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February 25, 2016 News

ECF Fellows News: Winter 2016

Devon Anderson (2007) was elected Chair of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. She shares that she is using her “ECF-funded leadership and organizing skills of team-building, strategy, and narrative in guiding the standing commission to approach its herculean workload in this triennium.” Standing commissions are one of the governing bodies that conduct the business of the Episcopal Church in between triennial meetings of the General Convention. Devon is Rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Excelsior, Minnesota.

Claude Barbre (1995) received the 2015 Gradiva Award in the Best Article Category for his book chapter, “Django Unchanged: Identifications with the Oppressor and Intergenerational Cycles of Traumatic Hauntings and Reenactment” in Fragments of Trauma and the Social Production of Suffering: Trauma, History, and Memory, edited by Michael O’Loughlin and Marilyn Charles (Rowman and Littlefield, 2014). The National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP) established the Gradiva Awards to honor “our valuable allies in the arts,” including writers, poets, artists, producers, directors, publishers, who have created works that advance psychoanalysis and the humanities. In addition, Claude has been named an International Advisory Board Member for the Rowman and Littlefield Publisher’s new book series, Psychoanalytic Studies: Clinical, Social, and Cultural Contexts. He is also the 2016 Chair of the Graduate Student Committee for the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) Scholar Awards. Finally, his book chapter, “Breaking into a Sacred, Bloodier Speech: The Healing Role of Monsters in Child Development, Trauma Play, and the Cultural Imagination”, co-authored with Jill Kirby Barbre, will appear in J. Adams, T. Klutting, and B. Lee (eds) Violent States and Creative States, Volume II,, London: Jessica Kingley Publishers. Dr. Barbre is Professor of Clinical Psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Chicago IL., and Board Member and Training Supervisor at The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis (CCP).

Reed Carlson (2015) was recently awarded the Word and World Essay Prize for Doctoral Students for his article, “The Boy Who Lived: Transformation of a Theological Motif in Biblical Narrative” which will be published in Word and World this summer. He is currently continuing his doctoral studies at Harvard Divinity School and his teaching for The School for Formation in Minnesota and is Adjunct Priest at St. James Episcopal Church in Cambridge, MA.

Bruce Chilton (1974) has been honored by the publication of a Festschrift (a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during the person’s lifetime), Earliest Christianity within the Boundaries of Judaism (E. J. Brill, 2016), edited by Alan Avery-Peck, Craig A. Evans, and Jacob Neuser. He has also been invited to give this year’s endowed Spong Lecture at St Peter’s, Morristown, NJ on April 23. Entitled “Resurrection: the Case of Jesus,” the topic is based on a current project he is researching. He has also written reviews for The Biblical Archaeology Review, the Society of Biblical Literature's Review of Biblical Literature, and The Review of Rabbinic Literature. Bruce continues to serve as Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, NY and Director of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College, and where he has recently been appointed as Senior Pastor.

Kelly Brown Douglas (1983) professor of religion at Goucher College and Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral, was the speaker this year at the Diocese of Chicago’s annual Feast Day of Absalom Jones at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Chicago, IL. Sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians, Kelly spoke on this “paradoxical feast day” in that in Absolom Jones, the Episcopal Church commemorates not only its first African-American priest, but also a man who faced discrimination throughout his life and ministry. She was also a recent speaker at Trinity Institute’s 2016 gathering focused on racial justice held at Trinity Wall Street and broadcast live to participant sites throughout the United States and abroad.

Joseph Duggan (2008) is working with his former doctoral supervisor, Dr. Peter Scott at the University of Manchester in the UK,will co-lead Multiple Faiths in Postcolonial Cities: Living Together After Empire May 6-8, 2016. The meeting is the final in the "Divinity After Empire" series that held meetings in Bangalore (2010), Melbourne (2012) and Limuru (2014). Joe is the founder of Postcolonial Networks and co-editor of the Palgrave series, Postcolonialism and Religions and rector of St. Francis' Episcopal Church in Fair Oaks, CA.

Leander Harding (1986) has been appointed as one of two regional Archdeacons in the Diocese of Albany with responsibility for the southern half of the diocese. He continues to serve as Rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Catskill, NY and teaches online courses for Trinity School for Ministry in Abridge, PA.

Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (1990) preached at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City, at St. Matthew’s in Austin, TX this past fall and at Washington National Cathedral on February 7. She was the keynote speaker at the Diocese of Wyoming convention in Evanston, Wyoming: “Your Faith has Saved You: Healing in Mark’s Story of Jesus” and “They Will Show You How: Human Faith and Leadership in Mark.” She taught a day for clergy in the Diocese of Western Louisiana on “Scripture and Imagination.” At the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in Atlanta, she presented at the Feminist Liberation Theologians Network on “A Lot of the Way Trees Were Walking: Poetry and Biblical Interpretation.” She participated on a panel on Anglican and Lutheran biblical interpretation at the Anglican Biblical Scholars dinner, presented a paper at the Hebrews Section, “Hebrews and Feminist Theology,” and participated on a book review panel of Susan Hylen’s, A Modest Apostle: Thecla and the History of Women in the Early Church. Cynthia is Dean and President and Professor of New Testament at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX.

Bob Leopold (2015) has been planning for the coming batch of Mission Field Trips (#missionfieldtrip). This spring and summer will see group exchanges in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, as well as some follow up with prior visitors from the Diocese of Minnesota. Connections in Connecticut and Colorado are in the early planning stages. During this time of preparation (which nicely coincides with the season of Lent), Bob has also complete coursework on a Doctor of Ministry at the School of Theology at Sewanee and a Master of Arts in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University in conjunction with their Folk Arts School and the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, TN. God willing,Bob will receive both of these degrees in 2016, even more prepared to develop leaders locally, regionally, and nationally, and tell stories of the Good News that the Holy Spirit is currently doing in The Episcopal Church. Bob is missioner at Southside Abbey, a non-traditional worshipping community in the Episcopal tradition.

David Mason (1970) published “Christianity and World Religions: the Contributions of Barth and Tillich” in The Anglican Theological Review (Summer 2015, Vol. 97, No. 3). His book, “Something That Matters: A Theology for Critical Believers,” was published in 2011 by Praeger; a second book, “God of Love and God of Reason: Homilies, lectures, and Essays on God and Religion,” will be published by Wipf and Stock in 2016.

Lucinda Mosher’s (1999) activities have largely focused on exploring ecumenical and interfaith relations. This past November, Lucinda presented “Waging the beautiful struggle: Christian approaches to spiritual jihād” at the John Carroll University (Cleveland, OH) Nursi Chair Conference on Spiritual Jihad: A Path for the 21st Century. She followed this in December by serving as an instructor for an intensive course on Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations at Séminaire de Théologie d’Église Épiscopale d’Haïti in Port au Prince. In January and February, she is continuing her work as an instructor for Hartford Seminary in the areas of chaplaincy models and methods and Christian-Muslim encounters and theological dimensions. Finally, also in February, Lucinda is leading forums and workshops on enabling interreligious understanding at St. John’s Episcopal in Tallahassee, FL and on interfaith understanding for the Life Connections Program of the Federal Correctional Center of Petersburg, VA.

Stephanie Spellers (2008) was appointed Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism and Reconciliation in December and has begun her work on the Presiding Bishop's staff. In this role, she will be responsible for supporting the ministry of the Presiding Bishop Michael Curry as it pertains to evangelism and reconciliation efforts at the local, congregational, diocesan, and church-wide levels.. Prior to her appointment on the Presiding Bishop's staff, Stephanie was a faculty member and Director of Mission and Reconciliation at the General Theological Seminary in New York. She was also the Senior Consultant Director of New Ministry Development at the Center for Progressive Renewal, where she continues to serve as a Senior Consultant. In February, she was the preacher for the Diocese of New York's Blessed Absalom Jones Celebration held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saturday, February 13. This celebration, held annually in the Diocese, Commemorates the first African-American ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church.

Edwin van Driel (2003) recently published “To know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified’: Supralapsarian Christology and a theology of the cross,” in The Wisdom and Foolishness of God: First Corinthians 1-2 in Theological Exploration, published by Fortress Press. He also published “Online Theological Education: Three Under-Theorized Issues,” in Theological Education. Edwin is the Directors' Bicentennial Associate Professor of Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA.

Christopher Wells' (2005) editorial, "Catholicity Apostolicity Come on Down" for the January issue of The Living Church that covered the recent Anglican Primates' Meeting on January 11-15. He also reports that The Living Church Foundation finished 2015 in the black and saw an uptick in online traffic last year by an astonishing 500% thanks especially to the relaunch their blog, Covenant. Other highlights include Virginia Theological Seminary Dean Ian Markham’s praise for The Living Church as "a substantial publication, which invites us all into a theologically rich understanding of our tradition.” Marking the Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Christopher spoke on St. Thomas at the rector's forum at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Manhattan, on January 24, and on Frebruary 3 at Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario. Christopher is the Executive Director and Editor of The Living Church Foundation.

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