Vantage Fall 2018

C O L U M B I A

T H E O L O G I C A L

S E M I N A R Y

TABLE OF CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS

IN THIS ISSUE

VANTAGE POINT

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LIFELONG LEARNING

pg 26, 34

REASONABLE SERVICE

pg 30

RECOGNIZING SCHOLARS

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TAUTA PANTA

pg 37

NEWS FROM COLUMBIA

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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

pg 38

FACULTY & STAFF

pg 42

BEST OF THE BLOG

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VANTAGE / VOL. 111, NO. 1 FALL 2018

EDITORS

A new generation of the Benton family attending Kathy Dawson’s inaugural lecture as the Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education.

Michael K. Thompson Corie Cox

DESIGN

Lucy Ke

PHOTOGRAPHY

Michael K. Thompson

CONTRIBUTORS

FEATURE

EQUIPPING TODAY’S LEADERS 50 YEARS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

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Remembering Shirley Guthrie’s master work MIGRATION AND BORDER CROSSINGS

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Real-life, real-world applications of Christian Doctrine A CONVERSATION WITH ALUMNI DANA WATERS III AND DANA WATERS V

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One family’s perspectives on vocational journeys KATHY DAWSON

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Jess Adams Julie Bailey ’09 Erskine Clarke Mary Lynn Darden Kathy Dawson ’94 Sarah Erickson ’03/DEdMin ’10 Jane E. Fahey Israel Galindo Heidi Gleason Chassidy Goggins Steven Miller Martha Moore-Keish Raj Nadella Caitlin Reeves George Stroup Valrie Thompson Leanne Van Dyk Dana Waters III DanaWaters V Debra Weir Kathy Weirich William Yoo

Interview following her inaugural lecture

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Art for the cover design of Vantage this year is provided by alumnus Ross Boone.

Learn more about his work at http://rawspoon.com.

LEADING IN AN ANXIOUS SYSTEM

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What’s a leaderP G to do?

An educational institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

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This issue of VANTAGE is available online at www.ctsnet.edu.

VANTAGE

P O I N T

EQUIPPING TODAY’S LEADERS A WORD FROM OUR PRESIDENT

ONE CLEAR ADVANTAGE OF GETTING OLDER IS BEING ABLE TO SEE GOD’S HAND OF GUIDANCE THROUGHOUT THE FULL SWEEP OF LIFE. I SUSPECT MANY OF YOU ARE NODDING IN AGREEMENT. FOR ME, NOTICING GOD’S LEADING AND GUIDING FOR MANY YEARS AND CHAPTERS OF LIFE IS BOTH HUMBLING AND INVIGORATING.

Many years ago, when I was first dangerous challenge in spite of his youth contemplating whether to go to and inexperience. The women followers and seminary and was creating extensive friends of Jesus displayed clear leadership when “pro and con” lists, a wise friend finally they ran and announced the news of Jesus’ said to me in exasperation, “Go for it! resurrection to the disciples who, sad to say, You’ll never know unless you do it!” did not recognize and respect their leading.

So I did. I am convinced that the Spirit Dr. Leanne Van Dyk Columbia Seminary has had a long tradition PRESIDENT of God was in my friend’s impatient of strong and faithful leadership. In recent statement. Since that pivotal moment, weeks, we have celebrated two in particular. Dr. Shirley I continue to see God’s patient and persistent call in Guthrie, a professor of theology at Columbia Seminary my life. I am profoundly grateful for the way God has from 1958 to 1997 wrote a theology textbook, Christian led me to Columbia Theological Seminary and that I Doctrine, which has just been re-issued for its 50th year had the good sense to respond. of publication. This issue of Vantage contains reflections God’s patient and persistent call leads our seminary by successors to his chair on faculty regarding this book students here to Columbia as well. And it is our unique which has shaped generations of pastors and preachers. mission to equip them to be faithful leaders. Equipping leaders is a high and holy task that requires us to form and shape our students intellectually, spiritually, Equipping leaders is a high and holy task emotionally, and relationally in ways that will help requiring us to form and shape our students them become imaginative and resilient leaders. to become imaginative and resilient leaders.

Leadership formation is seen in Scripture in multiple ways. Sometimes a leader, like Moses, takes on a reluctant and cantankerous people with remarkable persistence for over forty years. Other times a leader, like the young boy David, steps up to a

Far more than writing a really good book, Dr. Guthrie modeled Christian faith and life here on our campus.

His grateful students also give voice to that servant leadership in the many quotes we have collected.

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Then, we also recently celebrated another seminary leader. Dr. Kathy Dawson was inaugurated into the Benton Family Chair of Christian Education.

In her inaugural address, she shared a vision of community drawn from the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, crystalized out of his experience working with seminarians in Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler. Like Dr. Guthrie, the legacy of servant leadership is very strong in Dr. Dawson. Again, we have collected many quotes from alumni and colleagues regarding her impact in their life and ministry.

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This is our mission—to prepare leaders for the sake of the Church and the world. All of us here at the seminary value your thoughts and insights and ideas and commitments as we take up our work together as followers of Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

Leanne Van Dyk President

50 YEARS OF

CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE B Y D R . M A R T H A M O O R E-K E I S H A N D D R . G E O R G E S T R O U P

INTRODUCTION

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Dr. Shirley Guthrie’s landmark book Christian Doctrine. Generations of congregational members and pastors have turned to this book since 1968 for an introduction to Christian theology—and for transformation of their faith. In honor of the occasion, Westminster John Knox Press has published a new edition of this book, and we at Columbia Seminary are also marking this anniversary by remembering Dr. Guthrie and his lasting influence on theological reflection in the church.

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50 YEARS OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE continued

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avid Dobson, editor at Westminster John Knox, says, “Few books we’ve published have had the lasting legacy of Christian Doctrine. From his user-friendly chapter titles to the conversational but learned nature of his writing, Guthrie managed to do what every scholar dreams of—he wrote an academically grounded book that can be easily understood by the average layperson. The book has found an international audience as well, with editions published in Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Taiwanese, and many other languages around the globe.”

At this moment in the history of the church and in the history of Columbia Theological Seminary, it is fitting to look back and ask: who is this man whose face smiles from his portrait in the refectory? Why did this book touch so many? And what does this book continue to teach us today?

SHIRLEY GUTHRIE AND CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE

Shirley Guthrie, the son of a Presbyterian minister in Texas, studied first at Princeton Theological Seminary and then in Basel, Switzerland, with Karl Barth, who directed his PhD dissertation on Reinhold Niebuhr.

He served briefly as the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Rusk, Texas, and then joined the faculty of Columbia Theological Seminary in 1957, where he taught Theology until his death in 2004.

The first edition of Guthrie’s Christian Doctrine was published by John Knox Press in 1968 in the “Covenant Life Curriculum” of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (or what was known as the “southern” Presbyterian Church). The student book (the volume known to most readers) was 416 text-packed pages, continues on page 8

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hirley always said that his book, Christian Doctrine, was meant to be for Sunday school classes, rather than seminary classes. But, most of us had a copy handy.

When I was growing up, my parents had several copies on their bookshelves.

My father, a Presbyterian elder, used it for teaching Sunday school.

But, it was also the textbook for a theology class I took as a Religion major at Presbyterian College. When I was asked to preach at a small church in the countryside near the college, I focused on a chapter in Christian Doctrine. Through the years, I have kept a worn copy, stuffed with letters from Shirley, close by, not only for help in teaching Sunday school and leading Bible studies, but as a reference for many of my sermons.

It reads like he taught. I can hear his voice when I read it, laying out the historical background of a theological issue, giving the insights and the problems of various views, including Reformed views; then finally suggesting how the issue informs our private and public lives.

Shirley kept reminding us that the human attempt to speak of God and what God is doing in the world is always limited by our sinfulness, our particular world view, our humanity. Yet we continue to seek to make a faithful witness in our context. As our society and the world changed, Shirley revised the book, offering fresh insights into the old, old story and the God whose Spirit continues to do new things. — B I L LY WA D E , pastor (retired), First Presbyterian Church of Covington, GA More quotes on our website at www.ctsnet.edu/50-years-christian-doctrine

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and the teacher book another 272. Unfortunately, the southern church was haunted by a tradition that the book did not include a preface that explained the affirmed “the spirituality of the church” and denied that historical and social context in which it was written. the church should address social and political issues.

1968 was a momentous year in American history. The Although theologians such Barth, Emil Brunner, and country was in the midst of the struggle over civil rights Niebuhr were much discussed in Protestant seminaries, (Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis in they were not widely known in church pews.

April) and deeply divided over the war in Vietnam.

After Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run for It was in this social and political context that Guthrie a second term as President, Senator Robert Kennedy wrote the first edition of Christian Doctrine. Because was assassinated in June, and that it was to be used in adult education summer at its convention in Chicago programs in churches, Guthrie was B E C A U S E I T WA S the Democratic Party split between told to write at a ninth-grade reading TO BE USED IN Vice President Hubert Humphrey level. The book was a remarkable A D U LT E D U C AT I O N and Senator Eugene McCarthy. success in at least four respects.

PROGRAMS IN Furthermore, the so-called “sexual First, it interpreted Christian faith CHURCHES, GUTHRIE revolution” was well underway and from the perspective of Barth WA S T O L D T O W R I T E feminist liberation theology was in its and Niebuhr, but it did so in a way AT A N I N T H - G R A D E early stages (Mary Daly’s The Church that did not require the reader to READING LEVEL. and the Second Sex was also published have a seminary education or to in 1968). Internationally, the United understand technical theological States found itself in a “cold war” arguments. Second, Guthrie’s book with the Soviet Union, with each country threatening gave the Presbyterian Church in the United States a the other with huge arsenals of nuclear weapons. theological basis for its commitment to social justice and its participation in the social and political issues The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (or of the day. Third, Christian Doctrine paved the way the “northern” Presbyterian Church) addressed these for A Declaration of Faith, a confession written from crises in its Confession of 1967, a document that reflects a Barthian perspective by a committee (that included the theology of Barth. However, in the southern Guthrie) of the Presbyterian Church in the United Presbyterian Church, the sole confessional document States that moved in a sharply different direction than remained The Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647, The Westminster Confession of Faith. Finally, Christian even though many ministers and church members Doctrine established common theological ground with yearned for a confession with a different theology that the northern Presbyterian Church and its Confession of addressed issues of contemporary life. In addition, 1967, thereby clearing the way for the reunion of the two denominations in 1983 and the writing of A Brief Statement of Faith in 1991. continues on page 12 8

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came to seminary in 1969 after graduation. Little did I know or imagine that the firestorm over Guthrie and others was continuing. I was appalled at the treatment that some of my classmates and outside folks were putting Guthrie, Ben Kline, Charlie Cousar and a few others through. [In the] first theology course, Guthrie had a legal pad that he would use for his lectures. It did not take me long to realize that they were the chapters in Christian Doctrine!!! I was excited! But others in my class were not. Many of them went over to the newly formed PCA . . . But over those three years and beyond, Guthrie remained a friend and supporter of those of us who were more progressive. I remember his lecture on Eve and Adam and what was called “original sin”; by now, I am sitting on the front row to soak it all up and to get away from the back row hecklers. That lecture transformed my world—women were not the “sinners,” but part of God's story of redemption for all people.

I, among others, pushed him to update his book with more inclusive language later on. I was so thankful he did, so I could continue to use it in study groups and more.

We always made sure our church interns had a copy and would challenge them to use it as we had our weekly meetings.

— C A R O L I N E L E A C H , co-pastor (retired), Oakhurst Presbyterian Church, Decatur, GA

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was ordained in the PCUS in 1975, prior to the ordination exams being made mandatory after reunion in 1983. But, my home presbytery in Arkansas was a “union” presbytery, meaning that it served both the PCUS and the UPCUSA. I learned to my dismay in 1974 that I would have to take the UPCUSA national ordination exams, which I had not prepared for at all. I had taken several courses with Shirley at CTS, so I did a quick re-read of Christian Doctrine to get ready, and it worked—I passed the ord exams with flying colors!

— N I B S S T R O U P E , co-pastor (retired), Oakhurst Presbyterian Church, Decatur, GA

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he first two theology books I ever opened were John Leith’s Basic Christian Doctrine and Shirley Guthrie’s Christian Doctrine. Auburn University’s Religion Department consisted of one professor, and it didn’t offer much in the way of theological studies. A friend and I worked up the nerve to negotiate a for credit class on Reformed Theology, led by the pastor at the First Presbyterian Church, Dr. Frank Covington. The class was approved, but funding was not. Dr. Covington graciously agreed to teach the two of us anyway. Guthrie’s book opened to me a world of thought that I had previously given only a passing glance. The book was a first stone set on the path to seminary, and even now, is kept on my bookshelf within arms’ reach.

– W I L L C H R I S T I A N S , pastor, Shady Grove Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN More quotes on our website at www.ctsnet.edu/50-years-christian-doctrine FALL 2018 / VANTAGE /

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M I G R AT I O N A N D B O R D E R C R O S S I N G S FEBRUARY 7-9, 2019 B Y C O R I E C O X , C O M M U N I C AT I O N S A S S O C I AT E

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olumbia Theological Seminary and Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion are excited to co-host a multidisciplinary conference on immigration—Migration and Border Crossings—February 7–9, 2019, at Columbia Seminary. You can register at www.ctsnet.edu/migration-and-border-crossings/.

“This conference will bring together leading theologians, legal scholars, artists, and leaders of faith communities to explore global migration,” says Leanne Van Dyk, president of Columbia Theological Seminary. “The speakers at this conference are extraordinary: Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States from 2015–2017 and the winner of National Book Critics award, will give the opening keynote titled ‘The Journey of the Migrant.’ Emilie Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, will give the closing keynote focusing on displacement and trauma.”

Other notable presenters include: Kwok Pui Lan, Khaled Beydoun, Heval Mohamed Kelli, Daniel Carroll, Kristin Heyer, Peter C. Phan, Todd Green, Rose Cuison Villazor, Jehu Hanciles, Claudio Carvalhaes, Azadeh N. Shahshahani, and Michele R. Pistone.

In addition to the presenters, the conference has made space for a strong presence of the arts during the three-day event. Emory University’s Staibdance group will present an original dance performance called “Moat,” an evening length exploration of human migration from Iran to a small Pennsylvania town during the Iran hostage crisis.

“Columbia Seminary’s proximity to Clarkston, GA, which is home to immigrants and refugees from about 50 countries and is often called ‘the most diverse square mile in America’ makes us the ideal seminary to host this major conference on immigration,” says conference co-convener Raj Nadella, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Director of MATS Program at Columbia Theological Seminary.

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“We have observed that the issue of immigration moved to the center of our national discourse in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election and has become much more significant in the last two years. Although the issue is widely discussed in legal, political, and ecclesial circles, such conversations occur mostly in a piecemeal fashion. There have been few attempts to address various aspects of immigration—historical, political, religious, racial/ethnic, and theological/ethical—in a coherent and substantial manner,” says Nadella. “Many scholars and faith communities across the United States have been attempting to address this issue that is affecting their communities, but they lack substantial resources to facilitate constructive conversations and take steps towards participatory action.”

The conference will feature three plenary sessions that explore the causes, the processes, and the effects of migration as well as multiple workshops that will offer insights and tools for addressing immigration related issues.

“Other entities are partnering with us to make this a truly international conference of global significance,” says Silas Allard, Managing Director of Emory University’s Center for Law and Religion, Harold J. Berman Fellow in Law and Religion and conference co-convener. “We are grateful to the World Council of Churches and the Council on American Islamic Relations for their partnership.”

Columbia Theological Seminary is “cultivating faithful leaders for God’s changing world.” As an educational institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Columbia Seminary is a community of theological inquiry, leadership development, and formation for ministry in the service of the Church of Jesus Christ. Columbia Seminary offers six graduate degree programs and dozens of courses and events as a resource for church professionals and lay people through The Center for Lifelong Learning. For more information, please visit www.CTSnet.edu.

F O R P R O G R A M I N F O R M AT I O N , P L E A S E C O N TA C T:

Dr. Raj Nadella Assistant Professor of New Testament; Director of MATS Program, Columbia Theological Seminary 404 687-4544 NadellaR@CTSnet.edu Silas W. Allard Managing Director and Harold J. Berman Fellow in Law and Religion, Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University 404-727-8550 silas.allard@emory.edu

More information on the even can be found on the Migration and Border Crossing webpage.

The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University produces and promotes path-breaking scholarship, teaching, and public programs on the interaction of law and religion around the world. CSLR is a thought leader dedicated to producing innovative scholarship, facilitating challenging conversations, convening the best minds, and training the next generation of academics, lawyers, and religious leaders to advance the global conversation on law and religion.

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The revised edition followed closely the first, with a few important differences. Unlike the first edition, the Christian Doctrine was received enthusiastically by revised edition begins with a preface that explains the many in the southern Presbyterian church and widely social context in which it was written and the reasons used not only in its congregations and seminaries but for some of the changes in the first edition. Guthrie in many other Protestant denominations as well. Not describes the impact on his thinking by theologians everyone, however, was pleased. Guthrie often told the such as Jürgen Moltmann, James Cone, Allan Boesak, story of how McDowell Richards, then the President feminist and womanist theologians, and Latin American of Columbia Seminary, asked liberation theologians. Conversations him to meet with the session of a with them and others led him to CHARLES COUSAR Presbyterian congregation in South revise the chapters on the authority O B S E R V E D T H AT T H E Carolina who was less than happy of the Bible, predestination, REVISED EDITION with the book. Shirley drove up providence and evil, and Christian S E E M E D T O B E M O R E to the church on a rainy Sunday hope. An important example is the FOR SEMINARY afternoon, walked into a dimly chapter on God. The revised edition S T U D E N T S A N D lighted session room, and met a incorporates new developments FA C U LT Y. dozen grim-faced elders. Their first in the doctrine of the Trinity— question was not, “How was your particularly the social doctrine of the trip?” but, “Professor Guthrie, are Trinity and its use of perichoresis—to you a universalist?” to which Shirley describe God as one community replied, “No, I am not.” “Really?” they responded, or society of persons in relationships that are not “your book certainly sounds like you are.” “Well, I’m hierarchical, monarchical, and patriarchal but are not,” said Shirley. “I think when some people see characterized by equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. those God has gathered around the messianic table in A close friend of Guthrie’s, Charles Cousar, professor heaven—people of every race, social class, gender, and of New Testament for many years at Columbia sexual orientation—they will choose not to be there!”

Seminary, observed that while the first edition of Christian Doctrine was written for people in The first edition of Christian Doctrine was such a success congregations, the revised edition seemed to be more that in 1994 Westminster John Knox Press published for seminary students and faculty. a revised edition. David Dobson says, “we don’t know exactly how many copies [of the first edition] sold.

But our files do include the initial printing order from E N D U R I N G VA L U E 1968: 25,000 teacher books and 175,000 student books. The revised edition, which came out in 1994, Christian Doctrine has changed the way many people has sold about 100,000 copies in its life. We suspect thought about their faith, particularly but not only in the original edition that was part of the Covenant Life Presbyterian churches over the past five decades. For Curriculum may have sold five or ten times that.” instance, the chapter on human sin moves beyond continued from page 8

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a personal, individual interpretation of sin, to focus on the corporate sins that infect human societies.

In the time when it was first written, Guthrie surely had in mind especially the ways that racism and classism distort our relationships with one another.

Subsequently, he became even more aware of the sin of sexism, as attested by the revisions to reflect more inclusive language in the 1994 edition. His corporate understanding of sin continues to ring just as true in 2018 as in 1968.

In addition, Guthrie’s studies with Karl Barth shaped his Christological emphasis throughout entire volume.

This is especially notable in the chapter on election, in which he follows Barth’s interpretation of Christ as the electing God and the elected human, in whom all are elect. It was this Christological interpretation of election that got him into trouble with groups like the session in South Carolina, who undoubtedly saw Westminster’s interpretation of double predestination as the only acceptable understanding of election.

Unlike the double predestination view, Guthrie emphasized that the God we see in Jesus Christ is the God of grace, who is for us and with us even before the foundation of the earth.

To be sure, there are theological topics that receive less attention in Christian Doctrine than we might like. For instance, in neither the first nor the revised edition is there a sustained discussion of prayer, baptism, or the Lord’s Supper. These are treated briefly in the larger discussion of the church, but these central practices of the church’s life together did not seem to interest Guthrie a great deal, in comparison to his sustained attention to what Barth called the threefold form of the Word of God. One wonders whether he fully recognized Calvin’s emphasis on the church of word and sacrament.

Despite this omission, the primary gift of Guthrie’s theological work is the tone of invitation and openness throughout, including his emphasis on dialogue with those who hold differing theological views. This openness to dialogue infuses the book, and it continues to influence the way theology classes are taught at Columbia Seminary today. Following Guthrie’s lead, theology at CTS is built on the conviction that theology is dialogical, and generations of teaching teams have sought to embody this conviction, beginning with Shirley Guthrie and Ben Kline and continuing to the present.

Donald M. McKim, who wrote the foreword to the anniversary edition of Christian Doctrine, offers these final words of appreciation for the lasting value of this book: “Christian Doctrine was a breath of fresh air for the church when it was first published. Its importance increased through the years as countless seminary students, pastors, and church groups experienced its persuasiveness in presenting Christian belief. Today the book’s influence continues as it accessibly presents the church’s faith. Theology’s importance as lived in our experience helps us understand the Gospel in new and fresh ways. If you have not looked at Christian Doctrine lately, this 50th anniversary edition is a wonderful way to hear Shirley Guthrie speak again; and have your faith stimulated and deepened by our master teacher and friend.”

George Stroup succeeded Shirley Guthrie as the J.B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia. In 2018, Martha Moore-Keish succeeded George Stroup as the holder of that chair.

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A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H A L U M N I

DANA WATERS III AND DANA WATERS V B Y J U L I E B A I L E Y, D I R E C T O R O F A L U M N I A N D C H U R C H R E L AT I O N S

There aren’t too many Columbia Theological Seminary alumni who share the distinction of being alumnus with their grandfather or grandson, so Julie Bailey sat down with the Reverends Dana Waters III and Dana Waters V to find out what it’s like to share in their vocational journeys.

J U L I E : Can each of you start by telling us what brought you to Columbia Seminary?

D A N A I I I : I was brought to Columbia Seminary as a child in 1939. I was five years

old when my father entered Columbia Seminary, and lived on campus for the first year he was there. Then at the end of that year, he accepted the opportunity to serve a church in North Georgia while he was still going to seminary. So, mother and I moved to Hartwell, GA, living there until Dad finished seminary.

So, when I came to Columbia Seminary as a student, it was kind of like going home and reuniting with friends. Dr. Richards’ daughter was just a little bit younger than I was. Dr. Cartledge's son was just a year or so older than I was. I knew them well. I knew Dr. Gutzke and played with his children. My father stayed in touch with these professors. They would come to our home from time to time, so it was very comfortable coming back. I loved being at Columbia Seminary again.

Dr. J. McDowell Richards was President when I was there as a child and was still President when I returned as a student. And he remembered me—I got into a little mischief as a child. So, when he greeted me in the welcoming line as I was coming in as a student, he said, “Well, Dana, I hope you make a better record this time than you did the first.” I always remembered that. [Laughter]

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J U L I E : Wow! What a welcome. So how did you [Dana V] come to Columbia Seminary?

D A N A V : I went to Presbyterian College. After I graduated, I ran their bookstore for

about three years. It was during that time that I felt a call to ministry. When I felt that call, I decided to sell the bookstore, and went to South Aiken Presbyterian Church in Aiken, South Carolina. I served as their part-time Youth Director for a year, while I discerned whether or not this was the call for me. My wife and I joked about me being a second career Pastor. I went into business thinking I would do that as a career, until God decided other things were in store for me.

I came to Columbia Seminary in 2013 and graduated 2016. Obviously, there is a bit of family history connected to Columbia Seminary, but I did look at other seminaries. I did take time to visit and discern where I felt God was calling me to be. I remember visiting campus for the weekend, standing on the Quad looking around. I just knew this is where God was calling me to be. At one point, during worship, while singing “Be Thou my Vision,” the words struck me in a different way, and confirmed that I was standing in the right place.

J U L I E : You have a rich family history of church pastors. Did you call on your granddad and

ask him about his experience when you were in seminary?

D A N A V : We talked a lot about the classes I was taking—similarities and differences— and those conversations continue today. We talk about church polity and church trends, and wonder together where the church is going? Where is God leading the church next?

I think we are both equally interested in what God is doing.

T H AT T H E M E O F “ O U T O F, ACROSS, AND INTO” IS STILL R E L E VA N T T O WHERE WE FIND O U R S E LV E S T O D AY. S O W E CONTINUE TO FOLLOW W H AT E V E R MOSES IS OUT THERE, H O P I N G T H AT MOSES IS ALSO FOLLOWING G O D.

J U L I E : What do you think? Where is the church going? Where is God leading us next?

D A N A I I I : I sure was hoping that you had the answer to that!

I think we're in a wilderness time and we’re looking for the “promised land,” fully conscious that the promised land is not behind us. It is out there in front of us. Remember, God called Abraham and said, “Go to a land that I would show you.” But God didn’t show him in advance. It was only after he arrived that God said, “This is it.” I think the church is in the same position, and to me, our task is to continue to walk as faithfully as we possibly can, trusting in God’s guidance.

Anyone, who was at Columbia Seminary in the years I was there and was exposed to Dr. Manford Gutzke, would remember his diagram of the way the people of Israel went from Egypt across the wilderness and entered the promised land. That theme of “out of, across, and into” is still relevant to where we find ourselves today.

So we continue to follow whatever Moses is out there, hoping that Moses is also following God.

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J U L I E : Tell me about your favorite class.

T O T H I S D AY, EVERY TIME I WRITE A SERMON, DR. BARTLETT’S WORDS HIT ME, AND I A S K M Y S E L F, “A M I S AY I N G GOD’S WORD IS I M P O R TA N T ?”

I F T H AT ’ S A L L I C A N S AY A B O U T I T, T H E N I N E E D TO THROW IT O U T A N D S TA R T OVER.

D A N A I I I : It’s hard for me to talk about a favorite class. Shirley Guthrie had just come to seminary during the time I was there. He was fresh out his studies with Karl Barth, and he was wonderful. It was stirring just to be able to be in his class and learn from him.

Wade Huie came as Professor of Homiletics when I was there. “Wade the Blade,” as we knew him, was an inspiration to us. He was devoted to the work he was doing, and it came across. I was telling my grandson that the most practical professor that I had in seminary was one that people would not remember well, but I did.

It was Dr. David Walthall. He had been Director of Christian Education for the Synod of Alabama. His course in Christian Education was the best preparation for going into the church. He gave us tools to work with and some guidelines that were hugely beneficial to us. But I can’t stop speaking of the professors without mentioning Dr. Sam Cartledge. During the time I was there, we chose either to follow an English, Greek or Hebrew course. I chose the Greek course, so I had almost all my Biblical studies with Dr. Cartledge. He was not just a great teacher, but also a friend and mentor. He gave me a lifelong love for studying scripture.

This is something I have carried with me all through the years.

D A N A V : There were so many classes and professors that I am still being shaped

by. I think a highlight for me was, senior year. I took two different classes from Dr. Christine Roy Yoder—one on Proverbs and one on the Songs of Songs. I got to do a really deep dive into two more obscure texts, and am so thankful for that. I took preaching from David Bartlett and Anna Carter Florence. I’ll never forget my first sermon. Apparently in his eyes, I made the tragic mistake of saying that “God’s word is important.” Dr. Bartlett said, “I loved everything about your sermon, but that.

The news is important. The weather is important. God’s word is so much more than important!” To this day, every time I write a sermon, Dr. Bartlett’s words hit me, and I ask myself, “Am I saying God’s word is important?” If that’s all I can say about it, then I need to throw it out and start over.

J U L I E : Can you tell us about a difficult time on campus and how it was dealt with?

D A N A I I I : It was a pretty divisive time, when I was a student. The students were unforgivingly divided into two groups in my recollection of things. You either were a fundamentalist or a liberal. There was no in between. The split that was brewing

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in the Presbyterian Church U.S. at that time was reflected in the student body at Columbia Seminary. The number of those who were more conservative in their views became proud movers of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). There was a real division. We really didn’t have the kind interaction with one another across the theological/political spectrum that would have been beneficial for all of us. I can look back on that now and see it with more clarity than I did as a student.

J U L I E : Is it your sense that Columbia Seminary prepared you well for serving the church in your particular time and place?

D A N A V : Columbia Seminary did a good job of helping us ask the right questions

like, “How do you keep your eyes open to what God is doing?” and “How do you help others follow that path?” Once you have that part answered, the details can be worked out. That’s certainly something that you have to learn along the way when you’re actually in a church and doing ministry with real people. There is only so much that you can learn in the classroom.

D A N A I I I : Columbia Seminary prepared me as well as I could have been prepared, acknowledging the fact that I had a lot of learning to do through experience along the way. I don’t look back on my years and ask why they didn’t teach me this or that.

I think they did everything they could to prepare me. I also had the tremendous benefits of having grown up in a minister’s home where the life of the church was the life of the family. So, I had a very good notion of what it was I was getting in to, as much as I could have known at that time. And I found through the years that Columbia has been a resource for continued development along the way, just through consultations with faculty, friends, and people who have been there. It’s been a lifelong learning experience.

I FOUND THROUGH THE Y E A R S T H AT COLUMBIA HAS BEEN A RESOURCE FOR CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT A L O N G T H E WAY . . . IT’S BEEN A LIFELONG LEARNING EXPERIENCE.

J U L I E : Lastly, besides the Bible, tell us who or what you are reading?

D A N A V : I’m really into Shane Claiborne the last few months: Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President. He’s really good at throwing wrenches into my theology in a great way. I appreciate that he seems to live out his theology more than he preaches it out. I can’t read more than a few pages at a time, because it is so meaty and insightful. I keep having to stop to let his words sink in.

D A N A I I I : I find myself returning to Frederick Buechner and his writings. I always find them challenging and inspirational at the same time.

J U L I E : Thank you both for sharing your stories with us. We look forward to seeing you on campus again soon!

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I NAUG U R A L L EC T U R E F OR

KATHY DAWSON K AT H Y D AW S O N I S T H E B E N T O N FA M I LY A S S O C I AT E P R O F E S S O R O F C H R I S T I A N E D U C AT I O N

“I am certain that when Jesus commissioned his faithful followers to ‘Go and make disciples…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…,’ he had Kathy Dawson in mind. I had the privilege of teaching with Kathy, and it was always a delight and a joy to learn with her and from her. It is wonderful that she will now hold the Benton Family Chair in Christian Education. As a gifted teacher, Kathy is about doing exactly as Jesus called us—making disciples through teaching!”

— D R . R O D G E R Y. N I S H I O K A , Village Presbyterian Church and Former Benton Family Professor of Christian Education

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arlier this year, Dr. Kathy Dawson was appointed the Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education, a chair previously held by Dr. Rodger Nishioka.

Her inauguration was on Wednesday, October 10, 2018, in the Harrington Center Chapel. Her lecture was titled, “Life Together @ 80: What Dietrich Bonhoeffer Might Say About Building Community Today.”

We took some time to ask Dr. Dawson some questions: Tell us about your journey into Christian Education.

Kathy Dawson: I have been a learner and a teacher for most of my life. I have always had a deep curiosity to learn new things and to explore new places in the world. My first vocational pursuit of this was in public school education in California, my home state. I taught in elementary schools in various capacities for nine years.

During this time, I found that my volunteer educational work in church settings was giving me much more joy and satisfaction than my paid vocation as a public school teacher. This prompted a call to move across country to attend the Presbyterian School of Christian Education to prepare for a calling as a church educator.

While pursuing this Master of Arts in Christian Education degree, I was surprised to discover that God was also calling me to ordained ministry, so after graduating I headed to Columbia Theological Seminary to pursue the MDiv degree here. Having been a mentor-teacher in my public school teaching days, I had discovered a love and

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facility for teaching other educators. I knew I wanted to serve the church for a few years, but also had the desire to help prepare educators and pastors for the teaching ministry. This led to pursuing a PhD at Princeton Theological Seminary after having served Spring Hill Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama, for three years as Associate Pastor focused in Christian Education. I have now been back at Columbia Theological Seminary since 2004, and continue to love learning and teaching with the wonderful students, staff, and faculty of this institution.

What scriptures guide you and why?

Three scriptures come to mind that continue to recur in my life and teaching: Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This was the scripture I chose for my ordination service—the Shema as it is known in Jewish circles. It talks about the handing on of faith to the next generation and the immediacy of God’s word in our lives. I continue to believe that teaching children is one of the most important vocations that one can pursue and that all God’s children have a place in this larger narrative of God’s work in the world.

Matthew 5-7. The Sermon on the Mount is so easy to read and so hard to live out. Like my theology mentor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I would love to see a curriculum and community that would take these words seriously as a guide for living within the beloved community.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31. I continue to find new depths to this metaphor of The Body of Christ for the church. I think about who the least respected parts of the body may be and how we act in concert to be Christ’s body in the world, loving God and serving others.

What are your current Interests and passions within Christian education?

I have a number of these firing my imagination at the moment . . .

I’m curious about narratives that help children, youth, and adults transcend their daily living to see faith and life in a new light. I think of particularly fantasy fiction and the numbers of people that find their story in this genre of literature rather than the Bible or other genres of literature or film. How can we be a bridge by having deep conversations about the themes in this literature that sometimes align and sometimes contradict the Christian story? How can the empathy that readers feel for certain characters in these universes translate to real world compassion for others?

D R . K AT H Y D AW S O N ’ S L O V E FOR GOD IS EXEMPLIFIED IN HER AUTHENTIC ABILIT Y TO HELP HER STUDENTS REALIZE OUR TRUEST AND HIGHEST EXPRESSION O F O U R S E LV E S THROUGH J E S U S C H R I S T. D R . A N G E L A W YAT T

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INAUGURAL LECTURE FOR KATHY DAWSON continued

I’m interested in exploring the global Christian education experience, particularly in parts of the world where Christianity is growing. What are their aims? What new contextual methods are they developing? What can we learn as we struggle here in the United States to transition into new ways of pursuing educational ministry?

Finally, I’m interested in the intergenerational ministry conversation. How do we move to a sense of Deuteronomy 6 where the generations are exploring God’s word together? I don’t think we need to throw out the insights of developmental psychology and brain research as some would suggest, but these ways of knowing become even more important if we want to create programs that are meaningful to all or to develop resources for parents to reclaim their role as primary religious educator for their children.

What insights do you have about the future of Christian education?

The hope for the future of Christian education lies in the hands of those who are inspired to try new things in their ministry settings and share them with others. That is one of the main reasons I started.

Hope4CE.net and the Hope4CE Facebook group. We’re in a time of transition where the old models are failing. This is frustrating for some, but I see it as an exciting time where God is bringing forth something new. I don’t know that we’ll ever have a predominant model again like Sunday School that most churches embrace. I think God will inspire more localized experiments in education and formation that will reflect the identity of each faith community. The task of continuing to grow in knowledge and discipleship remains, however, regardless of what we call it or how it is manifested.

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Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

Usually when someone asks that, I trot out my connection with Disney and recording the soundtrack for the “It’s a Small World” ride as a child. Beyond that, I had many more formative experiences as a child by singing in the International Children’s Choir. I met a good number of the Apollo astronauts, including Neil Armstrong. I sang for Coretta Scott King and the Queen of Denmark. We did a number of different television shows with famous actors and actresses of the day and sang for future presidents.

However, what I currently most appreciate from this period of my life was my mother insisting that I do all the shows, even the ones where many parents were hesitant to send their children—in the prisons, psychiatric wards, convalescent hospitals, and police stations. She wanted me to see all of life and I’m grateful I had that opportunity, as it has made me less fearful of those who have different experiences from me. Because of these early experiences, it is somewhat easier for me to embrace and live into the affirmation that we are all God’s children.

K AT H Y D AW S O N WA S F I R S T M Y PA S T O R AT S P R I N G H I L L PRESBY TERIAN CHURCH AND THEN, MENTOR. AND AS SUCH MODELS A DEPTH OF JOYFUL PRACTICE, FIERCE INTELLECT AND COURAGEOUS C O M PA S S I O N A S A MINISTER OF WORD A N D S A C R A M E N T. HER MODELING AND MENTORING LED ME INTO A LIFE OF M I N I S T R Y. ­ — R E V. A N N E H . K .

APPLE, IDLEWILD PRESBY TERIAN CHURCH

M O R E A B O U T D R . K AT H Y D AW S O N

Dr. Kathy Dawson was chosen as the 2015 Educator of the Year by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators.

In addition to serving as professor of Christian Education, Dr. Dawson is also the Director of the Master of Arts in Practical Theology (M.A.P.T.) program for professional and volunteer ministry. The program has areas of concentration in Christian Education, Pastoral Care/Pastoral Theology, and Worship.

Dr. Dawson holds degrees from California State University (B.A.), Presbyterian School of Christian Education (M.A.), Columbia Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D.). She is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and has created a number of denominational resources including Confessing Faith: A Guide to Confirmation for Presbyterians, 2006.

Kathy Dawson’s story is also featured on the CTS website, with the text and video of her lecture at www.ctsnet.edu/inaugural-lecture-for-kathy-dawson .

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LEADING IN AN ANXIOUS SYSTEM: WHAT IS A LEADER TO DO?

BY ISRAEL GALINDO

Persons who step up to leadership tend to be motivated, smart, and sincere in their desire for success, for themselves and for their organization. Some leaders are go-getters who want to fix a system (and the people in it). They want to create a successful organization and will take on the challenge of “changing the system.”

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When they've had success in a previous context they will tend to enter a challenging dysfunctional system with the confidence that they will be able to duplicate the successes made in one context in another. The liability here, of course, is the tendency to focus leadership on the personality of the leader and failing to take into account the reality that (1) not all systems are created equal, and (2) leadership is as much a function of the system as it is of the individual designated “leader” in the system.

The corrective to the perils of a personality-focused leadership is the appreciation that leadership is always contextual and, context matters a lot. Not all systems are alike, though systems tend to be “of a kind.” A biological family system is not the same as a congregational relationship system, even if the church is made up of families. A for-profit business is not the same as a non-profit organization, even when both provide the same service. A theological school is not a church community, even though both share similar beliefs and practices. Effective leaders understand that the function of leadership is as much (if not more) a product of the system than of the personality of the leader in the system. Therefore, leaders must understand the context and type of system they are in.

Two recent conversations with highly motivated but frustrated leaders underscored the importance of understanding one's system. Both are smart, experienced, and confident leaders. Both have had successes at former contexts in similar systems (one a non-profit organization and one in a congregational context). But both are very frustrated at the slow pace of change they are making helping their organizations succeed. Both express a feeling of being stuck and facing problems they are not able to “fix” for the first time. One said, “It feels like pushing against Jello around here.” The other said, “At this point I’d settle for us just being a healthier place.”

These leaders were facing the particular challenge of trying to lead chronically anxious systems. These types of systems are structured with chronic anxiety as an integral part of their homeostasis and patterns of emotional process. They come about when their structure: (1) makes someone in the system responsible for someone else's functioning, (2) uses triangles as a patterned way for emotional processes and, (3) is structured so as to inhibit the effectiveness of the leader. At best, these systems lack the internal resources to be adaptive to circumstances and, at worst, they are highly resistant to change and tend to have a perverse devotion to their dysfunction. Any leader with Messianic leanings will become prone to burnout in such systems.

Does this mean these leaders should just give up on their systems? No, I still think the presence of a mature and effective leader remains one of the most significant factors in helping a system function better, if not realize success.

But it can help to adjust one's assumptions, perspectives, and functioning as leader in a chronically anxious system stuck in its dysfunction.

The challenge for leaders in this context is to adjust their leadership functioning without accommodating to the system.

THESE LEADERS W E R E FA C I N G T H E PA R T I C U L A R CHALLENGE OF TRYING TO LEAD C H R O N I C A L LY ANXIOUS SYSTEMS. THESE TYPES OF SYSTEMS ARE STRUCTURED WITH CHRONIC ANXIETY AS AN INTEGRAL PA R T O F T H E I R H O M E O S TA S I S A N D PAT T E R N S OF EMOTIONAL PROCESS.

In what ways might highperforming leaders adjust their perspective, expectations and functioning in a chronically anxious system? Here are some: •W ork at containing the toxins in the system to empower the strengths within the system. Toxic elements include those who sabotage efforts, become entrenched, gossip, are willful, act irresponsibly or act as terrorists in the system. These persons impede progress and

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WHAT IS A LEADER TO DO? continued

keep the system stuck by holding others emotionally hostage, being a distraction, or actively undermine the efforts of others in the system. In chronically anxious systems that lack capacity for dealing with these persons, it is the leader who must provide appropriate intervention.

• I nvest in and release the high performers. As leaders inhibit the toxins in the system they will be able to release and empower the high performers in the system. Dealing with the toxic members of the system takes a lot of energy, but leaders should make it appear that they are investing more time and attention to the healthy and most motivated persons in the system. Give them the support and resources they need and soon they’ll learn to take their cues from you, the leader, rather than from the naysayers and chicken-littles in the system.

• I nculcate accountability. Chronically anxious systems tend to have developed a pattern of not holding persons accountable. This enables underfunctioners and underperformers to “set the tone” for the work ethic in the system. Leaders in this kind of system must address these immature, unprofessional, and irresponsible behaviors.

• Be responsible for your job and your functioning.

Balanced with the above, leaders in dysfunctional systems do better in focusing on taking responsibility for their own functioning and responsibilities while not making themselves responsible for other people’s functioning. It sounds paradoxical, but it appears universally true that to the extent a leader can do this, the system functions better.

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•G ive up expectations of outcomes. “A leader can only accomplish what the system allows,” claimed Edwin Friedman. Chronically anxious systems with high levels of dysfunction tend to lack the internal capacity to attain goals, realize vision and live into the mission of the organization. A leader who inflicts lofty goals and unrealistic outcomes on this system is setting up him or herself, and the system, for disappointment and frustration. It is likely these systems need to focus on being “better” before they are able to focus on doing and producing “more.” However, while the leader will do well to lower his or her personal expectations, it is appropriate to demand more of the system—the best people in the system will step up.

•G ain clarity about your goals and your tenure in office. What do YOU want to accomplish in your tenure as a leader is a better orientation than what you want the system to accomplish. Remember that it is willfulness that brings out the toxicity in a system.

Focus on your goals as a leader over any goals for the system.

•G ain clarity about the function you serve in the system (the one you desire and the ones the system assigns to you). Entrenched and systems with rigidity in their emotional process tend to assign roles and functions to individuals in the system. Double so for leaders in chronically anxious systems. The roles, with accompanying functions are varied: rescuer, fixer, scapegoat, etc. Whether you like it or not, a chronically anxious system will assign you the role it expects of its leader based on rigidly patterned relationship structures. Leaders in these systems do not have to accept those roles and expectations, but

should not be surprised about how they will continue to haunt them as long as they remain in the position or leader.

•B uild a narrative for success (vision, identity, values).

Every system needs and craves direction from its leader; they want that “vision thing.” Chronically anxious and dysfunctional systems tend to build a narrative of victimization and defeat over time.

Leaders can “re-wire” the self perception and outlook of a system by creating a new narrative for the system. This can be done in many ways, from re-interpreting past crises, nodal events, and critical instances, to providing a narrative for the future of the system. Effective leaders tend to not underestimate the function of the leader as resident storyteller and interpreter of the systems’ narrative because they know it is one way to shape its identity.

Leadership is a product of a system, more so than a function of one individual’s personality, skills, or competence. As such, leaders do well to understand the nature of the system they lead and the context in which it resides. In this way, leaders can move toward being more effective by providing the leadership function the system actually needs through adaptation rather than accommodation.

Israel Galindo is Associate Dean for Lifelong Learning at the Columbia Theological Seminary. He is the author of the bestseller, The Hidden Lives of Congregations (Rowman & Littlefield).

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LIFELONG LEARNING

MINISTRY AND COACHING: AN ODD MIX OR NEEDED ADDITION? B Y J A N E E . FA H E Y

In January 2019 Columbia Theological Seminary is launching a coaching training program (TCI@CTS) as part of its commitment to lifelong learning.

This article introduces the idea of how coaching knowledge can be useful in ministry.

Years ago I received coach training under the same faculty who will be leading the TCI@CTS program.

That training was one of the most valuable continuing education efforts I’ve pursued! And it’s not just for folks who want to become a professional coach!

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The church can clearly use people who are equipped and trained to be coaches.

They see practically every problem known to man such as abuse, neglect, family dysfunction, counseling, team/committee organizations, needing food and shelter, and the list goes on and on.

So as you can imagine, clergy burnout continues to be a challenge.

Choosing to engage a coach is among the best practices for pastors who are serious about self-care.

Pastors who feel stuck in ministry—either because they’re brand new and are still forming healthy habits

and boundaries or because they’re mid- or late-career and need clarity about next steps or new challenges— can benefit from a skilled coach.

A good coach can help you clarify your goals, tap your creative energies, and hold you accountable for the client-centered and client-driven solutions you uncover in the coaching conversations.

Because of the value I place on coaching, I not only have engaged a coach of my own, but as a judicatory leader, I also incorporated coaching as an element of the presbytery’s first-call pastor program and encouraged first-time heads of staff to engage a coach as well.

So if you’re a judicatory leader, TCI@CTS will be a sound introduction to the values that coaching can provide for your pastors. If you want to become a coach, the church can use your skills, and this program is the place to begin.

And if you’re a pastor who simply wants to be better equipped for leadership, this program will be a valuable addition to your toolkit.

Good coaching rests on the premise that each person is a beloved child of God who is creative, resourceful, and whole.

At its core, coaching training teaches you to listen carefully and to ask powerful questions that unlock the resourcefulness and gifts of the other person.

Honing that skill will make you a more effective leader, a more effective personnel manager, and even a more empowering friend.

In short, with the coaching skills learned in this program, you can help a person recognize and unleash the Spirit’s gifts within them!

If you’d like to know more about how a coaching certificate can help benefit your own ministry work, visit www.ctsnet. edu/coaching-institute.

The Rev. Dr. Jane E. Fahey is a Columbia Theological Seminary alumna and trustee who formerly directed the seminary’s “Faith and the City” program. She has pastored churches in Atlanta, and served as the Interim Executive Presbyter for the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta.

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hen I was a prospective student, the admissions office arranged for me to meet with a few professors during my very first visit to Columbia Seminary. I sat down in Charlie Cousar's office and we had a pleasant enough conversation. As we were finishing, I asked him if he had any recommendations of things to read before matriculating to seminary, and he said, “Go read Shirley’s book.”

I confess that at that precise moment, I had no idea who Shirley was or what her (sic) book was about, but I was too terrified to show my ignorance to Dr. Cousar. After our meeting, I wandered into the bookstore and surreptitiously inquired about a book by “Shirley Somebody,” and the very helpful work study student took me to directly to the shelf and put Christian Doctrine into my hands.

My early years as a disciple of Jesus were spent outside the Reformed theological tradition, as is the case with many of the people in the churches that I have pastored over the years. Christian Doctrine remains an invaluable tool for me both personally and professionally for introducing new generations of Christians to our Reformed way being the church.

— R YA N B A E R , pastor, Ridgelea Presbyterian Church, Fort Worth, TX More quotes on our website at www.ctsnet.edu/50-years-christian-doctrine

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hat comes to my mind was the group of German students in Göettingen, with whom I read this book even before I even had heard of Columbia Seminary or met Shirley. I had discovered Christian Doctrine during a stay at Princeton Seminary (and for quite some time I was convinced, that Shirley was a female theologian!) I had loved the book so much that I wanted to share it with the students I was working with at the time as their “studies inspector” for the “Reformiertes Studienhaus”.

So there I was, sitting together with about ten students, week after week, working through Shirley’s book. Only a few of them had a background in theology, but all were eager to study their Christian faith and its relevance for their life. And I remember their delight, when they found out that they could actually read and understand the book—even though it was written in English and for Christians in a completely different context. For many of them, that was indeed a new experience: understanding a theology book and recognizing the impact those theological deliberations had on their life. And I do remember a female student, who, at the end of the semester, summarized her impression of Christian Doctrine and of Shirley in a way that touched me then and even today, when I remember those words: “Guthrie loves theology, and he loves his readers.” And this, I think, is the greatness of Shirley’s book in one sentence, from a student who had never met Shirley, whose first language was German, who had never even heard about Presbyterians before, but who nevertheless got the essence of the book and, in a way, also of Shirley. He loved theology, he loved his students and readers, and I would add: he loved teaching the love of God. No wonder this book is still teaching, 50 years after he first wrote it!

Thank you, Shirley, for this enduring gift of love.

— M A R G I T E R N S T , Theological Coordinator: Exhibition “Living (the) Reformation Worldwide”; (Taught at CTS 1999–2002)

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NEW @CTS MEDIA Columbia Theological Seminary increasingly uses videos to share information, introduces students, and even provide mini-lectures on important topics. It’s one of the best ways to tell the story about our great programs. View them and share them with friends!

UPDATES FROM OUR PRESIDENT, DR. LEANNE VAN DYK:

• J une 2018—Dr. Leanne Van Dyk talks about graduation, our new Vice President/Dean of Faculty, and progress on a new online degree.

•S eptember 2018—Dr. Leanne Van Dyk talks about beginning another academic year training church leaders for God's changing world!

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M I N I -L E C T U R E S F R O M FA C U LT Y:

•D r. Bill Brown—In “The Bible, Science, and Faith” Professor Bill Brown talks about our commitment to integrate science and faith as we explore the bible with wonder.

•D r. Catherine Gonzalez—In “Women in Theological Education” Professor Emerita Catherine Gunsalus Gonzalez shares memories of many of the first women in theological education at Presbyterian seminaries (including herself) from the 70s through the 90s.

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SPECIAL EVENTS:

•C onvocation 2018 Sermon—The Rev. Dr. Shively Smith, a ThM alumna now serving at the Boston University School of Theology delivered a sermon titled “When We Read.”

• I naugural Address for Dr. Martha Moore-Keish—As the new J.B. Green Associate Professor of Theology, Dr. Moore-Keish speaks on “Divine Freedom and Human Religions: A Reformed Theologian Approaches Comparative Theology.”

• Inaugural Address for Dr. Kathy Dawson—As the new Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education, Dr. Dawson speaks on “Life Together @80: What Dietrich Bonhoeffer Might Say About Building Community Today.”

40:32

For these and other videos, please visit us on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/ctsmedia.

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REASONABLE

SERVICE

MISSION HAVEN: WHO ARE WE?

B Y K E L LY W E I R I C H , B O A R D M E M B E R

Mission Haven provides affordable housing and friendly hospitality to mission co-workers of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

It furnishes a Clothes Closet of good donated clothing for the missionary families as well as for students at local seminaries.

It offers prayers and spiritual support and is located adjacent to Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA.

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magine that you and your family are going to another country to live for six months to one year. The only items you can take with you need to fit into two suitcases per person. What would you pack? What would you leave behind?

Missionaries confront these choices when they return to the U.S. Knowing that they will be living at Mission Haven makes their decisions easier because we provide a fully furnished home or apartment, a clothing closet, children’s toys and books, dishes, linens, appliances, cribs, high chairs, access to public transportation, a contact list of local businesses, friendly assistance, and more.

Mission Haven is a ministry of Presbyterian Women (PW) that offers housing, hospitality, clothing, and prayer to our international mission co-workers when they visit the Decatur, GA, area.

HISTORY

Begun with funds donated by Presbyterian Women in six southeastern states, a duplex and detached garage were built in 1950 on property owned by Columbia Theological Seminary. Three years later, a nationwide PW Birthday Offering grant funded a second apartment building, and in the late 1950s a regional Blessing Box Offering financed the building that currently contains the Clothes Closet, tool shed, office, and basement storage, also on seminary property. Because of increasing need for capacity, three ranch houses adjacent to seminary property were purchased between 1960 and 1972.

Common areas include a meeting room, an exercise/recreation room, laundry room, fire pit, and play area.

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closet provides nearly new and gently worn in-style clothing for all ages, Let mutual love continue.

In the early years, our residents and is available to all residents and Do not neglect to show were missionaries on furlough. In seminary students. hospitality to strangers, addition to speaking engagements Although we give preference for by doing that some with their supporting churches, to PC(USA) mission co-workers, have entertained angels they came to Decatur for rest and when space permits, we also without knowing it. relaxation in between overseas welcome mission co-workers from assignments. Over time, as the — H E B R E W S 13:1–2 other denominations, The Outreach nature and funding of mission work Foundation, and international evolved, these men and women (now seminary students. called mission co-workers to reflect the partnership This community is indeed a haven for our residents relationships they have with the communities they —a place to live, a place to connect with fellow mission serve) come to Decatur to establish a home base co-workers, a place for the children to play … a place for their families as they itinerate to raise funds that to call home for a short time. Indeed, we frequently will support their next trip. Co-workers and their house second and third generation mission co-workers families dwell at Mission Haven anywhere from a few at Mission Haven—the only U.S. home many of them weeks up to two years. Decatur offers their children have ever known! excellent schools; our location is convenient to public transportation; and the proximity of CTS provides easy FUTURE access to library resources. As an added benefit, these Even as the number of PC(USA) mission men and women have an opportunity to associate with co-workers who are supported by Presbyterian seminary students who are curious about ways to serve Mission Agency (PMA) decrease, the number of God’s people outside of traditional church walls.

PC(USA) men and women who serve overseas with para-church organizations increases. Nearly T O D AY full occupancy is the norm. In recent months, we Today, Presbyterian Women in Alabama, Florida, have had to turn down requests from those seeking Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee accommodations. continue to support the maintenance of buildings and If you would like to learn more about us or grounds, renovate and repair residences, and provide contribute to this worthwhile ministry, please insurance and other administrative needs for our 6 contact our Executive Director, Alice Day by email apartments and 3 houses. at missionhavendecatur@gmail.com. You can learn A local team of dedicated volunteers (including more about the ministry of the mission co-workers men!) ensures that each fully furnished residence is who stay at Mission Haven by visiting https://www. ready to welcome our mission co-workers when they presbyterianmission.org/coworkers/. arrive—clean bed linens, fresh towels, adequate kitchen supplies, and more. Several nearby congregations V I D E O https://vimeo.com/161227648 graciously contribute manpower a few times a year to W E B S I T E www.missionhaven.net help maintain and beautify our properties. We welcome FA C E B O O K www.facebook.com/MissionHaven others who live in the Greater Atlanta to join us!

E M A I L missionhavendecatur@gmail.com In addition, several CTS students fulfill work-study requirements by assisting in our Clothes Closet. This FROM MISSIONARIES TO M I S S I O N C O -W O R K E R S

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R E CO G NI Z I NG

SCHOLARS

2018 AWARDS

Khayla Johnson (MDiv ’19) was awarded the C. Virginia Harrison Memorial Award. Virginia Harrison served in innumerable capacities from 1925 to 1961. Upon her death, members of her family established an award to be given each year to a rising senior who is conscientious, responsible, hardworking and who shows great potential for leadership in the church. Khayla is under care of the Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery, and her home church is St. James Presbyterian in Charleston, SC. Khayla graduated from Coastal Carolina University in graphic design and photography.

She created the “We Are Columbia” photography exhibit which hangs in the Broyles Leadership Center and the Richards Center now. Currently, Khayla is the Student Government Association President, and worships with the congregation of Hillside Presbyterian Church.

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Sheena Mayrant, our Business Systems Coordinator, was presented the Betsey Burgess Staff Award. Betsey served Columbia Seminary faithfully for 22 years, and upon her retirement established this award for one “who has demonstrated faithfulness, dedicated service, and Christian character upholding the Seminary’s purpose and mission.” Sheena began her employment in July 2017, within two months of graduating with her MDiv. In her role, she manages system setup, implementation of new capabilities and staff training for Columbia Seminary’s campus-wide student information system (SIS), the customer relationship management (CRM) used for enrollment management, the event management systems used in the Center for Lifelong Learning and the electronic emergency notification system. Sheena currently serves as an elected member of the of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Council, and is also enrolled in the DMin degree program in Christian Spirituality.

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or me, this is one of the reasons that Christian Doctrine endures the litmus test of time. It is precisely crafted to inform and educate the inquiring, non-theologically trained mind. It is an unapologetic apologetic on the essential teachings (“doctrines”) of the Christian faith. It is unapologetic in its affirmation and interpretation of “credimus” (“we believe”). At the same time (and dialectically), it seeks to give us a contemporary understanding of why we have believed what we believe. And further, it demonstrates how to do so within an organically changing context. It is trans-temporal, not bound to the past or fixated on the present. It is “eschatological” in the best sense of eschaton (“last things”). By this, I mean that it anticipates the ongoing conversations that will be essential for future generations of a “katholike” (“catholic” or “universal”) Christian faith.

Christian Doctrine is an extended catechesis. It is not a selection of or commentary on theological pronouncements. Rather, it is an invitation to ponder, understand and then affirm “Christian doctrine,” past, present and future. Thank you, Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr. for your unique genius that endures and sustains what “we believe.”

— W I L L C O L E M A N , P H .D. , Associate Professor of Theology and Religions of the World, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia; (Taught at CTS 1992-2000).

More from Will Coleman and others on our website at www.ctsnet.edu/50-years-christian-doctrine

LANDSCAPES OF A High Desert Retreat, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

April 1-5, 2019

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In conjunction with Spiritual Formation at the Center for Lifelong Learning

33 photo by Larry Lamsa

LIFELONG LEARNING

COURSE SCHEDULE

LEARN • EXPLORE • CONNECT with the Center for Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary

January 24-26 The Enneagram: Personality and Spirituality with Sandra Smith

February 4-March 15 Creation and Connection: An Introduction to Celtic Christian Spirituality

January 29-31 Welcoming Our Transgender Neighbors with Gabrielle Claiborne and Linda Herzer; Kim Sorrells and Erin Swensen

with Art Wright

February 14-17 Invitation to a Deeper Spiritual Life with: Ryan Bonfiglio, Deedra Rich, and Debra Weir February 4-March 1 The Role of the Minister in Leading in a Dying Congregation ONLINE COURSE

with Woody Jenkins

ONLINE COURSE

March 4-29 Contemporary Readings in Christian Education: Youth Christian Education ONLINE COURSE

with Anna Brown March 11-12 Process of Aging and Implications for Ministry with Mary Ann Johnson March 11-13 Leadership in Ministry Workshop I: Kansas City with Keith Harder, Meg Hess, and Israel Galindo

LIFELONG LEARNING

March 13-15, 2019 Teaching for Transformation with Older Adults with Joyce MacKichan Walker April 1-5 Landscapes of Renewal: a High Desert Retreat with Bill Brown at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico April 8-10 Leadership in Ministry Workshop A I: Lynchburg VA. with Israel Galindo, Elaine Boomer, Bill Pyle, Carla Toenniessen April 23-26 Tell Me Your Story and I’ll Know Why I Should Come to Your Church (Thompson Scholars 2019) Applications for this limited enrollment seminar are due December 15, 2018 with Ralph Watkins and Terence Lester

April 22-24 Leadership in Ministry Workshop B I: Lynchburg VA with Israel Galindo, Elaine Boomer, Andrew Archie, Carla Toenniessen April 29-May 31 Writing Together in Creative Community ONLINE COURSE

with Melissa Tidwell and Beth Waltemath April 29-May 31 Money and Your Ministry ONLINE COURSE

with Margaret Marcuson May 12-15 Discerning Forgiveness with Marjorie Thompson at Montreat Conference Center May 20-22 Leadership in Ministry I: Portland with: Israel Galindo, Margaret Marcuson, Julie Josund

Learn more or register online at www.CTSnet.edu/lifelong-learning

I

had my first introduction to Shirley Guthrie’s Christian Doctrine, when I took Reformed Theology in college. It provided an accessible and even fun introduction to systematic theology. I remember writing “grades are idolatry” in the margins of my final test, and I think Dr. Hobbie appreciated the cheek. When I came to visit Columbia Seminary, I was delighted for the opportunity to sit in one of Dr. Guthrie’s classes. He was as engaging as I hoped. At the end of the lecture, someone raised their hand to ask a question. He said, “I can’t really hear you or see you, so I am just going to answer the questions people usually ask.” I began seminary at Columbia the next fall.

During my first year at CTS, Dr. Guthrie passed away. Even though I never had the opportunity to have him as a professor, his wit and wisdom has become an essential tool for my ministry. Through these pages I learned to unpack deep truths, sit in the questions, and play with the ideas that shape our faith. When church members were struggling to understand the atonement, I pulled out Christian Doctrine. When I taught Pastoral Care to undergraduate students, I turned to his chapter on “The Problem of Evil.” It has been a touchstone for me throughout countless conversations in ministry.

Just as many of my Dad’s books now sit on my office shelves, hopefully someday I will pass my wellworn copy of Christian Doctrine on to one of my children. If it does not hold up that long, I imagine I will have to get them a copy of this anniversary edition.

—R A C H E L PA R S O N S , chaplain, Presbyterian College More quotes from Rachel Parsons and others on our website at www.ctsnet.edu/50-years-christian-doctrine

WELCOMING OUR TRANSGENDER AND NON-BINARY NEIGHBORS January 29 - 31, 2019 with Rev. Linda Herzer and Gabrielle Claiborne at the Center for Lifelong Learning

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T A U T A P A N T A

WE ARE ALL PART OF A LIVING TRADITION that reaches back to the earliest days of God’s people reflecting on their world, their experience of God, and their sense of God’s calling. Tauta Panta refers to “all these things,” as in “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33).

These are notes from our journey as alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Columbia Theological Seminary.

NEWS FROM CAMPUS AUGUST 21, 2018

Faith & Leadership (www.faithandleadership.com) — Ryan P. Bonfiglio: Let’s make the church a center of theological education again. For almost 500 years, the church has been outsourcing theological education to seminaries and divinity schools. It’s time to return some of that task to local churches, says a seminary scholar and teacher.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

Faith & Leadership (www.faithandleadership.com) —Anna Carter Florence: Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God's Word in Community. Drawing upon the metaphor of church as theater, a homiletics professor offers a novel way to read Scripture in community—entering the text, encountering it, and coming back with something deep and true.

OCTOBER 14, 2018

Presbyterian Foundation (www.presbyterianfoundation. org)—Caring for your soul while caring for the church.

The Rev. Cindy Kohlmann, co-moderator of the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), along with Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, shares about her visit to Columbia Theological Seminary last week. She had a wonderful renewal experience during her first seminary visit as co-moderator.

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Seminaries that Change the World (www.stctw.org) — Center for Faith and Service Announces 2018-19 Seminaries that Change the World.

STCTW highlights a select group of seminaries and divinity schools [including Columbia Theological Seminary] offering innovative courses, programs, and opportunities for students seeking to engage in social justice and service work while in seminary.

OCTOBER 12, 2018

AIJCast (www.aijcast.com)—Special Episode: Just Worship Conference Highlights. Listen to highlights from the Just Worship Conference at Columbia Theological Seminary, including music, liturgy, and presentations.

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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES

O L O F H A LVA R D LY O N , C O L U M B I A’ S M U C H L O V E D A N D G R E AT LY R E S P E C T E D D E A N O F S T U D E N T S D U R I N G T H E 1960s A N D E A R LY ’70s D I E D P E A C E F U L LY S E P T E M B E R 9 AT T H E P R E S B Y T E R I A N VILL AGE, AUSTELL, GA.

He was three months shy of his 97th birthday. A successful consultant to major airlines before coming to Columbia Seminary as a student in 1959, he joined the faculty as Dean of Students in 1964 after having served as pastor of the Presbyterian church in Montgomery, West Virginia. Deeply read in church history—guided by Columbia Seminary’s eccentric Swiss professor and Calvin scholar Paul Fuhrmann— Lyon taught church history electives in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, he participated with professors Ralph Person and Ed Loring in introductory church history classes noted for their lively and provocative character.

Lyon served as dean during a particularly tumultuous period in the nation’s history and in the life of the Presbyterian Church. The seminary community was itself deeply divided between those who wished to maintain the fundamentalism of an Old School Orthodoxy and a “Southern way of life,” and those influenced by younger professors, especially Wade Huie, Shirley Guthrie, and Charles Cousar, and who were supportive of the civil rights movement. Lyon earned the deep gratitude of students by coming to their defense when they were attacked by some in their home presbyteries for their stance on civil rights. In this he followed the example of his mentor, President J. McDowell Richards.

In 1973 Lyon became pastor of the Presbyterian church in Toccoa, GA, serving the congregation with distinction. In 1982 he was called to help raise funds for what would become the Presbyterian Village in Austell. A handsome and urbane man possessed of an empathetic spirit he was, with former CTS Professor Harry Beverly, particularly well-suited for such a calling. The retirement community at Austell owes much to their efforts.

Preceded in death by his wife Beatrice, he is survived by his daughter Sigrid, granddaughters Inge and Lara, great-granddaughter Anna, and his son Greg.

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A L U M N I U P D AT E S

1980s | Mark Jumper MDiv ’82 was elected

President of the Regent University Faculty Senate. His chapter, “Law and Grace as Partners: An Examination of Reformed Theology,” was published in The Truth About Grace: Spirit-Empowered Perspectives, edited by Vinson Synan (Charisma House, 2018).

Stephen R. Haynes, MDiv ’88 is the author of The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump to be released this month by Eerdmans.

Thom Bales, MDiv ’88 is the Executive Director of Haiti Nursing Foundation, a nonprofit headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI that is working to improve health in the Republic of Haiti by supporting quality nursing education, primarily at Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Episcopale (FSIL) d’Haïti in Léogâne.

Jack Haberer, DMin ’89 serves as Lead Pastor for First Presbyterian Church, Allentown, PA, since October 2016. WJK published his third book, It’s Complicated: A Guide to Faithful Decision-Making, a study of Christian ethics that is both radically biblical and surprisingly nuanced.

1990s | Marybeth Asher-Lawson, MDiv

’93 joined the 95th anniversary celebration at First Presbyterian Church in Daytona Beach, FL. She ministered in Hong Kong for 16 years.

Kathy Dawson, MDiv ’94, was appointed as the Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education, a chair previously held by Dr. Rodger Nishioka. Her inauguration was held on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at Columbia Theological Seminary. Her lecture was titled, "Life Together @ 80: What Dietrich Bonhoeffer Might Say About Building Community Today."

Laura Dunham, MDiv ’94 has a new book, Extraordinary Time: Spiritual Reflections from a Season with Cancer, Death, and Transition, published by Cascade Books.

Laura offers presentations and retreats on the book’s themes of suffering, healing, and the passage through death to the afterlife. Visit www.laura-dunham.com for more information.

Stacy Rector, MDiv ’96 is the director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (TADP) was speaker at Action by Christians against Torture (ACAT) annual meeting in Pleasant Hill, TN. Rebecca Burton, MDiv ’97 retired from active ministry April 2018, and relocated back to Ocala, FL. Todd H. Green, MDiv ’98 is the author of a new book titled Presumed Guilty: Why We Shouldn't Ask Muslims to Condemn Terrorism (Fortress Press, 2018).

Donovan Thomas, MDiv ’98 and his wife, Faith, were interviewed in the Jamaica Observer newspaper about their faith-based NGO, Choose Life International (CLI), founded in October 2008, which focuses on helping people live physically, emotionally and spiritually.

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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES continued

2000s | Bobby

Williams, MDiv ’01 is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Hendrix College in Conway, AR, and is founding pastor of Mercy Community Church of Little Rock.

His new book, The Forgotten Books of the Bible: Recovering the Five Scrolls for Today (Fortress Press, 2018) explores Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther as books with urgent relevance for the church today.

Hayes Noble, MDiv ’02, was called to serve as Associate Pastor in a newly created position at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA. Wes Brandon, MDiv ’03 transferred to the Church of Scotland in 2018. He is currently serving a year in familiarisation placement at Sherwood Greenlaw Parish Church in Paisley, Scotland, before seeking a call in 2019.

Kally Elliott, MDiv ’04 leads a community of about 20 people in worship at Glenwood Table, Glenwood Life Center, Glenwood Landing, NY. She was awarded a mission program investment grant for helping people engage in faith conversations.

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John Weicher, MDiv ’04 was called as Associate Pastor for Youth and Their Families at First Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC. He recently finished his first call of 12 years as the Associate Pastor for Christian Education and Youth at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church in Swarthmore, PA. Laurie Taylor Weicher, MDiv ’05 was called in January as Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Raleigh. She just completed her first call of 12 years as an Associate Pastor at Wayne Presbyterian Church in Wayne, PA. Manikka Bowman, MDiv ’06 is profiled by Boston Business Journal, 40 Under 40 honorees, up close and personal.

Tom Bryson, MDiv ’07 is pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church, Vestavia Hills, AL. Keith Gunter, MDiv ’07 is pastor of the newly chartered PC(USA) congregation, New Creation Church, Hendersonville, TN. Kyle Schmidt, MDiv, ’07, is pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland, TN. Amy and Kyle are expecting their second child, another girl, in November.

Sarah Walker Cleaveland, MDiv ’07 and Adam Walker Cleaveland with big brother, Caleb, welcomed daughter, Hannah, on December 30, 2016. Sarah began a new call as Co-Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Racine, WI effective August 1, 2018.

Andy King, MDiv ’08, & Melissa McNair-King, MDiv, ’10, with big brother, Daniel, welcomed daughters Hannah Jill and Lydia Anne into their lives on May 29, 2018.

Emily Rose Proctor, MDiv ’09 is SoWal Community Chaplain in the panhandle of Florida.

Katherine Mealor, MDiv ’09 is teaching PreK-3 at Holy Comforter Episcopal School in Tallahassee, FL, an independent PreK-8 school founded in 1955, and part of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.

Katelyn Gordon Cooke ’09 married Andy Cooke on November 11, 2017 at First Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC. Katelyn and Andy will serve as Co-Pastors of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Augusta, GA.

2010s | Carrie Barnes, MDiv ’11, MAPT ’14 and Hamilton Barnes, MDiv ’10, MAPT ’12 and big brother, Miller, welcomed Violet Ann on August 29, 2018.

Tara Bulger, MDiv ’11 was installed as Senior Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, AL, March 2018. She received a Doctorate in Ministry in Preaching from McCormick Theological Seminary, May 2018.

Drew Stockstill, MDiv ’12, his wife Ellen, and Lydia Grace, welcomed their second daughter, River Zoe Stockstill, born August 19, 2018. After serving for two years as pastor and Director of The Health Ministries Drew will be installed as solo pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Harrisburg, PA, November 4, 2018.

Thank you to

Sarah McKenney, MDiv ’12 was ordained January 2018 as the Spiritual Support Coordinator (Chaplain) at Stone Belt Arc Inc, to support individuals with intellectual/ developmental disabilities in their spiritual needs.

your updates for

everyone who sent us updates!

Keep sending us “alumni news & notes” so your classmates and

Leslie Cara Fuller, MDiv ’12 completed her PhD at Southern Methodist University in Religious Studies (Hebrew Bible) with her dissertation, "My Lover is Mine and I am His— the Grazer in the Lilies: A Philosophical-Literary Reading of the Song of Songs."

others can know

Lyvonne Briggs, ThM ’13 is the founder of Beautiful Scars, an online platform for Black women of faith who are also survivors of male sexual violence.

Website at

what you are doing. Go to our www.CTSnet.edu/ update-my-info.

Stephen M. Fearing, MDiv ’14, MAPT ’14 is the Pastor and Head of Staff at Beaumont Presbyterian Church, Lexington, KY. Becky Purcell, MDiv ’14 will serve as the daily Bible Study Leader for NEXT Church 2019, March 11-13, Seattle, WA. Becky is the pastor of First Presbyterian, Prairie Grove, AR. Kimberly Skeen MDiv ’15, was appointed as member of The Thomasville City Schools Board of Education.

Jeffrey Banks, MDiv ’16 married Anna Harris on October 27, 2018 in Boston, MA. He is now working at Harvard University doing graduate student ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

IN MEMORIAM

William Rowland “Chip” Cameron, III MDiv ’86 . . . . . . . . . . November 27, 2017 Dinah Baah, MDiv ’18 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 15, 2018 Elizabeth Dunlap McAliley, MDiv ’73 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 25, 2018 Vaughn J. Michael, Jr., DMin ’94 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .September 19, 2018

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T A U T A P A N T A

FACULTY & STAFF P U B L I C AT I O N S A N D A C T I V I T Y

2018 ENGAGEMENTS

October-November

November 5–8, Anna Carter Florence Lecturer and leader for the St. Clement's College of Preachers, Toronto, ON.

October 20–November 5, William Harkins Psychological Health Faculty, Episcopal CREDO, Waycross Conference Center, IN.

November 10–11, Brennan Breed Preaching and leading a Theologian-in-Residence weekend workshop at Riverside Church in Jacksonville, FL, on November 10-11th, on the topic “Prophetic leadership in a divided world.”

November, Michael Morgan Leader for the All-Church Retreat at Montreat for Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Stone Mountain, GA.

November 12–14, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry, Atlanta.

November, Christine Roy Yoder Taking the certification course “Fundamentals of Online Teaching for Theological Educators” through University of Wisconsin-Madison and Virginia Theological Seminary.

November 1–4, Kathy Dawson Attending Religious Education Association annual conference in Washington DC. November 1–4, Sarah Erickson 2018 Religious Education Association (REA) Annual Meeting, Beyond White Normativity: Creating Brave Spaces in Washington, DC. Host dinner on November 1 featuring Diana Butler Bass as speaker, and preside over the annual meeting of the Association of Leaders of Lifelong Learning for Ministry (ALLLM) on November 3. ALLLM is now a “related learning organization” of the REA, and will offer three workshops and facilitate a work group session on Sunday.

November 11, Martha Moore-Keish Teaching on feminist theology at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church.

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November 12–14, Leanne Van Dyk Speaking at Compass Points in Reno, NV. November 17–20 Annual American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) conference in Denver, CO Brennan Breed: Presenting a paper SBL on the topic of “Rethinking Reception” on the Use, Influence and Impact of the Bible section on November 17.

Serving on a panel hosted by the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium in honor of Choon-Leong Seow celebrating his Festschrift, “When the Morning Stars Sang,” Essays in Honor of Choon Leong Seow on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday (De Gruyter, 2018) co-edited by Christine Yoder (also attending) with Scott Jones on November 19.

William Brown: Presenting three papers: “Wisdom and the Art of Inhabitance,” “Preaching as Pointing,” panelist reviewer of the book, The Bible and Ethics in the Christian Life: A New Conversation.

Christine Hong: Presenting two papers: “Possibilities and challenges in decolonial practical theologies” and “Tracing Anti-Racist Activism among Asian American Christians: A Discussion on Histories, Theological Commitments, and Visible and Hidden Forms of Solidarity.”

January 2019

Mindy McGarrah Sharp: Journal of Pastoral Theology Annual Publishing Meetings at AAR, and presiding over a panel on “Self Disclosure in the Classroom.”

January, Christine Roy Yoder Teaching the four-week winter series at Alpharetta Presbyterian Church.

Raj Nadella: presiding at two sessions on “Economics in the Biblical World and Postcolonial Biblical Studies,” and the steering committee meeting of the SBL Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee (CUREMP).

January, Michael Morgan Lecturer for National Conference on Sacred Music, Charleston, SC.

January 13 – February 10 (Sundays) Martha Moore-Keish Teaching comparative theology class at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Atlanta.

January 13, Leanne Van Dyk Preaching at Government Street Presbyterian Church, Mobile, AL.

December

January 24–26, Leanne Van Dyk Attending the annual meeting of PC(USA) Seminary Presidents and Board Chairs.

December 3–10, William Harkins Psychological Health Faculty, Episcopal Bishops CREDO, Beckwith Conference Center, Fairhope, AL.

January 18, Israel Galindo Bowen Theory Education Center, Chattanooga TN.

December 4–10, Bill Harkins Episcopal CREDO for Bishops, Psychological Health Faculty, Beckwith Episcopal Conference Center, Weeks Bay, Alabama.

February

December 8–11, Leanne Van Dyk 2018 Annual Meeting of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges in New Orleans, LA.

February, Christine Roy Yoder Attending Christian Leadership Initiative Symposium titled “Religious discourse: race, ethnicity, xenophobia, anti-Semitism. How did we get here, and where do we go?” in Dallas, TX. February 6–9, Kathy Dawson Workshop with Anne Apple at Association of Presbyterian Church Educators annual event on scaffolding children’s faith learning between baptism and confirmation at Galveston Island, TX. February 7, Raj Nadella Co-hosting a book workshop for an edited volume, Christianity and the Law of Migration: An Introduction, with Silas Allard and Kristin Heyer.

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FACULTY & STAFF continued

February 8–9, Raj Nadella Co-hosting the Migration and Border Crossings Conference at Columbia Theological Seminary.

the PC(USA): Working Toward a More Precise Understanding of our Past Sins and a More Honest Ministry of Racial Justice in our Congregations Today.”

February 11–13, Israel Galindo Lilly Grant Directors' Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.

March 18–20, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry Atlanta, GA.

February 13–15, Israel Galindo Feb 13–15 Lilly Thriving in Ministry Grant Directors Meeting, Indianapolis IN

March 22–24, Jake Myers Speaking at SEUUMA Spring Retreat titled “Imagining Worship in a New Age.”

February 23–24, Martha Moore-Keish Presenting Foote Lectures at First Presbyterian Church, Savannah, GA.

March 23–24, Martha Moore-Keish Leading congregational retreat for Newnan Presbyterian Church, Newnan, GA.

February 25–27, Israel Galindo Colloquy for Latino/a Clergy, Decatur, GA.

March 24–26, Christine Roy Yoder Presenting Lenten Lectures at Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, McLean, VA.

March March 2–3, Leanne Van Dyk Preaching at Mt Pleasant Presbyterian Church, Charleston, SC. March 7–9, Raj Nadella National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order meeting in Washington, DC. March 11–13, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry Kansas City, MO. March 11–13, William Yoo Leading a workshop at the NEXT Church National Gathering in Seattle, WA titled “Why We Don’t Love but Must Learn to Tell the Story of Race in

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April April 8–10, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry A Lynchburg, VA. April 11–12, Kathy Dawson Keynoting a conference on innovative ways of doing Christian Heritage Education at the Presbyterian Historical Center in Montreat, NC. April 22–24, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry B Lynchburg, VA. April 28, Leanne Van Dyk Preaching at First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN.

R E C E N T AWA R D S AND HONORS Christine Hong, Assistant Professor of Educational Ministry: Project Fellowship Grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Workshop for Early Career Theological School Faculty.

May 5–8, Kathy Dawson Keynoting Eastern APCE Conference on Christian parenting and teaching of children in Chambersburg, PA at Rhodes Conference Center.

May 13–15, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry Boston, MA. May 20–22, Israel Galindo Leadership in Ministry Portland, OR. May 31–June 2, Christine Roy Yoder Keynote speaker for the Women’s Conference at Mo-Ranch, Hunt, TX.

R E C E N T P U B L I C AT I O N S Ryan P. Bonfiglio, Lecturer in Old Testament: “Let's Make the Church a Center of Theological Education Again,” Faith and Leadership, August 21, 2018. Available online at www.faithandleadership.com/ryan-p-bonfiglio-letsmake-church-center-theological-education-again.

Sarah Erickson, Director of Lifelong Learning: Winter Quarter 2019-2020 adult curriculum for The Present Word, three units focusing on honoring God through worship.

Michael Morgan, Seminary Musician: Honored by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada with inclusion in their Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology with a biographical entry as a significant hymwriter in the last 25 years.

William Yoo, Assistant Professor of American Religious and Cultural History: Project Fellowship Grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion following workshop for Early Career Asian and Pacific Islander Descent Faculty.

His project is titled “Disrupting a Single Chronological Narrative to Teach a More Racially Just and Ethnically Inclusive History of Christianity in the United States.”

Anna Carter Florence, Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching: “Rehearsing Scripture: Discovering God's Word in Community,” Faith and Leadership, September 18, 2018.

Available online at www.faithandleadership.com/annacarter-florence-rehearsing-scripture-discovering-godsword-community.

Christine Hong, Assistant Professor of Educational Ministry: “Cultivating Woori: The Experience and Formation of Children and Youth in Korean Immigrant Communities,” Practical Matters Journal, August 1, 2018. Available online at practicalmattersjournal.org/2018/08/01/cultivatingwoori.

Martha Moore-Keish, J.B. Green Associate Professor of Systematic Theology: “Divine Freedom and Human Religions; A Reformed Theologian Approaches Comparative Theology” in Volume 75, Issue 3 of Theology Today.

Jake Myers, Assistant Professor of Homiletics: Curating Church: Strategies for Innovative Worship, Abingdon Press, October 2018.

Kathleen M. O'Connor, William M McPheeters Professor Emerita of Old Testament: Volume One of her commentary Genesis 1-25A (Smith & Helwys Commentary Series, 2018). Volume Two is coming soon.

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BEST OF THE BLOG

AUGUST 13 AN INTERVIEW WITH CODY SANDERS ABOUT MINISTRY WITH LGBTQIA YOUTH

Rev. Dr. Cody Sanders will teach the online course, “Ministry With LGBTQIA Youth” at the Center for Lifelong Learning in October. He is the pastor of the Old Cambridge Baptist Church, and serves as the American Baptist Chaplain at Harvard University. We interviewed Cody about his recent book, which is the focus for the course.

CLL: What motivated you to write this book?

Cody: Growing up a gay kid in a Southern Baptist Church in South Carolina, this is the kind of book I wish the ministers and volunteers in my youth ministry had read. Over the years, I’ve known so many LGBTQIA youth who have suffered isolation, rejection, and various forms of harm in the contexts of their family, school, church, or community with absolutely no adult in their lives who could intervene in a competent and helpful way. I’ve dreamed of writing this book since I was in seminary and working as a youth minister in a local congregation.

After writing my PhD dissertation on suicide among LGBTQ people, I felt more urgently than ever the need for a book that would help ministers and laypersons become more competent in their affirming work with LGBTQIA youth…

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SEPTEMBER 24 SIZE MATTTERS, BUT NOT LIKE YOU MAY THINK

BY ISRAEL GALINDO

One common and practical schema used to understand congregations is the congregational size approach to classifying churches. Looking at congregations through this lens is used not only by denominational strategists in assessing and planning, but also by sociologists who study the role and development of religion in society.

In this chapter we will use the schema of congregation-by-numerical-size to understand how the size of a congregation influences certain dynamics in the hidden lives of congregations. Our review of current material on congregational size, however, will not advocate a church growth approach to understanding the numerical size of a congregation. That is, the purpose of this chapter is not to use the schema as a way to “grow a church” or to move a church beyond a “plateau.”

Rather, the concept will highlight how the size of a congregation affects corporate relationships, leadership functions, and congregational forces. What we want to do in this chapter is to understand the hidden life forces of numerical size in the lives of congregations…

OCTOBER 1 THE “WINDOW OF TOLERANCE”: A TOOL FOR SELF-REGULATION

BY VANESSA ELLISON MSW, MDIV

Psychiatrist Dan Siegel developed a model called the “Window of Tolerance” in 1999 to describe an area in which each person is able to maintain emotional regulation, think clearly, and function effectively.

Each person has their own window and their own base line within that window. Some people’s windows are broad, and they are able to think clearly on a regular basis while others have a smaller window and may struggle with emotional regulation. Likewise, some people’s baseline within that window is in the middle while others are higher or lower. Those with a high baseline tend to lean towards being more anxious, and these with a lower baseline tend to lean towards being more depressed. As long as someone can remain in their Window of Tolerance, even if they move close to the perimeters, they can continue to self-regulate and functioning…

For the full stories and more, please visit www.CTSnet.edu/columbia-connections.

D

uring the mid-to-late 1990s, I was an ordination exam reader in the Atlanta reading group. In those days before online exams, we all came together each year in a hotel near the Atlanta airport, sat in a big room together and graded ordination exams for three days. Some of the standing rules were that no talking, laughter, groaning, etc. was permitted while grading. During breaks we were not to discuss any particular exam with other readers until we completed all of that section (i.e. exegesis, theology, polity, etc.).

While reading theology exams one day, one of the readers, CTS president emeritus Davidson Philips, belly-laughed, prompting others to respond, “What is it?” Finally, the group’s convener relented and said, “Okay, Dr. Philips, tell us what’s so funny.” Dr. Philips read the beginning of a sentence from the exam he was grading: “According to Shirley Guthrie in his book on Christian doctrine, the title of which I can’t recall…”

Just like any refrigerator is a Frigidaire, to Presbyterian seminarians (and many others) “Christian Doctrine” is Shirley Guthrie’s book!

— A N D Y WA LT O N , Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Clearwater, FL

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Columbia Theological Seminary and Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion are excited to co-host a multidisciplinary conference on immigration—

Migration and Border Crossings February 7-9, 2019 at Columbia Seminary

PRESENTERS INCLUDE:

• Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States ’15-’17 • Emilie Townes • Khaled Beydoun • Daniel Carroll • Heval Mohamed Kelli • Kristin Heyer • Peter C. Phan • Todd Green • Rose Cuison Villazor • Jehu Hanciles • Claudio Carvalhaes • Kwok Pui Lan • Azadeh N. Shahshahani • Michele R. Pistone • Staibdance presents “Moat”

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For more information and registration, visit www.ctsnet.edu/migration-and-border-crossings