Panorama 2019

PANORAMA Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Vol. LVI Spring 2019

AVENUES OF

MINISTRY IN THE WAY OF JESUS

Pittsburgh Seminary’s continued commitment to provide hospitality in the way of Jesus includes some recently completed renovations in the Hicks Memorial Chapel, built in the late 1960s. The renovations include improvements that enhance physical and audio-visual access.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

THE MEANING OF MINISTRY IN THE WAY OF JESUS

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ittsburgh Seminary is committed to theological education in preparation for Christian ministry. A standard question for a seminary president is, “So what’s unique? What’s the particular approach or commitment of your seminary?” When describing Pittsburgh Seminary I start here: preparation for Christian ministry in the way of Jesus—which means the way of discipleship, the way of justice, the way of peace.

The way of acceptance, of welcome, of hospitality.

Pittsburgh Seminary is a community focused on faith in Jesus Christ—a community committed to academic excellence, to scholarship in service of the church, to teaching, and to learning. We pursue these commitments because of our faith in Jesus. We pursue them because we believe in the presence among us of our Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. By saying we’re committed to preparation for ministry in the way of Jesus, we mean that in all we do as an institution and as individuals, we are committed to bearing witness to the grace, the hospitality, and the welcome we have known in the gospel.

One of the joys of Pittsburgh Seminary is the breadth of theological commitment among the faculty and students in our community. For both students and faculty, this breadth provides the opportunity to sit alongside someone whose experience in ministry, whose understanding of theology and liturgy, whose understanding of ethics might be quite different from one’s own. But that person is also striving to work and follow in the way of Jesus. So listening, learning, and even praying together with someone of a different theological understanding brings the possibility, even the likelihood, of learning in new ways.

At Pittsburgh Seminary we are committed to preparing not just for the church we know today—the churches that many of us, including our parents, have worshiped in for a long time—but also for the churches that are to come, the worshiping communities that have not yet been gathered. We do so by building on the history, the theology, the Scripture that we know so well.

But we also prepare for ministry in the way of Jesus by learning from the world around us—the community around us here in Pittsburgh, and the community around the globe. We must learn from what is happening in our rapidly changing world. We must listen for God’s direction as we work together to prepare for the worshiping communities that are coming next.

With gratitude for you and for God’s grace and faithfulness,

The Rev. Dr. David Esterline President and Professor of Cross-cultural Theological Education

PANORAMA Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Spring 2019 Volume LVI ISBN 8755-0954 Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Panorama addresses timely issues related to the Seminary and informs alumnae/i and friends about the school’s activities.

The Alumnae/i News gives current information about graduates.

Managing Editor Melissa S. Logan (mlogan@pts.edu) For changes of address call 412-924-1388 or e-mail dkeys@pts.edu.

For class notes, photo submission, or notice of births and deaths call 412-924-1375 or e-mail ccranston@pts.edu.

For other editorial matters call 412-924-1373 or e-mail mlogan@pts.edu.

Associate Editor Connie Gundry Tappy (ctappy@pts.edu) Designer John McWilliams (john@mcwilliamscreative.com)

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary prepares women and men for ministries in established and emerging Christian communities around the world. Rooted in the Reformed tradition and with a centuries-old history of mission and scholarship in service of the church, the Seminary is committed to relationships of mutual learning and serving with Christ-followers from other traditions and theological viewpoints. Our faculty and educational resources cultivate theologically reflective and contextually engaged Christian leaders. Our programs nurture vocational formation for bearing witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

President The Rev. David Esterline, Ph.D. Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Church History The Rev. Heather Hartung Vacek, Th.D. Vice President for Seminary Advancement The Rev. Christine Chakoian, D.Min. Vice President for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness James R. Downey, Ph.D. Vice President for Finance and Administration Thomas A. Hinds, CPA Vice President for Student Services and Community Engagement and Dean of Students The Rev. John C. Welch ’02, Ph.D.

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary 616 North Highland Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Phone 412-362-5610 www.pts.edu

The Scripture quotations contained in this issue of Panorama come from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

SPRING 2019 MINISTRY IN THE WAY OF JESUS 2 The Way of Jesus—A New Testament Portrait 4 Faithful Presence, Ministry in the Ordinary, Everyday Events of Life 6 60 Years United for Ministry in the Way of Jesus 8 Worship Is the Way of Jesus 4

10 WMI and MUI Team Up in New Intercultural Experiential Learning Course 12 The Kelso Museum: Showing the Way of Jesus from the Real World

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14 CPI Innovates Models for Cultivating Healthy Church Culture 16 The Miller SYI Is . . . “Going to Your House Today” 18 Ministry for Body and Soul: Field Education at Children’s Hospital

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20 Launching Our New Anglican/Episcopal Studies Track 22 Continuing Education for Responsive, Relational, Renewed Ministry 24 Doing “D.Min.istry” Jesus’ Way

PTS NEWS 26 Honoring Graduates During Alumnae/i Days 2018 28 The Seminary’s First “Diamond Society” Members Celebrate Amazing Milestones 30 Hats off to the Class of 2018

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30 Tom Fulton Wins Calian Award for Campus Community Service 32 Welcoming New Board Members 34 Remembering Former Board Members 35 So Many Reasons to Celebrate

FACULTY NEWS 36 Faculty News and Publications

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42 Latest Faculty Books 45 Remembering Former Faculty 20

ALUMNAE/I NEWS 46 Class Notes 53 In Memory 54 Remembering Members of the PTS Community 55 Meet Cathy ‘90 and Skip Gillis 22

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THE WAY OF JESUS—A NEW TESTAMENT PORTRAIT

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t Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, we are dedicated to theological education in preparation for Christian ministry. Specifically, we are committed to preparation for ministry in the way of Jesus. Indeed, even before the earliest Christians called their gathering “the church,” they spoke of themselves as “people of the Way” (e.g., Acts 9:2).

But how do we know whether we are being faithful to that way? In the Reformed tradition, we describe Scripture as the “living word of God”—and it is through that word, with the wisdom of the community and the power of the Holy Spirit, that we discern our calling to faithfulness. So what does the word of God tell us the way of Jesus looks like?

One could cite many examples, but as a beginning point I offer the examples that follow.

First, being a follower of Jesus’ way— being a disciple, and part of his church— means commitment to faith in God as

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Jesus showed us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (compare Deut.

6:5 with Jesus’ words in Matt. 22:37 and parallels). Jesus models for us what it means to obey God faithfully, worship God humbly, and rely on God diligently. He submitted and called others to baptism “in order to fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:13). Jesus followed where the Spirit led him, even when it meant facing temptation (Matt.

4:1-11 and parallels), or even betrayal and death on the cross (Matthew 2627 and parallels). Jesus worshiped at synagogues (Luke 1:16ff.) and taught in the Temple (Luke 22:53 et al.), and he often took time away and alone to pray (Matt. 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16 et al.). Following the way of Jesus, then, begins with our own recognition—and constant practice—of our love for and dependence on God above all else.

Second, Jesus’ way presses us to fulfill God’s law through love for others: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”

(Lev. 19:18, quoted by Jesus in Matt.

19:19, 22:39 and parallels). Over and over again, Jesus makes it clear that it is meaningless for us to profess love for God without also embodying love for our neighbor. Moreover, Jesus presses us not only to love the familiar or respectable neighbor, but also the neighbor we find more difficult to love. When Jesus encountered the crowds, he welcomed strangers by feeding them with his teaching and multiplying loaves and fishes to nourish their bodies (Luke 9:1016). When Jesus healed the leper (Matt.

8:30), ate with the tax collector (Luke 18:1-7), and allowed a woman to bathe his feet with her tears (Luke 7:33-43), he embraced outcasts. And when he taught his disciples to love their enemies (Matt.

5:43-45), he embodied that teaching by forgiving the people who killed him and by dying for all (Luke 22:24).

So committed was Jesus to this key embodiment of faith that he exemplified it countless times, in word and deed, even though it cost him his life. Following the way of Jesus requires our evangelism

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not only in our words but also in our embodiment of welcome, of acceptance, of forgiveness, of self-sacrifice.

Third, Jesus’ way calls us to aspire to fulfill the reign of God: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matt. 4:17). Seeking the reign of God requires us to turn away from the seductions of our earthly kingdoms.

Just before this pronouncement, Jesus had been confronted by the devil in the wilderness—by the tempter who “showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” (Matt. 4:8-11).

Just as they are in our time, those kingdoms were not only preoccupied with political power, but also with the accumulation of wealth, competition in sports, obsession with sensual pleasure (the Epicureans and Dionysians, for example), and even self-righteous pietism and spirituality. Jesus calls us to live by a different value system, one based on the fulfillment of God’s justice and righteousness (Matt. 5:1-20; Luke 14:711). In place of self-righteousness, he calls us to care for those who are alone or afraid, for the poor, the hungry, and the vulnerable (Matt. 25:31ff.).

This list is hardly comprehensive; certainly more could be added, such as sharing the good news and confronting the scribes and Pharisees of our day, as Jesus did in his. Nor is the way of Jesus always

crystal clear. Throughout the book of Acts and the Epistles, we see manifold evidence that the early followers of Jesus wrestled with what it means to be faithful. Some felt bound to fulfill the law laid out in the Hebrew scriptures; others felt called to welcome Gentiles to faith without conversion to Judaism (Acts 10 and 15). Some were convinced that eating food offered to idols—a common practice in the Gentile world—was an act of infidelity to God; others believed that, since the Gentile gods were not real anyway, it was fine to eat such food (1 Cor. 8).

The many approaches seen in the New Testament invite us to acknowledge the variety of ways Christian faith is expressed today. In fact, the great diversity in the New Testament calls us to recognize the depth and breadth of Jesus’ acceptance and invites us to follow his example by dismantling the walls that divide us.

down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.

This is the way of Jesus—proclaiming peace to everyone in all we do.

As the letter to the Ephesians puts it in chapter 2, verses 13-17: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken

The Rev. Dr. David Esterline is president and professor of cross-cultural theological education.

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FAITHFUL PRESENCE: MINISTRY IN THE ORDINARY, EVERYDAY EVENTS OF LIFE

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grew up the child of a reading specialist in a family of scientists. I’ve been surrounded by books all my life.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that when my wife and I had our first child, books rained down on our family from all directions. At some point, we received a book series titled “Heroes of the Faith” that provides readable and motivational stories of modern missionary heroes. Hudson Taylor, Lottie Moon, David Livingstone, and many other wellknown figures from the last 200 years make an appearance in that series. The books tell a story familiar to mainline and evangelical Christians in America: God does great things in the world through great individuals. At the high point of the Western missionary movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such narratives raised vast sums of money from people convinced that their missional vocation was to give so that the heroes could go.

This paradigm, we sometimes assume, is the heroic, world-changing way of Jesus.

Indeed, a cursory glance at Christian ministry over the centuries tends to read like a Who’s Who of great figures known for their ideas and action—the Apostle Paul, Augustine of Hippo, St. Benedict, St. Francis, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. Missing from such lists are decidedly average human beings whose

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hopes are never televised for a national audience and whose labor remains invisible beyond their local communities.

Yet the opposite approach to discerning Jesus’ way brings greater clarity; for focusing on great figures can distort our understanding of Jesus’ ministry, while highlighting the invisible, faithful presence of the church throughout the centuries reveals the shape and nature of ministry in the way of Christ.

Hero stories tend to reveal more about our insecurities than the actual shape of Christian discipleship. While recounting Paul’s travels, we focus on the single-mindedness he displays in the book of Acts or his tightly managed argument in the book of Romans. We don’t speculate on what must have been days of boredom and uncertainty at sea, or the teams of people around Paul who sustained local ministries, hosted him along the way, and generally made his travel and ministry possible.

We like hearing about Mother Teresa’s longsuffering presence with the sick and dying in Calcutta, but we have little appetite for stories that introduce ambiguity and uncertainty into her life and ministry. In celebrating heroic efforts, we unveil the yawning gap between our vision of Jesus and our everyday life.

Because we have not “expected great things from God” and “attempted great things for God” as urged by William

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Carey, the 18th-century British missionary to India, we celebrate and support those people who do. We cheer the ministry of Jesus in the world from the shadows, in the church pews, with checks slid into the offering plate.

But for those with eyes to see, Jesus and the writers of the Gospels offer a vision of ministry beyond the heroic. In Matthew 13, sandwiched between John the Baptist’s question from prison—“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matt. 11:2)—and John’s death at the hands of Herod in chapter 14, Jesus offers a series of parables to explain the nature of his ministry in a corrupt and violent world.

Spreading word of his kingdom is like the indiscriminate scattering of seeds across a wide field; the kingdom of heaven itself is like a field of wheat also sown with tares; it is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a great shrub; it is like the yeast that leavens the whole lump of dough. Each of these parables offers the benefit of retrospect. At the harvest, the farmer is able to do what cannot be done while the wheat is growing. Months after a mustard seed is planted, a person can marvel at its transformation. Over time, we can see the good fruit of actions that at first appeared only equal parts futile and hopeful.

So it is with our life in Christ. We don’t get a seat at the sidelines only to cheer others on, nor do we get the benefit (at least right now) of retrospect. We are the ones tending the seeds. We are the ones watching for the yeast’s leavening of the dough.

In the words of Christian sociologist James Davison Hunter, ministry in the way of Jesus is “faithful presence within” the worlds and contexts God has placed us. It is often more costly and immediate than attending church on Sunday and more invisible and ordinary than the heroic stories we like to tell.

It is the accidental church planter in Wyoming who on Tuesdays put on a pot of soup and opened her house to neighbors and strangers in response to a God-given desire to build relationships and trust in her neighborhood. It is the pastor in Pennsylvania who shows solidarity with undocumented workers as the complexity and impersonality of immigration law make the outcome of his actions uncertain at best and futile at worst. Ministry in the way of Jesus is action that quietly and surprisingly spawns the growth of community around a small gesture of faithful presence within. But often ministry in the way of Jesus entails presence before any clear project emerges. The meaning of faithful presence can only be discerned in the

future, when the seed becomes a tree, the wheat stands out from the tares.

We should certainly support ministries that move us. We should certainly celebrate and learn from people who inspire us. But we should not allow our insecurities or easy mediocrity to sever us from our own calling to be faithful witnesses to the gospel in the ordinary and everyday events of our lives. We do not know where listening to the whispers of the Spirit will lead us, or where the offer of grace to someone in need will direct us, or what purpose a pot of soup and the offer of friendship will serve in God’s economy. We may not always know. We may never know. But being present with others in the name, hope, and power of Christ is a holy calling. In this time between seedtime and harvest, it is how ministry in the way of Jesus works.

Dr. Scott Hagley is assistant professor of missiology.

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60 YEARS UNITED FOR MINISTRY IN THE WAY OF JESUS

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ay 28, 1958, was a big day in Pittsburgh, where two American Presbyterian denominations merged: the United Presbyterian Church in North America (UPCNA) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA). The new denomination was named The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA).

A visible sign of this merger was the consolidation of two seminaries in Pittsburgh—one from each denomination. Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary, the UPCNA school, had been situated on the North Side in Pittsburgh until it moved to East Liberty in 1954. Western Theological Seminary, the PCUSA school, sat on the North Side, where it had been located only three blocks from Pitt-Xenia before its move to East Liberty.

In 1957, while denominational merger talks were being held, a “Committee on Conversations” was formed with

members from each seminary. The purpose was to explore combining the two institutions. A national committee studied the possibilities and recommended the consolidation of the schools. Then, in early 1959, each seminary’s board of directors concurred, and on May 22 of that year the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church recommended the two seminaries be consolidated “to form a Theological Seminary, to be located in Pittsburgh and to be known as ‘the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary of The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.’”1 Finally, on Dec. 17, 1959, a court order approving the consolidation was signed

by Judge William McNaugher, grandson of a former Pitt-Xenia president, John McNaugher—for whom McNaugher Hall is named.

In 1959-1960, classes were conducted on the North Side and in East Liberty, with a common commencement being held.

In the 1960-1961 academic year, the

Minutes of the 171st General Assembly (May 22, 1959), p. 112, in Donald K. McKim, Ever a Vision: A Brief History of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1959-2009 (Eerdmans, 2009), 15.

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2

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Catalog, 1960-1961, p. 17, in McKim, 26.

3

See the catalogs of Pittsburgh-Xenia and Western seminaries prior to their consolidation.

4

See the current PTS Mission Statement.

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Pittsburgh-Xenia ry Theological Semina

two seminaries came together on one campus—the site of PTS today.

The consolidation of Pitt-Xenia and Western seminaries created the need for a new curriculum—one that would carry out the purpose of the consolidated school. The first PTS catalog stated this purpose as that of educating persons “for the work of the Christian ministry and for other fields of Christian service.”2 Pitt-Xenia’s “Purpose Statement” had emphasized the “gospel ministry,” while Western’s emphasized preparation for “the pastorate.”3 The accents of each

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Western Th eo

logical Sem

inary

Building the Foundation for Ministry in the Way of Jesus The foundation of preparing for faithful ministry in the way of Jesus is built in large part by careful study of his words and actions revealed in the pages of the Bible, as well as close examination of the church’s theological understandings and practices in following and worshiping Christ throughout Christian history.

seminary were united in the ongoing purpose of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. So for 60 years now, PTS has educated students theologically while also preparing them experientially for ministry in the way of Jesus.

Today PTS is equipping people to follow Jesus Christ into “ministries familiar and yet to unfold.”4 During our Board meetings this November, we will share an oral history of the Seminary as we celebrate our historic past and continued service of living into the vision of God’s calling for the future!

Master’s students at Pittsburgh Seminary engage these areas in the classroom through professors with both expertise in their fields of specialty and commitment to preparing people for a wide range of contextually relevant Christian ministries.

Throughout this issue of Panorama, brief descriptions of a few of our courses demonstrate how students prepare The Rev. Dr. Donald K. McKim ’74 is a member of the Seminary’s Board of Directors and author of Ever a Vision: A Brief History of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1959-2009.

academically for such ministries. See the blue sidebars. Biblically grounded, historically informed, contextually aware, and purposefully oriented toward the worship of God—so goes preparation in the PTS classroom for ministry in the way of Jesus.

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WORSHIP IS THE WAY OF

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uke 4:8 makes it clear that worship of God was of utmost importance in Jesus’ life, teaching, and ministry. So also, worship is an integral part of Pittsburgh Seminary’s preparation of students for Christian service. Worship points us to the One in whom we live and move and have our being, the One who calls us to ministry and for whom we minister. As our students learn about God in the classroom, they are inspired to glorify God in the sanctuary. And as they encounter God in worship, they are inspired to learn more about God— through coursework, field education, and intercultural experiences.

One of the gifts God has given to PTS consists in the diverse community gathered here. It is in the context of community that theological exploration takes place. And because we know that the God we worship transcends any one culture, tradition, or style of worship, our community finds that we come to

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know God more fully as we engage the diversity of God’s beloved people. Thus our students are encouraged in a spirit of grace and openness to engage deeply the traditions of worship in which they’ve been formed, as well as to learn about and participate in traditions that are different from their own. Through such engagement, students come to a fuller awareness of the richness of our God. At PTS, corporate worship takes place in the morning and evening on three days each week during the Fall and Spring semesters. A look at the worship services during one week of this school year offers a view into the ways the Worship Program prepares our students for ministry in the way of Jesus.

On Tuesday, the Seminary community gathered for a morning service of worship in the style of France’s Taizé Community, an ecumenical, multinational order founded by a Swiss Reformed pastor. The Taizé style of worship reminds

us that we are connected to Christians across the boundaries of language, time, nationality, and denomination. In the evening that same day, a cohort of community members gathered to share in an informal time of conversation and prayer for each other, the larger Seminary community, and the church.

The following day, our worship was led by a team of students who had recently returned from a January-Term intercultural learning experience in Cuba. Having witnessed the Spirit’s work in a culture different from their own, these students gained new insights into the global mission of Christ. Through worship in word, song, and Scripture read in Spanish, they introduced these insights to their fellow students preparing for ministry. In Luke 10:4-9 Jesus speaks to the disciples before sending them out to minister in his name; verse 9 instructs them—and us—to proclaim the good news that in Jesus Christ “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” Indeed,

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JESUS that morning we felt deeply the nearness of God’s Kingdom. Later, we gathered for a Service of Evening Prayer inspired by the Wild Goose Worship Group, whose liturgy was shaped from original material gathered in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

On Thursdays we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. During the week in focus here, we also honored Black History Month and the multicultural, multicolored community God gathers. This worship service gave us a true foretaste of the heavenly banquet, when God’s diverse creation will sit together at table, all division will cease, and all sorrow, suffering, and oppression will be no more. Worship leaders included M.Div. students Shannon Garrett-Headen and Derail Holcomb, who invited the congregation to “stay woke.” From our surrounding community the Rev. Nikki Porter, minister of music and head of staff at Eastminster PC, worked with students to prepare and lead music of diverse styles. And Eileen RivasGarcia, Th.M. student, led us in Spanish as we celebrated the Lord’s Supper.

Afterwards, students reflected on the Pentecost story of Acts 2 made real in their experience that day. Thus all in attendance experienced the beauty of God’s Kingdom as people from different traditions, cultures, and languages partnered to lead us in worshiping the one God we all serve.

Then on Thursday evening, we gathered for an Episcopal Service of Evensong to celebrate the new partnership between PTS and the Episcopal Church in Southwestern Pennsylvania—a

partnership forged to create the Anglican/Episcopal Studies Track at Pittsburgh Seminary. (See page 20.)

Again drawing on the gifts of our surrounding community, we welcomed the choir of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, which provided musical leadership alongside PTS’s Chapel Musician Michael Frank. The Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell, PTS Board member and bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, offered the sermon.

By experiencing this wide variety of traditions, cultures, languages, and practices in worship, students at PTS delve deeper into their relationship with God and become equipped to minister in a diverse world with the kind of grace and appreciation that Jesus shows for all his beloved people. The Gospels show us that, throughout his ministry, Jesus regularly turned to God the Father in prayer and worship. Following his example, the PTS community of people preparing for ministry does likewise.

The Rev. Kendra Buckwalter Smith ’12/’13 is director of the Worship Program.

Exploring Christian Worship This year, William F. Orr Professor of New Testament Edith Humphrey approached her section of the course Exploring Christian Worship through the idea that worship is “entrance” into God’s presence and thus into a company, space, and action larger than the individual worshiper. She traced the interchange between theology, context, and religious practices by considering biblical and traditional foundations for worship, expressions of worship throughout the centuries, and varieties of worship practices in the churches of today.

Dr. Humphrey’s students considered shapers of Christian worship as distinct as Early Church Father St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople; the Gregorian Mass, from the Roman Catholic tradition; Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury and a leader of the English Reformation; and Church of England cleric John Wesley, leader of the revival movement known as Methodism.

The students learned to analyze these traditions and compare them hospitably (yet critically) to their own experiences. In one assignment, the students compared the context, theology, and mode of three hymns; in another, they participated in services that differed from their own traditions and reflected on what they had learned. Throughout the course, Dr. Humphrey encouraged her students to articulate a “theology of worship” bearing witness to our character as homo adorans—humanity formed to worship the Creator.

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WMI AND MUI TEAM UP IN NEW INTERCULTURAL EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING COURSE

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rom the opening scenes of Jesus’ ministry, recorded in the Synoptic Gospels and John, we clearly see that Jesus was a missionary. And the missionary example he set was one of taking his context very seriously: he spent the first 30 years of his life learning the language and culture of the people around him before he preached his first sermon! As a result, Jesus could model contextually relevant communication— and did so. He spoke to the hearts of his listeners by using stories, humor, irony, proverbs, parables, and sacred texts to paint vivid pictures of God’s tireless love: the shepherd who risks everything to find the lone, lost sheep; the woman who turns her house upside down to locate her lost coin, likely from the necklace that served as her dowry; the father who sets cultural norms aside by lifting his robes and sprinting toward his errant son to welcome him home.

To prepare seminary students for ministry in this same way of Jesus requires providing them with the tools they need to listen deeply to the mission fields to which they are called, whether the streets of East Liberty, the rural communities of Western Pennsylvania, campuses and hospitals across the country, or farflung locations around the world. British novelist Sir Salman Rushdie famously commented, “The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step out of the frame.” And for more than two decades, the World Mission Initiative and Metro-Urban Institute have helped hundreds of Pittsburgh Seminary students “step out of the frame” so they can return with new eyes to see their own contexts and better speak to the hearts of their own communities.

In January, the Rev. Kimberly Gonxhe ’07 and the Rev. Dr. Hunter Farrell, directors of the Seminary’s Metro-Urban

Institute and World Mission Initiative, respectively, team-taught a new M.Div. required course, Intercultural Experiential Learning. The course was built around two January-Term intercultural trips—one to Silliman University in the Philippines, the other to Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cuba.

From the opening scenes of Jesus’ ministry . . . we clearly see that Jesus was a missionary. And the missionary example he set was one of taking his context very seriously.

Students met for 15 hours of intensive, pre-trip orientation; traveled to their international destinations, where they participated in a five-day mini-course (Mission in Context, in Cuba, and The Churches’ Response to the Environmental Crisis, in the Philippines); and returned for 15 hours of post-trip debriefing and integration that asked about the meaning of the intercultural experience and then posed the question, “How might this experience change the way we minister in our own communities?”

In years past, such intercultural experiences—especially WMI trips— were of necessity sandwiched between academic terms. The limited time frame allowed little opportunity for the deep reflection needed to make “stepping out of the frame” a truly transformative

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experience. With the Seminary’s curricular change to the semester system and intervening J-Term this year, the combination of the orientation, intercultural experience, and debriefing helped maximize the course’s impact for our students.

Before the pre-trip sessions, each student took the Intercultural Development Inventory, an online assessment of cultural competence, and we debriefed the results—that is, we evaluated how well our students perceived lines of cultural difference and navigated through them. (The orientations of the IDI range from “denial” to “polarization” to “minimization” to “acceptance” to “adaptation.”) The inventory gave us language for cultural competence and encouraged students to grow in their ability to connect with people across lines of difference. We spent a significant amount of class time analyzing the

historic influence of racial difference on the church’s understanding of mission.

And the class’s racial diversity, combined with the strong bonds of trust that formed across our own lines of difference during this intense time of experiential learning, allowed us to identify and confront the racially biased assumptions that are often present, but unseen, in even the best-intended mission work.

Who knows how God will use these students and what they have learned in the missio Dei near and far?

American Religious Biography In the fall, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Church History Heather Vacek taught American Religious Biography, a course exploring the interaction of theology, context, and religious practice in the lives of five Christians from the colonial era to the 20th century. Rather than simply presenting a study of published theologies, institutions, or movements, the course asked students to consider how a wide variety of individuals have asserted those theologies, shaped movements and organizations, and done so from unique social locations.

A final assignment required the students to select one figure studied during the semester—in 2018, their readings included biographies of Sarah Osborn, Rebecca Protten, Brigham Young, Aimee Semple McPherson, and Francis Schaeffer.

Then they incorporated the significance of the selected individual’s faith and witness into a sermon based on one of the texts from the Revised Common Lectionary readings assigned for All Saint’s Day.

The Rev. Dr. Hunter Farrell is director of the World Mission Initiative, and the Rev. Kimberly Gonxhe ’07 is director of the Metro-Urban Institute.

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THE KELSO MUSEUM: SHOWING THE WAY OF JESUS FROM THE REAL WORLD

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hat we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the Word of life . . . “ (1 John 1:1). “‘Wait, this is real?’ As the young woman stared at the artifact in her hands, her eyes widened. ‘Yep. It’s real.’ I watched as the implications began to sink into her brain. The object in her hand belonged to Herod the Great, the king from the Christmas story who tried to execute Jesus while he was still a child. This artifact was the link that connected a lifetime of Christmas Eve services and December Bible lessons to this student’s history homework. It created a bridge in her mind between Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Cleopatra, and Caesar Augustus on the one side, and Herod, Mary, Joseph, the Magi, the shepherds, and Jesus himself on the other.”

Thus begins an account by Director of the Miller Summer Youth Institute Derek Davenport ’05/’17 relating one of his many experiences sharing artifacts from the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology’s extensive collection. I love partnering with Derek—a master story teller—by equipping him with tangible pieces of history that bring Scripture alive as he ministers on the road to youth groups, college students, and congregations. Derek and I were both richly blessed by the opportunity to interact with such objects as part of our studies at Pittsburgh Seminary.

He continues: “I had just finished talking through the fall of the Roman Republic with her youth group. Politely, several of the students assured me they had already studied this story in school. But when the artifacts came out, something changed.

When they held that piece of history in their hands, they felt it—not just the object, but also something much larger: the change. They felt the change in their understanding of reality as the stories of history class and youth group were pulled out of the world of thoughts and words and thrust into the physical world—a world they touch and taste and smell

This sandal from the Museum’s collection dates to 332 BCE and was discovered in a cave in Wadi el Daliyah, above the Jordan River.

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every day. Suddenly, following the way of Jesus was no longer abstract.”

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14).

Fulfilling the Seminary’s mission of equipping students for ministry in the way of Jesus involves illuminating for them what that way is. First-year student and Museum docent Meghan McClain

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describes how the Kelso sheds such light: “By providing a window into the real world of the historical Jesus, the Museum allows students to consider not only the content of his ministry but also the sights, sounds, and tastes of his daily life.

There is something about viewing and handling artifacts contemporary to Jesus’ context that lifts him off the pages of Scripture and into our imagination. These details matter, not only because they are exciting but also because they situate Jesus in a specific time and place, and they remind us that we, too, are situated in our own contexts. They encourage us to mold our own ministries to the needs of those around us—the way Jesus did.”

The Word who “became flesh and lived among us” was born into a first-century Jewish family. He lived and ministered in the context of the rich milieu of late Second Temple Period Judaism—a diverse culture shaped not only by hundreds of years of Jewish faith and religious practices, but also by Greco-Roman influences and millennia-old worldviews from Egypt and various Mesopotamian and Eastern Mediterranean peoples.

Recent PTS graduate and new pastor Marty Neal ’18—a Museum docent throughout his time as a Seminary student—shares his perspective on this wider scope from having interacted with the artifacts from several thousand years of relevant history and culture represented in our collection: “I truly believe understanding the context of the Bible as a whole and especially that in which Jesus lived, ministered, and died is critical to a full appreciation of his message and the way of God.

Working in the Museum gave me the opportunity to explore artifacts that offer us insight into life from before the time of Abraham through the Roman Era. This experience helped affirm and deepen my understanding of culture throughout biblical history—an understanding I can now share with the people I serve.”

Marty and many other alums have brought their congregations to the Kelso to engage with our treasure trove of artifacts, many from dig sites that Seminary faculty, staff, and students have helped excavate since the 1920s on through to The Zeitah Excavations, directed by G. Albert Shoemaker Professor of Bible and Archaeology Ron Tappy. Thanks to generous donors, Museum scholarships help support PTS students’ engagement in such hands-on opportunities. The Kelso Museum is free and open to all—a welcoming resource for the larger community, from children and local school groups to retirees and lifelong learners, from faith-based groups to university students, from friends with special needs to internationals from around the world.

Derek offers some closing thoughts: “The chance to interact with artifacts from the real world of the Bible opens our eyes to a different angle on history, Scripture, faith, and the people we encounter every day. Holding a little piece of the biblical past invites us to understand how following Jesus has a tangible impact on the physical world all around us—and prompts us to shout, ‘Wait, this is real!’”

Bible Study in the Church Bible Study in the Church, co-taught

by Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament Tucker Ferda and local pastor the Rev. Gavin Walton ’16, integrated the academic study of the Bible encountered in seminary with the task of crafting and leading Bible studies in various ecclesial contexts. Professors Ferda and Walton presented biblical scholarship as a resource for the church while also recognizing, affirming, and learning from the rich and varied wisdom of lay-led Bible study.

The students completed writing projects that contextualized Bible study in the church personally, theoretically, and in practice. First they wrote a “Letter to My Former Self,” in which they named their formative influences on how to read the Bible and traced how they may have changed. Second, toward acquiring greater contextual and hermeneutical sensitivity for leading groups and conversations, they articulated how they distinguish between “good” and “bad” readings of Scripture and probed the ways in which they may have acquired those criteria. And third, they produced for their own ecclesial context a fourto-six-week Bible study curriculum. Each student presented one of these lessons to the class, received classmates’ feedback, and then incorporated that feedback into the final lesson plan.

Jennifer Christmas ’11 is associate curator of the Kelso Museum of Near Eastern Archaeology.

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CPI INNOVATES MODELS FOR CULTIVATING HEALTHY CHURCH CULTURE

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hurch planting and revitalization are community affairs. The notion that a Christian leader does or even can do this work alone isn’t realistic. Nor is it faithful ministry in the way of Jesus, which draws us toward each other amid our differences. We need each other.

So the Church Planting Initiative at PTS has been participating in a constellation of programs that surface the need for a culture of communal connection to support both church planting and church revitalization.

First, the pilot of the Certificate in Church Planting and Revitalization. This program, intentionally broad in its target audience, welcomed 17 lay leaders and ruling elders who began in its first cohort. The

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group’s breadth of tradition gave us a chance to examine church culture from a variety of perspectives and in a variety of contexts. In each one, we noticed what health and “unhealth” look like.

We saw what health in one context offers to support health in another context. We learned what pastors, elders, and congregants need from each other. We also learned what the free evangelical churches and the mainline denominational churches need from each other. In our sample group of people from all over the country, we started to see a microcosm of a healthy church ecosystem emerge. We began to rely on each other.

Second, partway through the pilot program CPI and the PC(USA)’s 1001

New Worshiping Communities convened a group of 13 leaders from a variety of settings—established churches, the academy, church plants and mergers, national staff from the PC(USA)’s General Assembly Office, and Presbytery staff.

The group was intentionally diverse in ministry setting and background though almost entirely Presbyterian.

We gathered to talk about stewardship and sustainability in new churches— starting with the “hard stuff” has a way of knocking down barriers quickly.

And though we had moments of disagreement and frustration, the feeling that bubbled up was a strong sense of our need and gratitude for each other.

In fact, instead of focusing on money, we started to think in new ways about

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structure, power, and connection. There emerged a robust conversation about what we need to give and receive from each other to constitute a healthy ecosystem, and how we might think of “church” as an entity sustained by its own God-given diversity and generosity—much like an electric grid or a thriving biome.

When the Pittsburgh Presbytery wondered how CPI might share the certificate program experience more broadly—to empower entire church communities to find their particular calling within the broader church ecosystem—the Transformation and Revitalization Fellowship was born.

This program will bring cohorts of congregational leaders from half a dozen churches in the Pittsburgh area for a Thursday evening and full Friday four times over the course of one year.

Participants will get to know leaders from other churches, explore questions about the church’s vocation, and converse by phone in reflection groups between each on-campus session. Our goal is that these cohorts will serve as conduits of connection and mutual resourcing between congregations, and also as

The Church Planting and Revitalization inaugural cohort welcomed students from across the country.

healthy cells in their own communities because of the practices embedded in the program and the formational impact of sharing life with their newly formed community throughout the year.

As we continue to envision ways of fostering and supporting healthy culture throughout the church, CPI is particularly excited about how these programs will bridge denominational lines and how we might share this approach with other cities and judicatories. As we learn more about the gifts God has given us to “be church” and discern how we can form and share them best, we are listening for God’s call to ministry in the way of Jesus through the people God has placed in our midst.

The Rev. Karen Rohrer is director of the Church Planting Initiative.

Foundations of the Christian Story Assistant Professor of Church History Kenneth Woo recently taught Foundations of the Christian Story, which surveys developments in early and medieval Christianity. His students considered the history of Christian theology as embedded in Christian communities. In doing so, they paid attention to how ideas are formed by the cultural contexts out of which they emerge and into which they are received.

The students wrote three papers, which built upon each other to deepen the students’ skills in critical and contextual analysis. The first assignment offered a close reading of a primary source’s content and form in relation to the external circumstances that shaped it.

Next, the students compared two texts across distinct historical contexts and situated those texts as part of an ongoing theological conversation taking place in diverse communities amid changing situations. Finally, students reflected, from the vantage point of their present ecclesial context, on how examples from the church’s past unveil and illumine insights for today.

This year’s students compared how context shaped Athanasius’ and Anselm’s respective accounts of the Atonement; examined historical developments in Christian monasticism; and wrote a genealogy of theological approaches to establishing and policing the church’s social boundaries according to gender and religious difference, among other topics.

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THE MILLER SYI IS . . . “GOING TO

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astors work very hard to bring people into our ministries.

We try to develop attractive programming, a winsome style, relevant events, pertinent Christianeducational offerings—whatever we can do to bring people in. And that’s all well and good; throughout the Gospels, individuals come to Jesus. In some chapters, we even see crowds gathering to hear Jesus when he’s at home. We ministers of the gospel want to follow Jesus’ example and bring people in to hear the gospel proclaimed.

But bringing people in is only half our calling—and only part of Jesus’ way of ministering. Consider this sentence in the story of Zacchaeus: Jesus speaks to the man sitting in the tree and says, “I’m going to your house today” (Luke 19:56). Zacchaeus came to see Jesus, but then Jesus went to Zacchaeus’s house.

In the Gospels, Jesus goes to the houses of quite a number of people, in fact. He goes to the house of Simon Peter (Matt.

8:14) and the house of Jairus (Luke 8:40,

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51) in Capernaum. He goes to the house of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-39) and the house of Simon the leper (Matt. 26:6) in Bethany. He even goes to the houses of a tax collector—Levi (Luke 5:27-29)— and a Pharisee (Luke 7:36). Jesus spends a lot of time going out to people where they feel at home.

In recent years, the Miller Summer Youth Institute at PTS has expanded our work to do the same thing—to do ministry in the way of Jesus. In addition to bringing people to Pittsburgh Seminary, we also try to reach people where they feel at home—to go to them. All four of our program areas seek to bring people in and to send them out.

Our traditional high school academy, which began in 1997, now includes partnerships with area colleges and universities to take SYI onto college campuses. During each high school academy, SYI students spend time at the Seminary before they return to their host school—Pennsylvania’s Waynesburg University or Westminster College.

This year we preached the gospel in chapel at Ohio’s Muskingum University, from where a team then came to our campus to participate in local mission service coordinated by SYI. We also led programming at Florida’s Eckerd College and met with students at St. Andrews University in North Carolina. We went to their “houses.” In turn, they came to ours.

In the Gospels . . . Jesus spends a lot of time going out to people where they feel at home.

The SYI internship program does the same thing—we not only bring college students to Pittsburgh Seminary but also send them out to local churches and ministry organizations. This year, SYI interns spent time in local congregations from East Liberty to Fox Chapel, Churchill to Sewickley, and Garfield to Wexford. They went out to work with

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Preaching and Communication in Ministry

YOUR HOUSE TODAY” Garfield Farm, Open Hand Ministries, and Freedom Camp in addition to their work at PTS and on the campuses of our partner colleges and universities.

Further, SYI’s new mission experiences bring local churches to our East Liberty/ Highland Park location to resource them for connecting with their home neighborhoods. Participants explore what it means to be a neighbor, envision partnerships within their communities, and prepare for ministering in the way of Jesus “back home.”

Finally, SYI has started hosting shortterm programs all around the country.

From youth retreats in South Florida to Presbytery workshops in Upstate New York, we are going out to pastors and churches, youth and universities, neighborhoods and organizations to equip them for ministry in the way of Jesus—for ministry that says, “I’m going to your house today.”

The course Preaching and Communication in Ministry, taught

by Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and Ministry Roger Owens and Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship Angela Hancock, is one of the many places in the new curriculum where theological disciplines find integration.

Students in the course must employ the exegetical skills they’ve learned in their Bible courses, think theologically about the nature of the gospel, and analyze a context in order to craft and deliver sermons that offer a particular, concrete “word of the Lord” for people in a specific time and place.

In the practice of crafting and writing sermons, students learn to use their scholarly competence in biblical interpretation, theological reflection, and contextual analysis in the service of the church as they seek to bear witness to the way of Jesus attested to in the Scriptures and the lived experience of the church.

The Rev. Derek Davenport ’05/’17 and the Rev. Erin Davenport ’05, MSW-LSW, are directors of the Miller Summer Youth Institute.

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MINISTRY FOR BODY AND SOUL: FIELD EDUCATION AT CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

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ell me about your theology of suffering.” This invitation surfaces in every interview the Rev. Richard Freeman Sr. conducts with PTS students exploring a potential field education placement at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where he serves as manager of pastoral care.

Perhaps his request should come as no surprise to seminarians pursuing ministry in the way of Jesus, for after all, the cross—the most familiar symbol of our faith—recalls Jesus’ own suffering and death.

But Jesus also healed people, and in many ways. So in addition to suffering, healing is part and parcel of what field education at Children’s Hospital encourages PTS students to wrestle with

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as they minister to patients and their family members, interact with medical professionals and hospital staff, conduct worship in the hospital’s chapel, and shadow the experienced chaplains who have gained specialized clinical training and experience in providing pastoral care in a hospital setting.

This year, two PTS students—Becky Boyer and Antawn Coleman—have pursued their field education training as part of the pastoral care team at Children’s Hospital. Becky, who is nearing the end of her studies at PTS, chose this placement because of her interest in chaplaincy as a vocational goal. The Rev. Freeman has noted Becky’s habit of “asking probative questions in all her work” out of her desire to explore where God might be calling her.

Antawn grew into his call to ministry through serving as an associate minister at his home church, White Lily Baptist, in Pittsburgh’s West End. He now serves as senior pastor of the 100-member congregation while, in addition, he pursues seminary education full time.

Since his field education mentor— Manager Freeman—serves also as a pastor (of Resurrection Baptist Church, in Braddock, Pa.), Antawn finds that their shared identity as African-American men pastoring churches in the East Allegheny Baptist Conference brings a deeper, “iron-sharpens-iron” dimension to their discussions of how pastoral ministry in a congregational setting informs and influences chaplaincy work in a hospital setting.

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Field Education

As members of the pastoral care team at Children’s Hospital, Becky and Antawn help patients, families, and staff draw on the resources of faith during a child’s illness. They offer pastoral counseling, prayer, scriptural encouragement, sacraments, and bereavement support to people of various religious backgrounds and to those with no identified faith tradition. Thus as chaplains, they serve in an interfaith role within the hospital and attempt to provide, or arrange for providing, the religious services requested by patients or their families.

These dynamics create ample opportunities for Becky and Antawn to grapple seriously with the deep, complex realities of staying grounded in Jesus’ ways of ministry in a pluralistic context.

Through both shadowing with and observation by the Rev. Freeman and the other hospital chaplains, and by reflecting with these mentors on their chaplaincy experiences, Becky and Antawn are being invited into the postures, habits, and practices of theologically reflective ministry—one of the primary objectives of the redeveloped Field Education program in the Seminary’s new master’s curriculum.

As Antawn noted midway through his placement year, “The biggest takeaway thus far has been learning how to find common ground with families from many different sociological, economic, and theological backgrounds. Spending time with them and understanding their journey has made me a better listener and communicator.” And through the complementary field education placement and academic coursework embedded in the new program, both Becky and Antawn have been able to develop a growing theology of suffering that applies “not only at the hospital but also in [the] congregational setting.”

Pittsburgh Seminary’s new Field Education course focuses particular attention on the integration of theology and ministry. In one section of the course, James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Steve Tuell pursued with his students the interpretation and use of Scripture in the students’ varied contexts of ministry. To that end, the class read and discussed articles on the authority of Scripture by Jewish, Roman Catholic, Reformed, and Womanist scholars.

In consultation with Dr. Tuell, the students selected passages of Scripture and developed exegetical outlines of those passages to prepare for preaching in their field education settings. Prior to delivering their sermons, the students presented their manuscripts to Dr. Tuell for his feedback. They then recorded their sermons and shared the recordings with the class for constructive criticism.

Where possible, they also received input from focus groups in their ministry settings. Finally, each student wrote a paper analyzing the implicit understanding and use of Scripture at their particular field education site.

The Rev. Dr. Cathy Brall is director of Field Education.

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LAUNCHING OUR NEW ANGLICAN/ EPISCOPAL STUDIES TRACK

On Feb. 28, 2019, we celebrated our new Anglican/Episcopal Studies Track with a Service of Evensong, at which Bishop Dorsey McConnell preached.

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ittsburgh Theological Seminary and the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh have entered into a new partnership—one intended to change the way clergy and lay leaders prepare for ministry in the Episcopal Church. Toward that end, PTS and the Diocese are introducing the Anglican/ Episcopal Studies Track, a concentration that breaks down the traditional segregating of future priests, deacons, and lay ministers in favor of training them within the same context and course of study. The program begins with the Fall 2019 semester.

The design of the track will allow all those engaged in ministry to enjoy the same substantive academic and spiritual preparation, while promoting their full awareness of and appreciation for each other’s respective roles and contributions to the mission of the church. And the ecumenical setting offered at Pittsburgh Seminary will enhance this training.

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“The partnership that generated the new Anglican/Episcopal track displays the Seminary’s commitment to engage meaningfully with denominational partners,” notes President Esterline. “The presence of Anglican/Episcopal students has always enriched the learning environment at PTS. By pairing focused attention to Anglican/Episcopal worship, spiritual formation, and tradition with the Seminary’s professional degree programs, this new track formalizes a course of study for those seeking to serve within the Anglican/Episcopal tradition.”

The program is open to students pursuing a Master of Divinity or Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies who desire deeper knowledge in specific fields, such as church history, doctrine, liturgy, and practical theology. Students seeking ordination will be trained in anti-racism and church discipline procedures, take part in spiritual formation, and be placed

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in a year-long field study program, typically with an Episcopal church.

Episcopal students will participate in the diocese’s Love+Teach+Heal Leadership Academy, which brings clergy and lay leaders together for deeper theological conversations.

“The Anglican/Episcopal track offers a unique program of the highest quality,” said the Rt. Rev. Dorsey McConnell, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and PTS Board member.

“The Seminary is known for academic excellence. In this setting, ministers can be shaped in the ethos of Anglican tradition and practice while enjoying all the advantages of a rich ecumenical environment. This is holy work, and I am very excited for the Diocese of Pittsburgh to be at the forefront of an initiative that, I hope, will grow to benefit many parts of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.” Even prior to its formal unveiling, the new track gained

the approval of the Episcopal Dioceses of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) as a course of study for their members, largely due to Pittsburgh Seminary’s denominational breadth in student body and faculty.

Such breadth affords strength to this program by providing opportunities for students and faculty to learn from and with those whose theology, polity, and worship style might be quite different from their own—and so develop trust and appreciation across traditional boundaries.

Providing the opportunity to walk with faithful followers of Jesus from different ecclesial families is one of Pittsburgh Seminary’s central commitments. The new Anglican/Episcopal Studies Track adds to our already established formal relationships with The United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

Theological Writing Practicum: Revision For three weeks in J-Term, Director of the Center for Writing and Learning Support Shan Overton teaches an intensive course titled Theological Writing Practicum: Revision. Providing a brief introduction to theological writing for students in our master’s programs, the course invites them into the process of theological writing by focusing on revising—and uses students’ essays from previous PTS courses as a starting point.

Dr. Overton approaches revision by seeing writing as a process that unfolds in a complex socio-political context for multiple audiences and multiple purposes. To illustrate this understanding, her practicum incorporates discussions of works by poets such as T.S. Eliot, David Whyte, Lucille Clifton, Czeslaw Milosz, Mary Oliver, and others in highlighting the choices writers make about words, format, phrasing, punctuation, title, repetition, imagery, and more so as to speak to different audiences and in different contexts.

At the end of the course, students submit 20 pages of revised academic work along with a self-assessment and a writing plan that will guide their development as writers as they move through their seminary programs and into their vocational calls in the church and the world.

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CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR RESPONSIVE, RELATIONAL, RENEWED MINISTRY

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friend recently pointed out with irony that the duration of the average master of divinity program is roughly the same as Jesus’ entire public ministry: three years. Enough time to prepare people fully, one would think! Yet living out the call to ministry over a lifetime means inevitably facing questions that seminary training could never have anticipated. Social issues, communities in transition, changing assumptions of what church and ministry are all about—it can seem that everything is in flux. But if this ministry is going to look anything like Jesus’ ministry, then it needs to be responsive, relational, and always renewed—and that is where continuing education at Pittsburgh Seminary helps.

and other challenges confront today’s church leaders as they seek to care for their congregants and neighbors. Our continuing education programs are poised to walk with ministers as they read and respond faithfully to current issues in their communities. Adding to ministry toolboxes and expanding the pastoral imagination, popular recent offerings have addressed leadership in transitional contexts, trauma, and the ethics of end-of-life care. A recent online course taught by PTS Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness Jim Downey aimed at helping churches with strategic planning in a manner “much like what Jesus is doing at the very beginning of the ministry described in Luke [chapter 4],” as one participant put it.

Responsive. Ministry engaged over a lifetime means ministry engaged in a constantly changing landscape.

Several decades ago, who could have imagined pastors needing to wrestle with social media ethics or opioid addiction in their communities? Yet these

In other words, what degree-program curricula simply do not have the space or foresight to do, continuing education does—by preparing people for responsiveness to presenting needs, as Jesus responded throughout his public ministry. For today’s ministry professionals must do so each and every day.

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Relational. Participants in our programs frequently express gratitude for the chance to connect with other people doing similar work. Many participants— especially solo pastors—report feelings of isolation in their ministry contexts. It’s no wonder that one of Jesus’ first ministerial moves involved convening a community of disciples before sending them out for service—two by two (Mark 6:7)!

Relationships are at the heart of effective ministry. They lay the groundwork for building bridges and deepening the resilience of communities. In the wake of the shooting at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the PTS Continuing Education program hosted events that celebrated the network of relationships which allowed the city to stand against hate and begin to heal. And we prioritized opportunities to build new relationships across difference through programs such as Allies in Faith (encouraging hospitality to immigrants) and interfaith events.

Ministry in the way of Jesus means acknowledging our call to serve together

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Formation and Christian Practices in spiritual formation, and participants have called the experience “a blessing,” an “integrative practice,” a place of “affirmation.”

Ministry in the way of Jesus means intentionally seeking out such opportunities to grow spiritually, to remember who—and whose—we are. So our Continuing Education program offers abundant space for nurturing our heart and mind. as good neighbors. So our Continuing Education program fosters and facilitates such service.

Renewed. In recent years, many ministry professionals have pushed back against practices of self-care as a necessity— they’ve misinterpreted such practices as selfish or self-centered, as luxuries in a busy work portfolio. But even Jesus regularly needed to distance himself from the practice of his public ministry. He needed to do so for renewal, whether in a boat on the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 14:13) or on a lonely mountain for prayer (Matt.

14:23). One pastor recently described having to take “micro-Sabbaths”—an hour here, an hour there—to sustain himself amid overwhelming personal and professional demands.

Our continuing education programs provide this kind of “soul food” and validate the need for renewal through classes such as Celtic Spirituality of Nature and O Taste and See: The Spirituality of Food. We have recently begun also to offer writing seminars

Responsive, relational, renewed. Recently, a newly ordained local pastor and frequent participant in our continuing education programs called them a “gift” to his growing expertise in ministry.

“They enable pastors like me to keep our work fresh with new insights and rooted in the connections between pulpit, pew, and street.” This kind of dynamic, way-of-Jesus ministry is what every theological school hopes to nurture in its graduates—and what our robust Continuing Education program supports.

New this year to the master’s curricula are one-credit lecture electives, designed to deepen students’ engagement with scholars who come to campus to speak.

Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship Angela Hancock taught one such elective this spring. The course focused on the work of philosopher James K. A. Smith, our 2019 Schaff lecturer, brought here by the Continuing Education Program. Smith’s focus on the power of habit to form and deform Christian communities deeply resonates with ongoing conversations at Pittsburgh Seminary about what practices support or undermine a culture of worship, witness, discipleship, justice, and hospitality.

To prepare for Smith’s visit, the class read two of his books and then gathered to discuss them. These conversations identified key insights and raised questions for further investigation before the students attended Smith’s lectures.

The class met again after the lectures to debrief and propose ideas for a final paper in which the students engaged Smith’s work.

Dr. Helen Blier is director of Continuing Education.

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octor of Ministry student Oghenetega (Tega) Swann came to Aliquippa and Ambridge, Pa., sensing a call to plant a new church—a call to lead people living in poverty to a church community where they understand themselves as part of God’s story. “This is a struggling community. But it is not a bad place.

God led me through a two-year waiting period of listening, being part of the community, observing, connecting with folks. I received clear instruction from the Lord to pursue a different model of church planting—a model focused on children and youth.”

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Formed in the Anglican and Pentecostal traditions, Tega discovered in her listening that everyone in the community claimed relationship with a church, but most of them never attended. “Within a three-mile radius there are about 50 churches, but on Sunday morning you can sit with most of your neighbors at home.” Tega identified a pattern across three generations: as adults, the children of older folks who took them to church do not now attend church, so nearly all their children—the current youth—are unchurched. “God told me, ‘reach out to that generation under 18—they will be the core of your church.’” And so it is!

Out of respect for families’ relationships with other churches, Tega first started gathering children together during the week. Among other things, their hunger sparked the new church to life.

“In the summer I saw a six-year-old and an eight-year-old wandering the streets alone and unsupervised at nine o’clock in the morning. I asked why they were on the streets. ‘I’m hungry,’ the littlest one replied. ‘Why not eat at home?’

I asked. ‘There’s no food at home. All the cereal’s gone.’” So with the help of friends and volunteers, summer programs blossomed: $5 for an entire five weeks of programming in ballet, art, music, environmental exploration, and more.

After three years of summer programs,

M I N I S T R Y I N T H E W AY O F J E S U S

DOING “D.MIN.ISTRY” JESUS’ WAY

Tega started Sunday services and welcomed the kids. She was surprised when their parents came as well. The kids brought them.

Though Tega had been clear about her call to the neighborhood, her journey wasn’t easy—especially for a woman in a community where the ministers had always been male. When racism, sexism, isolation, and segregation took their toll on Tega, she reached out to her spiritual partners around the world and asked them to pray. “Each one gave me the same response: ‘Do not leave,’” she recalls. Needing a community—a “cloud of witnesses”—Tega prayed, “I need you, God, to bring me to a community living out John 17:20-23—a community where all are welcome, no matter who they are: male or female, rich or poor, black or white, married or single.” Two weeks later, things started to happen. When PTS alumna the Rev. Dr. Judy Angleberger ’96 learned of Tega’s struggle, that prayer began to be answered. And last July, Aliquippa’s Refreshing Springs Mission Church became an official congregation of the PC(USA).

It’s that story and that context which Tega brings to her experience as a D.Min. student at PTS. Originally intending to plant a non-denominational church, she had been exploring the program’s Missional Leadership Focus prior to shifting to the PC(USA). “My search had led me to PTS because I was trying to discern whether my particular sense of call with respect to my church was theologically sound. I saw that the courses in the Missional Leadership Focus related to practical forms of ministry. They showed awareness of the complexities of ministries and the desire to address real-life dilemmas. The focus combined theology and practice.”

The D.Min. experience has been a huge “Yes” from God for Tega. Her search for theological validation of her model for ministry has been overwhelmingly affirmed by the readings she and her D.Min. cohort have shared. The readings have exposed her to different models; more importantly, they’ve led her to trust what she’s doing: “The readings have expanded my world. They have given me hope and vision for ministry.

There are moments when we pastors just don’t know what to do, and we question whether our work and ministry are meaningful. The readings have strengthened my commitment to my call,” she insists.

As to the exercises exploring context, which lie at the heart of the Missional Leadership Focus, Tega notes: “My background is in science. I didn’t know the ministry was a place where we could do experiments . . . experiments

using our eyes, ears, and senses.

These experiments helped me better understand my congregation—and my community!” Her guide for these experiments is PTS missiology professor, Scott Hagley, whom Tega describes as uniquely gifted for teaching D.Min. students in the Missional Leadership Focus. “Dr. Hagley has the ability to take away the fear from what we are doing. ‘We can do it,’ he’ll say. ‘There are resources. It is possible.’ I don’t know if I could have done this work without him.”

Tega says, “I want to take what I have learned and pass it on to the pastors in this community. Most importantly, now in my community, people who were not called a people are now called a people [Hos. 2:23] because of God’s work here. Black and white, poor and wealthy, educated and uneducated, old and young can gather here, where all are valued and their gifts acknowledged.”

Through Tega and the other D.Min. students at PTS, such ministry in the way of Jesus is being confirmed, strengthened, and expanded in fulfilment of God’s call.

The Rev. Dr. Denise Thorpe is interim director of the Doctor of Ministry Program. (See page 36.)

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PTS NEWS

HONORING GRADUATES DURING DR. SANDRA COLLINS ’87 — Distinguished Alumna in Academia —

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or the past decade, Dr. Sandra Collins ’87 has served as professor of sacred Scripture at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Ss. Cyril and Methodius, an Eastern Catholic seminary in the Observatory Hill area of Pittsburgh. Also as director of information services at the seminary, Sandra has responsibility for the library and for instituting and directing Byzantine Online, the school’s distance learning program.

Sandra completed her master’s work in church history at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Here she studied with now

P. C. Rossin Professor Emeritus of Church History the Rev. Dr. John Wilson, for whom she wrote her thesis on John Henry Cardinal Newman and ecclesiastical authority. Sandra went on to earn her MLS and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh, where in her doctoral program she concentrated in Jewish Studies and Gender. In 2012, Cambridge Scholars Press published her book, Weapons Upon Her Body: the Female Heroic in the Hebrew Bible, which grew out of her dissertation.

Several years later, she received The Catholic Library Association’s John Brubaker Award for her article “A Wandering Aramean: ATLA and the Scholar of Eastern Christianity,” published in the Association’s award-winning journal, Catholic Library World.

Sandra has also worked at Trinity School for Ministry, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Duquesne University as a theological librarian. She writes a regular column featuring forthcoming books on religion for Library Journal and for Women in Judaism.

THE REV. DR. HERBERT V. R. P. JONES ’83 — Distinguished Alumnus in Specialized Ministry —

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he Rev. Dr. Herbert V. R. P. Jones ’83, founder and director of The Heritage Gospel Chorale of Pittsburgh, is one of the nation’s foremost figures in choral conducting and pedagogy and an expert on the intersection between theology and musical expression. He has cultivated a multifaceted career as a choral conductor, educator, operatic and oratorio bass, liturgical dancer, orator, and pastor who has taught and performed across the United States and Europe. Currently Herbert serves as minister of music at Bethany Baptist Church (Homewood, Pa.) and as adjunct faculty at Geneva College’s Center for Urban Biblical Ministry.

Selected in 2011 by the New Pittsburgh Courier as one of 50 Men of Excellence and recognized in 2013 by the Rachel Randall Education Ministry (Pittsburgh) as one of five Men of Distinction, Herbert holds multiple master’s degrees (in counseling psychology, choral conducting/music education, and

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divinity) and two doctoral degrees (in musical arts and ethnomusicology).

A retired member of the music faculty of greater Pittsburgh’s Community College of Allegheny County, Herbert has also taught in Mississippi, North Dakota, and Arkansas. He is a leading authority on the music of Moses George Hogan and is currently working with The Spirituals Project, PBS, and others to produce a documentary on the life of this internationally renowned African-American composer, best known for his arrangements of spirituals.

Herbert is executive assistant to the academic dean/academic division of the Gospel Music Workshop of America Inc. He sits on the boards of the Afro-American Music Institute (Pittsburgh), Professionals for Christ Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.), Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation (Pittsburgh), RAISE Academy (Columbus, Ohio), and Holcolm Music Academy (Atlanta).

PTS NEWS

ALUMNAE/I DAYS 2018 THE REV. PERRY DIANE FONDERLIN ’89 ­— Distinguished Alumna in Mission —

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he Rev. Perry Diane Fonderlin ’89 was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and for a decade served Disciples churches in Bazetta and Girard, Ohio. By 1985 Diane and her husband, Tim, had already been instrumental in starting a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in their home community of Warren, Ohio. Having continued their involvement with the organization both locally and regionally since then, in 1999 they were assigned to work with Habitat in Asia and the Pacific with the Disciples’ Division of Overseas Ministries program. Two years later they became fully supported missionaries with the denomination’s mission program, Global Ministries.

While in Asia and the Pacific, Diane served as Habitat’s international church relations coordinator for the 26 countries where Habitat had national programs. During their last two years there, Diane and Tim worked with the Indian Ocean Tsunami Recovery. Diane’s continued work in church relations

led to the creation of partnerships between Global Ministries, Habitat for Humanity, and communities that were devastated by a tsunami.

In 2007 Diane was asked to continue her church relations role, but now in New Orleans by working with the Disciples’ domestic mission program, the Division of Homeland Ministries. There she coordinated short-term church mission teams from throughout the United States and Canada. Five years later, Global Ministries asked Diane to work with a long-time partner in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, called the National Spiritual Council of Haitian Churches, which focuses on education. In that role, Diane taught seminarians at St. Andrews School of Theological Studies. In 2016 she and Tim returned to the States after nearly 18 years in mission service.

Diane now serves as part-time pastor of the Disciples church in Girard, Ohio, where she had started in church ministry decades earlier.

THE REV. JOHN W. FOESTER ’60 — Distinguished Alumnus in Pastoral Ministry —

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he Rev. John W. Foester ’60 earned his bachelor’s in chemistry from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa. But in the mid-1950s, while serving in Washington, D.C., as a translator of Vietnamese for the United States Army, two experiences moved him in new directions: he took courses at Washington Bible School, and he met Cora, who later became his wife. Cora worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and John’s Army service was attached to the National Security Agency. A mutual friend introduced the two, they were married in 1958, and John began pursuing theological studies in earnest. Two years later he received his M.Div. from PTS and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

John assumed his first pastoral call at National Mission Churches in Cameron, Rock Lick, and Wolf Run, W.Va., where he remained for four years. He then pastored First PC in Brownsville, Pa., before becoming pastor of the UPC of Freeport, Pa., which he served from 1969 until his retirement in 1994. During his pastoral career he also served on the

Synod of the Trinity’s Judicial Committee and for 25 years as stated clerk of Kiskiminetas Presbytery.

In “retirement,” John serves as moderator of Clinton PC in Kiskiminetas Presbytery and over the years has filled a variety of other positions as well: interim pastor of Crooked Creek, Faith, and Grace PCs; adjunct professor at PTS; supply preacher for churches in the Kiskiminetas Presbytery; and moderator of its Srader Grove PC. John has been a class steward and alumnae/i Phonathon caller for PTS and is a member of the Seminary’s John S. McMillan Planned Giving Society.

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PTS NEWS

HONORING GRADUATES — continued —

THE REV. MICHAEL C. GEHRLING ’08 The Fred McFeely Rogers Award for Creative Ministry

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pon graduating from PTS, the Rev. Michael Gehrling ’08 was appointed to the staff of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Graduate Student and Faculty Ministry and assigned to the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. That fall he was ordained also as co-organizing pastor of the Upper Room New Church Development, in Pittsburgh’s largely Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. Thus, with a strong background in music and theater, he embarked upon a dual career in ministry.

When Michael and fellow alum the Rev. Chris Brown ’08 started Upper Room, they were intent on ministering multi-ethnically and cross-culturally. Earlier, Michael had worked in a cross-cultural setting as the English-speaking pastor at a Korean congregation. His role with InterVarsity put him in consistently close contact with the city’s large, international university population.

In 2015 Michael accepted a new role with InterVarsity as the organization’s first national director for International Graduate

Student and Faculty Ministry. He continued serving as pastor at Upper Room while also providing vision, leadership, resources, and partnership to InterVarsity’s staff across the country for better reaching and serving international graduate students and faculty with the gospel.

Michael’s passion for connecting church and culture, commitment to starting new worshiping communities, and heart for discipleship led to his hiring in 2017 as Northeast Region associate for the PC(USA)’s 1001 New Worshiping Communities initiative.

As the primary contact between the 1001 initiative and new worshiping communities, congregations, and mid-councils in the northeastern United States, he helps new communities get started and be in conversation with presbyteries and congregations on how they can provide financial, material, and spiritual support to these new efforts. Michael is also in charge of the initiative’s assessments area for helping candidates discern their calling to missional leadership.

THE SEMINARY’S FIRST “DIAMOND SOCIETY” MEMBERS CELEBRATE AMAZING MILESTONES

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n 2018 the Rev. Dr. James Manor ’43 celebrated two significant milestones: the 75th anniversary of his graduation from Pittsburgh-Xenia Theological Seminary (one of PTS’s predecessor schools), and his 100th birthday (Nov. 1). During his younger years, as a student at East Liberty’s Peabody High School (now Pittsburgh Obama), Jim got a daily view of the property across the street, where Pittsburgh Theological Seminary would be located beginning in 1960/61. The previous owners bequeathed to PTS not only the property but also their Christian focus on love for neighbor in the way of Jesus, as illustrated in Jim’s observation, “They had the iron fence built to give workers something to do in those hard [Great Depression] times.” Jim recalled this memory from his Lakeland, Fla., retirement residence just months before his eternal home-going in February 2019.

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Last year also marked the 75th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Hopkins’ graduation from Pitt-Xenia. And, at his residence in Shenango on the Green, New Wilmington, Pa., he celebrated his 99th birthday with a visit from PTS Director of Alumnae/i and Church Relations Carolyn Cranston ’99, Vice President for Advancement Christine Chakoian, PTS student Kalyn Stevwing, family, and former colleagues. After receiving his M.Div. from Pitt-Xenia in 1943, Joe went on to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and to teach Bible at New Wilmington’s Westminster College. He also served as parish associate at New Wilmington PC. Wedding ministry with music, Joe has written a number of camp songs and several hymns. Recently he published “William’s Nine Lives: A Story for Children,” which he wrote in the 1950s.

Jim and Joe are the first recipients of PTS’s Diamond Society Award, which celebrates their 75 years of ministry after graduating from PTS.

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PTS NEWS

HATS OFF TO THE CLASS OF 2018 On June 1, 2018, we celebrated the Seminary’s 222nd Commencement.

Check out photos and videos from the graduation events: www. pts.edu/graduation_2018. At the graduation brunch, the Seminary recognized Tom Fulton, director of facilities, with the Calian Award for Campus Community Service.

TOM FULTON WINS CALIAN AWARD FOR CAMPUS COMMUNITY SERVICE

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acilities Director Tom Fulton received the 2018 Calian Award for Campus Community Service. The award recognizes an exemplary member of the PTS community who demonstrates excellence in carrying out responsibilities and volunteer assignments and also expresses a caring spirit of good will and hope, which are essential in life together

as a community. The Calian Award highlights the importance of all members of the community to the success of the Seminary.

“Tom’s work is often unnoticed, unless there is a problem. He is a humble servant who goes about his work not looking for reward or recognition—just the desire to do the best job possible each and every day,” said Tom Hinds, vice president for finance and administration.

“He is here when the power or water is out and when a tree falls. He is here to train new guards over the weekend, to set up events, and so much more. Tom has energy, enthusiasm, passion, and pride for the Seminary.”

In 2019 Tom celebrates 22 years of service at PTS. Having been hired for his position by former president Sam Calian, Tom said, “With so many deserving people on campus, it was humbling to hear my name called for this award. It’s

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with thanks that I receive this honor funded by Sam and Doris Calian.” He hastened to add, “I didn’t receive this honor without the support of everyone in my department.”

In the past year Tom has worked with Seminary crews and external contractors on a number of large projects, including the construction of the new maintenance garage, renovation of restrooms in Long and McMillan Halls, the complete renovation of Barbour Library, and major improvements in the Hicks Memorial Chapel sanctuary as well as the installation of its new elevator. Toward these and other efforts, Tom served on a number of campus committees: Safety, Security, Library Renovation, Chapel Renewal, Institutional Effectiveness, and Facilities Master Plan, to name a few.

Congratulations to Tom Fulton on his many years of dedicated service at Pittsburgh Seminary!

Class of 2018

Graduation Award Winners

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PTS NEWS

WELCOMING NEW BOARD The Seminary welcomed five new Board members June 1, 2018, and named a new Board chair—Jim Gockley, who succeeded Sandy Lamb after her more than 20 years of Board service, the last four as chair.

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In 2018 Regis Becker retired as director of University Ethics and Compliance at The Pennsylvania State University. In this role, Regis served as chief ethics and compliance officer and oversaw all compliance issues throughout the University. He also developed Penn State’s first comprehensive program of institutional ethics. Having previously served at PPG Industries and Praxair Inc., Regis began his career in law enforcement by serving as an Allegheny County detective and as an FBI special agent. A graduate of Penn State with a bachelor’s in law enforcement, he earned his JD from Duquesne University School of Law and his MBA from Western Connecticut State University.

Linda Varrenti Hernandez is of counsel for Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C., working in the areas of school defense, insurance defense, and family law. Linda participated in the inaugural year-long Lawyers on Loan program, sponsored in conjunction with Pittsburgh Pro Bono Partnership, whereby an experienced attorney is “on loan” to Neighborhood Legal Services Association while still a member of the law firm. She also completed a year of training with the Women and Girls Foundation and can counsel women in the art of negotiation. Linda earned her bachelor’s from West Virginia University and JD from Duquesne University School of Law. She is an Outstanding Female Graduate Awardee and recipient of the CALI Excellence for the Future Award® in Business Planning.

PTS NEWS

MEMBERS Nathan Carlson ’11, an alumnae/i representative on the Board, became an ordained elder in The United Methodist Church in 2013. While in seminary he served as part-time pastor to four churches in greater Pittsburgh—Homewood, Koppel, Miller, and Penn’s Woods. Upon graduation he was appointed to serve Pittsburgh’s McKnight UMC (Ross Township). In 2014, Nathan started a new church just outside Washington, Pa.—an appointment that fulfilled the calling he had begun to sense during his undergraduate days at Washington & Jefferson College, where he received his bachelor’s. After planting that church, in 2015 he became assistant pastor at Oakhurst UMC, in Seminole, Fla. Joan Prentice ’05/’11 rejoins the Board after previously serving as an alumnae/i representative. An ordained American Baptist minister, Joan served for 15 years as staff pastor to new disciples at Pittsburgh’s Mount Ararat Baptist Church. There she focused on pastoral care and spiritual counseling for new members, as well as curriculum development and volunteer training.

While at Mr. Ararat, Joan also became executive director of The Ephesus Project, a Pittsburgh nonprofit to which she now devotes her full-time professional attention. The Ephesus Project provides a distinctively Christian environment of spiritual and educational excellence where clergy, laypersons, community leaders, and seekers can unite in a learning atmosphere to transform lives and communities.

Joanne Spence ’18 serves the Board as Class of 2018 representative. Having received her bachelor’s from James Cook University (Australia), in her program at PTS Joanne focused on spiritual formation, pastoral care, and forming her theology of the body. Her master’s thesis addressed the intersection of Christian contemplative practice, practical theology, and breathing practices for middle-school-aged children. A social worker, certified yoga therapist, and international speaker/trainer for health and wellness, Joanne is director of the private yoga studio Urban Oasis Pittsburgh and founder and executive director of Yoga in Schools, a non-profit reaching more than 20,000 children with innovative yoga programming as part of physical education locally and nationally. She also teaches therapeutic yoga at Pittsburgh’s VA.

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ast June, longtime PTS Board member Jim Gockley assumed the role of Chair after having served in a leadership capacity on a number of the Board’s committees since 2005: Advancement, Finance (vice chair), Property (chair), and Executive.

Having recently retired as executive vice president of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (formerly Mellon Financial Corporation)—which he joined in 1983—Jim said he was excited about accepting his new role at PTS because “I now have the time necessary to devote to the leadership needs of this important resource for the church and community.”

A major part of the time in Jim’s first months as Board Chair focused on the renovation of the Seminary’s Clifford E. Barbour Library, completed and rededicated last fall.

With an undergraduate degree from Washington & Jefferson College, a JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and decades of experience working for BNY Mellon, Jim is well prepared for his substantial and multifaceted leadership role on the Seminary’s Board.

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PTS NEWS

REMEMBERING FORMER BOARD MEMBERS

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irector Emeritus Jerry Dempsey died March 12, 2019, in Greenville, S.C., at age 87. The chairman and CEO of PPG Industries from 1993-1997, he served on Pittsburgh Seminary’s Board from 1990-1999. In 2006, he and his wife, Harriet (who died in 2015), established The Jerry and Harriet Dempsey Scholarship at PTS. A native of Landrum, S.C., Jerry was the son of textile mill workers. He grew up in a house with no indoor plumbing and only a wood-burning stove for heat. From his youth, he dreamed of running a major American corporation and knew he would need to save his money if he hoped to go to college. So twice a day he pedaled a 12-mile newspaper route on his bicycle and raised chickens to sell from the back of his wagon. Thanks to his later summer work on oil barges and to scholarships, he was able to enroll at Clemson University. He graduated first in his class with a degree in mechanical engineering. Later in life, he received multiple awards from Clemson for his leadership on its boards and councils. Six months after graduating from Clemson, he left his first corporate job to serve in the military.

Jerry achieved his boyhood dream when he became COO of Borg Warner, then president and CEO of WMX Technologies, and finally chairman and CEO of PPG Industries as the first outsider hired for a top job in the company’s 110-year history.

He retired in 1997 and relocated to Greenville, where he served as board chair of the Greenville Health System, a director of the Greenville Country Club and Greenville Symphony, and an elder of First PC of Greenville. The Horatio Alger Association honored him in 1995.

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he Rev. Dr. Laird J. Stuart, PTS Board member from 19861995 and former Board chair, died Dec. 19, 2018. Laird served as interim president and professor of pastoral theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary from 2010-2012 and as pastor of Calvary PC of San Francisco from 1993-2010. His ministry spanned more than four decades and also included pastorates in Presbyterian churches in Connecticut, New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

At the national level, Laird served as a commissioner to four General Assemblies. In 1986 he was vice chair of the General Assembly Committee on Mission Design, and in 1997 he chaired the General Assembly Committee on the Book of Order. From 1999-2001 he was co-moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians and, in 2002, a candidate for moderator of the General Assembly. With his wife, Virginia, he served in the Tetons with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. He chaired the boards of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and of San Francisco Theological Seminary, and he served on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary.

Laird earned his bachelor’s from Amherst College (Mass.) and M.Div. and D.Min. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He held honorary doctor of divinity degrees from Waynesburg and Westminster (Pa.) colleges. His life and calling to ministry were based on his deep commitment to grace, mercy, and justice.

SO MANY REASONS TO CELEBRATE There are so many reasons to celebrate the work of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary today: • • •

A new, contextually-based curriculum led by faithful, gifted professors; A revitalized D.Min. program to refresh and renew leaders in ministry; A vibrant circle of specialized programs and resources for every corner of the church: world mission, urban ministry, continuing education, youth ministry, church planting, and biblical archaeology.

And then there’s this: a student body of women and men increasingly committed to seeking to minister in the way of Jesus. This year we were blessed with a bounty of new such seminarians.

This increase is only possible because we are able to support our students’ studies. A recent questionnaire of The Association of Theological Schools shows that it is not at all uncommon for people to enter seminary carrying $40,000+ in educational debt. So the generosity of scholarships at PTS makes a significant difference for our applicants’ choice to enroll here.

But now we face a challenge: because of our increasing enrollment and the skyrocketing need of our students, we are awarding our scholarships at a rapid and growing rate.

DAY OF GIVING RAISES $100K+ The Rev. Dr. Fred Rogers ’62, creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, once said, “It takes one letter to say I and four letters to say love and three letters to say you. One hundred and forty-three.”

Director of Development Dominick Oliver and Advancement Coordinator Katie Yates report that, thanks to our generous donors, the 2019 #143PTS Day of Giving exceeded our goal of 143 gifts! In 24 hours on Valentine’s Day, 239 people gave $103,763 to support our students preparing for ministries of loving their neighbors as themselves—ministries in the way of Jesus.

You can help us keep pace! Your donations allow us to offer generous financial support to our seminarians as they prepare for a wide variety of Christian ministries in the way of Jesus.

If you are moved to give, you may do so through our website at www.pts.edu/ donate (click “Student Scholarships” to designate your gift specifically) or use the enclosed envelope to mail your check to the Advancement Office. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at 412-924-1460. And if you have already given, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

In our fast-changing world, one thing is clear: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). What a privilege to prepare people for ministry with faith in the Way. The Rev. Dr. Christine Chakoian is vice president for seminary advancement.

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FA C U LT Y N E W S

FACULTY NEWS AND

INTRODUCING DENISE THORPE

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he Rev. Dr. Denise Thorpe, who formerly taught as an adjunct instructor at PTS, has been serving as interim director of the Doctor of Ministry Program since December 2018. An independent scholar, theologian, writer, pastor, and facilitator, she is ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a member in good standing of the Colorado Bar, and a trained lawyer and mediator “interested in how and where God is present in the complicated and messy spaces of life.”

Over the past decade, Dr. Thorpe has fallen in love with the country of Lithuania and “ultimately developed the kind of complicated relationship that love always seems to demand,” she notes. Her doctoral dissertation explored the fascinating and complex world of post-Soviet Lithuania through Lithuanians’ stories about what they do (or don’t do) when they travel to light candles and plant flowers in cemeteries on All Saints’ and All Souls’ days (Visu˛ Šventu˛ju˛ Diena and Vėlinu˛ Diena). She is currently preparing that study for publication under the title, “Memory on Fire: The Re-membering of the Lithuanian Body Politic.”

As Dr. Thorpe continues to explore the wonders of Lithuania, she also ponders “the spatial and sensory experience of faith and belief” here in her own environs in the United States—all with an eye to the purpose and calling of the Christian church.

In addition to her role at PTS, Dr. Thorpe directs the Race, Church, and Theological Practices Collaborative Inquiry Team, a project of five pastors and scholars funded by The Louisville Institute “exploring how well-intentioned practices of the Christian church re-inscribe rather than disrupt racial regimes and how to respond.” She also serves as the prepublication editor for a multi-author volume on physician well-being and as a consultant, facilitator, and retreat leader for Macedonian Ministry.

Dr. Thorpe earned a bachelor’s from North Park University, M.Div. from Yale University, and Th.D. and JD from Duke University.

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THE REV. DR. JOHN BURGESS James Henry Snowden Professor of Systematic Theology Dr. Burgess taught an adult education series at East Liberty PC before departing for Belgorod, Russia, as a secondtime Fulbright scholar. He is spending the 2018-2019 academic year researching and lecturing on “Spiritual Freedom: The Holy Elders in Late Soviet Russia” at Belgorod State University as he builds on his earlier Fulbright research on the rebirth of Orthodoxy in Russia.

THE REV. DR. RON COLE-TURNER H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics Dr. Cole-Turner represented PTS at a workshop on human embryo research held at Rice University (Houston). He also represented the Seminary at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Washington, D.C.) before departing for South Africa to speak at the South African Science and Religion Forum at the University of Pretoria. He then served as a panelist on the topic “Bioethics and Biopolitics in Human Augmentation” for the Pittsburgh non-profit Protohaven. Dr. Cole-Turner presided at the business meeting of the Human Enhancement and Transhumanism Unit at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting (Denver), served as an invited speaker at Claremont Graduate University’s Annual Philosophy of Religion Conference (Claremont, Calif.), and gave the keynote address and a workshop at the American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature Regional Meeting in Greenville, N.C.

FA C U LT Y N E W S

PUBLICATIONS THE REV. DR. JEROME CREACH Robert C. Holland Professor of Old Testament Dr. Creach lectured on “God Who Creates and Satisfies: The Poetry of Creation in Psalm 104” and led a subsequent roundtable discussion at St. Vincent College (Latrobe, Pa.). He co-taught an adult education series at Westminster PC (Pittsburgh) with the Rev. Dr. Steven Tuell, James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament. The series addressed “The Law and the Prophets and the Life and Ministry of Jesus.” Dr. Creach also served as a panelist at the Eastern Great Lakes Society of Biblical Literature Regional Meeting responding to Daniel Hawk’s The Violence of the Biblical God: Canonical Narrative and Christian Faith (Eerdmans, 2019).

THE REV. DR. DAVID ESTERLINE President and Professor of Cross-cultural Theological Education Dr. Esterline represented Pittsburgh Seminary at the PC(USA) General Assembly in St. Louis and later, on the Seminary’s campus, hosted the board of the Foundation for Theological Education in Southeast Asia. He preached at Plum Creek PC (Plum, Pa.), gave a presentation for Discovery TIME at Beulah PC (Pittsburgh), co-convened a breakfast for the Association of Theological Schools’ meeting (Denver), and led a workshop at the ATS Presidential Leadership Intensive Conference (Newport Beach, Calif.). He represented the Seminary at the 10-day Theological Education Consultation in Fiji with the Council for World Mission, as well as at the PC(USA) Presidents and Board Chairs meeting (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), the Committee on Theological Education meeting at Columbia Theological Seminary (Decatur, Ga.), and the African Theological Advance Conference (Pretoria, South Africa).

A R T I C L E S John Burgess “A Century after the Bolshevik Revolution: What Kind of Kingdom?” Pittsburgh Theological Journal 9 (2018): 137-52.

“Moscow Connection: U.S. Evangelicals’ Strange Alliance with Russian Orthodox,” The Christian Century 135/17 (Aug. 15, 2018): 10-12.

Ron Cole-Turner “Introduction: Why the Church Should Pay Attention to Transhumanism,” pp. 1-15, and “Epilogue: People of Vision, Communities of Discernment,” pp. 249-51 in Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church, eds. Steve Donaldson and Ron Cole-Turner (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018).

Review of William Richards, Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experience (Columbia University Press, 2015), in The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 28/3 (2018): 223-24.

“Theosis and Human Enhancement,” Theology and Science 16/3 (2018): 330-42.

“Von Theologie zum Transhumanismus und Zurück” (“From Theology to Transhumanism and Back Again”), pp. 293-307 in Designobjekt Mensch: Die Agenda des Transhumanismus auf dem Prüfstand, eds. Reinhard Heil, Otto Hansmann, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, et al. (Herder GmbH, 2018).

Jerome Creach Review of William P. Brown, A Handbook to Old Testament Exegesis (Westminster John Knox, 2017), in Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 72/4 (2018): 449-50.

Review of Leon Wiener Dow, The Going: A Meditation on Jewish Law (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017), in Pittsburgh Theological Journal 9 (2018): 249-50.

Tucker Ferda “God of the Nations: Satan, Daniel, and the Temptation in Luke,” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 110 (2019): 1-20.

“Jesus and the Law: The Form of His Activity and the Impact of Social Reputation,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 80 (2018): 62-80.

Review of Eve-Marie Becker, The Birth of Christian History: Memory and Time from Mark to Luke-Acts (Yale University Press, 2017), in Review of Biblical Literature 7 (2018).

Review of Mark D. Smith, The Final Days of Jesus: A Classical Historian Explores Jesus’ Arrest, Trial, and Crucifixion (Lutterworth, 2018), in Reviews in Religion and Theology 25/3 (2018): 562-64.

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FACULTY NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS DR. TUCKER FERDA Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament Dr. Ferda preached at Center PC (McMurray, Pa.) and presented two papers at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Denver). At East Liberty PC (Pittsburgh), he co-led the Blue Christmas service (also called the Longest Night service, as it takes place on or near the winter solstice, the longest night of the year).

THE REV. DR. LEANNA FULLER Associate Professor of Pastoral Care Dr. Fuller preached and taught adult education classes at six Presbyterian and UCC churches in Pittsburgh and the wider region. In addition, she represented the Seminary at two, three-day A Convocation of Christian Leaders gatherings (Indianapolis and Princeton), facilitated the Church and Christian Formation Study Group at the Society for Pastoral Theology (Atlanta), led a spiritual retreat for Calvin PC (Zelienople, Pa.), and led a workshop for the Beaver/Butler Presbytery on systems theory and leadership (also in Zelienople).

Pittsburgh’s WORD FM broadcast a live interview with Dr. Fuller in the fall.

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DR. SCOTT HAGLEY Assistant Professor of Missiology Dr. Hagley preached and taught an adult education series in two Pittsburgh-area churches.

He presented at the 1001 New Worshiping Communities/ Church Planting Initiative Writing Conference on Stewardship, led a workshop at the World Mission Initiative Conference, taught a course with Continuing Education for the Transitional Ministry Program, and led an intercultural trip for the World Mission Initiative, all at or for PTS. Additionally for the Seminary, he taught in the Graduate Certificate in Church Planting and Revitalization intensives in Minneapolis-St. Paul (with Church of All Nations) and in Denver (where he also spoke at the 1001 New Worshiping Communities regional gathering) and led a session for the Allies in Faith gathering (Pittsburgh). Dr. Hagley lectured in Pittsburgh for the City Immersion Course of the Baake Graduate University and led a workshop for the Praxis Gathering (Philadelphia). He served as a panelist for the Streaming Ministry Conference at Rochester College (Rochester Hills, Mich.), presented at the Conspire Gathering at North Church (Cincinnati), represented PTS at the Eastern Fellowship of Professors of Mission (Maryknoll, N.Y.), and participated in the Wabash Early Career Faculty Workshop (Corpus Christi, Texas).

THE REV. DR. ANGELA DIENHART HANCOCK Associate Professor of Homiletics and Worship Dr. Hancock preached at Emsworth, St. Andrews, and Shadyside PCs, led a workshop at the 2018 Barth Pastors Conference (Princeton), and presented a paper at the American Academy of Religion/ Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (Denver).

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A R T I C L E S continued DR. EDITH M. HUMPHREY William F. Orr Professor of New Testament Dr. Humphrey was interviewed

by Didaktikos journal editor Douglas Estes on the subject of teaching—what it means to her, how her theology has affected her view of and model for teaching, and more. The interview was published in the journal’s July 2018 issue. She taught a doctor of ministry course for the Eastern Christian Focus at PTS, spoke at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church’s Symposium 2019 (McKees Rocks, Pa.), and is researching two books, one on mediation in the Christian family, and the other on Paul’s doctrine of justice and righteousness as seen through the eyes of the ancient fathers.

She also wrote her first children’s novel, “Beyond the White Fence,” about the adventures of 21st-century children when they go back in time to visit the saints for whom they are named.

THE REV. DR. L. ROGER OWENS Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and Ministry Dr. Owens preached at Holden Beach Chapel (N.C.) and San Dieguito UMC (Encinitas, Calif.), taught an adult education series at Westminster PC (Upper St. Clair, Pa.), and spoke and led spiritual practices at Christ UMC (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.). He lectured for several weeklong Academy of Spiritual Formation classes (Danville, Calif.; Gallant, Ala.; and Dickson, Tenn.) and led a two-day retreat for UMC clergy at Roslyn Retreat Center (Richmond, Va.).

Leanna Fuller “In Defense of Self-Care,” Journal of Pastoral Theology 28/1 (March 2018): 5-21.

Scott Hagley “Toward a Missiological Turn in Urban Ministry,” pp. 35-43 in Urban Ministry Reconsidered: Contexts and Approaches, eds. R. Drew Smith, Stephanie C. Boddie, and Ronald E. Peters (Westminster John Knox, 2018).

Angela Dienhart Hancock “Blade’s Breadth and Chasm’s Depth: Karl Barth, Karl Fezer, and the ‘Geistproblem,’” Zeitschrift für dialektische Theologie 34/1 (2018): 36-57.

Review of Shao Kai Tseng, Karl Barth’s Infralapsarian Theology (IVP Academic, 2016), in Scottish Journal of Theology 71/1 (2018): 11416.

“Texts in Quarantine: Karl Barth, Biblical Interpretation, and Imaginative Resistance,” Scottish Journal of Theology 71/1 (2018): 1-15.

Edith Humphrey Foreword to For the Life of the World, by Alexander Schmemann (third edition; St. Vladimir’s, 2018).

L. Roger Owens “Discerning How to Act after the Tree of Life Attack,” Faith & Leadership (Nov. 13, 2018).

“What’s the Good News in the Season after Epiphany?” The Christian Century (Jan. 15, 2019).

R. Drew Smith “Churches, Urban Geographies, and Contested Immigration in the United States,” in Just Faith: Glocal Responses to Planetary Urbanisation, ed. Stephan de Beer (AOSIS, 2018).

“Introduction,” pp. 1-11, “Low-Income Residents and Religious In-Betweenness in the United States and South Africa,” pp. 79-88, and “School Voucher Programs and Black Clergy Responses in Two Cities,” pp. 167-75 in Urban Ministry Reconsidered: Contexts and Approaches, eds. R. Drew Smith, Stephanie C. Boddie, and Ronald E. Peters (Westminster John Knox, 2018).

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FACULTY NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS THE REV. DR. R. DREW SMITH Professor of Urban Ministry Dr. Smith presented a paper at The Jesuit Institute (Johannesburg) and lectured at the South African Science and Religion Forum at the University of Pretoria (both in South Africa), co-led a World Mission Initiative trip to Matanzas, Cuba, and preached on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at New Mt. Zion Baptist Church (Cleveland).

DR. RON TAPPY G. Albert Shoemaker Professor of Bible and Archaeology and Project Director of The Zeitah Excavations Dr. Tappy taught adult education series at three Pittsburgharea Presbyterian and United Methodist churches. He lectured at Byzantine Catholic Seminary (Pittsburgh), Franciscan University of Steubenville (Ohio), and Immanuel LC (Tonawanda, N.Y.).

He also taught a six-week course on biblical archaeology and ancient Near Eastern history at Rodef Shalom Congregation (Pittsburgh). Dr. Tappy conducted four-week summer and winter study seasons at Tel Zayit (Israel) in preparation for publishing the final report on The Zeitah Excavations.

THE REV. DR. STEVEN TUELL James A. Kelso Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Dr. Tuell preached, taught adult education classes and series, and led Bible studies at seven UMC and Presbyterian churches in Pittsburgh, as well as at the Allegheny County Jail. He also led a retreat for the Shenango Presbytery at Villa Maria spiritual center. Additionally, Dr. Tuell spoke to the Prayer and Practice Lunch and Learn Group at Rodef Shalom Congregation and in the Fox Chapel PC Special Speaker Series.

THE REV. GEORGE TUTWILER Instructor Emeritus in Church Music and United Methodist Studies and Organist/Choirmaster Emeritus The Rev. Tutwiler, who served at Pittsburgh Seminary from 1981-2010, has donated his grand piano to PTS. The gift, which is now located in Hicks Memorial Chapel, was celebrated during the Convocation service in September. In retirement, the Rev. Tutwiler continues to reside in Pittsburgh.

THE REV. DR. HEATHER HARTUNG VACEK Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty and Associate Professor of Church History Dr. Vacek participated in the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning Workshop (Corpus Christi, Texas) and preached at Sharon Moravian Church (Ohio).

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FA C U LT Y N E W S

A R T I C L E S continued THE REV. DR. EDWIN CHR. VAN DRIEL Directors’ Bicentennial Associate Professor of Theology Dr. van Driel preached and presided at seven Pittsburgharea Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Covenant churches. He gave presentations at Glenshaw PC (Pa.) and the International Research Consortium meeting (Zurich). Additionally, he taught a six-week course on the meaning of cross and atonement at Pittsburgh’s Shadyside PC.

THE REV. DR. KENNETH WOO Assistant Professor of Church History Dr. Woo preached on multiple Sundays at both Gladden (McDonald, Pa.) and Claysville (Pa.) UPCs and taught an adult education series at Westminster PC (Upper St. Clair, Pa.). He led a workshop for the Seminary’s World Mission Initiative Conference and a session for the Allies in Faith gathering.

Dr. Woo participated in the RCA’s City Classis Meeting (San Francisco), Association of Theological Schools’ Roundtable for New Faculty (Chicago), Sixteenth Century Studies Conference (Albuquerque), and Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning Workshop for Early Career Religion Faculty of Asian and Pacific Islander Descent (Crawfordsville, Ind.).

Ron Tappy “The Annals of Sargon II and the Archaeology of Samaria: Rhetorical Claims, Empirical Evidence,” pp. 147-87 in The Last Days of the Kingdom of Israel, eds. Shuichi Hasegawa, Christoph Levin, and Karen Radner, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (de Gruyter, 2018).

“Response to Norma Franklin,” Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 6/1-2 (2018): 150-52.

Steven Tuell “Chronicles,” Oxford Bibliographies Online: Biblical Studies (Oxford University Press, 2018; revised entry).

“Show Invisibles,” Pittsburgh Theological Journal 9 (2018): 237-40.

Edwin Chr. van Driel “‘His death manifested its power and efficacy in us’: The Role of Christ’s Resurrection in John Calvin’s Theology,” Journal of Reformed Theology 12 (2018): 217-34. “‘Ministering to the grandchildren of the lost son’: Being Church in a Post-Christian Society,” The Presbyterian Outlook 200/13 (Sept.

13, 2018), 29-35.

“To Be Gathered Is To Be Sent,” pp. 45-50 in Essays on the New Worshiping Communities Movement, ed. Mark D. Hinds (Witherspoon, 2018).

“What Are We Doing When We Bless?” Call to Worship 52/2 (2018): 2-9.

Kenneth Woo “Western Christianity in 1500,” pp. 49-57 in Martin Luther in Context, ed. David M. Whitford (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

“Life, Christianity, Reformation Era,” pp. 546-47 in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, vol. 16, eds. Christine Helmer et al. (de Gruyter, 2018).

Review of Alberto L. Garcia and John Nunes, Wittenberg Meets the World: Reimagining the Reformation at the Margins (Eerdmans, 2017), in Interpretation 73/2 (Spring 2019).

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LATEST FACULTY BOOKS Christian Perspectives on Transhumanism and the Church: Chips in the Brain, Immortality, and the World of Tomorrow (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2018) Ron Cole-Turner (contributing coeditor), H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics

Confessing Our Faith: The Book of Confessions for Church Leaders (Westminster John Knox, 2018) John Burgess, James Henry Snowden Professor of Systematic Theology How can the Book of Confessions help elders and lay leaders when they face challenging situations within their congregations? Dr. Burgess offers answers in Confessing Our Faith.

Using the confessions as a framework, Dr. Burgess covers areas of ministry such as stewardship, evangelism, discipleship, and conflict resolution, offering in each case ways in which the lay leader can respond. A unique and practical reference, Confessing Our Faith is designed to aid church leaders in understanding how their work can be informed by the confessional documents.

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Christians have always been concerned with enhancement—now they are faced with significant questions about how technology can help or harm genuine spiritual transformation. What makes traditional and technological enhancement different from each other? Are there theological insights and spiritual practices that can help Christians face the challenge of living in a technological world without being dangerously conformed to its values? This book calls on Christians to understand and engage the deep issues facing the church in a technological, transhumanist future.

Prayer in the Trinity: A Brief Theology of Christian Prayer (paperback edition; TheologyPlus, 2018) Ron Cole-Turner, H. Parker Sharp Professor of Theology and Ethics Most of us have trouble praying, and for a very good reason. Who are we to talk to God? All the great theologians of prayer have recognized this problem.

Taken seriously, prayer is impossible. But God is already doing what we cannot do. And God is inviting us to participate.

The New Testament is very clear in saying that Jesus Christ prayed. More than that, he continues to intercede for us even now. On the basis of his prayers for us, our prayers for ourselves and for each other are lifted up and offered effectively on our behalf. Christ makes prayer possible. In much the same way, the Holy Spirit probes the depths of our hidden selves and raises our deep yearnings to awareness and expression. In the prayers of Christ and through the intercessions of the Spirit, God is already engaging us in what we experience as prayer. Prayer is something we are invited to join in response to hearing what God is saying and then daring to speak from our hearts. Prayer in the Trinity is an invitation to participate in the conversation of prayer.

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Eat What is Set Before You: A Missiology of the Congregation in Context (Urban Loft, 2019) Scott Hagley, Assistant Professor of Missiology

Jesus, the Gospels, and the Galilean Crisis (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019) Tucker Ferda, Visiting Assistant Professor of New Testament Tucker Ferda examines the theory of the Galilean crisis: the notion that the historical Jesus himself had grappled with the failure of his mission to Israel.

While this theory has been neglected since the 19th century, Dr. Ferda now provides fresh insight on Jesus’ own potential crisis of faith. He begins by reconstructing the origin of the crisis theory, expanding upon histories of New Testament research, and considering the contributions made before Hermann Samuel Reimarus. He shows how the crisis theory was shaped by earlier and so-called “pre-critical” gospel interpretation and examines how, despite the claims of modern scholarship, the logic of the crisis theory is still a part of current debate. Finally, Dr. Ferda argues that while the crisis theory is a failed hypothesis, its suggestions on early success, growing opposition in the ministry, and claim that Jesus met and responded to disappointing cases of rejection should be revisited. His book resurrects key historical aspects of the crisis theory for contemporary scholarship.

What does it look like for a congregation to give and receive hospitality by cultivating life-giving partnerships with people of peace and goodwill? In Eat What is Set Before You, Dr. Hagley offers a vivid picture of the habits and postures necessary for congregations to join God’s mission in the neighborhood.

Drawing from congregational research and his own experience as a pastor and consultant, he describes three different crisis moments that congregations must navigate practically and understand theologically as they learn to dwell with and within their neighborhood.

In so doing, Dr. Hagley unearths the tensions, temptations, and possibilities missional churches face in the current North American context. Dr. Hagley’s book has been enthusiastically endorsed by notable church leaders, theologians, and missiologists Paul Sparks, Craig Van Gelder, Cameron Roxburgh, and Patrick Seifert.

The Ladies and the Cities: Transformation and Apocalyptic Identity in Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra, the Apocalypse and The Shepherd of Hermas (paperback edition; Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2018) Edith Humphrey, William F. Orr Professor of New Testament Transcendence and transformation have long been established as key motifs in apocalypses, in which the transformation of a seer during a heavenly journey is commonly found. But no heavenly journey occurs in the apocalypses treated here; rather, symbolic female figures— “ladies” in the classical sense—associated with God’s city or Tower, undergo transformation at key points in the action. The surface structures of Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra, the Apocalypse, and The Shepherd of Hermas are traced, and the crucial transformation episodes are located within each structure.

Transformation of figures representing God’s people points to the significance of identity within the apocalyptic perspective. The present analysis suggests the apocalypse also charts its revelations along an “axis of identity” so that the reader is invited to become, as it were, more in tune with the mysteries he or she is viewing. Of special interest is the treatment of the romance Joseph and Aseneth alongside apocalypses.

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LATEST FACULTY BOOKS Urban Ministry Reconsidered: Contexts and Approaches (Westminster John Knox, 2018) R. Drew Smith (contributing coeditor), Professor of Urban Ministry

Threshold of Discovery: A Field Guide to Spirituality in Midlife (Church Publishing, 2019) L. Roger Owens, Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and Ministry Dr. Owens, facing a “dark night of the soul” as he turned 40 and entered midlife, was encouraged by his spiritual director to think instead in terms of a “threshold of discovery.” Rather than go on a grand adventure such as walking the Appalachian Trail or the Camino de Santiago, he decided to mark his fortieth year by taking 40 walks in a nearby nature preserve. With patience and attention, he explored the concerns rising with him: the inevitability of death, his boredom with life, and the reality of his changing faith, changing images of God, and changing sense of self. The result is 40 short chapters that weave together insightful stories of his walks with accessible history and practices of Christian spirituality and the lives of saints. This field guide to the spirituality of midlife facilitates readers’ personal journeys through questions of faith, purpose, and relationships. Along with study questions for each section, Threshold of Discovery uses engaging first-person narratives to explore universal themes and spiritual inquiry.

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Christian ministries often struggle to account for urbanization’s growing force, complexities, and reach—and to formulate theologically and sociologically appropriate responses. Urban Ministry Reconsidered features a collection of original essays by leading scholars and practitioners who explore current issues and challenges in urban communities.

Together these articles consider how cultural and structural frameworks have led to new conceptualizations and configurations of urban ministry.

In addition, they examine the degree to which the social, spiritual, and organizational priorities of urban ministries have been reconceived in response to these shifts.

FACULTY BOOKS DISPLAY The Clifford E. Barbour Library maintains a permanent display of books authored

by Pittsburgh Seminary faculty. The display is open to the public and includes copies of many of our professors’ most recently published volumes.

The current faculty has published more than 60 books (as well as hundreds of articles) on topics ranging from spirituality to archaeology, social justice to New and Old Testament studies, missiology to theology, worship to church history and church conflict, the intersection of science and theological ethics, and more. The grand reopening of the newly renovated Library in September 2018 featured an exhibit of facultyauthored books at which professors interacted personally with participants in the celebration.

In addition to publishing, the members of our faculty (as well as vice presidents and program directors) regularly speak, teach, and preach locally and around the globe. The Seminary offers a Resource Guide listing their topics of expertise and contact information so that churches and other groups may invite them directly to fill pulpits, conduct workshops, teach Sunday school series, lead retreats, and more. The professors and directors at Pittsburgh Seminary welcome opportunities to help enhance others’ growth toward understanding Christian faith and discipleship. To request a copy of the Resource Guide, e-mail the Seminary at info@pts.edu. Online, for a list of speaker topics and contact information visit www.pts.edu/pts-outand-about.

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REMEMBERING FORMER FACULTY

P

rofessor Emeritus the Rev. Dr. Gonzalo CastilloCardenas died May 6, 2018, in Dallas, Texas.

Originally from Colombia, South America, he joined the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary faculty in 1975 as assistant professor of church and ministry; he retired as professor emeritus of church and society and third world studies in 2005. Prior to his appointment at the Seminary, he was involved in action-oriented research in Latin America.

Dr. Castillo-Cardenas’s major research explored the ethics of liberation theology and the signs of renewal and creativity in Latin American Christianity, helped “clarify the contribution and challenge of third-world Christianity” to the church in the U.S., and defined “the issues facing the church by global developments which are inextricably related to the problems of affluence and poverty, security, militarism, underdevelopment, and liberation.” He wrote his major publication in this field of study—Liberation Theology from Below—while serving as a professor at PTS. In the classroom, Dr. Castillo-Cardenas sought to prepare critical and compassionate ministers of the gospel. He believed that “a global vision, sensitivity to the powerless, and the ability to hear the voice of the ‘little ones’ are gifts of the Spirit” but also that “these abilities can be nourished and developed through information and the analysis and interpretation of existing human relations between social groups and nations.”

A graduate of Cuba’s Seminario Evangélico de Teología (M.Div.) and New York’s Union Theological Seminary (STM), Dr. CastilloCardenas received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1984.

He was ordained to the ministry by the Presbyterian Church of Colombia in 1957 and received Union Theological Seminary’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1994.

T

he Rev. Dr. Richard J. Oman died March 19, 2018, at the age of 88.

A native of St. Paul, Minn., Dr. Oman served as the Howard C. Scharfe Professor of Homiletics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary from 1978 until his retirement in 1999, when he was named professor emeritus. From 1993-1999 he also served as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.

“I have very positive memories of Dick Oman, who was dean of faculty at PTS during my interview process and after I arrived on campus having accepted an appointment to the faculty in 1997,” said Dr. Ron Tappy, G. Albert Shoemaker Professor of Bible and Archaeology. “Dick was a churchman, and his experience there informed all aspects of his deanship. He was always warm, friendly, and supportive of my work from the moment I arrived. As a dean, he was a good listener and advisor. Dick retired only a couple of years after my arrival at PTS, but those were good years under his steady and wise leadership.”

Dr. Oman was a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Princeton Theological Seminary, and New College, University of Edinburgh. During his 20 years in pastoral ministry, he served three churches in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. He also served on a number of committees through various presbyteries and synods (including as moderator of Pittsburgh Presbytery) and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly. For nine years, Dr. Oman was a member-at-large of The Council of Theological Seminaries of The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and was chair of the Council for two years.

The author of a number of book reviews and articles, Dr. Oman also served as a guest preacher and teacher in a variety of educational and church-related venues.

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ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES

1950s Thayer K. Miller ’54 and his wife, Lindaflor (Donaire), celebrated their 40th anniversary. Thayer, former senior officer on a world cruise ship, was a shipping consultant in the Philippines when he met his wife. Before his retirement, he operated worldwide sailing expeditions and had a charter yacht business. The couple founded a humanitarian relief organization and three evangelical churches in Leyte and Cebu provinces.

Until recently they lived in Texas and now reside in Pennsylvania.

1960s Dong Soo Kim ’65 published a biography of his parents, To Live for the People, To Die for the Lord (Oaklea Press, 2018). The Rev. Yejin Kim (1898-1950) and Doshin Han (1895-1986) lived as Christians under Japanese colonial rule and North Korean communism.

Larry Dunster ’66 and his wife, Susan, recently returned from their second around-the-world cruise after 135 days aboard the Queen Mary 2. They visited 35 countries and stopped at 43 ports.

As retirees they have joined three of their children and seven of their nine grandchildren in South Carolina.

Robert Gracey ’66 received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who, the world’s premier publisher of biographical profiles. Robert was noted for his achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in various fields.

Joseph Small ’66 published Flawed Church, Faithful God: A Reformed Ecclesiology for the Real World, in which he argues that the church’s true identity is known somewhere in the tension

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between the ideal church described by theology and the broken church seen in the world. Former director of the PC(USA) Office of Theology and Worship, Joe now serves as adjunct professor of ministry at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and as churchrelations consultant to the Presbyterian Foundation.

1980s

1970s Edwin Steinmetz Jr. ’71 serves in retirement as supply pastor at First PC, Missouri Valley, Iowa.

Don McKim ’74 published Mornings with Bonhoeffer: 100 Reflections on the Christian Life (Abingdon, 2018), a devotional in which he brings Bonhoeffer to life by providing an understanding of Bonhoeffer’s multifaceted, often misunderstood writings and an inside look at the imperfect man behind the saintly image. The heartrending portrait shows Bonhoeffer’s true insights and illumines the faith that sustained him.

Clarejean Haury ’76/’01 is serving as a practitioner in a study with Gestalt Pastoral Care Associates Inc., which received a grant to study “spiritually integrated psychotherapeutic strategies” and their impact on long-term holistic growth and healing. The Templeton Foundation funded the grant for this Brigham Young University project.

Bruce Levine ’77/’86 and his wife, Marlene, and family mourn the sudden loss of their daughter Amanda H. Oncken in July 2018.

David D. Mairs ’83 stepped down as the maestro of the Mid-Texas Symphony at the close of its 40th season after 22 years as the orchestra’s director of music. Since David joined the symphony in 1996, he has served with hundreds of musicians and on several boards.

Elizabeth Kemp ’85 has served in the Northwest Northants Pastorate of the URC since 2016, currently at four small churches in Northamptonshire, in the East Midlands of England.

Betty Voigt ’85 is serving as a practitioner in a study with Gestalt Pastoral Care Associates Inc., which received a grant to study “spiritually integrated psychotherapeutic strategies” and their impact on long-term holistic growth and healing. The Templeton Foundation funded the grant for this Brigham Young University project.

Gordon Smith ’86 has written two books over the past several years: When The Blindfold Falls Off, Skills Necessary for Lasting Relationships and From Broken to Blessed, Our Story of Blending Two Families, the latter co-authored with his wife, Sharin.

Jeff Hopson ’87 serves as the pastor of Heritage PC, Lincoln, Neb.

ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES Robert P. (Bob) Saul ‘87 was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Beaver Butler Presbytery Aug. 19, 2018.

Presbyterian Mission Agency asked John to write a sermon to go with the PMA’s 2018 theme, Peace at All Times. The sermon is available online at www. presbyterianmission.org.

Steven Satterfield ’96 began a year-long active duty assignment at Ft. Carson, Colo., in 2018.

Stacey Steck ’96 serves as pastor of Thyatira PC, Salisbury, N.C. Rob Marrow ’97 accepted a call to the senior pastorate of Vanderbilt PC, Naples, Fla., and was installed Jan. 20, 2019.

Carolyn Fenner Moss ’88 was ordained

by Shenango Presbytery April 29, 2018, and serves as pastor of Slippery Rock PC, Ellwood City, Pa. Rodger Allen ’89 served as moderator of Southeastern Illinois Presbytery in 2018. He and his wife, Laurie Williams ’95, serve as co-pastors of the PC of Paris, Ill.

1990s Anita Milne ’91 came out of retirement to become spiritual leader of First PC of Waterloo, N.Y., which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2017.

Dean Weaver ’91, lead pastor of Memorial Park Church (Allison Park, Pa.) and moderator of the EPC, was appointed to serve also as interim chaplain at Grove City College. He led the Moderator’s Service of Communion and Prayer at the 37th General Assembly of the EPC in June 2018.

John Dalles ’94 serves as interim senior pastor at Shadyside PC, Pittsburgh. His hymn “May God’s Love Be Fixed above You” was published in the new hymnal One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism (GIA, which holds the copyright for some 50 of John’s hymn lyrics). The PC(USA)’s

John Shaver ’98 led a mission trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with his congregation from San Dieguito UMC, Encinitas, Calif., in February 2019.

Susan Sphar ’98 passed the National Board for Certified Counselors’ National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification. She also earned her M.S. from California University of Pennsylvania.

Rubertha Taylor ’98 recently wrote and illustrated her first children’s book, What Matters Most, which gives children permission to acknowledge and accept their importance.

2000s Chris Duckworth ’00 serves as pastor of Bethel UMC, Mountain Lake Park, W.Va. Nikki Mazza-Fredley ’00 was named program director for mental health residential services at Mon Yough Community Services, McKeesport, Pa.

Patricia Rizor Donahoo ’01 completed her D.Min. in Ministerial Leadership, Global Emphasis, at Drew University, in 2012. After serving as a congregational pastor in Pennsylvania and Maryland, in 2011 she was called to her current position as executive director of Disciples Women – The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), based in Indianapolis.

Winston Layne ’02, initially an Anglican priest, made religious history when he became one of two citizens of Barbados transitioning to ordination as a Catholic priest—the first change of its kind in more than 40 years. Winston also made history by being a married man pursuing such standing in the St. Thomas diocese.

Reagan Fike-Rager ’03 serves as chaplain/bereavement coordinator for Anova Home Care Hospice and has served for 15 years as senior minister of First Christian Church, Carmichaels, Pa. Deborah Kociban ’03 serves as senior pastor of four Pennsylvania churches: First UMC, Kittanning; Ford Memorial UMC, Ford City; Manorville UMC, Manorville; and Union Avenue UMC, Kittanning.

Tara Woodard-Lehman ’03 accepted a call as associate pastor of Christian nurture at Fox Chapel PC, Pittsburgh, where she recently moved from New Zealand.

Andrew Tinker ’04 is visiting instructor of communication studies at Florida Atlantic University and an ABD doctoral student in rhetoric at Duquesne University. In 2017 he published “Martin Buber, I-It, and Utopias: Economics and Dialogue in the Age of Neoliberal Globalization” in Journal of Dialogue Studies, and he is a contributor to An Encyclopedia of Communication Ethics: Goods in Contention (Peter Lang, 2018).

He currently resides in Boca Raton, Fla.

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ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES Unconventional Weddings, HandH Weddings, and Join The Dots Zine.

Shanea Leonard ’05 accepted a call as associate for racial and gender justice in the Racial Equity and Women’s Intercultural Ministries of the PC(USA)’s Presbyterian Mission Agency. Shanea received the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh’s 2018 Racial Justice Award in Faith. The New Pittsburgh Courier also recognized her with the Individual Leadership Award for her dedication to African Americans in the Pittsburgh area. Her work responds to the mandate she feels to care for the marginalized.

Mary Parish ’05 became associate director of online learning and strategy at Duquesne University in November 2017. She received her Ph.D. in English from Duquesne in May 2018. After two years as co-clerk of the Religious Society of Friends of Pittsburgh, she is currently convening the Meeting’s Working Group Against Racism.

Rebecca Cartus ’06 participated in the November 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions Conference in Toronto on the theme, The Promise of Inclusion, The Power of Love: Pursuing Global Understanding, Reconciliation, and Change. She and her co-presenters conducted the workshop Hands Across the World: Building Bridges of Peace to Become the Beloved Community.

Alan Jeffries ’06 accepted a call to the pastorate of PC of Cadiz, Ohio.

Jeff Paschal ’06 received a first-place award for his sermon “God of the Underdog” in the April 2017 Hosanna Preaching Seminar.

Kimberly Gonxhe ’07, director of the Seminary’s Metro-Urban Institute, received the 2018 Pittsburgh Circles of Courage Award in the area of education and, also in the fall, ordination by the American Baptist Churches of the South.

Cara Milne ’07 serves as pastor of First PC, Watkins Glen, N.Y. Anna Parkinson ’07 accepted the position of children’s ministry coordinator at First PC, Elkhart, Ind.

Barbara Stoehr ’05 was appointed as an associate pastor at Butler (Pa.) First UMC. Michelle Wahila ’05, after serving as an associate pastor at the American Church in Paris, now conducts blessing ceremonies for couples being married there. As an alternative to a secular celebrant, she also tries to connect couples with local churches in their hometowns. Articles about her ministry may be found in a number of publications: Offbeat Weddings,

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Matthew Skolnik ’07 serves as general presbyter of Muskingum Valley Presbytery.

Brenda Walker ’07 was appointed as senior pastor of First UMC, Bridgeville and Houston, Pa. Eleanor Williams ’07 serves as site pastor at Church of Our Saviour UMC, Northview Heights, Pa., after more than 30 years as a special education teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Eleanor also served as a pastor for area churches such as St. Paul AME and Wayman AME. In 1993 she co-founded Parents Against Violence in response to a rise in street violence in Pittsburgh, and the New Pittsburgh Courier named Eleanor one of its 2012 Women of Excellence.

Aaron Christy ’08 serves as a co-pastor for Clen-Moore PC, New Castle, Pa. He was ordained and installed Aug. 19, 2018. (See picture with Michael Spicuzza ’11 on next page.)

Vanessa Syvertsen ’08 teaches science in Utica, N.Y. Wil Forrest ’09 serves as director of church operations at East Liberty PC, Pittsburgh.

Michael Ludwig ’09 and his wife, Rachel, continue to serve as PC(USA) mission co-workers in Niger.

Meredith Yuckman ’09 is executive director at The Hope Center at Pullen, Raleigh, N.C. The Center connects young people aging out of foster care with the resources and support they need for a successful transition to adulthood.

Meg Shoeman ’07 was ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament at Market Square PC, Harrisburg, Pa., June 3, 2018.

ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES

2010s William (Tres) Adams ’10 accepted a call as co-pastor of Trinity UPC in Modesto, Calif., and recently received his D.Min. Andrew Armstrong ’10 serves as pastor of First Church of Nashua, N.H. Paula Cooper ’10/’13 accepted a call as Presbyterian Mission Agency’s regional liaison for East Central Africa (PCUSA) beginning Oct. 1, 2018—the day after completing her service at Theological Education by Extension in Zambia as Phillips Talbot Global Ministry Fellow of New York’s Madison Avenue PC.

Peter Ahn ’11 was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament by Philadelphia Presbytery June 9, 2018, and serves as temporary pastor of Olivet Covenant PC. Nathan Carlson ’11 was appointed to serve as associate pastor at Oakhurst UMC, Seminole, Fla. Nathan is the 2018 alumnae/i representative on the PTS Board. (See page 33.)

Hannah Judy Loughman ’11 was appointed as an associate pastor at Butler (Pa.) First UMC.

Jordan Rimmer ’12 earned a D.Min. from Portland Seminary of George Fox University, where he studied Semiotics and Future Studies.

Robin Craig ’10 serves as transitional pastor at Prince of Peace LC, Westlake, Ohio.

Andrew Tennant ’12 was appointed to Sistersville (W.Va.) First and Friendly (W.Va.) UM churches in 2018.

Michael Holohan ’10 spent 10 years in ministry at Pittsburgh’s Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community, first as a PTS student intern, then as a co-pastor. Last fall Mike began serving as full-time organizing pastor of The Commonwealth, which brings together people from Oakland’s campuses, homeless community, and neighborhood.

Dan Turis ’12 serves as a chaplain for the Pittsburgh Police.

Sheila Johnson ’10 received a 2018 Pittsburgh Circles of Courage Award.

Susan Moudry ’10 serves as coordinator of clergy excellence for the Western Pennsylvania Conference of The UMC. In February 2019, Susan successfully defended her dissertation at Baylor University and received her Ph.D. in American church history.

Sarah Ott Sedgwick ’10 has served since 2010 as the first installed female pastor at First UPC of DuBois, Pa. Andrew Wirt ’10 accepted a call as pastor of West Hempfield PC, Irwin, Pa.

Michael Spicuzza ’11 (pictured right; Aaron Christy ’08, pictured left) serves as a co-pastor at Clen-Moore PC, New Castle, Pa. He was installed Aug. 19, 2018.

Charlie Cotherman ’12 published “Good News in Rural America: There’s More to the Story than Poverty and Disappointment” (Christianity Today, Nov. 29, 2018).

Samuel Monte ’12 accepted a call as pastor of Makemie Memorial PC, Snow Hill, Md. (See the Children section for more news.)

Alex Nelson ’12 teaches human behavior in social environment as an adjunct professor at Heritage University.

Adam Clever ’13 was ordained by Lehigh Presbytery May 19, 2018. He was called as pastor of UPC of Freeport and Srader Grove PC (both in Freeport, Pa.) and installed July 8, 2018.

Aaron Gordon ’13 accepted a call as pastor of First PC, Ponchatoula, La. Anthony Hita ’13 recently received his M.S. in historic preservation with a focus in architectural conservation from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. He is now a laboratory manager for LimeWorks.us, Telford, Pa., and an ordained elder in The UMC. Amanda Maguire Thomas ’13 serves as associate pastor at First PC, Winchester, Va. Charissa Howe ’14/’16 serves as a chaplain for the Pittsburgh Police.

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ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES Alan Olson ’14 accepted a call as pastor of First PC, Freehold, N.J.

Rebecca DePoe ’16 was installed as pastor of Glenshaw Valley PC Jan. 27, 2019. PTS participants in the service included Charissa Howe ’14, senior vice moderator; Laura Bentley ’16; Karen Rohrer, director of the Church Planting Initiative, who preached the sermon; Brian Wallace ’06, who gave the congregational charge; and Ellen Dawson ’09.

Allen Drake ’16 serves Living Word of Plum, a new church in this suburb of Pittsburgh.

Mark Blank ’17 serves as pastor at Second Congregational Church, Bennington, Vt., considered a Green Justice congregation by the UCC. The church uses solar panels for power, recycles, promotes practices such as cleaning with non-toxic products, and runs an environmental activism group called Earth Advocates. Nationally recognized as a Cool Congregation by the Interfaith Power & Light group, the church hosts the Sun and Fun Festival for the Bennington community to emphasize nature and the environment. Mark sees community outreach as a way to revitalize church for younger generations interested in social justice.

Christian Brooks ’17 serves as associate for domestic issues at the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness, Washington, D.C. Annamarie Groenenboom ’17 serves as pastor for Christian formation at Lewinsville PC, McLean, Va.

Bernard (Ben) Nti ’17 serves as pastor at First PC of Brooklyn and First PC of Malcom, two yoked churches in Iowa.

He was ordained and installed Sept. 30, 2018.

Evan Wildhack ’17 was ordained by James Presbytery and installed as pastor of Bethlehem PC, Mechanicsville, Va., March 23, 2019. Kendra Buckwalter Smith ’12/’13, director of the Worship Program at PTS, preached.

Marty Neal ’18 was ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament in June 2018 and serves as pastor at Appleby Manor and Crooked Creek PCs, Ford City, Pa.

Daniel Gordon ’16 serves on the faculty at Lipscomb University as the school’s first McClure Professor of Faith and Science.

Laura Bentley Nusser ’16 was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament

by Pittsburgh Presbytery June 25, 2017.

She leads Sanctuary Faith Community, a church plant based in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood for people uninvolved in the traditional church.

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Allan Irizarry-Graves ’17 was ordained at New Hope BC, North Little Rock, Ark., Nov. 11, 2018.

John Knight ’17 serves as pastor at Morning Star BC, Clairton, Pa.

Ben Rumbaugh ’18 was ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament by Pittsburgh Presbytery March 16, 2019.

Maggie Smith ’16 and current student Dan Emerick served on his commission.

Ben serves as a chaplain resident of VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES Stephen Ray ’86/’04 from active ministry, most recently serving at Fletcher (N.C.) UMC. Frank DeLuce ’88 in February 2019, honorably from Pittsburgh Presbytery.

David Schell ’18 accepted a call to Fairplain PC in Benton Harbor, Mich., where he began his ministry Nov. 6, 2018. He was ordained by Lake Michigan Presbytery Nov. 17, 2018.

James Skimins ’92 Jan. 1, 2017, honorably from Detroit Presbytery. First PC of Plymouth, Mich., named him pastor emeritus in 2018.

Norma Prina Murphy ’93 Feb. 1, 2019, honorably from Lake Erie Presbytery.

Michele Ward ’18 serves as associate pastor at Brown Memorial Park Avenue PC, Baltimore.

Lois Swestyn ’03 in 2018 from active ministry in the Western Pennsylvania Conference of The UMC. She and her husband, Andrew, live in Florida.

RETIREMENTS

Paul D. Taylor ’06 June 30, 2018, from active ministry in The UMC, most recently serving as Pittsburgh district superintendent in the Western Pennsylvania Conference.

David Klingensmith ’76 May 24, 2018, from more than 27 years of service as coordinator for spiritual care at Saint Agnes Medical Center, Fresno, Calif.

Debbie Smith ’18 was ordained by Pittsburgh Presbytery Oct. 21, 2018, and serves as temporary pastor at Liberty PC, McKeesport, Pa.

Steve Cramer ’78 in July 2018, honorably from Upper Ohio Presbytery.

Stephen Cramer ’07, honorably from Pittsburgh Presbytery.

Chester Harris ’78 in 2018 from active ministry in The UMC. Jonathan Liu ’79 in May 2014 as senior pastor of the Chinese Bible Church of Maryland after more than 50 years of ministry.

Dan Corll ’80/’01 Sept. 30, 2018, honorably from Pittsburgh Presbytery after more than 27 years of service in his last call, at Mt. Pleasant PC.

Tor Voller ’18 serves as director of Christian education at Community PC of Ben Avon, Pa., where she began her work in January 2019.

Bill McCoy ’86/’07 in December 2018, honorably from West Virginia Presbytery after serving at First PC of Charleston, W.Va.

Brad Donahue ’07 Dec. 31, 2018, as pastor of Lorain (Ohio) Christian Temple Disciples of Christ after 23 years of faithful service.

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ALUMNAE/I NEWS

CLASS NOTES MARRIAGES

Elaine Loggi ’13 and her husband, Nate, welcomed their daughter Sept. 10, 2018.

James C. Batten ’74 to JoLynn CrewsSmith Jan. 28, 2017.

Jennifer Hipple ’11 to Jonathan Christmas July 28, 2018.

Corey Rugh ’18 to Rachael Ann Brown Aug. 17, 2018.

Stephen Franklin ’09 and his wife, Laura, welcomed twins Levi Matthew and Deacon Paul Nov. 1, 2018. They joined big brothers J.D. and Colton.

Akil Chaney ’11 and his wife, Dzifa, welcomed Aziza Anara Sesinam Oct. 29, 2018.

Paul Spangler ’13 and his wife, Nicole, welcomed Henry Joseph May 8, 2018.

Shana Hutchings ’14 and her husband, Robert, welcomed Edward Otis May 7, 2018.

CHILDREN Ellie Johns-Kelley ’00 and her husband, Eric, welcomed Karoline Evelyn Kelley May 9, 2018. She joined big sister Ibby.

Keith Kaufold ’07/’12 and his wife, Monica, welcomed Jessa Anne March 13, 2018. She joined big sister Malea.

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Samuel Monte ’12 and his wife, Galadriel, finalized the adoption of Juliana Michelle and Nehemiah Ezekiel Aug. 20, 2018. They joined siblings Xavier, Martha, Odessa, and Elijah.

Jim Sands ’15 and his wife, Kristen, welcomed Molly Rose Nov. 21, 2018. She joined big brother Ryan.

Britney Vokish-Knight ’16 and her husband, Zach, welcomed Naomi June Knight June 14, 2018.

ALUMNAE/I NEWS

IN MEMORY James G. Manor ’43 Charles H. McClung Jr. ’45 Kenneth Rasmussen ’50 James E. Eddy ’51 Edward C. Fish ’51 Edgar A. Towne ’52 Robert E. Canon ’53 James F. Karcher Jr. ’53/’74 G. Robert Geyer ’56 Frank E. Wright ’56 Don E. Keller ’57 Andrew G. Slade ’57 Donald B. Patchel ’59/’60 John M. Hulse ’60 Gene G. Phlegar ’60 David W. Ross ’60 James R. Barber ’61 W. Brooks Holtzclaw ’61 Roy W. Pneuman ’61 Bernarr Rhoades ’61 Donald E. Brown ’62 Bruce E. Bryce ’62 Burton S. Froom Jr. ’62 John S. Redmond ’62 Roger A. Smith ’62 Forrest Fitzhugh ’63 Peter C. Hauser ’63 William H. Moore ’63 Ronald L. Oglesbee ’63 Merl L. Galusha Jr. ’64 William J. Sharp ’64 Ernest W. Peterson ’65 Gary G. Close ’68 Alexander P. Hurt ’69 F. Wayne Weiss ’69 W. Jack Noble ’71 John V. Spahr Sr. ’74 William R. Betteridge Jr. ‘76 A. Allen Bryan ’80 Margaret A. Emelson ’85 L. Maxine Pardee ’86 Louwanda S. G. Harris ’87 Stewart E. Bair Sr. ’88/’08 Rodney C. Bennett ’92 Mildred E. Adams ’93 Ronald C. Lindahl ’94 Philip W. Sanders ’94 Randall R. Roda ’97 Nancy K. Brickner ’00 Timothy J. Becker ’07

Lakeland, Fla. Jenkintown, Pa. Glen Arbor, Mich.

Cincinnati, Ohio Omaha, Neb. Indianapolis, Ind. Winston Salem, N.C. Los Angeles, Calif.

Fairport, N.Y. Getzville, N.Y. Steilacom, Wash.

North Huntingdon, Pa. Morganton, N.C. Media, Pa. Perrysburg, Ohio Hagerstown, Md. Willingboro, N.J. Morrow, Ohio Pandora, Ohio Lancaster, Pa. Canandaigua, N.Y. Pittsburgh, Pa. Philadelphia, Pa. Midwest City, Okla.

Kent, Wash.

San Antonio, Texas Ormond Beach, Fla. Philipsburg, Pa. Seal Beach, Calif.

Caledonia, N.Y. Long Beach, Calif.

Estes Park, Colo.

Lower Burrell, Pa. Glover, Vt. Sunbury, Ohio Tequesta, Fla. Mount Vernon, Ohio East Liverpool, Ohio San Marcos, Calif.

Washington, D.C. Johnstown, Ohio West Mifflin, Pa. Pittsburgh, Pa. Pittsburgh, Pa. Daisytown, Pa. Bradford, Pa. Marietta, Ohio Erie, Pa. Beaver Falls, Pa. Philadelphia, Pa.

Feb. 9, 2019 Dec. 5, 2018 Nov. 18, 2018 May 9, 2018 May 9, 2017 April 13, 2018 Jan. 26, 2017 Feb. 3, 2018 Jan. 25, 2018 July 26, 2018 March 15, 2018 Jan. 14, 2019 Sept. 8, 2018 Sept. 1, 2016 Dec. 27, 2018 Sept. 4, 2018 Feb. 9, 2019 Sept. 7, 2018 Aug. 22, 2018 Jan. 26, 2019 April 9, 2018 Nov. 27, 2018 June 18, 2018 June 28, 2018 Jan. 30, 2019 June 9, 2018 May 2, 2017 Oct. 16, 2018 Sept. 22, 2018 May 22, 2018 Aug. 27, 2018 Feb. 1, 2019 Oct. 13, 2018 Dec. 23, 2018 Nov. 25, 2018 Feb. 18, 2019 Aug. 7, 2018 March 12, 2019 Jan. 28, 2018 Jan. 25, 2019 Jan. 14, 2017 Jan. 15, 2019 Dec. 3, 2018 Jan. 27, 2019 Dec. 6, 2015 March 9, 2019 July 17, 2018 May 11, 2018 Nov. 13, 2018 Sept. 22, 2018 PA N O R A M A 53

REMEMBERING MEMBERS OF THE PTS COMMUNITY

S

eminarian Cathryn (Cathy) Brundage, pastor of Morning Star Baptist Church (West Mifflin, Pa.), died Sept. 11, 2018.

A 1975 graduate of Edinboro University (Pa.), Cathy was a student in the Urban Change Focus of Pittsburgh Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry Program and was on track to graduate in May 2019.

As known by participants in the workshop Cathy led at the Spring 2018 Metro-Urban Institute Conference, she had an infectious smile that made her a joy to be around. She had served as minister of music at Pittsburgh’s Central Baptist Church, and she shared her musical gifts further by leading worship for the weekly services of the Baptist Ministers’ Conference in Pittsburgh.

A retired school administrator and wonderful mentor of many people in ministry—especially women—she also served for nearly three years as executive director of Wilkinsburg Community Ministry.

C

anadian Baptist minister Walter (Wally) Ellis died April 18, 2018, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Wally came to Pittsburgh Seminary to pursue a Ph.D. in a joint program with the University of Pittsburgh.

His interest in Reformation studies and North American church history and his appreciation for the teaching and mentoring he received from two Seminary professors in particular led Wally to establish an award in their honor: The Ford Lewis Battles and Marion Davis Battles Prize in Reformation History. The annual award recognizes a master of divinity student for academic excellence and ongoing interest in the areas of Patristics and/ or Reformation history and theology. Wally’s gift also allocates funds to the Clifford E. Barbour Library for the purchase of new resources that focus on these areas of study, and a study carrel (pictured above) in the newly renovated building bears his name.

After receiving his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974, Dr. Ellis returned to the West, where he served in several pastorates till 1991—at First Baptist Church, Tacoma, Washington; Westmount Baptist Church, Montreal, Quebec; and Fairview Baptist Church, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Seeking, as he said, to “fill the Reformation model of the pastor-scholar,” he also taught occasional courses at Tacoma’s Pacific Lutheran University and at British Columbia’s Trinity Western University.

THE JOHN S. M c MILLAN PLANNED GIVING SOCIETY The John S. McMillan Planned Giving Society at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is named after the founder and father of Protestant theological education in Western Pennsylvania and the surrounding region. For more information on how you can become a member of the McMillan Society, please call or write: 54

PA N O R A M A

• •

Dominick Oliver, director of development, at 412-924-1460 / doliver@pts.edu, or The Rev. Carolyn Cranston ’99, director of alumnae/i and church relations, at 412-924-1375 / ccranston@pts.edu.

MEET CATHY ’90 AND SKIP GILLIS: McMILLAN SOCIETY MEMBERS

T

I discovered the Seminary was educating students to exemplify Christ while serving as pastors, church staff, chaplains, and in ecumenical community-related ministries. And when I married Cathy, PTS became so much more meaningful and important to me. During my retirement years I celebrate the blessing this seminary is to Pittsburgh and the vicinity.”

he Revs. Cathy ’90 and Skip Gillis both give credit to Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for shaping their mission and ministry.

Cathy’s call happened here at PTS: “When I was visiting the isle of Iona in 1988 God spoke to my heart: ‘Braddock,’ I heard. Two years earlier I had enrolled as a ‘special student’ taking courses at PTS, though not pursuing a degree or ordained ministry. But during that first year I sensed God’s call to seek ordination. In my first term I took a course about women’s experience. And as I reflected on my Christian home and Congregational church as a youth in Brentwood, Mo., I remembered that my pastor had encouraged me to become a minister.”

Cathy’s coursework in particular opened her heart to follow Jesus’ call to ordination: “As I learned more of the spiritual truths of ministry in my PTS classes, I realized that God works through biblical teachings and spiritual truths of the saints—and seminary professors.

After graduating, I was ordained in 1991 to be the pastor of the First United Presbyterian Church of Braddock.” Yes, Braddock.

Pittsburgh Seminary’s impact on Cathy didn’t end with graduation and ordination. She shares, “During my years as a pastor I felt encouraged to further my studies in the Continuing Education Program. This feeling led me

to enroll in courses that culminated in a third spiritual pilgrimage to Iona under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Andrew Purves. It took place in May 2001, and another member of Pittsburgh Presbytery—one whom I had never met—also participated: the Rev. Gaylord (Skip) Gillis. Love blossomed in Scotland, and we were wed that October at Beulah Presbyterian Church. When we retired, Beulah became our home church.”

Indeed, although Skip had graduated from “the other PTS” (Princeton) in 1966, over the years Pittsburgh Theological Seminary would shape him too: “I wound up serving three congregations: Greenville, Elizabeth, and in Sheraden, Pittsburgh’s West End. During my study leaves I took classes at PTS. And I worked with PTS students while serving on Pittsburgh Presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry. Through them

The Gillises’ commitment is not limited to the local region, however. Soon after the World Mission Initiative was founded, they became generous financial supporters of this crucial program. “We have been pleased to see WMI grow in depth and breadth.

Preparing students to be pastors who have an understanding of the mission of the church is very important to us. We serve on the Mission Committee at our home church, and we encourage our congregation and others to emphasize this aspect of our denomination’s call to be the church in the world.”

Recognizing the vital importance of preparing people for ministry in the way of Jesus around the globe, Cathy and Skip have ensured that their estate includes the Seminary. As Cathy testifies, “I felt prepared for ministry because of the professors who taught and lived their faith in and out of the classroom. Today when I visit the Seminary, I still witness vibrant students sharing their stories, and I see faithful professors fulfilling their calls in this part of God’s Kingdom.”

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NON-PROFIT ORG. US POSTAGE PAID PITTSBURGH, PA PERMIT #1438

RACE AND FAITH

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ewly this year, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is offering a free resource addressing issues of race and faith. We invite you to download its variety of materials and hope they are helpful to you as an individual, to your church community, and in your neighborhood as a means of promoting knowledge, understanding, compassion, and peace among all God’s people.

The resources in this kit include video-recorded lectures and accompanying study/conversation guides, a recommended book list, sermons and meditations, liturgies, and prayers. These materials are shared by members of the Pittsburgh Seminary faculty and program directors, as well as guest speakers from our auxiliary educational programs.

To access the Race and Faith Resource Kit, visit www.pts.edu/race-faith.