Honoring Professor David Johnson
On Sanctuaries and Oceans with No Edges Allan Hugh Cole Jr.
Storytelling
W
hen it comes to teaching and preaching, David Johnson can appropriately be called a virtuoso. His virtuosity derives from having enviable talent, yes, but also from his perceptive eye, generous heart, and his appreciation for a good story. Whether he’s drawing from his vast repository of historical knowledge or from his lived experience, and regardless of whether the occasion is teaching, preaching, or conversation over tea, David makes us feel a part of the stories he tells and as though the lessons they convey are meant just for us. I learned from Hans Frei, David’s teacher at Yale, that Christians make sense of life by hearing and telling stories, by locating their personal stories within the more encompassing story of the gospel, such that it becomes the “container” for these other stories being crafted. I honor David on the occasion of his retirement and express my deep gratitude for what he has taught me by sharing stories about anxiety, community, and occasions for experiencing the divine.
Stories of Anxiety Personal stories pervaded by anxiety or related conditions such as depression abound. According to an analysis done by the Kaiser Family Foundation, four in ten U.S. adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, with adults in the 18-24 age group reporting the most symptoms at 56.2% and adults aged 25-49 reporting symptoms at 48.9%. Anxiety has been a part of our collective stories for a long time. Jesus knew
Allan Cole is Deputy to the President for Societal Challenges and Oppor-
tunities at The University of Texas at Austin, where he also serves as the Bert Kruger Smith Centennial Professor in Social Work in The Steve Hicks School of Social Work. The author of Counseling Persons with Parkinson’s Disease (Oxford University Press) and In the Care of Plenty: Poems (Resource Publications), you can follow him on Twitter @PDWise.
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