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News Perspective Magazine Perspective Magazine: Summer 2018

Letter from the Dean

Servant Leadership

Christian faith is paradoxical in so many ways. The early church preached “Christ crucified” (1 Cor.1:23), a declaration that must have seemed an oxymoron. The Christ, the Messiah, was expected to be a victor, not a victim. The pre-Christian Paul himself appears to have regarded the crucifixion as proof that Jesus was cursed by God (Gal. 3:13). It would have seemed self-evident that a crucified Jesus could not be the Christ. And yet, as Paul came to learn, he is.

There is much discussion today about servant leadership.The concept embraces what must also appear to many to be a self-contradiction. Isn’t a leader one who is served, not one who serves? All of us can think of public figures who operate according to that model. This was also the popular view in the time of Jesus. “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them” (Mark 10:42) To be a servant in the ancient world was to have little or no social standing. It is not a role many would assume voluntarily. Nevertheless, Jesus goes on to say, “But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all” (vv. 43-44).

It is fascinating that here as elsewhere, Jesus does not reprimand the disciples for wanting to have significant lives. He does not tell them to become nothing. What he does do is redirect them toward a wholly different source of significance. The same phenomenon occurs in Mark 9:33-35:

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”

That this was a hard lesson for the disciples is unsurprising. It is just as hard for believers today. Like most of us, the disciples were egocentric, jostling with others for prominence, looking to others for affirmation. Egocentrism is a profoundly weak state of being. Indeed, it is a kind of bondage. Jesus, by contrast, was strong enough to serve. We see this most movingly in the story of the foot washing in John 13. “Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart… Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God…poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” Jesus was the only one in the room who knew who he was, and therefore the only one free to serve.

Christian service springs from such strength — strength of faith, strength of identity in God — and not from self-centered weakness. This helps to counter the understandable concern that a call to service is actually a veiled means of domination. The service Jesus undertook was a choice made in love and was directed primarily at the weak, the marginalized and the dispossessed — in other words, those in no position to command his service. Moreover, Jesus was remarkably unconcerned with human opinion, especially the opinion of those who might advance him. Again, this demonstrated great strength of faith and of character, ultimately expressed in the victory of the cross.

So it is that we speak at Perkins of being both called to serve and empowered to lead. In the paradox of Christian faith, serving and leading go together, as do calling and empowering. As is so often the case, what is required is the maintenance of a creative and healthy tension. Empowerment without service is destructive, just as service without empowerment is oppressive.

Of course, it is God who calls and empowers for ministry, but God works in part through human agents. It is our great privilege to serve our students so that they in turn might be equipped to serve the church and the world.

Grace and peace,

CRAIG C. HILL
Dean, Perkins School of
Theology
Southern Methodist University

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News Perspective Magazine Perspective Magazine: Summer 2018

Q&A with Dean Hill

Dean Craig C. Hill’s Servant of All: Status, Ambition, and the Way of Jesus (Eerdmans, 2016) has found a readership among United Methodist church leaders, church members more generally, and in the secular world. Hill talked to Sam Hodges about the book and about nurturing servanthood at Perkins.

What made you want to write about servanthood, ambition, and the Christian life?

Both personal and professional reasons. I’ve been reading the Bible most of my life and therefore was aware of Jesus’ admonitions about humility and servanthood. I also had a career, first in ministry and then in the academy. So, personally, I wanted to explore what this means in terms of: Do I apply for jobs? Do I seek promotions? Do I try to advance? How as a Christian do I think faithfully about such matters?

Professionally, I’ve taught in doctor of ministry programs, including directing the one at Duke Divinity School. The more I worked with mid-career pastors, the more I realized that servanthood, ambition and the Christian life presented a pressing issue for many of them. A number had reached career plateaus and were frustrated, even disillusioned. After being in ministry a while, they saw who got attention, who got promoted and who got the more desirable church appointments. So it was easy for their early vocational mindset to shift imperceptibly into a careerist mindset.

If you do that, you’re likely to be disappointed because the opportunities for “advancement” in ministry are increasingly slim. Even if you succeed, you’re going to be egocentric — your thoughts and efforts will be focused on yourself. Everyone I’ve known who is chronically unhappy has one thing in common: they are scorekeepers. They are keenly aware of who is getting what, and whether they’re being slighted. We have to remember that service isn’t fair. (Of course, neither is grace.) It’s not about advancement, at least not in the way we usually imagine it.

As a New Testament scholar, these things jumped off the page at me. If the standard is what Jesus gave us, which is that the greatest is the servant of all, then how are we to live? That became of increasing interest to me over the years.

Another piece of this is my lifelong interest in science. So, for me, one of the default questions is: Why are we the way we are? Why do we care what anybody thinks of us? There’s a simple answer: It’s because we are social animals. It is deeply embedded in our DNA to concern ourselves — consciously but even more unconsciously — with where we fit in the group. The fact that we have ambition and that we think about how others perceive us isn’t abnormal. But, as with any other natural impulse, we need to discern how to deal with it faithfully.

How should we deal with ambition, in light of the New Testament?

When Paul says in Romans 12:10, “outdo one another in showing honor,” he is offering a perspective in line with that of Jesus but radically opposed to that of the wider culture. What one sought to do in the Roman world was outdo others in receiving honor. The person who outdid everyone in showing honor was a slave. Life was seen as a continual competition for honor. One of the goals of Servant of All is to show just how countercultural the teaching of the New Testament on this subject actually is. That is why I quote a number of Greco-Roman authors, such as Cicero, Seneca and Dio Chrysostom. Human nature being what it is, these writers sound remarkably contemporary.

The core story of the book is that of the foot-washing in John 13. In the ancient world, persons who washed someone else’s feet acknowledged by that act their own low status. Understandably, the disciples, who were continually jockeying for position, did not want to do this. Jesus flips the normal order: the leader takes the place of the servant, but in so doing, continues all the more to lead.

That’s an essential lesson for us —­ to believe enough in God, to believe enough in our own justification by God’s grace, that our identity is so fundamentally established that, like Jesus, we can be free to serve without our service being dependent on public reward. We should ask ourselves, “What would we still do if no one could give us credit for doing it?” If you find that strong purpose, you’ve found your true ministry.

 

“We should ask ourselves, ‘What would we still do if no one could give us credit for doing it?’ If you find that strong purpose, you’ve found your true ministry.”

DEAN HILL

 

We love to look to heroes, including in the Christian faith. Where ought we to look for Christian heroes, the true servant leaders?

Among others, I think of a priest I know who has a phenomenal ministry. He’s not particularly attractive in conventional ways, but he is so given over to his mission that you can’t help but be drawn to him. There’s a deep authenticity about him. His care for his mission and for the people whom he serves allows him to be remarkably unselfconscious, even self-forgetful. That’s the kind of leader we need, one who is invested in something more important than themselves. Such a person is a light in the darkness.

What is the role of community in helping Christians live into servanthood?

As Christians we want to create communities where the things God honors are honored. A key New Testament story for me is that of the widow’s mite. Here is a woman who was invisible to everyone; she wasn’t significant in the world’s eyes, but it was she whom Jesus singled out and honored. He saw her. In the economy of God, she was the greatest. That story should haunt us all, especially those of us in positions of visibility.

You can tell a lot about a church by how it distributes its attention. Are people valued according to the standards of the wider society, or is that order somehow challenged, even inverted, so that people who aren’t good looking, who don’t have impressive job titles or make a lot of money, are recognized as being significant and encouraged to have real ministries? To the extent that happens, we model what the New Testament authors themselves labored to produce in their own communities.

How are you stressing servanthood in the Perkins community?

The on-campus seminary community is composed of three main groups: faculty, staff and students. It is not unusual for staff in such institutions to feel undervalued, like cogs in the machine. The faculty are the stars. What would it look like if the staff were seen as being equally valued partners in the mission of the school, as having ministries of their own? There will be students for whom an assistant in the library or some other staff member turns out to be the most important person in their seminary experience.

So, we’ve been doing things like creating a staff council, trying to give staff more opportunities, including a more formal voice in the school, and more intentionally caring for them.

More broadly, we have been working to create community across these groups, so that we all get to know each other better, so that we see each other first as people and not as positions. When you do that, you enable a different kind of conversation.

One of my great hopes for Perkins — and it’s a hope already realized, to a large extent, before I came — is that it be one of the rare places where people with substantial disagreements can actually be together in community, learn from one another, even love one another. The bar Jesus set wasn’t that we were required to tolerate each other but that we were required to love each other, even our (real or, more often, imagined) “enemies.”

Do you see a servanthood element to any of the initiatives you’ve undertaken, such as having Perkins students take courses with professors from the Cox School of Business and Meadows School of the Arts?

It’s out of service to the church that we listen to the church and ask, “What are things we could do that would be more useful, more helpful?” Most of the initiatives we’re undertaking, and still more that are under discussion, come directly out of conversations with church leaders.

Also, we’re looking not just to send students to other parts of the University but to have students from other parts of the University come here. I think this is a vital part of the future of Perkins — we’ll have more and more students who are earning a degree at Simmons [School of Education] or Meadows or Cox, who are people of faith and who say, “I’d like to integrate my faith into my educational or my arts or my business career.” We want to provide opportunities for those students to do that.

In this and other ways, we are seeking to serve the wider University. The environment within SMU right now is very conducive to this kind of shared purpose and shared work, which I find exciting. One of the very best things about Perkins is in fact SMU and all the opportunities that exist here for our students.

You wrote Servant of All while a professor at Duke, and before it was even published, you became dean of Perkins. Then you added a preface acknowledging the irony of an author of a book about servanthood taking a seminary’s top job.

There are a few places in the book where I make reference to deans specifically – one in comparison to gorillas! I didn’t want to excise those from the book, so I thought it was necessary to write a little preface to say these weren’t actually meant to be self-referential!

But, yes, I had to wrestle with my motives, as anyone would as a Christian when something like that comes along. You have to ask yourself: How much of this is calling and the desire to serve, and how much of this is ego and the desire to be seen? I suppose in a move like this, one’s motives are never likely to be absolutely pure, but you need to test them and try your best to be brutally honest with yourself and with God. Of course, it helps if you can laugh at yourself, especially at your foolish pretentions.

I am grateful for the chance to do this work, but I will in time hand the baton on to another, and the memory of what I have done here will rapidly fade. When a new pope is installed, the master of ceremonies repeats three times the phrase sic transit gloria mundi: “the glory of this world passes away.” It is good for us all to remember that fact and so not take ourselves too seriously. It is for and in God that what we do has lasting value.

— As told to Sam Hodges

 

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News Perspective Magazine Perspective Magazine: Summer 2018

Development News

John A. Martin
Director of Development
Perkins School of Theology

Developing personal finances for the future is an ongoing task. We set aside money in our 401(k) or 403(b) accounts. We look forward to taking Social Security rather than simply paying it. And we hope that our financial obligations shrink. In the midst of our long-range plans, we have bills to pay, unexpected car repairs and other expenses to which we must attend — a roof, a water heater, a lawnmower or whatever.

Schools of theology are no different. We build for the future by procuring endowment funds, keeping our buildings in top shape and acquiring planned gifts. But in the meantime, we have bills to pay, employee salaries to disburse, unexpected expenses and intriguing opportunities to pursue and fund.

Perkins is fortunate to be part of SMU’s three-year, current-use giving initiative called Pony Power. The University is seeking to raise an average of $50 million per year over three years in money that can be expended right away for current initiatives. Having $50 million in current-use funds is the equivalent of a disbursement from a $1 billion endowment! Funding of that magnitude allows us to take advantage of even greater opportunities than we have up to this point.

As you probably know, SMU recently completed an extremely successful $1.15 billion Second Century Campaign. Perkins raised almost $65 million of that total. Those gifts to Perkins transformed some of our facilities, endowed four faculty positions and afforded us significant money for scholarships. The campaign allowed us to move ahead on many fronts.

In the current Pony Power initiative, we are asking all Perkins donors to consider making a three-year pledge to a current-use project at Perkins. While we value endowment, capital and planned gifts and will continue to seek those, we are emphasizing current-use gifts during these three years.

Dean Craig C. Hill has remarked on a number of occasions that our greatest needs are:

  • Student financial aid.
  • The SMU Fund for Perkins, an unrestricted
    fund that can be used by the dean where needed most.
  • The rejuvenation of the Perkins Houston- Galveston Program.

All three of those priorities impact the number and quality of students attending Perkins. We want to help our students avoid the burden of great personal debt as they follow God’s call to study at Perkins.

As Margot Perez-Greene, associate dean for enrollment management, notes, “It is imperative that we make scholarship funds available to our incoming students. They are stretched to the maximum between study, ministry, work and family. We want to help these leaders get well-trained and out into ministry settings.”

Hugo Magallanes, director of the Houston-Galveston Program, said, “The opportunity in America’s fourth-largest city is immense. I am eager to see what progress Perkins can make in theological education over the next several years in the Houston-Galveston region.”

We need your help. I am asking that we stretch ourselves financially so the dean’s priorities can be realized.

With a thankful heart,

– John

 

To join the effort, please visit giving.smu.edu/schools-areas/perkins or contact me:
John A. Martin, Perkins Development, PO Box 750133, Dallas, TX 75275-0133
214-768-2026 (direct line) | johnma@smu.edu

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Diversity at Perkins

Perkins School of Theology is renowned for the depth of the scholarly training it provides. Equally impressive is the breadth.

Perkins prides itself on being an inclusive community of people sharing diverse, respected viewpoints. That’s evident in the wide array of classes offered, and the rich variety of research being done by faculty members.

From queer Bible studies to care of the poor, from immigration to the treatment of women in ministry, from promoting interfaith dialogue to preserving Christian ideals in a religiously pluralistic world, the range of topics explored at Perkins is dizzying.

School leaders say a diverse, inclusive portfolio of learning opportunities is critical to the school’s mission of training students to be effective, empathetic ministers who will serve an ever-expanding universe of Christian constituencies.

“The motto of Perkins is Called to Serve, Empowered to Lead,” noted Evelyn L. Parker (M.R.E. ’91), associate dean for academic affairs.

“If we are to fulfill that ideal, we must be attuned to all aspects of spiritual abundance, to the spiritual thriving of all individuals.

“An institution of learning must embrace the needs and aspirations of all people. That means we have to make space for difficult subjects, for tough conversations. We may passionately disagree, but we must invite conversation about our differences as well as the many things we have in common.”

Her own work embodies that ethos. Parker’s latest book, Between Sisters: Emancipatory Hope out of Tragic Relationships (Cascade Books, 2017) examines the difficulties that black-white, mixed-race young women encounter in dealing with women and girls of all ethnicities.

Parker, the Susanna Wesley Centennial Professor of Practical Theology, explores what she calls “the tragic mulatto myth.” An outgrowth of the “one drop rule” that originated in the Old South, the myth holds that anyone with a single drop of black blood — if it shows up in pigmentation or physical features — is “destined for a tragic end,” never fully welcome among whites or blacks.

As a counterpoint to the myth, which persisted in movies, fiction and memoirs well into the 20th century, Between Sisters offers readers, and particularly mixed-race young women, the promise of “emancipatory hope through forgiveness, femaleship, fortitude and freedom.”

Parker said diverse academic explorations are vital, alongside what may be considered more “traditional” lines of study, if Perkins students are to develop a full appreciation of John Wesley’s (and United Methodism’s) “championing of universal human dignity.”

“We live in a world that’s multi-ethnic and multi-cultural,” she said. “If our students are going to be effective church leaders, they must be able to relate to the cries of pain, as well as the joys, of all people in our global society.”

A quick glimpse of recent Perkins course catalogs provides ready evidence of the school’s dedication to intellectual and theological diversity. (Note: Not all courses are taught every semester. Consult the 2018-19 roster of classes for offerings in the coming academic year.)

Parker said she’s never heard a complaint about the eclectic and, some would say, occasionally edgy subject matter. Nor would she expect to.

“We’re a community of scholars,” she said. “That’s the essence of what a university is. At Perkins, we value continuous dialogue, both within our scholarly community and in the larger community in which we all live.”

“We honor academic freedom. We encourage a rich array of scholarship, and we offer a rich array of classes, a rich array of ideas, for our students to explore. But we don’t force-feed anyone.”

“That’s the best way to celebrate diversity and inclusiveness.”

Susanne Scholz, Perkins Professor of Old Testament

A Rich Array of Classes

Queer Bible Hermeneutics, taught by Susanne Scholz, professor of Old Testament, examines “historical, political, cultural and religious-theological discourses about gender and sexuality” in the Hebrew Bible, with emphasis on “sociocultural practices related to LGBTQ communities.”

Feminist, Womanist and Mujerista Theologies, taught by Karen Baker-Fletcher, professor of systematic theology, explores contemporary theology from women’s perspectives. (“Mujerista,” a term coined by the Cuban-born scholar Ada Maria Isasi-Díaz, refers to a theological approach grounded in the experiences and struggles of Latina feminists.)

The Theology and Ethics of 19th-Century Holiness Women is taught by Baker-Fletcher and Rebekah Miles, professor of ethics and practical theology and director of the Graduate Program in Religious Studies. The course is “an exploration of the knowledge and experience of God” in the writings of 19th-century women called to ministry, emphasizing their understanding of social justice issues.

The Poor in John Wesley’s Ethics, taught by Hugo Magallanes, associate professor of Christianity and culture, looks at Wesley’s response to the needs of the poor and other marginalized groups of his time.

Sports and Spirituality, an elective seminar taught by Mark W. Stamm, professor of Christian worship (and a passionate baseball fan), offers a theological perspective on cheating and corruption in professional and collegiate sports, racism and the obstacles that female and gay athletes face. At the same time, it celebrates the joys of playing or watching sports.

Early Christian Spirituality and the Bible, taught by James Kang Hoon Lee, assistant professor of the history of early Christianity, explores the role of mysticism in the early church, when Christian spirituality was in its formative stages.

Race Relations and the Church, taught by Harold J. Recinos, professor of church and society, addresses the experiences of black, white, Hispanic, Asian-American and Native American Christians as they interact through the church.

Ministry in the Black Church, taught by Thomas Spann, professor of supervised ministry and director of the Intern Program, looks at ways the African worldview shaped the development of American black churches, at the modern-day challenges that those churches face and at ministerial responses to pressing social issues, such as broad access to health care.

Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins Professor of Systematic Theology

Diverse Research Pursuits

In addition to Perkins’ classroom offerings, the research pursuits of faculty reflect a diverse inclusiveness:

Abraham Smith, professor of New Testament, has studied African-American biblical hermeneutics.

Karen Baker-Fletcher writes extensively on “womanist theology,” a conceptual framework that examines religious traditions, practices and Scriptures from a perspective that emphasizes the empowerment and liberation of women of color who seek to overcome violence, oppression and prejudice based on race, class, gender or sexuality.

Robert A. Hunt, director of global theological education and of the Center for Evangelism, is a scholar of world religions, inter-religious dialogue, contemporary Muslim movements, world Christianity
and Christian identity in a pluralistic world.

Tamara Lewis, assistant professor of the history of Christianity, has researched ways Protestant doctrine was used in 16th- and 17th-century England to shape “racial ideologies” that sought to justify such practices as slavery and colonialism.

Hugo Magallanes, director of the Houston-Galveston Extension Program and associate professor of Christianity and cultures, has studied John Wesley’s views on the poor, the church’s moral responsibilities (on, among other issues, immigration) and multicultural ministries.

Harold J. Recinos counts among his areas of research expertise Latino theology and Latin American immigrants and refugees. (He’s also a published poet whose verse, one reviewer wrote, “moves readers to develop a compassionate awareness for the hopes, struggles and suffering of the most vulnerable members of society.”)

Susanne Scholz has written about feminist hermeneutics, violence against women in sacred texts and the Hebrew Bible in film.

Theodore Walker Jr., associate professor of ethics and society, has written and lectured on liberation theology, black theology, the theological ethics of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the writings of Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X.

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Students Reflect on their Perkins Experience

“Perkins strives to assist students in discovering and empowering their voices as they define and refine their theology and understanding of their roles as faith leaders and pastors. Perkins empowers its students to lead by giving them a safe space to explore and fail and learn as they discover their voice — their identity as faith leaders and pastors through worship, course work, internship and student organizations.”

Amber Oxley (M.Div. ’18)

 

“Perkins is unique because it truly does provide a welcoming space for non-United Methodists. This can be seen throughout the diversity of faculty, staff and students. Perkins is shaping my call to service by providing tools that constantly remind me of…the One who called me and those to whom I am called. Perkins’ diversity, inclusivity and accessibility are embodied in the passion with which the faculty and staff serve. Simply put, Perkins is showing me how to lead by empowering rather than simply providing ‘right’ answers.”

Donte Ford (M.S.M. ’16, M.Div. ’18)

 

By choosing Perkins, which is both affordable and accessible, I receive an excellent (part-time) theology education while continuing my full-time job in Dallas. The fact that 50 percent of Perkins students are women and more than 30 percent are ethnic minorities was also important. Perkins is shaping my call to service by allowing me, an older female student, to attend, study and grow into my calling at my own pace. Studying and interacting with diverse students and excellent faculty supports me as I grow into my own faith leadership. I am so glad to have chosen Perkins!”

Claudia Stephens, Associate Professor, Division of Theatre, Southern Methodist University (M.A.M. ’20)

 

I visited seven seminaries, and out of them all, Perkins had the most welcoming community. I felt like I was a welcomed student before I even applied. Through Perkins connections, I have been able to work as a classroom leader in a nonprofit after-school program. This experience invites me to connect my theological education with a ministry in West Dallas. I feel led to start a nontraditional church in my home conference, and my classes at Perkins have provided a space of open discernment for what that could look like.”

Kristina Roth (M.Div. ’20)

 

“Classes aren’t just lectures and notes; they are holistic experiences. Being challenged by professors who dedicate themselves to the growth of theologically and critically minded ministers, while examining various aspects of our sacred texts and voices contributing to the evolution of Christianity and society, is empowering. They foster communal engagement and care that extends throughout our campus. Since my first week of classes, I maintain that just as ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, it takes a community to get through seminary. And, I have been and will be continuously blessed by relationships cultivated through Perkins. Classmates, professors and administrators whose mere presence encourage me to be a better man and minister, to keep loving, learning and fighting for justice, and to stay grounded in prayer.”

Christian Watkins (M.Div. ’19)

 

“I knew Perkins School of Theology was the place for me when I felt the strong sense of community among the students, faculty and staff. The quality of education and encouragement of faculty to help students find our authentic voices was an important factor. The diverse faculty and genuine relationships with them, access to resources and opportunities to develop leadership skills have made Perkins unique for me. These things and more have helped me discern my call to service and have empowered me to lead in ministry. Individuals considering Perkins should prepare to be challenged academically and uplifted spiritually.”

Robin Murray (M.Div. ’18)

 

“I was thrown into the wilderness when I moved to the USA as a single mother with an urgent need of a closer relationship with God. In the midst of these circumstances — a new language, new culture, a sojourner in a land that was not mine — I heard God calling. ‘Where do I go?’ I asked, and God’s response was ‘Go to Perkins!’ During my time here, I have witnessed the grace of God in all aspects of my life. Perkins is equipping me well and I feel secure, confident, embraced, acknowledged, empowered and part of a loving Christian community. Certainly, God is guiding me to the promised land.”

Flor Granillo (M. Div. ’19)

 

“Perkins is unique for me because I am not a number or a face — I am a member of the family. The wide variety of perspectives is exactly what I need. Perkins is truly a place where academia weds spirituality — it’s real. Each lecture proves itself to be a profoundly spiritual experience, pushing me both forward into my ministry and deeper into my relationship with God. I finally understand just how deep, wide, immense ministry can be. Now that my own future is coming into focus, I’m grateful for having the freedom to explore what that looks like through conversations and through practice.”

Phillip Clay (M.Div. ’19)

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Perkins Students Take ‘Servant Leadership’ Into the Community

Through a new Perkins initiative, students, faculty and staff are discovering fresh, meaningful ways to both learn and serve throughout North Texas.

Dean Craig C. Hill launched the effort in 2017 with the appointment of Tracy Anne Allred as assistant dean of student life and director of community engagement.

Her mandate, she said, was to seek new opportunities for Perkins “to engage in meaningful ways with a wide range of creative, entrepreneurial and vital ministries.”

Under her guidance, Perkins students have volunteered at the North Texas Food Bank, the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, the Aberg Center for Literacy at Casa Linda United Methodist Church in East Dallas and the Wesley-Rankin Community Center, a nonprofit that promotes education in underserved neighborhoods of West Dallas.

And on Jan. 15 of this year, Perkins students, staff and faculty joined their SMU peers by marching in the city of Dallas’ 36th annual parade honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (They didn’t just march; they also handed out information about King’s celebrated 1966 visit to SMU.)

It’s one more example, Hill said, of Perkins leading by serving.

“There is great wisdom available to the church in Perkins, but there is also great wisdom available to Perkins in the church,” he said. The greater Dallas area — like that of Houston, where Perkins operates an extension program — includes “an extraordinary number and range of vibrant, innovative and fruitful ministries,” the dean said.

“This is a phenomenal asset for our students, who can benefit enormously from these examples. But first they have to make the connection, to become aware of what is out there, and to find ways to engage with it.”

Allred added: “If prospective students knew they could enroll in a world-class school of theology with an outstanding faculty and top-notch library resources and, on top of all that, understand that they will have the chance to experience the church working in the ever-changing world in so many dynamic ways, it may make their decisions to join the Perkins student body easier.”

And more fruitful.

“Already,” Hill said, “this work has begun to make a vital contribution to our students’ experience at Perkins.”

 

There is great wisdom available to the church in Perkins, but there is also great wisdom available to Perkins in the church.”

-Dean Hill

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Perkins Launches Hybrid Houston-Galveston Degree Program

Students in Perkins School of Theology’s Houston-Galveston Extension Program will be able to earn the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) or Master of Arts in Ministry (M.A.M.) degree completely on-site through a groundbreaking distance-education program scheduled to launch in fall 2018.

Through intensive and hybrid courses, students from the Houston-Galveston region — or those who travel to Houston — can earn the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in three years or Master of Arts in Ministry (M.A.M.) degree in two years. This new model, approved by the Association of Theological Schools in February 2018, waives the Dallas campus residency requirement, which included completion of at least one year of the M.Div. and one-third of the M.A.M. on the Perkins-SMU campus, in place since the program’s inception in 1995.

The program, which enables students to attend seminary while still employed full- or part-time, will reduce the strain on students’ time and money while providing quality instruction from Perkins’ full-time faculty.

“Students who are called to service will receive the same outstanding education as those on the SMU campus,” according to Perkins Dean Craig C. Hill. “Our world-class faculty will commute to Houston-Galveston from Dallas for the intensive courses and will also have regular and substantive interaction with students during the face-to-face portion and through online forums.”

Many Perkins faculty, through SMU’s Center for Teaching Excellence, have completed the University’s course in online teaching, and the program will receive ongoing technological support from SMU. Residential classes, spiritual formation and community engagement take place in the program’s four partner sites: St. Paul’s UMC, Houston Methodist Hospital, and St. John’s UMC in Houston, and at Moody Memorial UMC in Galveston.

“This enhancement of the Houston-Galveston Extension Program is great news for United Methodists in this region,” said Bishop Scott Jones of the Texas Annual Conference.

“We are committed to raising up a new generation of leaders for the church, and Perkins is an important partner in our efforts. This new form of education will give many more students the opportunity for a world-class theological education close to home,” he said.

Director of the Houston-Galveston Extension Program is Hugo Magallanes, associate professor of Christianity and cultures at Perkins School of Theology and former director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions. A member of the Perkins faculty since 2007, Magallanes was named as the program’s first director in June 2017. Campus manager is Dallas Gingles, a Ph.D. graduate of Southern Methodist University.

“We are convinced that there are many prospective students in the greater Houston region and beyond who have been waiting for this moment,” Magallanes said. “Obtaining a seminary education from Perkins while maintaining the stability of work, home and family is an option we know many will want to take advantage of.”

The M.Div. and M.A.M. degrees can be completed in their entirety in Houston-Galveston by following this plan:

  • Students must take all courses offered: three courses per semester (Fall, Spring, Summer);
  • The basic M.Div. and M.A.M. degree (no standard concentrations or certificates) is offered. Completion of standard concentrations may require travel, although students may build customized concentrations;
  • Students are required to be physically present for 20 hours of face-to-face instruction — 10 hours at the beginning and end of each semester — per class;
  • All residential classes will include a community meal;
  • Some courses will be offered in one-week intensives, typically in the January Term or Summer.

For more information about the Houston-Galveston Extension Program, contact:

Margot Perez-Greene, Associate Dean for Enrollment Management,
214-768-3332, margot@smu.edu

Hugo Magallanes, H-G Extension Program Director,
214-768-1038,
hugo@smu.edu

Dallas Gingles, Campus Manager,
214-768-2645, dgingles@smu.edu

Categories
News Perspective Magazine Perspective Magazine: Summer 2018

Innovative Initiatives Extend Perkins’ Mission

Committed to those called to serve so that they might be empowered to lead

Degree Concentrations

In partnership with Cox School of Business and Meadows School of the Arts, two new concentrations — in Church/Nonprofit Management and Social Innovation and Nonprofit Engagement — are now offered to M.Div. and M.A.M. students. Perkins is also in conversation with Simmons School of Education about a joint degree offering.

 

Technology

A number of Perkins faculty members have now been trained to teach in the hybrid format, even as the Houston-Galveston Program and Course of Study School are shifting increasingly to this pedagogy. “The expectation is that the great majority of classes taught on the Dallas campus will continue to utilize more traditional forms of pedagogy,” said Dean Craig C. Hill, “but that they will be supplemented where helpful by the thoughtful use of technology.”

 

Undergraduate Partnerships

Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between Perkins and eight United Methodist-related colleges and universities in the South Central Jurisdiction during the 2017-18 academic year. These new agreements provide preferred consideration and early decision for admission to graduates who have completed all the prerequisites for admission to SMU and gives qualified students early consideration for scholarships and other financial aid at Perkins. The agreement, which also includes provisions for annual visits by Perkins admission staff to the partner colleges and universities and reciprocal visits by interested students to SMU, is expected to also include new collaborative academic and enrichment opportunities for faculty and students.

The colleges and universities include Centenary College, Shreveport, La.; Hendrix College, Conway, Ark.; Southwestern University, Georgetown, Tex.; Austin College, Sherman, Tex.; Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, Tex.; McMurry University, Abilene, Tex.; Wylie College, Marshall, Tex.; Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark.

In addition, Perkins is also actively reaching out to Wesley Foundations at various regional universities to build new partnerships.

 

Perkins Staff Council

With the goal of building community, offering care and support for one another, and enhanced communication across the school, the Perkins Staff Council was formed during the 2016-17 academic year. The council, composed of staff nominated and elected by their peers, coordinates regular all-staff gatherings, organizes outreach to staff in times of personal or family need and works closely with the Perkins representative to the SMU Staff Advocacy Council.

 

 

Categories
News Perspective Magazine Perspective Magazine: Summer 2018

Public Life Personal Faith

Bolin Family Luncheon Raises $73,000 in Scholarships

The Bolin Family 2018 Public Life Personal Faith Lecture and Luncheon, featuring bestselling author and leadership expert Joseph Jaworski of Austin, filled SMU’s Mack Ballroom to capacity on Feb. 2. The annual event, which included an engaging dialogue on servant leadership between Mr. Jaworski and Perkins Dean Craig C. Hill, raised approximately $73,000 in financial aid for the new Perkins Scholars initiative.

Pictured on the right is the inaugural class of Perkins Scholars, recognized during the luncheon, includes (from left): Madison Garcia of Longview, Tex.; Benjamin McCoy of Catoosa, Okla.; Anna Bundy of Trinity, NC; Chase Burns of Sherwood, Ark.; Nick McRae of LaFayette, Ga.; Kristina Roth of Mount Pleasant, Iowa; and Ashley Smith of Irving. Not pictured are Brandy Stevens of Nederland; Susie Morales of Houston; and Ellen Thornburg of Houston.

Save the Date: The Bolin Family 2019 Public Life Personal Faith Scholarship Luncheon will be held on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. The featured guest will be Judy Woodruff, anchor of PBS NewsHour, who will be interviewed by Peggy Wehmeyer, former national news religion reporter for ABC’s World News Tonight. For table sponsorship, information, and registration, contact, John Martin at johnma@smu.edu or 214-768-2026.

 

Categories
News Perspective Magazine Perspective Magazine: Summer 2018

Bridwell Special Collections

Bridwell Library Summer-Fall 2018 Events

Helen Warren DeGolyer Bookbinding Competition and Exhibition

June 8 – July 13

Every three years, Bridwell Library hosts a bookbinding competition named in honor of the late Helen Warren DeGolyer, an esteemed patron of the Dallas arts and education. The triennial event is made possible through an endowment established by her family in 1996.

American bookbinders seeking to enter the competition must submit their proposals for rebinding a specific book from the Bridwell collection, as well as a recent example of their work.

The person who submits the winning entry receives the 2018 DeGolyer Award for American Bookbinding, which carries a commission to bind the book according to the terms of the winner’s proposal. In addition, the competition judges select award winners for excellence in fine binding and artistic design.

This year’s panel of judges includes Tish Brewer of the Center for Art Conservation; Bexx Caswell-Olson, special collections conservator for the libraries of Michigan State University; R. Arvid Nelsen, rare books and manuscripts librarian at Bridwell Library; Ellen Buie Niewyk, a special collections curator at SMU’s Hamon Arts Library; and Priscilla Spitler, the owner of Hands On Bookbinding of Truth or Consequences, N.M., and the recipient of the 2015 DeGolyer Award.

The Bridwell book to be bound in this year’s competition is Volume 4 (The Apocrypha) of The English Bible: containing the Old Testament & the New, published by the Doves Press of Hammersmith, London, between 1903 and 1905.

On display in conjunction with the competition will be the contestants’ submitted designs, as well as other examples of fine bookbinding, including winners of past DeGolyer competitions. The Doves Press Apocrypha, bound as issued, will also be displayed.

Bridwell Library Special Collections houses two complete sets (and one incomplete set) of the Doves Press Bible printed on paper — and one of only two sets printed on vellum. The vellum set belonged to Emery Walker, one of the founders of the Doves Press.

The Pietists

Aug. 20 – Dec. 14

Pietism was a reform movement in 17th and 18th century Dutch and German Protestantism which eventually spread to Great Britain, North America, and around the world. The rise of Pietism can be traced to a war of words between theologians, and to a real war, one of the most devastating in European history.

After the deaths of Martin Luther (in 1546) and Jean Calvin (in 1564), the focus of Protestantism began to shift from fomenting change to consolidating gains. The early Protestant reformers had championed a belief in salvation by faith through grace. The next generation, however, undertook a heavy-handed effort to define the limits of acceptable belief – to establish a Protestant Orthodoxy. By the early 1600s, critics of this effort complained that Christianity was being reduced to little more than competing sets of exclusive, rigid intellectual propositions. Others countered, however, that while the Reformation had succeeded in reformulating church doctrine and polity, it had done little to improve the spirituality and morality of society.

Concurrent with this scholarly wrangling, the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) left Europe decimated and demoralized. An era of religious disillusionment followed. Within Protestantism some who yearned for a more vital, experiential and ethical approach to faith began looking back to the teachings of Christ, the early church and later mystics for guidance. The result was Pietism, a new “religion of the heart” based on faith in transformative inner experience, expressed in a life of Christian commitment.

Pietism stressed love of God and neighbor over doctrinal purity. It viewed evangelism and good works as the tools through which God would transform society. While Pietists valued Bible study for spiritual guidance, they also believed inspiration and empowerment could come through the Holy Spirit.

“The Pietists” features works from Bridwell Library Special Collections written by precursors to and leaders of the Pietist movement in Holland, Germany, Great Britain and the United States. These writings illustrate the theological and geographic diversity of the movement during its period of greatest influence, from the late 17th century to the early 19th century.

Mandalas: Joseph Quillian

May 4 – Aug. 19

Joseph D. Quillian, Jr. (1917-1992) served as dean of the Perkins School of Theology from 1960 until his retirement in 1981.

He was a pastor, a professor, an administrator — and a talented amateur artist.

As a youngster, he would doodle in notebooks and on scraps of paper. Many of his drawings featured geometric shapes, sometimes enclosed in circles. As he got older and honed his artistic skills, the designs became more intricate.

Many years later, through the writings of Carl Jung, Quillian learned that his “circles by a square” had a name: They were mandalas, an ancient Hindu and Buddhist graphic art form representing the cosmos.

In Jung’s view, the mandala was a symbol of order brought forth from universal chaos. But for Quillian, drawing meticulous geometric shapes over and over was a just way to relax, to burn off excess energy while at his desk or in meetings.

The Bridwell exhibition features drawings by the dean dating back to the 1940s, along with other items from his papers, which are preserved in the library’s archives.

The Uniting Conference of 1968 and the Birth of The United Methodist Church

Aug. 24 – Dec. 7

The United Methodist Church was created in 1968 through two unions, one internal and one external. The internal union was the joining together of black and white Methodists into a racially integrated denomination. The external union was the merging of two Wesleyan bodies: The Methodist Church and the much smaller Evangelical United Brethren Church.

Negotiating the mergers took years. The effort culminated with a Uniting Conference that took place in Dallas in April and May of 1968.

This exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Methodist Church. It includes documents and images that chronicle the union of black and white Methodist churches, the merger with the Evangelical United Brethren and the Uniting Conference that produced the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States.