182462 BU 182462 Cover~P.pdf 1 5_17_2018 Nonprofit Inside: US Postage PAID Equality for women pastors Boston MA Cornell William Brooks on training 745 Commonwealth Avenue Permit No. 1839 seminarians to fight injustice Boston, Massachusetts 02215 2018 At STH, I was surrounded by professors and supervisors who were passionate about preparing me for the journey that followed, and colleagues who were exploring how God was involved in their lives and in the world. The impact of my theological education on my personal and professional SINGING development has been long-standing, for which I am very grateful. THE Frank J. Richardson, Jr. (’77,’82) Richardson has included a gift to STH in his estate plans. BLUESON Education is a gift. Pass it on. We can find faith for the future even in the depths of despair MAKE YOUR IMPACT THROUGH A PLANNED GIFT Contact us today at [email protected] or 800-645-2347 focus is made possible by donations Dotty Raynor from BU STH alumni and friends 182462 BU 182462 Cover~P.pdf 2 5_17_2018 182462 BU 182462 Text~P.pdf 3 5_17_2018 TABLEof Boston University CONTENTS School of Theology 2018 DEAN’S MESSAGE 2 JOURNAL: LEADERSHIP IN A TIME OF TURMOIL Dean MARY ELIZABETH MOORE Director of Development FEATURES Singing the Blues on a Note of Hope 20 Martin Luther, Rebel with a Cause 36 RAY JOYCE (Questrom’91) Holding on when we’re harassed by hell A profile of the reformer who upended the Alumni Relations Officer By Julian Armand Cook (’16) Church in his quest to heal it Tiny Homes for Big Dreams 10 JACLYN K. JONES (’06) By Christopher Boyd Brown, associate Faith Fowler makes homeownership a reality First Responders to Injustice 24 professor of Church history Marketing & Communications for people living in poverty in Detroit Manager and Journal Reviewer Today’s civil rights crises call seminarians KIMBERLY MACDONALD to bold public leadership “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” 40 (CFA’04) Healing Houston 14 A Q&A with former NAACP president Love means recognizing others’ distress as Alexander E. M. Johnson helps Texas’ Editor Cornell William Brooks (’87, Hon.’15) our own JULIE BUTTERS largest city recover from Hurricane Harvey By Nikki Young (’18) Contributing Writers Christianity Can Be Good for 28 RICH BARLOW Road to Equity 16 the Environment Women Sharing Power 44 LARA EHRLICH (UNI’03) Investor Pamela Jolly blends biblical and Local religious leaders have the power to Female pastors are challenging male images HALEY JONES (’15) financial wisdom to help clients of color spark reform of leadership with a focus on collaboration ANDREW THURSTON close the race gap By Rebecca Copeland, assistant professor By Choi Hee An, clinical associate professor MEGAN WOOLHOUSE of theology of practical theology Designer Parity in the Pulpit 18 Leigh Goodrich leads the UMC’s efforts to SHOLA FRIEDENSOHN Response, Presence, and Joy 32 end discrimination against women Produced by Boston University Three keys to leading effectively in Marketing & Communications tumultuous times focus is funded by donations from By Alicia Vélez Stewart (’18) alumni and friends to the Boston He taught that caring for the soul University School of Theology ALSO IN THIS ISSUE ©2017 Derek Kouyoumjian Annual Fund. Learn more at means caring for the community, too. bu.edu/sth/giving. Opinions expressed in focus do We’re carrying on his legacy. not necessarily reflect the views STH News: Confronting white 5 of Boston University. MISSION ACCOMPLISHEDprivilege, remembering MLK, and more Reflection: Leading the Messy, 48 STAY CONNECTED TO THE athe Darr fell in love with the Hebrew Bible at age seven, “Harrell excelled at evoking scripture’s meaning and its Professor Dale P. SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY Holy Work of Reconciliation when she read tales like Noah and the flood and the boundless relevance for faithful, prophetic living,” Darr said at Keep up with STH, share inspired many Israelites’ flight from Egypt in a storybook. In September the service. Mission Accomplished 49 Andrews your latest news, and access K as a teacher and scholar, minister, free religious articles at 2017, in a service at Marsh Chapel, she became STH’s first It’s a legacy that Darr, a 1989 recipient of BU’s Metcalf and social justice activist. Help us go.bu.edu/focus/alums. Harrell F. Beck Chair of Hebrew Scripture. Award for Excellence in Teaching, continues in her classroom. raise $100,000 to endow the Dale The occasion was three decades in the making—not just One way she challenges students to discover what scripture COVER IMAGE: for Darr, who has taught Hebrew Bible at STH since the 1980s, says to today’s world is by teaching contrasting biblical pas- P. Andrews Memorial Scholarship iStock, by Juanmonino. Posterized but for the School of Theology. STH created the Harrell F. Beck sages together, she said in an interview with The Prophet, in Practical Theology and Race, to interpretation by Shola Friedensohn (’45, GRS’54) Professorship of Hebrew Scripture in 1987, after STH’s student journal. “We need to put texts in dialogue to support students who will continue the death of the longtime, beloved professor. After 30 years of realize the Bible doesn’t speak with one voice about much of his work. fundraising, the professorship was permanently established as anything, and to do the hard work of figuring out which voices Please recycle a chair thanks to more than $1 million in gifts and pledges from demand our greatest attention.” nearly 700 alums and friends. —Julie Butters To contribute, email Kalman Zabarsky In keeping with Boston University’s commitment to sustainability, this [email protected], call 617-353-2349, publication is printed on FSC-certified paper. or visit bu.edu/sth/giving. Jackie Ricciardi Watch the Beck Chair installation at bu.edu/buniverse (search “Kathe Darr”). 0518 182462 BU 182462 Text~P.pdf 4 5_17_2018 182462 BU 182462 Text~P.pdf 5 5_17_2018 DEAN’S MESSAGE SINGING THE BLUES AND described their quiet, somber rituals, 1. Cook, “Singing the Blues on a housing, while Alexander Johnson (’20) gious work, and our Wesleyan Student LEANING INTO HOPE combined with proclamation and cel- Note of Hope,” focus, 2018, 22. helps organize his church’s relief work Association and Anglican/Episcopal and BY MARY ELIZABETH MOORE ebration of resurrection. Women from 2. Ibid., 23. in post-hurricane Houston. Pamela Jolly United Church of Christ Communities largely Tongan congregations said that of Learning share in this work, as does 3. These stories do not suggest cul- (’09) guides African American com- The New Orleans tradition of the jazz wailing in funeral services was their tural generalizations; they are nar- munities toward long-term financial our interreligious partnership with funeral is one of singing blues and lean- way to express love and sadness for the ratives told by particular women in well-being, and Leigh Goodrich (’03) Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. ing into hope. It is practiced largely in deceased. The women spoke excitedly, a moment of time. works in a denominational agency to The bifurcation of despair and hope African American communities, espe- each mystified by the other.³ They dis- 4. Mary Elizabeth Moore and teach and support equity for women is one of the tragedies of this moment cially after a musician has died. As a jazz covered that despite their differences, Francisca Ireland-Verwoerd, clergy. Cornell William Brooks (’87, in history. People have good reasons band processes with family and friends however, they were able to express both “Pivoting toward Hope: Interplay Hon.’15) spearheads justice movements for despair; yet, despair can lead people Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore of Imagination, Fear, and Life to the cemetery, the grief and hope in the Experience,” Journal of Youth and and prepares future to search deeply for music is soulful, slow, face of death. Theology (in press). clergy and lawyers to glimmers of hope. and somber. After the Our country—and be first responders in Hope is not expecta- casket is set in its place our world—cries out outbreaks of injustice. tion that everything (or at some similar Our country—and our for hope amid dev- These leaders represent Hope is not expectation will work out for the moment), the music astating plagues of a vast range of con- best; it is a decision world—cries out for hope that everything will work begins to change from racism, homophobia, cerns, but they share to seek sparks of a lament of death to amid devastating plagues classism, religious a common spirit—a out for the best; it is a hope when the world a brighter motif until, of racism, homophobia, discrimination, vio- desire to convert their decision to seek sparks is cold and dim. Most finally, it becomes a lence, and ecological concerns, and their theologies of hope grand jazz celebration. classism, religious destruction. In such spiritual, physical, and of hope when the world were written in such A jazz funeral enacts discrimination, violence, a context, despair is intellectual resources, is cold and dim. times. They did not the verity of what a natural response, into meaningful wipe away tragedy and ecological destruction. Julian Armand Cook and words of hope responses. They choose and suffering; they (’16) writes in this In such a context, sound shallow and to lean into hope. leaned into God’s issue of focus: “[The untrustworthy. Yet, All members of promises of what can despair is a natural blues] is what you this issue of focus the STH community be. In the 12 years get when life forces response, and words of highlights people carry a similar passion for change. They I have been interviewing youth for you to hold to hope who feel despair as cry out their concerns, work in and the Wisdom of Youth Project, I have hope sound shallow and while your heart is a result of what they with their faith communities, and join consistently found that those who have breaking.”¹ The blues untrustworthy.