Focus - Winter 2011 by Boston University School of Theology

FOCUS Boston University School of Theology

Winter 2011

a Pulpit Alums who make their ministries in a prison, TV studio, and ballpark

Focus Boston University School of Theology Winter 2011 Dean MARY ELIZABETH MOORE Senior Staff Coordinator, Alumni/ae Ofﬁce JACLYN JONES (’06) Editor ANDREW THURSTON Contributing Writers PATRICK KENNEDY (COM’04) ANNIE LAURIE SÁNCHEZ CORINNE STEINBRENNER (COM’06) Designer SHOLA FRIEDENSOHN Produced by Boston University Creative Services Opinions expressed in Focus do not necessarily reﬂect the views of Boston University.

Remember when boston was home? Help new seminary students make Boston their home

Earl and Millie Beane.

Please recycle In keeping with Boston University’s commitment to sustainability, this publication is printed on FSC-certiﬁed paper made with 10 percent postconsumer waste. Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

The Beanes have pledged $100,000 toward this outstanding scholarship. To follow their lead and make a gift to the Earl and Millie Beane Housing fund, or to ﬁnd out about the many other ways you can support the School of Theology, contact Jaclyn Jones at 617-353-2349 or sthalum@bu.edu.

Photo courtesy of Earl Beane

With support from alums and friends, the Earl and Millie Beane Housing fund helps reduce costs for seminary students in need. The fund offers annual scholarships and stipends to ensure that Boston’s steep housing prices don’t stop anyone from ﬁnding their calling.

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where you learned you could make a difference in this world Continue the tradition by supporting the future of the School of Theology. To make a gift or to learn about creative ways to support the School, please contact Jaclyn Jones of the STH Alumni/ae OfďŹ ce, at 617-353-2349 or sthalum@bu.edu.

Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

The future is up to you.

Table of Contents

DEAN’S MESSAGE

ABOUT ALUMNI/AE WITHOUT A PULPIT: Ministering in a Mexican Prison Pastoral care in a tough jailhouse

Telling Stories of Loss and Hope Bringing credibility to local TV news

The Clerical (Blue) Collar A connection with working-class communities

STUDENT EXPERIENCE Exploring the Church in Cuba By Nell Becker Sweeden (’13)

JOURNAL More than Fire and Brimstone By Anjulet Tucker, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Religion

Tryptich By Katheryn Pﬁsterer Darr, Professor of Hebrew Bible

Heritage of Hymns By Carl P. Daw Jr., Curator of Hymnological Collections and Adjunct Professor of Hymnology

Reconciliation as Mission By Dana Robert, Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity & History of Mission and Co-Director of the Center for Global Christianity & Mission

Leadership in Changing Times By Susan W. Hassinger, Bishop in Residence and Adjunct Professor

STH News

Class Notes

In Memoriam

Donor Thank-You

FRONT COVER Photo by Vernon Doucette

Dean’s message BY MARY ELIZABETH MOORE In the ﬁlm Get Low, the central character, Felix, is surrounded by rumors about his past. For decades, he has lived deep in the woods, haunted by true stories that only he knows. Living in isolation, he shocks people when he rides into town to arrange his funeral, which he wants to take place before he dies. Questions of goodness, evil, and entangled lives abound in the ﬁlm. Near the end, the Reverend Charlie Jackson offers a profound theological insight to a public gathering: “We like to imagine that good and bad, right and wrong, are miles apart, but the truth is very often they’re all tangled up with each other.” The articles in this issue of Focus speak to such a world, where good and bad, right and wrong, are entangled. The articles uncover at least four manifestations of power in this world: the power of ministry, love, attunement, and transformation miracles. Each is worth pondering.

Photo by Cydney Scott

POWER OF MINISTRY IN A COMPLICATED WORLD

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Ministry is especially powerful when people plunge into realities where good and bad are tangled. Consider Spencer Thompson (’69), who ﬁnds his congregation of prisoners in Mexico “so goodnatured and kind that he’s shocked at how many of them are serving time for murder.” Thompson’s ability to appre-

ciate the depths and complexity of his congregation empowers his ministry. Consider also Anjulet Tucker’s ministry, which is to study, critique, and reclaim her Pentecostal heritage. As a young person, she witnessed so many lives transformed in her Pentecostal church that she “learned never to underestimate even the smallest of religious organizations, especially those serving on the front lines in a war on poverty.” Now her research gives power back to her community. Representing another genre of ministry, Carl P. Daw Jr., curator of BU’s hymnological collections, highlights the work of 12 hymn writers, collectors, and scholars, who invite people to sing their faith in a complicated world. In so doing, they expand theological and human boundaries. Similarly expansive, Nell Becker Sweeden (’13) describes a School of Theology travel seminar to Cuba, where students and faculty encountered lively movements of house churches and church gardens. In a different setting, Alison Morrow Abrahamsen (’07) describes her ministry as a television journalist, remarking how her seminary education prepared her to be present with people in times of tragedy, and also to seek the heart of a story, think critically, and avoid premature judgments. These diverse stories of ministry challenge STH and the faith communities with which we relate to enter entangled realities with unfettered creativity and courage.

POWER OF LOVE AS A VALUE CORE

As with Anjulet Tucker, Katheryn Pﬁsterer Darr’s ministry is in scholarship and teaching. She approaches biblical texts with meticulous care: engaging complexity, facing messy questions (as in Hosea), and discovering gems of insight. These gems lead into a second theme: God’s persistent love for God’s children and the call on human lives to emulate that love by loving God with all of their heart, breath, and might. Bishop Susan Hassinger also sounds the love theme, expressed in the mission statement of the newly established Upper New York Annual Conference. The mission— “To live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to be God’s love with our neighbors in all places”—grounded the conference as it unfolded. POWER OF ATTUNING TO AND BEING WITH THE OTHER

Love can never be an abstract principle. It is marked by actions and dispositions, such as the practices of attuning to and being with others. As Abrahamsen says of her television reporting, she learned in seminary “to listen to someone who has just lost a loved one…to stand in that really uncomfortable and tragic space with someone without feeling the need to jabber on.” Tex Sherwood Sample (’60, GRS’64) does similar attuning on a communal level. Sample has taught generations of students and church leaders to shape spiritual leadership “around the

culture of the community being served.” Now, in retirement, he pours energy into community organizing—another important way to attune to and be with others. POWER OF TRANSFORMATION MIRACLES

Professor Dana Robert describes historical shifts in global missions, introducing a broad range of transformation miracles: shifts in human lives from war-making to peace-loving; from cultural alienation to deep cross-cultural relations; and from earth-neglect to earth-tending. Miracles also abound in the Mexican prison where Thompson serves, where fathers care for their children while their wives go to work. These stories witness to miracles. In the world where good and bad, right and wrong, are often tangled with each other, we discover much to mourn, to do, and to celebrate. Get Low reminds us of hard choices in a tangled world. At one point, Felix says to a young friend: “There’s alive and there’s dead, and there’s a worse place in between them that I hope you never know nothin’ about.” The authors in Focus reveal their unique encounters with life and death, and their own efforts to be with people who live in that “worse place” between alive and dead, where people need to be accompanied and loved. X

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WIT HO U T A PU LPI T

ministering in a mexican prison AFTER A REWARDING CAREER IN CHILD WELFARE SERVICES, RETIREE SPENCER THOMPSON FINDS A SECOND CALLING.

Photos courtesy of Spencer Thompson

BY CORINNE STEINBRENNER Picture your retirement in Mexico. Warm sun. Cool drinks on the veranda. Visits to the local prison. That last bit may not ﬁt your idea of a comfy retirement, and it wasn’t part of Spencer Thompson’s (’69) original plan either. When Thompson moved to Oaxaca in southern Mexico ﬁve years ago, he expected to spend his golden years enjoying the temperate climate and low cost of living. He envisioned building a bed-and-breakfast to

Spencer Thompson

what I always meant to do,” he says. Instead, he graduated and accepted an offer to direct a children’s home for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The job led to a nearly 40-year career in child welfare services in Massachusetts and New York—and, indirectly, to his adoption of 11 children (who were later joined by three biological sons). Now, at the age of 67, Thompson is ﬁnally leading a congregation of his own, though not exactly in a local church. LIFE BEHIND BARS

“I’ve told the prisoners that I’ll be here longer than they will, God willing, that they’ll all be released before I’m gone.” — Spencer Thompson

host tourists drawn to Oaxaca’s ancient ruins and colorful festivals. Instead, Thompson has become a chaplain at the tough Oaxaca Central Penitentiary, visiting the prison twice a week to conduct worship services, deliver clothing and food, and provide pastoral care. It’s not the ﬁrst time Thompson has found himself on an unintended path. As a student at the School of Theology, Thompson told classmates he was preparing to serve a local church. “That’s

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The prison where Thompson presides is, he says, “everything you’d expect a really old Mexican prison to be”— dirty, shabby, constructed of steel and crumbling concrete. Other aspects of the prison, however, catch most foreign visitors by surprise. There’s a strong sense of camaraderie among the inmates, who wear street clothes rather than prison uniforms and are free to move about the prison grounds during the day. With no visitation limits, inmates’ families constantly come and go. Some prisoners even care for their children during the day while their wives are at work. “It does resemble a county fairground, oddly enough,” he says of the prison yard. Most of the prisoners are men, and Thompson ﬁnds them so good-

Spencer Thompson’s volunteer work at Mexico’s Oaxaca Central Penitentiary ranges from providing worship services in a drug rehabilitation unit to performing baptisms for inmates’ children.

natured and kind that he’s shocked at how many of them are serving time for murder. As he recounts their stories, it’s clear he considers many to be victims of poverty and injustice as much as perpetrators of crime. Thompson began visiting the prisoners in 2006, accompanying an Anglican bishop he’d met who regularly volunteered her time at the prison. When she returned to the United States, Thompson worried about what would happen to the prisoners who’d come to depend on her. After much thought and prayer, he offered to take over her duties with the help of a translator. In the years since, Thompson has provided inmates with fresh fruit, toothbrushes, vitamins, library books, and answers to biblical questions. He has baptized several children (conjugal visits are a regular part of prison life) and counseled prisoners in times of grief or despair. “I’ve focused increasingly on pastoral ministry,” he says, “listening to them, hearing what they have to say, giving some advice, talking about their feelings.” Inmates without nearby family are especially grateful for his presence—one man told Thompson he was the only visitor he’d received at the prison in nine years. MAKING A LIFE IN MEXICO

Work at the penitentiary has given way to other service. Thompson now sits on the board of the local English-language library and recently began volunteering his Saturdays at a shelter for children of prostitutes. The shelter provides food and clothing, he says, but he and other

volunteers give equally important personal attention in the form of hugs and piggyback rides. Considering the many years Thompson devoted to child welfare work, it’s not surprising that he’s already thinking of ways to raise funds to expand the shelter, hire additional staff, and offer more services. Aside from the occasional visit to the United States to see family or a doctor, Thompson expects to spend the rest of his life in Oaxaca. “I’ve told the prisoners that I’ll be here longer than they will, God willing, that they’ll all be released before I’m gone.” Delivering homilies to prison inmates and raising funds for children’s homes may be unusual ways to spend a retirement, but Thompson says he ﬁnds the people around him far more inspiring than a golf game or a nap. “I think retirees need to have more plans than memories,” he says. “There is so much for retired people to do.” And age, he’s found, has actually increased his commitment to the social gospel. He recently stumbled upon a stack of papers he wrote as an idealistic student at STH and was surprised to see how little his convictions—his commitment to reaching out and being of service to others—had changed over the years. “Most people cringe when they read what they wrote back in college,” he says, “but I’m not ashamed of what I wrote back then. In fact, it’s matured, and I believe it more now than I did then.” X

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WIT HO U T A PU LPI T

Telling stories of loss and hope Photo courtesy of Alison Morrow Abrahamsen

SHE ASKS QUESTIONS, LISTENS, AND TELLS PEOPLE’S STORIES: A SEMINARY-TRAINED JOURNALIST BRINGS THOUGHTFULNESS AND CREDIBILITY TO LOCAL TV NEWS.

BY PATRICK L. KENNEDY

Alison Morrow Abrahamsen

“When I was little, my parents sometimes brought me to work with them,” says Alison Morrow Abrahamsen. Her parents are physicians, and work was in the emergency room. “I’ve always lived with this knowledge of death in the background. I’ve always known that no matter how rich I ever got or how inﬂuential I was, I would end up just like the poorest person whom nobody knew.” That’s why “I’ll never work in a profession where I’m not confronting the ﬁnitude of life on a regular basis,” she says. “And the thing about my job is that you see people at the absolute best and the absolute worst of life.” Abrahamsen (’07) might be the most philosophical TV news reporter in Tennessee. She covers a small city’s tragedies, triumphs, tornadoes, and even doctrinal disputes, and she says her degree from the School of Theology helps her make sense of it all. FROM THEOLOGY TO TV

Abrahamsen worked as a producer for Fox News in New York right out of college. Within a year, she left. “Producing wasn’t the right job for me,” she says. She decided to learn psychology and counseling in STH’s master of divinity (MDiv) program. While at BU, she interned, and later worked

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part time, as a counselor for the North Charles Institute for the Addictions, in Somerville, Massachusetts. “I oversaw methadone dosing procedures and listened to clients who needed an ear, as well as administered alcohol tests and blood pressure tests, to make sure the more at-risk clients were healthy—and sober— enough to dose,” Abrahamsen recalls. “It taught me a lot about drug addiction, cycles of family violence and dysfunction, and crime. Most of all, it taught me I’m not cut out to be an addiction counselor!” In her final year at BU, Abrahamsen thought, “Maybe I can go back to TV, and be a reporter.” After a stint at WGXA in Macon, Georgia, she arrived at WBIR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Knoxville, Tennessee. “It’s a sleepy town,” Abrahamsen says, “but once in a while all hell breaks loose.” Two months into her tenure, a wall collapsed at a Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash storage facility, unleashing an ash slide that ruined homes and covered 300 acres in neighboring Kingston. “It was one of the first live shots that I did,” says Abrahamsen. “I had to think of something new to say every 20 minutes.” So where does her MDiv come in? “There’s not one part of my degree that I don’t use on a regular basis,” Abrahamsen says.

Photos by Paul Brown

Reporter Alison Morrow Abrahamsen covering a tornado’s wake last spring. “I traveled around the area south of Knoxville and talked to residents who lost homes and barns to the storm. That typiﬁed what I do— meeting people at those moments no one ever expects, helping them tell their story of loss and hope.”

Her counseling experience equipped her “to listen to someone who has just lost a loved one,” she says. “To stand in that really uncomfortable and tragic space with someone without feeling the need to jabber on like a complete moron . . . You can just sit there in quiet with them. I take that very seriously. “A lot of these people may never be able to afford a psychotherapist to help them with this horrible experience.” Abrahamsen regularly draws upon her memories of the Somerville methadone clinic, too. “I probably cover a story every other week that has some tie-in with drugs and addiction.” she says. “These are real people with real problems, not some circus of animals to use as a headline for better ratings.” STH gave her the tools to boil a story down to its essentials, and to think critically, “to ask questions that maybe other reporters wouldn’t think to ask. They don’t have a theological training when it comes to gay rights, for example. To scrutinize the arguments people are making. What I took away from [Assistant Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins] Jennifer Knust’s History of the Bible class that I use every time I confront a religion story is: People have been using the Bible to argue every possible opinion, from every different angle, since the beginning of that book’s writing.” Abrahamsen won’t give any complex story a black-or-white treatment. In 2009, a local woman was in court on neglect charges after her daughter died of cancer. The mother, Jacqueline Crank, had relied on prayer to heal ﬁfteen-year-old Jessica.

“Most people wrote her off as a looney tune,” Abrahamsen recalls. “But I think that’s a little too quick and judgmental and easy. My degree gives me a bit of a different perspective. I can take seriously what people believe, even if it’s not what I believe. I’d rather get viewers to ask some questions that maybe they’ve never asked before. Maybe they’ll say, ‘She doesn’t seem like a monster.’” Even convicted murderers on death row are human, Abrahamsen says, and she hopes her reporting reﬂects that. “That has to do with my own personal theology that I walked away with from BU. It’s the essence that God loves every single person, and creation. So who am I to look at one of these people and say, ‘You’re not worthy of my storytelling; you’re not worthy of my painting you as human,’ when in God’s eyes they are, no matter what they’ve done?” GETTING BEHIND THE STORY

Sometimes, Abrahamsen not only covers the news, but effects change. Earlier this year, a Knoxville-area Baptist pastor distributed anti-Catholic pamphlets. After Abrahamsen and other media outlets covered the story, “The pastor took a step back. He’s not passing them out anymore. He regrets doing it because I sat there and talked to him. Off camera, you can push someone a little bit.” The pastor listened to what Abrahamsen had to say, and stopped distributing the pamphlets. “And, he and the local Catholic priest talked. They actually had a conversation. So, Hallejulah! That’s a little victory.” X Editor’s Note: Shortly before Focus went to press, Abrahamsen began a new job at WFTS, ABC Action News, in Tampa, Florida.

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WIT HO U T A PU LPI T

the clerical (BLUE) Collar TEX SHERWOOD SAMPLE HELPS PASTORS IN WORKING COMMUNITIES CONNECT WITH THEIR CONGREGATIONS.

Photo courtesy of Tex Sherwood Sample

BY ANNIE LAURIE SÁNCHEZ Tex Sherwood Sample has a call out to clergy and lay leaders, especially those serving working-class congregations: Play ball. If they’d like to take that literally, it’s fine by him. His pitch is a concept of shaping spiritual leadership around the culture of the community being served. Sample (’60, GRS’64) Tex Sherwood Sample calls it the indigenization of the ministry. It means being as familiar with congregational traditions and needs as with approaches learned in the seminary— and maybe stepping up to an actual plate “If you come into a working-class church and now and then. you’re acting like an entrepreneur or using Before he launched into the language of corporate America, you’re a 50-year gonna be hip-deep in alligators before long.” career in ministry and —Tex Sherwood Sample teaching, Sample wore a collar cut from a different cloth. Born to a working-class family in Brookhaven, Mississippi, during the Great Depression, Sample worked for his father’s taxi stand during his youth and supported himself through Millsaps College as a roustabout in the oil fields—where he took some serious flack for being a “college boy.” He recalls an “amazing culture of story and proverb” and “a way of living through gatherings.” He’d later rise to become an acting dean of St. Paul

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School of Theology in Kansas City and says that same culture of storytelling and gathering should be at the heart of ministering, especially in blue-collar communities. Those gatherings, he maintains, where people mingle and “carry on a bit,” are much more effective than church committee meetings where a few tell the rest what to do. That wisdom came later, after he’d found that roots in the working class did not necessarily give him the skills to minister to it. While studying at BU, he served a blue-collar congregation in Haverhill, Massachusetts. “I don’t know how in the world those people stood me then,” Sample says with a laugh, “because I made every mistake in the world that I now criticize in my study of working with working folk.” Using the language of the boardroom, establishing hierarchies to assign objectives and responsibilities, and trying to make use of Kantian critique are among the mistakes he says many make. RECONNECTING WITH HIS ROOTS

In 1968, Sample, then a new faculty member at St. Paul, attended a demonstration against presidential candidate and segregationist George Wallace. There, a light went on: As Sample looked at some of the attendees of Wallace’s stump speech, he saw in them the people he’d known growing up. “And it hit me,” he says. “I said to myself, ‘You know, you don’t know anything about these folks.

Not in terms of research and study.’” From that year forward, he would research working-class culture and values. Getting back in touch with his roots was rewarding personally—“like good therapy”—and also for those looking for ways to connect with blue-collar congregations. “The pastor or lay leader has to be very careful not to come off like the boss,” Sample emphasizes. “If you come into a working-class church and you’re acting like an entrepreneur or using the language of corporate America, you’re gonna be hip-deep in alligators before long.” To keep clear of those toothsome critters, Sample’s advice is this: “Know your people. Know their stories, where the needs are. Help them meet those needs. Change occurs by add-on. You learn that tradition so you can bring it to the meetings and the ministry you have.” In a course he co-taught at St. Paul, he asked seminary students to make connections between the lyrics of popular coun-

try songs and the values of the working class—the main market, at least at that time, for country music. Sample then sent students into Kansas City-area honky tonks at night to connect and socialize with the people who identiﬁed with that musical tradition. “You’ve got to be engaged,” says Sample, who’s since shared his advice in ten books, covering everything from the church and country music to multimedia in worship. His money perpetually where his mouth is, Sample always maintained strong friendships and interactions with the communities he served. A favorite way to do this was to play on local softball, touch football, and—especially—baseball teams. LEARNING BY DOING

Another practice he advocates is apprenticeship learning. Whether “doing your faith,” means running food pantries or building houses through Habitat for Humanity, what’s important for Sample is that clergy and lay leaders “don’t just talk about it; do it.” Sample currently does community organizing with the Valley Interfaith Project, an Industrial Areas Foundation afﬁliate in Phoenix, Arizona, where he now lives. To help people from his congregation and others within 200 percent of the poverty line secure a better wage, the project partners with area community colleges to train people for alreadyexisting jobs. “I’m just very excited about the fact that I’m 75 years old, but I plan on doing organizing as long as I live,” he says. “And I tell ’em I’m gonna probably live to be 100. You work out and do what you love. That’s the secret.” Game on. X

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J O UR N A L

more than fire and brimstone BY ANJULET TUCKER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION

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heritage, Anjulet Tucker has learned to see the good in her church.

I grew up in a religiously dynamic congregation in which tales of fire and brimstone and images of the “last and evil” days were regularly invoked. Before I was out of middle school, I had witnessed an exorcism, met at least a dozen people who claimed prophetic powers, and knew a woman who testified that she had been pronounced dead on an operating table at least twice. My father had taken over the small fire-baptizing, non-Trinitarian Pentecostal church in which I grew up from a man who had served in the Vietnam War, died on the battlefield, and come back to life when the coroner examined his body at the morgue. Perhaps less sensational, but equally as powerful as the dramatic episodes of healing and spiritual deliverance, were testimonies I remember from people who had overcome personal challenges, such as drug addiction and domestic violence. One member of our congregation had been a drug addict and dealer who wreaked havoc on the surrounding community before finding our church. I watched his life transform after his adoption of the Pentecostal lifestyle, and I marveled at how he eventually became an associate minister in our church. Today, he heads a flock of his own. As Pentecostalism has become a major actor on the international religious stage, a remarkable explosion of media coverage of the movement has followed. Much of it focuses dispropor-

tionately on the exotic images of healing, rituals of speaking in tongues, and unique worship, while ignoring what I think is the real core of Pentecostal faith—its insistence on transformation. The Pentecostals in the community I grew up in described the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost, as they called it) as a “keeping power” that enabled someone to walk, talk, and live differently. Someone who was truly baptized in the Holy Spirit went about daily activities— dressing, playing, working—in a way that signaled to the world they were a child of God. What casual observers of Pentecostalism often miss are the profound ways in which the faith provides the tools that some of the faithful desperately need to transform their lives. The PBS documentary, Let the Church Say Amen (2005), offers a view of an inner-city storefront congregation

About the Author

Anjulet Tucker joined the School of Theology in 2009, and is conducting research in religion and social change and the role of education in Pentecostal communities. She is also the vice chair of the Diversity Committee for the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

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Photo by Carlton Mackey

fter years of wrestling with her Pentecostal

in Washington, D.C., with a mission of reaching out to those whom society left behind. The film portrays the critical role that many storefront churches play in providing much-needed social services in communities where the socioeconomic infrastructure has deteriorated. The featured congregation uses its limited resources to sponsor a community fair where it distributes free clothes, health services, and information about educational support for those in need. In addition to missing the critical social role storefronts play, many overlook the ways these congregations socialize members into what sociologist Benton Johnson called the “dominant values”1 of American society—hard work, achievement, and economic success. Specifically, the extent to which Pentecostal faith communities in lowerincome neighborhoods value education has been underexplored. Despite the common perception that the “robust supernaturalism” of Pentecostalism (as Peter Berger calls it2) has negative consequences for intellectualism, my church family encouraged me to strive for secular success in the classroom. The Spirit, I was taught, encouraged excellence in every aspect of life. God wanted me to be a good representative and a good witness for the unsaved by striving to be at the top of my class, getting good grades, and pursuing the best schools, as long as I used my knowledge for God’s glory. If I disagreed with a teacher who was defiantly secular, that was no excuse not to get an A in a class. To further demonstrate its support for academic excellence, my congregation hosted an annual service for those moving to the next grade or graduating.

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The speakers—recent high school graduates or adults who had returned to the classroom—almost always testified about how their faith either motivated them to pursue a degree or helped them complete their academic programs. They often attributed their success in passing a big test or understanding a complicated subject to prayer and help from the Holy Ghost. Not all Pentecostal congregations are as supportive of secular education as my own. In fact, some have been hostile to education. It is a mistake, however, to dismiss Pentecostal churches as uninterested in education, secular or theological. Pentecostals have built their own educational institutions, created spaces for spiritual development in non-Pentecostal

1. Benton Johnson, “On Church and Sect,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 28, No. 4 (August 1963), pp 539–549. 2. Peter Berger, “Sex and Schism in the Anglican Communion,” blog entry published on The American Interest Online, July 20, 2010.

Before I was out of middle school, I had witnessed an exorcism, met at least a dozen people who claimed prophetic powers, and knew a woman who testified that she had been pronounced dead on an operating table at least twice.

collegiate contexts to encourage students to obtain advanced degrees, and advocated for underprivileged students to ensure equal access to educational institutions. Navigating educational environments where few share your religious worldview can be challenging for some Pentecostal youth. Moving back and forth between an intense supernatural religious world and the mundane secular world in school was not always easy for me. Sometimes it was downright exhausting and I often felt alienated from my peers, lying to them about where I

Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz / Art Resource, NY

Nolde, Emil (1867â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1956) ÂŠ Copyright Nolde Stiftung Seebuell Pentecost, 1909. Oil on canvas, 87 x 107 cm. Photo: Jorg P. Anders. Location: Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

spent my Friday nights and not explaining why I had to wear pants to church or avoid R-rated movies. Instead of hanging out at the skating rink, I could be found at all-night prayer services or playing the organ for the youth choir. Few knew that my Sundays were consumed with morning and evening services. No one knew that I could play the Hammond B3 organ, the sacred instrument for black Pentecostals, at the age of twelve. I imagined that my

classmates would find my activities bewildering, and never invited them to church for fear that they would be afraid to see people dancing and shouting in the aisles or humiliate me for participating in what they would probably characterize as a bizarre worship service. I could relate to fictional characters like Clark Kent who lived two separate lives. The balance between being different and assimilating was hard to strike. Sometimes I felt com-

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pletely different from everyone, as if I had come from another planet. Attending college at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, exposed me to other mainline Christian traditions. As an undergraduate in an interdenominational gospel choir at a Methodist institution, I worshipped with Methodists, Baptists, and Episcopalians for the first time. My best friend was Baptist and, to my surprise, she prayed, attended church regularly, read the Bible, and took her faith seriously. I visited churches from a variety of Christian traditions for the first time, learned the historical-critical method of reading the Bible, and discovered that Jesus may have had some sisters and brothers. In college, I learned that most Christians believe in the Trinity and consider my “Jesus Only” tradition, which baptizes in “Jesus’ Name,” to be a heresy. I enthusiastically shared my tradition when I first entered college, but by the time I graduated, I was disillusioned with it. I went into full deconstructionist mode

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and left Emory with the conviction that a religiously saturated childhood was strange and wrong. Reading Shelby Spong’s Why Christianity Must Change or Die only deepened my existential crisis. My lingering questions ultimately inspired me to pursue graduate work in religious studies. At Harvard Divinity School, I was invigorated by lectures on liberation theology and stimulated by sermons in Memorial Church. I communed with secular humanists, free thinkers, openly gay clergy, feminists, animal theologians, liberation theologians, and Afrocentric theologians. Ashamed of my theological past, I introduced myself to classmates as a recovering Pentecostal. It was not until I had been exposed to the academic study of Pentecostalism that I gained an appreciation for my tradition. In a course on American religious history, I read James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain for the first time. I was

God wanted me to be a good representative and a good witness for the unsaved by striving to be at the top of my class . . . . If I disagreed with a teacher who was defiantly secular, that was no excuse not to get an A in a class.

invigorated as I read this novel about characters reared in a religious environment similar to my own. In time, I allowed my Pentecostal heritage to shape me as an emerging scholar and discovered a world of Pentecostals with similar interests. In my doctoral studies, I would encounter Pentecostal scholars such as Howard University Political Science Professor James Tinney, who was deeply

committed to nurturing Pentecostal intellectuals in the academy, and Morehouse College President Robert Michael Franklin, a respected scholar and ordained Pentecostal minister. My Pentecostal heritage undoubtedly informs my research agenda. In my quest to investigate the ways in which some Pentecostals have been motivated by their faith to advance educational opportunities, I discovered Saints Academy and Junior College, a boarding high school and junior college run by the Church of God in Christ in Lexington, Mississippi, between 1976 and 1983. The story of Saints and schools like it casts Pentecostal groups as allies in educational success, forcing a reassessment of the popular conception of them as of agents of anti-intellectualism. I am tremendously grateful for what growing up in a small, urban Pentecostal congregation has given to me. First, I strive to create a safe space in the classroom where my students can bring their whole selves to the study of religion.

I have learned never to underestimate even the smallest of religious organizations, especially those serving on the front lines in a war on poverty. In the absence of adequate state and federal support systems, churches like mine served the needy inside and outside of the congregation. My church, and others like it in the corridors of urban New York, offered food, clothing, and emergency support. Secondly, my early religious training taught me to appreciate the cau-

tion to, “Get the learning, but don’t lose the burning,” as a call to keep my spiritual life in dialectical tension with my intellectual life. The admonishment to develop one’s mind without losing one’s spiritual core, I came to realize, was a way of encouraging the youth in the congregation to excel in school, to be exemplary students, to earn advanced degrees, and to climb as high on the socioeconomic ladder as we could. But in our pursuit of the good life, the elders did not want us to look down on the religious practices that nurtured us, or wake up and think we were getting ahead without God’s help, or start believing that we were the architects of our success, or turn our backs on the church. Remembering this warning helps me avoid the temptation to abandon the church when I am most frustrated with it, especially when it fails to stand up boldly to injustice, among other social problems, in the world. Finally, growing up in a small, family-centered Pentecostal congregation has undoubtedly impacted how I approach teaching future religious leaders. I strive to create a safe space in the classroom where my students can bring their whole selves to the study of religion. I strongly encourage them to be honest about the ways in which their social location can inform, inhibit, and enhance their interpretations of religious phenomena. Cultivating students who are attentive to their own personal histories helps create scholars who are sensitive to the religious lives of others. I am hopeful that my students will gain as much from embracing their past as I have mine, and learn to see their own complex lives as a gift, not a burden. X

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J O UR N A L

tryptich BY KATHERYN PFISTERER DARR, PROFESSOR OF HEBREW BIBLE

Pier Francesco Foschi (1502–1567), Judgement of Solomon, c. 1520. Location: Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy.

Hosea are viewed together, the lessons they contain multiply.

When my sister and I were little girls, Mom sometimes took us to the department store downtown. In those days, department stores sold some of everything; and because exploring was my favorite activity, I often wandered off, leaving Mom to tell my sister for the umpteenth time, “Pem, go find Kathe.” My favorite section of the store was the Ladies’ Department—not because I was interested in the clothing (that came later!), but because I was enthralled by the tall, three-paneled mirrors that allowed shoppers to scrutinize the outfits they tried on from the front, the left, and the right. Viewing myself from three different angles was fun, but it was not really the source of my fascination. I was intrigued by how reflections in one mirror were reflected in the others, permitting me to look into the infinite number of images they created. I longed to walk through those mirrors, to enter their endlessly reflecting and reflected world. What follows here, like the mirrors in the Ladies’ Department, is a triptych. It looks at three biblical texts—each etched, as it were, on a panel of our mirror, each reflecting and reflected in the others, and together creating angles of vision not available when any one text is viewed in isolation. We shall begin with the text engraved on the left panel of our triptych, Deuteronomy 6:4–9.

HEART, BREATH, AND MIGHT

When I began thinking about a subject for this piece, I asked myself, “Which text in the Hebrew Bible most reminds me of Harrell F. Beck (’45, GRS’54), former professor of Old Testament, and of Simon Parker, our first Harrell F. Beck Scholar of Hebrew Bible?” To my surprise, the answer came immediately: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Both Beck and Parker would have told you that the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation I’ve used is far from perfect. Ancient Israel regarded the heart as the seat of emotions and intellect. Hebrew nepeš does not mean “soul” in the Greek, dualistic sense; it refers to the bodies of all

About the Author Katheryn Pfisterer Darr teaches courses in Ezekiel, proverbs, and goddesses and women in Ancient Israel, as well as Hebrew Bible and Biblical Hebrew. She’s the author of three books.

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Photo: Mauro Magliani for Alinari 1997/Art Resource, NY

hen the texts of Deuteronomy, Luke, and

living, breathing creatures. Only “might” requires no comment. Together, these three parts represent the whole person. When Deuteronomy 6:5 commands us to love God with all our heart, breath, and might, it means with every thought, every emotion, every breath, every move, and all the strength we can muster. Beck loved God that way. When he preached and lectured, his every fiber was suffused with the love of God that animated his ministry in, and far beyond, the School of Theology classrooms where he taught the Old Testament for 33 years. To know Beck was to experience the full force of that love, lived out in his scholarship in service to the church, his passionate proclamation of the word, and his extraordinary generosity to everyone. Parker loved God that way too, through his heart, breath, and might. Remembering Parker, I think of the Shema as quoted in Luke 10:27: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.” Parker’s mind was a wondrous thing; and throughout his 25 years at STH, his love of God— expressed especially in disciplined pursuit of knowledge about Israel’s ancient Near Eastern world—enlivened and enriched our entire community. DOING ABOVE FEELING

The Book of Deuteronomy purports to be Moses’ last speech to the Israelites; and he’s talking covenant—specifically, the people’s covenant responsibilities to their God. Within its covenantal context, the Shema, the confession of faith, commands us to love the Lord in ways neither sentimental, superficial, nor

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sedentary. It emphasizes doing far more than feeling. Singing praise psalms isn’t enough. Vain promises profane God’s name. The imperative “hear” also means “obey;” the words, “the Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” demand undivided loyalty to God in all aspects of life. In the ancient Near East, powerful suzerains (kings) demanded obedience and exclusive loyalty from the weaker vassal states they forced into covenants, or treaties, with them. And they ordered their vassals to “love” them—to fulfill their When Deuteronomy 6:5 commands us to love God with all our heart, breath, and might, it means with every thought, every emotion, every breath, every move, and all the strength we can muster.

treaty obligations, including paying tribute. Similarities between certain ancient Near Eastern suzerainty treaties and biblical expressions of God’s covenant with Israel have led many scholars to conclude that love means the same thing in both contexts: like a political vassal, Israel loves God by faithfully obeying the laws, statutes, and ordinances spelled out in Deuteronomy and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. But the Shema invites a paradoxical question: can human beings be commanded to love God? If we limit love’s meaning to outward acts of obedience and loyalty, we can respond with a resounding, maybe! But for how long? Ancient suzerains sought to ensure their vassals’ love for them with threats, curses, and brute force, though small states could be ripe for rebellion when opportunities arose. Deuteronomy’s God

of God arises (or should arise) out of gratitude for God’s love for us, manifested in concrete acts of promisekeeping, liberation, and caretaking. INJUNCTION TO LOVE

Moses and the Ten Commandments: the Pharisaic legal expert of Matthew 22 tested Jesus by asking which law was the greatest.

threatens Israel with curses and brute force as well, and biblical authors seem never to tire of charging Israel with rebelliousness. But the Deuteronomists also understand that our desire to love God through acts of obedience and loyalty does not arise from nothing and cannot really be commanded. The love God desires from us does not truly belong to God unless we offer it freely. For that reason, the authors of Deuteronomy emphasize that our love

The text etched on the right panel of our triptych mirror, Luke 10:25–37, is one of three Gospel passages that quote from the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4–5. In Matthew 22, a Pharisaic legal expert tests Jesus by asking, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Citing Leviticus 19:18b, he adds, “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In Mark 12, a scribe asks Jesus, “Which commandment is the first of all?”; and he replies, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” But again, Jesus doesn’t stop there. “The second,” he continues, “is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Matthew’s Pharisee does not respond to Jesus’ answer, but Mark’s scribe agrees with him, saying, “You are right, Teacher.” He even affirms that observing these two laws is “much more important than all whole burntofferings and sacrifices.” When we turn to Luke 10:25–37, we discover that the citations of these two love commands serve a different purpose.

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A legal expert bent on testing Jesus asks him, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” and Jesus responds with two counterquestions: “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” The lawyer replies, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus affirms his response: “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But the lawyer, wishing to justify himself, asks a follow-up question that propels Jesus onto contested terrain in rabbinic debates: “And who is my neighbor?” When Luke’s expert asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?,” he is also asking, Who is not my neighbor? He thinks of people as “classifiable commodities,” scholar Arland J. Hultgren explains.1 Some people are within the circle of those to be cared for, and others are not. Because we already know how the parable of the

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Good Samaritan will end, we tend to evaluate both the lawyer and his question negatively. But a close reading of Leviticus 19 reveals that his query had legs. In verses 17–18, the Hebrew word re-‘a, which NRSV translates as “neighbor,” actually designates a fellow Israelite: “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your [fellow Israelite] [re-‘a] as yourself: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19 doesn’t stop with the injunction to love those within the circle of one’s own people, however. Verse 34 states, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:34 is not quoted in our Gospels, but Luke’s legal expert surely

1. Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002), 100.

2. Ibid., 97. 3. J. Gerald Janzen, “Metaphor and Reality in Hosea 11,” Semeia 24 (1982), 7.

knew it. And in light of these similarly worded love commands in Leviticus 19, it’s not surprising that the rabbis debated the meanings of re-‘a. LOVE THE OTHER

Hultgren notes that Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan follows the so-called “rule of three” of good storytelling.2 Because tradition divided Israelite men into three categories—priests, Levites, and everyone else—first-time audiences likely anticipated that the third person to come upon a man lying

Our desire to love God through acts of obedience and loyalty does not arise from nothing and cannot really be commanded. The love God desires from us does not truly belong to God unless we offer it freely.

stripped, beaten, and half-dead on the road to Jericho would be an everyday Jew. According to that scenario, his obligation was clear—he must treat the sufferer as he would wish to be treated. But contrary to expectation, the third man is a Samaritan, part of a group whose reciprocal animosity with Jews was long-lived and, in Luke’s time, especially venomous. The scene is deserted; no one will know if he, too, walks by on the other side of the road. Instead, the Samaritan springs into action, treating the man’s wounds, transporting him to an inn, and paying generously for his care. In so doing, the Samaritan models more than “love one another;” he models love the other.

The lawyer who asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life knows that the prize he seeks requires more than lip service. Indeed, “do” is a key word in his dialogue with Jesus: “what must I do to inherit eternal life? . . . do this and you will live . . . the one who showed him mercy . . . Go and do likewise” (Luke 10). In Jesus’ parable, as in the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4–5, “love” is an action verb that emphasizes doing more than feeling: the Samaritan loves his neighbor by doing “secondmile” acts of caretaking, by taking that extra step. We admire him, of course, but we wonder about him as well. How has he transcended the bitterness and anger of his day—emotions that too easily overpower our attempts to love others as we love ourselves, especially those from whom we are divided by social conflicts, religious beliefs, political agendas, and so on? According to Jesus, the Samaritan is “moved with compassion” (Luke 10:33), a response that commandments—even divine commandments—can neither create nor sustain. What is the source of his compassion—a word that, in the New Testament, almost always refers to divine compassion as revealed in Jesus? TO BE A PARENT

Etched on the middle panel of our triptych mirror is Hosea 11:1–11, a text biblical theologian Gerald Janzen calls “the boldest portrayal of ‘the living God’ in the [Hebrew Bible].”3 Hosea, who crafts intricate, familial metaphors to illuminate the more illusive ties uniting God and Israel, here presents the Lord as the adoptive parent of a beloved little boy: “When

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Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1). Hosea’s parental metaphor is particularly sublime because it invokes a relationship not yet fully formed, but rich with potential—cherished not only for what it is, but also for what it might become.4 At the outset, neither parent nor child knows exactly what it will mean to live into the future together, but they face that future with faith and hope. All too quickly, however, Israel rebels, ignoring God’s summons and worshipping other deities. So much for obedience and undivided loyalty. Its obstinacy is inconceivable to God, who—like a devoted parent—taught Israel to walk, scooped him up in His arms, healed his injuries, guided him tenderly, and bent down to feed him. Hosea 9:5–7 sketches the already-unfolding consequences of the Israelites’ stubbornness. They will return to Egypt, the land of their enslavement; and Assyria will rule over them. Even now, swords crash in their cities’ streets, slaying the oracle-priests whose reassuring words they seek. And yet, recalcitrant Israel keeps turning its back on God, even as it cries to the Most High for help. Its destruction is inevitable and final—or is it? In Hosea 11:8a, God raises four questions: “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim?”—two ancient cities that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, were utterly annihilated (Genesis 10:19; 14:2, 8; Deuteronomy 29:23). Most commentators agree that God’s questions are rhetorical:5 They have the potential to increase the understanding

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of the one being asked, but they contribute nothing to the understanding of the questioner, who already knows the answers.6 After all, what other kind of question could an omniscient God raise? In Hosea 11, however, the Lord’s questions are not actually addressed to Israel, or to any other third party. Rather, God engages in self-questioning, borne of the suffering into which God is drawn by human faithlessness. This divine impasse, Janzen argues, can be resolved only by “choosing one of two ways forward, [both] of which [are] unthinkable:” either eradicate Israel utterly, forever severing the parentchild bond, or continue to overlook Israel’s subversion of God’s purposes, thereby failing to bring God and Israel toward that potential for mutual fulfillment at the heart of their covenant relationship.7 When God asks, “How can I give you up, Ephraim?,” the question is as much about God’s future as it is about the future of Israel.8 And in that decisive moment, Hosea discloses, “the interior dynamics of the divine life:”9 “My heart recoils within

4. See ibid., 17–18. 5. For an example, see James Luther Mays, Hosea: A Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1969), 156. 6. Ibid., 12. 7. Ibid., 25. 8. Ibid., 11. 9. Ibid., 10.

me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (Hosea 11:8). The Hebrew word meaning “to grow intensely warm, or hot,” also appears in the biblical story about two prostitutes who bring babies—one living, the other dead—before King Solomon (1 Kings 3:16–27). Each woman insists that the live infant is hers and, at length, Solomon proposes to resolve the impasse by cutting the living baby in two and giving half to each woman. At that moment, however, the

In the midst of a baffling impasse, the Lord experiences a wholehearted change, in which divine anger dissolves in the passionate intensity of divine compassion.

living infant’s mother pleads with the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” (v.26a). The text tells us this is because her compassion for her son “grows intensely warm,” overwhelming any concern except for his life. INFINITE ANGLES OF VISION

God loves God’s children like that. In the midst of a baffling impasse, the Lord experiences a wholehearted change, in which divine anger dissolves in the passionate intensity of divine compassion. Israel’s future, and God’s future, remain open to the possibility of reconciliation and restoration. And in that moment, we glimpse the unparalleled holiness of God: “for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath” (Hosea 11:9b).

Yes, I know. We don’t talk about God changing. Influenced by theological categories that assume the omniscience, impassibility, and immutability of God, we explain away texts like Hosea 11, with their primitive metaphors and anthropomorphisms. But Scripture talks about God that way. To be sure, all metaphors whisper, “It is, and it is not.” But Hosea’s metaphor points us toward that divine compassion we are summoned to emulate, like the prostitute pleading for her child’s life, like the Samaritan who cares for the other as if he were his brother, like Jesus, in whom divine love is made flesh and dwells among us. We have etched three texts on the panels of our triptych mirror. Viewed in isolation, each text reflects who God is and what God calls us to be and to do. But together, they create infinite angles of vision. They command us to love God in concrete acts of obedience and loyalty, even as they reflect God’s promise-keeping, liberating love for us. They summon us to love our neighbors, including all of the “others,” even as they reflect God’s love for us all. They call us to concrete acts of compassion, even as they reflect the passionate, heart-transforming compassion of God revealed not only in Hosea 11, but also in Christ. And they beckon us to enter the reflecting and reflected infinity they create. X

This article is based on the sermon Triptych, given at Marsh Chapel to mark Katheryn Pfisterer Darr’s installation as the second Harrell F. Beck Scholar of Hebrew Bible.

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J O UR N A L

heritage of hymns BY CARL P. DAW JR., CURATOR OF HYMNOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS AND ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF HYMNOLOGY

1. William F. Warren, “I worship Thee, O Holy Ghost,” American Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, 1877.

our through the history of hymns at the School of Theology and learn about those who’ve put song at the center of worship life, from

nineteenth-century lyricists to twentieth-century collectors. The School of Theology proudly and rightly calls itself “The School of the Prophets,” but it could equally call itself “The School of the Hymn People.” Hymnology, after all, is firmly woven into the spiritual DNA of the Wesleyan tradition in which STH was founded, manifesting itself in outstanding men and women throughout the School’s history. I’d like to remind you of (or introduce you to) twelve of them: seven from the nineteenth century and five from the twentieth century. The hymn-related contributions of these representative individuals demonstrate considerable diversity; some are authors and composers, while others are collectors, promoters, editors, and scholars.

About the Author

William Fairﬁeld Warren

I worship thee, O Holy Ghost, I love to worship Thee; With Thee each day is Pentecost, Each night Nativity.1

t is appropriate to begin with William Fairfield Warren (Hon.’23), successively acting president of STH (1866–1873), president of Boston University (1873–1903), and dean of STH (1903–1911). Though his hymns have ceased to appear in current hym-

An Episcopal priest, Carl P. Daw Jr. was the executive director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2009. He curates BU’s hymnology collections which include works from 1562 to the present day. He is also one of the most prolific composers of hymns in the past four decades.

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Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

Foundation of a Reputation

nals, his two most popular appeared in almost 250 hymnals between 1850 and 1957, laying the foundation of BU’s hymnody reputation. One of his texts, “I worship thee, O Holy Ghost,” appeared most recently in The Methodist Hymnal of 1935 (which remained in use for 30 years). Penned in an era when treatments of the Holy Ghost were not common, this hymn is notable for the immediacy of its language and its emphasis on the Holy Spirit as a Christological gift:

2. See the brief description of these collections on the STH Library website at www.bu.edu/ sthlibrary/collections/hymnologicalcollections.

Carl P. Daw Jr. maintains BU’s extensive hymnology collections—works date back to 1562.

23 &

The Complexities of Preservation Charles Nutter and Frank Metcalf

he next two contributors move us from the creation of hymns to the complexities of their preservation. The combined collections of Charles Nutter (1871) and Frank Metcalf (CAS 1886) total more than 2,500 volumes and form the core of the hymnological resources in the STH Library.2 A Methodist minister and, briefly, a teacher of hymnology at BU, Nutter wrote and collected hymns; Metcalf was also a collector and authored several texts on hymnology. “Some idea of the significance of the Nutter-Metcalf Collection in larger hymnological circles,” claims the STH website, “can be gained from the fact that in 2004 the commercial publisher IDC reproduced on microfiche 561 titles from the Nutter-Metcalf

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Collection dating between 1566 and 1890, which they are marketing to other libraries.”3 The purchasers of this series can only boast that they have these microfiches; we have the real things.

Hymnody and Pageantry Henry Augustine Smith

e move into yet another area of consideration with Henry Augustine Smith, the one in this group of worthies whose academic title I covet most. His appointments here went through many name revisions, but my all-time favorite is Professor of Church Worship, Music, Hymnody, and Pageantry—now there’s a title for you! In an age when entertainment options were much more limited than

Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

3. The excerpted collection is called “Hymns of Spiritual and Social Revival in the Early United States,” and a brief description and a title list can be found at www.idcpublishers.com/?id=348.

Harkness photo courtesy of the Gotlieb Archive

4. Two helpful studies of Harkness are: Rosemary Skinner Keller, Georgia Harkness: For Such a Time as This (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992), and Martha Lynne Scott, “The Theology and Social Thought of Georgia Harkness” (PhD dissertation, Northwestern University, 1984).

they are today, he was a tireless advocate for involving people, especially youth, in dramatic reenactments of Bible, hymn, and missionary stories— anything that would teach through involvement. In effect, he was an exponent of multimedia long before the term was invented. But his promotion of hymns was by no means limited to such occasional extravaganzas. He also edited a number of influential hymnals and hymn-related books, including Hymnal for American Youth (1919), The American Century Hymnal (1921), Hymns for the Living Age (1923), The American Student Hymnal (1928), and Lyric Religion: The Romance of Immortal Hymns (1931). Ever the teacher, he conceived of Hymnal for American Youth as the centerpiece of an extensive program of theological and aesthetic enrichment, including, for example, a guide to paintings related to specific hymns.

was then called The Hymn Society of America (expanded to the United States and Canada in 1991). The competition was seeking a hymn for use at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Evanston, Illinois, that year, for which the theme was Jesus Christ, Hope of the World. Her entry won over about 500 others and has remained in continual use, appearing in approximately 50 denominational and ecumenical hymnals in the last half-century, including the current United Methodist Hymnal, where it is number 178. This text is notable for portraying an energetic and compassionate Christ “afoot on dusty highways,” who remains ready to deliver us from “our own false hopes and aims.”

Aspirational Lyricist Earl Bowman Marlatt

Hope of the World

Georgia Harkness

e return to the creators of hymn texts with a name wellknown to many, Georgia Harkness (’20; GRS’20, ’23; Hon.’38). In addition to her significance as an influential educator, theologian, and prolific author, Harkness4 wrote several hymns, the best-known being “Hope of the World,” which she wrote as part of a 1954 competition sponsored by what

he lyric reputation of STH was further enhanced by another hymn-writing dean, Earl Bowman Marlatt (’22, GRS’29). A former newspaperman and son of a Methodist minister, he wrote much poetry and was the associate editor (with H. Augustine Smith) of The American Student Hymnal and Lyric Religion: The Romance of Immortal Hymns. Although he wrote a number of hymns, his best-known text is “Are Ye Able?” which he wrote for the 1926 consecration service of

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has made this text problematic for many people. It was, nevertheless, an effective articulation of the aspiration and dedication of many Christians in its era.

The Power of Performance

Photo by Vernon Doucette

James Russell Houghton

the BU School of Religious Education [now part of STH]. It has appeared in approximately 75 hymnals since then, always with the tune “Beacon Hill,” written by Harry Silverdale Mason, who studied at STH in the 1920s. This text and tune continue to appear together in the current United Methodist Hymnal at number 530. Although this hymn was immensely popular at youth rallies from the 1930s through the 1950s, enthusiasm for it has considerably waned, owing largely to reservations about its undaunted resolution: Lord, we are able. Our spirits are thine. Remold them, make us, like thee, divine. Thy guiding radiance above us shall be a beacon to God, to love, and loyalty.5 Recognition that the disciples James and John, who are being quoted here (see Mark 10:35–40), did not realize the full import of their assertion, when coupled with the historical complexities of the latter half of the twentieth century,

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et another aspect of the strong hymnody tradition at BU, the performance and use of hymns, is represented by James Russell Houghton. He came to the University in 1927 and remained until 1964, serving as the professor of vocal music, chair of the voice department, and conductor of the BU Glee Club, the University Chorus, and the Seminary Singers, the latter of which he founded during his first year at BU. At STH, he taught courses on church music and hymnology. He was a remarkable influence on the lives of the many students who sang under him or took his classes, and he was held in high regard throughout the Methodist Church, serving on revision committees for the Book of Worship in 1944 and 1964 and for two editions of the hymnal. Noted for his strong baritone voice, Houghton was also the director of music at eight General Conferences from 1939 to 1960 and ensured that the Seminary Singers—still a treasured part of worship life at BU today—provided the music for the opening Communion service at each of them. His influence continues in the many hymn-related resources that are part of the Houghton Collection in the STH Library.6

5. “Are Ye Able,” The United Methodist Hymnal, number 530. 6. A brief description of this collection can be found at www. bu.edu/sthlibrary/hymnologicalcollections.

STH’s Seminary Singers was founded by James Russell Houghton—number seven on our list of worthies.

Doran photo courtesy of Selah Publishing Company

9. To date, she has published the following hymn collections: Dancing in the Universe (Chicago: GIA, 1992), Circles of Care (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1996), and Welcome God’s Tomorrow (Chicago: GIA, 2005).

Linda Clark

mong our own contemporaries, Linda Clark, the first Houghton Scholar of Church Music, merits a special place in this distinguished company because of her long and significant work in documenting how hymns shape and influence people’s beliefs and their actions based on those beliefs. While some of us would be content simply to have an intuitive perception of the many connections between faith and song, she has done the time-consuming labor of interviewing members of diverse congregations to learn how aware they are of such influence. Her research, brought together in two Alban Institute publications,7 has provided the documentation to turn assumption into fact, verifying once again the Wesleys’ affirmation of hymnody as a body of practical theology.

Stretching Musical Boundaries Carol Doran

arol Doran joined STH in the 2009–2010 academic year as an adjunct faculty member. In addition to the countless workshops she has led on congregational song, she has significantly enlarged the boundaries of the music of hymns through her compositions. Most notably, she collaborated

with Professor Thomas Troeger while she taught at the ecumenical assemblage of seminaries in Rochester, New York, to produce new lectionary-based hymns, which were later published in two collections by Oxford University Press.8 Three of her hymn settings appear in the current United Methodist Hymnal (at numbers 113, 264, and 538). They are compelling for their energy and freshness, helpfully disclosing the possibilities for effective hymn tunes. Doran is also an especially fine accompanist of congregational song and has served as the organist for chapel services at BU.

Inclusive and Expansive Words Ruth Duck

Photo courtesy of Ruth Duck

8. New Hymns for the Lectionary: To Glorify The Maker’s Name (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) and New Hymns for the Life of the Church: To Make Our Prayer and Music One (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).

Shaping Belief

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7. Music In Churches: Nourishing Your Congregation’s Musical Life (New York: Alban Institute, 1994) and How We Seek God Together: Exploring Worship Style (Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 2001).

uth Duck (’89) is an author of hymns familiar to many, both from her years as a doctoral student at STH and her subsequent career at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Illinois. STH has turned to Duck for hymn texts on special occasions, most recently for the installation of Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore. Although only one of her texts appears in the United Methodist Hymnal (at number 605), thirteen appear in the United Church of Christ’s New Century Hymnal and twelve in the Disciples of Christ’s Chalice Hymnal (along with several revisions of traditional texts). Her hymns are marked by careful attention to inclusive and expansive language, and she is doing valuable work in enlarging the vocabulary of hymnody.9

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Max Miller

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Classic Methodist Hymnologist Carlton R. Young

ast, but far from least, is Carlton R. Young (’53). In 2008, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of STH, a title he amply deserves. Young is the only person to serve as the editor of two revisions of Methodist hymnals, the former for 1966 and the current for 1989. He was also a coauthor of the companion (the reference handbook) to the first of these and

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Photo by Vernon Doucette

ax Miller (GRS’55) was University organist and chair of the organ department at the Boston University College of Fine Arts. Although he is best known as an organist, Miller has also made some significant contributions to the publication of hymnody and edited the 1977 United Church of Christ hymnal, Sing of Life and Faith. My favorite example of his hymn activity is his lyric and memorable tune “Marsh Chapel,” written for the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 and appearing with two texts in the United Methodist Hymnal (at numbers 426 and 551). As a measure of its excellence, “Marsh Chapel” was one of a handful of recent tunes included in the 2007 revision of The Harvard University Hymn Book.

the author of the companion to the latter. Somehow, he has found time to write and edit a number of other books, and he has a most impressive catalog of compositions, including many hymn tunes. He is a past president and a fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and was the first American to be made an honorary member of the British Methodist Church Music Society. His contributions can be found in hymnals of many other denominations.10

10. For a thumbnail biography, see www.selahpub.com/SelahPeople/ Young.html.

This is only a brief glimpse of a few members of the cloud of witnesses who have played a part in making STH a significant center of hymnic creativity and scholarship, and it’s a tradition that’s still alive in our recent graduates, as well as our current students. It is a pleasure and an honor to be part of this marvelous ongoing enterprise. X X Online Extra Follow Carl P. Daw Jr. through BU’s hymnology archives, and listen to some of his favorite picks, at www.bu.edu/today/ node/10464.

Photo by Vernon Doucette

Photo courtesy of BU Photography

Songs in the Key of Life

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J O UR N A L

reconciliation as mission BY DANA ROBERT, TRUMAN COLLINS PROFESSOR OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY & HISTORY OF MISSION AND CO-DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY & MISSION

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rom the salvation of warring peoples to a modern push for sustainable agriculture, reconciliation is at the heart of missionary work. In the following excerpt from her new book, Joy to the World! Mission

in the Age of Global Christianity, Dana Robert explores reconciliation with God, among people, and with the cosmos. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [2 Corinthians 5:17–20]

death and resurrection he provided the path for mending a broken world. The work of Jesus Christ in restoring the relationship between God and humanity is the first meaning of reconciliation as described by the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote to the Roman believers, For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. [Romans 5:10–11]

BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL ROOTS OF RECONCILIATION AS MISSION

RECONCILIATION WITH GOD A statue of St. Paul on the facade of a church in Caserta, Italy.

We experience joy in following Jesus Christ, not just because he healed and taught people, but because through his

About the Author

Dana Robert is one of the world’s leading experts in the study of mission and serves on the Committee on Faith and Order for the United Methodist Church. Joy to the World! Mission in the Age of Global Christianity is her tenth book. She recently gave the opening address at Edinburgh 2010, which you can read more about on page 49.

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Photo by Gary Doak

Reconciliation is a deeply biblical theme that underlies the mission of the church in the twenty-first century. . . . In the mission of reconciliation, we seek to mend what is broken—peoples’ relationships with God, with each other, and with all of God’s creation. As ambassadors for Christ, in the healing power of the Holy Spirit, we share God’s love with the whole world . . . .

For his followers, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate sign that God loves the world. In becoming human, God identified with our sufferings, failures, and weaknesses. In dying on the cross, he chose to take on the pain of human vulnerability rather than to commit violence by fighting or by seizing earthly power. In the resurrection, he promised us life over death. Just as God became one with us through becoming human in Jesus Christ, so is humanity unified with God. The resurrection of Jesus carries in it the assurance of humanity’s permanent reconciliation with its Creator. We become whole with God through Jesus’ victory over sin and death. This idea of reconciliation was so important to Paul that a recent document by the World Council of Churches indicates that it is the “key [to] Christian identity”: Paul uses the term reconciliation in exploring the nature of God, to illumine the content of the gospel as good news, and to explain the ministry and mission of the apostle and the church in the world. The term ‘reconciliation’ thus becomes an almost all-embracing term to articulate what is at the heart of the Christian faith.1 In traditional theological terms, the idea of being united with God through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is often called the “atonement.” While theologians disagree over the exact definition of the atonement, it is easy to remember it as “at-one-ment.” In other words, the idea behind the atonement is being restored to oneness with

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God—reconciliation between God and the people God loves. The idea of atonement was very important to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. In 1778, he wrote to Mary Bishop, “Nothing in the Christian system is of greater consequence than the doctrine of Atonement. . . . What saith the Scripture? It says, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.’”2 As “ambassadors for Christ,” as Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are witnesses to wholeness and the restoration of human nature to its divine capabilities through Christ. This joyous message defines the mission of reconciliation. As stated by the World Council of Churches: Mission as ministry of reconciliation involves the obligation to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in all its fullness, the good news of him who through his incarnation, death and resurrection has once for all provided the basis for reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins and new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. This ministry invites people to accept God’s offer of reconciliation in Christ, and to become his disciples in the communion of his church. It promises the hope of fullness of life in God, both in this age and in God’s future, eternal kingdom.3 RECONCILIATION AMONG PEOPLE

The second area of reconciliation discussed by the Apostle Paul is reconciliation among people. Human reconciliation flows from God’s reconciliation with us through Jesus Christ. The cross and the resurrection form the foundation for reconcilia-

1. Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, Athens Assembly Preparatory Paper #10, “Mission as Ministry of Reconciliation,” World Council of Churches. www.oikoumene.org/resources/ documents/wcc-commissions/ mission-and-evangelism/cwmeworld-conference-athens-2005/ preparatory-paper-n-10-missionas-ministry-of-reconciliation. html (accessed May 2, 2009), paragraph 12. 2. www.wesley-fellowship.org. uk/WesBulletin23_2.html 3. World Council of Churches, paragraph 33.

John Wesley, 1703–1791

tion between human beings because they make it clear that reconciliation begins with God. Restoring wholeness seems nearly impossible without divine help. By reaching down to us through Jesus Christ, God gives human beings the courage to reach out to one another. . . . Unconditional love and acceptance by God empowers people to cross boundaries in acceptance and forgiveness of their enemies. God’s action to reconcile breaks the vicious cycle of violence, revenge, and more violence that characterizes the world of sinful humanity. In the mission of reconciliation, we seek to mend what is broken—peoples’ relationships with God, with each other, and with all of God’s creation.

Because reconciliation begins with God, we need not wallow in our powerlessness over sin, feeling inadequate and sorry for ourselves. God’s love, given freely, liberates us to love others. In the book of Ephesians, Paul talks about the enmity between Jews and Greeks in the early church. How could they be reconciled to each other, and find unity across racial and ethnic divisions? The answer to human hatred and disunity is Christ’s spirit of peace, and his creation of a united “new humanity” through his death on the cross. Paul states of Christ in Ephesians 2:15–18: He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile

both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. The Christian idea of reconciliation thus leads directly toward peacemaking and acceptance of fellow human beings despite our differences. . . . Throughout the history of Christianity, the mission of reconciliation has involved forgiveness, peacemaking, interracial unity, conflict transformation, and bringing forth the justice necessary for continued healthy relationships among human beings. One of the most significant examples of reconciliation as mission occurred in the evangelization of Fiji during the 1800s. The Fiji Islands were broken into seven warring kingdoms. Warfare included cannibalism, and the use of over twenty-five different kinds of war clubs. During the 1800s, Christianity spread through the South Pacific through islanders, who traveled to enemy territory in their long canoes and landed unarmed to spread a message of peace. Many indigenous missionaries were killed and eaten. A year after his conversion, the Tongan Methodist Joeli Bulu (d. 1877) went to Fiji as a missionary. Over the next forty years, Bulu spread the message of peace and reconciliation among the Fijians. While serving on the northern island of Vanua Levu, Bulu was persecuted. The non-Christian Fijians stole his pigs, killed his chickens, and spoiled his bread pits. Cannibals

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destroyed twenty or thirty Christian villages on that one island. One morning, the cannibals surrounded Bulu’s village to kill all the Christians. Bulu had the villagers sit down in the grass and wait peacefully for their deaths. The war cry sounded, and the cannibals burst in. As they stood with their clubs and spears above the heads of the peaceful Christians, they felt a power take them over, and they could not strike. One man presented a whale’s tooth, a Fijian sign of atonement, to Bulu and said, “Joeli, you are a true man. We have spoiled your bread: we have killed your chickens: we have taken your pigs: we have treated you badly. But you are a true man, and your God is a true God. Take this atonement and feel free to tell us the story of your God.”4 Inspired by Jesus as the prince of peace, who died on the cross rather than resorting to violence, the Fijians renounced warfare and became Christians. They united in peace with their traditional enemies, including with Tongans and Samoans. Many became Methodists, and the Fijians themselves became missionaries to other ethnic groups in New Guinea. Visitors today can see the baptismal font, made from the pot in which cannibals cooked their victims. The stone slab on which victims’ brains were bashed out has become the altar. In the light of reconciliation through Jesus Christ, the symbols of war became symbols of peace and interethnic unity. The Communion feast, itself a celebration of the sacrificial blood and body of Jesus Christ, carried deep meaning for those who had renounced cannibal warfare and become unarmed peace-bearers. . . .

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RECONCILIATION WITH THE COSMOS

The third kind of reconciliation about which Paul writes is the reconciliation of the cosmos—of God’s creation. Speaking of Christ as the “firstborn of all creation,” Paul writes that . . . . in him all things hold together. . . . For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him . . . to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. [Colossians 1:15–20] While the basic idea of cosmic reconciliation through Christ lies in early Christian philosophy, it has become more popular in recent decades as a rallying cry for Christian environmentalism. If Christ was with God from the beginning of time, then he cares about all of creation, not only about human salvation. Since Jesus died for the whole world, then the realm of peace and justice must include all of God’s creation, not just human beings. Paul’s idea of cosmic reconciliation gives a biblical foundation to efforts to restore the Earth and to mend creation. Grassroots movements and scholars are drawing upon the biblical idea of reconciliation to support activities like treeplanting, simple lifestyles, stewardship of the environment, and helping rural peoples to remain on the land. In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that God created the cosmos and pronounced it good. Since the goal of mission is to spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ, then mission as reconciliation includes witnessing to the Good News

4. Quoted in Alan R. Tippett, The Deep-Sea Canoe: The Story of Third World Missionaries in the South Pacific (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 1977), 39.

Earth care has become a central tenet of reconciliation with creation.

5. Quoted in Allan Effa, “The Greening of Mission,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 32, no. 4 (2008): 171. 6. Quoted in Ibid., 173. 7. See Dana L. Robert, Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion (Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 110–113; Willis Jenkins, “Missiology in Environmental Context: Tasks for an Ecology of Mission,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 32, no. 4 (2008): 176–84. 8. See Robert Schreiter’s writings on reconciliation, including Schreiter, Reconciliation: Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992), and The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998).

that Jesus died to restore the wholeness of creation. Over the past thirty years, all major branches of Christianity have thought about what it means to extend the saving work of Christ beyond individual human redemption. Pope John Paul II declared the great missionary St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of ecology in 1979. John Paul II called for laity to draw upon the power of the resurrection “to restore to creation all its original value.”5 In 1989, mainline Protestants and Orthodox, through the World Council of Churches, embraced the ideas of “justice, peace, and the integrity of creation” as intrinsic to the nature of mission. In 2004, evangelical leaders met at Sandy Cove [Ministries in North East, Maryland] and pledged to advance God’s reign by making “creation care a permanent dimension of our Christian discipleship.”6 Recent opinion polls of evangelical Protestants show that Earth care is one of their top five priorities. Across many traditions, Christians in the twenty-first century believe that the wholeness and reconciliation desired by God include creation. Human beings have a special obligation to take care of what God has created. Mission work has always been concerned with the Earth. The “father of Protestant missions,” William Carey, helped found a botanical garden in India along with translating the Bible into Bengali and other languages. Many

generations of agricultural missionaries have focused on sustainable agriculture for the support of the people. Medieval missionaries in Holland built dikes to reclaim land from the sea. In the 1900s, Protestant missionaries collected plant specimens and studied deforestation and conservation of water resources. Mission schools often held annual “arbor days” during which students went out to plant trees. Missionaries have defended local land rights and sustainable land policies, even at the cost of their lives.7 . . . The mission of reconciliation begins with God’s saving work in Jesus Christ. Secure in the knowledge that God is the source of wholeness and unity, followers of Jesus around the world witness to renewed relationships between God and humanity, among human beings, and between humanity and God’s creation. The mission of reconciliation involves hard work and learning many skills, including those of peace-building, conflict transformation, justice-seeking, and Earth care. But as Robert Schreiter points out, reconciliation is more a “spirituality” than a “strategy.”8 To be an “ambassador of Christ” requires first and foremost being a person united with God in prayer. X Excerpted from Joy to the World! Mission in the Age of Global Christianity © 2010 Women’s Division, The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church. X Online Extra Read more of Dana Robert’s work on the history—and future—of misson at www.bu.edu/cgcm.

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J O UR N A L

leadership in Changing Times BY SUSAN W. HASSINGER, BISHOP IN RESIDENCE AND ADJUNCT PROFESSOR

s the United Methodist Church in the Northeast opens a new era with the inauguration of two conferences, and the end of five others, Bishop

Susan W. Hassinger examines leadership in times of change. Editor’s note: This article is based on a sermon given by Bishop Susan W. Hassinger to mark the inauguration of the United Methodist Church’s Upper New York Annual Conference. Formed after a sixyear process, the new conference was part of a wider reconfiguration that led to the formation of three conferences from six and cutting back from four bishops to three. As interim bishop for two of the conferences, Hassinger helped lay the groundwork for the Upper New York conference, covering everything from a vision statement to pension distribution. She says the sermon “expresses the conviction that leadership for change emerges most effectively when it is focused on commitment to a vision for a different future.”

purpose we have adopted, and around which the structure is built. Let’s begin by considering that loom. The framework on which the tapestry of the new annual conference is being built is a vision statement that has emerged from much prayer and discernment. Without such a framework, there would be no way of holding together the various strands and fabrics of our life together. That framework is one that is simple and that we can repeat back to one another regularly: To live the gospel of Jesus Christ and to be God’s love with our neighbors in all places.

Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (1809– 1864), Jesus and the Little Children (detail), c. 1838. Photo: Daniel Arnaudet/Gérard Blot. Location: Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Lisieux, France.

As I contemplated the inauguration of the Upper New York Annual Conference, the image of a weaver came to mind. During the six years of exploration and development leading to its formation, God has been the Master Weaver guiding the process. Although I do not weave, I know it involves several parts. First, the weaver needs a loom. The loom is the framework that holds the fabrics steady while they’re being woven. The framework for our weaving together a new annual conference is the guiding vision and

About the Author

Susan W. Hassinger was elected as a United Methodist Church bishop in 1996 and first assigned to the New England Annual Conference. In 2006, she was appointed interim bishop for the Troy and Wyoming conferences and helped lead the formation of the Upper New York Annual Conference.

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Photo by Kalman Zabarsky

Photo: Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY

A VISION OF LEADERSHIP

That vision statement is a clear way of reflecting our denominational mission statement, “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” On the framework of that vision statement, the life of an annual conference will be formed. Attached to that framework are the lengthwise warp fabrics and the crosswise weft fabrics. The warp fabrics provide the foundation. They hold in place the weft fabrics that develop the color and pattern of the tapestry. So, let’s consider: What are the warp fabrics that form the foundation of our being woven together? We can observe some of the warp threads in the scripture lessons of Acts 2:37–47, Romans 12:1–2, and Mark 8:34–38. They are the foundation on which the vision is formed into visible reality. CHANGING DIRECTION

The first warp thread comes to us from the Acts of the Apostles, and is repeated across the loom in different hues in the gospel and epistle lessons. That first warp fabric is Peter’s strong, “Repent,” which he proclaims at the conclusion of his sermon on that first Pentecost day. The crowd had just asked him, “Brothers, what should we do?” (Acts 2:37–38). To repent, we know from our scriptural studies, means to turn around and go in a different direction. Peter knew what it meant to repent after he had denied knowing Jesus. Otherwise, he could not have stood before that crowd with such conviction. The people to whom Peter was preaching understood that word ‘repent.’ They had heard it from the prophets who had confronted kings and others who’d gone their own way rather than following God’s ways.

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Repentance means recognizing that we have not always followed God’s guidance, that we have desired to go our own ways, that it is easier to do the known and familiar rather than to go in directions for which there is no map. Such repentance means being willing to give up the known and the comfortable in order to gain that which is lasting and more significant. Peter says, “Repent.” In Mark 8:34– 38, Jesus says to Peter, the disciples, and the crowds: “Those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” The writer of Mark’s gospel has placed this important warp thread after Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ. Immediately after that

Repentance means recognizing that we have not always followed God’s guidance. . . . Such repentance means being willing to give up the known and the comfortable in order to gain that which is lasting and more significant.

confession, Jesus stated that his ministry was going in a new direction. The early parts of Mark’s gospel show Jesus focusing on preaching, teaching, and healing. But now, in this central eighth chapter, Jesus is moving toward the direction of challenging the empires of his day, both religious and political. Such a change of direction would require the sacrifice of his life. Those who would believe in him and would take a new direction could also expect suffering and sacrifice. Peter challenged Jesus, thinking that such a new direction, especially requiring

We live in a time when the culture around us tries to mold us into putting self first, to embrace a culture of consumerism and individualism, to seek ease and financial security, to preserve the institution at all costs. But Jesus, Peter, and Paul are calling us to reconsider what success is all about, what is most important, and what the foundation for living in this new vision, the new annual conference, will be. We are called to lose our lives as former conferences and to be transformed, in order to “live the gospel of Jesus Christ and to be God’s love with our neighbors in all places.” BEING TRANSFORMED

suffering and sacrifice, was inconceivable. But Jesus assured them that by losing his life, by their expecting to lose their lives, they would discover life in abundance. Peter says, “Repent.” Jesus says, Lose your life in order to find it. Paul brings us another version of this warp fabric. It is from those first two verses of the twelfth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.” Paul wrote those words to a mixed community of Jewish and Gentile believers in the capital of the Roman empire. In this passage, Paul provided his own blunt words, words that connected to their community as the word “repent” connected with those hearing Peter’s sermon, as the message lose your life in order to find it connected with Jesus’ audience. In other words, to repent and to find one’s life is to be transformed.

Those warp threads of repentance, losing life to find it, and being transformed repeat themselves lengthwise across the loom frame. But to complete the tapestry, we need the various weft threads that are attached to shuttles that weave over and under and through those warp fabrics. In order for our vision to emerge, one of the weft strands is to passionately love the God who has so passionately loved us in Jesus Christ. Unless we know, not just in the head, but in our whole being, that we are the beloved children of God, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to deny self and be transformed. Knowing and experiencing again and again that grace-filled, unconditional love of God happens as we engage in vibrant worship, as we participate in small groups, as we take time in individual prayer and reflection, as we serve with our neighbors. As we experience that love, we will be empowered to move out to be God’s love with our neighbors in all places.

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Our congregations are not to be family chapels, not to be closed places where only those who know their way can enter through the big doors. Rather, our congregations are to be places where the love of God is experienced and spills out into the streets as it did on that first Pentecost. Living the gospel of Jesus Christ is rooted in loving God with all of our being—hearts, souls, strength, and minds. Another of the weft threads connects with the second part of the vision statement, “to be God’s love with our neighbors in all places.” Perhaps we are asking, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). That was the question that prompted the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan. From Jesus’ story, we recognize that our neighbor is anyone who extends compassion and care to one in need. W. Paul Jones, in his book The Art of Spiritual Direction, includes this aphorism for us to ponder: “Since every person is a potential neighbor, there are no strangers.”1 It was clear Jesus did not turn aside from any whose paths he crossed, or whose life journey crossed his, from that young man of wealth and privilege who asked, “And who is my neighbor?” to the dying thief who was Jesus’ neighbor on the cross. Jesus traveled through enemy territory in Samaria and spoke as a neighbor with an ostracized woman, offering her “living water” (John 4). Jesus went to the home of the outcast tax collector Zaccheus, and ate dinner in that neighborhood. There were no limits to Jesus’ expressions of hospitality, either giving or receiving, and I don’t believe there should be any on ours. Our hos-

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pitality, I believe, extends also to God’s creation, our environment. All are places where we are called to move outside the walls of the church to work with our neighbors, not for our neighbors, to be that love of God in the community. The weft threads of the new annual conference purpose, which accompanies

1. W. Paul Jones, The Art of Spiritual Direction: Giving and Receiving Spiritual Guidance (Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2002), p. 214.

2. “This Is a Day of New Beginnings,” composed by David Ashley White; text by Brian Wren.

the vision statement, include active verbs: s 'ROWING in our relationship with God s "EING the body of Christ within the world s ,IVING in accordance with the example of Jesus Christ

These weft threads have been dyed in the cultures of Western New York, North Central New York, Wyoming, and Troy conferences. They reflect the nuances of our cultures and traditions, the lives of our various cities, and the livelihoods that are rooted in our mountains and lakes, streams and fields, schools and offices. They reflect the passions connected with Native Americans and with university campuses, with ministries in camps, conference centers, prisons, and many other places. Each of these strands is unique and each one has been drawn from our biblical roots and our Wesleyan and ecumenical heritage. A PATTERN EMERGES

I’m told the weaver begins with an image of what the tapestry will look like and then begins to put together the fabrics in order to work towards that visioned pattern. But colors don’t necessarily look the same next to other colors as one imagined, and the pattern, the vision, takes on a shape of its own. What’s important is for the weaver to hold on to that vision while working on the tapestry, and to trust the process, trust that something beautiful will come out of it. Sometimes the weaver has to undo and redo parts.

God is the Master Weaver who has been guiding the formation of the loom (our vision), placing before us the warp fabrics of our scriptural heritage, and choosing and dyeing the weft fabrics of our adopted purpose and our various cultures. We are committing ourselves to increasing clarity about what it means to be part of weaving our lives and backgrounds and passions together into a beautiful tapestry. Any structure we have put into place will be measured against that vision. None of us knows what the church will be like when we retire, but we can be fairly certain that it will not be like the church we know today. We are all listening to the nudges of God’s spirit in this weaving process. We should all help others to listen to that voice, to be inviting and encouraging, even when life and ministry may seem to be discouraging. This is a time of new beginnings, a time to remember and move on. We can be assured that we do not do it on our own, but with the guidance of the Master Weaver, empowered by the Holy Spirit. And so we can say with confidence: This is a day of new beginnings . . . Christ is alive, and goes before us to show and share what love can do. This is a day of new beginnings; our God is making all things new.2 X

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S T UD E N T E X P E R I E N C E

exploring the church in cuba BY NELL BECKER SWEEDEN (’13)

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church blossoming as it confronts and negotiates Communist restrictions.

Considering the common belief that organized religion is not permitted in Cuba, the Christian church’s vibrancy in the Caribbean island may surprise some. Just over 50 years after the Cuban Revolution, the church is thriving— often in the most unexpected places. In early 2010, I traveled to Cuba with a group of ten other students and two faculty members from the School of Theology. Our aim was to learn from—and encourage—the Christian church in Cuba, exploring how it relates to Cuban community, identity, and culture. We were guided by the Seminario Evangélico de Teología de Matanzas (Evangelical Theological Seminary), an ecumenical seminary established in

1946 by Cuban Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches, which today provides training for pastors and leaders from a variety of denominations. A challenge for newer congregations in Cuba is acquiring worship and meeting space. After the 1959 revolution, churches and denominations did not retain ownership of their chapels or sanctuaries, and many of them also lost use of these spaces. Today, the policy of the state is for new churches to be in houses: no land can be acquired to make a church, and meetings must be held with a special state permit in a church member’s home. As a result, the practices by which congregations manage relationships and creatively utilize

Photo by Shelby Condray

Photos by Shelby Condray

Nell Becker Sweeden

student visitor to Cuba ﬁnds the Christian

From left: Shelly Rambo (faculty leader); Nell Becker Sweeden ’13; Shelby Condray ’11; Patrick Reyes ’11; Bill Peden ’11; Alex Froom ’12, SSW ’12; Dae Yoen Hwang ’11; Cris Crawford ’10; Blake Huggins ’11; Ashley Benner ’11; Bryan Stone (faculty leader); Katie Cole ’12, SSW ’12; and Ryan Harrison ’08, ’11. school of theology

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space for worship and faith practice play an important role in shaping the gospel in Cuba. During our ten-day trip, we found congregations meeting inside buildings and outside in ﬁelds, and we explored manifestations of the gospel through house church movements and social service projects as the worshipers navigated Cuban politics and economics. Three congregations we visited stood out in their creative expressions of the gospel. THE GOSPEL IN RURAL AND URBAN CUBA

On a Sunday morning at the Presbyterian Church of Luyano, Pastor Dora Arce Valentín challenged her congregation to love and care for one another, to follow Jesus’ command to his disciples to love their neighbor. The sermon was a familiar one; the congregation was fortunate enough to be among the few permitted to meet in an original church sanctuary; and the order of service was strikingly similar to that of a Presbyterian church in the United States. When the worship service closed, however, our group visited the church’s back patio area; there, we saw how neighborly care manifested itself in this working class suburb of Havana. A back garden shed had been converted into a community classroom where church members taught urban gardening techniques. In the 1970s—a time of severe food shortages—families were encouraged to begin urban gardens to supplement their diets. In a small church garden next to the classroom, medicinal herbs were grown for teas and natural healing remedies. Church members had also planted a variety of vegetables, which were used to harvest seeds for the surrounding community and household gardens. 46 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

Such expressions of gospel and ecclesial life point to the important role of the church in community development and communal identity in Cuba. In one sense, these expressions could be likened to urban para-church organizations and congregations throughout the U.S. that have developed nonproﬁt enterprises— rescue missions, food pantries, and urban rehabilitation projects. In Cuba, we found that such ventures were widespread in both urban and rural landscapes. In fact, every church we visited was involved in some sort of community development.

House gatherings in the name of Jesus represented one of the earliest forms of what later would be known as “church” in the early centuries of Christianity. Gathering and sharing meals in the common, day-today household space is where early Christians learned how to be present in the world.

One small Episcopal house congregation in Cuba’s rural western town of Cuatro Esquinas (Four Corners) had 97 hectares of government-granted livestock land. Under the state-sponsored program, the church raises dairy cows to sell milk back to the state and other buyers. The church also hopes to raise pigs and sheep on the land. In the one-room sanctuary space of the Cristo Rey (Christ the King) parish in Cuatro Esquinas, we experienced the reality of a house church—cramped space, rooms sectioned off with sheets and plain curtains, and chairs constantly shifted into awkward conﬁgurations to accommodate services. After enjoying honey harvested from bee hives in the

back garden and sharing a traditional Cuban meal of pork, beans, rice, and yucca, we began to ease into the natural and communal feel that the house church afforded. We might have imagined a similar scene in one of the house communities of which the Apostle Paul writes in his letters. House gatherings in the name of Jesus represented one of the earliest forms of what later would be known as “church” in the early centuries of Christianity. Gathering and sharing meals in the common, dayto-day household space is where early Christians learned how to be present in the world alongside their commitment to the way of Jesus. THE EMERGING ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN CUBA

Images from Cuban church spaces, including (top) a statue at La Iglesia de San Lázaro; a banner (center) from the Cristo Rey parish; and an urban garden (bottom) at the Church of Luyano.

What struck me most in our group’s journey to Cuba was discovering a church on the move. A church journeying, adapting, negotiating, and emerging; a church still seeking its place and role in society. This might suggest a church very different from our own, but perhaps when the church’s presence is long established and without disruption, one forgets that it is continually adapting. In Cuba, we saw how the church’s embodiments of the gospel can adapt and react within the cultures that surround it—this adaptation is always a journey that draws from the new and the old. This tension, this ebb and ﬂow of faith and tradition with history and culture, is what creates and re-creates Christian identity, whatever the time and place. It’s what allows the gospel to be embodied, reborn, and passed on in new contexts and cultures. Our Cuban hosts showed us new embodiments of faith and practice, and also helped us rediscover our own embodiment of the gospel. X school of theology

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ST H N E W S

Photo by Vernon Doucette

curriculum for a changing world

STH’s new curriculum allows students to follow tracks for the ﬁrst time.

he School of Theology has launched a new curriculum for master’s students, the ﬁrst major overhaul of its programs in more than 15 years. The revised curriculum has been designed to give students more ﬂexibility in building a degree program and to better support those choosing a life beyond traditional ministry. This change resulted from a four-year review process, which included contributions from alums, faculty, students, and outside experts.

48 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

One of the biggest alterations is the introduction of tracks for the Master of Divinity program, enabling students to focus on pastoral ministry, global and community engagement, church and the arts, or religion and the academy. Megan Hornbeek (’05, SED’11) was part of the committee that led the curriculum review. She says the School remains committed to its roots as a seminary—students can now pursue ordination in any track and develop different specializations—but needed to adapt to changing times.

“Students in today’s culture who get a master’s of divinity degree aren’t guaranteed to go out and do pastoral ministry,” she says, noting that many students enter the School planning to join the nonprofit sector. “We’re trying to better prepare students for a multitude of fields.” The tracks were also chosen to fit with “what our faculty does best,” says Hornbeek and to emphasize “what we do that no other school does.” The new curriculum will also make it easier for students to take classes at other BU schools. Hornbeek says there’s already lots of interest in options related to international relations, public health, law, and management: “There are pastors who are going to be in small churches and are going to have to understand management,” she says. Students opting for the master’s in theological studies can follow a general program or select a specialization. The nature of those specializations is still being finalized by faculty and students, but Hornbeek says “a lot of our theological studies students go on to doctoral work, so we’re trying to help prepare them to be more specialized in their fields.” According to Hornbeek, the School’s doctoral offerings are next in line for review.

Photo by Gary Doak

call for mission unity

Professor Dana Robert gave attendees at the Edinburgh 2010 conference her vision for the future of mission work.

rofessor Dana Robert has urged mission leaders to adapt to a changing world and remain steadfast in “sharing God’s love and salvation.” She was speaking at the World Mission Conference,

Edinburgh 2010. The June event marked the centennial of Edinburgh 1910, held as a milestone in Protestant missionary ecumenism. Talking of a “multicultural faith, with believers drawn from every inhabited continent,” Robert encouraged Christians to see that their unity, despite social, theological, and political differences, could still change the world: “The greater plurality of the world church today means that our united witness becomes urgent for the integrity of the gospel message,” said the Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity & History of Mission. Robert told attendees that the purpose of mission had gone beyond people and invited them to consider the role of “environ-

mental mission,” adding: “We must work for the repair or the salvation of God’s creation when we conceptualize mission in the twenty-ﬁrst century.” She also discussed the impact of globalization on spreading the gospel, ending by comparing the concerns of a century ago with those of today. In 1910, she said, many “complained that only one-third of the world was Christian,” but today church members “rejoice” at such numbers. X Online Extra BU also hosted a lecture series celebrating Edinburgh 2010. You can read more about the event at www.bu.edu/sth/2010-bostonconference.

catholic view on spreading the gospel “What are the major characteristics of the Catholic Church of the global south?” asked Phan. “Let me mention three, and all of them will shape missio ecclesiae in totally new ways. First, it will be the church of the poor. Second, it will be the church of migrants. And, third, it will be a signiﬁcantly Pentecostal/charismatic church.” X Online Extra Watch Phan present his thoughts on the future of mission and the Roman Catholic Church at www.bu.edu/ buniverse; search keyword “phan.”

Photo courtesy of Peter C. Phan

he Protestant church isn’t alone in wrestling with the changing nature of mission work, according to Georgetown University’s Peter C. Phan. Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought Phan gave the School of Theology’s annual Lowell Lecture, presenting a Roman Catholic perspective on the history and future of mission. A native of Vietnam and editor of Theology in Global Perspective, Phan also discussed the impact of the religion’s migration to the southern hemisphere.

Georgetown University’s Peter C. Phan gave STH’s 2010 Lowell Lecture.

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ST H N E W S

new faculty power

thical leadership. Baseball and religion. Worship and artistic play. The School of Theology’s three new faculty members bring some intriguing—and diverse—areas of expertise with them, and Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore says they’re all “powerful scholars and teachers.” Christopher Evans, a longtime pastor and a 1986 graduate of STH, can be credited with the baseball expertise (he co-edited The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture). The former professor of church history and director of Methodist studies at New York’s Colgate Rochester Divinity School has also published books on liberalism and Protestantism and the social gospel pioneer Walter Rauschenbusch. Now professor of history of Christianity and Methodist studies at STH, Evans says he’s excited to “join a faculty that is at the forefront of theological education.” For Assistant Professor of Religious Education Courtney Goto, play and creativity are ways of exploring faith from fresh angles—her dissertation was titled

Artistic Play: Seeking God in the Unexpected—while she formerly managed the theology journal Practical Matters. Also joining the faculty is Walter Fluker (GRS’88), Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Ethical Leadership. Moore describes Fluker as a “world-renowned public intellectual.” Often called on by international organizations to advise on questions of leadership, Fluker is a leading scholar of King (GRS’55, Hon.’59) and Howard Thurman (Hon.’59). You can read more about his approach to ethical leadership at www.bu.edu/today/node/11716 and learn more about all three new faculty members at www.bu.edu/sth/new-faculty. ASSOCIATE DEAN ANNOUNCED

The School of Theology has a new associate dean for academic affairs. E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism Bryan Stone assumed the role in January 2010. The associate dean provides oversight for the School’s academic programs, admissions, faculty searches, and scholarships.

top-20 spot for multifaith education

he School of Theology has been named one of the nation’s leading seminaries for a multifaith education. The inaugural Beyond World Religions survey, conducted by Auburn Theological Seminary, New York, looked at the level and quality of programs that teach students about faiths other than their own. The study of 150 schools,

50 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

which included Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist institutions, ranked STH among the top 20 in the U.S. The survey authors praised STH for “a deep institutional commitment to multifaith education.” X Online Extra You can learn more about the rankings at www.bu.edu/sth.

From Civil Rights to Eco Campaigns

ou can tell a lot about the School of Theology from its 2010 Distinguished Alumni Award winners. They, like so many other STH alums, have served the world over multiple generations—from a veteran of lunch counter

sit-ins to a tenacious demonstrator for clean power, from a bishop in the southern tip of India to a Moravian pastor reaching out to aboriginal people in Northern Canada. Amongst them is a community pastor with 40 years of service.

About the Winners Edwin King (’61, ’63) completed his degree at STH in two parts, taking a break to join the Civil Rights movement in the South (earning two arrests and a hard labor sentence for his efforts). After graduation, he continued to campaign for civil rights and was a member of the Delta Ministry of the national and world councils of churches. He currently teaches at the University of Mississippi.

All photos courtesy of the winners

A New England pastor since his graduation, Dean Benedict (’67) has also been a community leader, representing the Hudson, Massachusetts school committee, the board of governors of the Shriners Hospitals for Children, and STH’s Alumni Board. A former teacher, Zacharias Mar Theophilus Suffragan Metropolitan (’75) is the bishop of the Chengannur-Mavelikara diocese in Kerala, Southern India. He’s been instrumental in establishing a hostel for working women and launching projects to support people with disabilities in the region.

A longtime campaigner in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, particularly for Canada’s aboriginal populations, Carol Vogler (’83) has also held a number of leadership positions in the Moravian church. Marla Marcum (’03) is the faith and justice community outreach coordinator with the Leadership Campaign, which lobbies for clean fuel initiatives in Massachusetts. Marcum also helped found Cambridge Welcoming Ministries, which ministers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in greater Boston.

Your Turn to Nominate a Winner Do you know a fellow STH alum who deserves some recognition? Perhaps you’ve followed the life of a fellow classmate and would like us to celebrate his or her work. We want your nominations for the STH Distinguished Alumni/ae Awards 2011. Just turn the page for the nomination form. You can even email the names of the fellow alums who’ve inspired you—turn to the next page for details.

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alumni/ae awards 2011 Your Nominations We take great pleasure in honoring outstanding alumni and alumnae with the School of Theology Distinguished Alumni/ae Awards. Your nominees should reflect the values of the Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission statement: creative and critical inquiry in the theological disciplines; responsible Christian engagement with the world and its peoples, cultures, and issues; and the formation and development of maturing communities of faith. Nominees should be role models with a sustained record of achievement and service. How to Make Your Nomination: You can email the name of your nominee, including your reasons for choosing him or her, to Jaclyn Jones at sthalum@bu.edu, or fax or mail this form (see below). The deadline for nominations is April 1, 2011. Name of nominee Reason for nomination:

School(s)/Year(s)

Please attach additional sheets if necessary. Young Alumni/ae Awards 2011: You can also make a nomination for the Young Alumni/ae Award 2011, recognizing the achievements of those alums under the age of 35 who have shown great promise as servants of their community and the world. Name of nominee Reason for nomination:

School(s)/Year(s)

Please attach additional sheets if necessary. Your Information Your name

School(s)/Year(s)

Your relationship to the nominee Your address

City

State

Email address

Telephone

Fax

Have you nominated a candidate before?

Zip code

T Yes T No

Forms can be mailed to BU School of Theology Alumni/ae Office, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 109, Boston, MA 02215, or faxed to 617-358-4225. You can also email your nomination to sthalum@bu.edu.

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ALUMN I /AE N E W S & N O T E S

class notes 1940s

Wallen Bean (’47, GRS’69) of North Dartmouth, Mass., published a memoir, A Most Uninitiated Hillbilly (AuthorHouse, 2009), which covers his years at the School of Theology after World War II. “One of the highlights was the six-week tour with the Seminary Singers,” he writes. “I was one of a handful in the first class to train pastoral counselors.” 1950s

Robert P. Crosby (’54) of Seattle, Wash., has published A Month in Medieval Volpaia, Tuscany: Diary of a “Temporary Citizen.” The diary chronicles a month in Italy and was coauthored with Patricia N. Crosby.

Orlo C. Strunk, Jr. (’55, GRS’57) of Calabash, N.C., received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from West Virginia Wesleyan College at the school’s Founders Celebration. Strunk, who also delivered the Founders Day address, was honored for “serving with distinction in World War II, for his exceptional service and lifelong commitment to psychology, pastoral care, and education, and for his service as dean of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1959 to 1969.” Email him at glass@atmc.net. 1960s

Donald F. Megnin (’60) of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., has published Moments in Time: A Memoir.

Douglas Wingeier (’54, GRS’62) of Asheville, N.C., has published Marks of Mission: A Life Transformed by 50 Years in Mission (Wind Eagle Press, 2010). He says it draws on a lifetime of international, crosscultural engagement to develop an approach to mission that is biblical, progressive, and tested by experience. Email Wingeier at dcwing@att.net to find out more.

Donald E. Messer (’66, GRS’69) of Centennial, Col., has recently published two books, 52 Ways to Create An AIDS-Free World (Fresh Air Books) and Cherishing Life and Love: Reflections of Paul Murphy (Rider Green Book Publishers). He also wrote an article for the Washington Post, “Thanking God for Condoms . . .”

Gerald Anderson (’55, GRS’60) of Hamden, Conn., is director emeritus of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn. He is also the coeditor and coauthor of World Mission in the Wesleyan Spirit (Providence House Publishers, 2009), which includes a chapter by Professor Dana Robert.

Dennis D. Nicholson (’66) of Indianola, Iowa, is the coauthor of Indianola: Ballooning Capital of Iowa. The pictorial history of ballooning in Iowa contains many photos taken by Nicholson.

1970s

John Bodycomb (’70) is retired and living in Australia. He writes that of the many “growth spurts in my development . . . by far the most massive was at BU.” Looking back at those turbulent years of the late 1960s, he continues, “I studied under giants, Walter Muelder, Paul Schilling, et al., and truly venerate them, and others, for what they gave me. Those were transformative years, for which I shall be forever grateful to BU.” Mark Harvey (’71, GRS’83) of Boston, Mass., has been active with his Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, giving a benefit concert for the Massachusetts Council of Churches and celebrating the centennial of jazz legend Mary Lou Williams with concerts of her swing and sacred music. He also recently performed “The Star Spangled Banner” at Fenway Park. Terry P. Harter (’72, GRS’80) of Springfield, Ill., was appointed Sangamon River District Superintendent in Illinois. Harter served as pastor of Champaign First UMC for more than a decade. Keith Roberts (’72, GRS’76) of Hanover, Ind., won the American Sociological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching.

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ALUM N I /AE N E W S & N O TE S

(continued)

Photo courtesy of J. Gordon Glenn III

class notes

There was an STH mini-reunion at the Midwest South District Conference of the Midwest Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Mo. Together were Joseph N. Cousin Sr. (’98), center, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Ann Arbor, Mich.; V. Gordon Glenn III, (’97), left, pastor of Grant Chapel AME Church in Kansas City, Kans.; and Rachel Williams-Glenn (’97).

1990s

Max Malikow (’92) of Syracuse, N.Y., adjunct professor of philosophy at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., has completed his latest book, Being Human: Philosophical Reflections on Psychological Issues (Rowman & Littlefield). Malikow is also a practicing psychotherapist. Frances Marie Nosbisch (’93, ’94) has lived in St. Lucia since 2008 and is the program coordinator at the Archbishop Kelvin Felix Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre in Castries in the northwest of the island. Kristin (Stefan) Swenson (’93, GRS’01) of Richmond, Va., published Bible Babel: Making

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Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time (Harper, 2010). An associate professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, she spent the Spring 2010 semester serving as a visiting fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities in Charlottesville, Va. Contact Kristin at kswenson@vcu.edu. Rwth Ashton (’97) has been named chaplain at Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss. Rachel Williams-Glenn (’97) of Kansas City, Kans., received her master’s in marriage and family therapy from Friends University, Lenexa, Kansas. Williams-Glenn lives with her husband, V. Gordon Glenn III (’97), and plans to be a licensed marriage and family therapist. 2000s

Heather Josselyn-Cranson (’00, ’05) associate professor of music and director of music ministries at Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa, won second prize in the Justice Congregational Song Contest. The Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice, Reformed Worship magazine, and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship sponsored the contest. She also won first prize in the BU School of Theology’s Carl P. Daw hymn contest. Echol Nix (’00, GRS’07) of Greenville, S.C., is an assistant

professor of religion at Furman University. Contact him at echol.nix@furman.edu. Tiffany Steinwert (’01, ’09, ’09) of Syracuse, N.Y., was named the sixth dean of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University, N.Y. Thomas Pullyblank (’03) of Fly Creek, N.Y., has published Cornflower’s Ghost: An Historical Mystery, a Square Circle Press novel. An article by Stephen Lingwood (’05) of Bolton, England, “Bi Christian Unitarian: A Theology of Transgression,” was published in a special spirituality edition of the Journal of Bisexuality. Virginia Coakley (’06) of Boston, Mass., is assistant chaplain and director of Protestant and ALANA ministries at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. She is also seeking ordination as a Minister of Word and Sacrament. Antipas Harris (’08) of Manchester, Ga., has published For Such a Time as This: Re-Imaging Practical Theology for Independent Pentecostal Churches. Kate Wilkinson (’08) of Manchester, Mass., was ordained into the Unitarian Universalist Ministry at Arlington Street Church in Boston, Mass. X Online Extra Read more Class Notes online at www.bu.edu/sth/alumni-news.

I just … P published a book P went back to school

P found my calling P saw the world P went on a mission P got married P had a baby P started my first job P finished my last job

Photo cby Vernon Doucette

Whatever you’ve been up to, we’d like to hear about it. Send us an email with your stories or photos, and we’ll share them in Class Notes.

sthalum@bu.edu

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James K. Mathews (’38) on September 8, 2010. Ordained in 1937 and elected bishop in 1960, Mathews was a strong proponent of missionary work and evangelism. A missionary in India before the war, he later joined the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant. Returning to the U.S., he worked for the Methodist Board of Missions in New York before his election as a bishop and assignment to New England. Mathews was a guiding force in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, when his wisdom was sought by everyone from President John F. Kennedy to Jackie Robinson. As a long-serving trustee of Boston University, Mathews remained close to the School of Theology—STH’s

evangelism chair is named in his honor—while maintaining a distinguished career in which he also created an interdenominational chapel at Camp David and founded Africa University in Zimbabwe. “We have lost a great leader of the church and a great friend of the School,” said Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore. You can read more about Mathews at www.bu.edu/sth/2010/01/13. Community Leader Irving G. Hill (’53) on June 18, 2010. A pastor and leader in central New York, Hill was district superintendent in the Syracuse United Methodist Church from 1978 to 1983. He was active in the communities he served, working with the Boy Scouts of America,

1930s

1950s

Francis Pritchard (GRS’35; STH’36, ’39) on September 29, 2009

Elwyn M. Williams (’51) on July 14, 2010

Harold E. Buell (’39) on September 4, 2010

1940s Lester Henry Bill (’40) on July 9, 2009

Richard Bentzinger (’58) on August 21, 2010

Stanley Jay Moore (’44, ’47) on October 6, 2009

Sanichi Kesen (’59) on November 24, 2009

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Champion of Social Justice Paul K. Deats (GRS’54) on July 12, 2009. Deats spent three decades at BU, teaching sociology and ethics from 1953 to 1986; he was also appointed the first Muelder Professor of Social Ethics in 1979. A champion of social and racial justice, Deats was considered one of the founders of the Boston Personalism movement. You can read a full tribute to Deats at www. bu.edu/bostonia/summer10/deats.

John Warner (’62, GRS’68) on November 30, 2009

1970s

Ernest R. Drake (’54) on December 6, 2009 Maurice E. Culver (’56, ’59) on January 29, 2010

Norman Crewson (’49) on December 6, 2009

Girls Club, Rotary Club, and the Folts Home retirement community in Herkimer, New York. Hill, who was an Air Force chaplain in the late 1950s, also published three collections of poetry.

Paul Scharer (’70) on July 15, 2010 D. Janet Hays

Rene O. Bideaux (’71) on May 13, 2009

1960s Louis W. Bloede (’60) on June 20, 2009 John H. Curtis (’62) on July 20, 2009 D. Janet Hays (’62) on July 12, 2010

1980s Sandra Louise Rehe (’88) on November 4, 2009

1990s Marygrace Peters (GRS’93) on February 21, 2009

Photo courtesy of BU Photography

An Evangelical Calling

Photo of D. Janet Hays by Olan Mills, courtesy of Ava McKnight

Photo courtesy of Dean Robert Allan Hill

Photo courtesy of BU Photography

IN MEMORIAM

supporting the school of theology THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS.

ANNUAL FUND LEADERSHIP GIVING SOCIETY President’s Circle

The Estate of Sadie Iszard Regester [client to confirm: pnwumc.org has ‘Izard’] President’s Associates

Carl C. Howard Dean’s Circle

F. Don James, ’54, GRS’59 Leaders’ Circle

Robert T. Anderson, ’53, GRS’57 Constance S. Bickford, ’97 John F. Bodycomb, ’70 Emily Jane Drake, GRS’70 Fran Yeager Fehlman, ’51 Robert B. Fehlman, ’50, ’55 David L. Glusker, ’68 Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ’66 Robert B. Hibbard, ’54, GRS’57 James R. Hipkins, ’54 T. Foster Lindley, ’45, GRS’52 Theodore L. Lockhart, CAS’65, STH’68 James Angelo Manganello, GRS’70, SED’77 Allen J. Moore, ’63, GRS’63 Mary Elizabeth Moore Dianne Reistroffer, ’82, ’89 Tex Sherwood Sample, ’60, GRS’64 Thomas A. Sears, ’59 Jan F. Selby, ’58, ’63 Rebecca Tseng Smith, CAS’80, STH’82 Mack B. Stokes, ’40, GRS’40 Harry G. Swanhart, ’55, GRS’61

ANNUAL FUND Abbott Laboratories Fund Caleb Scott Acton, ’10 John Hurst Adams, ’50, ’56 Katherine M. Adams, ’08 Leon M. Adkins, ’52 H. Pat Albright, ’56 Terry Wayne Allen, ’73 Edwin Daniel Aluzas, ’61, ’81 Franklin Anderson, ’74 James R. Anderson, ’65 Sheri Ingalls Anderson, CAS’89, SED’89, STH’97 John W. Annas Jr., ’30 Lloyd Rogers Applegate, ’67 Voigt D. Archer, ’60 Brian E. Arnold, ’90, SSW’90 Kofi Asimpi, GRS’96 Thomas V. Atwater, ’99 Elyssa Joy Auster, ’05 Marcia Jane Auster Elizabeth J. Bachelder Smith, ’84 Elizabeth Bader, ’81 Winifred May Bailey, ’85 Cleta O. Baker, ’54 Paul D. Baker, ’89 John T. Ball, ’59 William Donald Bardwell, ’84 Kelly S. Barge, ’73 Travis S. Barnes, ’56, ’57 Grace M. Bartlett, ’86 Laura Jaquith Bartlett, ’88, ’90 Todd Bartlett, ’90 Kenneth A. Beals, ’71, ’82 Silvester S. Beaman, ’85

Photo by Vernon Doucette

e are grateful to the graduates and friends who continue to support our work; your gift of today makes realizing the dreams of tomorrow possible. Thank you to those who donated during the 2010 fiscal year.

“I give to the School of Theology because of the experiences I had there; that’s gratitude. But, mostly, I give to the School because of the future it is forging with the leadership of Dean Moore, an excellent faculty, and outstanding students; that’s trust. I trust the future of the School and I want to be part of that future financially. It’s just too important not to be.” —R. Preston Price (’70)

Earl R. Beane, CAS’63; STH’67, ’68 Mildred B. Beane, CFA’64, ’84; SED’95 Richard L. Beard, ’57, SED’83 Constantine S. Bebis, ’72 Jennifer Allise Bellamy, ’03 George E. Bender, ’56 Hazel C. Bennett, ’60 Richard A. Bentzinger, ’58 Linda Bell Bergh, ’67

school of theology

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Benjamin A. Berinti, ’91 E. Myrna Bernadel-Huey, ’83 Mary Beth Hall Bernheisel, ’99 Keith Thomas Berry, ’61, ’69 Marcia Berry, ’60 Brian J. Beu, ’90 Kenneth E. Bibbee, ’52 Lori Elizabeth Bievenour, ’03 Roy O. Biser, ’73 V. Ned Bixler, ’56 Paul E. Blackstone, ’61 Paige Michele Blair, CAS’92, STH’95 Jerome G. Blankinship, ’59 Louis W. Bloede, ’60 T. Thomas Boates, ’68 Carole R. Bohn, SED’76, ’81 Robert W. Boley, ’51 Nye Oswell Bond, ’42 Daniel Edwin Bonner Jr., ’82 George Boone III, ’66 Mary Lou Louise Booth, ’52 Newell S. Booth, CAS’47, STH’50, GRS’56 Judith Andrews Boss, GRS’90 Robert E. Bossdorf, ’80 Richard Leon Bowman, ’66 Richard Perry Bowman, ’89 Ted W. Bowman, ’68 Kenneth A. Boyle, ’60 Charles A. Bradburn, ’64 James C. Braid, ’59 Barbara Anne Brawley, ’92 David W. Briddell, ’55 Robert S. Brightman, ’53, GRS’69 John Calvin Brink, ’08 Charles S. Brown Sr., ’73 Christopher B. Brown Eugene S. Brown II, ’94 Raymond P. Brown, ’51 Thomas F. Brown, ’60 Tom Brown II, ’59 The Tom and Patricia Brown Living Trust J. Allen Broyles, ’59, GRS’63 Richard E. Bruner, ’54, GRS’65 David A. Buckey, ’53 Lewis M. Buckler, ’66

58 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

Harold E. Buell, ’39 Roger S. Burkhart, ’64, ’69 Richard J. Butler, ’83 Ivan Charles Bys, ’52 Maria T. Cabrera, ’96 Alan R. W. Campbell, ’61 Arthur Dwight Campbell, ’53 Robert L. Campbell, ’54 William M. Campbell, ’73 Campbell Living Trust Voorhis C. Cantrell, ’67, GRS’67 Burton D. Carley, ’74 Betty B. Carpenter, ’56 Eugene G. Carper, ’62 Noel J. Cartwright, ’71, GRS’78 Sherwood E. Carver, ’56 Maury Antonio Castro, ’08 William B. Cate, ’48, GRS’53 Glenn P. Catley, ’74 JoAnne M. Ceccarelli-Egan, SSW’77, STH’78 Peter A. Chamberas, ’65 David B. Chamberlain, ’53, GRS’58 Richard K. Chamberlain, ’61 William A. Chamberlain, ’55 G. Clarke Chapman, ’59, GRS’63 Richard G. Cheney, ’52 Dean A. Christian, ’86 David E. Church, ’57 W. Russell Clark, ’44 Philip A. C. Clarke, ’54 C. Edward Claus, ’64 Claire Clingerman, ’94 Richard A. Closson, ’55 Richard R. Clough, ’73 Adrienne C. Cochran, ’90 Bufford William Coe, ’90 Dottie Lou Colby, ’53 Harry A. Coleman, ’60 William C. Coleman, ’78 Leonard S. Confar, ’51, SSW’53 Nancy S. Confar, ’51 Ronald P. Conner, ’03 Walter G. Connor, ’55 Arnold A. Coody, ’74 Jay Cooke III, ’67 Ruy Otavio Costa, GRS’90

George E. Covintree Jr., ’89 Robert O. Crabbs, ’52 Randal B. Craft, ’89 Cristina Maria Crawford, ’10 Evans Edgar Crawford Jr., ’46, GRS’57 Katherine Elizabeth Cress, ’09 CUCR, Inc. Thomas Henderson Cumings, COM’85, STH’89 James M. Cummings, GRS’70 Donald J. Cunningham, ’57 Sandra O. Daily, ’76 John F. Dale, ’57 M. L. Daneel John H. Danner, GRS’89 Mark Y. A. Davies, ’01, GRS’01 Walter T. Davis Jr., GRS’74 Donald E. Day, ’59, ’61 Richard L. Deats, ’64, GRS’64 Sean Delmore, ’05 Jerome K. Del Pino, ’71, GRS’80 Mark E. Denham, ’76 Douglas B. Denton, ’66 E. James Dickey, ’60 Nancy L. Dickinson, SED’60 Jack A. Diel, ’77 Ronald Paul Dieter, ’70 Philip R. Dietterich, ’58 W. Emmett M. Diggs, ’90 Thomas E. Dipko, ’69, GRS’69 Kevin Matthew Dirksen, ’10 Calvin Darnell Dixon, ’02, ’10 Calvin G. Dixon, ’75 Richard A. Donnenwirth, ’57; GRS’58, ’63 Robert E. Dorr Sr., ’83 Philip H. Doster, ’57, ’59 Ian Theodore Douglas, GRS’93 Denis J. Dragonas, ’59 Kelly Marie Drescher, ’10 E. David DuBois, ’52 Bradley S. Dulaney, ’00 Richard C. Dunn, ’60 Hope Temperance Dyer, ’87 James A. Eaton, GRS’52 Robert H. Edwards, ’61

Patrick J. Egan, GSM’79 Susan C. Egan, GSM’81 Charles A. Ellwood, ’55, ’58 Dorothy H. Emblidge, ’57 John H. Emerson, ’62 Robert L. Erickson, ’68 Richard K. Ernst, ’66 Pamela Jean Estes, ’88, ’89 James C. Etheredge, ’50 Richard L. Evans, ’62 Elliot T. Fair, ’80 Richard R. Farnsworth, ’67 Sanford Fasth, DGE’53, SMG’55, STH’58 Stan Fawley, ’94 Ralph Fellersen, ’47 David O. Ferguson, ’69 David R. Ferner, ’95 Eric Stephen Feustel, ’07 Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund W. Claude Fillingim, ’65 Dewey R. Findley, ’57, ’58 Robert Firby, ’55 Neal F. Fisher, ’60, GRS’66 O. Ray Fitzgerald, GRS’69 Jan Flaska, ’05, ’06 Ada Jane Focer, ’05, GRS’09 John W. Folley, ’75 Martin R. Fors, ’91 Marvin Fortel, ’44 Julia A. Foster, ’69, GRS’69 Carolyn Christine Jacques Frantz, ’10 Hal W. French, ’64 Vernon C. French, ’52 Lawrence R. Fry, ’74 Robert M. Fukada, ’60, ’60 Rose Clarisse Gadoury, ’85 Padmasani J. Gallup, ’85 Hermenia P. Gardner, ’64 Harold W. Garman, ’60, GRS’65 Richard C. Garner, ’75 Linwood W. Garrenton, ’84 Charles H. Gates, ’54 Cheryln A. Gates, ’00 Douglas Geeting, ’90 Richard H. Gentzler Jr., ’83 Jack Ronald George, ’68

Lisa Renee Gesson, ’99 R. Jerrold Gibson, ’54 Timothy G. Gilbert, ’99 Donald Arthur Gillies, ’61, ’91 Robert W. Gingery, ’44 Wilbur E. Goist, ’36, ’38 Paul D. Gongloff, ’73 Sharon M. Goss, ’87, ’88, ’90 June C. Goudey, SAR’68, STH’93 Sharon I. Gouwens, ’78 Grace Union Church Raymond D. Graham, ’56 Thomas William Grandy, ’00 Kenneth G. Y. Grant, ’75 Paradise J. G. Gray, ’80 Chad Allan Green, ’03 Trelawney Jean Grenfell-Muir, ’04 George R. Grettenberger, ’55 Horace L. Griffin, ’88 Kenneth J. Grinnell Jr., CFA’74, STH’76 Prescott E. Grout, ’52, GRS’70 Pauline Redd Hadley, ’49 S. Michael Hahm, ’62, ’70 Earl E. Hall, ’54 Frank A. Hall, ’72 Nancy G. Hallas, ’77 Huntley F. Halvorson, ’67 Richard M. Hamilton, ’63 M. Gail Hamner, ’89 Dale R. Hanaman, ’70 Robert C. Harder, ’58 Richard Ernest Harding, ’53 Barton Elliott Harris, ’76 Paula D. Hart, ’83 William G. Hart, ’66 Benjamin L. Hartley, ’00, ’05 Richard O. Hartman, ’54, GRS’63 Kirk B. Hartung, ’90 Mark S. Hathorne, ’76 John A. Hayes, ’60, ’60 Dwight S. Haynes, ’62, ’63 C. Douglas Hayward, ’46, ’50 H. Trall Heitzenrater, ’54 Robert L. Hemmerla, ’56 James T. Henderson, ’56 Paul L. Herring, ’89

Donald F. Hess, ’69 John Knox Hess, ’44 Soren Michael Hessler, UNI’08 Marjorie L. Hiles, ’74 George A. Hill Jr., CAS’49, STH’53 Robert A. Hill Wayne L. Hill, ’56 Cletus E. Hirschy, ’52, ’65 Richard M. Hochstedler, ’48 Morley F. Hodder, ’56, ’63 Ronald W. Hoffman, ’58 C. Lorraine Holcomb, ’43 Dennis B. Holway, ’70 Jeffrey Luis Hooker, ’09 Megan Elizabeth Hornbeek, ’05, SED’10 Francis Eric Horner, ’87 Louis Bach Hoyer, ’55, ’56; GRS’62 Donald B. Hoyle, ’60 Lowell E. Hoyle, ’66, ’67 Alfred J. Hubler, ’57 Harry A. Hull, ’45 Kathryn A. Hult, ’83 David Frederick Hurst, ’03 Ralph B. Huston, ’45 Muttaniyil E. Idiculla, ’59, SED’60 S. Clifton Ives, ’63, ’83 Edward T. Iwamoto, ’63 J W Investments David Lamar Jacks, ’60, ’65 Sylvanus P. Jackson, ’93 Pauline Jennett, ’05 Alvan N. Johnson Jr., ’74 Frank E. Johnson, ’81, GSM’82 Hugh D. Johnson, ’66 John V. Johnson, ’72 Rollin E. Johnson Jr., CGS’55, SED’57, STH’61 Shephard Sterling Johnson, ’63, GRS’70 Sydney H. Johnson, ’64 Ann Johnston, GRS’86 Darlene E. Jonas, ’60 Gary William Jones, ’02 Tamecia Jones, ’10 Heather Rene Josselyn-Cranson, ’00, ’05

school of theology

www.bu.edu/sth

Edward Imants Kalnins, ’96 Clark E. Kandel Jr., ’63 Kansas Area United Methodist Foundation Inc. Charles C. L. Kao, ’69, GRS’69 Jan L. Kater, GRS’60 Sara L. Kavich, ’62 Clarence A. Kaylor, ’62, ’78 Andrew J. Keck, ’93 Elizabeth Lauren Keck, ’04 William R. Keeffe, ’46, GRS’61 Maggie Joy Keelan, ’07 Larry Gene Keeter, ’71, GRS’71 Arleon L. Kelley, ’71 C. Travis Kendall, ’57, ’65 Allen F. Kerns, ’52 Jack J. Kersenbrock, ’61 Elizabeth A. Keyes, ’09 Anastasia Elizabeth Kidd, ’04

60 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

Chad William Kidd, ’05 Manpoong Dennis Kim, ’89 Dai Sil Kim-Gibson, ’69, GRS’69 R. Edwin King, ’61, ’63 Robert E. King, ’72 Robert G. Kingsbury, ’55 Jimmy L. Kirby, ’97 Emmalou Kirchmeier, ’88 Donald G. Klarup, ’56 John E. Knight, ’84 Swee Leong Koh, ’10 David K. Koski, ’74 Evangelos Apostolos Koufallakis, ’04 Byron Kadel Krapf, ’63 Thyra Mollberg Krier, ’77 Richard C. Kuhn, ’61 Mark D. LaBranche, ’95 Abner B. Lall, ’59 George E. LaMore Jr., ’56, ’59

Homer Warren Landis, ’83 Gary A. Langenwalter, ’08 Lawrence L. LaPierre, ’95 David Raymond LaRoe, ’83 Paul V. LaRue, ’52 William A. Lasher, ’65 Kin Leung Francis Lau, ’10 Philip C. Lawton, ’74 Chung-Soon Lee, ’04 Ke Joon Lee, ’63 Vernon L. Lee, ’57 James S. Leslie, ’49, GRS’55 Paula Leslie Arnold R. Lewis, ’47 Larry M. Lewis, GRS’74 Phillip W. Lewis, ’54 Mary Jane Lide, ’91 Lyle W. Lieder, ’47 Ross E. Lilly, ’57, GRS’62

Laura C. Miguelez, GRS’07 Henry Millan, ’63 M. Kent Millard, ’66, GRS’70 Hugh W. Miller, ’64 Marjorie A. Miller Maurice A. Miller, ’52 Ross J. Miller, ’59 Sarah S. Miller, ’63 Lauren Anne Miramontes, ’10 David B. Mitchell, ’69, GRS’78 Gilbert C. Mitchell, ’55 Mikio Miyagi, ’10 Paul B. Mojzes, ’65, GRS’65 Braden Nicolas Molhoek, ’05 Charles H. Moore, ’58, GRS’69 The Estate of J. Floyd Moore Lester L. Moore, ’52, ’53 Nancy L. Moore, ’00 Robert A. Moore, ’58, ’59 Robert A. Moore, ’71 William F. Moore, ’61 Boyd Morgan, ’01 Mary Elizabeth Morris, ’88 Robert L. Morrison, GRS’92, SSW’07 Susan M. Morrison, ’72 Paul E. Morrissette, ’76 Joseph I. Mortensen, ’66 William W. Mountcastle Jr., ’54, GRS’58 William P. Mullins Jr., ’72 Gerald H. Murphy, SMG’49; STH’55, ’56 Donald B. Myrom, ’76 James H. Nason, ’72 Elva E. Needles John W. Neff, ’54, ’61 Ann Partner Nelson, ’72 Charles Edward Nelson, ’54, ’55 Rudolph L. Nelson, ’56 Sidney Nelson, ’97 Ben E. J. New, ’68 New York Life Insurance Vernon C. Nichols, ’56, ’57 Dennis D. Nicholson, ’66 Carol J. Noren, ’83 Donald C. Norris, ’53, GRS’72

Photo by Vernon Doucette

Tian-Min Lin, GRS’69 Montgomery Link, ’92, GRS’06 Wilhelm C. Linss, ’55 Olga Lipina, ’99, ’05, ’10 Robert P. Lisensky, ’54, GRS’60 Terry E. Litton, ’83 Hee-Chung Luhmann, ’57 Garvey F. MacLean, ’61 George MacNaughton, ’71 Justin Makaruse, ’10 Frances Dora Mansen, ’05, GRS’10 Donald Manthei, ’61; GRS’61, ’72 Charles R. Marble, ’63 Marla Jean Marcum, ’03 Ralph A. Marino, ’67 Edwin Martinez, ’81 Deborah Norris Matthews, ’61 Everett W. Matz, ’52 Emily Jackson Mayers, ’59 Charles L. McCarthy, ’56 Harold R. McClay Jr., ’60 Robert M. McCoy, ’55 John L. McCullough, ’79 W. Robert McFadden, ’66 David Barry McGaffic, ’67 Donald B. McGaw, ’67 Lindsay Yarnall McGrath, ’01 Richard L. McGuire, ’62 Thomas S. McKeown, ’53 Carleton P. McKita, ’54 Leslie H. McKown, ’57, GRS’60 Martha McKown, ’57 John G. McLachlan, ’62 David Leonard Caldeira McMahon, ’98 Ann Theresa McNeil, ’00 Robert D. McNeil, ’58 Malcolm James McVeigh, ’71, GRS’71 Joseph C. McWilliams Jr., ’65, ’66 Cheryl Lyn Meachen, ’10 Donald F. Megnin, ’60 Julia K. Megnin, ’60 Stephen T. Melius, ’73 Quentin R. Meracle, ’99 Karen Huff Merrill, ’70 Catherine Jean Elizabeth Meyer, ’06

Sean Delmore taking part in a fall 2009 campaign to switch Massachusetts to 100 percent clean electricity. Advocates spent a week sleeping on a chilly Marsh Plaza to raise awareness of the cause.

“I give to the School of Theology in gratitude for all that it has given me. Without STH’s generous scholarship support, I never would have been able to earn my degree. I also give so that new generations of leaders will have access to an inspiring education that develops the skills, understanding, and clarity needed to transform this world of ours.” —Sean Delmore (’05) Margaret Ellen O’Connor, ’03 Thomas M. Okuma, ’64, GRS’64 Helen M. Oliver, ’74, ’79 Leon R. Oliver, ’79 Sandra L. Olsen, ’82 Richard Paul Olson, ’72, GRS’72 Deborah Lee Ormay, ’04 Richard E. Ormsby, ’67 Madeline Paladino, CAS’74 Brolin Christopher Parker, ’75 Lee Parkison, ’59 Brent Cantrell Parrish, ’10 Elizabeth Parsons Robert J. Pascoe, ’68 Douglas W. Passage, ’51

school of theology

www.bu.edu/sth

B. Carter Pate, ’58, GRS’64 The Jewel Q. Patton Family Trust Robert B. Pearson, ’50 Galen E. Peckham, ’62 Ralph M. Pedersen Jr., ’54 James E. Pender, ’62 Russell J. Peppe, ’62 John P. Perring-Mulligan, GRS’94 Richard B. Perry, ’59 Russell E. Perry, ’51, ’52 John W. Phillips, ’45, GRS’48 Virgia B. Phoenix, ’61 Nicholas Piediscalzi, GRS’65 L. Paul Pitkin, ’71 Steven H. Pohlman, ’65 David O. Poindexter, ’56, ’57 Marian Jean Poindexter, ’56 Alton R. Pope, ’57 R. Preston Price, ’70 Thomas E. Price, GRS’66 Thomas Eric Pullyblank, ’03 Charles B. Purdham, ’51 Jennifer Aileen Quigley, UNI’08 Roy W. Quist, ’70 John C. Radmore, ’52 Thomas W. Ramsbey, ’64, GRS’70 William E. Ramsden, ’57, GRS’60 Leo Santos Ranzolin, ’01 Philip S. Ratliff, ’63 James L. Ray, ’62 James L. Ray Living Trust Robert E. Reber, ’64, GRS’73 James B. Recob, ’71 Darrell L. Reeck, ’70, GRS’70 Kenneth E. Reed, ’55, GRS’63 Edwin E. Reeves, ’40 Gene Reeves, ’59 Charles E. Reichenbach, ’63, ’65 Alan C. Rhodes, ’76 W. Daniel Rich, ’58 Eugene F. Richey, ’56 Dana Lee Robert Keith A. Roberts, ’72, GRS’76 Dorothy Rogers, ’91, UNI’98 Ralph A. Rosenblad, ’47 William W. Ross, ’45 John D. Roth, ’60

62 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

Thomas Merton Rymph, ’54 David B. Sageser, ’42 Wilfred Saint Jr., ’55, GRS’57 Robert W. Sanders, ’56 James A. Sanderson, ’63 Dale J. Sauer, ’68 Russell C. Sawmiller, ’52 Douglas V. Scalise, ’89 Eileen Charlotte Scaringi, CAS’65, STH’69 Carl L. Schenck, ’73 Walter H. Schenck, ’65 Henry James Scherer Jr., ’64, ’74 Robert A. Schilling, ’56 John M. Schluep, ’97 Marlayna Schmidt, ’90 Kim M. Schuette, ’73 Mary J. Scifres, ’91 David William Scott, ’07 Gordon P. Scruton, ’71 Eve Renchard Seamans, ’10 Rebecca Ann Sears, ’85 Paul H. Sharar, ’56 Cicily Teresa Shaw, ’10 John J. Shepard, ’59 James F. Shumake, ’02 Ralph Kenneth Shunk, ’52, ’53 Louis E. Sibley, ’73 Charles R. Simmons, ’55 Jennie A. Simmons, ’80 Kenneth L. Sipe, ’72 R. Thomas Slack, ’73 Alfred R. Slighter, ’52 Arthur Q. Smith, ’64 Emerson W. Smith, ’44 Franklin P. Smith, ’53 James M. Smith, ’51 John W. Smith, ’74 Charlene A. Smythe, ’68 Granville David Smythe Jr., ’67 Robert E. Snyder, ’59 Theodore J. Solomon, ’57 Stephanie C. Somers, ’73 Chang Hee Son, ’86, ’97 Lucia H. Spahr, ’95 Joan D. Spence, CAS’52, STH’54 Robert A. Spencer, ’68

Carol G. Spivey, ’55 Georgia M. Sprinkle, ’63 Mark W. Stamm, ’95 John C. Starkey, GRS’98 Michael J. St. Clair, GRS’75 Ralph S. Steele, ’49 Edwin S. Stefan, ’60 Sheldon B. Stephenson, ’45 Barbara E. Stephens-Rich, ’76 Charles W. Stewart, ’55, GRS’55 Albert D. Stiefel, ’65, GRS’75 Bryan P. Stone Lewis Seymour Stone, ’89 Floyd R. Stradley, ’85 Gerald V. Summers, ’56, GRS’59 Andrew Robert Taylor, ’97 Williamson S. Taylor, ’84, ’89 Gregory E. Thomas, ’01 Kathryn W. Thomas, ’83 Mickarl Darius Thomas Sr., ’86 Elmer A. Thompson, ’48 Herbert M. Thompson, ’64 Albert Eugene Tomer, ’54, GRS’60 Sherwood A. Treadwell, ’57 Jean Marilyn Trench, ’90 The Jean M. Trench Revocable Trust William C. Trench, ’74, GRS’86 George Williford Tripp, ’87 William C. Tubbs, ’90, GRS’99 Jack M. Tuell, ’55 Richard D. Turner, ’64 Jay Uhler, ’62 Casper Ernest Uldriks, ’76 United Methodist Foundation of N.E. O. Murry Unruh, ’52 Paul Nelson Vail, ’90 Norman L. Vaillancourt, GRS’76 Valerie D. Valentine, ’77 Alexander Veronis, ’60 Richard A. Vickery Jr., ’65, ’72 Edwin A. Vonderheide, ’56 C. Albert Wagaman, ’69 Forrest J. Waller, ’60 Walt Disney Company Foundation James Christopher Walters, GRS’91 Scott G. Walters, ’81 Wayne L. Walther, ’74

Photo by Vernon Doucette

Zhongxin Wang, ’00 Garvin Warden, ’91 Wayne G. Warner, ’65 John W. Waters, ’67, GRS’70 John W. Waters Revocable Trust Philip Allen Watkins, ’97 Jared Aaron Watson, ’06, MET’07 Lancelot Watson, ’10 Jonathan Warren Beavers Waybright, ’96 Peter D. Weaver, ’75 George Robert Webber, ’59 Miriam L. Weber, ’61 Darlene B. Weidner, ’93 Charles E. Weigel Jr., ’69 Ned E. Weller, ’57 W. Robert Wentworth, ’52 Newell J. Wert, ’58, GRS’58 Joan-Anne M. Westfall, ’89 Arnold Duane Westfield, ’65 Betty D. Westhoven, ’88 Helen M. Whipple, ’58 C. Dale White, ’51, GRS’63 Frederic J. Whitley, ’72, GRS’74 Kenneth Ellsworth Whitney, ’63 Wesley J. Wildman Lauress L. Wilkins, ’88, GRS’05 Elwyn M. Williams, ’51 Frank R. Williams, ’62, ’73 J. Carl Williams, ’53, ’55 Robert H. Williams, ’63 Douglas James Williamson, GRS’88 Gale R. Williamson, ’61 Casey M. Wilson, ’97 Charles E. Wilson Jr., ’61 Edward P. Wimberly, ’68, ’71; GRS’76 Douglas E. Wingeier, ’54, GRS’62 Douglas E. Wingeier Trust Margaret J. Wise, ’87 Jack Barton Witherspoon, ’92 Charles Barry Wood, ’74 Kenneth E. Wood, ’70 Nathan L. S. Wood, ’88 Henry F. Woodruff, ’84 Deborah Church Worley, ’97 Paul R. Woudenberg, ’52, GRS’59

L. Darrel Wrider, ’74 Henry C. Yang, ’83 Darrell W. Yeaney, ’72 Jana Marie Yeaton, ’10 George I. Yetter, ’55 Richard H. York, ’77, GRS’87 Todd Russell Young, ’01 Lourdino A. Yuzon, ’71, GRS’74 John A. Zimmer, ’46 ANNA HOWARD SHAW CENTER FUND Thomas R. Albin Amy Alletzhauser, ’90 Thomas V. Atwater, ’99 Brun Beverly Jacqueline Beatrice Blue, ’09 Carole R. Bohn, SED’76, ’81 Mary Lou Greenwood Boice, ’90 John Calvin Brink, ’08 Carolynne Hitter Brown, ’09 Gail P. Bucher Betty B. Carpenter, ’56 Dr. and Mrs. Paul W. Chilcote Hee An Choi Elizabeth Jane Collier, ’00 Alice M. Cromwell

“I support the School of Theology out of gratitude for the wonderful experience I had there as a student, but also because I would like it to continue to thrive as a place where individuals can discover their faith in its many forms and their vocation, in or out of the ministry.” — Rebecca Tseng Smith (CAS’80, STH’82) Nizzi Santos Digan, ’02 Helen Kay Dukes, ’81 Latrelle E. Easterling, ’04 Pamela Jean Estes, ’88, ’89 Mr. and Mrs. Radames Fernandez Julia A. Foster, ’69, GRS’69 Cheryln A. Gates, ’00 Deborah Jamison Hamilton, ’08 Richard Ernest Harding, ’53 John Hart Susan Wolfe Hassinger Pauline Jennett, ’05 Lynne Josselyn Deborah L. Kiesey, ’76 Barbara A. Kszystyniak, ’00 Pauletta J. Lehn, ’03

school of theology

www.bu.edu/sth

Stephen E. Marston Virginia S. Maunder Sarah May McQueen, ’07 Evelyn Johnson Moore Elizabeth E. Neville Robert C. Neville Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference Nancy J. Osgood, ’66 Shirley Hoover Pearse, ’77 Willard A. Robinson Adrian Schoenmaker, ’56 Sara Lee Schoenmaker, SED’57 Eric M. Shank Donella G. Siktberg Nelle G. Slater, ’52, GRS’60 Therese Stanley Bryan P. Stone Lois L. Taylor James G. Todd, ’61 Mary Todd Jean Marilyn Trench, ’90 The Jean M. Trench Revocable Trust The United Methodist Church Carmen Dressler Ward, SED’74, ’93 Kirk Wegter-McNelly Kristin Leigh White, ’95 Margaret S. Wiborg, ’94 EARL AND MILLIE BEANE HOUSING FUND Elwood L. Babbin, GRS’54 Earl R. Beane, CAS’63; STH’67, ’68 Mildred B. Beane, CFA’64, ’84; SED’95 Anastasia Elizabeth Kidd, ’04 Chad William Kidd, ’05 Dianne Reistroffer, ’82, ’89 Michael K. Willis, ’84 DEAN’S DISCRETIONARY FUND Jackie Ammerman Nancy T. Ammerman Concordia Publishing House Eun Hye Kim R. Preston Price, ’70 The Estate of Grace E. B. Prince The Estate of Nathan D. Prince

64 b o s t o n u n i v e r s i t y

Helen R. Richards Trust The Estate of Roswell R. Robinson Dr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Ruby Herbert F. & Geneva B. Twombly Trust United Parish of Auburndale Carlton R. Young, ’53 STUDENT AID FUND Nancy T. Ammerman Dale P. Andrews Natalie Fritz Austrian, ’08 John Berthrong Carole R. Bohn, SED’76, ’81 Alejandro F. Botta Christopher B. Brown James P. Burns Earle M. Chiles, Hon.’08 Chiles Foundation Hee An Choi Chai-Sik Chung, ’64 Cristina Maria Crawford, ’10 Kathe P. Darr Carl P. Daw Jr. East Saugus United Methodist Church Mr. and Mrs. Norman J. Faramelli First Congregational Church Walter Earl Fluker, GRS’88 Wilbur E. Goist, ’36, ’38 Amanda Harmeling John Hart Susan Wolfe Hassinger Robert A. Hill Denis J. Jenssen, ’05 Samuel M. Johnson Ralph D. Kitterman, ’43 Jennifer W. Knust Don McGinty Glen Alton Messer, ’01, ’06 Susan and Jay Morrison Elizabeth E. Neville Robert C. Neville Jeannine E. Olson Elizabeth Parsons Thomas W. Porter, LAW’74 Shelly Rambo Dana Lee Robert Chris R. Schlauch

Thomas A. Sears, ’59 Shell Oil Company Foundation Andrew Shenton George and Despina Stavros Mack B. Stokes, ’40 Bryan P. Stone The Estate of Anna Harvey Tekulsky Joshua Thomas Karen Westerfield Tucker James Christopher Walters, GRS’91 Kirk Wegter-McNelly Wesley J. Wildman Claire Wolfteich Wyoming Annual Conference James Washington Sydgrave Yansen, ’05 THEOLOGY FOUNDATION FUND Elizabeth E. Neville Robert C. Neville TRUMAN COLLINS PROFESSORSHIP FUND Gerald H. Anderson, ’55, GRS’60 Linda Bell Bergh, ’67 Constance S. Bickford, ’97 John Calvin Brink, ’08 Maribeth W. Collins Terry Collins M. L. Daneel Fran Yeager Fehlman, ’51 Robert B. Fehlman, ’50, ’55 C. Dean Freudenberger, ’55, GRS’69 Denis J. Jenssen, ’01, ’05 Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Miller Miller Family Foundation Mary Elizabeth Moore Joseph A. Perez, ’55, GRS’64 David O. Poindexter, ’56, ’57 Marian Jean Poindexter, ’56 Dianne Reistroffer, ’82, ’89 Dana Lee Robert Kevin C. Robert Thomas A. Sears, ’59 Cherida Collins Smith Granville David Smythe Jr., ’67 Ebenezer Sunanda, ’68, GRS’69, SED’73

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Boston University School of Theology

FOCUS

Winter 2011

10 24

Stories of reconciliation, leadership, and Pentecostalism. The Focus Journal starts on page

10.