2022 Honorees

2022 Distinction in Congregational Ministry

Peter Marty ’85 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. This year we are glad to honor the Rev. Peter Marty.

The Rev. Peter Marty is senior pastor of a 3500-member church in Davenport, Iowa. At the same time, he is a leading public interpreter of American religious life: he is editor/publisher of Christian Century magazine.

As minister of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport for the past 26 years, he has led a vibrant place of worship, hospitality, and service. In a ministerial vocation that spans four decades, he has done much to promote healthy pastoral leadership, preaching, and congregational vitality and renewal. He has been affiliated with the Fund for Theological Education, the Louisville Institute’s Pastors Working Group, and the Duke Project for the Study of Ministry. From 2004-2009 he hosted the national radio series Grace Matters, and he is the author of The Anatomy of Grace (Augsburg Fortress, 2008), which speaks to everyday moments of divine generosity in personal or congregational life. In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Marty has served as chair of the Senior Pastors’ Conference, and twice as a Colleague Program Leader mentoring new pastors. In 2010 he was named “Parish Pastor of the Year” by Academy of Parish Clergy.

Not least, he also leads The Christian Century, a flagship publication that has bolstered the national conversation about religious faith and public life for more than a century. It’s no coincidence that Marty’s heart for congregations should complement his leadership at The Century. Throughout these years, this remarkable combination—his congregational work, editorial diligence, and love for the people of God—has been mutually enriching and created a historic life of ministry. 

His lead column in each issue of The Century provides a deft pastoral comment on the latest public trend or crisis, as well as a welcome Christian social witness that is open and forward-looking, not closed or fearful. There he recently wrote on questions of neuroscience, rationalism, and belief, saying:

“In the realm of faith, we know much more than our mind or intellect can tell us. We know that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities are able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It’s not deductive reasoning that gives us this knowledge: it’s faith tied to love.”[1]

[1] Peter Marty, “Love’s Knowledge,” Christian Century, June 15, 2022, p. 3.

2022 Distinction in Theological Education

Kate C. Bowler ’05 M.A.R.

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. This year the award proudly goes to Professor Kate Bowler.

Kate Bowler is Associate Professor of the History of Christianity in North America at Duke Divinity School, with a focus on the property gospel and celebrity evangelical culture. In addition, she has achieved another kind of fame she didn’t expect or ask for. Seven years ago, at age 35, she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. She had to share this crushing news with her husband and 3-year-old son. She discovered also that many others were moved to hear of her life’s unexpected turns, and be changed by them.

Despite the struggles to come—the many surgeries she endured, the many questions she raised about the widespread conviction that everything happens for a reason—she found ways to write about the experience, and she touched the whole world. With honesty and heartbreak and humor, her New York Times columns exposed cliches of false uplift and questioned the notion that all tragedy is a test of character and part of a divine plan. Her 2018 memoir, Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) (Random House), became a bestseller. In addition to her teaching, research, speaking, blogging and podcasting, she runs the Everything Happens Book Club that explores these themes, generating community, catharsis, and hope. Her new book is No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear) (Random House, 2022).

Indeed, she has wrestled with an unforeseen irony: As a religious historian with a PhD from Duke, and having written the groundbreaking book Blessed: A History of American Prosperity Gospel (Oxford University Press, 2013), she was an expert on spiritual health and happiness who then suffered grave illness herself.

Through it all, she has forged some uncommon wisdom that has helped others articulate the poignant paradoxes of this fragile mortal life. She has faced the difficulty of speaking honestly about suffering, uncertainty, and the deepest meanings of life. Her readers are learning about the history of American Christianity, the pursuit of a full life despite pain, the endearing futility of bucket lists, and the indestructability of love. In one Times column last year she wrote:

“Our lives are unfinished and unfinishable. We do too much, never enough and are done before we’ve even started. We can only pause for a minute, clutching our to-do lists, at the precipice of another bounded day. The ache for more—the desire for life itself—is the hardest truth of all.”

2022 William Sloane Coffin ‘56 Award for Peace and Justice

Prof. Karilyn Crockett ’95 B.A. ’06 M.A.R. ’13 Ph.D.

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. We are excited this year to honor Professor Karilyn Crockett.

Karilyn Crockett has trained her eye and heart on the big picture of life in modern cities—the many ways that land use policies affect people, reinforce prejudices, or liberate individuals and make better citizens.

In an fragmented era of specialization, her scholarly interests make connections across disciplines, including the geography of poverty, cultural anthropology, issues of equity, and the role of theology.

She earned three degrees from Yale and another from the London School of Economics. After Yale she combined her interest in place, race, and poverty by founding MYTOWN in your beloved Boston, a nonprofit that employed some 300 lower-income teenagers as neighborhood tour guides during its 15 years of operation.

Her dissertation in the American studies program at Yale resulted in an acclaimed book, People Before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making (UMass Press, 2018).

She worked seven years for the City of Boston, first as Director of Economic Policy and Research, then as Director of Small Business Development, finally as the city’s first Chief of Equity. Her work there focused on dismantling racism in the city, reducing the racial wealth gap, and addressing racism as a public health crisis.

Today she teaches at MIT as Professor of Urban History, Public Policy and Planning. She is also a research fellow at the Religion and Public Life program at Harvard Divinity School. In addition, she is Research and Policy Consultant for the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

Through her work on many fronts, she is creating new pathways of reform, making fresh connections between urban planning, justice issues, and ethical vision. She has spoken of staying alert to how our inner selves affect our public lives in times of crisis. “We are all driven by what we believe, whether we are theists or not,” you said in a Harvard Divinity School interview. “Being able to name, clarify, and nurture what propels us professionally and personally is critical for living fulfilled and healthy lives in any age, and especially in … a time of crisis and change.”

2022 Lux et Veritas

Christopher Coons ’92 M.A.R., ’92 J.D.

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. We proudly give the award this year to Sen. Chris Coons.

Sen. Chris Coons is the junior U.S. senator from Delaware and known for skills in very short supply today: he endeavors to reach out to the other side, hoping to overcome divisions that are paralyzing the nation. He’s a Democrat who prays with Republican colleagues, sponsors bipartisan legislation, and keeps in mind that opponents are finally not ideologues but people, individuals made in God’s image.

His spiritual politics were formed decades ago. After receiving his Yale MAR and Yale law degrees, he volunteered as a relief worker in South Africa before returning to the U.S. to work for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York. He worked also as in-house counsel for a manufacturer and served with several nonprofit organizations.

Meanwhile, a personal odyssey in electoral politics was unfolding. Early on he was a Republican before switching to the Democratic Party in college. By 2000, he was elected in Delaware to the New Castle County Council, then served as county executive. In 2010 he won the special election to the U.S. Senate after Joe Biden resigned the seat to become vice president. He won a full term in 2014 and now chair the Senate Ethics Committee, as well as serve on the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, and Small Business Committees. He also works to advance LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and racial justice. 

It’s a busy schedule—but on Wednesday mornings he can be found attending the Senate Prayer Breakfast, where about 25 Democrats and Republicans hope to build mutual trust. There he practices personally what the nation must somehow learn: he finds ways to connect with people he’s likely to disagree with, discovering a shared humanity that might make healing the common good a possibility.

In Reflections journal in 2018, he wrote: “What we do every Wednesday morning is seek out the real people behind the simplistic labels, the man or woman with whom we’ll have to have difficult conversations on the Senate floor or the committee room later that day. That can be hard for anyone, and it’s only possible through a willingness to be truly honest and even vulnerable not only to friends, but also rivals and enemies.” 

2022 Dean’s Outstanding Service

Ronald Evans ‘70 B.D.

See a video here.