News from Alumni/ae
News items are listed in reverse chronological order, with weekly additions of news. Please click here to share your news.
Posted March 22, 2013
William N. Savage (THM'68, DMN'76) is President of WaterAfrica. WaterAfrica's fundraising supports World Vision's Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program in Zambia. (ZWASH)
Patricia Cox Miller (AM'72, PHD'79) is now Professor Emerita of Syracuse University.
Mary White, OSB (AM'00) is Advisor to the Prioress at St. Paul's Monastery in St. Paul, MN. She is a former Director of the Benedictine Center and of the Benedictine Meditation Center. She will be continuing her ministry outreach with the poor and marginalized.
Daniel Thomas Moser (AM'72) is Director of Worship and Spiritual Life at the Bay View Association in Quakertown, PA.
Tracie B. Guy-Decker (AM'02) is Marketing and Communications Director at the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, Virginia.
Amanda E. Guthrie (MDV'12) is Minister of Congregational Development & Spiritual Formation at the Hyde Park Union Church and also Adoption Chaplain at the University of Chicago Hospital.
Sarah Clymer (AM'07) is the U.S. Vice Consul at the United States Embassy in Chile.
Posted March 1, 2013
Loren Lybarger (PHD'02) is now Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and World Religions at Ohio University.
Charles Orville Onstott III (AM'93) is CTO Enterprise and Mission IT at Science Applications International Corporation.
Robert G. Moore III (AM'99) is Asst. Vice President, Advancement Systems at the University of Richmond.
Nicole E. Ream-Sotomayor (AM'08) is Foreign Languages Cataloging Specialist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Karen E. Knutson (THM'71, DMN'72) is pastor at St. Peter and St. Paul Lutheran Church.
Arthur E. Puotinen (AM'69, PHD'73) is now Head Pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church.
Jason Frederick Hellberg (AM'96) is Manager, Retail Testing & Advanced Analytics for Starbucks Corporation.
Posted February 22, 2013
Madison McClendon (MDV'12) is now a Development Associate for the University of Chicago.
Posted February 11, 2013
Katherine Elizabeth Hines-Shah (MDV'01) is the new pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hinsdale, IL.
Michael Karunas (MDV'98) is the Senior Pastor at Central Christian Church in Decatur, IL.
Kristin E. Boyce (AM'94, PHD'10 HUM) is now an ACLS New Faculty Fellow in the Humanities Center at Johns Hopkins University.
Brian Collins (AM'03, PHD'10) will become the Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy at Ohio University this August.
Matthew Petrusek (current PHD candidate) has accepted a position of Assistant Professor in Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA beginning in August.
Anthony Cerulli (PHD'07) has recently published Somatic Lessons (SUNY Press, November 2012). Cerulli is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Asian Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Ellen Davina Haskell (AM'99, PHD,05) has recently published Suckling at My Mother’s Breasts: The Image of a Nursing God in Jewish Mysticism (SUNY Press, November 2012). Haskell is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
We are saddened to report that the Rev. Dr. Donald L. Berry (DB'50), died on January 15, at home in Hamilton NY. He was the Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of Philosophy and Religion, emeritus, at Colgate University and an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Central New York. A requiem mass was celebrated at St. Thomas' Church in Hamilton on January 25, by Bishop Gladstone Adams with Colgate alumnus and former trustee the Rev. Dr. Roger Ferlo preaching. The full obituary is here. To receive a copy of Dr. Ferlo's sermon, contact Wanda Warren Berry, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, emerita, at Colgate (wberry@colgate.edu).
Posted January 29, 2012
T.L. Brink (AM'74, PHD'78) is still professor of psychology at Crafton Hills College. He recently co-authored the 7th edition of the world religions textbook, Ways to the Center (Cengage, 2013).
Rebecca Chopp (PHD'83) became President of Swarthmore College in August 2012.
John R. Van Eenwyk (PHD'81) has recently published Clinical Chaos: The Strange Attractors of Childhood Trauma (2013, Toronto, Inner City Books). The book combines chaos theory and Jungian psychology to explore the psychodynamics of unconscious adaptation. Case studies illustrate how to identify and to integrate those childhood adaptations that spontaneously deploy in situations that resemble the original trauma. Bringing such unconscious contents into consciousness is only half of the story, however. Consciousness must also learn how to negotiate the chartless territory of the unconscious. The book describes how to do just that.
Bill Wassner (AM'82, DMN'85) is now Senior Pastor at Port Orange United Church of Christ, in Port Orange, Florida.
Blake Wentworth (AM'98, PHD'11) is Assistant Professor in the Dept. of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.
Marcia Bunge (AM'79, PHD'86) has been named the Bernhardson Distinguished Endowed Chair in Lutheran Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Posted January 15, 2013
Emilie Townes (AM'79, DMN'82) has been named the new Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, starting in July 2013. An ordained American Baptist clergywoman, Townes is currently the Andrew W. Mellon professor of African-American religion and theology at Yale Divinity School. Her research focuses on Christian ethics, womanist ethics, critical social theory, and cultural theory and studies.
Michael Sohn (AM'05, PHD'12) is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, sponsored by École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) and funded by La Fondation de l'Oratoire du Louvre and l'Institut protestant de théologie (IPT), at Le Fonds Ricoeur in Paris, France, 2012-13.
Adrienne Martin (MDV'12) is now Children's Ministry Coordinator at St. John's Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC.
Armand H. Matheny Antommaria (PHD'00) is now Lee Ault Carter Chair in Pediatric Ethics & Director of the Cincinnati Child Health Ethics Center at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Posted December 21, 2012
Joanne Robinson (PHD'96) is the 2012 recipient of the highest teaching honor bestowed by UNC Charlotte, the Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence. Robinson is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at UNC Charlotte. More here.
Ross Aden (THM'71, DMN'72) recently published Religion Today: A Critical Thinking Approach to Religious Studies (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013). This textbook introduces the basic concepts and methods of the study of religion by engaging its readers in problem solving on current issues of religion. The book is the result of over ten years of teaching Religious Studies in the Philosophy Department of Rock Valley College, Rockford, IL as Associate Professor. Aden taught at Carthage College, Kenosha, WI and other colleges and served parishes in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. He retired from Rock Valley College in 2011 and continues to serve as priest of Christ the Savior Orthodox Church, Rockford.
J. Albert Harrill (MA'89, PHD'93) has published a new book, Paul the Apostle: His Life and Legacy in Their Roman Context (Cambridge University Press, 2012), a controversial antibiography of the apostle. Harrill is Professor in the Department of Classics at Ohio State University.
Barkley Thompson (AM'98) has accepted the call to be the ninth dean and 20th rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston in the Diocese of Texas. Thompson has served as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Va., since 2007. He will assume his new role in February of next year. More here.
Posted October 15, 2012
Craig Barnes (PHD'92) has been named the President of Princeton Theological Seminary as well as as professor of pastoral ministry, effective January 1, 2013. The full announcement can be seen here.
Laura Jennison Reed (MDV'12) was ordained August 12 at North Hill Christian Church, Spokane, Washington. She is now serving as Assistant to the Dean at the Disciples Divinity House. More here.
John Cheadle Rich (MDV'04) graduated in April from the University of Southern Indiana with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In June, he passed the state boards to become a Registered Nurse and is working as a Nurse Resident at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Indiana. He and wife Amy Rich continue to serve as Co-Executive Directors of Patchwork Central, a nonprofit ministry operating near downtown Evansville. See www.patchwork.org or the Patchwork Central blog.
Posted October 8, 2012
Aristotle Papanikolaou (PHD'98) recently published The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy (University of Notre Dame Press, 2012). He is Professor of Theology and
Co-Founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University.
Jo Preuninger Forrest (MDV'10) is now the Associate Minister for Congregational Care at Kenilworth Union Church in Kenilworth, IL. She will be ordained to the Presbyterian ministry on December 2nd.
On September 9 Brittany Barber (MDV'99, AM'99 SSA) was installed as the minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Andrew Packman (MDV'12) was ordained a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on August 19 at First Christian Church, Centralia, Illinois. Michael Karunas (MDV'98), Senior Minister of Central Christian Church, Decatur, Illinois, preached. Packman is a PHD student in the Divinity School.
Brent Reynolds (MDV'00) has been called to be Director of the Florida Christian Center, Jacksonville, Florida, a ministry site of the National Benevolent Association.
Posted July 30, 2012
Rev. Homer Bain (PHD'71) received an honorary doctorate in pastoral leadership from Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas on May 13, 2011. Rev. Bain is the emeritus Director of Education for the Ecumenical Center for Religion and Health in San Antonio, and served as pastor of several United Methodist churches. He has published in the area of pastoral counseling and family therapy and has been an adjunct faculty member at OST. He founded the Metropolitan Congregational Alliance in San Antonio, now MetroAlliance.
Kelly Hayes (AM'96, PHD'04) published Holy Harlots: Femininity, Sexuality, and Black Magic in Brazil (University of California Press) in 2011; the book includes a DVD of her documentary film Slaves of the Saints. In fall 2012, she will be a visiting professor at the Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro in conjunction with a Fulbright grant for U.S. scholars. As part of her Fulbright project, she will be researching the Valley of the Dawn, a new Brazilian religion founded in 1968.
Joel S. Kaminsky (MA'84, HD'03), Professor in the Department of Religion at Smith College, is the coauthor (with Joel N. Lohr) of the recently published The Torah: A Beginner’s Guide (Oneworld Publications, 2011). The book examines the Torah through Jewish, Christian, and modern critical viewpoints. The authors explore the key debates surrounding how the two religions share this common scripture, while simultaneously illustrating the importance of the Torah in western jurisprudence, ethics, and contemporary conceptions of the family, morality, and politics.
Rev. Jesse Knox, III (MDV'89) was installed as the senior minister of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Congregational United Church of Christ, in Chicago on June 12, 2011.
Robert N. McCauley (MA'75), Director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture and William Rand Kenan Jr. University Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, has recently published Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not (Oxford University Press, 2011). The book offers an examination and comparison of the cognitive foundations of religion and science, exploring in its final chapter seven surprising consequences, including the propositions that theological incorrectness is inevitable and that some human beings have minds for which religion inescapably proves baffling.
Aristotle Papanikolaou (PHD'98) was promoted to full professor in the Department of Theology at Fordham University. In February 2012, he received the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Humanities. He was also recently awarded a Sabbatical Grant for Researchers from the Louisville Institute for his current project: The Ascetics of War: The Undoing and Redoing of Virtue.
Stephen G. Post (PHD'83) is Professor of Preventive Medicine, Chair of the Division of Medicine in Society, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. His recent book, The Hidden Gifts of Helping (Jossey-Bass, 2011), was listed on the nonfiction bestseller list of the Wall Street Journal in May 2011. Post remains President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, and a Trustee of the John Templeton Foundation.
Katherine Raley (MDV'12, AM'12 SSA) was ordained June 23 at First Christian Church, Columbia, South Carolina. She has been called to serve as Associate Minister of First Christian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Chuck Blaisdell (AM'77) is the Senior Minister.
Stephen Rowe (THM'69, AM'70, PHD'74), Professor of Philosophy and Liberal Studies at Grand Valley State University, has published Overcoming America/America Overcoming: Can We Survive Modernity? (Lexington Books, 2011). The book shows how the current problems plaguing America are symptomatic of the fact that America has been overtaken by the modern values that she exported to the rest of the world.
Rebecca Schorsch (PHD'03) together with her husband, received the Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky Award for Distinguished Alumni from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) on May 24, 2011. The award honors graduates whose professional and personal achievements reflect the values of JTS and celebrate the scholarship exemplified by the late Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky.
Emilie M. Townes (MA'79, DMN'82), Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School, has joined The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) Board of Trustees. Five accomplished leaders in theological education, ministry and scholarship have become new trustees, elected by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS). FTE is a national, ecumenical organization dedicated to supporting a new generation of diverse young Christian leaders who renew the church and change the world through vocations in pastoral ministry and theological scholarship.
Ian J. McCrae (BD'50) died on May 12, 2011, at Belton Research Hospital in the greater Kansas City area. A memorial service was held on Monday, May 16, at Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas. He is survived by Cynthia McCrae, his wife of sixty years, and their five children, plus grandchildren, extended family, and many dear friends. A native of Canada who earned his A.B. from the University of Toronto, Ian James McCrae received his B.D. in 1950 from the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar. In Chicago, he met Cynthia Rice, who was a student at Chicago Theological Seminary. They married and had five children. He received his S.T.M. from Yale Divinity School in 1958; in 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Christian Theological Seminary. In 2007, he was given the Distinguished Alumnus Award by Disciples Divinity House, which commended him “for a lifetime of service across the breadth of the church as advocate, educator, minister, and colleague, as provoker of questions and change, and as lover of God, neighbors, and strangers” and for his “keen mind, clear vision, and sharp wit and for vistas of mercy and justice opened because of them; for mentoring persons in ministry, amidst the priesthood of all believers; and for a life of faith that melds and models conviction, integrity, honesty, and humility.” An educator, ethicist, and change agent, McCrae directed denominational efforts in human rights, economic justice, and global awareness for nearly thirty years, and also served in campus ministry and as a seminary professor. More recently, he was the Volunteer Assisting Minister at Saint Andrew Christian Church, where among other things, he had an important mentoring role with a new generation of Disciples House Scholars.
Posted July 16, 2012
John Carlson (AM'99, PHD'05) and Jonathan Ebel (AM'99, PHD'04) have published From Jeremiad to Jihad: Religion, Violence, and America which explores the critical, historical, and normative connections between religion and violence within the American context. With a team of scholars, they have aimed to write a nuanced, multi-disciplinary treatment of the religious and violent intersections in American history. Carlson is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Associate Director, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, at Arizona State University and Ebel is Asst. Professor of American Religion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Werner Jeanrond (PHD'84) is the new Master of St Benet's Hall in Oxford. This is a smaller College owned by a Benedictine Trust associated with Ampleforth Abbey. Jeanrond shall be the first lay master ever in Oxford in any of the religiously owned colleges. The College teaches humanities and social science subjects, and Jeanrond is charged to develop its postgraduate activities.
Jessica DeCou (PHD'12) will be Visiting Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary beginning this August.
Nancy D. Arnison (PHD'12) is Executive Director of the Theological Book Network, based in Grand Rapids, MI.
Carrie Dohe (PHD'12) has moved to Germany and is self-employed.
Anne Mocko (PHD'12) will be Assistant Professor of Asian Religions at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.
Santiago Pinon, Jr. (PHD'12) is Assistant Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University.
Laura Reed (MDV'12) is now Assistant to the Dean of Disciples Divinity House.
Ellie Krasne (AM'12) is an Associate at Grosvenor Capital Management, L.P. in Chicago, IL.
Posted June 21, 2012
Jeff B. Pool (PHD'94) has recently received an appointment to The Eli Lilly Chair of Religion and Culture at Berea College in Kentucky. He also has recently begun a term of service as the chair of the Religion Department. From 2003 to 2012, he served at Berea College in a combined teaching and administrative position as Professor of Religion and Director of the office of religious life. For a portion of his most recent sabbatical leave, during the spring of 2011, he taught a graduate seminar as Guest Professor and Research Scholar at Univerzita Karlova (Charles University), in Prague, The Czech Republic. His most recent publications include the two following studies: “Toward a Conspiracy of Doves: Seeking Common Cause with the New Atheism,” Journal for the Liberal Arts and Sciences 15 (Spring 2011): 141–65; and “Toward Spirituality of Post-Christian Disciples of Jesus,” Communio Viatorum 53 (2011): 3–48. His recent books include two volumes of a three-volume study on divine suffering in Christian thought: God’s Wounds: Hermeneutic of the Christian Symbol of Divine Suffering, vol. 1, Divine Vulnerability and Creation, and God’s Wounds: Hermeneutic of the Christian Symbol of Divine Suffering, vol. 2, Evil and Divine Suffering, Princeton Theological Monographs Series, series ed. K. C. Hanson, Charles M. Collier, and D. Christopher Spinks (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, An Imprint of Wipf & Stock Publishers) .
Daniel Patrick Thompson (AM'87, PHD'98) has been named the new chair of the department of religious studies at the University of Dayton. Thompson is former chair and associate professor of theology at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.
Anthony Sadek Banout (PHD'12) is Director of Development for the Gamaliel Foundation.
Mun'im Sirry (PHD'12) is a Research Associate Fellow at the University of Notre Dame.
Helena Sofia Lenneke Post (AMRS'12) is a researcher at VU Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Rachel Diane Graaf Leslie (AMRS'12) will work as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department.
Ryan Stelzer (AM'12) will be a Management Analyst in the Office of the Chairman for the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Posted May 18, 2012
Kenneth Atkinson (MDV'94) is the author of Queen Salome: Jerusalem's Warrior Monarch of the First Century B.C.E. (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012). This is the first biography of Queen Salome Alexandra (ca. 141 b.c.e.–67 b.c.e.), the sole legitimate female monarch of ancient Palestine. It recounts the events of her tumultuous life as well as women in the Dead Sea Scrolls and related texts. Mr. Atkinson is currently Associate Professor of History at the University of Northern Iowa.
On June 1, April Lewton (MDV'07) will become the Vice President of Development and Marketing for the National Benevolent Association (NBA), a general ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Founded in the 1880s, the NBA "creates communities of compassion and care" through the provision of health and social services. Prior to joining the NBA this June, Lewton worked with Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS), a United Church of Christ related institution of theological and ministerial learning, to build a comprehensive annual giving program.
Garry Sparks (MDV'04, PHD'11 has accepted a tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor of Humanities in Global Christian Studies at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. His research and teaching interests focus on an ethnographic and ethnohistorical understanding of theological production in the Americas, specifically among indigenous peoples. His areas include modern Christian theologies, history of religions, Native American religious movements, Hispano-Catholic missions, and the Highland Maya. This past year he has been the Visiting Assistant Professor of Humanities and Theology at Christ College, the honors college, of Valparaiso University.
Spencer Dew (AM'01, PHD'09) will join Centenary College of Louisiana as Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in the fall, a tenure-track position, and he will hold the Mattie Allen Broyles Inaugural Year Research Chair. Currently teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, he is completing a manuscript on religious understandings of writing in the work of Jack Kerouac, Norman Mailer, and James Baldwin, and he is at work on a a study of the Moorish Science Temple of America, funded in part by a research fellowship from the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. He is the author of a collection of short stories, Songs of Insurgency (Vagabond Press, 2008), Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (Another New Calligraphy, 2010), and the critical study, Learning for Revolution: The Work of Kathy Acker (San Diego State University Press, 2011). His first novel, Maintain, is forthcoming from Ampersand Books in fall 2012. A regular reviewer for Rain Taxi Review of Books, and a Staff Book Reviewer for decomP magazine, his fiction and essays have appeared in scores of publications, including art reviews in Newcity Chicago and Chicago Artists' News, and essays in Religion Dispatches and Sightings.
Posted April 27, 2012
Congratulations to Bob Benne (AM'63, PHD'70) who is retiring as director of the Center for Religion & Society at Roanoke College. The Center will be named in his honor. Benne, a prominent figure in Lutheran ethics and social thought, has authored over 200 articles and ten books, most dealing with Christianity and society. At Roanoke, Benne was the Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion and chairman of the department of religion and philosophy for 18 years. See more here.
Rebecca Raphael (PHD'97) has been named NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor at Texas State for 2012-2015, with a project focused on religious studies in the humanities, in the context of public universities. See more here.
Paul Kollman (PHD'01), associate professor of theology at Notre Dame University, has been named the executive director of Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concern, effective July 1. See more here.
Alex Kindred (MDV'09) has become Pastor of First Christian Church in Muscatine, Iowa.
Jackie Posek (MDV'07) has become Assistant Director of Campus Ministry at DePaul University.
Posted April 12, 2012
With sadness, we report that Ray Greenfield(MDV'03) passed away on April 1. He was 57. Our sympathies are with his wife Helen, his three children, and four grandchildren. Ray was the pastor at the Illinois Street Christian Church in Lewistown, and at the Ipava Christian Church. He was a chaplain at Graham Hospital in Canton. He was also the former pastor at the First Christian Church in Rushville. He pursued his college education as a second career student, earning his bachelor's degree in social work from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, IL in 2000. He entered the Divinity School as a Disciples House Scholar in 2000 and commuted every week from Jacksonville. When he graduated in 2003, he considered the M.Div. degree to be half Helen's and made sure that she also had a graduation cap.
We are also saddened by the death of Jack V. Reeve (DB'45), on February 25 in Indianapolis. Jack pastored churches first in Casper, WY (1945-51), then in Greeley, CO (1951-58), before being invited to join the national staff of the Disciples of Christ. He is a former regional minister of the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin and also a former faculty member of Lexington Theological Seminary. Jack leaves a legacy of service, stewardship, and philanthropy. See more here.
Lisa Sowle Cahill (AM'73, PHD'76) will receive an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross during the College's Commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 25. Cahill is the J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology at Boston College where she has taught since 1976. She is a past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America (1992-93), and the Society of Christian Ethics (1997-98), and is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in theological ethics from the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she studied under James Gustafson. Her A.B. degree is from the University of Santa Clara. She has been a visiting professor at Georgetown and Yale universities. Her recent books include "Bioethics and the Common Good" (Marquette University Press, 2004) and "Theological Bioethics: Participation, Justice, and Change" (Thomson Gale, 2007).
Congratulations to recent graduate Jonathan Wallace (MDV'11), who will be ordained on June 10 at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
Posted March 6, 2012
Jamie Schillinger (AM'04, PHD'04) has been granted tenure at St. Olaf College, where he is Assistant Professor of Religion. His academic interests include theology and ethics in both the Christian and Islamic traditions, the philosophy of religion, and the relationship between religion and politics. His current research concerns understanding and improving Christian-Muslim relations and dialogue.
Posted February 27, 2012
Susan Henking (AM'79, PHD'88) has been named President-elect of Shimer College in Chicago, effective July 1, 2012. See the announcement here.
Posted February 20, 2012
Dennis Castillo (AM'82, PHD'90) has just published a new book: The Santa Marija Convoy: Faith and Endurance in War-Time Malta, 1940-42 (Lexington Books). He is currently Academic Dean and Professor of Church History at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, NY.
On January 4 Tristan Orozco (MDV'10) became Associate Minister of Wakonda Christian Church in Des Moines, Iowa.
Laura Hollinger (MDV'04) has become the Campus Engagement Manager with Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit with the mission of building interfaith cooperation. She moved to this position after seven years as Associate Dean of Rockefeller Chapel and as coordinator of Bond Chapel worship for the Divinity School.
Michael Karunas (MDV'98) has been named the new senior minister of Central Christian Church in Decatur, Illinois. He concluded service as the senior minister of First Christian Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on January 31, 2012.
Larry Bouchard (AM'75, PHD'84) has published Theater and Integrity: Emptying Selves in Drama, Ethics, and Religion (Northwestern University Press). He is currently Associate Professor at the University of Virginia.
Posted January 30, 2012
We were saddened to hear of the death of Reverend Myron L. Ebersole (AM'61, DB'63). Rev. Ebersole was a hospital Chaplain and Supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, Lancaster General Hospital, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1967-78, and the Penn State University Medical Center, Hershey Pennsylvania, 1978-96. He also served as a Supervisor at The Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India, in 1996. He was a member of The American Board of the Vellore Hospital 1998-2006. He was active in professional organizations, serving as President of the College of Chaplains in 1979. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the College of Chaplains in 1986. He was a member of the Board of Representatives and served on the Certification Committee of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. He also was founder of the Pennsylvania Society of Chaplains, which he served as President for a term.
Robert Denham (AM'64, PHD'72 in Humanities) has just published his 32nd book: The Northrop Frye Handbook (Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland and Co., 2012). On March 28, 2012 he will deliver the Reynolds Lectures at Emory & Henry College, in Emory, VA. Denham is Fishwick Professor of English, Emeritus, Roanoke College.
Kinndlee Shea Lund (MDV'08) will be ordained on February 4 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Pelican Rapids, MN. She has been called to serve as Associate Pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Breham, Texas and begins there later in February.Emilie M. Townes (AM'79, DMN'82) has been named to The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) Board of Trustees. Ms. Townes is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School and an ordained American Baptist clergywoman.
Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove (PHD'08) has been named Rabbinical Advisor on Interfaith Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League. Rabbi Cosgrove is Senior Rabbi at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.
Posted January 10, 2012
Anthony Cerulli (PHD'07) has won an EURIAS Fellowship, with affiliation at the Insitut d'études avancées-Paris, for 2012-2013. He has also been awarded an NEH Fellowship for 2012-2013. He is currently teaching at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and is Managing Editor, India Review.
Jeff Lehn (MDV'10) is now the new pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Cynthia Lindner participated in his ordination service there on November 27.
Eric Ziolkowski (AM'81, PHD'87) has just published a new book, The Literary Kierkegaard (Northwestern University Press). He is also one of the main editors of The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, a prospective 30-volume work published by De Gruyter in Berlin, whose third volume appeared this past fall, and whose fourth volume is scheduled to appear during the winter 2012.
With sadness, we report that Joseph Colombo (AM'78, PHD'86) passed away on January 2. A passionate and inspiring professor at the University of San Diego, Joe joined their Department of Theology and Religious Studies in 1984, and served as Department Chair from 1998-2004. He was recognized with a Steber Professorship in 2006-2007, as well as being named a University Professor in 1997-1998. His extensive service to the College and University included multiple terms on the University Senate, as well as serving on, and chairing, the CAS ARRT committee.
Posted December 22, 201
G. William Barnard (PhD '94) has just published Living Consciousness: The Metaphysical Vision of Henri Bergson, with SUNY Press.
Jon Ebel (AM'99, PHD'04) was awarded tenure at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He was also awarded the Helen Corley Petit prize for the best tenure dossier in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Dennis Duling (AM'67, PHD'70) just published A Marginal Scribe. Studies in the Gospel of Matthew in Social-Scientific Perspective, with Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock).
Posted December 7, 2011
W. Clark Gilpin (AM'72, PHD'74) and Catherine Brekus have published American Christianities: A History of Dominance and Diversity, with University of North Carolina Press. Clark Gilpin is the Margaret E. Burton Professor Emeritus of the history of Christianity and Catherine Brekus is associate professor of the history of Christianity.
Dan McKanan (PhD'98) has just published Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition, with Beacon Press.
Anne Ford (AM'99) has published Peaceful Places: Chicago. This guide includes 119 tranquil sites in the Chicago area where one can escape the stress of the big city.
Posted November 22, 2011
T.L. Brink (PHD'78) is youtube's "headlessprofessor" where he has uploaded nearly 300 videos covering topics in psychology, economics, logic, statistics, and Mexican politics as well as religious studies. He has videos on theodicy, the ontological argument, teleological argument, cosmological argument, Calvin, and religious roles. These videos are particularly useful in his online lower division courses.
Amy Ziettlow (MDV'99) and Elizabeth Marquardt (MDV'99) have received a three-year grant from the Lilly Endowment to investigate aging, death, and dying in an era of high family fragmentation. They plan to write a trade book. Each are currently blogging at Huffington Post and FamilyScholars.org.
Posted November 1, 2011
Michael Brown (MDV'94, PHD'98) recently left his position at Emory (associate professor of New Testament and Christian Origins) for the position of associate dean of the College and director of the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies at Wabash College. He began his new position on September 1, 2011.
Anthony R. Picarello, Jr. (AM'92), general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has been named associate general secretary for policy and advocacy of the USCCB. Picarello has served as general counsel for the USCCB since 2007 and will retain that title.
Posted October 21, 2011
We were saddened to hear of the death of the Reverend J. Dean Brackley, S.J. (PHD'80). For most of the 1980s Brackley worked as an educator, teaching at Fordham University, and as a community organizer in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He also led a church-sponsored leadership program in the South Bronx. After graduates of the School of the Americas killed six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in 1989 at the University of Central America in San Salvador, Brackley volunteered to take the place of one of the martyred Jesuits. He joined the staff of the Universidad Centroamericana in 1990 and administered the university’s School for Religious Education and assisted in schools for pastoral formation sponsored by the UCA. He was the author of The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times: New Perspectives on the Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola (Crossroad, 2004) and of numerous articles in America, Revista Latinoamericana de Teología, and Grail. Beyond his academic responsibilities, Brackley did pastoral work in a poor urban community in San Salvador. He described life in El Salvador as, “a mix of economic, political, generational, moral and religious crosses and resurrections.” Lecturing extensively in the USA and Europe, Brackley did much to keep the memory of the recent martyrs of El Salvador alive and to continue their struggle for social justice. See the New York Times article here.
Rebecca Anderson (MDV'10) has been called as Associate Minister of Glencoe Union Church, just north of Chicago. She has been serving at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church in Chicago.
On August 1, Brittany Barber (MDV'99) began serving as Interim Minister of University Place Christian Church in Champaign, Illinois.
Spencer Dew (AM'01, PHD'09) is serving as a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. This summer he received a grant from the Black Metropolis Research Consortium for archival research on the Moorish Science Temple.
Beau Underwood (MDV'10) has joined the pastoral team of National City Christian Church in Washington, DC, part-time. As assistant pastor, he will lead new member classes, plan special worship services, and serve as National City's clergy representatative to the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN). He continues full-time as the Partnership and Outreach Coordinator for Faith in Public Life.
Ben Varnum (MDV'10) has been named Assistant Rector of St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Overland Park, Kansas, beginning in mid-October. He will be ordained by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago on November 1, 6:00 pm, at St. Chrysostom Episcopal Church in Chicago.
Posted September 28, 2011
Dan Overmyer (AM'66, PHD'71) has several recent publications: Local Religion in North China in the Twentieth Century:The Structure and Organization of Community Rituals and Beliefs, By Daniel L. Overmyer, Leiden, Brill, 2009; (Co-edited with Larry DeVries and Don Baker) Asian Religions in British Columbia, UBC Press, 2010; (Festschrift), The People and the Dao: New Studies in Chinese Religions in Honour of Daniel L. Overmyer, Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LX, Sankt Augustin, Institut Monumenta Serica, 2009. He has retired from teaching and research, and is now a happy grandfather of five and President of Nature Vancouver (The Vancouver Natural History Society) .
Posted September 13, 2011
Anne E. Patrick (AM'76, PHD'82) retired from Carleton College as William H. Laird Professor of Religion and the Liberal Arts, emerita, in 2009 and moved back to Silver Spring, Maryland. She has recently published Women, Conscience, and the Creative Process (Paulist, 2011), and she is now at work on another volume in Catholic feminist ethics.
Franklin Sherman (PHD'61) has published Bridges: Documents of the Christian-Jewish Dialogue. Volume 1: The Road to Reconciliation, 1945-1985 (Paulist Press, 2011). Volume 2 (forthcoming) will bring the documentation down to the present. After many years on the faculty of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Frank became Founding Director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding at Muhlenberg College, his alma mater. In 2010, he received the third annual Shevet Achim Award from the Council of Centers on Christian-Jewish Relations for outstanding contributions in the field.
John Weaver (AM'98) was recently appointed Dean of Library Services and Educational Technology at Abilene Christian University. He previously served as Director of The Burke Theological Library at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Also, he was elected as President of the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) this year.
Anne K. Knafl (AM'02, PHD'11) is Visiting Instructor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and also Adjunct Faculty at Spertus College in Chicago.
Heather Miller Rubens (PHD'11) was named the Roman Catholic Scholar at the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, MD.
Daniel Shin (PHD'11) will be a Post Doctoral Fellow at Emory University.
Emy Cardoza (MDV'10) has accepted the position of Coordinator for DePaul University's Office of Diversity Education.
Yue Zhang (AM'11) will be an Associate at KMPG in Dallas, TX.
Devin P. O'Rourke (AM'11) is the Assistant Director of Graduate Student Affairs at the University of Chicago.
Posted August 24, 2011
Joel Harter (PHD'08) just published his first book -- Coleridge's Philosophy of Faith: Symbol, Allegory, and Hermeneutics. He is currently the Lilly Pastoral Resident at Hyde Park Union Church and an adjunct instructor of philosophy at Catholic Theological Union.
Posted August 4, 2011
David Peter Lawrence (AM'82, PHD'92), Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at North Dakota University, has been selected for a Fulbright research grant to India during the 2011-2012 academic year for a project contributing to intercultural and comparative philosophy and South Asian studies. Lawrence will study in India under the project "Translations and Studies of Monistic Saiva Philosophy." He will spend the year in the city of Lucknow, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and will also conduct research in other cities such as Varanasi and Kolkata.
Posted July 28, 2011
On July 1, Amy Limpitlaw (AM'90, PhD'00) began her new position as the new Head Librarian for the School of Theology. Amy was recently the Research & Electronic Services Librarian for the Yale University Divinity Library, and she served before that as Associate Director of Vanderbilt University’s Divinity Library, where she had earlier served as Public Services Librarian.
Posted July 21, 2011
Steven McFarland (AM'03) has served as Vice President for University Communications at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois, since late 2010. Earlier, he led communications efforts at Harvard Divinity School and the national domestic hunger-relief organization Feeding America.
Jennifer Kottler (MDiv'03) became the Associate Pastor of Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City on July 1. She previously served as Director of Policy and Advocacy at Sojourners.
Posted June 27, 2011
The Rev. Elyse Nelson Winger (MDiv'99) has been appointed the new University chaplain of Illinois Wesleyan University. “The IWU community will be well served by Chaplain Nelson Winger’s strong background and experience, as well as her proven commitment to diversity and social justice,” said Kathy Cavins-Tull, IWU vice president for student affairs and dean of students. See the full news announcement at http://www.iwu.edu/CurrentNews/newsreleases11/news_Chaplain_00611.shtml
Nelson Tebbe (PhD'06) is Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. He writes about religious freedom and general constitutional law and theory. He is Chair of the Law and Religion Section of the American Association of Law Schools, co-organizer of the Brooklyn Legal Theory Colloquium and the Annual Law and Religion Roundtable. His most recent article, on the constitutional status of nonbelievers, will be published in the September 2011 issue of the Virginia Law Review.
Posted June 20, 2011
Rev. Dr. Matthew Myer Boulton (PHD'03) has been named the Christian Theological Seminary’s sixth president. Boulton is relocating to Indianapolis from Cambridge, Massachusetts where he has served as Associate Professor of Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) since 2007. He has taught a broad range of courses on Christian theology, preaching, and history, including courses that put social justice work in theological perspective. His teaching and research have explored the ways in which Christian life is shaped through worship and music. See the full CTS announcement at http://cts.informz.net/CTS/archives/archive_1579596.html
Philip Harrold (PHD'01), Associate Professor of Church History at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, has recently co-edited (with D. H. Williams) and published, The Great Tradition--A Great Labor: Studies in Ancient-Future Faith (Cascade Press, 2011). The volume includes essays by D. H. Williams, Tony Clark, Edith Humphrey, Simon Chan, D. Stephen Long, George Sumner, and Dominic Erdozain. While the focus is on contemporary Anglicanism, the wider search among evangelicals for "deep church" (C. S. Lewis) is described from a multi-disciplinary perspective.
Joe Blosser (PHD'11) has been named Asst. Professor of Religion and Philosophy, and Director of Service-Learning at High Point University in High Point, NC.
Laura Desmond (PHD'11) teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY.
Cooper Harriss (PHD'11) will be Visiting Assistant Professor of Race and Religion at Virginia Tech, Dept. of Religion and Culture, in Blacksburg, VA.
Garry Sparks (PHD'11) will be Visiting Assistant Professor of the Humanities and Theology at Christ College, Valparaiso University, in Valparaiso, IN.
Sandra Sullivan-Dunbar (PHD'10) is Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago.
Dov Weiss (PHD'11) will be Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Mark Franzen (MA'10) is the Program Coordinator for Lumen Christi Institute in Chicago.
Liv Gibbons (MDV'11) will be ordained July 17 at First Christian Church, Eugene, Oregon. In August, she will become the Minister in Residence at Central Christian Church, Lexington, KY.
Julia Hogren (MA'11) will be an Editorial Assistant at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago.
Jennifer Jaszewski(MA'11)will teach Secondary Math for Teach for America in Phoenix, Arizona.
Don Messner (MDV'11) will be Assistant Minister for Membership Development at First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY.
Tristan Orozco(MDV'10)is Associate Minister atPlymouth Congregational Church (UCC) in Des Moines, IA.
George Sanchez (MA'11) will teach in the English Department of Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, IL.
Vijay Shah (MA'11) teaches Science at CICS Ralph Ellison High School in Chicago.
Andria Skornik (MDV'11) will be a CPE Chaplain Resident at Resurrection Healthcare CPE Residency in Chicago, IL.
Annette Thornburg (MDV'11) will be a Pastoral Resident at the Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, TX.
Posted May 20, 2011
Dr. Thomas F. Freeman (PhD'48) was honored on March 27 for sixty years of service as Pastor of Mt. Horem Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Dr. Freeman, the Distinguished Professor of Forensics at Texas Southern University, was also honored, in 2009, for sixty years of service to TSU, and especially commended for his work with their debate team. TSU has established the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College, in his honor.
Anthony C. Yu (PhD'69) writes with news of Sueo Oshima (AM'65, PHD'70): Oshima studied with all the major theologians of Swift Hall in the sixties and finished a dissertation on Karl Barth and Heidegger, with Professor Joseph Haroutunian. When he wrote on the connection between the Swiss theologian who visited Chicago in 1962 and the German philosopher, most scholars here and abroad thought he was a bit crazy, but time has more than vindicated his approach. During his teaching career of nearly four decades back in his home country, he published four books (a revised and translated version of his Div Sch dissertation, and monographic studies of Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and Paul Ricoeur in Japanese). In Japan, he is a celebrated authority on Barth and Tillich.
Posted May 5, 2011
The Rev. John M. Buchanan (BD'63) will receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from CTS and deliver the commencement address on May 14.
Kelly Hayes (PHD'04) turned her dissertation on Afro-Brazilian religious rituals into a documentary film, Slaves of the Saints.
Kurt Elling keeps it bittersweet on his new album, "The Gate".
Erin Bouman (MDV'09) was ordained at the Faith Lutheran Church (ECLA) in Homewood, Illinois, last November. With her in the photo is The Reverend Dr. Karen E. Knutson (THM'71, DMN'72), the first woman in the LCA (Lutheran Church in America) ordained to a regular parish position.
Posted April 27, 2011
The Rev. Richard Lawrence (DB'62) was awarded the Purpose Prize in 2010 for applying his skills as an organizer to increase affordable housing options in Southern California and opportunities for citizen engagement nationally. As the volunteer co-chairman of the Affordable Housing Coalition the San Diego County, he helped to organize a broad-based alliance of labor, faith-based and community groups called ACCORD, or A Community Coalition Organized for Responsible Development. With ACCORD, Lawrence helped secure a $30 million agreement from real estate investment firm JMI Realty to create 136 units of housing for families earning between $18,000 and $36,000 per year. The units opened in 2009. Among Lawrence’s other successes, he protected San Diego area renters from arbitrary eviction from an SRO hotel and helped advocate for housing-related city ordinances, including one that requires that 10 percent of all new housing be affordable. Now Lawrence is focused on developing “community action think tanks” to engage diverse groups of citizens in exploring pressing issues, including housing and health care.
Grafton M. Thomas (DB'48) reports: “Briefly, after a short and happy career in teaching and business, I enrolled at U.of C. for ministry, in 1945. Now 95, my accomplishments beyond the usual: Ahead of the times, I was the major founder of four Illinois civil rights organizations, removing northern Jim Crow, beginning in 1943 when M.L. King, Jr. was in 8th grade. This included organizing a successful boycott of employers in 1959, in the southern-culture city of Alton, IL., James E. Ray's home, nearly causing a riot. Lost my pastorate, but worth the fun! In 1955, led movement to route a county crime syndicate and corrupt politicians in northern IL. Published my bio: "Confessions of a Maverick Minister" four years ago. Prof. Vic Obenhaus inspired me .... Am now a widower, but much involved in two forum groups, each with sixteen educated retired men, I founded in 2000, so I enjoy a weekly discussion on many issues. Still active in walking and golf."
Rev. Michael R. Swartzentruber (MDV'10) hasaccepted a call to First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Richmond, Kentucky , where he will serve as the Associate Minister.
Abby Zang Hoffman (MDV'06, AM'06 SSA) moved to the suburbs of Rochester, NY (Fairport) in September and now serves as Senior Pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church.
Posted April 20, 2011
Elizabeth Marquardt and Amy Ziettlow (both MDV '99) are each blogging at FamilyScholars.org and HuffingtonPost.com on themes including families, death and dying, and spirituality. They welcome your comments.
Larry Rosser (THM'69, DMN'76) is serving as Executive Director of Kimoyo-Lamboya -- a Ghanaian NGO that was formed to respond to the invitation from the Chief and Elders of Lamboya Tribe in Ghana's Upper East Region to use their gift of 160 acres to build a West African Hospital & Medical School, K-12 school, conference center and guest house, microfinance administration and training center, Internet Cafe as well as agricultural/animal husbandry demo programs.
Mary Krawczyk (MDV'92, AM'92 SSA) is the Director of Family Services for Friendly House, an agency doing immigration, child welfare, counseling and education in Phoenix, AZ. See FriendlyHouse.org
Jim Bundy (DMN'69, AM'71, PHD'79) recently retired after 42 years in the ministry with the United Church of Christ, the last ten of which were at Sojourners U.C.C. in Charlottesville, VA. In connection with his retirement, the church published a collection of his sermons from his time at Sojourners entitled Words Along the Way: Sermons for Sojourners (Charlottesville, Sojourners United Church of Christ, 2010).
Posted March 28, 2011
A Disciples minister, G. E. Ryan Gilbert (MDV'08) had his sermon, "Son of a Zealous God," published in A Beautiful Thing: Sermons from the Inaugural Festival of Young Preachers, ed. Lee Huckleberry (Chalice Press, 2010). He recently moderated the Transylvania Presbytery's Calvin Retreat and serves on a monthly preaching rotation for two area Presbyterian churches. In his previous position, he served as the Associate Pastor for Youth at the First Presbyterian Church of Prestonsburg, Kentucky.
This May, Jill Raitt (AM'67, PHD'70) concludes a three-year term (2008-20011) as The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Endowed Chair in Catholic Thought at Fontbonne College in St. Louis, MO. During the academic year 2011-2012, she will be a visiting professor in the Department of Theological Studies at St. Louis University.
Posted March 18, 2011
William J. Hynes (AM'69, PHD'76) was inaugurated President of Holy Names University in Oakland, CA on March 16, 2011.
Posted March 9, 2011
Daniel Cooperrider (AB'07, MDV'10) has been called to the position of Pastoral Resident at Wellesley Congregational Church in Wellesley, MA., beginning in August, 2011.
Julian DeShazier (MDV'10) will be installed as pastor of University Church, Chicago IL, on April 10, 2011.
Amy Lignitz Harken (MDV'03) has accepted a call to become Pastor of Mattapoisett (Massachusetts) Congregational Church (UCC). This move comes after five years' serving as Senior Minister at First Christian Church (DOC) in Independence, Mo.
Dan Kuckuck (MDV'10) has been selected for the pastoral residency program at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, IA.Beau Underwood (MDV'10, MPP'10) has accepted a position with Faith In Public Life in Washington, DC (www.faithinpubliclife.org) to serve as the organization's Partnership and Outreach Coordinator. DennisCastillo
