SMU Perkins School of Theology

Members of the Perkins and SMU communities were well-represented when the world’s largest gathering of scholars interested in the study of religion convened November 23-26 in San Diego.

The 2024 Annual Meetings, hosted by the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, featured more than 900 academic sessions, workshops, meetings, receptions, tours, and other events. Approximately 7,000 attendees participated. The Annual Meetings provide opportunities to engage with leading scholars and scholarship within the field of religion.

As the gathering concluded, alumni and friends reconnected at a reception hosted by Southern Methodist University and Perkins School of Theology.

One session, hosted by the Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies (SBCS), was a special tribute to former SBCS president, Perkins faculty member and Zen Rōshi, Ruben Habito, for his many significant contributions to Buddhist-Christian Studies. Panelists addressed various aspects of Habito’s work, such as multiple religious belonging, the healing character of Buddhism and Christianity, Zen and the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, as well as the intersection between Zen, spirituality, and Christian trinitarian reflection. A response-reflection from Habito himself concluded the session.

In total, faculty and students from Perkins School of Theology and Moody School of Graduate Studies at SMU presented, presided, responded, or served as panelists at more than two dozen sessions at the meeting. They included:

Hymn Society in the United States and Canada

Theme: Pub Sing!

Fernando Berwig Silva, Southern Methodist University

Niebuhr Society

Theme: Book Panel on The Future of Christian Realism: International Conflict, Political Decay, and the Crisis of Democracy (Lexington, 2023)

Rebekah Miles, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Responding

Ethics Unit

Theme: Technology as an Existential Threat

Lindsey Johnson Edwards, Southern Methodist University — Presenter

Oh Death, Where Is Your Sting: Medical Aid in Dying as an Ars Moriendi

Teaching Religion Unit

Theme: Teaching Tactics

Jill De Temple, Southern Methodist University — Presenter

Teaching Tactic/Gift Exchange: Dialogic Moment

Women and Religion Unit

Theme: Feminist Intersectional Approaches to Transforming Violence: Perspectives from Emerging Scholars

Natalie Readnour, Southern Methodist University — Presenter

Connecting to God After Abuse: Altars of La Virgen de Guadelupe Among Survivors of IPV

Open and Relational Theologies Unit

Theme: Author Meets Readers: Tom Oord’s The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence

Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Practical Theology Unit

Theme: Re-membering the Pioneers: Honoring Feminist and Womanist Practical Theologians

Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Evelyn Parker, Perkins School of Theology (Emeritus) | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Pragmatism and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Unit and Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogy Unit

Theme: Pragmatism and Empiricism in American Religious Thought Unit and Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogy Unit Papers Session

Jill De Temple, Southern Methodist University — Presenter

Dialogic Classrooms as Pathways to Democratic Habits in Uncertain Times

Hymn Society in the United States and Canada

Theme: Singing Peace to Violence

Fernando Berwig Silva, Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies

Theme: Reflecting on Buddhist-Christian Double Belonging: A 2024 Update

Ruben L.F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Presenter

Problems and Perils of Multiple Religious Belonging

Postcolonial Studies and Biblical Studies / Asian and Asian-American Hermeneutics / African Biblical Hermeneutics

Theme: Bible Translation and Decolonization in Global Contexts

Abraham Smith, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Book of Acts / African-American Biblical Hermeneutics

Theme: Book Review of Jeremy Williams’s “Criminalization in Acts of the Apostles: Race, Rhetoric, and Christian Prosecution”

Abraham Smith, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Bible and Film

Theme: Bible, Genre, and Film

Rob Kranz, Southern Methodist University – Presenter

The Perils of Jephthah’s Daughter

Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Unit

Theme: Borderlands, Liminal Spaces, and Religion: Latinx/Caribbean Perspectives on Gender, Sexuality, Violence, and Identity

Natalie Readnour, Southern Methodist University — Presenter

Women Giving Birth to Themselves: Liminal Motherhood and Liberation in the Work of Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz and Frida Kahlo

 

Hinduism Unit

Theme: New Books in Hindu Studies

Steven Lindquist, Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Bible in America

Theme: The Christian Nationalist Agenda for Bible in Public Education

Mark Chancey, Southern Methodist University – Panelist

 

Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible / LGBTI/Queer Hermeneutics

Theme: Masculinity Studies in Biblical Scholarship: Feminist, Womanist, and Queer Assessments

Susanne Scholz, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies

Theme: Honoring Ruben Habito’s Many Contributions to Buddhist-Christian Studies

Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Presenter

Ruben Habito on Zen, Spirituality, and Christian Theology

Ruben L.F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Responding

Bible in America

Review Panel: Claudia Setzer, The Progressives’ Bible (Fortress Press, 2024)

Mark Chancey, Southern Methodist University – Presiding

South Asian Religions Unit

Theme: Life Stories in the Lives of Texts: Reconsidering Biography and Hagiography in South Asian Religions

Steven Lindquist, Southern Methodist University – Presenter

Lifestyles of the Rsi and Famous: Proto-Biographical Narrative in Late Vedic Literature

Wesleyan and Methodist Studies Unit

Theme: The Reception History of the Wesleys

Emily Nelms Chastain, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Presenter

Reviving the Radical: The Legacy of the Methodist Student Movement within Wesleyan Tradition

Priscilla Pope-Levison, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Responding

 

Bible and Visual Art

Theme: Bible and Visual Art

Susanne Scholz, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Presenter

The Eyes of Leah (Gen. 29:17) in the Abstract Artwork of Yehuda Levy-Aldema

Economics in the Biblical World

Theme: Open Session

Jon Carman, Southern Methodist University – Presenter

The Denarius Wasn’t Worth a Day’s Wage

Critical Carceral Studies and the Bible

Special session exploring scholarship at the nexus of critical carceral studies and biblical studies

Abraham Smith, Perkins School of Theology | Southern Methodist University – Panelist

Giuseppina Avitia remembers how her late husband, the Rev. Edgar Avitia Legarda, would take the long way home when driving the family back from Annual Conference gatherings in San Antonio.

“He loved to drive through the small towns in South Texas and New Mexico to look for the Methodist church in each place,” she said. “He would stop at cemeteries and look around, noticing details like which way the tombs were facing. He continued that custom until just three months before his passing. He was passionate about history his entire life.”

That passion earned Avitia a reputation as the foremost authority on the history of Methodism in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. It also led the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) of The United Methodist Church to honor Avitia posthumously with the 2024 Distinguished Service Award.

The award, presented at the Sept. 9 board meeting of GCAH, is given annually to a person who has made significant academic contributions to the ministry of memory of The United Methodist Church. Giuseppina Avitia accepted the award on his behalf.

“Edgar had many gifts, but it was his relationship capital that was his greatest gift,” said Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, GCAH president and a Perkins alum, in presenting the award. “Whether you were talking about Haiti, Chile, or Mexico, or Global Ministries, or anybody anywhere, Edgar knew somebody who knew them if he didn’t know them himself.”

She added, joking, “He was better than Ancestry.com.”

Avitia grew up in a scholarly family in Chihuahua City, Mexico, and moved to the U.S. in 1983, following his marriage to Giuseppina Lauretano. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, he came to Perkins and earned an M.Div. with a Hispanic American certification in 1992.

Avitia was ordained in the Rio Grande Conference (now part of the Rio Texas Conference). In addition to serving local churches in Texas and New Mexico, he also served as chaplain of the Lydia Patterson Institute, the United Methodist school in El Paso, and as a district superintendent in South Texas.

In 2001, Avitia joined the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM), launching a 22-year career with the United Methodist agency that continued until his death. He began as a specialist in Hispanic and Latino ministry in the U.S. but quickly expanded his work to include Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Rev. John Feagins (M.Div., 1995), senior pastor of La Trinidad United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas, worked with Avitia at the border when Avitia was district superintendent. Feagins was also a fellow instructor with Avitia in Perkins’s Course of Study School (COSS); Avitia taught church polity and other subjects for many years in the COSS Spanish-language program.

Feagins was sometimes called on to serve as an interpreter for English-speaking participants at the Rio Grande Conference. Interpreting for Avitia, he recalled, could be daunting.

“Edgar had the most erudite vocabulary of any other pastor I’ve known,” Feagins said. “I would always cringe when Edgar got to the microphone because he was the hardest one to translate. His Spanish was so refined. He was a walking encyclopedia and a walking dictionary at the same time.”

At the time of Avitia’s death, Feagins and Avitia had been working behind the scenes on a 150th-anniversary celebration of the Mexican Methodist Church in Mexico City in 2023. The church got its formal start in 1873, when missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church landed in Mexico City and launched a church and an orphanage.

Avitia did not live to attend the celebration. He died suddenly of a heart attack on June 27, 2023. Feagins participated in his Celebration of Life service in El Paso.

Many mourned his passing in public messages and statements.

“Edgar had a remarkably keen understanding of the links between local and global Christian mission,” said Roland Fernandes, Global Ministries’ general secretary, in an announcement mourning Avitia’s death. “We heavily depended on his experience and vision. Edgar had a firm grasp of what it means to engage in God’s mission.”

In a letter of condolences to GBGM, the World Council of Churches (WCC) praised Avitia’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“His expertise and deep knowledge of the ecclesiological landscape of the region were outstanding,” wrote Rev. Dr. Jerry Pillay, WCC general secretary. “Thanks to him, the WCC was able to resume contact with some churches in the region that were apart from our life and work for many years.”

Avitia had assembled an extensive collection of historical documents related to church history. In recognition of his work, the Methodist Church of Mexico has created a new historical archive that bears his name: Historical Archive CANCEN Rev. Edgar Avitia Legarda.

Bishop Dr. Joel Martinez, retired United Methodist bishop, collaborated with GBGM to create an Advance, #3022792, which launched last March to support the archive.

“Edgar was an exemplary Methodist minister in terms of the strength of his Wesleyan and Methodist identity, as well as his ethos, his ministry, his work ethic, his approach to people, and his commitment to mission,” said Feagins. “The fact that we are still acknowledging him now, more than a year after his passing, speaks volumes.”

Marker Celebrates Church’s Historic Role

Salem Institutional Baptist Church in South Dallas unveiled a new Texas Historical Marker in a special worship service on November 10. The Rev. Todd Atkins (M.T.S. ‘07) has served as the church’s 21st pastor since 2010.  The marker recognizes the church’s significant role in African American culture and in the history of the South Dallas area, Texas, and the United States. At the dedication, associate pastor Rev. Barbara Taylor (M.Div. ‘22) noted that the marker began by way of her M.Div. internship, the Baptist House of Studies’ Mentor Pastor Program, and the support of many others at Perkins during my time as a student.

 

GCAH Honors Perkins Community Members

Three members of the Perkins community featured prominently at the September board meeting of The General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) of The United Methodist Church. The board re-elected Bishop Cynthia Fiero Harvey (M.Div. ‘99) as board president and Perkins faculty member Ted Campbell as GCAH vice president. In addition, the Rev. Dr. Edgar Avitia Legarda was presented the 2024 Distinguished Service Award posthumously. Avitia, who died June 27, 2023, was known as the foremost authority on the history of Methodism in Mexico and the U.S. Southwest and taught in Perkins Course of Study program for many years. The Sept. 9 gathering concurred with the 10th Historical Convocation at Bozeman United Methodist Church in Bozeman, Mont.

 

St. Paul Anniversary Hosts Perkins Grad

St. Paul United Methodist Church in Fayette, Mo., celebrated its 168th church anniversary on October 27, with guest preacher and former pastor the Rev. Hadley Edwards (M. Div. ‘86.) Edwards was the church’s pastor from 1979 to 1981 while an undergraduate at what was then Central Methodist College. St. Paul’s integrated congregation made statewide news during that tie; Edwards’ Central classmates (black and white) began joining him every Sunday at St Paul. “The congregation, black and white, old and young, worshiped together not because a church board voted it, but because a young man felt called by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the love of Jesus to all who wanted to hear it,” according to a news report in the Fayette Advertiser. After graduating from Central Methodist in 1981, Edwards attended Perkins and completed his M.Div. in May 1986.

 

Campbell Named Chief of Staff

Joyce Campbell (M.Div. ‘15) has been selected to serve as chief of staff for Vivian Flowers, mayor-elect of Pine Bluff, Ark.   “Joyce works with people from all walks of life to seek solutions, overcome obstacles to improve the quality of life for all,” Flowers said in a news release. Campbell has held positions as a nonprofit executive director, policy adviser and liaison for Gov. Mike Huckabee, vice president and senior manager for Capital One bank community as a reinvestment officer, assistant vice president of Hibernia Bank as a regional community outreach director, consultant for Dewey Square Group, live radio talk show host, college instructor, youth program director, union representative, production worker and senior pastor in the AME church.

 

Jericho Village Breaks Ground in Wylie

Agape Resource & Assistance Center, led by Janet Collinsworth (M.Div. ‘09), recently broke ground on a new multi-family village in Wylie, Texas. The project will offer affordable housing for women and children who have graduated from Agape’s program. Jericho Village will provide the first housing in Collin County with wraparound services and with sliding scale rent, meeting the needs of families challenged by the dramatic increase in rent since 2020. Collinsworth founded Agape Resource & Assistance Center in 2013, a nonprofit helping homeless women and their children toward self-sufficiency.

 

Perkins Grad Named Research Fellow

Feeding America recently announced Dr. Yvette Blair-Lavallais (M.T.S. ‘13) as the Equity Research Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Dr. Blair-Lavallais is an adjunct professor and cohort mentor in the Land, Food and Faith Doctor of Ministry program at Memphis Theological Seminary and she is an Ordained Elder in the Methodist tradition. She will work with Feeding America’s Research and Innovation Department (and other teams at Feeding America) to serve as a member of our Technical Advisory Group, consult on various projects throughout the organization, and conduct an original research project.

 

Perkins Alum’s Church Hit by Hurricane Helene Flooding

The two congregations led by the Rev. Emma Ward were hit hard by the flooding in Tennessee in late September in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Ward (M.Div. ‘24) is a provisional elder serving a two-point charge that includes Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church in Chuckey, Tenn., and Seviers United Methodist in Jonesborough, Tenn.  Many homes were destroyed in both communities; few residents, if any, had flood insurance. Ward asks for continued prayer from members of the Perkins community. In an Oct. 3 Facebook post, she noted, “People keep telling me, ‘I bet you weren’t taught how to handle this in seminary! Especially for your first appointment!’ But in a way, I was. As Christian leaders and Christians in general, we are to show up for our people and serve as Jesus would serve. Seminary taught me to lead with radical love, generosity, and presence.”

 

Abbott Serves Minaret Foundation

Jennifer Martin Abbott (M.A.M. ‘23) shares that she is serving as Partnership Manager with Minaret Foundation in Houston, bringing the various faith traditions of Houston together for civic engagement. Recently, the Foundation hosted the second of a three-part series called Angels and Messengers. Clergy from the three Abrahamic faiths have deep discussions on what the traditions share, where they differ, and how they can work together as members of the broader community.

 

Graham Certified as Language Therapist

Bethany Graham (M.A.M. ‘09) was recently certified by Texas Academic Language Therapy Association (ALTA) as a Certified Academic Language Therapist. Writes Graham: “Over the course of the past two years, I have sat and soaked up over 200 hours of wisdom from our phenomenal instructor, provided over 700 hours of dyslexia instruction, submitted 11 videos with reflections for critique and coaching, read countless academic articles and listened to hours of podcasts as well as submitting four book reports over major texts about dyslexia and how we learn to read, done case studies, and have gotten to learn alongside some of the most dedicated and phenomenal educators I know! Graham is a deacon in the United Methodist Church and special education teacher in the Comal Independent School District in Bulverde, Texas.

 

OBITUARIES

Obituary: Anne White Beall

Anne White Beall (M.Div. ‘92) died November 4 at the age of 79.   Her first ministerial assignment was at Pines Presbyterian Church in Houston, where she served for 10 years. She was next called as pastor of Wimberley Presbyterian. In retirement, she was active in the Cursillo movement. Beall is survived by her husband James Fielder (Jim), her daughters, Kristin Beall and Catherine Rundle, both now in ministry, and six grandchildren. Her Celebration of Life service was held at Chapel in the Hills in Wimberley, Texas on November 23.

 

Obituary:  Charles Peters

Charles Peters (Th.M. ‘59) died October 2 at the age of 88.   He served as Youth Director and Minister for several North Texas United Methodist churches. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Kay; their four children, 10 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren. Peters was an active volunteer; he drove the McKinney Avenue Trolley in Dallas, greeted travelers at DFW Airport and the USO; and built models at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. A memorial service was held in the Christ Chapel at CC Young on October 6. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the CC Young Benevolence Fund or the United Services Organization.

 

Obituary:  Nancy Willet

Nancy Carol Pelton Willet (M.Div. ‘05) died on September 22 at age 69, after a six-year battle with metastatic breast cancer. She is survived by her husband, Robert, their three children, and five grandchildren. Willet was ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA in 2005. She served at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Faith Presbyterian Church in El Paso, and First Presbyterian Church in Uvalde Texas, before retiring in Austin in 2012. A Celebration of Life was held on Tuesday, October 1 at the First Presbyterian Church in Mesquite, Texas. In lieu of flowers, Nancy requested donations to Metavivor or Gladney Center for Adoption.

 

Ayers Receives Visionary Award

Perkins student Rev. Danielle Ayers was recently recognized with a Visionary Award by the State Fair of Texas and the Friends of Juanita Craft Civil Rights House & Museum. The award honors Juanita Craft, a Dallas civil rights leader who helped integrate many Dallas establishments, including the State Fair. Ayers, who is pursuing a D. Min. as a Baugh Scholar, serves as Pastor of Justice at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, leading the church’s public policy efforts, legislative agenda, and justice initiatives. Ayers is also involved in the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP) legal clinic, racial justice work, various civic engagement initiatives, and in efforts addressing immigration and the crisis at the Texas border.

Garrett Publishes Op-ed

Perkins student Paula Garrett has published an opinion piece on the Baptist News Global website, “Disaster bring out the best and worst theology.” After witnessing the flooding and destruction off Hurricane Helene in her community in North Carolina, Garrett was angered by well-meaning comments on social media that implied God had kept her family safe. “I cannot believe in a God who would thump some people into the river to their deaths while sparing me and my family,” she wrote. “Was God with me but not them? Was God with them but not me? What kind of God allows hurricanes, floods, devastation?”

Garett noted that climate change is contributing to more and more dramatic weather events, and that her safety was assured, at least in part, to her economic status. Yet many Christians deny climate change and refuse to grapple with economic injustice.

“There is one thing I do know about the God I can believe in,” she wrote. “God did not choose to be with me and not with others during the worst of the storm. God did not give me enough prosperity to live safely while denying it to others. God’s people frustrate me a good bit, but never more than when our self-centeredness allows us to make of God something that God isn’t.”

Honoring Latine Heritage Month, All Year Long

Perkins student Lily White wrote a blog post about Latine Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15, 2024) for the Alliance of Baptists website. “Recognizing Latine Heritage Month goes beyond honoring history,” she wrote. “It is essential that we amplify Latine voices, support Latine-led initiatives, and work toward dismantling the systemic barriers that many still face. As we reach the end of Latine Heritage Month, I challenge you to continue recognizing the Latine people and their effect on our lives throughout the rest of the year. While there is no one way to do this, here are a few ways that work for me.” White is interning at the Alliance of Baptists. She is also a Baugh Scholar, a student ambassador for the Baptist House of Studies Board of Visitors at Perkins, and a member of L@s Seminaristas, an ecumenical Latine student organization.

Victoria Jones on Good Faith Media

Perkins student Victoria “Tori” Jones has published two opinion pieces on Good Faith Media. The website, launched in July 2020, is the result of a merger between two historic Baptist entities: Baptists Today (operating as Nurturing Faith) and Baptist Center for Ethics (operating as EthicsDaily.com).

In one post, “Asking Challenging Questions in Rural Churches,” Jones wrote about confronting the theology of a church in a rural Texas town near the border of Oklahoma, which she’d been considering joining along with her family. Church leaders told her that women were not permitted to teach men in the church, citing a passage in the Bible. “Sadly, experiences like these are common in our rural American churches,” she wrote. The experience led her to apply to Perkins.

In another piece, “Don’t Ask Me How I Am: A Reflection on Loss, Grief, and Making Meaning When There is None,” she described the death of her best friend due to cancer. At times of loss, she wrote, platitudes about “God is in control” don’t work.

“Grievers don’t need you to explain their loss or even to fix it,” she said. “But they do need you to sit with them, sharing moments, holding hands. Let their tears fall without handing them a tissue to wipe them all away. Don’t ask if they’re okay. They’re not. And it’s okay for them to not be okay.

“I pray we become more willing to be present to the pain of this world. Perhaps then, we might be able to transform it, together.”