CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Spring 2008 EWS a publication for students, faculty, alumni/æ and Nfriends of Chicago Theological Seminary Celebrating the Envisioning the ALSO INSIDE The work and witness of Alumni/æ speak on life in 2008 Ministerial Institute: The history and Thistlethwaite and Edgerton ministry and CTS’ past and future Theology in the Public Square future of CTS facilities The Victor Lawson Tower has been under repairs since it sustained heavy damage during a severe storm in 2006. Welcome to the Expanded Tower News! or many years, this publication has been a newsletter circulated to keep alumni/æ and friends of Chicago Theological Seminary updated on the life of our beloved school. Now we are thrilled to present this expanded form, our first true alumni/æ magazine! FInside you will find the CTS news you have always gotten, as well as articles, essays, alumni/æ notes, donor recognition, and profiles of members of our community. 2008 will be an incredible year for Chicago Theological Seminary. We will welcome our 12th president.We will celebrate new academic resources in the Center for Christian Leadership, the Center for the Advanced Study of Spirituality and Wellness, and the Center for the Study of Black Faith and Life. And we will make important decisions about how to create the physical space in which we train transformative leaders in the 21st Century. New life and fresh opportunities so often open up to us as we are saying goodbye to what we have known and loved. President Susan Thistlethwaite, Dean Dow Edgerton and Chairman of the Board Howard Morgan have been cherished leaders in our community for many years. We send them forth with blessings, but we are sad to see them go. Likewise we are overjoyed with the Seminary’s growth (our programming is expanding and our enrollment is up), and we are excited to contemplate how the Seminary’s physical home will change to meet our community’s needs in the coming years. Will we stay and transform the building at 5757 S. University Avenue into a facility equal to the demands we must place on it? Or will we move into a new building tailor-made to our programming, population, and educational philosophy? The decision-making process is exciting but we know that with either path our home will be changed forever. With these questions in mind, the Tower News team knew from the start that the theme of our first issue of the CTS magazine would beCelebrating the Past, Envisioning the Future. We hope you’ll enjoy reading the perspectives of our contributors on why CTS has been such a special and important school throughout its history. And as we reflect on our past together, let us enter boldly a space of sacred imagination as we wonder what God has in store for us in the days to come. Happy Reading! God bless you! Sincerely, Minister for Seminary Relations Rob Leveridge received his Master of Divinity from CTS in 2007 and is the Seminary’s Minister for Seminary Relations. He builds friendships between CTS and congregations, contributes to the planning of major Seminary events, Roband oversees Leveridge the production of the Tower News. 2 | Tower News >> Chicago Theological Seminary Table of Contents Dow Edgerton Steps Down as Dean ......................................................... 4 CTS at YearlyKos ..................................................................................... 5 Student Choir Reborn .............................................................................. 5 CTS Celebrates Thistlethwaite Presidency ............................................... 6 Finding God in the Wilderness ................................................................. 7 CTS People: Don Clark ............................................................................ 7 CTS People: The Rev. Michael Denton ..................................................... 8 Class Reunions at Ministerial Institute ..................................................... 8 Essay: The Ministry Journey at 26 ............................................................ 9 Essay: Ministry as a Third Career ........................................................... 10 Essay: Into the Sixth Decade of Ministry ................................................ 11 CTS Vision & Mission............................................................................ 12 CTS Seeks 12th President ...................................................................... 12 CTS Student Senate, Newspaper Celebrate First Year ............................ 13 CTS Student Government Seeks to Build Unity .................................... 13 Page 6 CTS People: Waltrina Middleton ........................................................... 13 CTS Student Donna Goodnow Aids in River Rescue ............................. 14 Ancient Art of Immigration .................................................................... 15 Center for Christian Leadership ............................................................. 16 2007 CTS Faculty Publication ............................................................... 18 Ministerial Institute: Theology in the Public Square ............................... 19 Upcoming CTS Events/Purchase CTS Items/ Publish Yourself in the Tower News ..................................................... 21 CTS People: Professor Seung Ai Yang .................................................... 21 Growth and Change ................................................................................ 22 What’s in a Cornerstone ......................................................................... 24 Thorndike Hilton Chapel ....................................................................... 25 Resolution in Honor of Lawson, Fisk, and Davis .................................... 26 Page 11 The Seminary Co-Op Bookstore/The McGiffert House ........................ 27 The Cloisters .......................................................................................... 29 Through the Windows of the Past .......................................................... 30 The Victor Lawson Tower ....................................................................... 31 Donors.................................................................................................... 32 Giving Profile: Florence Humphreys....................................................... 36 Alum Notes ............................................................................................ 37 In Memoriam .......................................................................................... 41 The Unimaginable .................................................................................. 41 Essay: Me and Jesus Both Got Arrested in Lent ...................................... 42 Rev. Kenneth Smith ................................................................................ 43 Page 13 President Contributing Writers The Rev. Susan B. Thistlethwaite, Ph.D. LeAnne Clausen Chris Marlin-Warfield Vice President of Development Waltrina Middleton The Rev. Ed Pratt, D. Min. Tasha Schroeder Tower News Editor Graphic Design Rob Leveridge LaShaunn Tappler All Printing & Graphics, Inc. Tower News is published semi-annually by the Office of Development. Chicago Theological Seminary 5757 S. University Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60637 Phone: 773.752.5757 Fax: 773.752.0905 Page 22 Web Address: www.ctschicago.edu Email: [email protected] © Copyright 2008 Chicago Theological Seminary Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission. www.ctschicago.edu | 3 by Waltrina N. Middleton and humility makes Edgerton endearing and an invaluable asset at CTS. “There is an important connection between being a teacher and dean. What is the same is his tremendous pastoral presence and spirit of care,” she says. What’s more, his colleagues say, he helps others take a deeper look at themselves and recognize their own gifts. Three years ago, The Reverend Karen Mosby-Avery joined CTS as the Director of the Center for Community Transfor- mation (CCT). She says, “Shortly after I got here, Dow made it a practice of greet- ing me with ‘Good morning, pastor’ or ‘How are you pastor?’.” Mosby-Avery had just completed 18-years as a local pastor. In her mind, she was now moving into a new space—a new position. She says, by Waltrina N. Middleton “It was not clear to me when I came here what I was supposed to do with that set of gifts and that title. I had placed that in a box…” Edgerton taught her that a minister cannot take any one set of gifts and put it in a box because that is a part of who God called her to be. Dean Edgerton Edgerton’s call to lead incorporates the office, the classroom and the pulpit. His gift is his ability to intertwine those Returns to Full-Time Teaching talents as a pastoral leader, academic ot many people can take egrine falcons on top of the CTS tower. administrator and a professor. He once a duck or a peregrine Before long, Edgerton showed up in her wrote, “Preaching, teaching and caring falcon and transform it office with a bird watching telescope and for your people will always be at the into a teaching moment. a tripod. Whenever a falcon was spotted, heart of pastoral ministry…but it calls NDow Edgerton, an avid bird watcher and Edgerton could also be found escorting upon every gift a woman or man has Chicago Theological Seminary’s (CTS) people into her office to check out the been given: gifts of faith, understanding, Academic Dean for the past 8-years, can. view from her window. character, imagination,