DIDUKE UNIVERSITY SPRINGV 2012 INITY A Christian Vision of Reconciliation: ALSO INSIDE: THE MESTIZO SYMPHONY OF HEAVEN Embracing God’s Gifts DIRT, BODIES, AND FOOD Receiving financial aid has been a tremendous blessing in responding to and continuing to discern God’s call on my life. Reading and studying the Scriptures, engaging in theological dialogue, and forming life- giving relationships have all been enabled by the financial support that I receive. ~ Elizabeth Eichling D’12 Students want to come to Duke Divinity School for strong academics, formation for ministry, and opportunities to serve in real-life settings. Divinity Annual Fund makes it possible for them to be here. Every gift to the Divinity Annual Fund goes directly to student financial aid. This means students like Elizabeth Eichling D’12 can attend Duke Divinity School. Elizabeth has excelled as a student academically, and her heart for service and ministry has been shaped by field education and a summer internship with the Center for Reconciliation. She attended the African Great Lakes Institute in 2011, and she interned at a residential school for young mothers while learning about peace and reconciliation work in northern Uganda. During Summer Institute 2011, Elizabeth not only helped with preparations and logistics, she also assisted in leading worship. Duke Divinity School plays an important role in preparing the next generation of Christian leaders, and we invite you to help us. Your gift to Divinity Annual Fund supports committed students who will shape the future of the church and world. For more information about being part of God’s work through Divinity Annual Fund, call 919-660-3456. To give online, see www.divinity.duke.edu/about/how-give FEATURES DIVINITY 4 22 SPRING 2012 A CHRISTIAN VISION OF RECONCILIATION: VOLUME 11, NUMBER 2 RECONCILIATION A JOURNEY OF PERSONAL The components of Christ-based TRANSFORMATION reconciliation go beyond strate- A young Divinity graduate PUBLISHER gies of peacemaking or conflict recounts her own experience Richard B. Hays resolution Dean and George Washington of resisting, embracing, Ivey Professor of New Testament By Chris Rice and Emmanuel Katongole and questioning the work of reconciliation EDITOR Heather Moffitt 10 By Tolu Sosanya Associate Director of Communications THE MESTIZO SYMPHONY Produced by the Office of Communications, OF HEAVEN 24 Duke Divinity School Audrey Ward, Executive Director Our Christian destination is a A “ChilD OF Exile” heavenly symphony of praise PURSUES RECONCILIATION Proofreading by Derek Keefe from every tongue, tribe, and An interview with Abi Riak Design by Regina Barnhill-Bordo nation www.bdesign-studio.com By Edgardo Colón-Emeric Copyright © 2012 Duke Divinity School All rights reserved. DEPARTMENTS 14 DIVINITY magazine publishes a Fall and A FUTURE OF HOPE Spring issue each year. The magazine 3 The Dean’s Perspective represents the engagement of Duke Divinity The powerful words of Jeremiah School with important topics and invites 29 challenge and encourage all 26 Book Review friends, supporters, alumni, and others in who grapple with the reality of our community to participate in the story Events and News: of what is happening here. loving their enemies 28 Reconciliation at By Ellen Davis Duke Divinity School We’d like to hear from you! For comments or feedback on DIVINITY magazine, please write: New Books from 18 D30 uke Divinity Faculty Editor, DIVINITY magazine DIRT, BODIES, AND FOOD: Duke Divinity School OUR RECONCILIATION 32 Faculty & Staff Notes Box 90970 WITH CREATION Durham, NC 27708-0970 Every meal can be an exercise 37 Class Notes Or email: [email protected] in practicing reconciliation with Please include a daytime phone number and God’s good, beloved creation 41 Gifts an email address. Letters to the editor may By Norman Wirzba be edited for clarity or length. 42 2011 Financial Report 44 Faculty Reflections ON THE COVER Psalm 85 © 2003 by John August Swanson 45 Meditation Serigraph 24” x 28 3/4” The text in the image says, “Justice and Peace shall kiss, Truth shall spring out of the earth. Kindness and Truth shall meet, Justice shall look down from the heavens.” For more information, see www.JohnAugustSwanson.com WWW.DIVINITY.DUKE.EDU/MAGAZINE SPRING 2012 | 1 CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE CHRIS RICE EMMANUEL KATONGOLE EDGARDO COLON-’ EMERIC ELLEN DAVIS is the director of the Center for is associate professor of theol- is assistant professor of Christian is Amos Ragan Kearns Professor Reconciliation at Duke Divinity ogy and world Christianity at Duke theology and served as founding of Bible and Practical Theology School. He grew up in South Korea, Divinity School. He was born in director of the Hispanic House of at Duke Divinity School. Her the child of Presbyterian missionar- Uganda and ordained as a Roman Studies at Duke Divinity School. research interests focus on how ies, and he lived and worked for 17 Catholic priest by the Kampala He is an ordained elder in the biblical interpretation bears on years in an inner-city neighborhood Archdiocese. He served as North Carolina Annual Conference the life of faith communities and of Jackson, Miss., with Voice of co-director of the Center for of the United Methodist Church. their response to urgent public Calvary, an interracial church and Reconciliation, and his research His research aims to bring issues. She has been involved in community development ministry. interests include theology and Wesleyan and Thomistic theology interreligious dialogue and is now He graduated with an M.Div. from violence, the role of stories in the into conversation with each other cooperating with the Episcopal Duke Divinity School in 2004 and formation of political identity, the and with questions emerging from Church of South Sudan to develop is currently pursuing the D.Min. dynamics of social memory, and the the Hispanic context. He also directs theological education, community degree. He is interested in ways nature of the Christian imagination. a theological education initiative in health, and sustainable agriculture. for the academy to serve the world Central America and is involved in of Christian activism, and he is an Methodist ecumenical relations. ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). NORMAN WIRZBA TOLU SOSANYA KENNETH CARDER WILLIAM TURNER JR. is research professor of theology, is the director of education for is the Ruth W. and A. Morris is professor of the practice of ecology, and rural life at Duke the College & Career Program at Williams Professor Emeritus of homiletics at Duke Divinity School. Divinity School. His research New Song ministry in Baltimore, the Practice of Christian Ministry. His writing and teaching focuses and teaching focuses on the Md. She graduated with her M.Div. He has served as a bishop in on pneumatology and the tradition intersection of theology, philosophy, degree in 2010 from Duke Divinity the United Methodist Church in of spirituality and preaching within ecology, and agrarian and School. She is committed to seeing Mississippi and Nashville, and the black church. He is ordained in environmental studies. He urban youth embrace their God- he currently serves as a mem- the United Holy Church and pastor especially seeks to understand given talents, gifts, and potential. ber of The United Methodist of Mount Level Missionary Baptist and promote practices that will University Senate and chairman Church in Durham, N.C. equip both rural and urban church of the Senate’s Commission on communities to be faithful, respon- Theological Education. His interests sible members of creation. include the theology and practice of prison ministry. 2 | DIVINITY THE DEAn’S PERSPECTIVE Reconciliation: The Heart of the Gospel BY RICHARD B. HAYS RECONCILIATION IS the heart of the gospel message: losing the art of civil discourse, as opposing factions with- “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself ... draw to their corners and hurl angry slogans at one another and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” over the airwaves and the Internet. The fracturing of our (2 Corinthians 5:19). And because reconciliation is at the communities exposes many fault lines—divisions of ideol- heart of the gospel, it is also at the heart of the Divinity ogy, gender, race, and nationality. And of course this same School’s mission. tendency infects not only our political culture but also the Sometimes people think of this “message of reconcilia- culture of the church. tion” exclusively as the offer of a way for human beings to In this poisoned, distrustful atmosphere, it is crucial for get right with God. It is that, to be sure, but the range of its the church to recover and exemplify the politics of reconcili- meaning is broader. ation: not just tolerance or compromise, In ordinary Greek usage of Paul’s In this poisoned, distrustful but the deep reconciliation that comes time, reconciliation was not a “reli- from discovering our common identity as gious” term. It did not refer to appeas- atmosphere, it is crucial God’s people who participate in new ing God by offering sacrifices, nor did for the church to recover creation as sharers in the divine mercy. it have anything to do with cleansing In this issue of DIVINITY magazine, guilt or receiving divine pardon for and exemplify the politics you will find a sample of testimonies sins. Rather, it was a word drawn from of reconciliation. and reflections about the ways in which the sphere of politics; it referred to dis- we are seeking to respond to God’s pute resolution. In the ancient Hellenistic world, one could message of reconciliation and to become its ambassadors. speak of the diplomatic reconciliation of warring nations or, One instrument of that ministry at Duke is the Center for in the sphere of personal relationships, the reconciliation of Reconciliation, whose activities over the past few years an estranged husband and wife (as in 1 Corinthians 7:11).