About, People - June 2013

“I want to focus on the human face of Guantanamo today,” said George Hunsinger ’77 M.A., ’77 M.Phil., ’88 Ph.D. statement on Guantanamo at a congressional briefing in Washington DC,  “I want to lift up the hunger strike, the reasons it came into being, and the brutal force-feeding that has been implemented. And the main question I want to ask is this: Do we even realize that these prisoners are human beings? Can our ears no longer hear the cries of those wrongfully detained?” Hunsinger is a professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary and founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Online on CSPAN, May 10. >View the clip of Hunsinger’s testimony.

 “I was inspired,” said Frederick Marquand Professor Emeritus of Theological Ethics and former YDS Dean Thomas Ogletree who is currently under censure from the United Methodist Church for performing a same-sex marriage for his son, “I actually wasn’t thinking of this as an act of civil disobedience or church disobedience. I was thinking of it as a response to my son.” Online in The New York Times, May 5. >Read the story.

“We believe that the church should follow God in embracing and welcoming all people,” said Oby Ballinger ’08 M.Div., pastor of Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul Park, MN, one of three churches featured in an upcoming PBS documentary about how churches came to embrace open and affirming to LGBTQ members. The documentary will air this fall. Online in the Jamestown Sun (ND), May 10. 

The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, CT has called Steven Jungkeit ’01 M.Div., ’10 Ph.D. as their new senior minister. “In a world desperately in need of a little good news, and in which church communities struggle to find their voices, this church beckons with its unwavering commitment to sharing the good news of the gospel in some of the most vulnerable places in the world,” said Jungkeit of his appointment, “I look forward to helping foster that work.” Online on The Lymes Patch (CT), May 13. >Read the story.

Amy Johnson ’99 M.Div. will be officially installed as the pastor of Canton (CT) Community Baptist Church. >Read the announcement.

Steve Crabtree ’66 B.D., along with the other members of the blues-folk band Cartwheel, have recently released a new album “Into the Valley.” The album is available online through Amazon and iTunes. Online in The Middletown Press (CT), May 21. >Read the story.

First Baptist Church of Middletown, CT recently ordained Willis J. McCaw ’08 M.Div. as minister. McCaw is also a teaching fellow for Introduction to Pastoral Care at YDS. Online in The Middletown Press (CT), May 17. >Read the announcement.

Len Liptack ’01 M.Div. has recently published The Bible Reading Survival Guide. “I called it a ‘survival guide’ because people often start reading the Bible, but don’t make it through because of its length and maybe not understanding what they are reading,” explained Liptack, “I wanted them to make it through and for it to have meaning and make sense to them.” Online in The Spring Grove Herald (MN), May 9. >Read the story.

S. Randolph Sengel ’74 Div. was awarded the Law Enforcement Commendation Medal by the George Washington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. >Read the announcement.