ECF Fellows News: June 2017
Liza Anderson (2012) graduated from Yale in December, following which she was a postdoctoral fellow at Episcopal Divinity School teaching early Christianity and the classics of Christian spirituality. She has been named visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and History of Christianity at the Claremont School of Theology, as part of the Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship, which "places top recent Ph.D. graduates in theological schools for two years, where they teach and also are mentored by a senior professor and a local pastor." This summer she will take part in the Emerging Scholars Program at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton for a workshop on the societal implications of astrobiology, examining how Christian theology might respond to discoveries of extraterrestrial life. She will also participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute at Indiana University, Beyond East and West: Exchanges and Interactions across the Early Modern World (1400-1800) where she will be developing a new course on Mysticism and Spirituality in the Catholic and Protestant Reformations. Finally, she will be taking part in an intensive course in Classical Armenian, funded by Dumbarton Oaks, at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library in Collegeville, Minnesota, in the hopes of being able to translate more Armenian Christian literature into English.
Claude Barbre (1995) received the 2016-2017 Ted Rubenstein Inspired Teaching Award from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSSP), Chicago, IL. The annual award honors a faculty member who has “made a significant impact on students’ personal lives and professional development through creative teaching and passionate investment in them.” The recipient is nominated by university students, and chosen by a student and faculty committee. In addition, he was nominated by colleagues at The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), for the 2017 American Psychological Association Mid-Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families. Claude presented two papers at the 2017 International Psychohistory Association 40th Annual Conference in New York City entitled, Exploring the Intersections between History and Psychology, June 1st and 2nd at New York University. Also, he will present a paper entitled, Teaching Therapeutic Imagination: A Neglected Competency in Psychology, at the 2017 Vancouver International Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, July 27-29, Vancouver, Canada. Finally, Claude will present several papers in Europe in August 2017. He will present a paper at an international conference entitled The Uncanny in Language, Literature, and Culture, August 19, London, England. He will also present a paper entitled, Spirit in Matter and the Ground of Being: Eco-Religious Perspectives on Anthropocene Trauma and the Earth’s Subtle Body at the International Conference on Religious Studies, August 25-26, Warsaw, Poland. Claude is a Training Supervisor, and member of the Board of Directors, The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis (CCP). He is Full Professor of Clinical Psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and a psychoanalyst in private practice.
Pamela Cooper-White (1995) was a featured speaker at Grand Rounds, Mt. Sinai Hospital Center for Spirituality and Health in February, on Shared Wisdom: Use of the Self in Pastoral and Spiritual Care and Counseling. In March she co-chaired the Psychology and Religion Section of the Mid-Atlantic AAR in New Brunswick, NJ and presented a paper Multiplicity, Intersubjectivity, and Recognizing the Other: Empathy as a Bridge to Justice. Also in March she gave the “Invited Distinguished Scholar/Master Therapist” presentation on Multiplicity, Intersubjectivity, and Recognizing the Other: Empathy as a Bridge to Justice, at the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) annual conference, Lombard, IL. In April, she was the featured speaker at the Center for Earth Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, on Psychology, Religion, and the Environment: Climate Change Denial and the Unconscious. She was also a workshop presenter at the Society for Pastoral Theology annual study conference on June 16 in Dallas, TX, on Human Development and Faith: Models, Methods, and Critiques. Looking forward, Pam will be the keynote speaker, Is Forgiveness Necessary?, at the International Association for Spiritual Care 2nd annual conference on "Healing Hatred" in Jerusalem, Israel July 9. Pamela is the Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY and an assisting priest at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Kelly Brown Douglas (1983) was named Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, which will be joining Union Theological Seminary in New York City this fall. She was the opening keynote speaker at the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP) Conference February 22-25 in Washington, DC. Click here to watch a recording of the keynote. In April, she was a keynote presenter at Unholy Trinity: the Intersection of Racism, Poverty and Gun Violence, a conference sponsored by Bishops United Against Gun Violence held at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, IL. The three speakers’ presentation, "The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation,” offered perspectives on the structural problems brought about by segregation in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods, the roots of current day violence in white supremacy and anti-black ideology, and how mainline churches can overcome their history of political timidity. Prior to being appointed Dean of EDS, Kelly was professor of religion at Goucher College and Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral.
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, convened a conference in April with the United States Military Academy at West Point, entitled “Equality –more or less.” The interdisciplinary project met at Blithewood Manor at Bard and included scholars across a range of expertise as well as cadets and students. In 2017 the Biblical Archaeology Review published his essay, “Miracles in the Gospels,” as well as his obituary of Jacob Neusner. “Active Prayer in Judaism, and Jesus’ Practice” appeared in The Episcopal New Yorker 92.1 (2017) 32. He completed his series of lectures on the Herodian dynasty for the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard, as well as a series on “The Politics of Paul and Mary Magdalene” at the Reformed Church in Rhinebeck. At the invitation of Oxford University Press, he is currently finalizing his entry for Oxford Bibliographies on James, the brother of Jesus.
Nancy Frausto (2013) was one of the keynote speakers at the 2017 Missional Voices Conference held at Virginia Theological Seminary in April. Click here to watch her presentation in which she advocates for scrappy church ministry. Also in April, Nancy was called to serve as Associate Rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, CA.
Elisabeth Kincaid (2016) received a dissertation completion fellowship from the Nanovic Institute at Notre Dame for 2017-2018. In March, she was the presenter for the Episcopal Church Foundation’s lunch at the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes (CEEP) Conference in Washington, D.C. She is also a regular contributor to the Covenant blog of The Living Church. Elisabeth is a Ph.D. candidate in Moral Theology/Christian Ethics at the University of Notre Dame.
Robert MacSwain (2004) has now completed his 2016-17 sabbatical as a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School and a resident at the Center for the Study of World Religions. He will spend July at Gladstone's Library in Wales as the resident chaplain before returning to Sewanee in August. His most recent publication is “Sensus Divinitatis or Divine Hiddenness? Alvin Plantinga and J. L. Schellenberg on Knowledge of God” in Anglican Theological Review (2017): 353-62. He has also co-edited a second collection of David Brown's essays with Christopher R. Brewer: Divine Generosity and Human Creativity: Theology Through Symbol, Painting, and Architecture (Routledge, 2017). Rob is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
Thomas McCart (1988) died on May 27 in Indianapolis where he lived in retirement after serving most recently as associate rector of St. Paul's Church, Rochester, New York. A memorial service was held on June 17 at All Saints Church in Indianapolis, IN, click here to listen to the eulogies offered at his funeral. A priest, organist, and scholar of liturgy and music, Tom was an active member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and served congregations in California, Hawaii, Indiana, Tennessee, and Texas. He received an ECF Fellowship in 1988 to pursue his PhD at Vanderbilt University and was the author of Matter of Manner & Praise: The Controversial Evolution of Hymnody in the Church of England (Scarecrow Press, 1998). Tom is survived by his sister Linda McCart of Madison, Wisconsin.
This past May, Derek Minno-Bloom (2016) hosted a training at Trinity Church, Asbury Park by the New Sanctuary Movement of NYC. The Asbury Park Education Justice Collective, of which Derek is a founding member, has started to organize and train local restaurants, churches, and schools about what it means to be a sanctuary space for our undocumented community members. This summer, Food Justice at Trinity is organizing to bring Tony Campolo, author and former spiritual advisor to U.S. President Bill Clinton, to Asbury to host an intersectional conversation on the importance of Food Justice and LGBTQ rights, with the understanding that homophobia and hunger are directly related. Derek notes that 40% of youth experiencing homelessness and hunger in the U.S identify as LGBTQIA. Derek is the Social and Food Justice Director at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, NJ.
Nedgine Paul (2016) and the organization she founded, Anseye Pou Ayiti (APA), were featured in a video and op-ed article by Teach For All, the global network of organizations working to expand educational opportunity in their own countries. In the video Lead From Within, Nedgine shares why Anseye Pou Ayiti recognizes community as the unit of change, and the source of solutions - and how those who have themselves experienced the inequity need to be leading the movement to end it. Setting New Visions for Student Success, written by Wendy Kopp, the CEO of Teach For All, highlights APA's approach and actual "contextualized vision for student success", based on a hyperlocal, grassroots approach to community partnership.
Daniel Velez-Rivera (2007) was featured in “Two Languages - One Congregation,” part of the Thursdays at 2 video series produced by the Episcopal Church. The video profiles St. Gabriel's in Leesburg, VA, a Mission Enterprise Zone where Daniel is Vicar, as it grows a Spanish language congregation within an English-speaking one. Click here to watch the video, which is also available closed-captioned.
Greta Ronningen (2011) is leading two retreats this coming August and September. First, she will lead a six-day Yoga Retreat from August 1 - 6 at Mt. Calvary Monastery in Santa Barbara, CA. The retreat will be appropriate for strong beginner and intermediate students, including vigorous sessions as well as those of a more gentle, relaxing nature. September 7-10, Greta will co-lead "Into Silence," a guided contemplative silent retreat being offered by the Community of Divine Love at Mt. Calvary Monastery in Santa Barbara. Space is limited to 15 people on both retreats, click here for more information. Greta is a founding member of Community of Divine Love, an Episcopal monastery in San Gabriel, CA, and author of the recently published book, Free on the Inside: Finding God Behind Bars , an invitation to inmates to use their time of incarceration as a time to heal, transform and find spiritual rehabilitation.
Edwin van Driel (2003) has recently had many essays and research articles published. These include: “A Theology of Seminary Worship” in Worship 91, “‘Too lowly to reach God without a Mediator’: John Calvin’s Supralapsarian Eschatological Narrative” in Modern Theology and “The End of Denominationalism” in The Presbyterian Outlook. In February, he lectured at the Religious Arts Festival at Independent Presbyterian Church, AL on “Glory to God: The Story of a Hymnal” on the new Presbyterian hymnal for which he wrote the Theological Vision Statement. In June, he will give the keynote lectures at the Assembly of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA on “Rethinking Church.” Edwin is the Directors' Bicentennial Associate Professor of Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA.
Jesse Zink (2013) has been appointed Principal of the Montreal Diocesan Theological College. Prior to this appointment, Jesse was the director of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide in Cambridge, England, a member institution of the ecumenical Cambridge Theological Federation. He was also an affiliated lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity of Cambridge University. Jesse is the author of three books about theology, mission, and the global church, including “A Faith for the Future and Backpacking through the Anglican Communion: A Search for Unity.” Jesse was named an ECF Fellow in 2013 for his doctoral research at Cambridge University on the growth of the Anglican Church during Sudan’s second civil war, click here for a webinar he led on this work.