ECF Fellows News: September 2017
Jennifer Adams-Massmann (2017), a doctoral candidate in American church history at the University of Heidelberg but currently living in Cambridge, England, was involved in ecumenical and research activities in the past quarter. In July she participated in the fifth meeting of the Anglican-Old Catholic International Coordinating Council representing the Episcopal Church in Europe at the working group’s meeting this year in Bonn, Germany. In September Jennifer presented her academic research at two conferences in the UK, one on women’s history and one on early modern religion. As part of the Women’s History Network Conference on “Women in the Wider World” at the University of Birmingham (1-2 Sept 2017), she gave a paper entitled Pilgrims of the Heart: Moravian Women Missionaries in the Early Modern Atlantic World. She also presented a paper entitled Journeying into the Wounded Body of Christ: Early Moravian Women Reconstruct the Self, 1740 – 1760 at a conference on spiritual journeys and sacred voyages in the early modern period at DeMontfort University in Leicster, UK (Sept 14). A book collection based on the papers presented is being planned to which Jennifer hopes to contribute. In November, she has been invited to present and discuss her research in-depth at the World Christianities Senior Seminar in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, entitled “‘I felt a Power from his Wounds and Blood': American Indian Women and Female Missionaries in early Moravian Missions in British North America.” In the winter, in addition to writing her dissertation and assisting in local parishes, she will also be teaching. She has been invited back to teach a live online “Introduction to Church History” course in Lent Term 2018 with the Eastern Region Ministry Course, which is part of the Cambridge Theological Federation, which she also taught last year to ordinands in the Church of England.
Liza Anderson (2010), Elisabeth Kincaid (2016), and Christopher Wells (2005) will be among the presenters at “Anglo-Catholicism: Uncovering Roots”, November 15-16 at Church of the Advent in Boston, MA. This brief conference, on the eve of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR), will delve into our broad tradition in a bid to remember and retrieve the best of the past for a faithful future. Click here for more information and to register.
Claude Barbre (1995) presented on three panels at the International Conference on Religious Studies, August 25-26, Warsaw, Poland. In addition to a presentation, Spirit in Matter and the Ground of Being, which focused on eco-religious perspectives and climate change, Claude also presented a paper entitled, A Lion in the Street: Spiritual Depression and Normotic Meaninglessness. He also chaired and participated in a panel entitled, Critical Approaches to Gender and Religion. In addition, Claude is a speaker at the ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 9th Annual Conference, September 30th, 2017, University of North Carolina-Asheville, where he will present a paper and discussion entitled, Estranged from That with Which We Are Most Familiar: Illuminations of Discontinuities and the American Sublime in the Black Mountain Poets Charles Olson and Robert Creeley. In October, he will present papers and chair three panels at the Association for The Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS) Annual International Conference, October 18-22, Rutgers University NJ. His paper, Go Like a Bloodhound Where the Truth has Trampled: Poetry and Literary Performance as Social Justice Speech, will be part of a panel entitled, Am I a Falcon, a Storm, or a Great Song?: Wounded into Language from Marginalized Voices. A second paper, What Does Not Change is the Will to Change: The Psychology of Vigilantism will be presented on a panel entitled The Sickness Unto Death: The Psychosocial Causes of Religious Violence, Vigilantism, and Self-Immolation. He will also chair a panel there on psychoanalytic perspectives on Jordan Peele’s film Get Out, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo at the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society annual conference. Further, Claude will present a paper, Faithful Disbelief and Trickster Spirituality in the Films of Federico Fellini, at the 50th Annual Conference of the International Italian American Studies, November 2-4, Washington, DC. Finally, he is also a speaker at the 28th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference of the International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education (IFPE), November 9-11, Fort Lauderdale, FL, where he will present a paper entitled, Reverie, Relativity, and Eternal Return: A Meditation on Time and Language in Villeneuve’s film Arrival and its Relevance to Clinical Phenomenon. He will also serve again for the third year as the 2018 Chair of the APA Division 39 Graduate Students Scholars’ Awards Committee—a committee that helps students and early career scholars in psychology connect with training opportunities through financial support. 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, Chicago IL, and a psychoanalyst in private practice.
Bruce Chilton (1974), Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, has negotiated with Hamilton Press to produce a series of volumes publishing the results of collaborative projects with West Point. The latest book is Intolerance. Political Animals and Their Prey: Dialogues on Social Issues: Bard College and West Point,edited with Robert E. Tully; Lanham: Hamilton, 2017. Within that work, one of his articles appears, “Poisoned Virtue: Child Sacrifice in Abrahamic Scriptures and Interpretation.” The summer also saw publication of "James, the Brother of Jesus" in Oxford Bibliographies, which reflects publications from the Institute of Advanced Theology. Beginning in September, he is to give a weekly series for the Institute, "Sanctuary: from ancient ritual to modern imperative," as well as a monthly series at the Rhinebeck Reformed Church, "Desert Mothers, Desert Fathers: The wellspring and practice of Christian mysticism." His review of Akiba Cohen, Matthew and the Mishnah - Redefining Identity and Ethos in the Shadow of the Second Temple’s Destruction: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament – 2. Reihe 418 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016) has appeared in Review of Rabbinic Judaism 20.2 (2017). .
Stewart Clem (2017) gave a talk in London at the conference, “Human Distinctiveness: Wisdom's Deep Evolution” (July 2017), which is part of an ongoing, collaborative project between theologians and evolutionary anthropologists. He has a chapter in the forthcoming volume of essays, The Evolution of Human Wisdom, to be published by Rowman & Littlefield in October 2017. He is currently writing the final chapters of his dissertation, which draws on the thought of Thomas Aquinas to develop a framework for the ethics of lying and truth-telling. Stewart serves as assisting priest at St. Paul's Church(Mishawaka, IN) and is a PhD candidate in Christian ethics at the University of Notre Dame.
Kelly Brown Douglas (1983) was featured on NBC News in “Six Black Women at the Center of Gravity in Theological Education” about their accomplishments and what they hope to accomplish in their roles. She also published the essay “Charlottesville And The Truth About America” on .Base. In a pastoral letter to his Diocese, Bishop Jeffery Lee of Chicago noted that, “Educating ourselves for the work of dismantling systemic racism is a lifelong job, and in these times, wise people are writing words we need to read” as part of his invitation to read Kelly’s “piercing theological essay.” Kelly recently began as Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY after having served as Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral.
Pamela Cooper-White (1995) was featured at several conferences including as a workshop presenter at the Society for Pastoral Theology annual study conference, Dallas, TX, on "Human Development and Faith: Models, Methods, and Critiques," June 16, 2017, keynote speaker, "Is Forgiveness Necessary?", International Association for Spiritual Care 2nd annual conference on "Healing Hatred," Jerusalem, Israel, July 9, 2017, and keynote speaker: “Freud’s Vienna Circle, Psychoanalysis, and Antisemitism,” Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations (CCJR), Jewish Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary, New York, Sept. 10, 2017. During her time in Israel, Pamela and her co-travelers (Michael and Macrina Cooper-White) wrote a blog reflecting on the inspiring work they observed by our peace-dialogue hosts, and the complexities of the current situation in Israel-Palestine. Pamela also had an article published in the Journal of Pastoral Theology, "Old and Dirty Gods": Religion and Freud's Wednesday Night Psychological Society from Habsburg Vienna to the Holocaust,” Journal of Pastoral Theology, 27/1 (2017). This article is a preview, with a pastoral theological focus, of her forthcoming book, Old and Dirty Gods: Religion, Antisemitism, and the Origins of Psychoanalysis (Routledge, in press, Nov. 2017). 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.
David Gortner (1998) has handed off the Directorship of the Virginia Theological Seminary’s Doctoral Programs to successor Ross Kane, after nine years of strengthening the program and doubling enrollments and successful completions. While he continues to teach across Masters and Doctoral programs, he now serves principally as the seminary's Associate Dean for Church and Community Engagement. In this new role, he leads efforts to rebuild and reinvent the seminary's church-planting program, create enduring and meaningful partnerships with social and educational institutions in northern Virginia and in Washington DC, direct efforts in clergy continuing development, and oversee campus green and sustainability projects. David presented two papers in August at the American Psychological Association focused on clergy. Chairing a session entitled, "Cross-cultural and Cross-religious Challenges in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality," David presented a paper, "Educational and contextual effects on Christian clergy’s teaching about Islam and Christian-Muslim collaboration." He also presented "Could there really be a 'clergy personality type'?" which highlighted some findings from two Lilly Endowment studies of Episcopal and Mainline clergy. In community engagement, David has served for the past two years as an executive team member of VOICE, the northern Virginia Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate in faith-based community organizing. VOICE has won repeated support for increasing affordable housing in northern Virginia. He also works with the Virginia Interfaith Center on establishing a Living Wage Certification Program for Alexandria. He has sparked new relationships between Alexandria clergy, police, and civic leaders through VTS's semi-annual police-clergy breakfast and a re-ignited area interfaith clergy network.
Leander Harding (1986) became the 21st Dean of the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, NY and started on Palm Sunday. This historic cathedral is also known as the Pioneer Cathedral, as it was the first Episcopal cathedral church in the United States to be built expressly as such, rather than a local parish being chosen to serve as the church of a bishop. Leander continues his ministry as Archdeacon of the Diocese of Albany, to write for the Covenant Blog of The Living Church, and supervise Doctoral students at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA.
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (1990), Dean and President and Professor of New Testament at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX wrote four blogs for Working Preacher for 2018 and a meditation for Living Compass to be published in Lent. She preached at Christ Church, Tulsa, OK and led a workshop for clergy at St. John’s, Tulsa, “Preaching the Gospel of Mark in Year B.” Cynthia has been appointed one of four honorary Canons Theologian at Southwark Cathedral in London. She will join Dr. Esther Mombo from Kenya, the Ven. Paul Shaibu Katampu of Ghana, and the Very Rev. Samson Fan of Hong Kong who will be resident at the Cathedral during short periods over a period of four years to teach and preach and enter into the life of a diverse, urban Cathedral. She will be installed at the Festival of Lancelot Andrewes in September of 2018.
In March, Bob Leopold (2015) presented an ECF webinar, You Too Can Do It – Succeeding by Failing Faithfully. This webinar explored questions surrounding the founding of a new Episcopal missional community and just what to do when all those young families leave when the poor start showing up. Bob continues to be willing to talk about the difficult changes facing the Episcopal Church. His cure at St. Luke's Parish in Ottawa, Ontario ended in June of 2017, but he is excited to take what he has learned from working in a post-Christian nation back to the United States. Following his work in Ottawa, Bob and his wife, Lisa, moved to picturesque Lake Elmore Vermont, but he continues to travel, offering coaching and consulting. Until October, he is in residence with the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, working with Steve Mullaney and the University Episcopal Community “Blessing Minneapolis with Stories and Meals;” Matthew Cobb and the Episcopal House of Prayer in Collegeville on community-based spiritual transformation; and in exploration of the blessings a dinner church might offer Duluth.
Renee McKenzie-Hayward (2017) presented a workshop, "Creating a Trauma Informed Ministry," at the Annual Conference and Business Meeting of the Union of Black Episcopalians in July. She also hosted an event August 25-26 which included a screening of Sabrina S. Gordon's documentary Quest which follows the lives of an African American North Philadelphia family over an 8-year period. Post-screening workshops allowed participants to continue the conversation generated by the documentary. In September, she made a presentation to Temple University nursing students and faculty on Trauma Informed Ministry and Community Healing as the students begin a community nursing rotation at the Church of the Advocate contributing to our Community Healing Project. Rene is Vicar and Chaplain of Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, PA.
Lucinda Mosher (1999) has been appointed as the new book review editor for Interreligious Studies for the Anglican Theological Review. Lucinda is president of NeighborFaith Consultancy LLC, working with individuals and institutions on multifaith concerns, and is faculty associate in interfaith studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, CT. Her publications include Toward Our Mutual Flourishing: The Episcopal Church, Interreligious Relations, and Theologies of Religious Manyness (Peter Lang, 2012) and the Faith in the Neighborhood book series on America's religious diversity (Church Publishing).
Sarah Nolan (2012) was a contributor to Watershed Discipleship: Reinhabiting Bioregional Faith and Practice (Wipf and Stock, 2016), edited by Ched Myers, a collection of essays exploring "watershed discipleship" as a critical, contextual, and constructive approach to ecological theology and practice, and features emerging voices from a generation that has grown up under the shadow of climate catastrophe. Sarah and her colleagues Reyna Ortega and Erynn Smith share about how their organization is addressing issues of climate change, place-based theology and social justice through the day to day work of The Abundant Table. In the forward of Harvesting Abundance: Local Initiatives of Food and Faith by Brian Sellers-Peterson, Sarah shares the story of The Abundant Table Farm Project and the emergence of Cultivate: The Episcopal Food Movement that she and Brian worked on during Sarah's time as an ECF Fellow. Sarah is the Director of Programs and Community Partnerships for The Abundant Table in Santa Paula, CA.
Kyle Matthew Oliver (2016) invites everyone to consider the following opportunity and share this with others: With funding from the Episcopal Evangelism Society and the Association of Theological Schools, the e-Formation program of the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary is publishing and piloting a Digital Literacy Toolkit for Theological Educators. They believe digital literacies are essential skills for all ministers in the twenty-first century and the intention is to support seminary instructors and others who form faith leaders in incorporating digital literacy development into courses of any discipline. If you or your colleagues would like to contribute to the toolkit, offer feedback, or help them pilot its use in academic courses and training programs, please contact Kyle Oliver at kmo2144@tc.columbia.edu. Kyle also has upcoming presentations at the e-Formation Digital Media Ministry Bootcamp at General Theological Seminary on October 27, e-Formation Conference at Virginia Theological Seminary on January 12-13, and e-Formation Digital Media Ministry Bootcamp at Forma Conference in Charleston on January 24. Click here for more information about the e-Formation Bootcamps and Conference.
This past summer, Derek Minno-Bloom (2016) co-founded the Women's Hospitality Network in Asbury Park and Neptune, New Jersey. The network is made up of multiracial churches that will house and advocate for women experiencing homelessness in the winter months. The network agrees that poverty is a form of violence and an injustice, it also understands that low income people living in the United States experience disproportionately high rates of violence. The network will work with social workers to make sure all guests get the support they need to find housing, work, and anything else they may need for a better, healthier life. Toward the end of summer, Derek became one of the main organizers for the intersectional "Rally Against Hate," in Asbury Park New Jersey, which was organized in solidarity with Charlottesville. Derek is the Social and Food Justice Director at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, NJ.
G. Palmer Pardington (1968) died on Wednesday, July 27, after a lengthy illness. Palmer was named an ECF Fellow in 1968, and served the Diocese of Oregon for many years in a variety of roles: as a parish priest, a chaplain at Portland State University, and championing Education for Ministry. He was most recently an associate priest at St. Stephen's, Portland. Click here for an article published by the Diocese of Oregon and here for an obituary. Please pray for Palmer, his wife Anne and their family, and those who mourn.
Jane Patterson (1994) has been named associate professor of New Testament and Director of Community Care at Seminary of the Southwest (SSW) in Austin, TX. Dean and President and ECF Fellow (1990) Cynthia Kittredge said of Jane’s work at SSW, “It is hard to know what to be grateful for most about Jane Patterson’s presence on the faculty. A brilliant and poetic interpreter of scripture and a creative teacher, Jane not only teaches the bible, preaching, and pastoral care, but models and embodies those in her multifaceted vocation here.” She is the author of Keeping the Feast: Metaphors of Sacrifice in 1 Corinthians and Philippians (SBL Press, 2015), teaches in the area of Christian formation, and serves as Co-Director of St. Benedict’s Workshop with ECF Fellow John Lewis (1997) in San Antonio, TX.
Nedgine Paul (2016) will be one of the featured speakers at the upcoming ECF-Kanuga Church Leadership Conference, March 2-4, 2018 at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, NC. Anseye Pou Ayiti's, the organization she co-founded and serves as CEO, was featured in a powerful photo essay, In Haiti, Community is Key to Transforming Education, about their methodology and the impact seen thus far. The essay shares how, “With forty-three percent of the Haitian population are children under 15 years old, yet the average child in Haiti completes only five years of formal education. Anseye Pou Ayiti (APA), a partner of global education organization Teach For All, hopes to change these statistics by transforming the country's education system.”
David Peters (2017) and the work of the Episcopal Veterans Fellowship, which he founded and currently heads, was profiled in the August issue of Duke Divinity School’s Faith & Leadership. The article, Ministry helps struggling veterans heal from the wounds of war, notes how, “Drawing on ancient religious practices and the latest research on "moral injury," the Episcopal Veterans Fellowship is building a community of healing and reconciliation for military veterans.” In addition to his role with the Episcopal Veterans Fellowship, David serves as Assistant to the Rector at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Austin, TX.
Kathryn Reinhard (2009) had an article, “The Staurocentric Logic of Eberhard Jüngel: Pneumatology and Ecclesiology” 19:3 (2017), published this past July in the International Journal of Systematic Theology. The article explores the Pneumatology and Ecclesiology of German Lutheran Eberhard Jüngel. Kathryn is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor of Theology at Fordham University, New York, NY and an Associated Clergy at Christ and St. Stephen's, also in New York, NY.
C.K. Robertson (1998), Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Ministry Beyond The Episcopal Church, has written “Why Go to Church?” part of Church Publishing's "Little Books of Guidance" series, with other contributors including ECF Fellow Bill Countryman (1973), former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, James Dunn, Thomas Long, and Tobias Haller. The series is designed to help readers find answers to life's big questions by grasping the essentials in less than an hour. Chuck also guest taught a course entitled "Paul and Harmony" at Nanjing Theological Seminary this past spring and is currently working on a chapter for an upcoming book from Princeton.
Greta Ronningen (2011) of the Community of Divine Love monastery in San Gabriel, CA and author and counselor Marabai Starr will present Yoga and The Mystics: A Transforming Retreat, October 11 - 15 at Mt. Calvary Monastery in Santa Barbara, CA. The retreat will include yoga and breathing practices, mystical poetry, writing as contemplative practice, meditation in multiple traditions, and inter-spiritual chanting and sacred rituals. Greta has been involved in yoga practice for more than 40 years and is the author of Free on the Inside: Finding God Behind Bars. Enrollment is limited. Click here for more information and to register for the retreat.
Regina Walton (2005) presented a paper at the George Herbert Society Fifth Triennial Conference at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris in May entitled “'Then Order plaies the soul': George Herbert and Rule of Life." In June, she attended the Annual Meeting of the Society of Scholar Priests in Hartford, Connecticut, and participated in a panel on the role of the scholar priest in teaching in the parish and in the academy. Also in June, Regina presented a paper entitled "Towards a Spiritual Theology of Christian Formation" at the Intergenerate Conference on intergenerational faith formation, sponsored by Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. In July, she attended the Sewanee Writers' Conference as the Anthony Hecht Scholar in Poetry, at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Regina hopes to welcome many ECF Fellows to Boston in November for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion. She continues as Pastor and Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Newton, MA, and Denominational Counselor for Episcopal/Anglican Students at Harvard Divinity School.