Vernice “Hopie” Randall ‘11 M.Div. has been appointed Interim Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, effective Dec. 1 until the end of May 2013. Randall is currently a lecturer in homiletics at YDS and will continue to teach as she serves in her new position. She is the 2011 recipient of the Henry Hallam Tweedy Prize for demonstrated promise in ministry, the highest award YDS bestows upon a graduating student, as well as the Wolcott-Calkins Prize for excellence in preaching and the William E. Downes Prize for excellence in public reading. In 2012 she earned a Master of Theology degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, where she was awarded the Kenyon J. Wildrick Award for Excellence in Homiletics.
“The ocean gave me a sense of eternity. Its magnitude reminded me of my finiteness, the ebb and flow of the waves was like the breathing of Being itself. It was the only presence that seemed capable of stilling my otherwise restless heart and mind.” Jamie L. Manson ’02 M.Div., Nov. 8, 2012, in “Lessons from Sandy’s storm zone: We are victims and victimizers,” for her column with National Catholic Reporter.
Read her full post here.
”For development to succeed you need a larger political settlement – you need peace and stability. We are part of that. We give people some stake in society so they have a reason not to fight.” Arthur Keys ’73 M.Div., The Huffington Post, Oct. 26, 2012, in the column “Despite Risks, International Relief and Development’s Keys Hands Out $3 Billion in Foreign Aid.”
Read the column here.
After 38 years, Larry Reimer ’69 B.D. and his wife Sandy are retiring from their roles as ministers at the United Church of Christ in Gainesville, FL. “The church has never told me there was something I couldn’t try because we’d never done it that way before. I think both of us would say the only limits we’ve had in this church have been due to our own creativity and energy.” Nov. 16, 2012, “Reimers retiring after using spirit to embrace community,” online in The Gainesville Sun.
Read the full story here.
Robert W. Castle Jr., who received his degree from Berkley Divinity School, died on October 27, 2012 at age 83. Castle was the subject of the 1992 documentary “Cousin Bobby” and longtime rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Harlem, where “he ran an energetic ministry in which spirituality and social action were indissolubly linked, relishing his role as ‘an obdurate whirligig fulminating against the establishment.’” Nov. 6, 2012, “Robert W. Castle Jr., Outspoken Harlem Priest and Accidental Actor, Dies at 83,” online in The New York Times.
Read his obituary here.
“But I think what our campaign did was invite people in from any background. The grass-roots side [of the campaign] was truly an honor to be a part of. President Obama is the type of candidate who really attracted people who had never been attracted to politics before.” Luke Bassett ‘08 M.A.R. ‘10 M.E.M., Nov. 17, 2012, in “Culloden native works with Obama on campaign,” online in The Charleston Gazette.
Read the full story here.
William Nicholas Knisely Jr. ’91 M.Div. was ordained bishop of the diocese of Rhode Island. During the ordination sermon, Kirk Smith, bishop of Arizona, “congratulated Rhode Island for electing a ‘digital bishop’ who knows how to speak the language of the 21st century and engage youth.” Nov. 19, 2012, “W. Nicholas Knisely ordained as Rhode Island’s 13th bishop,” online from Episcopal News Service.
Read the story here.
“For me as an environmentalist concerned about Earth and her people, amid anxieties about human failings, this is the final message Jeremiah, ensconced in that poster still pinned to my wall, came to deliver: The world is in trouble. People have caused it. Yet, there is hope.” Stephen Blackmer ’12 M.Div., Nov. 24, 2012, in his article “My turn: Thirty-five years later Jeremiah spoke to me,” online in the Concord (NH) Monitor.
Read his full story here.
“I’m thankful to the Episcopal Church—I spent my life there. All my friends and people I love are in it. I do not in any way wish to denigrate it. I’m not angry. I was seeking something that I’ve been longing for, for a long time.” Larry Gipson ’70 Berkeley Divinity school, Nov. 29, 2012, in “Former rector of nation’s largest Episcopal church becomes a Catholic,” online from Religion News Service.
Read the article here.
“A lot of people talk about religion in the sense of being Christian, Muslim or Jewish, and that may be important in the sense of what you belong to denomination, but what is more important than that is relationship. What is your relationship to the one who creates? What is your relationship with the one who has gifted you with the intellect for you to even dare enter the academy and succeed at it?” Bernard Keels ’79 M.A.R., Nov. 7, 2012, in “Morgan State Chapel: HBCU Alumni And Students Work To Revitalize Campus Sanctuary in Baltimore City,” from The Huffington Post.
Read the article here.
Michael Peppard ’03 M.A.R., ‘07 M.A., ‘09 Ph.D. has been named a recipient of the Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise, issued annually to 10 junior scholars of theology and religion from around the world. This year’s recipients come from the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia, and Israel. The award, administered by the University of Heidelberg, includes an all-expenses-paid trip to Heidelberg from May 30-June 4, 2013 to meet with the other winners for lectures, seminars, and to form proposals for collaborative colloquia.
Read more here.
“Perhaps it is not an accident that presidential elections, every four years, coincide closely with the American annual observance of Thanksgiving. This year’s particularly. It has been said repeatedly, by very able journalists as well as many of us in the general public, that the presidential election of 2012 reflected a deep divisiveness in the nation.” Ralph Barlow ‘59 B.D. ‘64 S.T.M., writing in the Providence Journal, Nov. 30, 2012, in the column “Bring 2 American drives together.”
Read the column here.
At the recent annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, Emilie M. Townes, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology, was honored for her academic work at a Nov. 17 reception sponsored by The Association of Theological Schools. ATS called Townes, the first African American woman to serve as president of the American Academy of Religion, an “outstanding theological educator.”
Harold Wimmer ’74 S.T.M. and his wife, Gertrude, were presented with the Lutheran Social Services Adoption Heart and Home Award during ceremonies held Nov. 18 in Middletown, CT. The award was presented for the couple’s support of the LSS adoption program over the years. During the ceremony, Wimmer, a former bishop of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, spoke about how adoption has touched and enriched his life. The Wimmers are the parents of five children, two of them adopted.
John Simon ’95 M.Div., director of Spiritual Care Services at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Poughkeepsie, NY was recently appointed to the Association of Professional Chaplains Board of Directors.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 hopie-randall_300.jpg | 4.41 KB |
