Expanding the Theological Table
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 2023–2024 ANNUAL REPORT
Expanding the Theological Table
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 2023-2024 ANNUAL REPORT
From the President
Greetings, Princeton Seminary Alums and Friends:
As I reflect upon the past year at Princeton Theological Seminary, I am grateful for the numerous connections made here on campus and throughout the globe. To see so many of you at the Inauguration celebration last October and during Reunion in May was particularly heartening. Both represented the largest gatherings held here in Princeton Seminary in many years, and it was beautiful to see the campus abuzz with your energy.
Fortunately, these were not isolated events. Distinguished lectures, global conferences, and our expanding hybrid learning opportunities have drawn an array of learners to this magical town of Princeton. It is humbling and inspiring to witness the growing diversity of individuals engaging with our Seminary as we expand the table of offerings and embrace innovative approaches to theological education.
At Princeton Seminary, we are educators and, thus, lifelong learners. This ethos of inquiry, exploration, and discovery runs through everything we do. Whether through one of our degree programs or exciting continuing education initiatives, we remain invested in your ongoing spiritual and intellectual journeys. Our distinguished and dynamic faculty members are at the forefront of theological scholarship, shaping critical dialogues on faith in today’s world. They remain a resource to our global network of over 13,000 alums committed to ministries marked by faith, scholarship, integrity, competence, compassion, and joy.
At Princeton Seminary, we eagerly look forward to the coming year and the opportunity to deepen our connections with you. As I travel around, I am particularly excited to hear how your education at Princeton Seminary has influenced your life and ministry and to learn which issues and initiatives at the Seminary resonate with you today.
With heartfelt gratitude for your support and prayers for this institution, let us continue this journey together, moving towards a future filled with prayer, promise, purpose, and boundless possibilities.
One Luv, JONATHAN LEE WALTON President, Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
inaugurates Reverend Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton as the institution’s eighth president.
A social ethicist, educator, influential scholar, and alumnus of Princeton Seminary, Walton is the first African American and first ordained Baptist minister to lead the 211-year-old Presbyterian seminary.
In a stirring inaugural address before a capacity crowd in the Princeton University Chapel, Walton called on his colleagues and the many seminary alums present to open their communities of faith and create spaces that are more welcoming, inclusive, flexible, and equitable.
“The urgency of our mission is to make the theological table more accessible and menu more inviting. It is not enough to open the doors; we must go into the highways and byways, extending God’s invitation to those historically marginalized and overlooked,” said Walton, who will also serve as the seminary’s professor of religion and society.
Walton’s tenure, which began in January 2023, has already begun to establish that vision of a more welcoming community that meets students where they are on their personal and professional journeys. Princeton Seminary has long been a global leader of theological education and is bringing that tradition of best-inclass teaching and learning online and delivering it in new ways to allow for the growth and diversification of its learning community for life.
“This is my prayer: that we remain steadfast in our institutional purpose and mission — to prepare Christian servants for ministries marked by faith, integrity, competence, compassion, and joy. Yet, who we teach and how we teach must remain an open question,” he said.
A question that Michael Fisch, chair of the board of trustees, is confident that Walton is well positioned to tackle.
“The seminary must be an enduring resource to our alums and others throughout the globe — thoughtful, sober, Christian servants who are tending to the wounds of victims of terror and persecution, providing water to those who thirst, and building bridges of peace where others erect boundaries and borders of oppression. We must expand our menu of offerings to expand and enrich our table.” President Walton
“President Walton and I met several years ago as trustees for the seminary. It was during this time that I got to know both he and Cecily, and from our first meetings and conversations, their deep commitment to and love for our 211-yearold seminary was evident,” said Fisch. “That commitment fuels the energy and passion he will use to lead Princeton Seminary into a future where our learning community — on campus and across the globe — is empowered and inspired to deploy faith-informed solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”
Dr. Walton earned his PhD and his MDiv from Princeton Seminary, and his bachelor’s degree in political science from Morehouse College. Before coming to Princeton Seminary, he was Dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University and previously served as the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard.
As part of the inauguration week celebrations, Princeton Seminary hosted hundreds of guests to campus for a variety of events, including a student cookout, a faculty panel on the intersections of theology and ecology, a book talk with Harvard’s President Emerita Drew Gilpin Faust, and a preview of the upcoming PBS documentary series, GOSPEL, which features Walton and several other Princeton Seminary and university professors and alums.
The Power of Holy Curiosity
Almost from the moment he was born, Amar Peterman’s life has defied expectation. And that, he says, has been a gift from God. Adopted from an Indian orphanage as an infant, Amar was raised in northeast Wisconsin where he was formed spiritually in a conservative, white evangelical megachurch. This is where Amar heard God’s call. He enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago, pursuing a degree in the only theology he had ever known.
It wasn’t long before he understood that this might not be the place for him. One professor told him “that my Indian-ness was antithetical, was completely against my Christian faith … and I would have to choose one or the other.”
“It drove me into a deep identity crisis,” he says. “How do I rid myself of my Indian-ness when it’s a part of me? I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t.” Stunned, he turned to the only Indian-American professor on staff, who showed him how his own “Indian-ness made him a better Christian, and Christian faith made him a better Indian.”
In his final year at Moody Bible Institute, a conversation with a Princeton Seminary recruiter who came to speak with a student group led him to apply — he was sure he wouldn’t be accepted.
“PRINCETON SEMINARY SEEMED TO PROVIDE THE BALANCE OF ACADEMIC RIGOR WITH A DEEP LOVE FOR THE CHURCH. I WANTED TO BE CHALLENGED ACADEMICALLY. I WANTED TO DEVELOP A RICH, THEOLOGICAL IMAGINATION, BUT I ALSO DIDN’T WANT TO HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE HAPPEN APART FROM A LOCAL CONGREGATION.”
At Princeton Seminary, he opened his mind to concepts previously off-limits, and learned just how big and welcoming the church tent can be — to women, to the LGBTQ and trans communities, and to people of color just like him. He wrote widely about what he was learning and his life experiences.
Amar concentrated on public theology and American religious history under historian Heath W. Carter. There, he served as a research and teaching assistant to Drs. Carter and Raimundo César Barreto, vice president of the Seminary’s Asian Association, and researcher for Dr. David Chao and the Center for Asian American Christianity.
His interests expanded while at Princeton Seminary, moving toward growing young church leaders. He was invited to become an advisor to The Polaris Young Adult Leadership Network, which amplifies and supports the leadership of Christian young adults across the United States. The network cultivates community among young adults through sharing resources and building relationships.
He also founded the Scholarship for Religion LLC after serving as Director of the Center for Empathy in Christian and Public Life at the Ideos Institute.
Now living back in Wisconsin with his wife Emily, his “day job” is with Interfaith America, the largest interfaith nonprofit in the United States. In his position there, Amar manages a network of over 2,200 emerging leaders across the country.
He is a prolific and widely published writer; his first book, This Common Life: Seeking the Common Good Through Love of Neighbor, is forthcoming with Eerdmans Publishing Co.
“I want to offer a vision of the common good that is rooted in the Christian tradition and my Christian faith but is accessible to those beyond it. I want our vision of the common good to begin at a local level and expand from there.”
All in God’s Time
Like many “PKs” (pastors’ kids), Brandon Bradley grew up in the church and was raised in a family where several members received and heeded a call to preach. He joined his church’s dance ministry at age five, and it seemed he would follow in their footsteps. “By the time I was 16 years old, I knew I was called to preach,” he says. “But I ran from it.”
Instead, Bradley embarked on a career in the aviation industry. When that didn’t work out, he stepped into the nonprofit world. He accepted a position at Feeding the People Ministry, bringing fresh and non-perishable food to low-income households in the New Jersey communities of Trenton and Camden, and raised money through fundraising walks and other endeavors. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything changed. “It took the world stopping for me to really see myself and evaluate how my life was going,” he says. “I could finally see what was required of me to reach the goals I’d been praying for, and part of that was saying yes to ministry.”
Bradley wasted no time researching seminaries. Not only did his church’s ordination process require an MDiv degree, but he valued the opportunity for a formal education. “I believe when you know the Bible and the history deeply, you can speak more firmly and powerfully on scripture,” he says. He knew several people who graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary and spoke highly of it. “But I’ll admit I was intimidated by the Princeton name,” he says. “I took a moment to pray on it and I said, God, I need you to show me where I need to be.” Over and over, he felt
“MY GOAL AT PRINCETON SEMINARY IS TO FIND MY PASTORAL VOICE AND USE THAT VOICE EFFECTIVELY WHEN GOD SAYS IT IS MY TIME TO PASTOR A CHURCH.”
pulled to Princeton Seminary. He took a chance, applying just to Princeton Seminary and nowhere else, and anxiously waited for a decision. Two weeks later, he was accepted.
As a second-year MDiv student, Bradley has developed a strong interest in multiethnic theology. Outside the classroom, Bradley is the vice moderator for the Association of Black Seminarians (ABS), and works for the Seminary’s admissions department, hosting campus and virtual tours, and taking pictures for social media.
Bradley is currently gaining pastoral experience at the Greater Mount Zion AME Church in Trenton, New Jersey, where he leads youth and men’s ministry efforts. He also works as a financial advisor, focused on educating the Black and Brown community and serving the church community.
While it can be easy to stress about post-graduation plans, Bradley is heeding the wisdom of his favorite scripture, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. “I don’t know what to expect after graduation. I know I’ll be ordained, but I don’t know if I will pastor in a church immediately after ordination. And I’m not in a rush. I’m enjoying the process of what I’m doing right now, and everything I’m learning right now prepares me so that when that day comes, I’ll be ready.”
Another thing he knows for sure is that he’ll use the lessons he learned way back when he was a young child, dancing in his church. “I wouldn’t be the minister I am if it wasn’t for that experience at Allen Liturgical Dance Ministry,” he says. “Dance ministry taught me that I don’t need to copy anyone else or be like anyone else. My goal at Princeton Seminary is to find my pastoral voice and use that voice effectively when God says it is my time to pastor a church.”
Serving Beyond the Walls of the Church
Annah Kuriakose arrived at Princeton Seminary in 2022 ready to explore the faith that fueled her commitment to serve in high-needs, under-resourced communities.
A daughter of first-generation immigrants from India, Kuriakose grew up in suburban, northern New Jersey and worshipped at a congregation affiliated with the Indian Orthodox Church.
She went to Amherst College, majoring in anthropology while loading up on math and science courses in anticipation of medical school. After graduating from college, she committed to two years of teaching high school through the Mississippi Teacher Corps. She arrived in the community of Hollandale with an abundance of idealism and energy, but soon found herself overwhelmed and ill-equipped to teach amid pervasive poverty.
“The first year was one of the hardest years of my life because I was learning how much I did not know,” she said.
After completing her two years, she enrolled in New York Medical College, but Mississippi remained on her mind. And so did big questions about disparities in wealth, healthcare, and education.
“It really made me think about who we’re supposed to serve, who we need to access, who we need to get to for all of our communities to rise,” she said.
At medical school, Kuriakose followed her muse by spending her clinical rotations in schools, children’s hospitals, and child development centers. But, in the end, after completing her medical degree, she decided against pursuing residency.
She returned to teaching, this time in Newark, NJ, and later served as program director for a non-profit focused on chronic disease and disability care for patients in the South Asian community.
Then, as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, Kuriakose began thinking about seminary.
“Faith was my foundation,” said Kuriakose. “But I wanted to take the time to deepen my understanding of God, to think about these issues theologically.”
As a student in the Masters in Theological Studies (MTS) program, she is gaining that deeper understanding through courses like “Ten Commandments and Community,” taught by Dennis T. Olson, the Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology.
Kuriakose has also been honing her thoughtful approach to social justice, emphasizing issues of public health and education, with a focus on teens and young adults. Her fieldwork is with students at a high school in Newark, NJ, teaching life skills and physical and mental health literacy from a curriculum she developed as part of a class with Kenda Creasy Dean, the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture.
“THAT CLASS HELPS ME THINK ABOUT NEW WAYS TO DO MINISTRY BY INCORPORATING A STARTUP MENTALITY. IT’S ALL ABOUT, ‘WHAT NEEDS DOES THE WORLD HAVE? HOW DO WE SERVE THOSE NEEDS BEYOND THE WALLS OF THE CHURCH?”
She calls the program she created for high school students “More Than Core” because it goes beyond typical school curricula to help students develop dignity, purpose, and well-being.
For Kuriakose, her work is very much an act of ministry.
“I see the health and education components in my work as critical to human potential, to the development of the whole person,” she said. “I think of it all as people work. I think of it all as life work.”
Pastoring Through Jazz
William G. Carter, MDiv ‘85, thought he had to make a choice. Since he was a boy, he loved music, especially jazz. He imagined a future in moody lounges and smoky bars, riffing under the hot lights, making music.
But God was calling, making a convincing case for a life of ministry, a future in the pulpit.
Turns out, God was calling him to a new thing, a world where music and ministry could co-exist — and thrive.
faith experiences that invited me toward pastoral ministry. I tried to figure out how to suspend the music while I was doing that — and did not do a really good job.”
All through college, he continued to play — and to change majors. He joined the college jazz band, where his teacher offered to count his work as an independent study if he would compose some big band arrangements. That professor saw his potential and helped him connect with professional musicians and arrangers.
“Yet, I still had this calling and I thought God wanted me to hang up the music on a shelf, he says. “So, I went to Princeton, and it kept coming back.” President Thomas Gillespie booked him for the faculty Christmas party. That led to other musical opportunities. Then his field education supervisor suggested they compose a jazz service for church, he was all in.
He graduated and joined his first church in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. It was when he went to his current church in Clarks Summit, PA, that his two loves came together.
“The day that I preached, and the congregation voted on me (they voted yes), a man stands up in the back of the sanctuary and says, ‘We’ve heard you preach and that was fine. Now let’s hear you play something on the piano.’”
I said, ‘Well, okay, but I’m not here to do that. I’m here to be your pastor. And they said, ‘Well, that’s what you think.’”
Since then, jazz has been a significant partner in his ministry, including in what is now a regular standing-room-only event — the last Sunday of summer is always a jazzed-up service with original music and some great preaching.
He maintained his connection to Princeton Seminary, serving on the Alumni Council for almost a decade and later getting elected as an Alumni Trustee for a three-year term. It was never a question for him whether to give back.
“What’s the thing I can say about Princeton Seminary, about my education? Can I say that it prepared me for a lifetime of continuing study? Can I say that I learned just enough to know that I didn’t know anything? It taught me that I need to keep going, to keep learning.”
Princeton Theological Seminary Welcomes New Faculty
Matthew Novenson
Helen H.P. Manson Professor of New Testament (with tenure) and member of the Seminary’s Biblical Studies Department
Novenson joins Princeton Seminary after most recently serving as the Professor of Biblical Criticism and Biblical Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Novenson’s current work includes a commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, set to be published by Oxford University Press. In the future, Novenson plans to pursue projects on biblical hermeneutics and how ancient Jews, Christians and Romans made sense of one another’s gods. Further research topics include Jewish messianism and comparison in the study of religion.
As an alum of Princeton Seminary, Novenson’s return is an opportunity to join the faculty whose scholarship first attracted him to the Seminary’s PhD and ThM programs. Princeton Seminary’s connections with the University of Edinburgh also influenced Novenson’s decision to return to his alma mater to teach.
In his role as Professor of New Testament, Novenson is “looking forward to working closely with my faculty colleagues, especially Lisa Bowens, Eric Barreto, and Dale Allison in New Testament; and to developing some exciting new masters courses and doctoral seminars.”
“Matthew Novenson is the most important scholar of Paul and early Judaism of his generation,” says John Bowlin, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs. “He is also an accomplished teacher and mentor, a devoted theological educator. He is committed to scholarship done at the highest level but also to a church transformed by that scholarship. He is precisely the colleague we need at this crucial moment in the Seminary’s history.”
Mélena “Mae” Laudig Assistant Professor of African American Christianity
Laudig will join the faculty in fall 2025 after completing the doctoral program in the Department of Religion at Princeton University. Before beginning her position at Princeton Seminary, she will be conducting research during the 2024–2025 academic year through the support of the Richard S. Dunn Fellowship at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the Lake Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship at the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving.
Laudig holds an MA in religion as well as graduate certificates in African American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies from Princeton University, and a BA in religious studies from Yale University. Her research and teaching are broadly focused on early African American religious history, and she’s currently at work on a research project that documents the history of African American childhood and religion during the periods of slavery and freedom.
Alongside her teaching and research, Laudig holds a deep commitment to making higher education spaces more accessible and supportive for students of all backgrounds. Over the past several years, she has spearheaded a number of equity and inclusion efforts, including co-founding a wellness collective that seeks to increase marginalized students’ access to justice-informed and culturally nuanced approaches to holistic health.
As an adjunct instructor for Princeton Seminary during the fall 2023 semester, Laudig taught African American Religious History. In her new role, she looks forward to creating courses focused on various themes and issues surrounding the long history of African American religion and culture, particularly courses that concentrate on
Princeton Theological Seminary Welcomes New Faculty (cont.)
the colonial and antebellum periods. Potential course topics include the connections between chattel slavery, empire, colonization, and religion in the early United States, courses that trace African American women’s religious engagement, and courses that examine historical constructions of race, childhood, and religion in the United States.
“Mélena Laudig’s appointment to our faculty heralds a new chapter of dynamic scholarship regarding the intersections of religion and race in the antebellum South,” says Jonathan Lee Walton, President of Princeton Theological Seminary.
“Her innovative research on childhood, religious imagination, and Christian reform movements in the 19th century promises to enrich our academic community and transform the field of African American religious history.”
Dr. Shalon Park
Assistant Professor of Asian Christianity
A historian who is originally from South Korea, Park specializes in Asian Christianity. Her scholarship explores the intersections of Asian religions and transpacific Christianity from the sixteenth century to the contemporary era. Park’s research and teaching interests include Asian Catholicism, the rise of monasticism in Asia, women and celibacy, and Korean Christianity. Another research interest regards Asian women’s expressions of piety and sexuality found at the interreligious borders of Confucianism and Catholicism.
Park’s book project, Christian Vernaculars, examines how Korean Christians articulated, circulated, and interiorized faith in new forms of vernacular expression. It also explores how Korean Catholicism reveals a rich repository of understudied
forms of Asian faith, both within the intra-East Asian literary world and between Asia and Europe.
A double alum of Princeton Seminary, Park holds a PhD in World Christianity and the History of Religions from the Department of History and Ecumenics, and an MATS in Religion and Society. She received an MA in Historical Theology from Wheaton Graduate School and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia in Italy and a grant holder for the PRIN project, “Making Korea a Religiously Plural Society? Historical, Legal, and Social Approaches.” The project is funded by the Italian Ministry for Universities and Research.
In her new role, Park will teach various courses on Asian Christianity, including Asian Literature and Religions, Interfaith Dialogue and World Christianity, and Translations. The Asian Christianity course will highlight the polycentric development of Asian Christianity from premodern to contemporary South, Southeast, and East Asia. Translating World Christianity is an interdisciplinary course that underscores translation as a critical concept for exploring religious and literary boundaries in Asia and beyond.
“Shalon Park brings a wealth of expertise in World Christianity and a fresh perspective on the complexities of early Korean Christianity, challenging conventional narratives,” notes President Jonathan Lee Walton. “Her interdisciplinary approach promises to enrich the classroom experience and foster collaborative opportunities within our learning community.”
Faculty Highlight: Celebrating the Inauguration of Dr. Keri Day
This April, Dr. Keri Day was inaugurated as Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion, making her the first African American woman to be promoted to full professor in the 212-year history at Princeton Theological Seminary.
At her inauguration, she delivered an address entitled “‘We See Through a Glass Darkly’: Thinking the Fragment in Theology.”
Dr. Day is an internationally acclaimed scholar of theology, ethics, and black religion. Her teaching and research interests include womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism.
She has authored four academic books, Unfinished Business: Black Women, The Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America (2012); Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives (2015); Notes of a Native Daughter: Testifying in Theological Education (2021); and her most recent book, Azusa Reimagined: A Radical Vision of Religious and Democratic Belonging (2022). Dr. Day has also been recognized by NBC News as one of six black women at the center of gravity in theological education in America. She is a fourth-generation preacher in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).
Seminary Snapshot
In January, the Seminary welcomed our inaugural Master of Arts in Theology (Justice and Public Life) cohort to campus. Our students enjoyed a week of fellowship, worship, intellectual exploration, and connection.
First Thursdays is a new series hosted at The Farminary, our 21-acre sustainable farm. The series features scholars, activists, and artists being interviewed over dinner. Each guest is paired with a world-class chef who prepares a meal with a portion of the produce coming straight from the farm.
In April, Jonathan Eig, the acclaimed author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography King: A Life shared insights about the often-overlooked history of freedom struggles and justice movements and their place in the classroom.
Photo Credit: Jenna Perfette
Campus Highlights
SEMINARY RECEIVES GRANTS TO SUPPORT
BARTH TRANSLATION AND INNOVATION
Center for Barth Studies Wins National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
Theologian Karl Barth, widely considered to be one of the great Protestant theologians of modern times, wrote volumes challenging the theological systems of his day. Yet most of his central texts have never been translated from the original German into English.
The Center for Barth Studies is enthusiastically pursuing the challenging work of translating Barth’s prolific and complex works under a prestigious Scholarly Editions and Translations grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency and one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States.
funded translation of three volumes of Barth’s shorter writings from 1905–1921. The new grant will support translation of the next three volumes of Barth’s shorter lectures written between 1922 and 1933.
The center has championed all things Barth since its founding in 1997 and exists to provide leading resources on Barth’s theology and legacy. It hosts programs and events, provides research resources and tools, and facilitates constructive theological conversation in order to educate, equip, and empower scholars, students, pastors, and citizens worldwide for engagement with the Reformed theological tradition and its public significance today.
The center is the only entity now actively translating Barth’s work and is in it for what Dugan calls “not just the long term, but the long, long term. This project will probably extend beyond my lifetime.”
For now, the grant work will focus on Barth’s extensive commentaries on social, cultural, religious, and political themes in Germany, including the outbreak of World War I and the rise of the Third Reich.
“THESE ARE CRITICAL TEXTS, NOT JUST FOR CHRISTIANS OR FOR THOSE IN THEOLOGY, BUT FOR THE HUMANITIES MORE GENERALLY.”
Princeton Theological Seminary and Trinity Church
Wall Street Collaborate for Spiritual Entrepreneurship Innovation
The three-year, $300,000 grant is the second the NEH has awarded to the center. The first, awarded in 2018,
By design, most seminaries prepare students for church leadership — which has long been equated with preaching, teaching, administering sacraments, and leading a congregation of the faithful. Today’s students come with less defined views of ministry, and more expansive views of the type of flocks who need shepherds. Many hope to create
Dr. Kaitlyn M. Dugan, Director of the Center for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary
new communities and experiment with alternative economic models that address the injustices of existing practices — leading students to explore social enterprise and other entrepreneurial forms of ministry.
Recognizing this new moment in theological education, Princeton Theological Seminary — with funding from Trinity Church Wall Street — has launched the “Teaching Spiritual Entrepreneurship in Seminaries” Initiative. In this initiative, nine partner seminaries will launch “learning experiments” to address the needs of students who are called to explore social entrepreneurial forms of ministry. As Kenda Creasy Dean, the Initiative’s director and Princeton Seminary’s Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture, put it: “Young people smell something that is shifting, that feels like a call from God to catalyze the common good of our communities, and not just focus on what’s happening inside a church building.” Princeton’s learning experiments, for example, will create educational offerings in spiritual entrepreneurship for three audiences: degree students, returning citizens from prison, and pastors seeking an online certificate.
Tim Soerens, co-founder of The Parish Collective and part of the project design team, describes the Initiative’s purpose: “We’re discerning how to shape environments that form leaders of the future church, particularly those who are called to new entrepreneurial endeavors in neighborhoods and communities.” Javier Perez, Director of Global Missions Programs and Impact for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, underscored the importance of seminary involvement: “Seminary can bring theological imagination to this work that you will not find elsewhere.” Rooted Good’s Mark Sampson concurred: “How can we train leaders to think theologically about economic practices? How does that shape our understanding of ownership, of compensation and salary, of who gets included and invited into the conversation? These are deeply theological questions. And if we’re not wrestling with these questions in seminary, then who is going to wrestle with them?”
The goal of the Teaching Spiritual Entrepreneurship Initiative is to equip seminaries across North America to theologically form and practically prepare students to lead social innovation and entrepreneurial ministries. In addition to Princeton,
eight additional theological schools have been awarded “learning grants” to support entrepreneurial learning experiences with their students: Austin Theological Seminary (Austin, TX); Candler School of Theology (Atlanta, GA); Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary (Chicago, IL); George W. Truett Theological Seminary (Waco, TX); Hood Theological Seminary (Salisbury, NC); Multnomah University (Portland, OR); San Francisco Theological Seminary (San Francisco, CA); and Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, DC). Each school must work with “community partners”— organizations already engaged in spiritual entrepreneurship — to develop a unique, contextualized learning experiment.
“WE’RE SEEING A TIME AND A
SPACE WHEN WE NEED TO CRACK OUR IMAGINATIONS OPEN ABOUT WHAT CHURCH IS, AND HOW CHURCH FUNCTIONS IN A COMMUNITY. AND THAT MEANS THAT OUR LEADERSHIP FORMATION AND THE PRACTICES AROUND THAT NEED TO CHANGE.”
The Teaching Spiritual Entrepreneurship Initiative will continue through spring 2025.
Abigail Visco Rusert, Associate Dean, Continuing Education, Princeton Theological Seminary
In Memoriam
Sonia E. Waters, PhD ’13, Associate Professor
(1972–2023)
In September, Associate Professor Sonia E. Waters, PhD ’13 passed away peacefully at home with her husband at her side.
Dr. Waters earned her BA in literature with a minor in gender studies from Wheaton College, her MDiv with honors from The General Seminary of the Episcopal Church, and her PhD in pastoral theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. She joined the Seminary faculty in 2013 and served as Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology. Her book Addiction and Pastoral Care was published in 2019.
Sang Hyun Lee PhD, LHD (Hon.), DD (Hon.), Kyung-Chik Han Professor of Systematic Theology Emeritus (1938–2023)
In September, Princeton Theological Seminary mourned the passing of Sang Hyun Lee PhD, LHD (Hon.), DD (Hon.), Kyung-Chik Han Professor of Systematic Theology Emeritus. Lee was a celebrated scholar, teacher, mentor, and the first Asian American faculty member at Princeton Seminary, after joining the faculty in 1980.
An Episcopal Priest, Dr. Waters was profoundly committed to feminist advocacy work, where she focused on the prevention of violence against women. She had experience serving as a crisis counselor and shelter advocate. Her research interests included addictions, contextual pastoral theology, relational perspectives on the self, socioeconomics and mental health, and creativity.
John R. Bowlin, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, reflects, “We are a community broken with grief over the death of Sonia Waters, our dear colleague, teacher and friend. The loss is heavy, hard to bear. We give thanks to God for her courage and wisdom, for all that she taught us in living and departing this life. We pray that her husband John will know God’s comfort and peace in the days ahead. We confess that whether we live or die we belong to a God who is love, who will not turn away from us — who did not turn away from Sonia. And yet, this loss is heavy, this grief hard to bear. We will need God’s unfailing mercy in the days ahead.”
Micah Cronin, MDiv ’20, shared the experience of learning in her classroom: “Dr. Waters loved Jesus. The incarnation of God in Christ was her source and destination ... She wanted her students to understand that as ministers, pastors and priests, our spiritual discipline must be love. We must get close to the people God has entrusted to us. We must get close to their pain, their joys, their sins, and their victories, and we must love them. Let this be Dr. Waters’ legacy.”
In the 30 years that followed, Lee was instrumental in the formation of the Asian American Program (AAP) and served as its director. AAP went on to become a leading voice and hub for the teaching and scholarship of Asian American theology and has evolved to become Princeton Seminary’s Center for Asian American Christianity. Today, the Center is not only a nucleus for scholarship, but also offers innovative conferences, yearly forums, and leadership development for those in the community.
“The legacy that Dr. Lee leaves behind here at PTS and the wider theological academy is extraordinary,” says Ki Joo (KC) Choi, Kyung-Chik Han Professor of Asian American Theology. “The AAP (and its present iteration as the Center for Asian American Christianity) would not exist were it not for his tireless dedication to the seminary and its students. Dr. Lee reminded all of us in theological education why Asian American voices matter in the struggle for justice in both church and society. We continue his legacy by doing the same, by working tirelessly to uplift those who have yet to be heard, by continuously expanding our circles of affection.”
A distinguished scholar, Lee was best known for his ground-breaking book, From a Liminal Place: An Asian American Theology (2010). Among his other publications, Lee was also the editor of The Princeton Companion to Jonathan Edwards (2005) and author of The Philosophical Theology of Jonathan Edwards (1988).
“Professor Sang Hyun Lee was arguably the most important interpreter of Jonathan Edwards of his generation,” says John R. Bowlin, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs. “He was also a serious and learned scholar of Christian doctrine and a profound and original theologian in his own right. But note well, Professor Lee’s legacy endures not only through his scholarship, but also through the students he taught, the dissertations he directed, and the pastors and scholars he helped form. He will be dearly missed.”
In Memoriam (cont.)
Trustee Emeritus Rev. Dr. Robert Merrihew Adams (1937–2024)
Trustee Emeritus Rev. Dr. John T. Galloway, Jr. (1941–2024)
In April, the Seminary mourned the passing of Trustee Emeritus Rev. Dr. Robert Merrihew Adams, BD ‘62.
A wise counselor, faithful churchman, and world-renowned philosopher, Dr. Adams had deep ties to Princeton Theological Seminary. His father, Rev. Dr. Arthur Adams, was a professor of practical theology and Dean of the Seminary from 1966 until 1979. The younger Dr. Adams graduated from the Seminary in 1962 with his Bachelor of Divinity. He earned his PhD in philosophy from Cornell University before starting his teaching career at the University of California, Los Angeles, and ultimately at Yale University as the Clark Professor of Moral Philosophy and Metaphysics. Upon his retirement from Yale, Dr. Adams taught at the University of Oxford and was a senior research fellow at Mansfield College.
Dr. Adams authored four books and over 100 journal articles, was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was a fellow of the British Academy. He is preceded in death by his wife, Marilyn McCord Adams (1943–2017), a double alumna of Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv 1983, ThM 1984), adjunct philosopher, ordained Episcopalian minister, adjunct instructor, and 2006 Distinguished Alumna of the Seminary.
Dr. Adams’ commitment to the life of the mind was always enriched by his faith. As an ordained PC(USA) pastor, he served the Montauk Community Church from 1962 to 1965. His dedication to Princeton Theological Seminary was also evident in his role as a trustee for over 30 years, during which he chaired the Board for a significant portion of his tenure. His influence extended beyond the Seminary, as he was a founding trustee of the Charlotte Newcombe Foundation, which has distributed over $70 million to partner institutions, supporting student scholarships.
Dr. Adams’ profound contributions to philosophy and tireless service to Princeton Theological Seminary will be remembered.
In May, Princeton Seminary mourned the passing of The Reverend Dr. John T. Galloway, Jr., a former senior pastor of Wayne Presbyterian Church. Reverend Galloway was a Trustee of the Seminary, a member of the Alumni Association Executive Council, and a class steward.
Reverend Galloway served as senior pastor at Wayne Presbyterian Church from 1993 to 2007. He became known as a dedicated teacher, church and community leader, and brilliant preacher whose sermons were rooted in a deep theological understanding and an appreciation for story. They were insightful, thought provoking, and most often sprinkled with his trademark humor. He had a widespread and devoted audience from his pulpit and weekly radio broadcasts.
His great impact was felt not only among his congregations and radio listeners but also in communities across the country. In the 1980’s, his strong and faithful support of unemployed steelworkers and their families in Pittsburgh helped inspire the program that became one of the most important children’s health programs ever enacted — the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which is still in place today.
A third-generation Presbyterian minister, Reverend Galloway was educated at Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He was an avid reader and the author of three books, including Ministry Loves Company: A Survival Guide for Pastors, which provides warmhearted yet essential support for pastors and congregations. Reverend Galloway established the John T. and Susan H. Galloway Scholarship Fund and the John T. Galloway Award in Expository Preaching at Princeton Seminary, an award given to a senior who has done the best work in the field of expository preaching over his Seminary career.
In Memoriam (cont.)
Trustee Emeritus Peter E.B. Erdman (1928–2023)
In December, Princeton Seminary mourned the passing of Trustee Emeritus Peter E.B. Erdman at the age of 95. Trustee Erdman’s dedicated service to Princeton Theological Seminary from 1983 to 2004, particularly as a member and chair of the Grounds & Building Committee, left an indelible mark on the entire Seminary community.
Trustee Erdman’s life was deeply interwoven with the fabric of the town of Princeton. A proud alumnus of both Princeton Country Day School (1943) and Princeton University (1950), he nurtured a lifelong commitment to this community. He raised his beloved children in Princeton, served diligently as a deacon at Nassau Presbyterian Church, and devoted countless hours as a weekly volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. His presence was a testament to a life lived in service and faith.
In his passing, Princeton Seminary remembers a dedicated trustee, community stalwart, and a loving family man. Predeceased by his wife of 53 years, Hope English Erdman, he leaves behind a legacy through his four children, grandchildren, and the many lives he touched.
Rev.
Dr. John William Stewart, Jr., Ralph B. and Helen S. Ashenfelter Associate Professor of Ministry and Evangelism Emeritus (1934–2023)
In October, Princeton Seminary mourned the passing of Professor John William Stewart, Jr., Ralph B. and Helen S. Ashenfelter Associate Professor of Ministry and Evangelism Emeritus following a long illness.
Before joining Princeton Theological Seminary, where he served for over a decade until his retirement in 2006, Professor Stewart had already amassed a formidable record of service to God and the Church. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church, he shepherded congregations in Pittsburgh and New Wilmington, PA, and served as an associate professor at Hope College. He took up the calling of senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids in 1974, where he served for 16 fruitful years before returning to the academic realm. His journey in teaching brought him through the halls of Grand Valley State University, Yale Divinity School and, finally, Princeton Theological Seminary.
Professor Stewart was a man of the world, as well as a man of the Word. He loved to travel and engage with global communities, teaching or addressing students in Egypt, Nepal and South Africa. As a scholar, his publications, including Envisioning the Congregation, Practicing the Gospel (2015), and Mediating the Center: Charles Hodge on American Science, Language, Literature, and Politics (1995), stand as a testament to his academic legacy, particularly our better understanding of 19th century theologian Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary.
Reunion Highlights
IT WAS WONDERFUL WELCOMING OUR ALUMS BACK TO CAMPUS FOR REUNION 2024!
We had the largest crowd return for reunion in more than a dozen years, celebrating members of the Class of 1959 up to 2019.
We hope to see you for Reunion 2025: May 12–14, 2025
2024 Distinguished Alumnus Award Recipient: Craig Barnes
The very last thing young Craig Barnes wanted to be when he entered Princeton Theological Seminary was a pastor.
But like so many of the students he would one day lead as the Seminary’s president, his true call found him when he least expected it. Field education — which he signed up for his first year “to get it over with” — would change everything.
“I loved theology. When I was in college, all I wanted to do was study church history and the Bible,” he says. “In field education, I discovered I had these gifts for ministry that I didn’t want to have … but I did.”
As he completed his second year of field ed, “it became even more affirming. The congregation was saying things to me like, ‘We really think you’re called to this. You’ll get good at it. You’re not good yet. But you will get good!’”
After earning his MDiv in 1981, he would go on to serve PC(USA) congregations in Colorado and Wisconsin and was senior pastor at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. He taught at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary while serving as pastor at Shadyside (PA) Presbyterian Church. In 2012, he would be called back to the school “I have always loved the best.”
Barnes, who retired in January 2023 as the Seminary’s seventh president, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the alumni awards luncheon during this year’s Reunion.
The award is a recognition of the work he has done in the world and at Princeton Seminary in the 43 years since he graduated. For Barnes, it’s a personal celebration of the gifts Princeton Seminary gave him.
“Princeton gave me the community that helped me understand that I had gifts and that I was I called to be a pastor. That was a wonderful way to spend my life. That’s what Princeton has always been about, to me. That’s what they taught me how to do. So, I tried to serve with that same vision I learned from it.”
He got very good at it, indeed.
2024 Alumni Council Service Awardee: Khristi Lauren Adams
hardship. She has ministered to college students on the campuses of Georgetown University and Azuza Pacific University, and to youth in one of New Jersey’s most prominent African American congregations.
And, with the 2020 publishing of her first book, Parable of the Brown Girl, Adams established herself as an author exploring the inner lives of Black girls and women, discovering timeless theological themes from contemporary struggles. She wrote a follow-up, Unbossed, and a third book, Womanish Theology, was released in August.
While establishing herself as a writer, Adams also built a parallel career in a different arena. Seminary also helped to nurture in Adams an ability to forge empathic connections, a signature strength that has marked her career and led to life-changing encounters.
In 2018, she became a chaplain and later dean of spiritual life and equity at The Hill School, a venerable boarding school in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley.
2024 Distinguished Alumnus Award Recipient: CRAIG BARNES
Khristi Lauren Adams felt called to ministry, but uncertain where that call would lead.
She didn’t see herself preaching from the pulpit. And she saw needs beyond church walls that seemed just as compelling as those within.
“I never felt led to be a senior pastor,” said Adams, MDiv ‘08. “And during my time at Seminary it became clear there were so many possible directions that I could go in.” In the 16 years since graduating, Adams has stayed true to that sense of possibility, finding her calling as a writer, educator, and Black girlhood advocate, while putting her ministry and leadership skills to work across a range of different communities.
Her many accomplishments were recognized when she returned to Princeton Seminary to receive the Alumni Council Service Award at the 2024 Reunion.
An ordained Baptist minister, she has most recently served as dean of spiritual life and equity at a renowned boarding school in the Delaware Valley. She has also counseled and mentored young girls in New Jersey struggling with trauma and
“I feel like my time at Princeton Seminary gave me permission to engage in ministry in these nontraditional and unconventional ways,” she said. “The Seminary was a launching pad, and it launched me to where I am today.”
She helped to open a gathering space for students from under-represented groups, the Warner Center for Spiritual Life and Equity. She also started a course, “Religion and Film in Contemporary Society,” influenced by a Seminary course, “Faith and Film,” taught by Kenda Creasy Dean.
2023–2024
Faculty
Jonathan Lee Walton, PhD
President and Professor of Religion and Society
Afeosemime (“Afe”) Adogame, PhD
Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Religion and Society
Dale C. Allison, Jr., PhD
Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament
Kenneth Glenn Appold, PhD, DrTheolHabil.
James Hastings Nichols Professor of Reformation History
Eric D. Barreto, PhD
Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser
Associate Professor of New Testament
Raimundo César Barreto, Jr., PhD
Associate Professor of World Christianity
Carl Clifton Black II, PhD
Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology
Lisa M. Bowens, PhD
Associate Professor of New Testament
John Rennell Bowlin, PhD
Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Robert L. Stuart Professor of Philosophy and Christian Ethics
Michael Allen Brothers, PhD
Associate Professor of Speech Communication in Ministry
Heath Carter, PhD
Associate Professor of American Christianity
Ki Joo Choi, PhD
Kyung-Chik Han Chair Professor of Asian American Theology
Margarita Mooney Clayton, PhD
Associate Professor of Congregational Studies
Lisa J. Cleath, PhD
Assistant Professor of Old Testament
Keri L. Day, PhD
Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion
Kenda Creasy Dean, PhD
Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture
James Clifford Deming, PhD
Associate Professor of Modern European Church History
Frederick William Dobbs-Allsopp, PhD
Professor of Old Testament and James Lenox Librarian
Robert Craig Dykstra, PhD
Charlotte W. Newcombe Professor of Pastoral Theology
Mary K. Farag, PhD
Associate Professor of Early Christian Studies
Nancy Lammers Gross, PhD
Arthur Sarell Rudd Professor of Speech Communication in Ministry
Jay-Paul Hinds, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology
George Hunsinger, PhD
Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology
Elaine T. James, PhD Associate Professor of Old Testament
Amelia J. Kennedy, PhD
Assistant Professor of the History of Medieval Christianity
Cleophus James LaRue, Jr., PhD, DD (Hon.)
Francis Landey Patton Professor of Homiletics
Bo Karen Lee, PhD
Associate Professor of Spiritual Theology and Christian Formation
Gordon Stanley Mikoski, PhD
Associate Professor of Christian Education
Dennis Thorald Olson, PhD
Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology
Hanna Reichel, ThD
Associate Professor of Reformed Theology
Dirk Jacobus Smit, DTh, PhD (Hon.) Rimmer and Ruth de Vries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life
Mark Stratton Smith, PhD
Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis
Sarah Stewart-Kroeker, PhD
Associate Professor of Early Christian Theology
Nathan T. Stucky, PhD
Director of Farminary and Sustainable Educational Initiatives
Mark Lewis Taylor, PhD
Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Theology and Culture
Martin Tel, DMA C.F. Seabrook Director of Music
Kimberly R. Wagner, PhD
Assistant Professor of Preaching
Letter from the Chair of the Board
Friends,
Warm greetings from the Board of Trustees! The last 12 months have been momentous. Beginning last October with the inauguration of Jonathan Lee Walton as the eighth president of Princeton Theological Seminary through this week’s Board of Trustees meetings on campus as positivity, energy and mission progress permeates this great Seminary. Whether you were able to celebrate with us last October, returned to campus for reunion in May, or enrolled in one of our growing online continuing education offerings, we are thrilled to have you be a part of our learning community for life.
As President Walton shared in his inaugural address: “prayer grounds us, purpose signifies our enduring mission and rich tradition of training Christian servants since 1812, and possibility reflects our dedication to innovation, acknowledging our ongoing commitment to expanding conceptions of whom God calls and how we are called to serve the world.” Our President as well as our tremendous faculty, staff and students continue to inspire us in so many ways as they further our mission: “Princeton Theological Seminary prepares women and men to serve Jesus Christ in ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy, equipping them for leadership worldwide in congregations and the larger church, in classrooms and the academy, and in the public arena.”
Please know that your support is integral to our work. Whether you contributed your time, ideas, prayers, presence, or treasure, the Board of Trustees is very grateful for your investment in our beloved institution. Your stewardship directly supports our ability to attract world class faculty, recruit intellectually curious students, and connect with new audiences seeking to view their world through the lens of theological inquiry and exploration.
On behalf of the entire Board of Trustees, thank you for your belief in our enduring mission and for your willingness to partner in this exciting new chapter at Princeton Theological Seminary.
2023–2024 Board of Trustees
CHAIR
Michael G. Fisch New York, New York
Philip D. Amoa Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pamela Davies Charlotte, North Carolina
DJ del Rosario Federal Way, Washington
Gordon B. Fowler Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Robert M. Franklin, Jr. Atlanta, Georgia
Doris J. García-Rivera Carolina, Puerto Rico
Nancy Oliver Gray Roanoke, Virginia
Heather Sturt Haaga La Cañada, California
Camille Howe Washington, D.C.
Todd B. Jones Nashville, Tennessee
Shannon Johnson Kershner Atlanta, Georgia
Hana Kim Seoul, South Korea
Don D. Lincoln West Chester, Pennsylvania
VICE CHAIR
Karen Jackson-Weaver Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Robert Maginn Naples, Florida
SECRETARY
Margaret Grun Kibben Alexandria, Virginia
Jay Marshall New York, New York
Michele Minter Plainsboro, New Jersey
Phebe Novakovic Reston, Virginia
Jeffrey V. O’Grady Nashville, Tennessee
Ray A. Owens Tulsa, Oklahoma
Ann E. Rondeau Monterrey, California
Scott G. Sleyster Gladstone, New Jersey
Mark P. Thomas St. Louis, Missouri
Robert S. Underhill Bronxville, New York
Peter E. Whitelock Lafayette, California
Steven Toshio Yamaguchi Tokyo, Japan
Sung Bihn Yim Seoul, South Korea
MICHAEL G. FISCH
Board Chair, Princeton Theological Seminary
Jane Doty MacKenzie Lafayette, California
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2025
us for an unforgettable gathering from May 12-14, 2025.
