Every year, the YDS faculty go through a number of transitions, and this year is no exception. I have grouped the changes into three categories: promotions or renewals of faculty who will remain with us but under new terms, transitions or faculty who will be leaving YDS, and welcomes to those who will join us next year.
Promotions or Renewals
I am very pleased to report to you that a number of our colleagues have been renewed or promoted. The following descriptions hardly do justice to these individuals but they will, I hope, give you a sense of their accomplishments.
Joel Baden was promoted from associate professor on term to professor without term. Joel has been unbelievably productive as a scholar. He has published four monographs and had another co-authored monograph accepted. He is best known for his work on the source criticism of the Torah or Pentateuch where he has established his place as the leading proponent of a literary approach to the source critical issue. More recently he has moved into the emerging field of disability studies. Throughout his career he has worked on Hebrew syntax. A popular instructor and a valued colleague, Joel has also become a well-known lecturer in public settings, a reflection of his prowess in the classroom. It may be many years before anyone matches Joel’s publication record at this stage of his career.
Vasileios Marinis was promoted from assistant professor on term to associate professor on term. Vasileios recently published a major study on 30 churches in Istanbul from the 9th through the 15th centuries. The monograph is a model of clarity as it works through massive amounts of archaeological and literary evidence. It has already been hailed as a complement to a classic in the field. Vasileios is hard at work on his next major project, Death and the Fate of the Soul in Byzantium, for which he won two prestigious fellowships–a significant achievement. His clarity as a writer transfers into the classroom and beyond: Vasileios is a beloved teacher and a valued member of the faculty in the Institute of Sacred Music. He will be on leave next year working on his second monograph.
Melanie Ross was renewed as an assistant professor on term. Her first book, Evangelical versus Liturgical? Defying a Dichotomy, is a detailed study of the worship of two churches that challenges common assumptions about worship in evangelical churches. It is due to appear in July. Melanie is working assiduously on her next major project, Varieties of Evangelical Worship, which will explore ten churches in the US. Like Vasileios, she has won two major fellowships for this study, a real coup. It would be hard to overstate the appreciation that students have for Melanie. She is a valued member of the faculty at the Institute of Sacred Music. She will be on leave next year working on her second monograph.
Chloë Starr was promoted from assistant professor on term to associate professor on term. Chloë is establishing her place in two separate fields, no small feat. She began her career studying Chinese literature & culture. Her first book, Red-light Novels of the late Qing, is a study of six Chinese novels written between 1840 and 1910. She has since edited a volume, Reading Christian Scripture in China, and co-edited a volume, The Quest for Gentility in China: Negotiations Beyond Gender and Class. Her current book project, Chinese Intellectual Christianity, is an important contribution to the understanding of the development of Christian thought in China. Chloë is a devoted teacher and an important contributor to the ethos of the School. She served as the chairperson of the Diversity Committee this past year. She will be on leave next year completing Chinese Intellectual Christianity.
Linn Tonstad was renewed as an assistant professor on term. Linn has just completed a major work entitled God and Difference: Experimental Trinitarian Theology. Her manuscript brings classical Trinitarian theology into conversation with queer/feminist theology in new and creative ways. It is a tour de force that challenges earlier efforts to bring the two intellectual frameworks into dialogue. Her relentless intellectual probing is also evident in the classroom where she enjoys a reputation as an excellent pedagogue who pushes students, but does so with care. She will be teaching next year as she formulates her next major project and will go on leave in the following year.
Tisa Wenger was promoted from assistant professor on term to associate professor on term. A specialist on American religious history, Tisa has explored the role of religion in fascinating ways. Her first book, We Have a Religion, analyzed the debate over Pueblo Indian dances in the 1920s, and the way that religion as a category affected the Pueblos when they adopted it as a means of defending their right to maintain their ancestral dances. The book was a finalist in the coveted First Book in the History of Religions Award from the American Academy of Religion. Her current project, Race and Religious Freedom in U.S. History, tackles the complicated issue of race as a factor in the debates over religious freedom. Students and colleagues alike praise her for her instruction. She will be on leave next year working on her second monograph.
We salute and congratulate our colleagues on work well done. They have developed impressive records in scholarship and teaching. Bravo to each!!
Transitions
We also have a number of faculty members who will be going through transitions in the coming year. We are deeply grateful to each of them for the time that they have spent at YDS and the gifts that they have brought.
Denys Turner is retiring this spring after a most impressive career that has included posts at University College, Dublin (1967-1976), the University of Bristol (1976-1995), the University of Birmingham (1995-1999), Cambridge (1999-2005), and Yale (2005-2014). He is the author of 8 books and more than 50 articles and chapters. His books fall into three major categories. The first two books explored Marxism and Christianity, the next three form a trilogy that turned from the social and political to the mystical, and the last couple focus on major figures: Julian of Norwich, Theologian (2011) and Thomas Aquinas, A Portrait (2013). He is currently finishing a book on the Summa Theologicae for the Cambridge Companion Series. Denys has helped to build a robust program in medieval theology. While he is retiring to England, he will return for the next two spring semesters to offer two courses. We are grateful that Denys will be back with his keen wit and sharp mind.
We are also saying farewell to Paul Stuehrenberg who is retiring as the Yale Divinity School librarian after 32 years of service. Paul came to Yale in 1982 and worked his way up the ladder to become the head librarian. He has overseen the library through tumultuous times—including one proposal to reduce it to 50,000 volumes. The collection in religion at Yale is today the finest in North America. Paul has also served as the official keeper of minutes for the Governing Board, led the Lutheran Studies Program for 18 years, and ran the visiting scholars program that has welcomed hundreds of visiting scholars from around the world. Thank you Paul, for your reliable and dedicated service.
Joe Britton is leaving the helm of Berkeley Divinity School after eleven years of service as dean. He launched or helped to launch a number of significant initiatives during these years including: the Wesley-Royce Leadership Colloquium, the ELM program, the adoption of the Rule of Life, and new urban ministry internships. In spite of the administrative demands that he has shouldered, he completed an important monograph Abraham Heschel and the Phenomenon of Piety (2013). He has served the students in a wide range of capacities from spiritual director to Canterbury guide, from a leader of liturgy to a key instructor in the Anglican Studies curriculum. Joe has accepted a position at Christ Church here in New Haven. While he is leaving BDS, we are grateful that he will not be far away.
We owe all of these individuals a great deal. They are not only our professional colleagues, but our friends. We wish each of them the very best as they go through these major transitions in their lives.
Welcomes
Michal Beth Dinkler will join us this fall as an assistant professor of New Testament. Michal Beth earned her B.A. and M.A. in English literature from Stanford University. After studying briefly at Fuller Theological Seminary and Oxford University, she earned her M.Div. from Gordon Conwell and then her Th.D. from Harvard. She has won numerous prizes along the way including the Lester London Scholarship Contest (Mensa Foundation) and the Society of Biblical Literature’s Best Student Paper award in the Northeast Region. She has recently published her first monograph, Silent Statements: Narrative Representation of Speech and Silence in the Gospel of Luke. We are thrilled that she will join us.
Andrew McGowan will join us as the new Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School and as Professor of the Practice of Anglican Studies at YDS. Andrew has served in both faculty and administrative posts. He was an associate professor on the faculty at the Episcopal Divinity School (1998-2003) before moving to the University of Melbourne where he is now the Joan F. W. Munro Professor of Historical Theology. He has held major administrative posts at the University of Melbourne and is currently the Warden and President of Trinity College. He has authored two monographs and edited two others. An Anglican priest, he has served parishes in Perth, Australia. Andrew brings a wealth of academic, administrative, and pastoral experience and commitment to BDS and YDS.
Felicity Harley-McGowan will also join us as a Research Associate and Lecturer. Felicity was trained at the University of Adelaide where she received both her B.A. and her Ph.D. She is the Gerry Higgins Lecturer in Medieval Art History at the University of Melbourne. She is currently working on a monograph entitled Images of the Crucifixion in Late Antiquity and co-editing a volume on Ernst Kitzinger and the Making of Medieval Art History. She will offer courses at YDS, ISM, and the History of Art Department.
These are all exceptionally talented individuals. We are more than pleased that they will become part of our community.
Conclusion
I want to say a special word of appreciation to the Board of Trustees at Berkeley Divinity School and Martin Jean, the Director of the Institute of Sacred Music, for their assistance in a number of these promotions, transitions, and hires that could not occur without the joint effort and leadership of our partners on the Quad.
Above all, I want to thank the faculty for their careful and thoughtful work in the assessment of colleagues and potential colleagues. These processes are filled with joy and sometimes with pain. They always require an enormous amount of time and emotional energy. The faculty are the heart of any institution. We are fortunate to have a great faculty who care deeply for their colleagues and the high standards that are part of the ethos of Yale.