Pope-Levison Featured at Women’s Conference
Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison, associate dean for external programs at Perkins, was a keynote speaker for the 11th annual conference of the Australasian Centre for Wesleyan Research (ACWR), held August 6-8 online and at Nazarene Theological School in Thornlands, Australia. The three keynote lectures at the conference focused on the emergence of the global Wesleyan deaconess movement in the late nineteenth century, particularly with regard to issues of gender, power and church authority. ACWR is a diverse and multidisciplinary community of established and emerging scholars united by a desire to foster and promote research and scholarship from a Wesleyan perspective and to connect scholars across disciplines and theological divides.
McKenzie Interviewed on Podcast
Dr. Alyce McKenzie was recently interviewed for the More to the Story podcast, sharing insights and tips from her book, Making a Scene in the Pulpit: Vivid Preaching for Visual Listeners (Westminster John Knox Press, 2018.) Watch the podcast, Make A Scene: Tips for Storytellers and Preachers, here (video) or listen here (audio only). More to the Story with Dr. Andy Miller III is a new podcast exploring theology in the orthodox Wesleyan tradition. McKenzie is Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins and director of the Center for Preaching Excellence.
Lawrence Shares Q&A
The Rev. Dr. William B. Lawrence has developed a series of questions and answers exploring United Methodist polity. “Within recent months, I have had the experience of being asked a lot of questions about United Methodist polity,” he writes. “The inquiries have come from bishops, lay persons, pastors, delegates to the General Conference, lifelong members of Methodist or United Methodist churches, and newcomers to the denomination. I decided to look for some answers and write about them.” Lawrence is former Dean and professor emeritus of American Church History at Perkins and research fellow at the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition at Duke Divinity School. He is also a former president of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church.
Recinos Captures Martial Arts Medals
Congratulations to Dr. Hal Recinos, who competed in the Wu Martial Arts Association International Chinese Martial Arts Championship in Houston, July 23-25. He had developed posterior tibial tendonitis that necessitated modifying his training but started feeling better shortly before the competition. He captured three Gold, six Silver and two Bronze medals and tied for tournament Grand Champion–his rival had one additional Gold Medal. As for what’s next, Recinos says he’s contemplating retirement from the international tournament circuit. “I have been on the tournament circuit for over a decade and it’s tough on family life during the training cycle,” he said. “I think it may be time to train the younger guys at our school.” Recinos is Professor of Church and Society at Perkins.
Preaching Conference with Wes Allen
The Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church is hosting a virtual preaching workshop with Dr. Wes Allen on Thursday, November 4, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The program will look at the new lectionary year in Luke with specific emphasis on Advent 2021. Registration information will be available on the Rio Texas website and Facebook page starting Sept. 3rd. All pastors, lay servant ministers, anyone who preaches is welcome to attend. Cost is $10.
Dobbs-Wiggins to Receive PRISM Award
Mental Health America of Greater Dallas has named Paula Dobbs-Wiggins as one of its 2021 PRISM Award recipients. The PRISM Awards pay tribute to those who have made a lasting impact in the community on behalf of individuals with mental illness, as well as honors those who have worked to improve awareness of mental health issues. Dogg-Wiggins, an M.D. and former Perkins faculty member, received the Pamela Blumenthal Memorial Award. She currently serves as chairwoman of Parkland Health & Hospital System Board of Managers. The recipients will receive their awards at an evening reception on October 21.
“GAs Gone Bad”
Isabel Docampo’s book Immersion Bible Studies: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (Abingdon Press, 2012) . recently received a nod in a column by Susan Shaw in Baptist News Global entitled “GAs Gone Bad: Baptist women you should be reading.” Docampo retired last spring as director of Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions at Perkins. Read more here.
Evelyn Parker is Visiting Professor
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary has welcomed Dr. Evelyn L. Parker as distinguished visiting professor for the 2021-2022 academic year. She is an alumna of Garrett’s PhD program. Parker retired in May as the Susanna Wesley Centennial Professor of Practical Theology at Perkins. During the Fall 2021 semester Parker will be teaching a course entitled “Honoring the Body: Practical, Theological, Bioethical, and Biomedical Perspectives on a Spiritual Practice.” Read the announcement here.
Gingles’ Op-ed in DMN
Dallas Gingles and Erica Ramirez were co-authors of an op-ed that appeared on July 4 in The Dallas Morning News, entitled “To bust vaccine skepticism we have to bust institution skepticism.” They described how commentators on vaccine skepticism have generally missed one very important problem: “A widespread, general undercurrent of distrust toward institutions that permeates everyday life in the United States.” Ramirez, a sociologist of religion, and Gingles, a theological ethicist, described how they asked clinical ethicists and chaplains to reflect on how their hospitals navigated COVID-19. “What they reported sounded nothing like partisan talking points on social media or cable news,” they wrote. “Instead … we heard resounding confidence. Most of the 24 chaplains and ethicists we spoke to pointed to their institutions’ well-established processes.” The op-ed went on to propose ways to rebuild trust. Ramirez is director of applied research at Auburn Seminary in New York; Gingles is site director of the Houston-Galveston extension program of Perkins. Read the column here.
New Books by Hal Recinos
Hal Recinos has two new books of poetry: Cornered by the Dark (Paraclete Press, 2021), due out in November, and After Dark (Resource Publications, 2021), released in July, which features a poem in memory of former Perkins faculty member Pat Davis. After Dark received praise from many reviewers. “Like Walt Whitman, who found ‘letters of God dropt in the street,’ Harold Recinos finds in the ‘sacramental gutter’ the reliquaries and names of the exiled, banished, and broken by a hostile, almost fatal country,” wrote Bruce Smith of Syracuse University. “After Dark makes clear that Recinos is a poet who has been gifted with an endless fount of benevolence and is guided by a faith rooted in love, humanity, and compassion,” wrote Jeffrey Lamar Coleman of St. Mary’s College of Maryland.