News Detail

ECF Fellows throughout the Church are speaking, writing, witnessing, and leading the Church and their communities.  Here are some recent highlights.

The Rt. Rev. Tom Breidenthal, Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, (1983) challenged the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s Episcopal Community Services to “help churches root community ministry in Christian formation.” This has resulted in a curriculum to help congregations apply scripture, prayer and home-grown case studies to their community ministries to fight poverty. More information about this challenge and curriculum can be found in the following article by Episcopal News Service.

More recently, Tom has joined his voice with his fellow bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, the Rt. Reve. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., and the Coalition of the Common Good in urging state representatives to create a budget that is “just, respecting the rights of all while protecting the most vulnerable of our society.”

Cynthia Kittredge (1990) is a member of the National Council of Church’s Bible Translation and Utilization Committee. This committee is seeking to explore new print and electronic formats for the NRSV and RSV bible translations. She also served as a speaker at the Episcopal Preaching Conference taking place on March 21-24. The theme of this conference is “Preaching the Passion and Resurrection.”

Susan Richardson (2008) will be the keynote speaker at the Diocese of Alabama’s annual Parish Leadership Training Event on April 2. The theme of this year’s event is “Connecting with Young Adults: Connecting with Ourselves.”

Robert Wagner (1969), Episcopal priest and former president of South Dakota State University, died peacefully on January 17. His obituary was followed by a moving reflection on his role as a teacher.

ECF program director Maurice Seaton had also been in contact with Dr. Wagner over the past few years and reflected: “He was a kind man and a real leader in both the diocese and the state of South Dakota, with an influence that spanned decades. He had great affection for ECF’s Fellowship program, telling me it provided him with the means to gain graduate education without which he would never have become president of a university! He will be missed.”

For updates about other ECF Fellows, please click here.

Highlights from Fellows' 2010 Publications:

Kelly Brown Douglas (1983) Sexuality and the Sacred, Second Edition. Editor with Marvin Ellison. (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010)

From the publisher: "Christian discourse on sexuality, spirituality, and ethics has continued to evolve since this book's first edition was published in 1994. This updated and expanded anthology featuring more than thirty contemporary essays includes more theologians and ethicists of color and addresses issues such as the intersection of race/racism and sexuality, transgender identity, same-sex marriage, and reproductive health and justice."

Bruce Chilton (1974) The Way of Jesus. To Repair and Renew the World. (Abingdon, 2010)

From the publisher: "The way of Jesus means that despite our tears and scars, we can become vessels of divine light. A young man loses his wife while their baby escapes without injury. In abject grief he reaches out to a friend for solace. What words of comfort are even possible? How can Jesus repair and renew these lives in this world? Author Bruce Chilton begins in the everyday. He shows how following Jesus not only repairs shattered lives, but renews them. While no broken life is ever simply reassembled and although there is no magic going back to the pristine, repair and renewal will empower us to truly live and love again. But our path requires something from us--mindful practice of Jesus' teachings about the soul, spirit, kingdom, insight, forgiveness, mercy, and glory."

Jennifer Hughes (2001) Biography of a Mexican Crucifix: Lived Religion and Local Faith from the Conquest to the Present. (Oxford University Press, 2010)

From the publisher: "In Biography of a Mexican Crucifix, Jennifer Scheper Hughes traces popular devotion to the Cristo Aparecido over five centuries of Mexican history. Each chapter investigates a single incident in the encounter between believers and the image. Through these historical vignettes, Hughes explores and reinterprets the conquest of and mission to the Indians; the birth of an indigenous, syncretic Christianity; the violent processes of independence and nationalization; and the utopian vision of liberation theology. Hughes reads all of these through the popular devotion to a crucifix that over the centuries becomes a key protagonist in shaping local history and social identity. This book will be welcomed by scholars and students of religion, Latin American history, anthropology, and theology."

Ephraim Radner (1990) The World in the Shadow of God. (Wipf and Stock, 2010)

From the publisher: "In The World in the Shadow of God, Ephraim Radner argues for a vigorous Christian natural theology and insists that such a theology must, of necessity, be performed poetically. The peculiar character of such a theology is found in its disclosing of the natural limits that indicate indirectly the impinging and more fundamental reality of the divine life. Natural theology represents the encounter between created reality and the "shadow" of God's creative and revelatory grace. However, the encounter is a morally demanding task for the Christian church if it is to be held accountable to the truth on which its life is based. The first portion of the book offers an extended critical essay on the nature of this sort of natural theology, while the second provides a developed set of examples through poems that display the natural world in light of the truths articulated in the Apostles' Creed. Those interested in the intersection of theology, literature, history, and the natural world will be challenged by this attempt to renew a basic element of Christian knowledge and culture."

ECF Fellowship Partners Program 2011 Fellows

ECF is looking forward to announcing the 2011 Fellows in May.  In the meantime, you can learn more about the ECF Fellowship Partners Program here.