2021 Honorees

2021 Distinction in Congregational Ministry

Jane Middleton ‘78 M.Div.

At the heart of YDS is the commitment to train women and men for the lay and ordained ministries of the church. The award for Distinction in Congregational Ministry annually goes to an individual who has shown exceptional pastoral competence in the work of the mission of local congregations. 

Bishop Jane Middleton’s vocational path has taken her from homemaker and high school teacher in the Midwest to a historic place in national church life. She is the first YDS woman to become a United Methodist bishop. 

She and her husband, Jack, met at Oklahoma State University, married, and raised two daughters. After nearly fifteen years as a stay-at-home mom, high school teacher, and active church laywoman, Bishop Middleton found her way to YDS in the mid-1970s. 

While here, her heart and mind were opened by professors Letty Russell, Henri Nouwen, and Margaret Farley, as well as by a rousing community of classmates.

And so a new calling came into view – as an ordained United Methodist deacon and elder in the New York Conference.

Bishop Middleton inspired a series of firsts. In every position she held, she was the first woman to do so. These posts included pastor of New Canaan United Methodist Church, District Superintendent of Connecticut, and bishop of Harrisburg. She was also the first United Methodist minister to ordain an openly gay elder. 

She has served on the adjunct faculty at YDS and New York Theological Seminary, in addition to leading spiritual retreats and conferences, having been trained at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.

Further afield, Jane founded a Bolivian mission that links churches there with U.S. counterparts. She has made nine pilgrimages to Bolivia as pastor, district superintendent, and bishop. 

On yet another continent, in Sierra Leone, Bishop Middleton’s name is spoken every day: the Bishop Jane Middleton High School in Freetown was opened in 2014.

If John Wesley were with us today, he might say of Bishop Jane Allen Middleton that the world has been her parish.

See a video here.

2021 Distinction in Theological Education

Robert Wilson ‘67 B.D., ‘72 Ph.D.

One of the finest traditions of YDS is its commitment to excellence in all dimensions of theological education. This award recognizes alumni whose scholarship, teaching or leadership and contributions to vocational formation for ministry reflect the best of YDS and its distinguished faculty. 

It’s no exaggeration to say that Dr. Bob Wilson is a YDS legend. 

For five decades, he has served as a professor and advisor on the Old Testament faculty. 

He has also spent five decades helping this School through growth, turmoil, renewal, and rededication to its mission of training leaders and scholars. 

Dr. Wilson has served (or outlasted) six deans and has directed the dissertations of more than sixty doctoral students who became scholars themselves.

But this boundless legacy almost didn’t happen.

Bob Wilson grew up in Louisville with plans to be a Kentucky minister in the Disciples of Christ, until a teacher at his college, Transylvania University, suggested he apply to YDS. 

Once here, Bob found his interest in archeology, antiquity, and scholarship awakened. Yet his fondness for church life did not wane. As a graduate student, he served for a time as minister in Stratford, and ever after reminded students to keep the real-world problems of local churches in mind.

Dr. Wilson has produced books on Israelite prophecy, Deuteronomistic history and sociology of Old Testament religion. He has been active in leadership in the Society of Biblical Literature and did two stints as chair of Yale’s Department of Religious Studies.

Yet his proficiency doesn’t end there. 

Bob has played kettle drums since middle school and was the principal timpani player in the Civic Orchestra of New Haven from 1975 until just last year.

In 2009, affectionate colleagues produced a festschrift in Bob’s honor, in which the editors write: 

“Divinity School students see Dr. Wilson as simply brilliant. His graduate students literally follow his every word. As for his colleagues, they see him as a cornerstone of the institution.”

See a video here.

2021 William Sloane Coffin ‘56 Award for Peace and Justice

Kaji Douša ’06 M.Div.

The Coffin award is given in honor of William Sloane Coffin, former Chaplain to the University and one of the most significant religious leaders of the last century. The recipient of this award shares Coffin’s prophetic witness, a courageous devotion to the dignity of all persons, and has made a notable contribution to the work of peace and reconciliation. 

In a world full of emergencies, Kaji Douša has emerged as a national frontline witness and an advocate for a moral, sacrificial awakening in this country.

Rev. Douša is known for her inspiring leadership on multiple urgent movement fronts, including her role as senior minister and CEO of Park Avenue Christian Church in New York, the first woman in that role in the church’s 210 years. 

In addition, she is immediate past President of the Yale Divinity School Alumni Board, as well as a former trustee for Andover Newton Seminary and a member of the Clergy Advocacy Board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

For a decade, Kaji has served with the New Sanctuary Coalition, which is dedicated to stopping deportations and creating places of sanctuary in the U.S. This effort has taken her to the Mexican border to pray with migrants. 

This witness and ministry have drawn the suspicions of federal agents who’ve targeted Rev. Douša and placed her on a secret watch list. As a result, she filed suit against the US Department of Homeland Security for infringing on her constitutional rights, a lawsuit that has just completed the discovery phase.

In Reflections journal in 2019, Kaji wrote: “It’s crucial that the church give people permission to admit feeling overwhelmed by the terrible things happening around them … and help them know that God’s gift is love, not suffering. We try to help people shape a response to that. This is part of what liberation means.”

See a video here.

2021 Lux et Veritas

Elijah Heyward III ‘07 M.A.R.

The Lux et Veritas is awarded for excellence and distinction in applying the compassion of Christ to the diverse needs of the human condition through the wider church, ecumenical organizations, not-for-profit groups, government, or industry. 

Elijah Heyward III embodies the spirit of the Lux et Veritas award. He has the heart of an educator and the soul of an artist, and both have been evident in his efforts within the YDS community and beyond.

He has been a guiding force behind the conception and construction of the International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C., which will open next year.

The museum will highlight the impact of Africans in America – their contributions to the arts, intellectual life, and the human spirit – despite the cruel history of slavery.

Dr. Heyward’s talent for curation, scholarship, fundraising, administration, cultural preservation, mentorship, and advocacy of themes of African American experience, history, and justice was crucial to making the project a reality.

Born in Beaufort, S.C., Elijah holds degrees from Hampton University and YDS and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of North Carolina. 

While at Yale, Elijah embraced the idea of service. He was part of the student council, curriculum committee, and admissions committee, in addition to serving as co-chair of the Black graduate network. He was also a founder of the annual Yale Black Seminarians reception during convocation.

Elijah received a Yale President’s Public Service Fellowship for a program he founded called the Youth Scholar Academy, which prepares disadvantaged young men for high school, college, and beyond.

As an alum, he gave YDS invaluable help at a crucial moment in its history and its reckoning with racial prejudice. 

In 2017, Dr. Heyward advised the School on how to commission a portrait of James W. C. Pennington, the first Black person to attend YDS classes, studying under severe campus restrictions in the 1830s. He advocated for the style of the portrait and spearheaded the selection of the artist, Jas Knight. 

In 2018, when the portrait was unveiled in the Common Room to great applause, Dr. Heyward was heard to say, “For me, knowing that James Pennington was who he was — the first African American to attend Yale who went on to do so many amazing things in the world — it means that maybe I can do the same thing.”

See a video here.