Category: November 2022

When the world’s largest gathering of scholars interested in the study of religion assembles November 19-22 in Denver, members of the Perkins and SMU communities will be well-represented.

The 2022 Annual Meetings, hosted by the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature, will feature more than 1,000 academic sessions, workshops, meetings, receptions, tours and other events. Some 10,000 attendees are expected; the Annual Meetings offer a wide range of opportunities to engage with leading scholars and scholarship within the field of religion.

Friends of Perkins School of Theology – Southern Methodist University are invited to a reception on November 20, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., at Embassy Suites Denver Downtown — Leadville (Third Level), 1420 Stout Street, Denver CO 80202.

Perkins and SMU faculty, staff and students will speak, preside or serve as panelists at more than a dozen events during the gathering. They include:

S19-136 SBL Minoritized Criticism and Biblical Interpretation Section / Contextual Biblical Interpretation Section
Theme: Bible and Nationalism
Saturday, November 19, 2022 – 9:00–11:30 AM
Convention Center – Mile High 2B (Lower Level)
Sze-kar Wan, Perkins School of Theology, SMU
Paul the Anti-imperial Nationalist: The Past and Present of Christian Nationalism (20 min.)

S19-205 Bible in America Section
Theme: The Bible and Social Change
Saturday, November 19, 2022 – 1:00–3:30 PM
Hyatt Regency – Centennial G (Third Level)
Mark Chancey, Southern Methodist University
Colorado and the Invention of Public School Bible Courses (20 min.)

P19-260 Institute for Biblical Research
Theme: Crosscurrents in Majority World and Minority Theology
Saturday, November 19, 2022 – 3:30–5:30 PM
Sheraton Downtown – Plaza Court 6 (Plaza Tower-Concourse Level)
Ruben L.F. Habito, Perkins School of Theology, SMU
“No Self” and “In Christ”—Buddhist Light on Christian Identity (10 min.)

S19-306 Biblical Hebrew Poetry Section
Theme: Reading Biblical Hebrew Poetry and the World in Front of the Text
Saturday, November 19, 2022 – 4:00–6:30 PM
Hyatt Regency – Centennial F (Third Level)
Susanne Scholz, Perkins School of Theology, SMU
Unvaxxed Equals Uncircumcised? On a Medical Metaphor of Philistine Othering in 1 Samuel (25 min.)

A20-130 Religion and Economy Unit
Theme: Beyond Capitalism: Four Constructive Proposals toward Ecological, Equitable, Democratic Economic Life
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 9:00–11:30 AM
Hyatt Regency – Granite B (Third Level)
Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Responding

S20-144 Recovering Female Interpreters of the Bible Section
Theme: “Voices Long Silenced: Women Biblical Interpreters through the Centuries” – Review Panel
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 9:00–11:30 AM
Embassy Suites (ES) – Crystal A (Third Level)
Jaime Clark-Soles, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Panelist (20 min.)

S20-149 The Historical Paul Section
Theme: Review Panel for Ryan Schellenberg, Abject Joy: Paul, Prison, and the Art of Making Do (Oxford, 2021)
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 9:00–11:30 AM
Embassy Suites (ES) – Silverton 1 (Second Level)
Abraham Smith, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Panelist

A20-225 Religion and Economy Unit
Theme: Gendering Religious Labor in Asian Communities
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Hyatt Regency – Summit 25 (Fourth Level)
Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Responding

S20-215 Comparative Method in Biblical Studies Consultation
Theme: Approaches and Their Case Studies
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Convention Center – 406 (Street Level)
Kelsey Spinnato, Southern Methodist University

A20-230 Schleiermacher Unit, Theology and Religious Reflection Unit, and Tillich: Issues in Theology, Religion, and Culture Unit
Theme: Exploring Theological Genres
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Convention Center – 504 (Street Level)
Jeanne Stevenson-Moessner, Perkins School of Theology, SMU
The Discarded Image in Schleiermacher’s Theological System-Building

A20-233 Teaching Religion Unit and Transformative Scholarship and Pedagogy Unit
Theme: Teaching Critical Religious Studies
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Convention Center – Mile High 4F (Lower Level)
Jill DeTemple, Southern Methodist University, Panelist

M20-301 Manchester Wesley Research Centre
Theme: John Wesley and Early Methodism: Reflections on Celibacy, Smallpox, and Enlightenment Language
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 3:00–4:30 PM
Sheraton Downtown-Plaza Court 1 (Plaza Tower – Concourse Level – 1 level below Lobby)
Ted A. Campbell, Perkins School of Theology, SMU
“The Evolution of John Wesley’s Commitments to Celibacy”

S20-317 SBL Fellowships: The Why, The When, The How
Sponsored by the Students in the Profession Committee
Sunday, November 20, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Embassy Suites – Crystal B (Third Level)
Kelsey Spinnato, Southern Methodist University, Presiding

A21-213 Class, Religion, and Theology Unit and Religion and Economy Unit
Theme: Religion at Work: New Directions for Studying Religion in the Waged Workplace
Monday, November 21, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Hyatt Regency – Granite C (Third Level)
Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Panelist

A21-230 Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Unit
Theme: Affective Apocalypse
Monday, November 21, 2022 – 12:30–2:30 PM
Convention Center – 506 (Street Level)
Meghan Beddingfield, Southern Methodist University
‘Maybe the World Is Finally Coming to an End’:
How the Global Boom of Kdramas Introduced Han to the Apocalyptic Genre

A21-311 International Development and Religion Unit
Theme: Decolonization, Development & Faith: A Dialogue wih Local Practitioners
Monday, November 21, 2022 – 3:00–4:30 PM
Hyatt Regency – Capital 2 (Fourth Level)
Jill DeTemple, Southern Methodist University, Panelist

A21-318 Religion and Human Rights
Theme: Author-Meets-Critics: Jonathan Malesic, The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives (University of California Press, 2022)
Monday, November 21, 2022 – 3:00–4:30 PM
Hyatt Regency – Mineral C (Third Level)
Jonathan Malesic, Southern Methodist University, Responding

A21-408 Chinese Christianities Unit
Theme: Sinophone as Method: Pushing the Boundaries of the Field of Chinese Christianities
Monday, November 21, 2022 – 5:00–6:30 PM
Convention Center – 504 (Street Level)
Sze-kar Wan, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Responding

A21-415 Ethics Unit
Theme: Guilt, Blame, and Justification: Social Ethics in the Context of Resistance
Monday, November 21, 2022 – 5:00–6:30 PM
Embassy Suites – Aspen A (Third Level)
Dallas Gingles, Perkins School of Theology, SMU
Christ, Intrinsic Laws, and Guilt in Bonhoeffer’s “History and the Good 2”

A22-113 Asian North American Religion, Culture, and Society Unit and Religion and Economy Unit and Religion, Colonialism, and Postcolonialism Unit
Theme: Catastrophe and the Constellations of Racial Capitalism, Neocolonialism, and Religious Forms
Tuesday, November 22, 2022 – 9:00–11:00 AM
Convention Center – 303 (Street Level)
Karen Baker-Fletcher, Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Business Meeting: Presiding

Robert Hunt Commentary

A commentary by Robert Hunt appeared in the Dallas Morning News on October 16, titled, “The more we think of AI as human, the more we think of ourselves as machines.”

As artificial intelligence (AI) advances, Hunt wrote, our understanding of humanity must prepare for a symbiosis with computers. He writes: “We’ve grasped that there may be virtual churches, but have we considered that some of their members (and even preachers and musicians) may be intelligent machines represented by avatars? What happens to our humanity when it isn’t merely disembodied, but re-embodied in a different form? What do terms like “body,” “soul,” “spirit,” and “flesh,” mean in virtual worlds? Because we are on the cusp of an axial shift in human self-understanding we need a renewed focus on these questions.” Dallas Morning News subscribers may read the commentary here. Hunt is director of global theological education at Perkins.

Hunt also presented a webinar on the Fundamentals of Islam in October, hosted by St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo. The three-session program explored the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammed, Shari’a, Islam in Modernity and the future of the Islamic world.

Four staff changes were announced in October:

Carolyn Douglas was promoted with a new title of Perkins Faculty Administrative Assistant.

Dr. Dallas Gingles was promoted to Director of the Houston-Galveston Program; to recognize his now contractual role in teaching, he will be given the courtesy title of Perkins Fellow in Systematic Theology.

Melissa Gooch was promoted with a new title of Assistant Director of Academic Affairs.

Andy Keck will be assuming a transitional/interim role with Enrollment Management as Margot Perez-Greene steps down at the end of December. The transitional role has already begun, allowing for Keck to assume greater responsibilities in the coming months while Perez-Greene moves to more of a consulting role. Keck will then serve as Interim until a successor begins later in 2023. Keck will continue to serve as Chief of Staff at Perkins; he offices in the Dean’s Suite in Kirby Hall.

 

Dollars for Scholars Award

Perkins student Annie M. J. McGregor Meek is one of 52 recipients of the 2022 Dollars for Scholars scholarships from the Methodist Foundation for Arkansas. This year, the Foundation gave $52,000 in scholarships to 52 students to begin or continue their education at United Methodist colleges, universities and seminaries. For each recipient, the student’s local church gave $1,000 and the United Methodist Higher Education Foundation matched that contribution. The Methodist Foundation for Arkansas gave $1,000, along with the student’s selected college contributing $1,000 for a significant $4,000 scholarship award to each student. Meek is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Little Rock, Ark.

Juanita Craft Humanitarian Awards

The Rev. Yvette Blair-Lavallais (M.T.S. ’13) was honored recently with a Juanita Craft Humanitarian Visionary Award. The awards, given by the State Fair of Texas and the Juanita J. Craft Civil Rights House & Museum Steering Committee, are named for Juanita Craft, who fought for civil rights and played a crucial role in integrating many Dallas establishments, including the State Fair. Recipients were honored on October 16 at the State Fair.  Blair-Lavallais, the first female senior pastor at First Christian Methodist Church in the Red Bird area of Dallas, has served in pastoral ministry in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for almost 15 years. She earned a Doctor of Ministry from Memphis Theological Seminary in May 2022. As a womanist public theologian and food justice strategist, she focuses on the intersection of food insecurity, famines, displacement, and gentrification of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples.

New Books

Josh Taylor (D.P.M. ’21) is one of 15 contributors to a forthcoming book, A Liturgy For All Bodies: New Words for a New World (Cyclical Press). The book will be released in print and as a digital collection for easy downloading and use in worship. A Liturgy for All Bodies is, according to the publisher, “a resource for communities that want to engage the Bible or the teachings of Jesus but have turned away from visions of God that maintain the status quo.” Pre-order the book here.

Filipe Maia (M.T.S. ‘11) is the author of Trading Futures: A Theological Critique of Financialized Capitalism (Duke University Press.) Maia “offers a theological reflection on hope and the future, calling for escape routes from the debt economy…  and provides a critical portrayal of financialization as a death-dealing mechanism that colonizes the future in its own image,” according to the publisher. Maia is Filipe Maia is Assistant Professor of Theology at Boston University. Visit the book’s web page here.

Commentary Published

A commentary by the Rev. Dr. Linda A Holbrook (M.Div. ‘05) recently appeared in the Morgan Hill Times. Read the commentary, reflecting on the importance of rituals in our lives, here. Holbrook is pastor of Morgan Hill United Methodist Church in Morgan Hill, Calif.

Obits: The Rev. Rebecca Boggan and the Rev. Dr. William “Kurt” Boggan

The Rev. Rebecca Boggan (M.S.M. ‘80 and Master of Music ‘80) passed away on October 18. Boggan helped shape music ministry across the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church. Even before becoming a deacon, she started what was then the Little Rock Conference Choir Tour in 1991. She led what became the Arkansas Conference Tour through 2007, bringing together United Methodist teens from across the state for a week of travel and singing across the country. At one point, the tour performed for the Clintons in the White House Rose Garden.

Her husband of 43 years and frequent ministry partner, the Rev. Dr. William “Kurt” Boggan (Th.M. ‘81, D.Min. ‘93) died July 20, also at the age of 67.

The couple met at Perkins, then returned to Kurt’s native Arkansas, where they began raising a family as Kurt took on pastoral appointments in United Methodist churches across the state. Kurt was ordained as an elder in 1983 and was appointed pastor to United Methodist churches in Holly Springs, Magnolia and Mount Ida.

In the 1990s, Rebecca followed her own call to ordained ministry, becoming a deacon in 2000. She served as associate pastor alongside her husband at Highland Valley United Methodist Church in Little Rock. She then served as deacon at Cornerstone in Jonesboro, Bryant First, Little Rock First, Springdale First and finally alongside her husband again at Bentonville First.

Kurt and Rebecca are survived by daughters Emily and her husband, Dr. André Wineland of Little Rock, and Dr. Ashley Boggan D. of Madison, New Jersey, who serves as general secretary of the United Methodist Church’s General Commission on Archives and History.

Services for Kurt were held July 29. Services for Rebecca were held October 22 at Little Rock First United Methodist Church.

Read Kurt’s obituary here and Rebecca’s obituary here. Notes of condolence may be sent to the Boggan Family, 4900 Club Road, Little Rock, AR 72207.

Obit: The Rev. Kenneth Wayne Paul

The Rev. Kenneth Wayne Paul (Th.M. ‘60) died October 9 following a brief illness. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1966 and served in many positions in the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana. In addition, he served for 27 years as Episcopal Chaplain of The Canterbury House at Centenary College of Louisiana. Celebrations of life took place October 18 at St. James Episcopal Church in Alexandria, La., and October 20 at The Church of the Holy Cross Episcopal in Shreveport, La. Read the full obituary here.

Obit: The Rev. Barbara Pearle Sheldon

The Rev. Barbara Pearle Sheldon, 77, died October 7 at her home. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, the Rev. Tom Sheldon (Th.M. ‘69) a retired clergyman in the Great Plains Annual Conference. Barbara earned a Master of Religious Education degree from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1969 and enjoyed a long career as a Christian educator in United Methodist Churches and in the Kansas West Conference.  Barbara also served as a Diaconal Minister, and then as a Deacon in the United Methodist Church, until her retirement in 2012. A memorial service was held October 14. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Trinity’s Tiny Treasures Preschool, in care of Elliott Mortuary, 1219 N. Main, Hutchinson, KS  67501. Read her obituary here.