Members of the Perkins community gathered virtually on April 28 to bid farewell to graduating students and retiring faculty members with a Sending Forth Service held via Zoom. More than 100 people were in attendance, including some 2020 graduates.
Student JaeJun Daniel Cho presented the Gospel reading, Luke 4:18-30, followed by a sermon by Isabel Docampo, Director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity, on “Some Thoughts on the Good News and Salt.”
“Remember that we are not the first generation to face a historic moment; it just happens to be our moment,” she said. “Jesus exhorts us today to remain faithful. He uses the metaphor of salt. If salt loses its taste, it can’t be restored. It’s not good for the soil or the manure pile! It’s thrown away. But now the whole world is asking this, ‘Has Christianity today lost its saltiness? Will Christianity be salt to the world or will it be thrown away – not fit for even the manure pile?’”
Docampo’s sermon continued: “It is in those moments, when we truly see one another, and tend to our mutual wounds that we meet God, and are sealed together as sister and brother. It is when we become God’s salt for the world. We find boldness to offer Good News… We understand that our salvation, our proximity to God, Her love and Justice, is found in the mutuality of love and forgiveness. We embody the Good News!”
Following the anthem, “I Dream a World,” sung by a virtual choir directed by Lucas Eaton, Wes Allen led prayers for members of the Perkins community – the graduating students, those retiring, those beginning internships and research leaves, those preparing to begin their studies at Perkins – as well as the world, the church and those who are suffering.
Forty-one graduating students, including some who graduated in 2020, and two retiring faculty members, Evelyn Parker and Isabel Docampo, came “forward” to the center of the Zoom screen, repeating the words, “I come to seek God’s blessing and your prayers.” A faculty or staff member then responded to each: “Go in peace, to love and serve God.” Words of blessing were also offered for retiring faculty member Billy Abraham and retiring staff member Duane Harbin.
“Our moment in history to take up the baton from the faithful ones who have gone before us has arrived,” Docampo said. “And soon, before we know it, the time will come when we are to pass the baton to those behind us. God has entrusted us to be a community that pours out Her generous, overflowing cup of love so that future generations will be able to pass it on. We are called to live in the power of God’s love and hope.”
More than 150 people gathered virtually on April 19 for “Words Matter: The Intersectionality of Race, Religion and Public Policy.” A panel of academicians and community leaders explored the power of language in the intersection of race, religion and public policy and how that is reflected in the ways that different groups thrive while others remain marginalized.
The Zoom webinar was sponsored by Perkins School of Theology’s Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions and the Department of World Languages and Literature at Dedman School of the Humanities and Sciences. Isabel Docampo, Director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions, coordinated the event and co-hosted along with Ángel J. Gallardo, Associate Director of the Perkins Intern Program.
“We brought together experts from the academy with leaders working in the community, and the result was a rich and thought-provoking conversation,” said Docampo. “I have received many emails of gratitude and requests for the recording of the program, and a few of the attendees tell me they plan to take the information they learned to their own churches.”
Bill Holston, Executive Director of the Human Rights Initiative in Dallas, opened the webinar with these words: “Words have real power – for good and for bad. They can even kill. One of the most powerful examples is from the country of Rwanda.”
He recalled how promoters of genocide used ‘other’ metaphors to incite Hutus against the Hutu minority, calling them ‘cockroaches’ or ‘snakes.
“This use of rhetoric motivated people to kill 800,000 of their neighbors eventually,” he said. “There’s a direct connection between words and actions and violence.”
Holston catalogued ways that President Trump invoked anti-immigrant emotion at his campaign rallies, using words such as “animals,” “invasion,” “rapists,” “killers” or “predators” more than 500 times– language that was ultimately mirrored by individuals who perpetrated acts of violence, including the gunmen responsible for mass shootings at a Walmart in El Paso and a mosque in Christ Church, New Zealand.
Dr. Alberto Pastor, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of World Languages and Literature, Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, SMU, described two types of linguistic discrimination that Spanish speakers in the U.S. encounter: external discrimination (example: bumper sticker that read “This is America, speak English!”) as well as internal linguistic discrimination from Spanish speakers toward other Spanish speakers, based on the notion that the two languages, Spanish and English, must be strictly separated.
A survey of attitudes among DISD students revealed that the design of the bilingual program was based on monolingual principles – one day in English, today in Spanish. Standardized tests were based on language varieties from outside the U.S.; as a result, kids from the local community in Texas were expected to know words from as far away as Spain. Speaking variants from outside the U.S. were considered superior to variants from inside the U.S. Students are taught that Spanglish is not the proper way to speak, and that Spanglish words “don’t exist.” Local varieties of Spanish aren’t reflected in textbooks.
“Linguistic behaviors such as word loaning—borrowing words from English—or code switching were highly repressed in the classroom,” he said. But these behaviors “are not the result of laziness; it’s quite the opposite.”
“The result is that students do not feel that their language and culture are validated in the school setting,” he said. “Research concludes that internal linguistic discrimination leads to language loss. With time, Spanish will be replaced by English.”
Emily Timm
Emily Timm is Co-Executive Director, Proyecto de Defensa Laboral/Workers Defense Project, in Austin-Dallas-Houston, which works to improve the lives of low-wage immigrant workers in Texas, especially those in the construction industry.
She noted a shift in thinking during the pandemic, which highlighted the importance of “essential workers” who grow food, build and maintain infrastructure, stock grocery stores, deliver mail and provide healthcare and how that became a household word during the pandemic.
“These workers have always been essential,” she said. “As so many Texans were ordered to shelter in place, we suddenly saw that essential workers became visible, because they still had to go to work despite the risks, because they were necessary for the function of our society.”
The new awareness “became a powerful tool to try to raise up and highlight the importance of these immigrant workers and give context to the dignity and justice we’ve been demanding for years.”
Unfortunately, she added, the new “essential worker” language hasn’t translated into increased protections for low wage workers. These workers may be essential, but they are still excluded, Timm said.
Timm played a video of an essential worker performing a poignant song he had written, in Spanish, describing his experience: “I am the builder of your schools / I build your city and highways, bridges, hospitals and homes / Even if you don’t see me building, I am for Texas.”
“We need to honor and value these workers by providing concrete protections for frontline workers: a pathway to citizenship, safety protections, national paid sick leave, fair wages, health insurance,” she said. “How do we claim the power of the words ‘essential workers’ to actually advocate for real change in the lives of essential workers?”
Shellie Ross
Shellie Ross (M.Div. 2011), Executive Director of Wesley-Rankin Community Center, spoke along with Alé Lopez, a longtime resident of the west Dallas neighborhood the center serves.
Since the completion of the Hunt bridge in 2012, the neighborhood has been undergoing gentrification, displacing many residents, Ross said. She talked about how words like “renewal,” “revitalization” and “renovation” are problematic.
“These words imply that there was something less, or nothing, before,” she said. “Many residents were displaced because of gentrification. What happens is, property taxes increase and families who’ve lived there for centuries are dislocated. Gentrification is a visible sign of inequity. To choose words like ‘renovation’ and ‘renewal’ pits the longtime residents of west Dallas against the new, wealthier residents who are moving in. The language doesn’t embody neighbors, it embodies walls.”
Lopez shared the sense of grief she feels as the favorite neighborhood restaurants and mom & pop shops disappear. “I used to walk down the street to visit aunt and grandmother,” she said. “Now, it’s a CVS. It’s mentally exhausting to see families who have lived her for decades, even centuries, leave because they can no longer able to afford them.”
Rev. David Wilson
The Rev. David Wilson, Assistant to the Bishop at the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference of the United Methodist Church, brought up the power of “no words.”
“Native Americans are considered a people that has been conquered,” he said. “As a native American person, we have become the invisible ones. We have no contribution to make to voice the future.” He described attending a meeting to encourage more participation in the 2020 Census; posters were available targeting African American, Asian and Latino audiences – but there was nothing for Native Americans.
“We are a city with a significant native population,” he said. “Our mayor is native American. Yet we had been left out.”
Dr. Evelyn Parker, Susanna Wesley Centennial Professor of Practical Theology at Perkins School of Theology, described the importance of language in how religious leaders speak to the faithful.
“The words of religious leaders matter,” she said. “They are life and death. They have power to influence and persuade the thoughts and actions of people who trust them and view them as a source of authority. Pastors can speak words that protect and promote life or lead to harm and death.” She described empowering words from a pastor that inspired generous donations to support COVID-19 relief – in contrast to the words of Jim Jones, whose words led 918 followers to commit suicide at the Jonestown community in Guyana in 1978.
Parker addressed specifically the way that religious leaders can influence for life or for death in situations involving intimate partner violence.
“When there are few words of life from religious leaders, where there is ignorance or denial, I would contend that silence gives consent for perpetuating the problem,” she said.
Parker encouraged pastors to illustrate sermons with stories that portray the worth of women and girls; to preach and teach texts about violence against women and girls; to speak intentionally about intimate partner violence when counseling couples; to develop ministries that address intimate partner violence in partnership with rape crisis centers and women’s shelters; to serve as an advocate for better policies; and to join with other religious leaders to create public statements on the topic.
In closing the program, Isabel Docampo said, “All of you have inspired us to be thoughtful about words—who is controlling the message, what are the forces behind that, who’s benefiting and how we can bring our own power into that space. To really listen, with the humility and the openness that that takes. We have much to think about and I hope and pray that all of us are feeling empowered to be more attentive and more thoughtful about our own words.”
“We can use our language to affirm each other, or we can use it to destroy each other,” Holston said. “The choice is ours.”
An online program, “Do No Harm: Black Bodies and Bioethics,” on April 26 presented a filmed presentation of the play “Do No Harm” and two lectures exploring its themes and implications. The event was sponsored by Perkins School of Theology, the Robinson Arts Fund at the Perkins School of Theology, and the Perkins African American Fine Arts and Bioethics Project.
An introductory lecture by Evelyn L. Parker, Susanna Wesley Centennial Professor of Practical Theology at Perkins School of Theology, opened the program. Next, the filmed play “Do No Harm” portrayed the story of three enslaved Black women – Lucy, Anarcha, and Betsey – who were the subjects of needlessly horrific medical and surgical experiments by Dr. James Marion Sims (1813 – 1883). Sims, a white male surgeon, is still honored today in the medical community as “the father of modern gynecology.” A worship service followed, with music and liturgy by Garth Kasimu Baker-Fletcher, and the program concluded with a lecture on “Bioethics, including ‘Black Bioethics'” by Theodore Walker Jr., Associate Professor of Ethics and Society at Perkins.
“The program affirmed that Black lives matter in medicine and in bioethics,” said Walker. “Books in medical schools and statues continue to celebrate Sims while ignoring the Black lives of Lucy, Anarcha, and Betsey.”
“Do No Harm” was written by Anyika McMillan-Herod and premiered in January 2021 at Soul Rep Theatre in Dallas. McMillan-Herod and Vickie Washington co-directed the film performance, with cinematography by Tonya Holloway and Sonny Jefferson. The world premiere was originally commissioned by Parker and the Association of Practical Theology. View the official trailer for Soul Rep world premiere of Do No Harm on YouTube at https://youtu.be/JA_EjRMdFJQ.
Priscilla Pope-Levison will be featured in a May 11 webinar, “Inviting Others into God’s Good News.” Pope-Levison, author of the award-winning book Models of Evangelism, will talk about how a variety of evangelistic models can inspire churches and individuals to convey the good news. The webinar is part of “Intersection: Where Theology and Practice Meet,” a series of online conversations hosted by Randy Harris and Carson Reed and offered by the Siburt Institute for Church Ministry. Pope-Levison is associate dean for external programs and professor of ministerial studies at Perkins. The webinar is free. Read more and register here: https://www.siburtinstitute.org/inviting
Poetry Published
The website Open Plaza celebrated National Poetry Month with excerpts from the Rev. Dr. Harold J. Recinos’ Wading in the River (Resource Publications, 2021). The poetry “captures the daily struggles of the marginalized in a poetry collection flowing with clarity, agency, and wonder,” according to the site. Published on Easter Monday, the site paired 14 poems from Wading in the River with images depicting events in the Passion of Christ. Read the poems here. Recinos is Professor of Church and Society.
Morehouse Scholars
Abraham Smith, Professor of New Testament, and Tamara Lewis, Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity, were inducted in April into the 35th Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers, Laity, Sponsors and Scholars. Martin Luther King Jr. was an alumnus of Morehouse College, and the College of Ministers and Laity was established in his honor more than 30 years ago. The College of Ministers and Laity is “unique in its juxtaposition of servant-hood, scholarship and leadership as requirements for ministry – whether that ministry is performed through formal religion or any other field of endeavor,” according to the Morehouse website. Past inductees include Charles Radford Lawrence, Mordecai Wyatt Johnson, Howard Washington Thurman, Floyd McKissick, Samuel Woodrow Williams, Martin Luther King Sr., Martin Luther King Jr., and Thomas Kilgore Jr.
Jaime Clark-Soles: Letter 82
On April 11, the Values and Voices project published a letter to President Biden and his administration from the Rev. Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles. Recalling the story of Lazarus, Clark-Soles wrote, “Likewise, you have inherited a nation marked by death, wailing, ‘if-only,’ and tattered hope. Against all odds, Lazarus’ story ends with resurrection and life in the here and now. Will America’s?” She urged Biden and other leaders to “continue to show up, listen to, and weep with our aggrieved siblings who suffer most from racism, ableism, heterosexism, and other death-dealing forces.” Clark-Soles is Professor of New Testament at Perkins. American Values, Religious Voices: 100 Days, 100 Letters is a national, nonpartisan campaign. For the first 100 days of the Biden administration—from January 20 to April 29, 2021—Values & Voices sent a letter a day to elected leaders in Washington and readers around the county, bringing an array of religious texts and teachings from a variety of faith traditions to bear on our most pressing contemporary issues.
Ask Craig C. Hill to describe a “typical” day, and he’ll tell you there’s no such thing. As Dean of Perkins School of Theology, his job involves juggling many roles: pastor, counselor, sounding board, cheerleader, prognosticator, scholar, mediator, negotiator, visionary, bridge-builder, representative, and spokesperson.
“This is the classic no-two-days-are-alike job, which has its up- and its downside,” he said. “Many days turn out quite different from what I planned because of some new issue that has to be addressed.”
Much of his time is devoted to attending meetings, answering email, writing and reviewing reports—and attending more meetings. Before the pandemic, Hill travelled often to meet with church and academic leaders.
“The dean is the one person in the school who, within limits, has access to the big picture,” he said. “That informs decisions about the entire school’s future, which inevitably requires balancing competing goals, interests, and concerns. In all of this, it helps a lot if you can maintain a sense of proportion and a sense of humor!”
He also meets with Perkins alums and members of the Perkins Executive Board. Almost daily, he confers at length with Associate Dean Hugo Magallanes and Andy Keck, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives.
“These and other such conversations are often the most enjoyable events of the day,” he said. “I like people and wouldn’t thrive in a position that didn’t allow for time with others.”
On top of all this, Hill, who is also Professor of New Testament, still finds time to write and teach. He frequently composes articles (e.g., for Perspective), talks, and other short pieces that relate to his work as dean. In June, he’ll teach a D.Min. course on calling and leadership for the first time.
“I have spent far more time as a professor than in any other role, and I look forward to being back in the (virtual, in this case) classroom,” he said. “Teaching is a wonderfully life-giving experience.”
Hill also reads widely and enjoys learning about people—both in and outside of academic and church circles.
“This is grist for the mill of theological reflection, especially as I try to understand how biblical teachings make sense of and relate to the human condition,” he said. “For that reason, I also enjoy reading in areas such as neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and history. All of which enriches my understanding of and appreciation for, in particular, the teachings of Jesus. One place that appears is in my book Servant of All: Status, Ambition, and the Way of Jesus, which draws on several disciplines. I love learning. I only wish I had a better memory for what I’ve read.”
Someday, he’d like to do more writing, perhaps writing a book on the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) or trying his hand at fiction.
“Both of my adult children write fiction,” he said. “I realized the other day that I haven’t done that since high school. Someday, I’d like to give it a try. I might be terrible at it, but it might also be fun for my kids to try to teach me!”
Research Interests
New Testament; Eschatology; Christian Leadership; Human Behavior
Favorite Bible Verse
Philippians 2:5: “Let the same mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” You have to read the preceding and subsequent verses to realize the power of this one sentence.
Books on His Nightstand
Recently he’s read Jon Meacham’s Franklin and Winston and Harold Holtzer’s Lincoln at Cooper Union. (A native of Springfield, Illinois, Hill typically reads a couple of Lincoln books each year.) Currently, he’s halfway through Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart. His next read: Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Not all of his reading is serious, however: “I’ve also been on a bit of a Dave Barry kick recently.”
Fantasy Dinner Party
Hill would host two fantasy dinner parties. The first would assemble key people from the Bible: Jesus, Paul, Peter, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. His second guest list would include people from the mid-19th century he’s read about for many years: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Ulysses S. Grant, Joshua Chamberlain, Harriet Tubman, Henry Ward Beecher, Sojourner Truth, and others, as space permits. “I’d want to hear them reflect on their lives, of course, but I’d also want to know what they make of the United States today and how they would lead now,” he said.
Family
Hill and his wife Robin will celebrate their 40th anniversary in December. They have a son who works for T-Mobile in North Carolina and a daughter who is completing her first year in a master’s program in writing at Simmons University in Boston. “Fortunate readers will already have met my excellent and much beloved spouse, Robin,” he said. “If you have, you’ll appreciate those adjectives.”
Personal Spiritual Practices
“Robin and I pray together every morning, which is an essential practice,” he said. “And reading and learning have always enriched me and deepened my understanding of the world and, with it, God.”
Hobbies
Hill enjoys working with his hands; he enjoys making pottery and building or fixing almost anything. A favorite repair project: fixing pinball machines! “They are wonderfully complex systems that require a lot of work to restore and maintain,” he said. He has also done some video editing and illustration along with a fair bit of graphic design. He collects antiquarian (15th-19th century) prints, which cover the walls of his home and office and combine his love of art and history. Strongly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s work while growing up, he developed an ongoing interest in architecture and even furniture. (“My dream is to live in an Arts and Crafts era house,” he said. “We already have the sofa for it!”)
Hill also loves music. “I am a lousy guitarist, but I can listen to music for hours,” he said. “I have been incrementally improving my stereo system for 50 years. Hearing good music played on good equipment is a joy.”
Travel Destinations
Hill lived in Europe several times and is always happy to return. Oxford and Cambridge are like second homes to him and his wife. (Trivia tidbit: Hill was the first person to use a personal computer in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and did quite a bit of programming around that time.) Their favorite European city is Paris, where he and Robin lived for one summer while enrolled in a course at the Sorbonne. Next on their travel bucket list: New Zealand.
Something Most People Don’t Know About Him
Hill’s mother had a cooking show on TV when he was little. However, he didn’t inherit her talent for cooking. “Turns out, there are limits to genetics,” he said. “Apart from boiling and microwaving, I am hopeless in the kitchen.”
In an interview, Julian Hobdy was once asked: Did he see himself in the future as a pastor or as a professor? His answer: Yes.
“I have no need to bifurcate,” he said. “I believe persons living out their deepest beliefs also have the responsibility to bring that same love and transformation far beyond the walls of the local church. The pulpit and the public park are equal grounds.”
The quest for those dual goals is what brought Hobdy to Perkins, although after a bit of detour. Originally, he planned to attend Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth on a full scholarship. But a visit to the campus of Perkins changed his mind.
“I just had a powerful encounter with the community here,” he said. “I felt welcomed and embraced. I was impressed by the environment and resources available at SMU and how the various colleges would be open to students who are part of the SMU system in general. Plus, Dr. Perez-Greene was relentless (and I’m so glad she was)!”
(Perez-Greene is Associate Dean for Enrollment Management at Perkins.)
Now, Hobdy is a second-year M. Div. student, concentrating in Theology and Social Justice, and on a path to serve both in the pulpit and public square. He’s a certified candidate for ordination as an elder in the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, and serves as Online Pastor of First Methodist Mansfield in Mansfield, Texas. He’s considering doctoral studies, and also hopes to research and publish work on the intersection of issues concerning race and religion.
“Ultimately I plan to continue to serve in the local church, but I hope I can continue to engage in public theology discourses,” he said.
Church is in Hobdy’s DNA; he grew up in Brentwood Baptist church in Houston. “I am a certified church rat,” he said. “My mother was in the choir and worked in the church. If I wasn’t at school or home, I was at church. I was the kid that everyone had to stop and say, ‘Quit running in the halls.’ I don’t know myself apart from a local church. I always feel beholden to the local church because I’ve benefited so much from it.”
Hobdy says two life goals drive him: “To truly learn to love God with all my heart, mind and strength, and to help other people do the same thing,” he said. “My goal is helping people find the “aha” moments in life where life and faith connect.”
Next year, he’ll serve as President of the Perkins Student Association (PSA) for the 2021-2022 school year, having served as the PSA’s Justice in Action chair over the past three semesters. He’s also a Student Ambassador for the Office of Enrollment Management, engaging in dialogue with prospective Perkins students, a Perkins Scholar, and part of the Minister-Author-Scholar-Teacher (MAST) Program, which offers resources and training to a select cohort of Perkins students interested in writing or creating other media for the church and academy
He’s also active in the Black Seminarians Association. Last summer, he co-led the inaugural Breath of Life prayer event, held at Perkins in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis. When the Floyd verdict was announced in April, he penned an open letter to our student body, which the Bishop of the Central Texas Conference distributed via his blog.
The events of the past year and a half – the pandemic and the fight against racial injustice – have confirmed his commitment to a kind of public activism in conversation with a theological framework.
“Two quotes have been messing with me for the last year and a half,” he said. “One is from civil rights activist Septima Clark: ‘The greatest evil in our country today is ignorance. We need to be taught to study rather than to believe.’”
The other is a line from Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
While juggling all of his studies, his church responsibilities and his civic engagement, a few key spiritual practices keep him grounded. Any time he’s walking outdoors, he’s also praying. He enjoys playing piano, serving with his brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and tussling with his kids. He also benefits from holy conferencing, which he describes as “being in conversation with very close friends and family particularly on theological matters, which reminds me of why I am chasing the goals I am currently chasing.”
Perkins D.Min. student Allen T. Stanton’s new book, Reclaiming Rural, will be released in May by Rowman & Littlefield. The book explores the myths and realities of rural places, and how those common narratives impact the leadership of rural churches. Stanton is Executive Director at the Turner Center at Martin Methodist College, which will merge into the University of Tennessee system on July 1. In reviewing the book, author Gil Rendle wrote: “When Allen Stanton writes of rural congregations as anchor institutions, do not take it lightly. Institutions are essential to the ways in which we order our lives, and Stanton’s vision of congregations as trusted local institutions that can lead whole communities into God’s purpose is important.” Read more about the book here.
The Perkins School of Theology team captured the Pacesetter Award for the greatest percentage of faculty/staff participation in the 2021 Virtual Wellpower 5K. The event, presented by SMU Human Resources in partnership with MS Health Promotion Management, was aimed to promote health wellness within the SMU community.
As part of the 5K event, SMU faculty, staff, students, family and friends were invited to complete the race on their own during the week of April 10 – 17. After completing the run/walk distance, participants were encouraged to upload their results and share their accomplishments on social media.
The Perkins team was organized by Melissa Gooch, chairperson of the Perkins Staff Council and included students and faculty and staff members.
As part of the event, participants and others donated to the Applied Physiology Club fundraiser that raised $1,127 to help aid mentorship of Dallas high school students via the Leadership Forward Mentoring Program.
Josh Esparza (M. Div. 2019) was recently featured in a report on WFAA-TV about Owenwood Farm and Neighbor Space, where he has served as campus pastor since 2018. The urban farm was created in 2017 on four prime acres, which previously sat unused behind Owenwood United Methodist Church in far east Dallas, after the church became unsustainable. For the first time, the farm will produce crops at a large scale this spring and summer. The faith-based community center also offers adult education classes, space for a performance art group, and Hope Supply, a clothes closet and thrift store. Another part of the sanctuary is home to Diapers, Etc., which distributes nappies and feminine hygiene products once a month to families in need. Read the story here.
Ed Gabrielson Ordained
Ed Gabrielsen (M. Div. 2020) was ordained into Christian ministry on Sunday, April 18, at Rockland Congregational Church in Rockland, Maine. Gabrielsen served the church as an intern and as associate minister during the past year. In the tradition of Congregational churches, he was presented to be accepted and affirmed in his call after a Church Council vote on January 19.
Richard Newton Honored
Richard Newton (M. Div. 2009) has been selected to receive the 2021 President’s Faculty Research Award at the University of Alabama, for the category of Emerging Scholar: Arts & Humanities. Newton, an assistant professor in the Religion department, received his PhD in Critical Comparative Scriptures from Claremont Graduate University. Newton’s areas of interest include theory and method in the study of religion, African American history, the New Testament in Western imagination, American cultural politics, and pedagogy in religious studies. He has also published a book, Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures (Equinox, 2020), which casts Alex Haley’s Roots as a case study in the dynamics of scriptures and identity politics with critical implication for the study of race, religion, and media.
Obituary: The Rev. Richard Deats
The Rev. Richard Deats (M.Th. 1956), a long-time global peace movement leader and one of the most influential teachers of the philosophy and practice of nonviolent action in 20th century movements, died in Nyack, N. Y. on April 7 from complications related to pneumonia, according to his son, Mark Deats. He was 89. A prolific writer and speaker, Rev. Deats strengthened grassroots movements by leading nonviolent action trainings in conflict zones around the world. Deats worked closely with peace leaders around the world, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, the Rev. Jim Lawson and other civil rights leaders, several of Mahatma Gandhi’s heirs, Thich Nhat Hanh and other Buddhist leaders, Rev. Daniel Berrigan, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Read his obituary in Waging Nonviolence.
Obituary: The Rev. Gene Gordon
The Rev. Gene Gordon (M.Th. 1969) passed away peacefully on April 20 in the presence of his family. The retired pastor served several congregations in the North Texas Conference as well as serving as a District Superintendent. A graveside service took place April 25 at Restland Cemetery in Dallas. Cards and notes of condolence for his wife and family may be sent to June Gordon, c/o Jack and Susan Watson, 224 E. Holiday Street, Pilot Point, TX 76258.
Student JaeJun Daniel Cho presented the Gospel reading, Luke 4:18-30, followed by a sermon by Isabel Docampo, Director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity, on “Some Thoughts on the Good News and Salt.”
orty-one graduating students, including some who graduated in 2020, and two retiring faculty members, Evelyn Parker and Isabel Docampo, came “forward” to the center of the Zoom screen, repeating the words, “I come to seek God’s blessing and your prayers.” A faculty or staff member then responded to each: “Go in peace, to love and serve God.” Words of blessing were also offered for retiring faculty member Billy Abraham and retiring staff member Duane Harbin.
