Michael J. Peppard ’03 M.A.R.’09 Ph.D. was quoted in the “Popechella” segment of the April 28 episode of the Colbert Report. He also recently appeared on CNN to dicuss whether the Coptic fragment that includes the phrase “Jesus’ wife” was authentic.
The two 2013 issues of Reflections, YDS’s magazine of theological and ethical inquiry, recently received three first-place awards from the Associated Church Press, an international organization of periodicals representing dozens of denominations, seminaries, agencies and other Christian entities. Reflections received first prize in the categories of Best Journal, Best Magazine Theme Issue (“Art of Aging,” Fall 2013), and Best Theological or Scholarly Article (Stanley Hauerwas’ “How to (Not) Retire Theologically,” Fall 2013).
>Visit the Reflections website
The Roman Catholic archbishop of Hartford, Leonard P. Blair, has appointed the Rev. Steven Chrysostom Boguslawski, O.P. ‘90 S.T.M., ‘94 M.A., ‘95 M.Phil, ‘99 Ph.D., as the new moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Hartford, effective May 1. Online on The New Haven Register, April 3.
“We need to start listening to the persons who come forward to tell their stories, listening with compassion, or what Jesus called, ‘ears to hear,’” said Roger J. Squire Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling Mary Moschella. “We need to give those who have the courage to bring charges the benefit of the doubt, especially in situations where there is an imbalance of power.” Online on Al Jazeera, April 4.
Theodore Sager Meth ‘47 Div., 90, died on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at the Princeton Care Center. He served as pastor for several churches in New England, later founded a law firm in Newark, and eventually authored ten books of poetry. Online on Princeton Town Talk, April 2.
“Are holding onto your camera and joining us mutually exclusive?” asked Senior Research Scholar Margaret Olin in a recent lecture she gave at University of Illinois at Chicago, “I thought there was something called engaged photography. Don’t photographic technologies take part in Occupy and other activist movements?” Online on Forward.com, May 6.
Dana Campbell ‘96 M.Div. has been appointed priest-in-charge at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Middleton, CT. Online on Church of the Holy Trinity.
“I study Torah, and I can throw a great left jab. Not a bad combination!” said Rabbi Doug Sagal ‘99 S.T.M. aka “the Boxing Rabbi” in an interview with The Westfield Alternative Press. Sagal is celebrating his 11th year at Temple Emanu-el of Westfield. The congregation, the largest Reform Jewish congregation in New Jersey, serves 1,100 families. Online, April 5, 2013.
Raja Mrigendra Singh ‘74 M.A.R., a son of Late Maharaja Bhupendra Singh of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, passed away on March 24, 2014 at the age of 85. He was brother of Yadavindra Singh, the last Maharaja of Patiala. Online on SikhChic.com, April 4.
“Any half way decent theologian will tell you that God is decidedly not an old man on a throne in the sky,” wrote Debbie Blue ’91 M.Div. “That this image of God persists somehow in the popular imagination, most likely has to do with some language we find in the Bible and the layers and layers of patriarchy involved in the whole shebang.” Online on Next Sunday Resources, April 2.
“Jazz is a part of my personality and background,” said Dwight Andrews 77 M.Div., ‘83 M.Phil., ‘93 Ph.D. “As a seminary student, I often went to the Cathedral of John the Divine in New York because it had a jazz ministry. When I was struggling with where my music fit into my seminary studies, the minister there encouraged me to bring it right into the church.”
“We actually know very little about how the Passover was celebrated at the time of Jesus,” wrote Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation Adela Yarbro Collins, “According to the Mishnah, the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) was sung by the Levites at the sacrifices in the temple on important festival days. It was taken over early into the domestic Passover meal, but it is not clear whether such was already the case during the lifetime of Jesus.” Online ASORblog.com, April 9.
“Multifaith work is hard,” said Kelly Stone ‘06 M.Div. “You don’t learn it by reading a book. You have to sit down with people and listen and share. And you have to rethink the idea that your approach to a question is the only approach.” Online on Elmhurst College, April 10.
“There are more Chinese in church on a Sunday than there are in the whole of Europe,” says Chloe Starr, assistant professor of Asian Christianity and Theology. “Some places are beginning to see and to understand that Christianity isn’t a global North thing any more, its a global South thing, numerically, geographically.” Online in China Hands Magazine, April 7.
>Read the article
Neil Alan Willard ’95 M.Div. has accepted a call to be the sixth rector of Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church in Houston, TX.
Creighton Chandler ’15 M.A.R., Chelsea Faria ’16 M.Div., and Gregory Williams ’15 M.Div. were featured in “Pennies and Pilgrims,” a story in the Yale Daily News Magazine about the New Haven Catholic Worker community. Online, April 11.
All Saints Episcopal Church (Western Springs, IL) is proud to announce the arrival of its seventh rector, The Rev. Kate Spelman ‘11 M.Div. Online on Western Springs Patch, April 11.
“So was Jesus and his followers streaming through the streets of Jerusalem a parade or a march? Were the palm-waving crowds welcoming a demonstration against Rome or simply enjoying a party?” asks Chris Glaser ’77 M.Div. in an article about prophets and social activism. Online on More Light Presbyterians, April 12.
Stephen Butler Murray ’98 M.Div. has been appointed president and professor of Systematic Theology and Preaching at the Ecumenical Theological Seminary (ETS) in Detroit. He will officially assume his position as ETS president on July 1. Online on PRNewswire, April 29.
Joseph William Frazier ’73 M.Div. vicar of St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Big Bear Lake, California died in his sleep the morning of March 28. Before his ordained ministry, Frazier was a folksinger and actor. He became a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio in the 1960s after one of its original singers left the group. The Trio released many popular songs and appeared often on television, but they added a satirical edge to their folk harmonies with songs that took aim at the Vietnam War, celebrity culture and segregationist policies. Online on Big Bear Grizzly, April 9.
“We’re active in the community organizing around community health care in Connecticut, helping leaders learn how to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities and talk about health equity for all,” said Shelley Best ‘00 M.Div. about the Conference of Churches, a faith-based nonprofit in Hartford, Connecticut. “We look at issues of inequity through quality of life to close the gap in public education.” Online in the Hartford Business Journal, April 4.
“Emphasizing ideas like customer service contributes to generating the wrong idea about what is going on at universities because it infuses the image of the institution with the overall tone of the business model,” said John W. Traphagan ’86 M.A.R. “This degrades the mission of a public university, which is to promote the public good and improve society through research and education…thinking in terms of customer service deflects attention away from what we are — a community of people interested in learning and creating knowledge that promotes the improvement of our society.” Online in the Dallas Morning News, April 25.
Donna Desilus ’15 M.Div., Corrine Ellis ’14 M.Div., Steven Maasbach ‘15 M.Div., Allyson McKinney ‘15 M.Div., and Dean Gregory Sterling were quoted in an article from PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly about the future of Protestant ministry. “I’ve said to the students, I said to them this fall when they first matriculated, ‘You will write the future of Christianity. I don’t know what it will look like. I’m sure it will be different than it is today, but you will write that history, and we’re here to prepare you to write that history.’” Online, May 2.
>Watch the episode
Scott Claassen ’11 M.Div. was recently ordained as an Episcopal deacon in a Los Angeles laundromat where his church runs a monthly free laundry service for homeless folks. “We chose not to use microphones, lecterns, or a grandiose altar,” says Claasen. “We responded to the space in a way that respected the work that was going on all around the ordination service. In that way, we hoped that the ordination service would reflect the orientation of the diaconate toward serving those in need. The result was a service in which we all stood on equal footing, and all who gathered participated in the service if they chose to do so.” Online on Huffington Post, May 2.
“Universities are heirs of the morally serious Socrates, but when it comes to the exploration of the life worth living, they have fallen below the level of the appetites satisfying Callicles,” said Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and Religious Studies Miroslav Volf in an article for ABC Religion (Australia). “Universities are also heirs of the Christian faith’s search for understanding, but they have abandoned the pursuit of a central question that animates the faith and its search for understanding - namely, ‘What is the life worth living’?” Online, May 1.
“I am of the mind that ours is a moment in history ripe for creativity, ingenuity and daring. Having the opportunity to build upon Drew’s international legacy is something that energizes me and builds upon my prior professional experience,” said Javier Viera ‘00 S.T.M. who has recently been named the new dean of Drew Theological School.
The National Parkinson Foundation Minnesota (NFPM) has announced that David B. Wheeler ’80 M.Div. will join NPFM as executive director May 1. Wheeler, a Duluth, Minn. native, brings to NPFM a strong background in nonprofit leadership, community engagement and public service. Online, April 29.