5.5 Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Supported by a gift from the Duke Endowment, the school launched To Heal the Wounded Soul, a project to strengthen Wesleyan pastors in the Carolinas who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color, including from the AME, AME Zion, CME, and UMC churches. Led by the Office of Black Church Studies and the Clergy Health Initiative, To Heal the Wounded Soul will develop peer networks, support groups, and retreats to address the specific mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of this community. This academic year Duke Divinity School welcomed the largest incoming class in the school’s history, with 259 new students from thirtyone different states and five other countries—India, Zimbabwe, Colombia, Mexico, and South Korea. Enrollment in the M.Div. degree program jumped to 133 students, up from approximately 110 students during each of the previous four years. The growth was heavily driven by the first cohort of 52 Hybrid M.Div. students. The Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) welcomed thirty-six students, the Master of Theological Studies (M.T.S.) gained thirty-three, and the M.A. saw seventeen new students. The Master of Theology (Th.M.) enrolled twelve students, and the Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) enrolled seven new students. The Certificate in Theology and Health Care welcomed five residential students to campus and a large first cohort of fourteen students in the hybrid version of the program. Across all degree programs at the Divinity School, 32 percent of the incoming class identified as a race or ethnicity other than white. Black students made up 18 percent of all students; Latinx students, six percent; Asian students, two percent; and Native American Indian students, two percent. Women made up 47 percent of incoming students across all programs. Three new faculty members, with expertise ranging from the Reformation era in the history of Christianity, to Methodist and Lutheran studies, to Latinx theology, joined the faculty in 2021. Polly Ha is an Associate Professor of the History of Christianity whose work focuses on the history of Christianity and the construction of diverse confessional and ecclesiastical traditions in the Reformation and post-Reformation world. Ronald K. Rittgers is the Duke Divinity School Chair in Lutheran Studies and Professor of the History of Christianity, and his research interests include the religious, intellectual, social, and cultural history of medieval and early modern/Reformation Europe, focusing especially on the history of theology and devotion. Daniel Castelo, William Kellon Quick Professor of Theology and Methodist Studies, taught intensive Wesleyan theology courses in Mexico, Honduras, and Brazil, and then took a teaching post at a Mexican seminary for three years. He has been an active participant in the Central American Methodist Course of Study program and recently has served as a doctoral mentor for the Hispanic Theological Initiative. Submitted by Edgardo Colón-Emeric, Dean of Duke Divinity School

5.5 Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

It was a year of great change, of unexpected challenges posed by a global pandemic, of reckoning with our national and institutional history on race, and of tremendous perseverance on the part of our students, faculty, and staff, as well as the institution itself. It’s safe to say that this past year was unlike any other, and yet because we have such a rich history of institutional perseverance, we are weathering the challenges of the present moment with characteristic aplomb. I hope that as you read this annual report, you will share my sensibility that in the face of multiple challenges, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary remains strong. Planning responsibly for the future and rising to the challenges of the current moment often require that one understands the past well. This has been part of my own work as I’ve assumed leadership in this storied institution—to remain focused on the future, but to learn the origin stories and to understand and appreciate the many other stories that have made this seminary what it is today. Yet, understanding that past cannot simply be accomplished by reading historical descriptions of past events, for understanding history well requires analysis and evaluation, leaving room for nuance and for what is not explicitly said in written accounts. Oral histories, which abound at Garrett- Evangelical, are as much a part of the story as what has been recorded for posterity. Origin stories are always somewhat misleading because they claim something that is almost always not entirely true. Origin stories often claim to tell or recall the beginning of something, but in doing so, they must start from arbitrary places. Otherwise, all origin stories would have to start so far back in time as to make the telling of the story a near impossibility.

Just think about the question a child might ask her parents, as mine asked me, “Papi, where did I come from?” To answer that question in an age-appropriate way is a bit of a dance, isn’t it? Parents always struggle with providing their kids either too much information or too little. To tell the story of where a child came from requires a parent to make certain assumptions: first, that the child’s question wasn’t biological in nature, and second, that they were not asking for a detailed accounting of the family tree. These are important parts of their own origin, and in due time, they should understand both well, but I doubt that their innocent, yet profound question is motivated by these factors.

In my experience, I chose to start the story my daughter wanted to hear in Puerto Rico, where I came from. But the truth is that I could have started the story in England, from where her mother descends. Yet, even starting there is arbitrary because those lineage stories could have started back just one or two generations, and they would have then been situated in completely different places, like Spain and Africa on my side or Germany and Wales on her mother’s.

In truth, I don’t think my daughter was asking for a geography saga, but the origin story I wove seemed to suffice. Upon reflection, I think my daughter was asking a deeper question she wasn’t yet able to put into words, even though her little frame and heart could already fully sense and feel it. She wanted to know why she was here, and I assume she also needed to know that love was at the center of the story. Think about the origin story of this seminary. Where do we start? Do we start with Eliza Garrett’s generosity and vision for an educated clergy, which led to the founding of Garrett Biblical Institute? In terms of strict chronology, there is a case to be made for that, but it’s still an arbitrary place to start. We know that our origin story has multiple origins. The full story must also entail the founding of Union Bibli-