetic informa- Human Genome Project. Cambridge: Harvard tern is unclear still; therefore, it becomes diffi- to health care, insur- tion? At what point can the dignity of a per- University Press, 1992. cult when we wish to ance coverage, and son be violated through genetic therapeutics, discriminate among peo- employment discrimination. or better yet, enhancement? What happens Mahowald, Mary Briody. Genes, Women, ple based on genetics In the United States, all persons eventually to the call to stewardship as we genetically Equality. New York: Oxford University Press, when we do not know encounter the health care system, either manipulate our cattle and agricultural prod- 2000. the meaning of the through their children, parents, or even per- ucts? While the reasons for these issues are mutation or what impact sonal health. As a result, they will have the result of genetic science, their implica- Rothenberg, Karen and Elizabeth Thomson, the environment will some form of genetic test, for 21st-century tions are about whom we are as people and eds. Women and Prenatal Testing: Facing the have on a person’s medicine will rely heavily on the how we value the diversity (and disability) Challenges of Genetic Technology. Columbus: genetic makeup. This fear diagnostic skills of genetics— that each of us carries. Like it or not, the Ohio State University Press, 1994. of discrimination points to never mind the possibility of impact of the Human Genome Project is at what I think are the largest concerns therapeutics. We need to hand and will be far reaching. The challenge Shannon, Thomas. Made in Whose Image: about the Human Genome Project— understand how people will that faces us is: Are we ready? Genetic Engineering and Christian Ethics. genetic determinism and be affected as well as help I do not think we can be satisfied with the Amherst: Humanity Books, 2000. eugenics. persons to think through answer, “Only God knows.” reproductive, therapeutic, Science and the specific and enhancement choices. A native of Dover, New Hampshire, Christine task of theology Sloan, Phillip, ed. Controlling Our Destinies: gene overly This does not mean that we all Caron received the master of theological studies Historical, Philosophical, Ethical, and Theologi- Walter Gilbert, a simplifies the need to become geneticists, but degree in 1992 from Vanderbilt UniversityDivin- cal Perspectives on the Humane Genome Project. renowned researcher in complex structure we cannot allow ourselves to be ity School where she has served on the alumni/ae Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame genetics, declared that and interaction that is part intimidated by the complexity of genetic sci- board. She is a senior fellow in clinical ethics at Press, 2000. the Human Genome of cellular activity and also ence. We can learn not only what questions Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville and the Project is the greatest takes for granted a person’s to ask but also utilize researchers and clini- director of religious education at Christ the King quest of our times because responsibility for health and cians as partners for dialogue. Personal School. As a doctoral candidate in the Univer- it will help us discover “our wellness. One could argue that health and well being are not merely scien- sity’s graduate department of religion, Caron The cut-paper illustrations for this essay were common humanity,” as “we if disease or even behavior tific or medical matters but contain a spiri- currently is writing her dissertation on medical created by artist Cathleen Q. Mumford of the are our genes.” (Daniel Kelves results from a gene, then a person is tual or theological component that we are ethics, with an emphasis on genetics, under the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee. Orig- and Leroy Hood, 95) This attitude concern- not responsible for particular actions. One trained to engage. direction of Richard M. Zaner, the Anne Geddes inally from Colts Neck, New Jersey, Mumford ing genetics as the cornerstone of biology, begins to wonder about issues of free will, Furthermore, we must create opportuni- Stahlman Professor of Medical Ethics, professor received the bachelor of fine arts degree from the and thus, life, permeates the justification of moral responsibility, and accountability. It ties for others to reflect theologically upon of philosophy, and professor of ethics for the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. the Human Genome Project. The prevailing also challenges us to ask ourselves about our these issues. This could be done through ser- Divinity School. notion is that if we can “fix” mutations, then desire to control who is born and how we mons, adult education classes, parish library a disease would not occur. Or, if a person is value members of our community. This chal- offerings, health fairs, and pastoral counsel-

18 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 19 Traversing the Gray Border lation of the Arizona twin. Unlike the northern counterpart, the infra- Viewing Capitalism Through a Hermeneutical Lens structure south of the border is extremely poor. Roads are in terrible condition, and BY ANDREW THOMPSON, MDiv3 most homes lack basic conveniences such as Examples include workers, like those in Unidentical twins indoor plumbing. As the population swells, A just wage the Samsonite factory, who are unable to Arriving in Tucson, we attended orientation new settlements called colonias that lack elec- support their families even with full-time for two days with the staff of the nonprofit tricity are growing on the outskirts of town. Better treatment of employees employment; tens of thousands of illegal organization BorderLinks. We then traveled Erosion is present everywhere as the vegeta- immigrants who cross the border in hopes of south two hours by van to the sister cities of tion-poor desert hillsides threaten to wash Better benefits finding a decent job in construction or agri- Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora. Like away at the first substantial rainfall and claim culture; the rich who squander precious many border towns from Texas to California, the settlement housing. desert water on golf courses while the poor the twin cities of Nogales exist in a symbiotic Access to loans in case of emergency have no running water in their homes; and a relationship—tied together by family and The dark night of looming environmental catastrophe result- social connections and a shared economy. the free market Guaranteed medical care subsidized ing from the practices of industry. Nogales’ Port of Entry is bustling with The economy of Nogales, Sonora, once by the company These examples of social and economic traffic between the United States and Mex- dependent on tourism, now rests solidly on evils represent situations that should not ico, but the twins are not identical. The manufacturing. The 1994 implementation of hese requests might represent the exist, and the grays come into play when you 25,000 inhabitants of Nogales, Arizona, enjoy the North America Free Trade Agreement platform of any U.S. labor organiza- examine the causes and look for solutions. the conveniences of an American town’s has caused the number of foreign-owned fac- tion. The context in which I heard Who is ultimately responsible? Government? infrastructure. tories, called maquiladoras, to explode. By the the list, however, was not connected Industry? An entire economic philosophy? If There are no reliable population figures estimate of an official with the Nogales Tto an organization in the United States. These the root causes of suffering along the border for Nogales, Sonora, because of the high rate Chamber of Commerce, there are now 105 five requests were made by workers, but they are hard to pin down, then finding workable of growth, but every estimate I heard was in maquiladoras in and around Nogales. Most were not Americans. They represent the solutions are practically impossible. excess of 250,000 people—10 times the popu- are owned by U.S. companies although there “ideal work situation” for female workers in a are Canadian and Japanese presences as Samsonite factory located in the border town well. By eliminating all tariffs and duties, To earn wages that would enable her to afford a pair of shoes bearing the Nike logo, 16-year-old of Nogales, Mexico. NAFTA has enticed companies to venture Lorena Tolosa, would have to work three 48-hour weeks or 144 hours. The plight of the young With no medical insurance, no worker’s southward where labor is cheap and envi- maquila worker was among the stories that Divinity School student Scott Fritz learned when he and compensation benefits, and wages of ronmental regulations are not enforced. 13 of his peers traveled to Nogales where they studied the social and economic issues confronting the approximately seven U.S. dollars per day, The less expensive means of production Mexican border community. these workers desire nothing more than a translate into affordable products for the U.S. sense of security and a living wage for them- consumer, yet the maquilas indiscriminately with the free trade propaganda and corpo- the difficult situations we encountered. The selves and their families. But unlike U.S. dump harmful waste products and have rate advertising that bombard the American question I kept asking myself repeatedly labor unions, they have no leverage with locked their employees into a situation that media. Here is a situation where the dedi- was, “As the covenant people of God, how is which to bargain. In a situation all too com- one member of our group described as cated worker cannot raise herself up by her the church to respond to the border crises?” mon along the United States and Mexican “America’s new plantation system.” The liv- bootstraps. Our government’s policies are inadequate. border, these women must work on the ing conditions of a maquila worker appall the Nogales reveals the dark side of free mar- The current northward tide of illegal immi- terms of their U.S. employer if they want to American observer, but a plentiful supply of ket capitalism. Far removed from aisles of gration is economically motivated, and cur- have a job. labor in Nogales ensures that wages will not smartly packaged goods in Wal-Mart, work- rent efforts to pour resources into border rise to improve the standard of living. ers forced to labor for 10 hours a day are policing are bound to fail—the border is, after The gray reality Perhaps more than any other principle, a docked for trips to the restroom. If they are all, 2,000 miles long. The only effective means I journeyed to Tucson, Arizona, in May with a divinity school education stresses that every- lucky, they will take home a paycheck of $40 of remedying border ills is for there to be eco- seminar group from Vanderbilt University thing from scripture to governmental policy each week. Such is the foundation upon nomic justice on both sides of the border. But Divinity School. Led by Lloyd Lewis, associ- should be approached with a hermeneutic of which the United States’ prosperity rests. how can this develop? And what place does ate dean and assistant professor of the prac- suspicion. This simply means that we should Viewing the border with my own eyes was the prophetic voice of the church have? tice of ministry, 13 other students and I flew to never take what we are given at face value not enough; I had to look through a We worship a God who liberated us from the desert Southwest with the intention of without inquiring: What hidden motivations hermeneutical lens that would allow me to the bondage of slavery under Pharaoh studying the politics and economics of the underlie a particular situation? Whose draw correlations between the destitution in (Deuteronomy 6:21). We follow a Christ who border through a theological lens. Wanting to agenda is being advanced? Who is favored? Nogales and my own consumer lifestyle in commands us, “Just as I have loved you, you view the much-publicized problems of the During their field education trip to Nogales, Sonora, Divinity School students Scott Fritz, MDiv2, Who is oppressed? How does my own social Nashville. also should love one another” (John 13:34). border in clear, black and white terms, I soon (standing left) and Andrew Thompson, MDiv3, (seated far right) were weekend guests in the home location affect my interpretation? We testify to a Spirit who supposedly leads found that the reality of border problems of the Tolosa extended family: Ezekiel, his wife Alma; their children Jusili, Edith, and Ezekiel Jr.; As an interpretative framework, the Pharaoh in another guise us to the ways of life (Romans 8:9-11). But our exists as a frustrating, multitiered complex of Alma’s sister, Marguerita; and her daughter, Lorena. Ezekiel, Marguerita, and Lorena are among hermeneutic of suspicion invites us to think During our trip, members of the Divinity own economic practices are yoking people grays.The social and economic evils, how-the workers in a maquiladora, one of the 105 foreign-owned factories in the vicinity of Nogales. critically and always ask questions. I imme- School gathered to reflect theologically on around the world into a particularly insidi- ever, are visible in bold relief. Alma, who remains at home with the young children, previously worked in a factory; however, her diately began to employ this strategy when I our experiences. There were both laughter ous form of economic slavery. We show no wages were not sufficient to pay the cost of childcare. was able to compare what I saw of the border and tears in abundance as we struggled with real love for anyone outside our close circle of

20 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 21 Witnesses Against Complicity family and friends, and we certainly bear no “Nogales reveals the dark side of free market capitalism. Far removed tangible love for our brothers and sisters in In Protest of State-Sanctioned Executions Nogales who make luxury items for us. from aisles of smartly packaged goods in Wal-Mart, workers forced BY DIANA GALLAHER, MTS2 I am unclear how the church should pro- ceed, and I admit I am skeptical that the to labor for 10 hours a day are docked for trips to the restroom. If church is prepared to take on the economic issues that touch our lives in almost every they are lucky, they will take home a paycheck of $40 each week. When the State of Tennessee announced that way. The alternative, though, is to deny the Robert Glen Coe would be the first inmate on reality of the gospel. If Christ has come to Such is the foundation upon which the United States’ prosperity bring good news to the poor and liberty to rests. Viewing the border with my own eyes was not enough; I had death row to be executed in four decades, faculty the oppressed (Luke 4:18), and if we count ourselves among Christ’s disciples, we can- to look through a hermeneutical lens that would allow me to draw and students from the Divinity School demon- not afford to ignore situations such as those along the border. correlations between the destitution in Nogales and my own strated daily on the steps of the Capitol and reg- A just wage…guaranteed medical care… better working conditions—the words of consumer lifestyle in Nashville.” istered their protests against the State’s sanction the maquila workers echo in my ears. They are remarkable in their modesty. The “ideal —Andrew Thompson, MDiv3 of the death penalty. On April 18, the eve of Coe’s work situation” for those workers in execution, five students from the School were Nogales is nothing more than the allevia- tion of suffering. among those arrested during an act of civil dis- Back in Nashville, life looks far less bleak. I sleep in an air-conditioned bedroom, drive obedience when they blocked the entrance to the my own truck, and eat well. I do not want for much of anything. And when a need comes governor’s mansion and insisted that they be along, I can always drive down to Wal-Mart where consumer goods are plentiful, cheap, granted an audience with Governor Don and wrapped in smart plastic packaging. Sundquist.

Andrew Thompson, MDiv3, was graduated from In this issue of The Spire, student Diana Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, where he received his baccalaureate in history. He cur- Gallaher reflects upon her opposition to the death rently serves as president of the Student Govern- ment Association of the Divinity School, and penalty, her protest of the State’s decision to upon his graduation in May 2001, he will assume resort to capital punishment, her arrest for civil the role of associate chaplain at Lambuth Univer- sity in Jackson, Tennessee. Thompson also is a disobedience and sentence of sixteen hours of candidate for ordination in the United Methodist Church. public service, and her thoughts on a retributive

criminal justice system. A native of Lebanon,

Tennessee, Gallaher was graduated from the Uni-

versity of Alabama in Huntsville, where she adly, my uncle did not recover. Three needed my uncle to get better and be here While in Mexico, students Nicole Smith, MTS2; Wade Griffith, MDiv3; Shelli Yoder, MTS2; and received a degree in electrical engineering and weeks later, the doctors told his wife with us. What place does hope have in the Erika Callaway, MDiv2, visited with children at Casa de Misericordia. Their trip to the Catholic and daughters that he had only a one dying of a beloved one? school and day care was part of their field education seminar conducted by the Divinity School and worked for Coleman Research Corporation, a to two percent chance of getting bet- By the middle of March 2000, it appeared BorderLinks, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing students and educators opportunities to ter.S A one to two percent chance seemed to be that the appeals process for Robert Glen Coe learn about the effects of free trade upon the economy, environment, and human rights in the border defense contractor, before she enrolled at the the doctor’s way of saying that it was hope- had been exhausted and that after more than community between Tucson and Nogales. less. As a student of theology, I was conflicted 40 years, the State of Tennessee was resum- Divinity School. She is the recipient of the when I or other family members would say ing executions. On March 20, the Student Nashville Wire Products Inc. Scholarship. that my uncle’s recovery appeared hopeless Government Association of the Divinity because I feel deeply that with God the situ- School sent a letter to Governor Don ation is never hopeless. A part of me knew Sundquist, with copies forwarded to the local that life support needed to be ended, but media, stating the commitment of the Divin- another part knew how much we truly ity School student body to a day of fasting

22 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 23 “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

—Mahatma Gandhi (reprinted from the sign of a protester against Tennessee’s death penalty law)

and prayer on the day excerpts from our statement into their wed- dent in the master of divinity degree pro- political and economic discrimination. before the scheduled exe- ding liturgy.) gram, ironically was practicing what the After our first demonstration, we found cution of Coe at 1:00 AM on In an act of civil disobedience, there needs School teaches about the biblical mandate ourselves committed to a daily protest after Thursday, March 23. The to be both a group willing to be arrested, and and Christian accountability to respond to Andrew Thompson responded to a news letter to the governor just as necessary and important, a group that social injustice. The faculty who protested reporter’s question about how long we implored him to use his will be present as supporters to provide Lawson’s expulsion withdrew their resigna- planned to remain at the Capitol. Andrew “professional, social, and transportation, communication, bail, and, as tions when he was given the opportunity to informed him that we would be there until moral energies” to halt the it turns out, most importantly moral support complete his course requirements; however, the State of Tennessee abolished the death reinstitution of state-sanc- for those risking arrest. Ten people, includ- Lawson enrolled in Boston University where penalty law. Once the reporters were gone, tioned killing in Ten- ing two faculty members, stood and indi- he elected to complete his degree. Viki Matson expressed the bewilderment of nessee. cated their willingness to be arrested. Dean Eighteen years later, the Divinity School all when she turned to Andrew and asked, On Tuesday morning, Jack Forstman assured all of us, both those was involved in protesting apartheid in “Are we going to be here until hell freezes?” March 21, members of the taking direct action and the supporters, that South Africa when Vanderbilt hosted the Amazingly, we did witness daily against Divinity School student there would be no negative repercussions for Davis Cup tennis competition between the death penalty for four and one-half body and faculty gathered us from the University. South Africa and the United States. With a weeks. The only explanation I can offer is in Benton Chapel to plan an We notified the media and the Capitol strong endorsement from Dean Sallie that the Holy Spirit was working in and outward protest against the police of our intent to act peacefully in civil McFague, the faculty composed an opposi- among us those days on the Capitol steps. In death penalty and in partic- disobedience that afternoon. In the narthex tion petition and participated with students hindsight, we needed to kick off our shoes ular against the scheduled of Benton Chapel, we gathered in a circle and in peaceful marches and demonstrations out- with Andrew’s response of commitment— killing of Coe by the State. prayed, and then we made our way down- side Memorial Gymnasium until the instead of just gulping—because we were on We were considering an act town, locked arms, and blocked the south matches concluded. Benton Chapel served as holy ground. of civil disobedience at the entrance to the Capitol—whereupon the a central meeting place for groups who Each weekday through Good Friday, a Capitol, and we knew we police ignored us; the media, however, did opposed Vanderbilt’s role in hosting the group gathered for an hour at the Capitol to could be arrested. It was not. All three local news stations were pres- team of a country whose government sanc- sing hymns, pray, read our statement, hold during this discussion that ent, along with a reporter from the Ten- tioned policies of racial segregation and the cross and signs, and read scripture. On Carl Meyers, a friend of the nessean. Inside the Capitol, Divinity School commu- police were redirecting nity and who has been people to another exit, so jailed more than once for With arms linked together in solidarity, students from the Divinity School sit with other demonstrators at the gates to the we read our statement and acts of civil disobedience, governor’s mansion as a cameraman films their protest against the State’s death penalty law. sang hymns until late made the statement that afternoon. From our perch when Jesus said to visit the prisons, it was row. While in Poland over winter break ’99, I the Tennessee legislature; we would block on the Capitol steps, we very possible he meant as an actual inmate. visited the Nazi extermination camps the entrance closest to the governor’s office. could see Dean Forstman Carl’s statement registered with me, obvi- Auschwitz and Birkenau. The overriding It was important to us that we be a Chris- down below in Legislative ously, but I think it was mostly because I could conviction I gained from that experience was tian witness against the death penalty, espe- Plaza. We learned later not attach much meaning to it. that silence, apathy, and fear of taking a cially given Tennessee’s location in the Bible that if we had been stand against injustice are expressions of Belt where more often than not, God’s justice arrested, he was prepared The evil of apathy evil. I knew I had to become a visible witness is equated to a literal lex talionis, an “eye for to post our bail. My own awakening to the injustice of the against the death penalty—that visiting a an eye.” Our protest would be peaceful, and death penalty began two years earlier when man on death row was not enough. And so we would hold an eight-foot wooden cross, Another chapter a Catholic priest held up a full newspaper with members of TCASK, I stood on street sing hymns, carry signs, and read a prepared of social protest page that pictured the men killed in Texas by corners and held signs protesting the death statement: Dean Forstman’s support the State the previous year. He told us that a penalty. “As Christians, we affirm that all human was consistent with the part of each one of us died when these men On that Tuesday morning in Benton beings are children of God, that all human life is Divinity School’s’ history died. Ah, I thought—I AM the person in the Chapel, members of the Divinity School sacred, and that murder, whether by an individ- of supporting acts of civil electric chair. This understanding of interre- deliberated about a direct action of civil dis- ual or the State, is contrary to the love, justice, disobedience in protest of latedness leading to compassion is a concep- obedience. We discussed how we believed a and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we unjust laws. When James tion Buddhists embrace more completely direct act was warranted given the unjust- members of the Vanderbilt University Divinity Lawson was expelled in than some professing the Christian creed. ness of the death penalty law; however, School stand on the steps of the Tennessee State 1960 from the University When a friend once remarked, “I hope they breaking the unjust law was not an option, Capitol as witnesses against this State’s intention for his role in the nonvio- fry him!” I responded, “Fine, but they will be unlike during the Civil Rights movement to carry out the death penalty. We pray the State lent protest training of frying a piece of you, too.” when, for example, direct action against the may find ways to respond to the violence in our young people involved in Upon moving to Nashville, I received injustice of segregated lunch counters could society by resisting further violence and victim- direct action against segre- training to participate in the Visitation on be taken by seating oneself at a lunch ization and by promoting healing and peace gation, all but four mem- Death Row (VODR) program with the Ten- counter. Our plan developed into going to instead.” bers of the Divinity School Prior to her arrest for participating in an act of civil disobedience at the governor’s mansion, Linda Manning, (center) nessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing the Capitol where we would be visible to (Student protestors Tim Eberhart and faculty resigned in protest. director of Vanderbilt University’s Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, listens as another demonstrator reads the (TCASK) and began to visit a man on death both Governor Sundquist and members of Becky Jorgensen later elected to incorporate Lawson, a third-year stu- protesters’ statement of opposition to the death penalty and the execution of Robert Glen Coe.

24 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 25 two occasions, we celebrated the Eucharist. luncheon at the governor’s mansion. does one respond with justice to a murder? record—the effects of a mere telephone call. penalty abolitionist tee shirt that day, the our being ultimately worthless. I cannot As people outside the Divinity School began Insistent that we speak with the governor We will continue to grapple with this core My sixteen hours of public service work apron covered the lettering, but her question believe that God ever concludes that any of us to join us, we revised our statement to be and refusing to move, we were arrested after issue, aware they there are no easy answers, (PSW) involved cleaning the courtrooms and increased my resolve to wear a visible mes- is ever beyond hope of redemption—even more inclusive and representative of the Andrew led a prayer. As cameramen from the but for the majority within the Divinity offices in the Stahlman Building, a structure sage over the apron and continue my protest those of us who are in cages on death row. interfaith group we were becoming. Whether local media began filming our arrest, highway School community, the appropriate response that bears the family name of a man who was by letting everyone know that I was cleaning As my uncle was dying, I finally knew we were singing hymns in Hebrew or the patrolmen picked us up, carried us to the van, to homicide is not another homicide. instrumental in having James Lawson for a noble reason. If I felt shame and anger at where to place hope as the family was gath- church camp songs we remembered from and handcuffed us. Determined to let our Days after the execution, I was back at expelled from the University in 1960. The my punishment for breaking the law, I real- ered around him prior to removing his life our youth, whether we were getting sun- light shine, we sang in the paddy wagon Riverbend Prison to visit an inmate on death people with whom I was performing public ized that my fellow PSW criminals probably support. My cousin, Susan Gray, BS’77, burned or wet from the rain, we experienced while being transported to jail. Among the row. Entering the visitors’ room, another service had sentences ranging from 100 to experienced a comparable shame and anger. MDiv’80, an ordained pastor anointed her a sense of God’s peace as groups of school arrested were Linda Manning, Director of inmate’s family member asked me, “Didn’t I 200 hours and would be at the Stahlman I now have a reference for Carl Meyer’s father and read the liturgy of the Last Rites. children visiting the Capitol observed our Vanderbilt University’s Margaret Cuninggim see you on TV?” Building each week for a year before com- argument about Jesus meaning for us to go Death may be a time of chaos in which we protest. Women’s Center and a senior lecturer in I quietly responded, “Yes.” pleting their PSW. to prison as an inmate, not as a visitor. I had have no control, yet I believed that our hope women’s studies; Harmon Wray, MA’85, lec- With a huge smile on her face, she On the first morning I worked, I encoun- been visiting a prisoner, but for the most part was in my uncle’s incorporation into a heav- Challenging compliancy turer in church and ministries at the Divinity exclaimed, “I knew it was you! I knew it was tered a classmate from the Divinity School. I I was still on the outside looking in at him. enly realm of love, peace, and wholeness. The stay of execution that had been granted School; Greg Gerdeman, a University gradu- you!” was wearing my green apron and standing From PSW, I experienced the shaming and I hope Robert Glen Coe is experiencing the to Coe on March 22 was soon lifted and a ate student; Jarad Bingham, MDiv’00; Steve My friend on death row told me he, too, beside the cleaning cart. She asked me if I breaking of body and spirit in a retributive same incorporation. But did God require his new execution date was set for April 19 at Cook, MDiv’00; Tim Eberhart, MDiv’00; had seen me on television. This was a confir- were working there during the summer. criminal justice system. The message of our death in order for his life to be redeemed? Did 1:00 AM Ironically, the State of Tennessee Andrew Thompson, MDiv3, and I. mation for me that our light did shine on Choosing to clean is an option; being worthlessness was loud and clear, and I God require killing him before the little girl he had rescheduled its first execution in four The execution proceeded in the middle of death row during the week of the execution, required to clean is quite a different story. sensed the hopelessness that must ultimately was convicted of murdering could be incorpo- decades to coincide with holy seasons in the night on April 19 as the State planned. a week I have come to refer to as Holy-Hell Feelings of shame at being seen in this set- pervade the lives of many who are serving rated into the peace and safety of a heavenly Judaism and in Christianity—Passover and After attending the interfaith service at Bel- Week. ting, coupled with anger at her question, sentences in a criminal justice system based realm? I cannot see the truth in an affirmative Easter. We planned another act of civil dis- mont United Methodist Church, we drove to On the day we were arrested, I experi- were evident in my quick response that I was on the principle of retribution. answer to either of these questions. Forgive- obedience, this time involving many more Riverbend Maximum Security Prison to hold a enced no fear but rather a solidarity with the completing community service for being I cannot believe that God intends for our ness does not require retribution. people outside the Divinity School commu- vigil until after the execution. Two hundred protesters and the persons on death row. I felt arrested. Although I had worn my death accountability to a wrong to include a sense of Douglas Meeks, the Cal Turner Chancel- nity, and our destination was the gover- people stood in silence and held candles on a strong conviction about our actions; we pri- lor’s Professor of Wesleyan nor’s mansion to plead with Governor that cold, damp April night. The silence was marily express ourselves through words here Studies, likes to remind those of Sundquist to stop the execution. If we maintained even when the small pro-death at Vanderbilt; this was the right time to us at the Divinity School that as could not talk with the governor, we would penalty group let out a loud whoop of glad- express ourselves first with our bodies and theologians we must never risk arrest by blocking the driveway of the- ness upon the announcement of Coe’s death. secondly with our words. become so cynical as to lose mansion and insist on being seen and heard Their whooping intensified the great shame hope. We will continue to speak in protest to the injustice of the death and sadness I felt at all of our complicity when A lesson in disparity and act in ways to encourage penalty. Eighteen of us were able and will- the State responds in kind to a homicide. Going to court proved to be a time to experi- justly sharing God’s gifts of life ing to be arrested, so we sat down in front The Divinity School community ence the disparities of our criminal justice and hope for redemption avail- of the gates at the mansion and locked responded with gratitude for the protesters’ system. Because I was the first to go to court, able to everyone. arms. Thirty other protesters were there to activism against the death penalty. Dean the district attorneys rescheduled my court And who knows? Maybe my support and chant with us, “Love, justice, Forstman individually thanked each of the date for the following Monday because they uncle and Robert Glen Coe are peace—don’t kill for me!” students arrested and personally conveyed wanted to talk with their supervisor and offer together in the cloud of witness After four hours, an officer of the Ten- how proud he was of us. Although I was all of us the same sentence. Nice proposal—at cheering us on each time we nessee Highway Patrol asked us to move or stopped numerous times by my colleagues least in theory. Our sentences varied from demonstrate for compassion face arrest. The zero to 16 hours of and hope in the face of violence patrolman did not “Two hundred people stood in silence and held candles on that cold, damp community serv- and despair. In fact, I’m count- inform us that the ice; some of us ing on their support. governor was in April night. The silence was maintained even when the small pro-death were required to Florida on vaca- pay court cost Photographs compliments tion although he penalty group let out a loud whoop of gladness upon the announcement of while others were of Jill Sawoski, MTS2 had authorized not; some of us had our arrest in Coe’s death. Their whooping intensified the great shame and sadness I felt lawyers who advance. We were at all of our complicity when the State responds in kind to a homicide.” worked pro bono told that a group while others did of women had a not have an attor- —Diana Gallaher, MTS2 luncheon planned ney. The arbitrary at the mansion and that we should move and thanked as tears welled in our eyes, I sentencing resulted from whichever DA was because these women had nothing to do was also aware that a small number of Divin- assigned to one’s case. And for the protester Don Beisswenger, (center) professor of church and community and director of field education, emeritus, was among with the schedule of the execution. We all ity School students are advocates for the who ran into a lawyer friend that offered to the members of the Divinity School community who protested the State’s endorsement of the death penalty. Stu- agreed that as residents of Tennessee, we are death penalty and were in opposition to our contact the State Attorney’s office and have dents from David Lipscomb University and Belmont University joined the protest with representatives from the all complicit in the injustice of the State’s activism. This reminded me just how contro- the court throw out the case, there was no Divinity School on the eve of Coe’s execution. death penalty—even women attending a versial a subject the death penalty is—how court appearance, no sentence, and no

26 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 27 The Road to Vanderbilt

BY JACK M. SASSON We were a significant minority within a displaying Jewish stars, and lots of Hebrew Practically speaking, therefore, Judaism and Christianity were twin daughters of one After serving for 33 years on the faculty of Muslim culture in Syria, my birthplace and letters that spelled nothing I knew. Later, I that of my mother, and in Iraq, the homeland learned I was reading Yiddish, a Hebrew- mother, that mother being the Hebrew faith the University of North Carolina at Chapel of my father. While we rarely experienced enriched dialect of German. In the Arab which, after its birth at Sinai, had been groomed by the prophets, had reached matu- Hill, Jack M. Sasson, an Assyriologist, there the mindless hatred and the murderous countries that I left behind, Jewish symbols rampages that were devastating our Euro- could not be displayed publicly except at a rity in exile and, despite her many disap- accepted an appointment to Vanderbilt pean relatives, we were not integrated into synagogue, and Hebrew could not be uttered pointments in her adult life, still hoped for a messianic consummation. After the Roman University Divinity School as the first the Muslim majority. In those parts of the openly. So for me landing in America was world, people kept to their own communities truly setting foot in Zion. My path to Van- destruction of the temple, however, Mother Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Judaic and and shared no stories to knit them into a derbilt began a few years later when, at Bran- Israel lived through the experiences of her daughters, Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity Biblical Studies. On September 12, 2000, whole, such as we tell here on Thanksgiving deis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, I and the Fourth of July. Ironically, once the started graduate studies in the Ancient Near and, a little later, Islam. On them, she Sasson delivered the following address upon Western nations decided to let the Jewish peo- East, Islam, and Biblical Israel. It took me bestowed her choicest Mosaic, prophetic, and messianic legacy so that, despite the cen- his installation to the professorate. ple have their dream of a rebuilt nation, we all over 30 years to make it here. sensed that our long and rich history in Arab Jack M. Sasson was installed in September as the Divinity School’s first Mary Jane Werthan Profes- turies in which one was mistreated by the he endowment of the Mary Jane countries was about to end. So even before the Shift in metaphors sor of Judaic and Biblical Studies. He also holds an appointment as professor of classics in the Col- others, the three sisters never lost sight of Werthan Chair of Judaic and Bibli- creation of the state of Israel, my own parents I began my studies during the Kennedy era, lege of Arts and Science. His wife, Diane, is a senior lecturer in the Women’s Studies their ancestry. Judaism retained an attach- cal Studies is another harbinger of took their children to Lebanon, to escape the and in those days ideas and ideals were per- interdisciplinary program in the College. ment to the original language it inherited a shift in the way people of differ- looming riots. But troubles continued to brew, colating, like the coffee in the Maxwell House and consequently kept to a distinctive inter- Tent backgrounds learn to welcome each and in the mid-fifties we came to what to all jingle. It was a time of broad changes in aca- pretation of Scripture. But the sisters dug abuse and of theological distortions that led ment of faith was relegated to off-campus other, not only for what they have in com- of us was the Golden Land. demia, among them a sharp distinction deeply and repeatedly into their mother’s Europe to many crimes, including the vile privately funded institutions such as Hillel mon, but especially for what continues to I can share with you many experiences between instruction in religious values and scriptural coffers as when for Christianity resolve to turn Christianity into a sword House, Newman Club, and the campus Y. A make them different. Even in America, with about being an immigrant to these shores; instruction about the history of religions. during the Reformation and for Judaism against the Jews. few divinity schools, which had long ago its decades-old conviction about the rewards some of them funny and others similar Seemingly light years earlier—but in fact during the Enlightenment they molded new After the War, the better institutions of sundered their parochial attachments, began of a pluralistic society, this shift was not to your grandma’s lore. My sharpest mem- until just after the Second World War—most visions from Hebrew Scriptures. higher learning began to set the teaching of to serve an increasingly broader con- always apparent. I want to weave together ory was of being driven through neighbor- American colleges, including those dedicated This shift in metaphors from mother- religion into newly formed units often called stituency, welcoming not only a wider spec- three stories to explain why this celebration hoods in Brooklyn with shops everywhere to research, had it as their mission to instruct daughter to siblings may seem trivial, if not “Departments of Religion.” Staffed by fac- trum of Protestants, but people of other of difference may well be the most desirable students on hard work, piety, and other frivolous; but as far as Judaism and Chris- ulty from diverse backgrounds, they faiths as well. Vanderbilt’s Divinity School portent for the new millennium. I will tell virtues, all in a decidedly Protestant tianity are concerned, if you recall the Euro- instructed not on how to profess one’s faith, was one of them. you my own story, a typical immigrant cast. In many places, quotas were set pean artistic depictions in which the church but on how to study the world’s religions. At Brandeis in the 1960s, I did not study tale that includes physical as well as for non-Protestants, and attendance was personified as young and vital, the So keen was the distinction between the two Judaism or Christianity. But as they say, intellectual travel. But the more at chapel was required of all. Except future in her grasp, but the synagogue as enterprises, that occasionally, as important accounts will be how the for token examples, the faculty in dour and old, you will rec- it happened here at Vanderbilt, studies of Judaism and of the Hebrew most departments was homogenous ognize why the relationship research units were created and “Neither [Judaism nor Christianity] is spiritually Bible have fared in academia and why in gender, creed, color, and, for all among the faiths needed to nestled within divinity schools. It it seems perfectly reasonable today anyone knew then, also in sexual ori- be rethought. One can now is under such circumstance, for superior to the other; neither is lacking in virtues, and for a Jewish scholar to teach and learn entation. True, there were special say that, as the two sisters example, that first Samuel Sand- at a divinity school that was founded institutions for Jews, African-Ameri- neither has a surplus of vices. Above all, neither needs matured and eventually mel then the incomparable Lou by very Protestant Methodists. cans, and women, but generally the produced multiple person- Silberman came to Vanderbilt, drive to diversify students and fac- to lecture the other; neither needs to evangelize to the alities, neither has had to and both of them were among the apologize to the other for Setting foot in the golden land ulty was not uppermost on the minds first throughout this land to teach of most educators and administrators other, and neither needs to predicate its fulfillment on how it interprets its faith or I was born into a world that had courses on Judaism as a living of the time. how it organizes its com- largely ceased to exist by the time I and evolving tradition rather the devastation of the other.” The reaction began to set in right munities. Neither is spiritu- reached adulthood. You may have than as background to Christian- around the Second War World, and it ally superior to the other; read about it in the works of André ity. Unusual, too, was the resolve to enlarge some of my best friends did. And it was was no doubt hastened by the neither is lacking in virtues, and neither has Aciman or tasted it from the recipes of library holdings at Vanderbilt through the obvious that these friends were framing a absorption into academia of highly a surplus of vices. Above all, neither needs to Claudia Roden, Egyptian Jews both, purchase of Judaica collections, thanks to different family metaphor for the relation- qualified refugees from Europe, lecture the other; neither needs to evangelize and survivors of the same Atlantis. It the generosity of a number of Jewish fami- ship among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam many of them not Christians, or not to the other, and neither needs to predicate was a world in which Jews, such as I, lies in Nashville and beyond. A bit later, than what still obtains today. For them Chris- exactly the American sort of Chris- its fulfillment on the devastation of the other. spoke Arabic, fancied ourselves French, beginning in 1977, the oldest continuously tianity and Islam were not the daughters of tians. Too, the student body was and admired everything American. We knew presented Holocaust lecture series was inau- Judaism. Rather, they argued that two of Gazing on Mother Israel shifting radically, at least because the nothing about socialism and believed in an gurated here. these Abrahamic faiths, namely Judaism and GI bill made education no longer the I was young when I got to Brandeis; yet, I aggressive form of entrepreneurship. But, Simultaneously, the more prestigious Christianity, were born only decades from Illumination from the Hebrew Bible province of the young, genteel, and the was attracted to the mother more than to any just in case, we prayed in Hebrew, a lan- academies divorced themselves from con- each other, emerging from the same social of Leningrad privileged. But above all, the reaction was of her daughters although I did flirt with the guage that was sacred for us, not at all suited nections with theological institutions that upheavals and eschatological yearnings that youngest of the siblings, Islam. Increasingly, 9th to 11th centuries, C.E. fueled by the fresh memory of academic for mundane conversation. were not research oriented. The reinforce- were gripping the area under Roman rule. I fixed my gaze squarely on Mother Israel. I

28 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 29 became fascinated by how she grew up and explored the rich harvest of documents from nence of Israel’s accomplishments. So, Germany, and Ireland. You can now under- ing public discourse, and it has encouraged that are increasingly homogenous, in mem- matured, the smallest and least promising of Mesopotamia, often focusing on one city- despite my love for the cultures I was study- stand why so few Jews were granted asylum the formation of new spiritual configura- bership, belief, practice, and attitude. We do nations, surrounded by far greater powers in state, Mari, whose archives allowed the ing, in writing on biblical matters, I never from the killing fields of war-torn Eastern tions, in a richness of imagination not seen recognize, of course, that all this — the action Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia. When reconstruction of a complex society from the doubted that however superior or anterior Europe. My own story is illustrative. After since the first centuries of the Christian era. as well as the reaction—is evidence of a Israel was but a child, these civilizations had 18th century B.C.E., long before the Hebrews were the accomplishments of Mesopotamia my mother registered us at the American Additionally, older immigrant groups, Jews healthy and free society, where people have been adults for millennia. They were the had formed their identity. The kings of Mari and Egypt, Ancient Israel remained consulate, we waited nine years to receive among them, have become more willing to choices to participate or withdraw, to join or world’s oldest cultures, and their experi- depended on a professional diplomatic unequaled in its capacity to discover the eight out of just two dozen slots allotted to differ from the mainstream, even to return to choose seclusion, to persuade or be per- ences would prove of uncommon signifi- corps, its merchants traded deeply into the logic of monotheism and in its courage to émigrés from Lebanon in 1955. more traditional ways. It has also become suaded, to assimilate or stand apart. cance for human history. The inventory of Aegean islands, its generals deployed broadcast it as a historical truth. Controlling the influx of foreigners was chic for politicians, among others, to wear But at least since the sixties, there has firsts they left us is bewildering: first to advanced military weaponry, and its physi- Yet, as I hardly need to remind you, all was matched also by a drive to Americanize them their piety on their sleeves. Yet, because plu- been another setting in which to face the develop irrigation, first to create cities, to cians understood the nature of disease and of not peaches and cream during the sixties and as soon as they hit American soil. Those who ralism has effectively impeded the domi- increased religious complexity of our age. At found temples, to invent writing, to preserve contagion. But the people’s real virtue was a seventies. Searing battles were being fought quickly lost their accents were praised. (And nance of any single religious ideology, their distinguished secular institutions of higher traditions, to codify behavior, and to interna- garrulity that made them leave tons of to secure a just society, to terminate a needless obviously, I was not one of them.) The public pronouncements have lacked the learning, a few non-sectarian divinity tionalize relations. But they were also the records on every aspect of daily life. Most war, to spare the environment, and to erase quicker they got to love baseball, hot dogs, coerciveness of past appeals. schools have welcomed students from first to organize empires, racial and sexual discrimination. and apple pie, the quicker they got to drive For some Protestants, Catholics, and even diverse backgrounds, creeds, interests, and wage total war, brutalize At Chapel Hill, it was impossi- away in their own Chevrolet. Or so was the some Jews, so much diversity, so openly goals, encouraging them in their spiritual their neighbors, and institu- “At this Divinity School, it is taken for granted that ble not to notice how often the promise of the time. expressed, seems a harbinger of spiritual col- and intellectual growth, in their wish to tionalize slavery. divine messages need not sound uniform to be authentic, prophetic voices that appealed Right after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, how- lapse. For them, what my colleague Patout become scholars and teachers, and in their In contrast to the hard to our better instincts regarding ever, a law was passed which phased out Burns labels “a polyphony of voices” betrays desire to act as agents for social justice. That knowledge we amassed that ideals need not be absolute to be profound, that fairness, justice, and sharing quotas based on national origins. Subse- the seriousness of religious commitment. currently there is only a handful of such about these cultures, we had one’s bounty, were being quently, the numbers of entries were They fear that when multiple religious per- schools, among them Vanderbilt’s Divinity little independent testimony values need not be homogeneous to be admirable, and launched by the largely off-cam- increased sharply such that, by the mid- spectives enter public discourse, religion School, makes their work the more crucial about ancient Israel. We have pus rabbis and ministers. I recall eighties, there came to be good-sized com- itself may be more easily ignored. Rather and in need of support. At this Divinity all seen movies about Abra- that lives need not be perfect to be meaningful.” the role played by the YMCA at munities all over the United States, made up than trying to understand how this plural- School, for example, it is taken for granted ham, Rebekah, Charleton UNC in rallying sentiments for of folks that were hardly represented hereto- ism came about and why it belongs here, that divine messages need not sound uni- Heston, David, Solomon, Eli- —Jack M. Sasson, racial equality and the pivotal fore, among them Vietnamese, Thai, Hindus, they have chosen to retreat into institutions, form to be authentic, that ideals need not be jah, and Esther; but would the Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Judaic and Biblical Studies support the local Hillel Founda- Pakistanis, Kurds, Turks, Nigerians, colleges, seminaries, yeshivot, and madaris absolute to be profound, that values need not you be shocked if I reveal to tion gave to the effort to oppose Haitians, and Guatemalans. It is estimated be homogeneous to be admirable, and that you that not one contemporaneous monu- stimulating was our recovery of a sophisti- denying American communists access to the that 35 million of the 276 million souls lives need not be perfect to be meaningful. ment has ever been found to authenticate cated network of prophets, seers, and vision- campus. My colleague Dale Johnson is cur- presently in the United States are foreign Here, too, professors need not be of the same their existence? In fact, the earliest biblical aries, men and women, advising the kings on rently editing a history of Vanderbilt Divinity born, as is 12 percent of our labor force. faith as the excellent students they teach, and personality to find independent confirma- how to know the divine will. With some School and you will soon be able to refresh For these immigrants, making a better life they need not practice the faith of the Scrip- tion is, of all people, Ahab, husband of emotion, one locates profound ethical truths your memory on the heroics of its faculty for themselves and their children continues ture they have mastered. So, we now have a wicked Jezebel; but that was in the ninth cen- in some of the oracles delivered to the king of when, early in the sixties, it forced the campus to be a fervent dream. But unlike previous Jewish scholar, wonderful Amy-Jill Levine, tury B.C.E., practically yesterday as far as the Mari, almost 4000 years ago. Permit me to to confront its racist past at home and when, immigrants who willingly dissolved in one teaching the New Testament, and it would ANE was concerned. Still, at Brandeis, we all share with you a light paraphrase of such an in the late seventies, it outspokenly urged big melting pot, these newcomers have not be far-fetched one day for a Muslim to believed that the absence of proof was no oracle; and as I do, let its sentiments and repudiation of racism abroad. insisted on their individuality and on the teach Hebrew Scripture or for an agnostic to proof of absence and that the behavior, if not metaphors transport you to those from Scrip- Still, for me to have reached Vanderbilt freedom to retain proudly, their ethnic char- teach theology. the history, of biblical ancestors in any case ture. Adad, a major god, is quoted as saying University, two other factors had to come acteristics. This is expressed most starkly in was being affirmed by comparative research. to the king of Mari: into play. The first was scripted in Washing- the ways they continue to worship. While Planted by everlasting waters Moreover, the spectacular Dead Sea Scrolls I had given all the land [of your kingdom] to ton, and the second was internal to my spe- they readily adopt the ceremonies of civil I have tried to give you an explanation why, discoveries had given us hope that the mas- your father and because of my weapons, he had no cialty; but both were feeding on major religions, such as the Fourth of July or as we are about to enter a new century as sive Israeli archeological effort then under opponents. But when he abandoned me, I took his upheavals in our culture. Thanksgiving, and while they eagerly partic- well as a new millennium, Vanderbilt Divin- way would one day expose the archives of land away and gave it to his enemy. But then I ipate in the shopping orgies around Christ- ity School finds it urgent to persevere in the great kings of Israel and Judah. restored you to your father’s throne and handed Enlarging the tent mas, these immigrants have not enlarging its tent and to multiply the voices In the spring of ‘66, I left drizzly Waltham, you the weapons with which I battled the Sea We drum it into our children that America is Protestantized their faith as in the past, and heard within it. The demographics and the Massachusetts, to interview at a number of [symbol of chaos]. I rubbed your body with oil a land of immigrants. That is true of course; have not adjusted their rituals or temple desire of individuals to retain their own universities. But when I entered spring-soaked from my own numinous glow so that no one but throughout its history America has had architecture to American standards. Just visit voices simply demand it. I suspect that simi- Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with its per- could ever stand up to you. Now therefore listen moments of dreading the consequences of our Ganesha temple on Old Hickory Boule- lar forces are also helping to shape a desire fumed air, beautiful azaleas, and lilting lan- to my only wish: Whenever anyone appeals to immigrations. In the wake of World War I, vard and you will sense what I mean. More- for a more diversified undergraduate stu- guage, there was no returning North. It was you for judgment, saying, ‘I am aggrieved’; be Congress passed legislation limiting entry to over, few among the new immigrants find dent body, and I applaud all efforts now the first of many good things that happened to there to decide his case and to give him satisfac- just 150,000 newcomers, establishing quotas that tolerance is enough of a virtue; rather, under way at Vanderbilt to bolster Jewish me there; but none better than in meeting my tion. This is all that I desire of you.” for each country based on two percent of they insist on the right of all Americans to be Studies and to enlarge the presence of Jewish lifelong partner, Diane, and in raising there These are noble convictions. Yet, realizing each nationality that lived here in 1890, that accepted for whom they are. undergraduates on campus. three sons, David, Noah, and Daniel. that it will be another millennium before is before the height of the Jewish migrations. Together with the social changes begun in König David During the seventies, my own work was The South turned out to be a very fine they are passionately echoed by our own Effectively, the law reduced to a trickle the the sixties, the implantations of many faiths Aus einer Bibelhandschrift vom Jahre 1476 shifting, from studies that were essentially place in which to reflect, learn, and teach. I prophets, only sharpened for me the perma- flow of immigrants from all but England, have resulted in a diversity of voices enter- (Bodleiana, Kennicott Nr.1) based on historical methods to those that Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1934

30 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 31 “All the material prosperity in the world has meaning only in terms of what it can do for In Memoriam and to human beings.” —Mary Jane Lowenheim Werthan (September 30, 1907 – August 15, 2000)

Worse, those who continued to write history experts in sexual politics, game and critical When Mary Jane Werthan, BA’29, MA’35, the the opportunities in her hometown and Mrs. Werthan chaired the academic affairs lost their compass and got mired in uncom- theorists, and theologians of many faiths. first woman elected to serve on the Vander- worked to promote social, educational, and committee and modestly described herself as promising evaluations of the same evidence. Each and all have had their say, some no bilt University Board of Trust, was invited to cultural programs. A charter member of the a conduit between the students and the board. So, today, within the pages of the same jour- doubt more lucidly than others, with campus on November 16, 1965, to address board of directors of Planned Parent- When Vanderbilt students staged a sit-in at nal, you might read one respected scholar insights for all of us to inspect and adapt. the undergraduate women during “Charm hood and a life member of the organization’s Kirkland Hall, Mrs. Werthan “sat-in” with authenticating the biblical version of the So, despite the tons of brain power Week,” she encouraged the members of her advisory committee, she also was a founding them. She enlisted fellow trustees to visit Exodus from Egypt and another, equally already expended on the study of the audience to invest member and presi- with students and to hear firsthand their con- respected scholar, dismissing it as the imagi- Ancient Near East, the Bible, and Judaism, themselves in the dent of Family and cerns. An advocate for the continuing educa- native invention of an old Hebrew priest. many important questions remain open. But lives of people. “I am Children’s Service. tion of women, she also is remembered for Amazingly enough, rather than driving these cannot be engaged where dogma tri- not berating cocktail She served on the her interest in the University’s recruitment us to despair, this narrowing of the historical umphs and, above all, they must not be dis- parties, bowling, boards of the Public and retention of African American students. portals invited us to find other ways to pen- cussed where passion is cold. I cannot golf, hairdos, or Television Council, “A woman has instinctive and intuitive etrate the world of the Hebrews. Suddenly imagine a livelier place to debate them than bridge—fun and fri- the Nashville Sym- feelings that work in relationships,” she once we were all entering Chairman Mao’s garden right here, at Vanderbilt Divinity School, volity are important phony Association, advised, and her service to Vanderbilt—dur- to watch a thousand flowers bloom. There where people of many backgrounds, com- to young and old— the Nashville School ing such critical decades as the sixties and was now a willingness to put aside old mitments, interests, and preparations have but activity without of Social Work, the seventies—proved instrumental in the elec- methods, to work interdisciplinarily, and to come, with open minds, to reason together invol-vement in a Friends of Cheek- tion of other women to the Board of Trust. adopt multiple strategies for solving a prob- on many matters, some new and some old. cause or purpose can wood, the Tennessee Thirty-five years ago, Mrs. Werthan lem. Questions were framed differently, and So now you know why I came to Vander- be totally enervating Botanical Gardens reminded the young women who assembled no answer was deemed taboo. So much so, bilt and what I am hoping to find, as a and lacking in satis- and Fine Arts Center, to hear her speech during Charm Week that that if biblical scholars from Chancellor Har- teacher and as a learner. I consider it an faction,” remarked and the Jewish Com- “Learning is the raising of character by vey Branscomb’s days would return to their omen, therefore, that behind the door of the Mrs. Werthan. munity Center. broadening vision.” The ecumenical vision old classrooms, they might think they took office which I have inherited from Gene A distinguished Mrs. Werthan’s of the Divinity School has been broadened the wrong turn down the hall. TeSelle, I found a page from the Jewish Pub- civic leader in dedication to her by the character of this remarkable woman To give you a better insight into what I lication Society’s translation of the Hebrew Nashville, Mary Jane alma mater was evi- and her endowment of the Mary Jane mean, I invite you all to any of the sessions I Bible. On sleuthing, I learned that the page Werthan selflessly dent by her involve- Werthan Professorship of Judaic and Biblical Illuminierte Seite der Bibelhandschrift am now teaching on the book of Genesis, or was posted by Lou Silberman soon after he committed herself to ment with the Alumni Studies, and by the recent funding of the Ms. Berlin, Or. Qu. 1 at least to inspect the website I have pre- moved into this same office, some forty years improving the wel- Association, Vander- May and Morris Werthan Scholarship estab- Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1934 pared on that course, http://people.vanderbilt ago. The page has on it a beautiful rendering fare of other individ- bilt Aid Society, and lished by Mr. Werthan and his daughters, .edu/~jack.m.sasson/index.html. In recent of the First Psalm in which the poet applauds uals. “Study and the Vanderbilt Develop- Elizabeth Werthan of Philadelphia, and the exploited literary and social approaches. I years, Genesis has come to be a premiere text those who delight in the life of the mind, for acquiring of knowl- Mary Jane Werthan in 1966, photograph by Jeff ment Foundation. But late May Werthan Shayne of Nashville. Mr. was by no means alone to take that path for, for humanistic research, not least because, they are: edge are intrinsically Carr, JD’66, Vice Chancellor for University in May 1964, she was Werthan explains that the scholarship pro- in the same period, scholars across many for over two millennia, people from all cul- important,” she Relations; General Counsel; Secretary of the awakened one mid- vides an opportunity for the family “to live fields were becoming increasingly mindful tures and faiths have used it as sounding Like a tree planted beside admitted, “but I see a University, emeritus night by a telephone out” the fourth commandment, “Honor thy that the writing of history cannot be shielded board for their ideas and aspirations. If you streams of water, relationship between call from Chancellor father and thy mother.” from subjective designs. What had happened think you have heard enough explanations which yields its fruit in season, what the mind absorbs and what we are Alexander Heard who extended her an invi- in Hitler’s Germany and in Soviet Russia about Genesis from your ministers, rabbis, whose foliage never fades, expected to do in the world.” Her life exem- tation to became a member of the Board of —VJ were parade examples; but please recall the Sunday school leaders, Bill Moyers, and the and whatever it produces thrives. plified the constructive relationship that can Trust. After asking the chancellor to repeat sharp conflicts on whether or not our own Senate’s therapist, Naomi Rosenblatt, you develop between the acquisition of knowl- the purpose of his call, Mrs. Werthan replied, involvement in Vietnam was driven by are in for a shock. A couple of generations I may not be as wondrous as that tree; but edge and the advancement of public policies. “Wait, I have to wake up Albert and ask him

accommodating, even deceitful, reconstruc- ago, in such a course you were likely to dis- after a year at Vanderbilt, I already feel well Enrolling at Vanderbilt University when if it’s all right.” Her husband promptly HOGE PEYTON tions of the past. Increasingly, then, history cuss how the Hebrews differed from their planted by those streams of refreshing and, I only 50 women were admitted to the fresh- instructed her, “Run to the phone and was no longer Sergeant Friday’s “just the neighbors in their notion of God, how the dare to hope, ever-replenishing waters. man class, Mrs. Werthan was graduated Phi tell him ‘yes’ before he changes his facts, Ma’am,” but it was viewed as a narra- repetitions and apparent contradictions in its Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a mind.” tive with many goals, some far from noble. stories allow insight into the development of Images from the Judaica Collection were pho- baccalaureate in English. President of the She jokingly compared her first Think of the great movie Rashomon and how Hebrew thought, or how archeology and tographed by Denny Adcock of Nashville. Women’s Student Government Association, board meeting to crashing the Men’s a single event is recalled self-servingly by epigraphy are confirming the historicity of the Women’s Athletic Association, and Bar at the Biltmore Hotel. “I was so each of those participating in it. the patriarchs and the matriarchs. Alpha Epsilon Phi national sorority, she was ‘snowed’ that I wore a hat and gloves The doubts about history had immediate You will still hear lots about these topics elected by popular vote of her peers the Lady to the meeting,” she later recalled, “but and profound effects on biblical scholarship. in my Genesis class; but mostly as back- of the Bracelet, the highest recognition for I need not have taken myself so seri- Lacking independent confirmation of events ground to many other interesting issues that scholarship and leadership accorded a ously for the welcome and the atmos- as told in the Bible, scholars by droves gave are bursting on us like field mushrooms on a female undergraduate. After her marriage in phere were completely relaxed.” up reconstructing what really happened in spring day. Now, we pay attention to a 1932 to Albert Werthan, the retired chairman Assuming the role of University ancient Israel, and this abandonment, in broader group of participants: gender spe- of Werthan Industries, she returned to cam- trustee during a period when college turn, compromised all assessments that cialists, feminists, psychologists and psychi- pus and earned the master of arts degree. campuses were protesting the Vietnam depended on historical reconstructions, such atrists of many flavors, historians of music, As a reporter for the Tennessean, Mrs. War and traditional perceptions of Mrs. Werthan in 1999 with alumna as the evolution of theology in ancient Israel. art, and religions, folklorists, philosophers, Werthan became aware of the problems and American universities were questioned, Esther Hecht Cohn, BA’60

32 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 33 WOODIE S. KNIGHT S. WOODIE

leanins CRENSHAW DAVID

Sixty-four graduates were welcomed into the Drever Awarded Founder’s Medal Vanderbilt University Divinity School alumni/ae For first honors in the Divinity School, As an undergraduate at Sonoma State Uni- community on Friday, May 12, 2000. Former Matthew Devin Drever, MTS’00, received the versity Drever studied philosophy, religion, Founder’s Medal, an award endowed in 1877 and history. “I developed an appreciation for Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt conferred the master of by Commodore Cornelius the logic and intellectual PEYTON HOGE PEYTON divinity degree upon 39 students and the master Vanderbilt as one of his rigor of philosophy,” he gifts to the University. explains, “and I increas- With diplomas in hand, Sarah Parsons, MDiv’00, and Otis Thornton, of theological studies degree on 25 graduates dur- A native of Simi Val- ingly became interested M’Div’00, are all smiles during the recessional from Benton Chapel. Par- ley, California, Drever is in applying philosophical ing commencement exercises on Alumni Lawn. sons is associate director of electronic publishing at The Upper Room in the 81st Founder’s principles to questions of Nashville, and Thornton works in the office of Vanderbilt University Families and friends convened in Benton Chapel Medalist in the Divinity faith.” His mentor, Philip Chancellor Gordon Gee. School’s history. The first Clayton, a professor of where Acting Dean H. Jackson Forstman, the medal was awarded in philosophy at Sonoma Liz and John Spragens congratulate their Charles G. Finney Professor of Theology and 1917 to Tzz Chen Chao of who was familiar with CRENSHAW DAVID mother, Carol Ann Tate, MDiv’00, of Franklin, Soochow, China. the scholarship of Sallie Tennessee. Tate was the recipient of the William Dean of the Divinity School, emeritus, presented Recognized by the fac- McFague and Peter A. Newcomb Prize for earning the grade of hon- ulty for his academic Hodgson, encouraged diplomas to the new alumni/ae. ors on her senior project and the W. Kendrick accomplishments in the Drever to seek admission Grobel Award for outstanding achievement in discipline of theology, to Vanderbilt University Biblical studies. Drever also was awarded Divinity School. the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize “I remain impressed during Commencement by the tremendous sense 2000. He currently is pur- Dean emeritus Jack Forstman of community among fac- CRENSHAW DAVID suing his doctorate in congratulates Founder’s Medalist ulty, staff, and students at systematic and philo- Matthew Drever during Commence- the Divinity School,” says sophical theology at the ment 2000. Drever. “The professors’ Graduate Theological genuine interest in the Union in Berkeley, a consortium of nine sem- students—combined with a sense of inaries and schools of theology in California. humor—and their willingness to continue Upon his acceptance, Drever received the classroom dialogues in their offices are full-tuition Presidential Scholarship, the high- attributes I hope to emulate when I enter the est award accorded a doctoral student at Academy and begin teaching.” Graduate Theological Union.

DAVID CRENSHAW DAVID Attending the graduation of Tamara Elisabeth Lewis, MDiv’00, were her parents, Raphael and Bettye Lewis, MDiv’88; and her sister, Kristin. A candidate for ordination as an elder in the United Methodist Church, Lewis is director of African American resources for the United Jacob Brack, son of alumnus Billy Joe Brack, Methodist Publishing House. MDiv’00, studies with serious intent his dad’s mortarboard and tassel following graduation at KNIGHT S. WOODIE the Divinity School. Brack serves as associate pastor at Forest Hills United Methodist Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. DAVID CRENSHAW Among the newest members in the Divinity Natasha White, MTS’00, of Dunedin, Florida, School’s alumni/ae community is Kara Marie has moved northwest to Washington where she Oliver, MDiv’00, shown with her daughter, Lisa Hammonds Frier- spent the summer hiking in the mountains, rid- Claire Marin, who recently turned 11 months Forrest E. Harris, president of American Baptist son, MDiv’00, who ing her bike, and frequenting the farmers’ mar- old. Oliver works part-time as the project coor- College in Nashville and director of the Kelly currently is awaiting kets. In September, she began a yearlong dinator for the National Youth Organization at Miller Smith Institute on Black Church Studies itinerant elder orders in residency as chaplain at the Veterans Adminis- the United Methodist General Board of Disci- at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, con- the African Methodist tration Hospital in Seattle. Shown with White pleship in Nashville. gratulates Angela Denise Davis, MDiv’00, at Episcopal Church, holds is her classmate, Janetta Cravens, MDiv3, of Commencement 2000. Davis, who attended the her granddaughter, Newcastle, Oklahoma, one of this year’s three Divinity School as a Dollar General Scholar, has Marcella, in the Divin- recipients of the Christian Board of Publication been appointed director of extension education at ity School quadrangle Award presented by the official publishing American Baptist College. after graduation. agency of the Disciples of Christ. DAVID CRENSHAW

34 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 35 leanins

F. Beth Stone, MA’52, has enrolled in Van- Darrell E. Berger, BA’70, MDiv’73, who salt, consumer boycotts against South Robert G. Bottoms, DMin’72, president of An Orator with a Moral Compass derbilt University Divinity School as a spe- served for 25 years as a Unitarian Universal- African apartheid, the mass media campaign DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, cial student in theology—fifty years after she ist parish minister, now works as a commu- that ousted Chilean dictator Augusto received the 2000 Chief Executive Leader- Gardner C. Taylor, Oberlin BD’40 , Van- HOUSE WHITE THE SECRETARY, PRESS THE OF OFFICE THE OF COMPLIMENTS ALSWANG, RALPH first registered as a graduate student at the nity educator and advocate of economic Pinochet, strikes that thwarted Germany’s ship Award from the Council of Advance- derbilt University Divinity School’s Distin- University where she was graduated with a justice and energy deregulation for New Jer- occupation of Denmark during World War II, ment and Support for Education (CASE). guished Alumnus for 2000, received the master’s degree in psychology. sey Citizen Action, the state’s largest public and the organization of union workers in Recognized as the leading executive in Presidential Medal of Freedom from interest organization. He and Kathleen Lyon Gdansk, Poland. Recognized as the Divinity higher education within the Great Lakes Dis- President Bill Clinton on August 9 during a Charles E. Taylor, Oberlin BD’61, retired were married on June 3, 2000, and reside in School’s first Distinguished Alumnus in trict that represents the states of Illinois, Indi- ceremony in the East Room of the White after 38 years of ministry in the Presbyterian Millburn, New Jersey. 1996, Lawson recently retired as senior pas- ana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio, House. The highest civilian honor Church and currently serves as synod pastor tor of the Holman United Methodist Church Bottoms has served as president of DePauw bestowed by the United States Govern- to 70 ministers throughout the Atlantic Richard Alan Bunch, MDiv’70, DD’71, is in Los Angeles where he served for 25 years. for the past 14 years. The nominating com- ment, the Medal of Freedom is awarded by provinces. He and his wife Ann, live on the author of a chapbook of poems entitled mitted cited Bottoms’ “vision and courage to the President to individuals who have Lahave Island off the south shore of Nova Sacred Space published by Dry Bones Press of Paul Lewis Redditt, MA’71, PhD’72, and challenge the status quo and his efforts to made meritorious contributions to the Scotia. San Francisco. His first drama, The Russian David Penchansky, PhD’88, are editors of increase the diversity of the campus where security or national interests of the United River Returns, also was published in Wings the Festschrift, Shall Not the Judge of All the minorities now represent 17 percent of all States, to world peace, or to cultural Theodore R. Witt II, MDiv’62, recently magazine. A part-time member of the history Earth Do What is Right? Studies on the Nature students.” Before he was recruited to endeavors. retired from the staff of the West Ohio Confer- department at Solano Community College in of God in Tribute to James L. Crenshaw, pub- DePauw, Bottoms served as assistant dean President Clinton paid tribute to Taylor ence of the United Methodist Church where California, Bunch was selected for inclusion lished by Eisenbrauns of Winona Lake, Indi- and assistant professor of church and min- by acknowledging him as “a man of the he served for 22 years as the associate council in Who’s Who in America. ana. The Robert L. Flowers Professor of Old istry at Vanderbilt University Divinity people and of God, a leader of singular director for outdoor and retreat ministries. Testament at Duke University Divinity School. courage, humility, and compassion, and Living now in Crossville, Tennessee, he is Edward Turner Wright, G’70 , who has served School, Crenshaw, PhD’64, taught Hebrew one of America’s greatest preachers who serving as project coordinator for Share Our 44 years in the Virginia Annual Conference, Bible at Vanderbilt University Divinity Richard Randolph Crocker, MDiv’73, has uplifted us through his eloquent ser- Worlds, a program of the United Methodist has been appointed pastor of Ettrick United School from the summer of 1969 until 1987. PhD’88, senior pastor at Central Presbyter- mons and provided a moral compass to Board of Discipleship that prepares interna- Methodist Church in Petersburg, Virginia. Among the 16 theologians who pay trib- ian Church in Montclair, New Jersey, was help guide the lives of people across our tional young adults to serve as counselors in ute to Crenshaw by contributing essays to elected in April to the Board of Trustees of nation and around the world.” United Methodist summer camps. Robert L. Early, BA’71, MDiv’76, has been the Festschrift are Lou H. Silberman, the Bloomfield College, an independent college Taylor received the Medal of Freedom appointed associate vice Hillel Professor of Jewish Literature and founded in 1868 and historically related to along with Holocaust survivor Simon ers’ rights advocate Monsignor George Arthur Lee Burrows, BD’65, MST’67, chancellor for major Thought, emeritus, who wrote “You Cannot the Presbyterian Church (USA). Wiesenthal, social reformer Cruz Reynoso, Higgins, economist John Kenneth Gal- received the Robert Straus Award for his out- gifts at Vanderbilt Uni- See My Face: Seeking to Understand Divine United States Senator Daniel Patrick braith, Children’s Defense Fund founder standing professional treatment in the field versity. He served as Justice;” Walter Harrelson, Distinguished Nancy Oliver Gray, BA’73, president of Con- Moynihan, United Nations Food and Agri- Marian Wright Edelman, former chairman of substance abuse within the Common- assistant dean for Professor of Hebrew Bible and Dean, emeri- verse College in Spartanburg, South Car- cultural Representative George McGovern, of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral William wealth of Kentucky. The award, presented to alumni and develop- tus, who composed “Why, O Lord, Do You olina, has been appointed to the Board of biomedical research and AIDS educator J. Crowe Jr., Supreme Allied Commander Burrows by the Cabinet for Human ment at the Divinity Harden Our Heart? A Plea for Help from a Trust of Princeton Theological Seminary in Mathilde Krim, founding member of the of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Resources of the 27th Kentucky School of School from 1983 to 1988 Hiding God;” and Douglas A. Knight, pro- New Jersey where she held previously the National Women’s Political Caucus Mil- General Wesley K. Clark, environmental Alcohol and Drug Studies, cited his creative before his promotion to fessor of Hebrew Bible and chair of the grad- position of vice president for seminary rela- dred McWilliams Jeffrey, civil rights legislator John Chafee, and public health application of compassion and spirituality in associate director of Uni- uate department of religion, who tions. In addition to being a graduate of Van- PEYTON HOGE activist and minister Jesse Jackson, work- educator Jim Burke. the treatment of addicts and their families. versity development. A contributed “Whose Agony? Whose Ecstasy? derbilt, Gray also served the University in For 32 years, he has served as a therapist minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), The Divine Politics of Deuteronomic Law.” the roles of young alumni trustee of the with the Pennyroyal Center in Hopkinsville, Early is also chair-elect of the board of direc- Alumnae/i Marti J. Steussy, PhD’92, associ- Board of Trust, associate director of develop- Joseph Fred Cloud Jr., BA’44, BD’47, Goldwin S. Pollard, Oberlin BD’48, and his Kentucky, and has held the pastorship at tors of the Martha O’Bryan Community Cen- ate professor of biblical interpretation at ment, director of corporate and foundation DMin’90, associate professor of social sci- wife, Rita, are living in a retirement commu- Cumberland Presbyterian Church in ter in Nashville. Christian Theological Seminary in Indi- relations, assistant dean of student affairs, ences at American Baptist College in nity in Rydal, Pennsylvania, north of Greenville for 35 years. anapolis, wrote “The Problematic God of and member of the alumni association board Nashville, received the Human Relations Philadelphia. James M. Lawson, D’71, a national leader in Samuel;” and Leo G. Perdue, MA’73, of directors. Lifetime Award in May from the city’s Met- Pamela Jean Owens, BA’69, D’73, has the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement and PhD’75, dean and professor of Hebrew Bible ropolitan Human Relations Commission. John Acker Vanderford, MA’49, EdS’56, of accepted a tenure-track position as an assis- personal friend and adviser of the late Rev- at Brite Divinity School of Texas Christian Don Alvin Pittman, MDiv’73, MA’76, has The citation stated that Cloud has served as Jacksonville, Alabama, is the author of the tant professor in the philosophy and religion erend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., University in Fort Worth, contributed “Reve- assumed the deanship of Phillips Theologi- “an advocate for civil and human rights for article “The Fruit of Goodness” published in department at the University of Nebraska in preached the Martin Luther King Day com- lation and the Problem of the Hidden God in cal Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A former over 33 years.” A board member of the Race the summer 2000 issue of The Deacon by Life- Omaha where she also will teach in the memorative sermon on January 16 at the Second Temple Wisdom Literature.” professor of the history of religions at Tainan Relations Institute at Fisk University, he was way Christian Resources of the Southern Native American Studies program. Her son, First United Methodist Church of German- Redditt, chairman of the religion depart- Theological College and Seminary in Tai- inducted into the National Association of Baptist Convention. Joe, is a junior in the Class of 2002 at Vander- town in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also ment at Georgetown College in Kentucky, wan, Pittman is an ordained Disciples of Human Rights Workers Hall of Fame in 1998. bilt University’s School of Engineering. was among the participants in the Public penned “The God Who Loves and Hates,” Christ minister and previously served the Cloud also chairs the Tennessee Fair Housing Frank Andrews Stone, Oberlin BD’52, Broadcasting Station documentary, A Force and Penchansky, associate professor of theol- congregation of Central Christian Church in Council and serves as faculty adviser for MST’53, professor emeritus of educational Ariel Medina Zambrano, MDiv’69, and his More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Con- ogy at the University of Saint Thomas in Columbia, Tennessee. As dean of Phillips Nashville graduate students pursuing the leadership at the University of Connecticut, wife Mary, have returned to Claremont, Cal- flict, that chronicles six successful, nonvio- Saint Paul, Minnesota, wrote “Job’s Wife; Theological Seminary, he also will have a fac- doctorate of ministry at Drew University in recently completed The United Church of Christ ifornia, after serving for six months as lent protest movements: lunch-counter The Satan’s Handmaid.” ulty appointment as professor of the history Madison, New Jersey. in Volusia County, Florida, 1875–2000, a histor- interim pastor in the congregational church sit-ins during 1960 in Nashville, India’s defi- of religions. ical examination of 10 UCC congregations. El Buen Pastor in Guadalajara, Mexico. ance of the British monopoly on the sale of

36 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 37 leanins

William Bailey Morgan Jr., MDiv’74, of Tennessee, encourages alumni readers to Frederick Edie, MDiv’86, has been Susan Emily Warner Nance, MDiv’90, and Gary Patrick White, MDiv’95, an ordained in Stevenson, Alabama, has been appointed DMin’76, superintendent of the Birming- visit the centers’ Web site at www.Pastoral- appointed assistant professor of Christian her husband, Benjamin Clement Nance III, of Unitarian Universalist minister of Christian formation at Trinity ham-East District of the North Alabama CounselingCtrs.org/. As a ministry of profes- education at Duke University Divinity Franklin, Tennessee, announce the birth of minister, has accepted United Methodist Church in Birmingham. Conference of the United Methodist Church, sional care dedicated to healing and growth School and was ordained an elder in the their daughter, Sarah Eleanor, on October 11, the position of associate During the summer she traveled to Israel delivered the 2000 baccalaureate address in human life and relationships, the Pastoral South Georgia Conference of the United 1999. chaplain at Vanderbilt and Egypt. during Birmingham-Southern University’s Counseling Centers of Tennessee provide Methodist Church. University. Before his 141st commencement exercises in May. clinical and educational services to individu- Sandra Hack Polaski, MDiv’90, a former appointment to the Uni- Angela Gay Kinkead, MDiv’97, execu- als, groups, and families. Nancy M. Victorin-Vangerud, MDiv’86, Harold Stirling Vanderbilt Scholar, is an versity, White served as tive director of the denominational United Edward A. Malloy, CSC, PhD’75, president PhD’95, a lecturer in systematic theology at assistant professor of New Testament at Bap- coordinator of the Inter- Methodist Youth Organization, was or- of the University of Notre Dame and for Robert Lee Hill, MDiv’80, pastor of Com- Murdoch University in Perth, Western Aus- tist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Vir- faith Volunteer Care- dained in June an elder in full connection in whom the chair in Catholic Studies at Van- munity Christian Church (Disciples of tralia, received the vice chancellor’s 1999 ginia. She and her husband, Donald, are the givers Project in Saint the West Virginia Annual Conference of the derbilt University Divinity School is named, Christ) in Kansas City, Missouri, received an Excellence in Teaching Award. She also parents of a daughter, Hannah Catherine, DAVID CRENSHAW Helens, Oregon. He pre- United Methodist Church. was the keynote speaker at the annual din- honorary doctorate of divinity from Christ- announces the publication of her book, The born on Mother’s Day, May 9, 1999. viously coordinated the Interfaith CARE ner for the Finger Lakes chapter of the Notre ian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Raging Hearth: Spirit in the Household of God, Team program at Nashville CARES. Melita Padilla, MDiv’97, was ordained an Dame Alumni Association at Belhurst Castle Hill was recognized for his work in racial by Chalice Press. Walter L. Taylor, MDiv’90, and the Reverend elder in the Tennessee Conference of the in Geneva, New York. reconciliation and for his successful leader- Agnes Sierat-Taylor announce the arrival of a Carole P. Knight, MDiv’95, serves as the first United Methodist Church on June 14. She is ship of a congregation once considered to be David R. Rodgers, MDiv’87, appointed son, Iain Alexander, born on May 30, 2000, in full-time pastor for Christiana Presbyterian presently serving as pastor of Pegram United James Thomas Dunaway, MA’77, former in serious institutional decline. He also was technical services librarian in February at Brasschaat, Belgium. Iain joins his older sis- Church in Christiana, Tennessee, where she Methodist Church. member of the faculty and administration of commended for his profound commitment Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, ter, Rebekah, who is two and one-half years and her congregation of 60 members recently Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massa- to the arts at Community Christian Church, Ohio. old. Taylor was appointed pastor of Forest celebrated the completion of a new building Laura Hocker Barbins, MA’98, and Paul chusetts, has been appointed dean of faculty which was designed by architect Frank Park Presbyterian Church in Statesville, designed for worship services, Christian Barbins, MDiv’98, a former Dollar General at the Kinkaid School in Houston, Texas, a Lloyd Wright. Wendi Lozada-Smith, MDiv’89, has been North Carolina, on August 28. education, and fellowship and outreach min- Scholar, announce the birth of their daughter, prekindergarten–12th grade nonsectarian promoted to assistant vice president of infor- istries. Representatives from 18 churches in Anna Rachel, on August 5, 2000. The family college preparatory school. John Greely Corry, DMin’81, has been mation services at National Bancshares Cor- Kenneth M. Young, MDiv’90, has been the presbytery attended the dedication cere- lives in Cleveland, Ohio. elected president of the United Methodist poration of Texas and received the “Mucho installed as pastor of Bethel Missionary Bap- mony in April. Kevin Turner Wilkinson, BS’77, MDiv’89 , Church’s judicial council, the denomina- Mas” Annual Award for outstanding service tist Church in Winter Park, Florida. He also Rachael Meredith Minkin, MTS’98, of All- serves as pastor at Grace Christian Church in tion’s supreme court, and also has been to the corporation. is seeking admission to the doctoral program Christopher Sanders, MDiv’95, a doctoral ston, Massachusetts, has been promoted to Hendersonville, Tennessee, and at Dry Fork named the UMC’s conference chancellor and in theology at Harvard University Divinity student in historical studies in the graduate human resource manager of Filene’s Depart- Presbyterian Church in Bethpage, Tennessee. legal advisor to the bishop for the Tennessee George Robert Graham, MDiv’90, former School. department of religion at Vanderbilt Univer- ment Store in Cambridge. He also has a chaplaincy appointment in the conference. The first African American to editor of Alive Now magazine and past board sity and former Dollar General Scholar, was Tennessee Army National Guard. hold either of these positions, Corry contin- president of the Center for Gay, Lesbian, Wilma Bailey, MA’92, PhD’95, has been promoted in September to senior design Echol Nix Jr., MDiv’98, was graduated in ues to serve as chaplain and director of col- Bisexual, and Transgendered Life in appointed associate professor of Hebrew manager for human resources development May from Boston University after earning a Anthony L. Dunnavant, MDiv’79, MA’81, lege counseling services at Meharry Medical Nashville, has returned to his native home of and Aramaic scripture at Christian Theologi- at Dollar General Corporation. He is respon- master’s degree in sacred theology. He con- PhD’84, dean and professor of church his- College where he is a professor of biomedical Cleveland, Ohio, where he is editorial direc- cal Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. A for- sible for creating the training programs for tinues to matriculate at BU where he is pur- tory at Lexington Theological Seminary, was ethics, as chaplain at Metropolitan Nashville tor for Pilgrim Press, the oldest press in the mer member of the executive committee and the corporation’s field and office employees. suing his doctorate in theology. married on August 6 to the Reverend Doctor General Hospital, and as pastor at Patterson United States. His partner, Mike Fleenor, has board of directors for the Mennonite Central Janet M. Fromm, rector of the Episcopal Memorial United Methodist Church. accepted a position as community outreach Committee in the United States, Bailey is Carleton Prescott Bowen, MTS’96, is a field Abe Wheeler, MTS’98, an independent film- Church of the Resurrection in Lexington, coordinator for the Cleveland Restoration completing two book manuscripts titled The account executive for PSINet, a global maker living in Allston, Massachusetts, has Kentucky. Kim Maphis Early, MDiv’81, former direc- Society. Contribution of the City to the Shaping of provider of corporate Internet and intranet completed filming the documentary Win- tor of admissions and student services at Israelite Religion and Human Dignity in Text access, security services, e-commerce solu- nebago for Scout Productions of Boston. Keith A. Wilson, MDiv’79, psychotherapist Vanderbilt University Divinity School, has Jonathan Lee Jeffords, MDiv’90, pastor of and Time. tions, and Web hosting services. He and his Wheeler describes the film as a “family mys- and director of the Wilson Center for Sport, accepted a position as acquisitions editor Bemis United Methodist Church, in Jackson, wife Holly, who works in the strategic mar- tery” in which he investigates the life of his Business and Life Performance in El Paso, with Geneva Press of Louisville, Kentucky. Tennessee, was graduated in May from Wes- David C. Hedgepeth, MDiv’93, director of keting division for Hughes Network Sys- grandfather. Texas, contributes a weekly column entitled ley Theological Seminary in Washington, Christian education at the First Presbyterian tems, live in Silver Springs, Maryland. “Performance Talk” to the El Paso Times. His Samuel J.T. Boone, MDiv’83, MEd’94 , was D.C., where he received the doctorate of Church in Logan, Utah, and his wife, Monica Anna Caroline Bradley, MDiv’99, is director newspaper column may be read online at inducted into the Fort Benning Officer Can- ministry upon defending his thesis, “Danc- Hardcastle, announce the birth of their first Muse W. Dube, MA’96, PhD’97, returned to of development for Sojourners Ministries in www.elpasotimes.com by clicking on “Border- didate School Hall of Fame, Class of 2000, ing to the Rhythm of Ministry: Sanctification child, Noah Charles, on March 13, 2000. campus in November for a book signing of Washington, D.C., a nonprofit organization land News” and again on “Sports.” during the spring. A colonel in the U.S. of the Clergy and the Annual Giving Confer- Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation of the Bible committed to integrating spiritual renewal Army, Boone serves as the 34th Area Support ence as a Means of Grace.” Andrew Peterson, MDiv’93, has been published this fall by Chalice Press. A senior and social justice. Keith E. Clark, MDiv’80, serves as Group chaplain in Seoul, South Korea. appointed volunteer coordinator for the Frist lecturer of New Testament at the University staff assistant for United Marriage Francisco Lozada Jr., MTS’90, MA’94, Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Ten- of Botswana, Dube also is a member of the Shane Thomas Cadden, MTS’99, has been Encounter, a marriage counseling support Roberto Escamilla, DMin’85, the E. Stanley PhD’96, chairs the religious studies depart- nessee. He previously directed the volunteer Circle for Concerned African Women The- appointed an associate director in the office service, by maintaining their Web site at Jones Professor of World Evangelism at the ment at the University of the Incarnate Word programs for Metropolitan Social Services’ ologians. of Residential and Judicial Affairs at Vander- www.ume1975.org. Methodist Theological School in Delaware, in San Antonio, Texas, where he also holds Senior Division and Nashville CARES. bilt University. Ohio, retired in June to Ada, Oklahoma, the Thomas A. French Chair in Religious Amelia Parsons Vaughn, MDiv’96, former James Raymond Coffman, DMin’80, execu- where he plans to continue conducting sem- Studies. pastor of the First United Methodist Church tive director of Pastoral Counseling Centers inars and retreats.

38 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 39 Lines for Healing f I hate my wounded hand and treat it leanin s badly, it will fester.

Ellen Roberds, MDiv’99, and Jarad Bing- If I cultivate ham, MDiv’00, celebrated their Holy Union Obituaries on September 16, 2000, and are residing in F. Fagan Thompson, BS’25, MA’26, BD’28, the calm detachment Memphis, Tennessee. of Wimberly, Texas, a hymnodist and clinical psychologist, at age 99 on June 16, 2000; sur- that the Gospels preach Melinda McGee Brown, MDiv’00, reports vivors include a son, Fagan Thompson Jr., from Houston, Texas, that she is “gainfully A’60, of Nashville. and clean it out employed” as a caseworker for the family criminal law division at the district attor- Samuel F. Freeman, D’34, of Washington, and bind it up, ney’s office in Harris County. North Carolina, on March 10, 2000. I will find the edges Steve Cook, MDiv’00, has been appointed John Wilbur Pursell, BS’37, BD’40, of Jeffer- Kitty Ann Norton, MDiv’99, administrative director of internal campaigns for alumni son City, Tennessee, on March 7, 2000. assistant for the Kelly Miller Smith Institute and development at Vanderbilt University. knitting back in Black Church Studies and for the Carpen- He will be responsible for organizing the Finis Hugo Austin, Oberlin MA’38, of ter Program in Religion, Gender, and Sexual- University’s annual faculty and staff cam- Toledo, Ohio, a Baptist minister, professor of together, new flesh ity, and Douglas Edward Jones, JD’74, a paign and the community giving campaign. religion and psychology, director of publica- partner in the legal firm of Schulman Leroy tion for the Sunday School Publishing Board growing, blood rerouted & Bennett, were married on June 24 at Rip- of the National Baptist Convention, and retired lieutenant colonel in the United States pavilla Plantation in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Brian Heuser, MTS’00, is assistant to the to its proper channels. Army, at age 92 on May 10, 2000. Participating in the wedding service were director of admissions at Vanderbilt Univer- reader Jennifer Anne Hackett, MDiv’00; sity Divinity School. and musicians Emily Askew, doctoral stu- Woodrow W. Witmer, Oberlin BD’44, of Unholy Sonnet IX dent in theology, and Marianne Blicken- Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a retired minister, on Rebecca Jane Jorgensen, MDiv’00, and Tim- April 9, 1999. I will find staff, doctoral student in New Testament. othy Reinhold Eberhart, MDiv’00, were Guests included Claudia Carls, MDiv2; Viki married July 1 in Ames, Iowa. Members of William H. Bailey, Oberlin BD’45, of North my hand a hand Matson, director of field education for the the wedding party included ushers Liam Chili, New York, on April 13, 2000. Divinity School; Aline Patte, registrar; and Gray, MTS’99; Jarad Bingham, MDiv’00; again. Daniel Patte, professor of religious studies, Andrew Thompson, MDiv3; reader Brant Theodore R. Witt Sr., BD’45, of Knoxville, lmighty God, to you, all hearts are open, New Testament, and early Christianity. Pitre, MTS’99; and guest registrar Erika Tennessee, a pastor for 42 years in the Hol- All throats, all voice boxes, all inner ears, Callaway, MDiv2. Divinity School alumni ston conference of the United Methodist Mark Justad, PhD’99, senior lecturer in reli- attending the nuptials were Shelia Burn- Church and the first Protestant chaplain at All pupils, all tear ducts, all cavities —Kate Daniels gion and society for ham, MDiv’00 and Steve Cook, MDiv’00. Saint Mary’s Hospital in Knoxville, at age 91 from Four Testimonies 1998 Vanderbilt University Jorgensen and Eberhart are residing in on June 8, 2000; survivors include a son, Inside the skull inside the trick of flesh. Divinity School, has Theodore R. Witt II, MDiv’62. reprinted with permission from Mitchell, South Dakota, where she is associ- To you the face is like a picture window, Louisiana State University Press been appointed assistant ate pastor of the First United Methodist to Chancellor Gordon Church and he serves as campus minister at Clarence L. Coleman Jr., BD’55, of Rich- The body is a door of molded glass, Gee. In this role, he will Dakota Wesleyan University. mond, Virginia, on December 21, 1999. serve as a liaison All lengths of gut are pasture, all membrane Wilbur B. Franklin, Oberlin BD’60, of between the Chancel- Peels back and off like ripe persimmon skin. lor’s Office and mem- Youngstown, Ohio, on April 21, 2000; sur- bers of the University vivors include his wife, Mary Lou Eaton And every wrinkle folded in the brain faculty. During Septem- Wilbur, OB’60. ber, Justad coordinated a seminar at the Uni- Runs smoothly through your fingers and snaps back versity on the Critical Study of Men and Donald Evert Daniels, MA’62, of McClel- landtown, Pennsylvania, a professor of Into its convolution. Even the blood Masculinities sponsored by the Robert Penn ethics and philosophy assigned to the Warren Center for the Humanities. Is naked as a bolt of oilcloth. Gujranwala Theological Seminary in Muree, Pakistan, at age 64 on May 21, 2000. Leslie Joan Linder, MDiv’99, has estab- You touch the working parts and track the thought, lished a woman-identified spiritual counsel- Elliott Kailer Massey, DMin’74, of Rei- A comet on your fingertip, and squint. ing practice registered with the state of dsville, North Carolina, on June 20, 1999. Maine. She currently is pursuing her doctor- Diane Jones, scribe, of ate in humanities and woman spirituality at Timothy Ross Phillips, PhD’86, of Wheaton, the California Institute of Integral Studies in —Mark Jarman Illinois, at age 50 on September 27, 2000. A from Questions for Ecclesiastes Sewanee, Tennessee, San Francisco. professor of historical and systematic theol- 1997 ogy at Wheaton College, Phillips also had reprinted with permission from Story Line Press designed the initial letters taught in seminaries in Kenya and Nigeria. for the poems.

40 THE SPIRE Winter 2001 41 Vanderbilt University Nonprofit Org. VU Station B 357703 U.S. Postage 2301 Vanderbilt Place PAID Nashville, TN 37235-7703 Nashville, TN Permit No. 1460

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