From the Dean 3

Fall 2008 Orientation 3

Continuing EducationEvents 4

Teacher/Scholar of the Year 5

PREP Prison Program 6

God Talk Lectures 7

New Faculty Members 8

Recent Events 9

Is the Climate Changing? 10

Process Scholar Series 14

Henri Nouwen Lectures 15

Annual Conference Volunteers 16

Inside TTC 8: “Decolonizing Epistemology”

Drew University’s Center onReligion, Culture & Conflict(CRCC) focuses critical atten-

tion on the complex ways in whichreligion and other aspects of culture in-teract, especially in moments of crisisand conflict. To achieve its objective ofcombining study and practice, theCRCC supports a number of projectsand initiatives, including hosting dis-tinguished visiting scholars; sponsoringlectures, symposia, and roundtable dis-cussions; making research grants topromote scholarship; and supportingmodel projects to enhance inter- religious and cross-culturalunderstanding.

Three ambitious objectives lie atthe heart of our vision for the CRCC.First, the center contributes signifi-cantly to useful knowledge and

understanding of the ways in which re-ligious ideas and practices interact withother aspects of culture, both in global

and local ways. Whether the issue isreligious justification for terrorism orthe clash between certain religious and

scientific ideas in a public school cur-riculum committee or the religiouscommitments of political candidates inthe United States and beyond, under-standing religion has become critical tounderstanding the contemporaryworld. By fostering interdisciplinary re-search, scholarly exchange, and publicdiscussion, the center aims to enhanceknowledge of the complex interplaybetween religion and other aspects ofsociety.

A second ambition for the CRCCis to provide opportunities for interac-tion and partnership with the broadercommunity in which Drew is located.The center is not only a place wherescholars from many disciplines cometogether to consider the junctures ofreligion, politics, economics, and

Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict Fosters Dialogue and Action Across Differences

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VOL. 7, NO. 1, SpRING 2009

TheoSpiritNEwSLETTER Of THE DREw UNIVERSITy THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL

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HEARING LATINA/O VOICES. Ada MaríaIsasi-Díaz opens TTC 8 in Craig Chapel.

The theme of the eighth-annualDrew University Transdisciplinary

Theological Colloquium (TTC 8) was“Decolonizing Epistemology: NewKnowing in Latina/o Philosophy &Theology.” Held November 20–23,2008, it brought together 15 of the na-tion’s preeminent theologians andphilosophers. The colloquium focusedon the experiences of Latinas/os livingin the United States as a way ofopening discussion about suppressedknowledge of oppressed peoplesusually not given importance in theacademy and the churches. Thegathering attempted to provide“method ological signposts to othermarginalized and minoritized

science, but it is also a place where theuniversity connects with its own widercommunity. Within a 50-mile radius ofDrew’s campus is probably the most di-verse pieces of real estate on the planet– diverse in terms of religious identity,race and ethnicity, and economic status.We hope not only to understand whatchallenges this diversity poses, but alsoto positively engage it. We seek a gen-uine partnership with the broadercommunity, and we look forward todeepening our work with lay and reli-gious leaders to identify, develop, andsupport meaningful programs and activities.

A third goal for the center is that itnot merely serve as another academicthink tank but that it develop and im-plement model projects that move usbeyond simply understanding the worldand toward ways of improving it. Onesuch project already underway is aJanuary Term service-learning projectamong Sudanese refugees in Egypt ledby Christopher Taylor, professor of reli-gious studies in the College of LiberalArts. Such projects offer Drew studentspractical hands-on experience reachingacross the boundaries that divide us.This is precisely the sort of engaged civiclearning that, under PresidentWeisbuch’s leadership, we are workinghard to build more broadly at Drew, es-pecially through the work of theuniversity’s new Center on CivicEngagement. We are pleased that thishands-on way of learning is also integralto the mission of the CRCC.

After launching the CRCC in 2006,the center’s founding director,Christopher Taylor, stepped down inAugust 2008 to return to full-timeteaching and research. He was suc-ceeded by J. Terry Todd, associate

professor of American religious studiesin the Theological School. Under theleadership of Professor Todd andJonathan Golden, the CRCC’s associatedirector, the center has continued topromote the public understanding of re-ligion as a source of reconciliation aswell as conflict. The CRCC has spon-sored a number of lectures andsymposia, including one by ProfessorPhilip Clayton of Claremont GraduateSchool on the clash between religionand science. In February, the CRCC

teamed up with the United JewishCommunities of MetroWest to producea major conference, “Engaging Iran,”which explored ways of responding toIran’s dismal human rights record andits rapidly advancing nuclear enrich-ment program. In addition, through thegenerosity of Mel and Rita Wallerstein,the center’s Faculty DevelopmentGrants have gone to support faculty re-search in all three schools of theuniversity, including the work ofCatherine Keller and Traci West in theTheo School.

Capping the year’s activities in Aprilwill be the center’s first Arts of Respectfestival, a program that encourages theproduction of art with a salient socialmessage. At the center of the event is

the presentation of the Paul DruckerAward, open to students in all threeschools of the university and includingany aspect of the visual, literary, andperforming arts. We’ve encouraged stu-dents to go beyond promotion of meretolerance, and instead to produce artthat carries a call for respect – self re-spect and respect for others across ourmany differences, across the identitymarkers of religion, ethnicity, gender,race, or nationality. The festival kickedoff on April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in CraigChapel with a rocking concert by theworld-fusion band Jaffna.

So what lies ahead for the next aca-demic year? One of the CRCC’s mostimportant and visible initiatives is theWallerstein Distinguished VisitingScholars program, made possible by agenerous grant from the philanthropistsBern and Jane Wallerstein. The first oc-cupant of this visiting professorship, theeminent Egyptian-American sociologistSaad Eddin Ibrahim, will arrive inAugust. Professor Ibrahim is a leader ofthe civil society movement in Egypt,founding director of the Ibn KhaldunCenter for Development Studies, and aprofessor at the American University inCairo. Professor Ibrahim’s unrelentingand courageous criticism of the Egyptiangovernment and its human rights recordlanded him in an Egyptian prison for 14months. His campaign for democracy inEgypt and elsewhere in the Middle Easthas made him an internationally recog-nized advocate for democracy andhuman rights. As the first WallersteinScholar, Professor Ibrahim will be in res-idence throughout the academic year of2009–2010, working with students inthe Theological School as well as theCollege of Liberal Arts and theCaspersen School.

The CRCC invites you to join us inour venture of understanding religionand promoting change. To join our mail-ing list, please contact us at crcc@drew.edu or at 973/408-3093. We wantyour help in building a network of edu-cated lay and religious leaders who caredeeply about how religious ideas andpractices are mobilized, and how wemight together build a more just, equi-table, and sane society for all.

Maxine Clarke Beach, DeanDrew Theological SchoolMadison, NJ 07940973/408-3582 • mbeach@drew.edu

Editorial Staff: Maria Lise IannuzziChristopher Haynes, ph.D. CandidateLuther Jeremiah Oconer, ph.D. Candidate

please send comments to:miannuzz@drew.edupast issues can be viewed at:drew.edu/theo/spirit

TheoSpirit

TheoSpirit2 SpRING 2009

CRCC(continued from page 1)

Whether the issue is religious

justification for terrorism or the

clash between certain religious

and scientific ideas in a public

school curriculum committee or

the religious commitments of

political candidates in the

United States and beyond,

understanding religion has

become critical to understand-

ing the contemporary world.

3

In 1962 I was a high school senior in rural Nebraska. Ata Methodist youth rally I felt a call upon my life thatseemed to mean that I should work for the church. I

started asking questions of those who I knew in the leader-ship of the church to help with my discernment. Two dis-trict superintendents suggested that my “call” would be bestfulfilled if I were to marry a clergyman. One said he hadheard of a woman serving a church but it wasn’t well re-ceived. I eventually ended up at Scarritt College with stronglay women who helped me to see the many ways that Icould be in the church as a woman and a lay person. Even-tually as a kind of cosmic joke, I married a seminarian whowent on to serve churches! And yes, I did have a fruitfultime as an extension of my husband’s ministry.

I share this ancient story to remind us of how quicklythings have changed in many parts of the church. For yearsnow at least half of all students in our seminaries have beenwomen, and while we still are not ordaining at the level atwhich men are ordained, we now have women in everysize of church and in all categories of leadership in confer-ences and the general church. And yet our system still

seems cumbersome to manywomen and men who want to bepart of the transformation of theworld. Many see the dis-ease of thechurch and witness the cynicism ofmany leaders and wonder aboutgiving their one-life-to-live to thisinstitution. Recently a young stu-dent shared a frustration with his process that had gone onfor years and felt mean. He said, “They say they want usunder 35, and yet they want us to fit their molds.” Forthose of us who have given most of our life to the churchand its institutions, it may be hard to hear the critique. ButI would suggest that we need to listen very carefully to theyoung ones among us, or what we say will in another timesound as ridiculous as being told that the marrying of aclergy will best care for that annoying call.

From the Dean Co

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By Taisha I. Bonilla, M.T.S. Student

Get planted. Grow. Thrive. The firsttime I arrived at Drew was for my

own orientation, and I was immediatelytaken aback by the trees on campus.Coming from Los Angeles, and havingbeen raised only with palm trees, thiswas a whole new tree experience forme. The warmth, refuge, and historythat these trees on this campus generateis something that I will never forget.They have given me an indescribable en-ergy and comfort. It sounds strange, butthose trees got me through orientation.

Representing such profound sym-bols of wisdom, growth, and spirit, theDrew trees, or the Drew Forest, was myinspiration for this past fall’s orientation.I wanted the incoming class to be in-spired by what the trees and what DrewTheological School inherently advocate:community. So I came up with the slo-gan, “Get planted. Grow. Thrive.” inhopes that the incoming class would dojust that. It was a pleasure to share andgive back a portion of what the DrewForest and Theological School has givento me: an opportunity to get planted inmy own intellectual and spiritual jour-

ney and community and to grow andthrive within and beyond it.

Fall 2008 Orientation: “Get Planted. Grow. Thrive.”C

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TAISHA I. BONILLA welcomes students tofall 2008 Orientation.

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DEAN ANNE yARDLEy watches as enteringstudent Gina Kim signs the matriculationbook at the fall matriculation service.

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By Nancy Vander Veen, Coordinator ofContinuing Education

Paul calls us to renew our minds, torecognize that perhaps all we know

isn’t all there is to know. Expanding ourknowledge and thinking can be diffi-cult; it requires openness, courage, andpatience. Whether you are a clergy per-son, a lay leader, or a spiritual seeker,the Theological School’s Center forContinuing Education offers the follow-ing opportunities to learn and grow.

SEMINARY SATURDAYSThis program offers churches and

individuals the opportunity to gain per-spectives beyond the local church. EachSaturday morning session includes oneworkshop on a practical topic and oneon a theological topic. The programstarts with a continental breakfast atfrom 8:30 to 9 a.m. and concludes withsoup and sandwiches from noon to 1p.m. Earn one Continuing EducationUnit by attending all three seminars.The registration fee for each seminar is$25 (choose one per day) or $60 for allthree per semester. Students from anyseminary are welcome to attend for nocost. Topics this semester included“Keeping the Pastor Healthy: WhatCongregations Should Know,” “Talkingwith Our Neighbors: Dialogue AcrossReligious Traditions,” “Women inLeadership,” and “Sarai and Hagar.”Future learning opportunities will beannounced soon.

CLASSES WITHOUT QUIZZESSeminarians and church leaders are

invited to join us in the Classes withQuizzes program to explore vital topicsthat are not often addressed in semi-nary curricula. Workshops take place onFriday mornings from 9:30 a.m. tonoon. The cost is $10 per workshop or$25 for the semester series. Studentsfrom any seminary are welcome to at-tend for no cost. The remainingworkshop for spring 2009 is:

April 24, 2009, 9:30 a.m. – noon“MINISTRY WITH PERSONS WITH

DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES”Rev. Alice Walsh

UM Clergy/Chaplain andCPE Supervisor

Focus on the pastoral care issues in-volved in ministering with individuals withdisabilities and their families, and creatinginclusive congregational ministries. Reviewcurrent material on the topic including,“Autism and Faith: A Journey intoCommunity.”

COMMUNITY FELLOWS PROGRAM

Drew Theological School wel-comes men and women of all ages andinterests to study religion, theology,ethics, and related disciplines as part ofits Community Fellows Program. Thisnoncredit educational venture bringspeople from every walk of life intoDrew classrooms to learn, explore,study, and ponder great questions froma religious and theological perspective.Community Fellows participate inclasses with theological students prepar-ing for ministry and enrich classroomswith their perspectives and experiences.

The Community Fellows programis open to all, from people grounded intheir faith and committed to a religiousinstitution to those who are beginning aspiritual exploration. Fellows from anyreligious community will find abidingrespect because Drew already welcomesstudents and faculty from diverse back-grounds, experiences, and traditions. Alist of courses set aside for fellows isposted on the Continuing Educationwebsite at www.drew.edu/theo-content.aspx?id=1574.

To enroll in the program, newfellows complete a brief, one-time ap-plication process through the Office ofTheological Admissions, then fill out aCommunity Fellows Registration Formonline. Enrollment costs $100 percredit; Drew usually offers three-creditcourses.

SPRING 2009 LECTURE SERIESEach semester the Drew Theologi-

cal School offers a series of lecturesopen to the community. For spring2009, events included the Frederick A.Shippey Lecture with AndlingerProfessor of Social Sciences at PrincetonUniversity Robert Wuthnow. Wuthnowspoke on April 14 on the topic “Global-ization & American Christianity.”

On April 16, Drew hosted the 18thannual Hispanic Lecture in Religion andTheology with Gastón Espinosa, associ-ate professor of religious studies atClaremont McKenna College.Espinosa’s topic was “Latino Religionsand the 2008 Presidential Election:Catholics, Protestants, and PoliticalChange.”

Stay tuned for the announcementof lectures for the fall semester.

LOOKING AHEADJuly 23 – 25, 2009

SUMMER MUSIC INSTITUTE“Draw the Circle Wide:

Empowering, Encouraging andEnergizing Worship Leaders”Keynote Speaker: Mark Miller

Director of MusicDrew Theological School

October 20 – 22, 2009TIPPLE–VOSBURGH 2009

“The Art of Repairing the World:Artistic Imagination & Biblical

Interpretation”

For more information about any ofthese programs, contact Nancy VanderVeen, coordinator of ContinuingEducation at nvanderveen@drew.edu orat 973/408-3084.

TheoSpirit SpRING 2009

Renew Your Mind

through Continuing Education

5

communities, and to those who stand insolidarity with them, for their own epis-temic elaborations,” as stated in thecolloquium’s theme statement.

The panel presenta-tions and ensuingdiscussions among collo-quium participants weretruly transdisciplinary,drawing rich insights fromsuch fields as theology, soci-ology, history, philosophy,queer theory, ethics, politi-cal science, feminism,liberation thought, and Bib-lical studies. Invitedscholars raised questionsconcerning the authority bywhich knowledge is consid-ered legitimate, proper, andtrustworthy. They explored how variousforms of knowledge “from the margins”challenge monolithic, centralized knowl-edge that emerges from the dominantgroups.

Conference organizer and Drew pro-fessor Ada María Isasi-Díaz stated thecolloquium was not seeking a synthesisthat would eliminate differences amongthe participants, but rather intended to

foreground the richness of such differ-ences and understandings shared by thescholars present. She said the colloquiumwas about how to use the work ofLatina/o scholars as a platform to show-case the knowledge that emerges fromthe Latina/o communities. She said, “I

come from a school of thought that be-lieves that knowledge can be liberating.Uncovering the suppressed knowledge ofLatina/o communities can indeed be aliberating praxis.”

The invited scholars were LindaMartín Alcoff (Syracuse University; mov-ing to Hunter College, NYC), Rudy Busto(University of California, Santa Barbara),Michelle A. González Maldonado

(University of Miami), María Lugones(SUNY-Binghamton), Otto Maduro (DrewUniversity), Nelson Maldonado-Torres(University of California, Berkeley),Hjamil Martínez-Vázquez (Texas ChristianUniversity), Eduardo Mendieta (StonyBrook University), Walter Mignolo (Duke

University), Paula M. L.Moya (StanfordUniversity), Emma Pérez(University of Colorado,Boulder), Mayra Rivera(Pacific School ofReligion), FernandoSegovia (VanderbiltUniversity), andChristopher Tirres (DePaulUniversity).

The student sessiontook place on Sunday, atwhich four students fromStanford University,Princeton TheologicalSeminary, and Drew

University presented papers.To learn more about this colloquium,

go to http://depts.drew.edu/tsfac/colloquium/2008. Proceedings of the col-loquium, edited by Professors Isasi-Díazand Mendieta, will be published byFordham University Press.

–Christopher haynes 

and ada María isasi-díaz

TTC 8(continued from page 1)

DECOLONIZING EpISTEMOLOGy. Speakers Nelson Maldonado-Torres andfernando Segovia interact with participants at the eighth TransdisciplinaryTheological Colloquium.

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At the fall 2008 commencementceremonies, Dean Maxine Beach

named Virginia Burrus this year’sTeacher/Scholar of the Year for theTheological School. Burrus serves asprofessor of early church history andhas taught at the Theo School andGraduate Division of Religion since1991. The following comments fromstudents in her classes illuminate theirchoice in awarding her this honor:

“We were not a particularly talka-tive group, and frankly, some days itmust have felt like pulling teeth to getus to talk. Yet without frustration wewere continually challenged with a

seemingly bottomless well of questionsand observations about the text thatkeep us working.”

“The course work was challenging,but I thoroughly enjoyed every mo-ment. This professor is compassionateand learned. Her passion for the subjectcomes through in every class.”

“An excellent faculty member whoconsistently fosters critical thinkingabout relevant matters in life and faithand encourages critical thinking and willnot allow you to sit in silence.”

“Church history should be morethan dates and locations, and she madeit so much more.”

Virginia Burrus Named Teacher/Scholar of the Year

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6 TheoSpirit SpRING 2009

Prep Program Builds Bridges across Prison Walls

PREP—Partnership for Religion andEducation in Prisons—is a theo-logical educational program that

creates opportunities for a joint theolog-ical learning environment betweenDrew theological students and studentswithin state correctional facilities. Basedon several models of prison educationalprogramming across the country, PREPforges new partnerships between placesof theological learning, organizationswith educational programs in the pris-ons, and correctional institutions.

Under the direction of MargaretQuern Atkins T’07, the initiative repre-sents the application of a model initiatedin Nashville in 2002 by three well-known leaders in the field of prisonministry: Harmon Wray, a restorativejustice author and trainer; RichardGoode, a Lipscomb University historyprofessor; and the Rev. Janet Wolf, anordained United Methodist pastor andprofessor at the American BaptistCollege. The PREP program also drawson the experience of several successfulinitiatives created to address the highereducation needs of prisoners.

A recent Pew Center study statesthat more than one in every 100 per-sons in the United States is incarcerated.Churches must be on the front line ofthis issue with leadership that is in-formed and theologically grounded.Churches in any community in theUnited States will face issues broughtabout by our burgeoning prison popula-tion. The New Jersey Department ofCorrections has agreed to pilot PREP intwo of its facilities.

One such class was held in the fallsemester in the Edna Mahan Women’sCorrectional Facility, and the other wasconducted at Northern State Prison for

men. We had 13 “inside students” and10 “outside students” enrolled at EdnaMahan, and 12 inside students and 6outside students enrolled at Northern.The women’s course was for a full se-mester, facilitated by David Graybeal,who has taught a famous course atDrew for 40 years entitled “The Searchfor the Good Community.” It was anideal course to begin the PREP journey,as it focused on understandings of com-munity and justice in global and localcontexts. The 23 Drew students foundthemselves learning experientially asthey discovered their own abilities tofoster “the good community” in a mostunusual setting. The course at Northernwas an intensive class that ran for fourweeks. This course was specially craftedfor the PREP students and was entitled“Letters and Sermons from Prison.” Thefour weeks were facilitated byChristopher Boesel, a systematic theol-ogy professor. The students explored thewritings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, MartinLuther King Jr., Karl Barth, Malcolm X,and Ben Chavis. They wrestled with theBiblical uses and metaphors of prison aswell as the messages from theologianswho had spent time in prison. In the lastclass, Professor Boesel had each studentwrite a psalm based on their experi-ences. It was a very powerful exercisethat accessed pain and praise regardlessof inside/outside status. The work con-tinues this semester with two morecourses taking place with continued en-couragement and support from theDepartment of Corrections.

Quotes taken from students at EdnaMahan demonstrate the potential forlife-changing interactions during theseclasses. One inside student stated, “Somany people do not see inside of me be-

cause I hide, yet within our GoodCommunity, I did not feel I had to. Itmay not seem like such a big deal toyou, but to me it is very important, andI cannot thank you enough for takingthe time to come into my house and seeme and my fellow sisters.” Another sim-ply noted, “This class has helped torestore my faith in people.” One outsidestudent summed up her experience thisway: “We no longer need to search forthe good community; like God’s basileia,it is already among us.” Another said,“In my ministry, I hope to offer love andcare to those who have been incarcer-ated, both while they are in prison andonce they leave. The faces of thewomen will forever be ingrained in mymind, and who they are will always bewritten on my heart.”

PREP’s mission encompasses fivemutually reinforcing goals: bringing di-verse students together to learn fromeach other; fostering contextualtheological education and new under-standings of ministry; offering academiccredits, leadership skill development,and opportunities for discovering divinepurpose; creating re-entry strategies bybuilding community and encouragingsupport networks; and promoting per-sonal agency for communaltransformative work. Given the impor-tance of achieving each of these goals –not only for the incarcerated studentsthemselves but also for Drew, for theministers we are training, and for soci-ety as a whole – we are eager to ensurethe success of the PREP initiative.

For more information about thePREP program and its future at Drew,contact Margaret Quern Atkins atmquern@drew.edu.

–Margaret Quern atkins t’07

David M. Graybeal shares his experiences teaching in one of the inaugural PREP classes:

(continued on next page)

I did not know what to expect when this class was beingplanned. I had never been in prison before. Dean Yardley

selected 10 women from Drew to participate, and theprison team selected 13. When some of us went to get ori-ented, the prison director said, “Well, you won’t learnmuch about why these prisoners are here, but I will just tellyou now that two of your students are here for murder!”Welcome to Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women!

I also learned that neither group knew what to ex-pect or how they would be received by the other group.But within a very few weeks, I could tell that real friend-ships were being established. Even when I would try toshift them around in small groups, they would find waysof getting back together with their friends.

Many things surprised me as the semester proceeded.Here are some:

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I did not expect there to be so much laughter. In thefirst session I told of an event in which the key figurewas a father of two boys, but in telling it I said it was themother who was the hero. They had quite a discussion.Then I told them that in reality the hero was the father,and I asked them to discuss what difference it wouldhave made if I had told it that way. Once again they hadquite a discussion. Then when I asked what they hadlearned from my story, there was a short silence; thenMary said, “We learned that you are a liar.” I wasshocked at this bold prisoner, and I expected the wholeclass to be shocked. Instead, the room just exploded inshouts of laughter. The class was off to a great start. Idon’t think we ever had a session without great laughterafter that.

I had thought there would be some sessions inwhich there would be a lot of anger, and maybe ablowup. But though we had many differences of opinion,and some disagreed with what was being said or shown,

we got through it all without breaking community witheach other.

I did not expect the weekly written assignments tobe so interesting, so well-done, so important to me. Eachweek I could hardly wait to read them, and I alwayswanted to write something back, and so I did.

I did not expect that so many of us would begin tofeel so close to each other, but that has happened. Atleast one prisoner has been released since the courseended, and she lives with her mother in Newark. One ofour students is meeting with her regularly, taking hershopping and to some important hearings about the situ-ation in New Jersey prisons. I am impressed with what Iam learning from that.

I am grateful that I had this opportunity. It was anunforgettable experience. I would be glad to be invited toteach at Edna Mahan again. I trust that each of you whogoes there to teach will have an equally rewarding expe-rience.

By Donna Powell, M.Div. Student

Birthed in the spring of 2002 underthe direction of Arthur Pressley and

Nancy Lynne Westfield, “God Talk withBlack Thinkers” is an interdisciplinary,intensive course that brings leadingblack scholars to the Forest to engageDrew seminarians and graduate stu-dents in theological, religious, andcultural dialogue.

In the fall of 2008, 18 students rig-orously engaged the scholarship ofCharles H. Long, professor emeritus ofhistory of religions, University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara and Universityof Chicago; and Carolyn Jones Medine,associate professor of religion andAfrican American studies, University ofGeorgia. The title of the course was “TheConstitution of Freedom: W.E.B. DuBois’ Reinterpretation of the Situationof Black People and the Discourse ofBlackness in the Modern World.” Overthe course of two intensive weekends,students studied the life and work ofW.E.B. Du Bois both in his particular so-cial and historical context and also as a

hermeneutical lens for understandingpresent and future meanings of black-ness in the United States. The primary

texts for this course included W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk, ToniMorrison’s Playing in the Dark, andCharles Long’s Significations: Signs,

Symbols and Images in the Study of Religion.Our study culminated with studentsusing a Du Boisian lens to interrogatetopics including the 2008 U.S. presiden-tial election, the artwork of AaronDouglas, and the health and wholenessof African-American youth.

In addition to teaching, ProfessorsLong and Medine also spoke to the en-tire Drew community in a public lectureseries co-sponsored by the TheologicalSchool, the CLA Pan-African studies de-partment, and the CLA political sciencedepartment. The “God Talk” public lec-ture series included “In Our Two-ness,”an invocation poem penned byProfessors Pressley and Westfield, in ad-dition to musical selections from SOOMand the Korean Men’s Choir. OnThursday, September 27, 2008,Professor Long lectured on the subject“Du Bois, Race, and the Nature of CivilReligion in the United States.” The fol-lowing week, Professor Medinepresented on the subject “Toni Morrisonand/on the Souls of Black Folks.” Thelecture series provided the best in cre-ativity and critical thinking.

God Talk Lectures Feature Du Bois Scholarship

CHARLES H. LONG presents on w.E.B. DuBois and U.S. civil religion.

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TheoSpirit8 SpRING 2009

Catherine Peyroux joins the faculty of the Theological School andthe Graduate Division of Religion as an associate professor of

the history of Christianity. She comes toDrew from New York University, havingtaught previously at Duke University, theUniversity of Chicago, and PrincetonUniversity, where she earned her doctor-ate in the history department. ProfessorPeyroux’s teaching and research interestsinclude the cultural and social history ofmedieval Christianity, the history and his-toriography of Christianization, the historyof women within the tradition, the historyof monasticism, the notion and literature ofCeltic Christianity, and the history of

poverty in medieval Europe including the evolution of religious povertyas a social ideal among both orthodox and “heterodox” communities.

Professor Peyroux has written on early medieval monastic commu-nities, particularly the houses known to modern scholarship as DoubleMonasteries, where men and women lived communal lives, often underthe religious authority of an abbess; as well as on medieval leprosy as afiguration of sanctity and on holy anger in early medieval hagiography.Her current research projects include analysis of confessional and“national” identity in early medieval Spain, and a monograph onpoverty movements in high medieval Europe.

Althea Spencer Miller comes to Drewfrom Jamaica, by way of Atlanta andClaremont, California. She grew up inJamaica, receiving her education up tothe undergraduate level there and shares,“I am proud of my Jamaican educators atall levels. What I received from them gaveme a solid foundation on which I havebuilt in achieving my doctorate.” Sheearned the Th.M. at Candler School ofTheology, Emory University and the Ph.D.at Claremont Graduate University.

While in Jamaica, Professor SpencerMiller worked as a pastor in the Methodist Church in the Caribbean andthe Americas (MCCA), the Jamaica District, serving in both circuits andeducational chaplaincies. Her experiences ranged from grassroots ac-tivism to participation at the highest levels of ecumenical life, includingparticipation in World Council of Churches consultations. She reportsthat her greatest professional joy was with the International Fellowshipof the Least Coin, a “wonderful international, ecumenical, fellowship ofwomen, who embrace, enable, and enact a vision of the participation ofthe world’s poor in creating the means of their own transformation andliberation.” Her greatest personal joy lies in seeing the maturation ofher two sons, Stephen and David, with whom she shares “a love ofhugs, sports, politics, philosophy, religion, great debates, bad jokes, andmuch laughter.”

New Theo School Faculty

EyESHA MARABLE dances at the ShalomInitiative chapel service on Sept. 10.

AT THE Center for Christianities in GlobalContexts event on Sept. 24, Jooyeon Leeand Sharon Jacob share Korean and Indianforms of dance; Chung Hyun Kyung lectureson “A Christian feminist Theologian’spilgrimage Into Muslim women’s worlds.”

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Celebrations & Eventsin the Theo School

CURRENT MEMBERS Of THE THEOLOGICAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION pose with Dean Beach.

THE REV. TANyA LINN BENNETT (center), director of the chapel and associate chaplain, leads aservice of Holy Communion during a 9/11 service in Craig Chapel.

SOOM (The Korean women’s Choir) performs before the God Talk lecture on Sept. 25.

2008 TIppLE-VOSBURGH LECTURESKEyNOTE SpEAKERS included (top tobottom) Russell Richey, Robertweisbuch, Rita Nakashima Brock, andthe Rev. Janet wolf.

TheoSpirit10 SpRING 2009

By Laurel Kearns

I hope all of you answered yes to thatquestion, or I’ll have to rethink my

talk since I’m not including anythingabout the evidence of climate change –on how rapidly the poles and glaciersare melting, on rising water levels andtemperatures, or on changing weatherpatterns and the increased desertifica-tion and storm activity, as well asincreasing numbers of environmentalrefugees as a result. Does anyone reallynot know? Has anyone really been ableto ignore the headlines and imagesshouting from the front page, headlinesthat depress our youth about what kindof world we are leaving them, or shouldI say leaving you, since you’re mostlyyounger than me? But I know it is quitetrue that many still seem to think cli-mate change is a myth, a conspiracy, oreasily fixed. So if you answered no, aswe always have students who are skep-tics, I’ll be glad to talk to you about thedata and the scientific consensus, a con-sensus larger than that behind a lot ofyour medical treatment, or about thefact that the word “theory” in sciencedoesn’t mean hypothetical. Gravity is atheory, and it doesn’t feel very hypo-thetical when an object hits your bigtoe! But I want to do more than geteveryone thinking about the reality ofclimate change, as this year I hope to getall of us at Drew talking about the factthat where and how our food is pro-duced is as significant a considerationon CO2 emissions as what cars we drive.The high costs of fuel and food are al-ready bringing about significant changesin consumption, regardless of how folksview climate change, but focusing onclimate change goes far beyond justthose issues of personal economicchoices into issues of structural change.1

So I’m going to use these few min-utes to talk about what I studied and didon my sabbatical, and the kind of newyear/new era that I hope we are startingat Drew. Those of you in the audience

who already know me, know that Ithink about global warming and envi-ronmental issues and practices ingeneral pretty much every day, so mysabbatical leave was no different, exceptthat I lived it and breathed it even more.Of course, all of us are living andbreathing the effects, but perhaps notthinking about it. And forgive me if thissounds a bit like a campaign speech. Thelast time I gave a sabbatical talk I was abit shy about having a pulpit; now I

know that at times I long for a pulpit onthis issue.

Over the summer, an op-ed piece inThe New York Times called “Learning toSpeak Climate”2 caught my attention inparticular as I was thinking about thistalk. In it, Thomas Friedman, (whospoke at Drew on September 15, 2008),describes his visit to Greenland to seethe manifest effects of global warming –which he suggests is more appropriatelycalled global “weirding” – that are so ev-

ident there. He came away with a verystrong conclusion: Our children aregoing to be so angry with us one day. Ihave to admit that it is the thought ofthe future that my children, that theearth’s children, will be facing thatkeeps me going some days when I des-perately want to be studying somethingelse. Why didn’t I choose 19th-centuryAmerican landscape painting if I wantedto study something to do with culturalattitudes toward the more-than-humannatural world? Why didn’t I study reli-gious gardening practices or somethinga little more upbeat? But I guess the realquestion that haunts me is: Why are somany of us doing so little? Why is it soeasy for even me to not face the realityof the societal and lifestyle changes thatmust come about, quickly, in order tonot take a big gamble on our children’sfuture? I’ve spent quite a bit of timethinking about that because some ofthose changes have already been setin motion.

Friedman goes on to list a fewphrases related to global warming thathe heard repeatedly during his visit,such as: “Just a few years ago ... ,”“Everything is happening faster thananticipated,” “I’ve never seen that be-fore ...” and “Well usually ... but now Idon’t know anymore.” These phrasesencapsulate part of the problem. As hu-mans, we act based on a combination ofbiological/genetic factors and social/cul-tural socialization. One of the leadingreformers of greening higher education,David Orr, makes the point that as hu-mans evolved, we were more“programmed” to respond to immediatethreats of danger – a fright and flight re-sponse – than more diffused far-offones. And socialization tends to meanthat what we “know” to do is what oth-ers before us have done, that it is harderto think of new ways to respond or dothings than to rely on what has workedin the past. When I teach about this in

IS THE

CLIMATEChang ing?

And God said,“This is the sign ofthe covenant which Imake between meand you and everyliving creature thatis with you, for allfuture generations:I set my bow in thecloud, and it shallbe a sign of thecovenant betweenme and the earth.”Genesis 9: 12-13

11

“Religion and Social Process,” I talkabout socialized mazeways – the pat-terns of behavior and interaction thatwe know work, that come to seem likesecond nature to us, so much that weassume that is just how things are. Inmy seminar classes, I usually end uptalking about sociologist Anne Swidler’sconcept of a cultural toolkit – that wetry to fix things with what we alreadyknow. So this means that we makejudgments and decisions on past knowl-edge and have a hard time imaginingrealities outside our experience and cul-tural knowledge. Friedman’s phrase,“Well usually ... but now I don’t knowanymore,” reflects this dilemma.Further, because we don’t like notknowing and feeling out of control, anddon’t like changing our habits, we fallback on what we know, or block outthe new and disturbing informationthat demands we think and act differ-ently. It is just easier – easier to saywait and see, study it some more, eas-ier not to act, easier to raise questionsthan to decide to change things, andjust so much easier, with so manythings demanding our attention, tofocus on the immediate, the positive,the problems that seem solvable, orthat entail getting someone else to dosomething instead of ourselves.

When Jared Diamond came tospeak at Drew a year and a half agoabout his book Collapse, my then 10-year-old son joined all the gray hairs(like me) in the line to ask a question, aquestion that still haunts me: “How willwe know when it is too late?”Diamond’s stories are of civilizationsthat kept doing the things that broughtabout their own destruction, seeminglyunaware of the consequences of theiractions and distracted by what seemedto be more pressing concerns, sure thatthe future would fix itself.

So what does it take to get our at-tention, enough that we then actuallyput the connection together betweenour individual actions and the aggregateaffect of those actions multiplied by mil-lions of other over-consumers like us?Perhaps these images and facts aboutplastic bags, bottled water, and moun-tain top removal for coal will get your

attention, as they did mine. For most ofus, these are things that are out of sight,out of mind. The United States requires17 million barrels of oil to produce oneyear’s worth of plastic water bottles.This number does not include the oilused in transporting the bottled water.These bottles produce up to 1.5 milliontons of plastic waste per year, accordingto Food and Water Watch. Only 10 to15 percent of these bottles get recycled.The rest go into the trash and go –where? They join the hundreds of bil-lions of plastic bags that we use eachyear.

The magnitude of our waste prob-lem is observable in the “Great PacificGarbage Patch.” Estimated to weigh 3.5million tons, this continent sized collec-tion of floating plastics accumulates farfrom the public eye in the northern

Pacific Ocean. Some of it ends up in thestomachs or around the necks of marineand bird species, and they slowly die.Another dramatic effect of our currentlifestyle is seen in the mountain tops inAppalachia that continue to be strippedto access rich layers of coal to produceour electricity.

We know plenty about the conse-quences of our actions if we just chooseto ask and listen or stop to think aboutwhat we already know. I recognize thatchanging behavior doesn’t happen inone great cataclysm, some total conver-sion that leads us to act and thinkradically differently like the dramatiza-tions of Saul/Paul’s conversion on theroad to Damascus. Rather, it happens asthe result of a lot of small changes, andof the willingness to say no to howthings “have always been,” to try the

more unknown, the difficult, and tofind support in others who are doingthe same, as well as a determination tochanging societal/political institutionsand practices in order to create the op-portunities for us to act differently.Despite the election slogans, many peo-ple fear change; but change is coming,and we need to fear more what hap-pens if we don’t change! I have peoplecome up to me after I give a talk to ex-plain that they drive a big SUV becausethey can see better and feel safer or thatthey don’t like the color of light from acompact fluorescent light bulb (theycome in a wide range now), and I findmyself with an increasingly split per-sonality. The southerner in me wants tosmile politely and say “I see,” and theNew Jerseyan wants to say “Whatchadoin’ messin’ with my kids’ future?” I

mean, what am I supposed to say?“It’s okay if you don’t change, as longas others do?”

I chose the title of this talk withmore than one meaning or answer inmind. Despite my despair at timeswhen something as simple as recy-cling and changing coffee cups orlight bulbs seems to take an inordi-nate amount of attention when thereare so many larger, more difficult be-haviors and issues that needaddressing here at Drew and else-where, my research is about looking

for signs that the cultural, particularlyreligious, climate is changing with re-gard to environmental issues. So I wantto share a few things from my sabbati-cal that give me hope and I hopeencourage all of you to learn and domore. Examples:

I’ve studied evangelicals and envi-ronmental activism for two decadesnow, and the climate has certainlychanged. The Ellison Research pollfound that 70 percent of evangelicalsbelieve global warming will have an im-pact on future generations; 64 percentsay that action against it should beginimmediately, and 89 percent of evangel-icals agreed that the United Statesshould seek to curb its global warmingpollution, regardless of what it costs. Injust one year, even some Southern

(continued on next page)

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MOUNTAN TOp REMOVAL MINING fuels ourelectricity usage.

Baptists are changing their stance onclimate change. In 2007, the SBC, thesecond largest denomination in theUnited States, stated that, “SouthernBaptists [need] to proceed cautiously inthe human-induced global warming de-bate in light of conflicting scientificresearch. ... We consider proposals toregulate CO2 and other greenhouse gasemissions based on a maximum accept-able global temperature goal to be very

dangerous.” However, in 2008, the cur-rent and several past SBC presidentssigned a declaration that represented areal change in the religious climate onclimate change: “Our cautious responseto these issues in the face of mountingevidence may be seen by the world asuncaring, reckless and ill-informed. ...We pledge, therefore, to give seriousconsideration to responsible policiesthat effectively address global warm-ing.”

Another example is the Envision2008 Statement that Professor ChrisBoesel and I helped draft last June at alarge gathering of evangelical and pro-gressive Protestants, many of themyoung and up-and-coming leaders. Itreads, in part: “We are at a critical mo-ment in the history of the United States.The common good has been seriouslycompromised. Perpetual war, rampantpoverty and inequality, environmentalcrisis, and the narrowing of the possibil-ities of human life and culturalflourishing imperil our future. ... In thismoment of crisis, we have an importantopportunity to reclaim the commongood.” Rita Nakashima Brock, one ofthis year’s Tipple-Vosburgh lecturers,played a major role in bringing together

evangelical, emergent church andmainline/Anabaptist Protestants atEnvision 08.

And in the Drew classroom, I in-creasingly have a diverse range ofstudents expressing concern and want-ing to do more about environmentalissues. The last class I taught beforegoing on leave contained fiveKorean/Korean-American students try-ing to bring about change in their

churches as well as a Salvation Armystudent who increasingly is asked tospeak, and warmly welcomed, inArmy churches. These are significantchanges in the religious climate.

The same is true of “greening”congregations. When I first came toDrew, I knew of a handful of congre-gations in the nation that might callthemselves “green.” That has reallychanged, and here are a couple ofexamples that are close to home inone way or the other:

GreenFaith: The New Jersey in-terfaith organization GreenFaith, now15 years old, has helped equip 23churches with solar power, and over150 people showed up for their recentenvironmental justice tour of Newark,including a large group from an IslamicSchool. They also recently distributed45,000 compact fluorescent light bulbsthrough religious congregations inpoor areas.

NYC: An interfaith coalition ofmore than 90 congregations is green-ing low-income housing in the Harlemneighborhood of New York City.Harlem Congregations for CommunityImprovement (HCCI) is celebratingthe recent opening of David and JoyceDinkins Gardens, a new, green afford-able housing development.

First Grace UMC, New Orleans: Aracially diverse church pastored by ourgraduate Shawn Anglim was the win-ner of an NCC Eco-Justice GreenCongregation award last year. Theyused their training by SustainableChurches of South Louisiana, an initia-tive of the Louisiana InterchurchConference, to conduct energy audits atchurches throughout the New Orleansarea, finding at least $2,000 in savingsat each location. The church now uses

compact fluorescent light bulbs and haspartnered with Green Light NewOrleans to help install free compact flu-orescent light bulbs throughout theNew Orleans area.

In addition to researching how reli-gious environmentalism is growing,I’ve spent most of my sabbatical work-ing on the Green Seminary Initiative(GSI) that was launched before a crowdof over 250 at the American Academyof Religion in November 2008 – withprophetic words by Rosemary Ruether,John Cobb, and several other wellknown figures whose remarks you canread on the GSI website.3 If seminariesaren’t preparing religious leaders for thefuture, if we aren’t conveying the mes-sage that creation care is central to ourfaith, then we aren’t doing our job. Atthe 2007 American Academy ofReligion forum that launched the GSI,Biblical scholar Norman Habel statedthis goal: “[W]e live and move andhave our common being in one ecosys-tem called Earth. And that overarchingreality needs our attention at the semi-nary no matter what discipline weconsider.”

In order to do this, schools and con-gregations will need to focus on the

following program areas: curriculum,worship, sustainable building, groundsand institutional practices, communitylife and personal discipleship, and pub-lic ministry. Yet, there are fewseminaries where this is of central con-cern in their curriculum, their practices,or their mission statements. Althoughvery slow in coming, what is starting tohappen in seminaries is exciting, andDrew needs to do more to remain a

TheoSpirit12 SpRING 2009

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GREENfAITH works to make congregations moreecologically aware and sustainable.

HCCI supported the development of ecologicallyresponsible housing at Dinkins Gardens in Harlem.

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leader. Here are a couple of examples ofschools doing innovative work, and youcan find more stories at the GSI website.Like Drew, more have pesticide-freelawns, energy-efficient light bulbs, recy-cling, ecological worship services,student groups, and courses which em-phasize care of creation. Like our newaddition to Seminary Hall, some withbuilding projects have put in motion-sensing lights, high-efficiency heatingand cooling systems, while others likeGeneral in NYC or Candler at Emoryhave LEED certified building like ournew dorm at Drew, which has geother-mal wells that take advantage of theEarth’s natural heating and cooling sys-tem. This quiet, cost-effective solutioncuts carbon emissions, noise pollution,and costs, and helps us to meet the pres-ident’s commitment to climate change.

In recognition of the fact that theproduction and transportation of someof our food is as much a contributor toglobal climate change as the cars wedrive, like several seminaries we areworking with our food services provider,Sodexho, to include more local and or-ganic ingredients, although not to theextent of the recently built DukeDivinity School Refectory, which re-mains a model. At the TheologicalSchool, where as you all know, we eattogether often, we have cut back on ourserving of “mammal flesh” in recogni-tion of the energy impact of hugefeedlots, and bottled water is no longerserved. We now use biodegradableplates, cups, and utensils for our meals,while Fair Trade coffee is served andreusable mugs are available in the CyberCafé. Our student group, TERRA, dis-tributed reusable shopping bags tostudents. DTS hosted four conferencesand 35 eco-related speakers including

such luminaries as John Cobb andRosemary Radford Reuther since 1999.As you can see, a lot is happening atDrew University, and the hiring of ournew sustainability coordinator, TinaNotas, is making even more things pos-sible.4 I serve on the universitysustainability task force and advise ourown student group TERRA, and thisyear we will be working to make Drewa greener place. But some of that has to

start with you – the students, staff, andfaculty. Please recycle properly, bringand use reusable water bottles, cups,and mugs, even plates and forks, carpool or take public transportation. Imaintain an e-list of over 200 people towhich I send out occasional announce-ments, articles, news items, and worshipresources – just let me know if you’dlike to be added to it (lkearns@drew.edu). You can find a long list ofuseful links at my website.5

I hope you can see why Drew is oneof the founding partners of the GreenSeminary Initiative. We have much tobe proud of, but as my leadership ongreening seminaries has increased, I’vebecome aware of how much more weneed to be doing to remain a leader, andhow much more an ecological aware-ness needs to pervade our curriculum.The second conviction underpinning theinitiative is that seminaries and theolog-ical schools should provide religiousleaders with the tools necessary to leadtheir congregations, communities, and

organizations in meeting their uniquecall to protect creation and to work forecological and environmental justice.The religious community has a uniqueand significant calling to turn back orameliorate human-caused environmen-tal destruction. It is my goal to makesure every Drew Theological Schoolgraduate is aware of this prophetic chal-lenge that calls the church to action andleadership.

In conclusion, as you’re going downthe stairs to lunch, note the beautifulbanners that remind us of the gloriesand wonders of God’s creation – air andwater, the very stuff that we depend onfor life. Noah’s Ark, as evangelical CalDeWitt has suggested, is perhaps thefirst Endangered Species Act, and it isthe story of God’s agreement, covenant,to all of creation not to destroy it again.The question I leave you with is, are weholding up our end of the covenant?

Notes:1 http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Aug08/Energy.Food.html

2 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opinion/06friedman.html

3 http://www.webofcreation.org/GreenSeminary/

4 http://www.drew.edu/ThinkBeyond/Sustainability.aspx

5 http://www.users.drew.edu/lkearns/index.html

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Laurel kearns isassociate professor ofsociology of religionand environmentalstudies. she deliveredthis address at the fallmatriculation servicein Craig Chapel onseptember 4, 2008. 

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Are we holding upour end of thecovenant?

Do You Have News to Share?Theo Spirit is looking for news and notes from alumni/aeto share with the Office of Alumni/ae Affairs. Do you

have good news to announce? Are you involved in note-worthy activities and ministries? Please send your items

to Maria Iannuzzi at miannuzz@drew.edu.

14 SpRING 2009

By Luke Higgins, Ph.D. candidate

This year Professor Catherine Kellerhas sponsored a Process Theology

Visiting Scholars Series in which sixguest scholars have been invited to Drewto share their latest research in variousfacets of Process thought. Made possibleby a grant from Drew’s Center forReligion, Culture and Conflict, this lec-ture series has worked in partialconjunction with two fall semesterclasses Professor Keller offered onProcess theology/philosophy, and herspring seminar entitled “Planetudes:Creation, Climate and Cosmology.” Dr.Keller received her doctoral training atClaremont School of Theology whereProcess thought and the Whiteheadianphilosophy on which it is largely basedcame to exert a significant (if sometimesimplicit) influence on her thinking.Process thought sees at the heart of real-ity a rhythmic oscillation between thepublic and the private, relational connec-tion (“prehension”) and individualself-creation (“concrescence”), a balancewhich centrally informs Keller’s work.

The lecture series began at the endof September with Chilean scholarGorgias Romero Garcia, one of only asmall handful of Latin American thinkersseriously engaged with Whitehead’s phi-losophy. Romero presented an extremelywell-researched paper on the philosophi-cal roots of Whitehead’s thought, inparticular elucidating the remarkablebalance Whitehead seems to have struckbetween the relational monism of hisidealist, neo-Hegelian influences and thepluralism of his more empiricist-leaning,neo-realist influences. Romero’s researchmakes significant strides in clarifying thehistorical and philosophical context ofWhitehead’s work. The same week wealso hosted the Rev. Ignacio Castuera, aMethodist minister and former bishopwho grew up in Mexico, studied atClaremont School of Theology (where heworked extensively with John Cobb),and went on to a remarkable ministerialcareer that has uniquely applied the cen-tral insights of Process thought topractical issues of ministry and churchleadership. Castuera has been an espe-

cially articulate and effective spokesper-son on issues of sexuality andreproductive rights within the church.Among other things, his talk helped tounmask the classist and sexist underpin-nings of the Christian Right’s agendaaround sexual orientation and abortion.He appreciates Process thought’s prioriti-zation of Jesus’ “love commandment,”which, in its rejection of coercive power(on both a divine and human level) de-mands that we move beyond aninflexible moralism in order to truly bepresent for the actual needs of our di-verse neighbors.

On October 22, 2008, we welcomedMonica Coleman, another graduate ofClaremont School of Theology, who hasalso recently taken a faculty positionthere teaching Process theology.

Coleman spoke on (and then signedcopies of) her new book, Making a Wayout of No Way, a truly original piece ofscholarship weaving togetherWhiteheadian metaphysics, Womanisttheology (in a whole range of incarna-tions), various traditions of Africanancestor worship (especially as they arepracticed in the United States) and evenblack women’s science fiction. Perhapsher most original move is to relateAfrican ancestor worship to Whitehead’snotion of the “consequent nature ofGod” – that irreducibly multiple aspect ofthe divine, which takes into itself the ac-tualized world in its entirety, thusmaking the past salvifically available forfuture moments of becoming.

On November 18, 2008, RolandFaber, another professor of Process theol-ogy at Claremont School of Theology

and Claremont Graduate University,brought us into the orbit of his adven-turously post-modern and deeplyphilosophical approach to Processtheology. Faber provided helpful contex-tualization (both theoretical andautobiographical) for his book God AsPoet of the World: Exploring ProcessTheologies. Faber’s book is one of themost in-depth and erudite explorationsof the movement of Process theology asa whole, offering exhaustive treatmentsof its philosophical roots, its historicalcontext within North American liberaltheology and its various internal“schools” and offshoots. One of the mostoriginal contributions of the book is towork out a deeply satisfying Trinitarianvision (an ongoing challenge for Processtheologians who are inevitably facedwith the “two-ness” of Whitehead’s di-polar God) in which the three phases of“creaturely” becoming (prehension, sat-isfaction, and superject) are converselyreflected in three inseparable phases ofGod’s own becoming (God’s primordialnature, consequent nature and superjec-tive nature – corresponding respectivelyto the Son, Holy Spirit, and Father).Faber’s more recent work explores someof the “wilder” constructive/deconstruc-tive interfaces between Process thoughtand the post-structuralist philosophies ofGilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida.

This spring we hosted two otherscholars, the first of whom was PhilipClayton, professor of religion and philos-ophy at Claremont Graduate Universityand Ingraham Professor at ClaremontSchool of Theology. On Monday,February 23, he presented a lecture enti-tled “Beyond the “Religion Wars: WhatHappens After the New Atheism andIntelligent Design?” Professor Claytonhas published and lectured extensivelyon many aspects of the debate aroundreligion and science, arguing that reject-ing the scientism of Richard Dawkinsand others of the “new atheist” persua-sion need not lead theology down amore sectarian path that would effec-tively keep it from any responsibleparticipation in the public sphere.Clayton draws on a whole range of re-sources within the sciences, philosophy,

Process Scholar Series brings Thinkers of Many Stripes

Process thought sees at the

heart of reality a rhythmic

oscillation between the

public and the private,

relational connection

(“prehension”) and

individual self-creation

(“concrescence”).

By the Rev. Jeff Markay, Senior Pastor of The United Methodist

Church in Caldwell, NJ

Henri Nouwen often started his lec-tures at Notre Dame, Yale, or

Harvard by singing a Taizé chant tohelp those present center and becomeaware of God’s presence. Following hislead, more than 120 seekers of spiritualwisdom who gathered at the HenriJ.M. Nouwen Lecture in ClassicalChristian Spirituality commemoratingthe 12th anniversary of his deathbegan by singing some Taizé chantsand prayer.

After introductions by DeanMaxine Beach, the first speaker, theRev. Rebecca Laird, director of minis-terial formation and supervisedministry at Drew, began a marvelouslecture with some of the history ofspiritual direction. She reflected onthe life, ministry, and gifts of spiritualdirection that Henri Nouwen gavethrough his books to so many thou-sands over the span of his lifetime.Dean Laird gave us a powerful and vi-sual explanation of spiritual directionby setting up three chairs in the front ofCraig Chapel, describing the “triangle oftrust:” “one person opens their heartand schedule to prayerfully listen to an-other who reveals her thoughts andseeks a word of love, encouragement,spiritual guidance; and this all happensin a shared and conscious awarenessthat God sits in the third chair and is thereal director.” Those of us gathered inCraig Chapel remembered the presence

of the Holy Third, not only in conversa-tions of which we had been a part overthe years, but of the presence of theHoly Third in our midst that night inCraig Chapel.

The second speaker was LisaCataldo, assistant professor of pastoralcounseling at the Fordham UniversityGraduate School of Religion andReligious Education, who had soughtand appreciated spiritual direction fromNouwen while he was serving in theL’Arche Community near Toronto. Shetold of her first encounter with him,asking him to be her guru, and his re-sponse: “Spend some time in the chapel.

But most of all, spend time with thecore members, and just let them loveyou.” She spent time with the coremembers of the L’Arche community,who have mental and physical handi-

caps and live a very loving, honest,accepting, and holy community life.In addition to the wisdom and spiritgleaned through this experience,Cataldo received some nuggets ofspiritual wisdom from Nouwen: “Themore we grow spiritually, the less farinto the future we can see, yet thesurer we are about doing the nextthing. Spiritually mature people haveno idea what to do with their wholelife, but they always seem to knowwhat to do next.” When she sharedthis, we knew we had just beengiven a gift. People wrote down whatthey remembered of the quote.Cataldo, realizing that the Spirit wasmoving, paused, and gave us thequote again.

It was my joy to have five mem-bers of the Caldwell UnitedMethodist Church with me at Drewthat night. For the next few months,that nugget of wisdom has been

quoted in prayer groups, worship serv-ices, spiritual formation groups, andcoffee discussions at our church. It hasbecome part of our spiritual lexicon inmy church. The Henri Nouwen lecturesare yet another illustration of how thesignificant programs offered at DrewUniversity Theological School can equipthe saints for ministry in and beyondthe church. Indeed, the empty chair, theHoly Third, was and is present.

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theology, and comparative religiousthought to develop constructive partner-ships between these two great culturalpowers. Some areas for potential com-patibility between religion and sciencehe has reflected on are emergence the-ory, evolution and religion, evolutionarypsychology, neuroscience, and theoriesof consciousness. His most recent bookis entitled Adventures in the Spirit: God,World, Divine Action, and he defends aform of Process theology that is hypo-

thetical, dialogical, and pluralistic.Our final guest this spring was

Karen Baker-Fletcher, professor of sys-tematic theology at Perkins School ofTheology at SMU. She delivered Drew’sannual Nelle K. Morton lecture onTuesday, March 3. Baker-Fletcher hasdeveloped her own special brand ofWomanist eco-theology, heavily in-formed by Process-relational theism.Her interests in literature/poetry (bothher own and works by some of her fa-

vorite authors such as Alice Walker) andthe historical resources of Wesleyan reli-gious traditions (including the Holinessmovement) contribute to an “earthy” –and “earthly” – theological vision thatboth beckons us forward toward anopen future and remains grounded inthe living roots of our past.

If you have any questions aboutthese visits by our guest scholars pleasecontact Luke Higgins (student coordina-tor) at lhiggins@drew.edu.

Reflections on the Henri Nouwen Lectures

REBECCA LAIRD discusses the legacy of HenriNouwen on spiritual direction.

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TheoSpirit16 SpRING 2009

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TheoSpirit

ANNUAL CONfERENCE VOLUNTEERS wANTEDAnnually, Drew University co-coordinates gatherings at most of theUnited Methodist annual conferences that take place throughout Mayand June. We ask our alumni/ae to volunteer their time to host thesegatherings. We appreciate all of the help we receive and are veryhappy to accept new volunteers. If you would like to be one, pleasecontact the Office of Alumni/ae Relations at 973/408-3229 oralumni@drew.edu. Please check the web site drew.edu/alumni/annualconferences to view the 2009 schedule. Please note, the sched-ule and hosting availability for the conferences is subject to change.

Annual Conferences, with Dates of Drew Gatherings