Vantage Winter 09

Vantage Capital campaign objectives become reality—p.16

I n ca r n atio n This Flower, whose fragrance tender with

sweetness fills the air, Dispels with glorious splendor

the darkness everywhere; True Man, yet very God,

from sin and death He saves us, And lightens every load.

O Savior, Child of Mary, who felt

our human woe, O Savior, King of glory, who dost

our weakness know; Bring us at length we pray, to the

bright courts of Heaven, And to the endless day!

E

veryday means of God’s gracious presence: The Word that becomes flesh and dwells among us, full of grace and truth”

(John 1:14).

A n A d vent S e r m on b y L a u r a Men d en h all

Nothing is the Same

D

o you ever wonder what would it be like if Jesus had not been born?

As Isaiah describes it, we would be living in darkness—not the black-out that we experience when the electricity goes off, but rather living with Hopelessness that things will get better, Life’s burdens weighing so heavily that the possibilities for redemption are obscured, Oppressive rule never being questioned, Cries of pain unanswered.

This is the kind of darkness we would be living in if Jesus had not been born.

But many people today do live in this darkness, not knowing that Jesus was born or not allowing themselves to see that Jesus established among us God’s new creation. These people live in darkness not believing that God’s promise will be kept.

Redemption from life’s tragedies is possible.

O n t h e c ove r Helleborus niger is called the Christmas rose because, according to legend, it sprouted in the snow from tears shed by a young girl because she had nothing to give the Christ child in Bethlehem. The background image, a woodcut by Hans Weiditz, was an illustration for Herbarum vivae eicones by Otto Brunfels (1488-1534), a sixteenth century German theologian, philosopher, and botanist. Brunfels, who was interested in the healing powers of plants, is called a father of botany, because he described plants from his own observation, rather than relying on ancient authors. Weiditz, too, worked from life, rather than copying previous works. Brunfels was a Protestant convert. His Catalogi virorum illustrium is considered to be the first book on the history of the evangelical Church. Later he studied medicine and spent the last years of his life as a city physician in Bern, Switzerland. Source:Various derived from Google searches.

God does hear us when we cry out and responds by being present with us.

Hopelessness reigns because these people do not believe that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the power of evil was defeated and God’s reign became complete.

Of course, it is not our believing that establishes God’s Kingdom. Nor is it anyone’s lack of belief that threatens Christ’s rule.

Whatever acknowledgment we choose to make, a new creation was born under the authority of Jesus Christ, a Kingdom that is more than our personal experience. Those of us who choose to turn to Christ’s light renounce the power of evil in the world and over us. We turn from the ways of sin that separate us from the love of God. We turn from the powers in the world that defy God’s righteousness and love. While we know that evil and sin are still present, we will not give them ultimate power over us. We will not live in darkness because in Jesus Christ we have been shown a light that cannot be overcome by the darkness. A new kingdom has been born.

Unto us a child is born establishing a new creation where nothing is the same. You see, before Jesus, people reached out of their darkness toward a relationship with God: in worship, they brought their finest animals and offered them as a sacrifice to God. The blood of these animals was given in thanksgiving to God—or to secure God’s forgiveness for their sin. People became right with God by offering this blood sacrifice.

Forgiveness and new life were possible only through such a blood sacrifice. But after Jesus, nothing was the same.

Before Jesus Christ people approached God with the blood of sacrifice in their hands. At the birth of Jesus, God approaches us with the blood of sacrifice in God’s own hands, offering us forgiveness and new life, inviting us out of the darkness and into the light, assuring us that nothing is the same.

Never again would people have to sacrifice the blood of an animal in order to get right with God. The blood for our new life has already been sacrificed in Jesus Christ. And nothing is the same.

A child was born for us, a son is given to us with all authority resting upon his shoulders.

There shall be endless peace with justice and righteousness forever. And whether or not we can fully see the peace and justice of the Kingdom of God, we can see Jesus, the child who was born. In the light surrounding Christ’s birth we are invited into God’s new creation. We do not have to live in darkness driven by fear and hopelessness.

We can live as people of the Kingdom of God, extending to one another forgiveness and grace and opportunities for new life, not because others deserve it, but because the blood of our forgiveness was not ours.

We can live as people of the Kingdom of God, challenging injustice wherever we find it, not because we are so righteous ourselves, but because we know that nothing has to be the same.

In the blood of Jesus Christ we have been shown a light no darkness can overcome.

Joy to the world.

The Lord has come.

Let earth receive her king. Amen.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7

New Issue of Onlin e Jour nal Available Now!

www.atthispoint.net

Î

Feasts and Famines Christians Think About Food

2

VANTAGE Winter 2009

There may be no acts that are more common, more basic, or more freighted with social implications than the production and consumption of food. Yet in spite of this—or perhaps because of this—few of us think about making and eating food from a theological perspective.

Join conversations with Shannon Jung, professor at St. Paul School of Theology and author of Food For Life: A Spirituality and Ethics of Eating, as well as Columbia’s own Charlie Raynal (director of advanced studies and associate professor of theology), Kim Long (assistant professor of worship), and Walter Brueggemann (professor of Old Testament, emeritus), as they help us all think about what, why, how, and with whom we eat. Back issues of the journal, including last spring’s “The Seduction of the Familiar,” are available at www.atthispoint.net.

Faculty Members Appointed to Distinguished Faculty Chairs

C

olumbia’s Board of Trustees has approved the appointments of Anna Carter Florence and Rodger Nishioka to two distinguished faculty chairs. Carter Florence, associate professor of preaching and worship, has been named to the Peter Marshall Chair of Homiletics. Nishioka, associate professor of Christian education, has been named to the Benton Family Chair of Christian Education.

Anna Carter Florence joined the seminary faculty in 1998. Nationally acclaimed as a preacher and lecturer, she is the author of the book Preaching as Testimony (Westminster/John Knox, 2007). In addition, she served as editor of Inscribing the Text: Recent Sermons and Prayers

by Walter Brueggemann (Fortress, 2004), and she is the author of numerous articles on preaching and homiletics. She received a B.A. degree from Yale University and the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she served as associate pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis, MN, from 1988 to 1993.

Rodger Nishioka is the first faculty member to hold the Benton Family chair, which was established with gifts from the estate of Winona Benton, and from John and Suzanne Benton of Birmingham, AL. An ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Nishioka joined the seminary faculty in 2000. Previously he had been national director for the denomination’s youth and young adult ministry program. He received the B.A. degree from Seattle Pacific University, the M.A. in theological studies from McCormick Theological Seminary, and the Ph.D. from Georgia State University.

He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, as well as three books published by Witherspoon Street Press: Sowing the Seeds, on faith development in adolescents; The Roots of Who We Are, an exploration of youth ministry and Reformed theology; and Rooted in Love, a collection of devotionals for youth ministry leaders. He is currently revising this for publication and is working on two additional books to be published by Westminster/John Knox Press: @ Church? Ministry with Young Adults and Youth in the Bible. Nishioka has received numerous awards for his work in behalf of young people. In 1992, he was named Educator of the Year by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. Austin College, in Sherman, TX, honored him with the Doctor of Divinity degree in 1998, and in 2002, he received the Children’s Champion Award from Presbyterian Children’s Homes and Related Ministries, in Dayton, OH.

u doing?

What are yo

do? lling you to adventure? ca fe d li o le G o h is t w a r Wh rthy of you inary?

What is wo m e S l a c i

g o l heo

lumbia T

t Co What abou

Conference on Ministry for Prospective Students

February 20–22, 2009 information / registration

Call 1-877-548-2817 or go to www.ctsnet.edu and click on “Visit Us.”

S ea r c h Un d e r way f o r Col u m b i a ’ s N e x t P r es i d ent

F

ollowing President Laura Mendenhall’s announcement of her plans to leave the seminary at the end of this academic year, the Board of Trustees has elected a search committee for the selection and recommendation to the Board of her successor. Trustee Lee W. Bowman, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Lexington, KY, will chair the committee. She is a member of Transylvania Presbytery and previously served Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. “We are very grateful that Lee has agreed to lead us during the search process,” said William Scheu, chair of the seminary’s Board of Trustees. “Her experience as a pastor and with other Presbyterian seminaries and Lee Bowman graduate programs is invaluable.” Scheu will serve as an ex-officio member of the committee. He is an elder at Riverside Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, FL. Bowman received her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (now Union-PSCE) and her Doctor of Ministry from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. A graduate of Mary Baldwin College, she also earned a Master of Arts in religious studies at the University of Virginia.

The search committee includes two other trustees who are pastors: William G. Jones, First Presbyterian Church, Brownsville, TN, and Steve Montgomery, Idlewild Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN. In addition, J. Todd Speed, pastor of Decatur Presbyterian Church, Decatur, GA, will serve on the committee. All three are Columbia graduates.

Ordained elders serving on the committee are Ann D. Cousins, North Avenue Presbyterian Church, Atlanta; Claire Cross, Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta; John F. “Sandy” Smith, First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta; and Lois M. Stroman, Washington Street Presbyterian Church, Dublin, GA. All are members of the Board of Trustees.

Columbia’s faculty is represented on the committee by Rodger Nishioka, the Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education, and Christine Roy Yoder, associate professor of Old Testament language, literature, and exegesis.

Jamison Collier will represent Columbia’s students on the committee.

A second-year student, Collier is an Honors Scholar. He is from Decatur, GA, and is a graduate of Morehouse College, where he was an Oprah Scholar for the South African Leadership Project as well as president and CEO of the Morehouse Business Association.

Lee Bowman said that the committee’s intent is that the seminary’s new president will take office in the summer of 2009, following the conclusion of President Laura Mendenhall’s term of office. “The privilege of searching for Laura Mendenhall’s successor is both humbling and tremendously exciting,” Bowman said. “We look forward to finding the person God has called to be Columbia’s next president.

Bowman added, “We are also grateful for Laura’s clear-eyed vision for the future of theological education, for the quiet strength with which she has served Columbia, and for the deep spirituality she has modeled for the entire community. We pray God’s richest blessings for Laura and her husband, Chuck, as they return to Texas.”

Confidential inquiries about the search process and nominations should be sent to Lee Bowman at lbowman@fpclex.org, or to her attention at First Presbyterian Church, 171 Market Street, Lexington, KY 40507.

Note : Laura Mendenhall announced in October that she and her husband, Chuck, planned to return to Texas this summer to be with family. She intends to continue her ministry as senior philanthropy advisor for the Texas Presbyterian Foundation, an agency for the Synod of the Sun. The announcement about her departure is online at www.ctsnet.edu > News and Publications > News Releases.

VANTAGE Winter 2009 3

2009 Colloquium

Ap r i l 2 0 – 2 2 , 2 0 0 9

Calvin Now! C

olumbia’s Colloquium 2009 event honors the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth.

But more than a celebration of the reformer, we offer you opportunities—through worship, speakers, and workshops—to consider Calvin as a resource fresh and vital for our practices of Christian faith today.

Calvin’s conviction that God is working out divine purpose in human life and events has contributed decisively to our present worship and Christian practice, biblical interpretation, and church life. He taught that God gives blessing and gifts to ordinary people for vocation and public service, pastoral leadership, and diaconal care for the poor, the refugee, and the displaced person.

And his great gift to us today—now—comes from his development of a viable organization for a continuing Reformed church.

A l u mni / a e R e u ni o n s

1958 and before • 1959 • 1964 • 1969 • 1974 • 1979 • 1984 • 1989 • 1994 • 1999 • 2004 • 2008

Preacher

Laura Mendenhall, president of Columbia Theological Seminary

If you graduated one year before or after one of this year’s reunion classes, we hope you will come to Colloquium and reconnect with those with whom you shared the seminary experience.

Plenary Speakers Brian Gerrish, University of Chicago Divinity School, professor emeritus; Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education, distinguished service professor of theology

Reg i st r at i on Fo r m Please complete this form and return it with your check to

George Stroup, J. B. Green Professor of Theology

Barbara Poe, Columbia Theological Seminary, P. O. Box 520,

Martha Moore-Keish, assistant professor of theology

by March 30. Your spouse or guest is

Decatur, GA 30031

welcome to attend.

Workshop Leaders Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi, professor of world Christianity Mark Douglas, associate professor of Christian ethics Haruko Ward, associate professor of church history Charles Raynal, associate professor of theology

Name

Columbia Class of

Schedule

o Please check here if you’re attending Colloquium 2009 as a member of a reunion class.

Mon d ay, A p r i l 2 0 Address 1:00 Alumni/ae Council Meeting

6:00 Alumni/ae Awards Dinner City 7:30 Worship

T u es d ay, A p r i l 2 1 9:00 Morning Prayer

9:15 Plenary I—Brian Gerrish 10:45 Plenary II—Martha Moore-Keish 12:30 Luncheon

2:15 Workshops I

3:45 Workshops II 5:30 Reception at President’s Home

Phone (work)

W e d nes d ay, A p r i l 2 2 9:00 Morning Prayer 9:20 Plenary III—George Stroup 10:30 Panel Discussion with Colloquium Leaders

For information about alumni/ae activities during Colloquium, please contact Barbara Poe at poeb@ctsnet.edu, or 404.687.4566.

4

VANTAGE Winter 2009

E-mail

State

Zip

(home)

Spouse or guest name

Number Attending Amount Due

Con f e r en c e $75 per person for registration, materials, Alumni/ae Awards Dinner, Colloquium Lunch al u m n i / ae awa r d s d i nne r Monday, April 20 ($15 per person) c ollo q u i u m L u n c h Tuesday, April 21 ($10 per person)

Total Due o I plan to use the child care services on Monday night for

child(ren).

T r i n ity Adapted from a sermon preached on Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2007, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, Philadelphia.

by Pa m ela Coope r-Whi te

T

rinity Sunday is one of the oddest Sundays we have in our church calendar!

Unlike any other week, it is the one Sunday in the church year set apart specifically for theological conversation—and not any theological conversation, but conversation specifically about a doctrine! “Mmm, time to catch up on the bulletin insert,” you think to yourself, or time for a quick cat nap in the pew?

Well, give this a chance, as this day invites us to think together about what we really mean when we recite the familiar words “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

We know that this formulation is an ancient understanding of God: as the one who created the world, as the one who dwelled among us as a human being in the person of Jesus—in that mysterious paradox of being both fully human and fully divine—and in the Holy Spirit, the “Advocate,” the “Comforter,” God’s continuing presence with us in our lives now. But perhaps we need this day once a year most of all to help us stay out of trouble! Because we can get in trouble with this language of three “names for God.” We get in trouble, I believe, when we stop probing or questioning what this language means, and end up simply reducing these “names,” which are metaphors, into thinking they are concrete “facts” about who God is. And as soon as we think we know who God is, we have stopped questioning, and stopped wondering perhaps very much about God at all. We think we have it all figured out (or, at least, we think that “they” figured it all out in ancient times, and what’s good enough for “them” is good enough for us.)

What if we took this Sunday’s feast, instead, as an invitation to do Trinitarian theology ourselves? Trinitarian theology is not, actually, a set of fixed facts about God, but a deep act of sacred imagination on the part of women and men over many centuries of Christian thought.

They sensed that the very motion of God— rather than some fixed identity of God—might

be “divined,” intuited as alive, flowing and flowering, multiple in activity and in all the ways in which human beings may catch fleeting glimpses of the Holy, and above all profoundly relational and loving.

Since theologians began to play more freely in the late 20th century with the metaphorical potential of the Trinity, new relational formulations have begun to appear. For example, we see Episcopal liturgies invoking “God creating, redeeming, and sanctifying;”1 feminist theologian Sallie McFague’s trinitarian metaphor of Mother-Lover-Friend;”2 and Episcopal theologian David Cunningham’s “source, wellspring, and living water.”3 The Trinity is a spacious room, then, in which multiple metaphors can flourish! In my own recent work as a pastoral theologian,4 I have begun playing with trinitarian language and imagining trinitarian metaphors: God as Creative Profusion, God as Incarnational Desire, and God as Living Inspiration.

G od as Cr eati ve P ro f usi on

The tenacity of life gives evidence of the irrepressible nature of God’s creativity. Every day, especially in early summer (echoed in the green of our liturgical calendar) we see it everywhere around us—even in the city streets—a tiny green spike or tendril, seemingly frail and tender, will have the force to gnaw and snake its way through concrete and brick until it finds the sun and opens. I love the fact that even if I accidentally dig up a crocus bulb in my garden while planting spring flowers, and stick it in upside down, again by accident, it will figure out how to send its shoots down and around and up again, and next spring, the crocus will rise once more to animate and color its own tiny patch of winter-deadened space. Here is the unstoppable force of green things—on flat sidewalks, vertical walls, or curled upside down in the dirt of my garden—who can say where vertical ends and horizontal begins? Life, in all its fecundity, is three-dimensional, unruly, not bound by any compass but God’s own greenward direction: Up! Out! Forward! Sideways! Grow!

God is this creative profusion, and the

creation itself is no longer conceivable as a onetime product by a supernatural maker, but an irrepressible, ongoing fecundity. Such fecundity, such turbulent swarming of creation is a much more consoling, liberating, and empowering image for pastoral relations than a singular, authoritarian God the Father. To liberate the first “person” of the Trinity from a concretized identity as “Father,” or even “Creator,” opens the way to affirming our own profusion, our own “dappled, fickle, freckled”5 multiplicity. We are accepted, confirmed, loved by God in all our complexities and contradictions. This love takes us to the second person of the Trinity.

G o d as In c a r nat ional Desi r e

In all three aspects of the Trinity, God is love: the erotic power of life breaking through and insisting upon newness, change, growth. This is true in a particular way as God is imaged in the second “person” of the Trinity—God willingly and lovingly present, in the flesh, fur, feathers, sea and soil of the creation. The name Emmanu-el (God-with-us) signifies God’s own promise to love and be with us, even “to the end of the age,” (Matthew 28:20) and more, to be in us and in all creation. God is in us and we are in God—not on some disembodied or theoretical or “spiritual” plane apart or above from daily life, but deep in our blood and our bones. As we walk forward in time and space, loving, working, watching, weeping, rejoicing, God is the whole energy of both justice and mercy, struggling forward through us and in us, in the historical movement of the world. This is the miracle of Incarnation, most clearly embodied for us in the Christian tradition in the life, passion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

The particularity of the astonishing revelation to the early Christians, that this VANTAGE Winter 2009 5

human being Jesus was God, further tells us about what God is like. Jesus had two central concerns: to heal and restore to community those who were ill and/or outcast; and to reverse the social order so that the oppressed would be liberated and the poor lifted up. Through this Jesus, Christians come to know that God’s own nature is to stand in solidarity with all who suffer, and that God not only created the world, but loves us and desires our good. God offers a continuing promise of transformation —including our own transformation, day by day —from death to new life. And this life takes us finally to the third person of the Trinity.

Go d as Li ving Inspiration

If the second dimension of the Trinity depicts God incarnate, the erotic living presence of the Holy in our embodied lives, the third dimension brings God to us in the very rhythm of our breath. Words for Spirit in the Bible have been variously thought of as breath, power, energy, wind—the Spirit/wind/breath of God (ruach) brooding (hovering/nesting) over the waters in Genesis Chapter 1 and animating the dry bones in the desert in Ezekiel 37. Images of spirit as wind, breath, life force, and inspiration,

“‘ Lord,

collide and combine to form an impression of great power and energy, power for healing, power for change, even power for revolution.

Not coincidentally, our practices of prayer often involve a deepening and calming of the breath. And as we breathe, the Spirit is in its own way yet another symbol of the relationality of God: As we breathe in, we know that we are not isolated. We do not live in bell jars; we breathe in the entire world. And as we breathe out, if we are aware, we realize that we are reaching even with our breath beyond the confines of our own physical being. Our very existence affects others.

Our very breath ties us to one another, and to the planet. Even our breath, then, is unavoidably a matter of ethics. We cannot extricate ourselves from the very atmosphere in which we and all others live. Breathing reminds us that our very lives are intrinsically ec-static—we are created for the joy of standing outside ourselves. We cannot live only for ourselves, but in and for one another, even as the Spirit swirls around and in and through us and all living beings in one great dance—a dance so great that it encompasses the entire cosmos and beyond.

So the image of the Trinity, far from a static recitation of “Father-Son-Holy Spirit,” comes alive for us again—today, and every day when we enter into the dance, joining with the Holy

to witness to God’s unquenchable creativity, God’s presence with us in human life, and the whisperings of the Spirit, breathing through us, and through our community, for the healing and enlivening of all the earth! The metaphorical “room” of the Trinity touches everything we do, and all our relations. It is at the heart of all pastoral care and counseling, all spiritual growth and formation, and all prophetic witness!

Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the transformative power of God: Creative Profusion, Incarnational Desire, and Living Inspiration. Amen.

N OT E S 1 Or, often, in its noun forms: “creator, redeemer, and sanctifier,” e.g., Enriching Our Worship, (New York: Church Publishing, 1997), 46.

2 Sallie McFague, Models of God (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987), 35 et passim.

3 David Cunningham, These Three Are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology (London: Blackwell, 1997).

4 Pamela Cooper-White, Many Voices: Pastoral Psychotherapy in Relational and Theological Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006).

5 A reference to Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem “Glory be to God for dappled things…” cited in Many Voices, 83.

Pamela Cooper-White is professor of pastoral theology, care, and counseling. She joined Columbia’s faculty this fall.

. . . when was it that we saw you . . . in prison and visited you?’ . . .

‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:39-40

C

olumbia students are incarnating the love of God through their work in Georgia’s prisons. Lucy Webb ’08, along with nine other students in the course titled “The Cross and the State: Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Dimensions of Prison Ministry,” enfleshed that love by visiting regularly with men incarcerated at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson, GA, and by leading worship at the Metro State Prison, which is for women and is located in Atlanta. Another 2008 graduate, Catherine Neelly, spent 15 hours a week in an internship at the women’s prison. Her work there included counseling, leading worship, and teaching.

Hope

Prison. Some people call it

a mission field, others a warehouse, and perhaps most would simply call it a scary place with lots of razor wire. My experience at Metro State Prison and the Georgia Diagnostic & Classification Prison taught me that prison is all of these things.

It is also one of the best places to learn about pastoral care. In

by Lucy Waechter Webb ’08 these two prisons I encountered the importance of our theology of Imago Dei. It’s hard enough to walk

for the

Prisoner—

and All the Rest of Us

6

VANTAGE Winter 2009

Voices of Hope, a gospel choir from Metro State Prison, singing during a weekday chapel service at Columbia.

into an imposing facility knowing you are about to speak with an individual who has been convicted of a crime deemed horrible enough that the person should be locked away. It becomes even harder when you learn about the crime, and have a tearful human being in front of you, who despite the crime, needs care and the assurance of God’s love. It is in those moments that God’s image becomes clear in the faces of those we call “offenders,”

and our own offenses become clear as we stare into the mirror of their eyes. In these moments, some of the most profound I have experienced in pastoral care, justice has been redefined.

With 55,000 people in Georgia’s prisons, 18,000 being released each year and 20,000 going in, we’re going in the wrong direction. The entire country is suffering from overcrowded prisons as one out of every 100 people in

Go

ace

Lucy Webb is serving as mentor coordinator in the Prison Re-entry Initiative for Span, Inc., in Boston, MA.

ay d y r e v E

Green

A midrash on Luke 23:31, told in the voice of Angela, a woman living in one of Georgia’s prisons

Gr

the United States is being housed in a correctional facility. Much of the problem is the high recidivism rate. Sixty-five percent of offenders will return to prison, and often it is because their needs are not met while they are in prison. Then they return to old environments that contributed to their ending up in prison in the first place.

All of this makes prisons a place abundant with opportunities for doing pastoral care. Having someone visit with prisoners when families can’t spend the money on gas or don’t care to know them anymore can make a difference in how an individual survives and chooses to spend prison time.

Furthermore, churches that are actively seeking and welcoming people who are re-entering society can make a difference in whether or not they re-offend.

Rachel, a young woman recently released from prison, spoke at a conference on prison ministry. Holding the hand of her mentor, she said through her tears, “Everybody just needs that one person who will sit with them and listen and encourage them to keep going.” It’s exhausting and, yes, sometimes scary, but it is the call we are given in Matthew 25.

And in these relationships, though they raise many questions, we can begin to understand God’s love and justice in an incredible, new way.

Randy Loney offers a simple but profound prayer for this ministry in his inscription on my copy of his book A Dream of the Tattered Man: “With hope for the prisoner…and all of us.”

d ’s

When the Wood is

by J ane E. Fahe y ’01

I

was 14 when it happened. It seems like a lifetime ago. But I guess I should say it was a life sentence ago, because that’s what I got. I was young, green, just a girl who might have become someone who . . ..

Well, who knows what might have been?

But no one stopped long enough to ask “Who is this girl accused of killing her aunt?” The prosecutor just said, “We will try her as an adult.” The lawyer appointed to represent me just said, “Take the deal; avoid the risk of something worse.”

I know now that the “deal” was the worst I would have gotten if tried and convicted: a life sentence.

No one bothered to listen to my story of being sent back to live with the father who nearly beat me to death when I was five, or being raped by my brother and my mother’s friends. No one noticed that I was slow, with what I’m now told is borderline mental retardation. No one heard the doctors’ recommendation, just before my aunt’s death, that I should receive inpatient psychiatric treatment. No one bothered to see a troubled girl who needed more than a prison cell with a steel door and adult roommates.

And now, in my late 20’s, I hear the voice of Jesus, himself a convicted criminal, carrying his cross, on his way to becoming the executed God. I hear Jesus saying to the fearful folks around him, to locked-down America, to the community who jailed me, “Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. . . . For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Jane Fahey is director of Columbia’s Faith and the City program.

She has recently been called to be pastor of Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, Atlanta.

Prison

O

Prayers

by Cath erine Neelly ’08

n some level I had stopped believing that God was doing new things, stopped believing that God was actively at work in our world. Then I found myself at the Metro State Women’s Prison. The women at the prison taught me to pray again. Prayers at Metro have to matter. When I prayed at Metro, I could not pray vague prayers indicating that I believed God had acted before and with no comment on the future. Praying with inmates forced me to pray to a God who is still acting in our world. When I prayed with the women at the prison, I knew that I had to believe what I was praying. And knowing that made me believe in God even more. It wasn’t that my prayers before were bad or faithless, just that the depth of my relationship with God grew. I was consumed by the Holy Spirit in a way I had never felt before, and I am still reeling from it.

One day I met with a woman who was preparing to leave the prison after being there for 13 years. Her family cut off all ties with her after she was incarcerated. She did not know where she would go when released. She gave up her children for adoption when she entered the prison system and was still tormented by this loss. I asked her what she wanted me to pray about. She said strength. She needed strength to make it every hour in prison and strength for what awaited her outside the prison. In groups she feigned confidence, but one on one she looked tired and scared, and she cried when she talked about her children. When I prayed I started to ask God to be with her, in the kind of vague and innocuous prayer I might pray about anything. Then I thought, ‘No, God can do this. God can give her strength. I believe this. She believes this. We need to call on God for this.’ And so I pleaded with God to make God’s Spirit known as this woman struggled to make it through another day, another hour at Metro.

Catherine Neelly is a resident pastor at Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA. The congregation’s pastoral resident program is supported by a grant from the Lilly Endowment. Through the two-year residency, Central seeks to equip newlyordained ministers to serve faithfully and creatively in pastoral ministry in an urban context.

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Everyday means of God’s gracious presence: “The Word that becomes flesh and dwells among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

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The Christ was with me and in me as I looked with a shattered heart upon an 86-year-old “mother and woman of God.” My nurse’s eye told me she would not live without life support and that all the powers of this earth would push for that eventually. Alone with her in a hospital room, I began to pray and the Holy Spirit of God, Christ in me, started praying with a power and a voice previously unknown to me! My whole body, mind, and heart were involved. My fists were clenched, my body bent double, rocking to and fro.

I heard myself demand of God that my precious friend be given mercy. “Take her now, take her now, no machines, no suffering, take her now.” It was done a few hours later. Mercy and Grace won the day. I continue to wonder at my boldness before God! The Spirit, the Christ, the Holy One was with me that day for that moment!

Praise be to God!

E leana Ga r r ett ’95

P r actici n g

by J essi Hi gginboth am ’09

T

Theology

he halls of a hospital aren’t the type of place you’d think to look for theology. In fact, during my first days of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), I realized that I didn’t know enough about theology to be there in the first place. As summer flew by, however, it wasn’t long before I realized that I was learning more about theology from the patients, nurses, and doctors than I ever thought I would.

I chose to do CPE at Baptist Medical Center in downtown Jacksonville, FL, because it is in my hometown. My parents and my sister live there, and my sister is an employee of Baptist.

We rode to work together every morning and home every afternoon, sometimes in the silence of the heavy day and sometimes in the joy and laughter of eight hours well spent. But it wasn’t just the fun of spending time with my family every evening and on weekends that made this summer an amazing experience for me. It was the brilliant presence of the Holy Spirit that seeped through the halls of the hospital as I walked them every day, and every night that I was on-call.

I was just as scared as everyone else on my first day, first week, and first on-call. My hands shook nervously as I knocked on the first door, and the first time I sat with a family after they had lost someone. I cried after sitting with a mother who lost her eight-week-old baby. I know my experience wasn’t that different from the CPE experiences of others, but I started to realize that it was a practiced theology and it was making me different.

When I told a family that God was with them in their time of pain, it didn’t sound the same anymore. It sounded like truth instead of something I read in a textbook. It sounded sincere instead of practiced or rehearsed.

It sounded powerful, instead of flat. And most of all, instead of just repeating it, I believed it. These were real, live people whom I could touch, who shed real tears, who were really hurting. This wasn’t about reading, writing, or studying anymore, this was about practicing. Practicing. The most powerful theological concept and the one concept I knew I couldn’t learn from a book. What do you say to someone who has just lost a sister, child, father, or friend? Nothing. You say absolutely nothing.

“Nothing” isn’t a practice we future pastors necessarily consider. We spend three years meditating over how to read Scripture beautifully and how to preach a heartfelt sermon. We are the talkers of the world. To sit quietly and not speak a single word for an unknown amount of time with a complete stranger might have been the hardest thing I ever had to do. But it was the practicing of this silent theology that awakened within me the awareness of the Holy Spirit, the holy ground of the hospital, the sacred space of the quiet. It was in this silence where I truly heard the voice of God speaking to me, speaking through me and lingering just long enough to touch the lives of those around me. On the last day of CPE, as I rode the employee shuttle away from the entrance of the hospital, I almost felt as though I was being ripped away from the love of my life and I could almost sense the hospital feeling the same way. It’s precisely when we pour ourselves into practicing theology that we begin to sense what God has intended for us. It is in the human connection that we make outside the walls of the seminary where we are able to say, “Here I am Lord, I will go Lord if you lead me, I will hold your people in my heart.”

Jessi Higginbotham ’09 is from Jacksonville, FL. She is a member of the Presbytery of St. Augustine and St. Giles church.

T

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by Thirz a Saye rs ’09

hrough Happy Tails, an Atlanta volunteer organization, Mr. T Rex and I visit adolescents at Peachford, brain and spinal rehab patients at Emory, special needs children and their families at Lekotek, and Kate’s Club (a grief group for kids who have lost an immediate family member).

Mr. T Rex has a repertoire of 16 tricks that help break the ice on our visits, especially with the adolescents in psychiatric care. It’s a great way to get them out of their shell and moving toward community—and the healing touch of a puppy. His tricks include the “T Rex, puppy push-ups, saying his prayers, dancing, and the world’s only safe “tornado.”

Mr. T Rex and I have also provided grief and comfort care at two funerals. And this summer we led a didactic on Self Care and Spirituality for the chaplain interns at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Mr. T Rex is quite the pastoral pup and receives more requests for visits than we can meet right now. He seems to have the same gift for hospitality that God has given me. He thinks it is his job to greet everyone and assure them that they are loved. He greets them with a toothy smile that can be startling at first, but then people realize it is only his “T Rex” enthusiasm and exuberance.

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I was dreaming as I flew down the interstate ‘bout a world in which people could all relate where time is always taken for friendship in the makin’ and hearts can be tender without fear.

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If ever there came a time and place with kingdom approaching falling into grace each learning to rest for love to serve best beyond translucent veil holiness breathably near.

’s

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M i n ist r y

by B ob Boston ’56

O

n Christmas Day in 1999, a five-month-old golden retriever came into our home. She was a retirement present from my wife. Providentially a new career was about to begin.

When Holly was three years old just out of her puppy and adolescent stage, I was asked to supply at the Presbyterian Village, a retirement community in Summerville, SC. While they were seeking a new chaplain, I agreed to come for a couple of months if I could bring my dog. We stayed for five years.

From our very first day Holly was received with open arms. With her gentleness, charm, and unconditional love, along with her wistful eyes and perpetual golden retriever smile, she won the hearts of both staff and residents.

Holly would accompany me on my visits throughout the village. She seemed to possess an intuitive sense as to who liked dogs and who did not. She would approach those who did (approximately 90 percent) by putting her head at their sides, in their laps, or on the side of the bed depending on the circumstance. She would walk quietly by those who did not seem to care for dogs.

When Holly was not with me she stayed in the chaplain’s office lying on her pallet with a bowl of water by her side. Residents would often drop by to pet her and give her a hug or a treat. When I was without Holly I was greeted more times than not with “Where is Holly?” And when she was with me, she was always greeted first.

When I mentioned this to a group of residents, one dear, sweet lady said, “Maybe it’s because Holly knows how to say I love you without making a long speech.” The late Bob Tapp, founder and first president of the Home, called Holly the chaplain and me her assistant.

Whenever Holly attended worship services, she wore a scarf made by Donna Glisson, an independent resident.

The scarf had an embroidered cross that matched the stoles worn by the choir. On numerous occasions Holly was invited by a family to attend a memorial service. This she did with grace and dignity—with one exception: while sitting at attention at the graveside in the National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC, Holly barked when she heard the first shot of a 21-gun salute.

I retired in June of 2007 for health reasons, and it seemed to me that the sentiment was “we can find a new chaplain, but we cannot replace Holly.” So I retired but Holly has continued to work. While we were still at the Village, I had her evaluated by an observer from Therapy Dogs, Inc. She passed with honors and became a nationally registered therapy dog, which allows her access and privilege in many public places and institutions.

In addition, Holly is nationally registered as a Reading Education Assistance Dog. Research has shown that children who read to animals learn quicker and comprehend better because animals listen attentively, don’t judge, laugh, or criticize, and allow children to proceed at their own pace. Holly has been going to the Hanahan Elementary School on Wednesday morning for the past two years listening to first-grade students read. Following her reading class, Holly visits a self-contained class of autistic children. The children are rewarded for good behavior with dog treats for Holly, so this is her favorite class. An eight year old boy spoke in class for the first time when he saw Holly. He said loudly, “doggie,” and since then his vocabulary has continued to increase.

Holly is also registered in the therapy program at the Children’s Hospital of the Medical University of South Carolina and at the Veteran’s Hospital in Charleston. Every Friday Holly makes grand rounds at the VA nursing home and mental health clinic, and she visits individual rooms.

A CBS television station in Charleston periodically awards an individual for distinguished service to the community with induction in the Channel 5 Hall of Fame. This year Holly was the first dog ever to receive the award.

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Yesterday I witnessed, perhaps, the most blessed worship service of all my life, and it seems beyond adequate description.

Elders Guttierrez, Howard, and Iverson conducted a baptismal and communion service which was a high and holy moment in the story of church renewal.

I congratulate the Classis [of Passaic Valley] in giving permission for these elders to act in the place of a Minister of the Word and Sacraments. God is doing a work that is exceedingly and abundantly above all.

In my memory I have never experienced such a blessed service—and that covers 80 years.

There were 21 baptisms and two re-affirmations of faith—a far call from when I had four active members in attendance on World-wide Communion Sunday.The three families baptized included toddlers and children up to teenage, fathers and mothers.

The preparation regarding salvation, the church, and Christian life in membership classes had been quite thorough. Dressed in Sunday best, each with a rose, they knelt on a cushion in front of the baptismal fount in sideview to the congregation.

Each baptism was seen as personal and significant.

The congregation clapped with a joy at each one.

ay d y r e v E

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God’s grace reflected in the face of a Warao Indian in the Mamano River basin of Venezuela

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For the

Alumni/ae 1960s Bill Phipps ’68 retired from Tampa Bay Presbytery, moved to Roanoke, VA, and transferred to Presbytery of the Peaks…….Michael Williams ’69 retired as associate executive of St. Augustine Presbytery.

1980s George Lashley ’88 is interim pastor at John Calvin church, Orlando, FL…….

Joy Smith ’88 was installed as pastor of Church of the Apostles, Burnsville, MN …….Walter Dinkins ’88 is now Force Chaplain for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. One of his duties is working through the Cultural Affairs Directorate at US Embassies of Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubi, and all the ships and personnel within the Coalition and US Forces throughout the Arabian Gulf …….David Hale ’89 retired from Rogersville church, Rogersville, TN. 1990s Scott Ellington ’90 was appointed associate professor of Christian ministry at Emmanuel College, Franklin Springs, GA…….Gloria Jennings ’90 taught the Presbyterian Women’s Bible Study, Jubilee! Luke’s Gospel for the Poor, at the Greater Atlanta, Northeast Georgia and Cherokee Presbyteries’ fall leadership event at Trinity church, Atlanta, GA…….Mary Boyd Click ’91 retired as interim pastor of T h e Al um n i/ ae Co un cil m et October 1 3 – 1 4 , 2 0 0 8 .

John Calvin church in Annandale, VA…….Diane Shoaf ’91 has been appointed associate dean at the Florida Center for Theological Studies, Miami, FL…….

Front Row (l to r): Jack Taylor ’62, Cary Speaker ’76, Wanda Neely ’85, Vanessa Potter ’93 is director of human resources and volunteer ministries of the Laura Cunningham ’98 Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, Hunt, TX…...John Ragsdale ’94 is temporary Second Row (l to r): Chip Blankinship ’95, David Cagle ’95, Mark Verdery ’71, associate executive presbyter of St. Augustine Presbytery……Tim Slemmons ’95 Bill Lancaster ’73, Susannah Cook ’99 is assistant professor of preaching and worship at the University of Dubuque…….

Erica Durham ’97 is public services librarian in the John Bulow Campbell Library Third Row (l to r): Ann Marie Montgomery ’06, Hugh Hamilton ’80, at Columbia Theological Seminary…….Brad Ableson ’99 was inducted into the Ann Kelly ’92, Barbara Poe, Jarred Hammet ’85 Alumni Hall of Fame at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, Chickasha, Fourth Row (l to r): Cory Stott ’06, Jaina Anderson ’05, Kate Foster OK. The award recognizes his “lifelong work as a pioneer in global religious Connors ’01, Carolyn Heyward ’98, Anne Apple ’01, Becky Burton ’97, reconciliation and as an architect of the modern model for military chaplains.”

Randy Calvo ’81, John Cole ’98, Stephen Nickle ’87 Yale Divinity School also recognized him with its Distinguished Alumni Award …….Erin Sharp ’99 left her church in Alexandria, VA, to begin studies at Other members of the council: Bill Hull ’66, John Law ’60, Ron Sabo ’99, Virginia Institute of Technology for a master’s degree in marriage and family Doug Slagle ’68,Ted Smith ’86, Jerry Utt ’02, Brad Walker ’89, Joe Berry ’66, therapy. She and husband David Bailey are expecting a baby girl…...Ron Ron Hilliard ’87, Beecher Mathes ’92, Jeri Parris Perkins ’87, Mickey Shealy ’99, Watson ’99 is celebrating 10 years of service at Frederick church, St. Simons, GA Joy Smith ’88, Betsy Flory ’01, Jennifer Fouse ’02,Todd Jenkins ’90. ……Joe Hinds ’99 and Kazy Blocher Hinds ’00 have moved to Sidney, OH, where Joe is pastor at First church. Kazy has been called as pastor at Westminster church in Piqua, OH.

The Columbia String Ensemble includes Daniel Kaplunas and Joohee Lee, first violin; Christine Kaplunas ’11, second violin; occasional student Bae Young Kim, viola; and Paul Huh, cello. Huh is assistant professor of worship and director of the Korean American Ministries program.

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VANTAGE Winter 2009

2000s Robert Alexander ’00 recently completed the Chicago Marathon where he ran with Team World Vision and raised funds to support that organization’s ministries in Africa. He will be part of the worship band for Faith in 3D, a youth event in Orlando, FL, in January 2009…….Elizabeth Walker ’00 is associate pastor of pastoral care at First church, Wheaton, IL………Chris ’03 and Carrie ’02 Tuttle have moved to Durham, NC, where Chris will be pastor of Westminster church.

Carrie is a stay-at-home mom with Ella Brooks and Heath after being an associate pastor in Burlington, NC…….Betsy Steier Goehrig ’03 has been selected to receive the Florida Achievement Award in Lakeland, FL. The Florida Commission on the Status of Women recognizes meritorious women and men who have improved the lives of Florida women and who have served as positive role models for women and girls in their communities with the FCSW Florida Achievement Award. She received the award for the west central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area, Lakeland, Ft. Myers, and surrounding communities…….

David Watson ’03 is interim pastor at Trabuco church in Trabuco Canyon, CA…….Susan Thomas ’04 is director of communication and programs for Arlington Street Unitarian Universalist Church in Boston……..Andy ’05 and Elizabeth ’05 Acton have moved to the Atlanta area where Andy is associate pastor of Pleasant Hill church in Duluth, GA. Elizabeth and Andy are proud parents of Katherine Richard Acton, born June 1, 2008….Jessica Derise Zolondek ’05 lives in North Dakota. She married Frank Zolondek July 25th at

[record]

First church, Buffalo, ND……..Jerry Long ’06 has a new call as pastor of First church in Valdosta, GA…..Bethany McKinney ’06 is beginning Ph.D. studies in Christian ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA ……Tricia Dillon Thomas ’06 was ordained October 12 at Seven Oaks church in Irmo, SC. Anna Carter Florence, Franklin Fant ’04, Elizabeth Deibert ’90, and Clay Thomas ’05 participated in the service. Tricia has accepted a call as evangelist to youth and family at Peace church, a new church development in Lakewood Ranch, FL. Elizabeth Deibert is the organizing pastor……Mike Woods ’06 has been selected by the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) as a participant in the denomination’s Pastor-Theological Consultation to be held in the spring of 2009 in Louisville, KY. This consultation brings together 10-15 pastors to discuss issues of theological and pastoral significance.

The spring consultation will consider the question: “Is heresy possible?”……..

Jo Anderson ’07 was ordained and installed May 18th as associate pastor for music and care at Roswell church…….Lynne Frech ’07 recently accepted a call to South Mecklenburg church, Charlotte, NC…….Thomas Livengood ’07 is stated supply of First church, Bremen, GA…….Dan Schrock ’07 announces the publication of his book, The Dark Night: A Gift of God, which grew out of his studies at Columbia……..Lynne McNaughton ’07 has begun an interim ministry as priest-in-charge at St. Clement’s Anglican Church, North Vancouver, British Columbia…....Scott Tucker ’07 has been called as chaplain at the Summer’s Landing Assisted Living Residence in Atlanta.

For the

Faculty/Staff

Luke Ellis ’08 and Rachel,

a girl, Rosalie Mae Ellis, October 29, 2008.

David Bartlett, professor of New Testament, published an article titled “Lectionary Commentaries: A Review of Recent Publications” for Call to Worship, Year B; taught adult Bible courses on 1 Corinthians at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Atlanta, and Oakhurst Baptist Church, Decatur, GA; preached for All Saints Day at All Saints Episcopal Church, Santa Barbara, CA; and lectured and preached at the Presbyterian Seminary, Seoul, South Korea……..Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi, professor of world Christianity, published a chapter titled “The Future of Christian Mission in an Era of World Christianity” in Chalice Introduction to Theology, edited by Peter Goodwin Heltzel for Chalice Press, St. Louis, MO; published “Historia general de las Misiones” (Colección Historia), with Justo L. Gonzalez for CLIE, Barcelona, Spain; gave the keynote address and delivered three lectures at the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Arizona Assembly in celebration of 100 years of ministry in the region; and conducted a workshop on “Muslim and Christian Encounters: History and Theology for a Time of Conflict” for the MSES Bilingual Program, Synod of Central Florida…….Pamela Cooper-White, professor of pastoral theology, care and counseling, published in Pastoral Psychology an article titled “Interrogating Integration, Dissenting Dis-integration: Multiplicity as a Positive Metaphor in Therapy and Theology,” and the introduction to a special double issue on multiplicity for the journal; contributed to the “Feasting on the Word” commentary, Year C, Vol. 4, Propers 25-26 and All Saints Day at Columbia Theological Seminary; was elected to serve through 2010 as co-editor-in-chief/ publications editor for Journal for Pastoral Theology; gave a plenary presentation on “Divine Politics, Human Politics: Theological and Clinical Constructions of Power” for the Society for Pastoral Theology’s Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA; presented “Sacred Space as Potential Space: The Transforming and Empowering Potential of Sacred Built Environments” to the Society of Anglican and Lutheran Theologians, Chicago, IL; served on a Psychology, Culture and Religion (PCR) panel for the book Mourning Religion at the American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL; chaired the PCR session “After September 11: Psychological and Religious Reflections on Terror and Anxiety;” co-chaired the American Academy of Religion Program Unit, PCR Group; and served as featured presenter at the American Association of Pastoral Counselors Eastern/Northeast Regional Conference on “Many Voices: Embracing Multiplicity—God, Persons, and Psychotherapy,” Williamstown, MA…….Dent Davis (DMin ’89), dean and vice president for Lifelong Learning, published a chapter on “Learning as a Model for

Latino Immigration

Conf e r enc e Events

Challenges and Opportunities for the Church

Multi-cultural Worship

Saturday, March 21, 2009 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Columbia Theological Seminary

Panel Discussion and Practical Workshops • Bible Study Curricula for Educating Congregations • Judicatory Challenges in Supporting Congregational Ministries • Impact of Immigration on Women and Children • Overview of State and Federal Legislation • Challenges for Latino Congregations • Challenges for Community Service Organizations.

In Memoriam P E T ER BLA IR ’88, April 17, 2008

Blessed Events Kate Richmond Rascoe ’03 and Clayton Rascoe ’03

a girl, Ruth Richmond Rascoe, February 6, 2008.

L ead ers Keynote speaker..... Harold J. Recinos, Professor of Church and Society, Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, author of Hear the Cry!, Jesus Weeps, Who Comes in the Name of the Lord?, and Good News from the Barrio.

Presenter.................. Maria Marquardt, University of Florida, speaking on “Framing the Issues”

Cost $25 ($10 seminary students) includes lunch and program materials Regi strat ion /Inf o r mat i on Deadline to register: March 13, 2009.

For more information, go to www.ctsnet.edu > Lifelong Learning > Courses and Events (scroll to the date of the event for details) An inter-seminary event with Faith and the City programs at Columbia Theological Seminary, Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, Interdenominational Theological Center, and Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology.

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Developing and Promoting Lifelong Learning for Ministry” for the revised edition of A Lifelong Call to Learn; led a retreat on spiritual leadership for pastors in St. Andrews Presbytery; presented a paper on “Congregational Empowerment and Renewal through Community Involvement” with Jerry Alexander (DMin ’05) at the conference “Revisioning Leadership for a Hope Filled World” at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, Atlanta; led a staff retreat for First church, Sumter, SC; participated in the symposium on “Discerning a Moral Environmental Ethic” at Maryville College, Maryville, TN; and lectured on adult development, spiritual growth, and Jung’s psychological typology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville…….Mark Douglas, associate professor of Christian ethics, led a continuing education retreat for pastors in Montreat, NC; took a group of MDiv seniors to Louisville, KY, to discuss with denominational leaders and seniors from other seminaries the early years of parish ministry; taught a course on Providence at First church, Atlanta; co-chaired the “Ethics and Biblical Interpretation” consultation at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Boston, MA; and continued work on the Investigative Panel of the State Bar of Georgia and the Institutional Review Board of Northside Hospital, Atlanta …….Sarah Erickson ’03, associate director of Lifelong Learning, led worship at First church, Jonesboro, GA; began co-teaching a class series on the Christmas portion of “Messiah” for the Kerygma Bible study at North Decatur (GA) church…….Anna Carter Florence, Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching, preached at the installation of Marcella Auld Glass ’08, at Southminster church, Boise, ID; preached at the ordination of Tricia Dillon Thomas ’06, at Seven Oaks church, Columbia, SC; taught three day-long ecumenical events on preaching to pastors from Eau Claire, Appleton, and Madison, WI, for the Wisconsin Council of Churches; was keynote speaker at the annual gathering of the Presbyterian Camping and Conference Center Association (PCCCA), Zephyr Point, NV…….Stephen Hayner, Peachtree Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth, preached, taught classes on “Jeremiah: Prophet for Hard Times” and “Tough Questions,” and lead a retreat on “Parenting with Persistence” at Peachtree church, Atlanta, GA; served as a consultant for the board of governance of the International Justice Mission-Canada, Toronto, Ontario; gave the keynote address and taught a class on “The Missional Church” at the Wee Kirk, Montreat Conference Center; spoke on “What Must the Church Do to Survive?” for the Church Institute at First church, Columbus, GA; served as a delegate to the PC(USA) Evangelism Consultation, Stony Point Center, NY; served as chair of the board for the International Justice Mission, Washington, DC…….Paul Huh, assistant professor of worship and director of Korean American ministries, attended the first meeting of the Presbyterian Hymnal Committee in Louisville,

For the

KY…….Doug MacMillan, director of development, preached at First church, Warner Robins, GA; led a workshop on “Building Healthy Congregations” for the Florida presbytery; preached at Oconee church, Watkinsville, GA; and gave the keynote address at the stated meeting of the Tampa Bay presbytery…….

Cam Murchison, dean of faculty/executive vice president/professor of ministry, attended the Association of Theological Schools Consultation on Faculty Vocation and Governance meeting; taught an officers’ training class and preached at First church, Beaufort, SC…….Rodger Nishioka, Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education, preached at the Sunnyvale church (CA) congregational retreat; preached at First church, Fargo, ND; taught at the Center for Christian Studies at First church, Columbus, GA; preached at the installation service for Kevin Hay at First church, Wilmington, NC; gave the charge at the ordination and installation service of Phil Brown at St. Luke’s church, Dunwoody, GA; preached at the installation service for Kathryn Threadgill at Westminster church, Greensboro, NC; spoke at the stewardship dinner for Sardis church, Charlotte, NC; taught at the South Central Church Educators conference at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, TX; taught at the Great Lakes Church Educators conference, Indianapolis, IN…….Kathleen O’Connor, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, published two articles: “A Family Comes Undone (Jer 2:1-4:2)” in Faith Facing Trauma, volume 105 of Review & Expositor; and “Voices Arguing About Meaning” in Lamentations in Ancient and Contemporary Contexts, edited by Nancy C. Lee and Carleen Mandolfo for the Society of Biblical Literature; became president of the Catholic Biblical Association and lead a session of the Feminist Hermeneutics Task Force on reading biblical texts from one’s cultural context at Fordham University, NY; taught two classes on “Genesis for Regeneration” at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Atlanta, GA; presented a paper titled “Some Uses of Violence in Jeremiah” at the meeting of the Academy of Homiletics, Boston, MA; attended a meeting of the Council of the Society of Biblical Literature, in Atlanta…….Marcia Y. Riggs, J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics, Preached for “Women’s Day,” at Hemphill A.M.E. Zion Church, Summerville, GA; gave the Shelby Rooks Lecture at Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL; served as consultant to the Fox Theatre’s Education Program and participated on an ethics panel discussing the musical Wicked……..Christine Roy Yoder, associate professor of Old Testament literature, language, and exegesis, taught a six-week introductory Old Testament course via video conferencing for Village church, Prairie Village, KS; taught a class on Proverbs at Nassau church, Princeton, NJ; participated in a working group on “theology and desire” at the American Academy of Religion’s national meeting in Chicago, IL; attended the Society of Biblical Literature national meeting, Boston, MA; taught a fall Bible study course on Proverbs for Columbia’s Center for Lifelong Learning.

Transitions

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W el c o m e !

Davis Bailey ’08 joined the staff of Media Services in October. He is media services technician.

G o d spee d !

Anna Louise Murchison, interim staff associate in Lifelong Learning, resigned at the end of October to move to Miami, FL.

Students

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Adam Copeland ’09 attended the first meeting of the Presbyterian Hymnal Committee; wrote an article for the journal Call to Worship; was conference correspondent for the Fund for Theological Education’s Calling Congregations Conference; and preached at First church, Tallahassee, FL, Fellowship church, Jackson, GA, and the Atlanta Taiwanese church…….Cassie Jackson ’11 and Matthew Todd are engaged…….Emily Martin ’09 co-moderated the Presbyterian AIDS Network; co-coordinated Columbia Theological Seminary’s consultation

events

L i f elong lea r n i ng on HIV/AIDS for faculty representatives of the 10 PC(USA) theological institutions, the Presbyterian AIDS Network Leadership Team, and CTS’s Campbell Scholars to help prepare future church leaders to address both locally and globally the theological, ethical, and pastoral issues of HIV/ AIDS…….Richard Medina (MATS ’09) delivered his paper “Ritual Seams in the Book of Job: Job’s Reaction to Disaster Viewed as a Ritual of Mourning” at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature as part of the SBL’s Wisdom in Israelite and Cognate Traditions…….David Rogers ’09 preached at Shallowford church, Atlanta, GA …….Scott Santibañez (MATS ’10) is serving as guest editor for a March 2009 American Journal of Public Health Supplement titled “Protecting the Health of Vulnerable Populations During an Influenza Pandemic;” was promoted to senior advisor for vulnerable populations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, where he works with faith-based, community-based, non-profit, and voluntary organizations to help prepare for health emergencies.

Columbia Seminary’s Korean-American Ministries program has initiated a lay leadership certification training program to help newly KOREAN elected elders and deacons in AMERICAN MINISTRIES Korean-American Presbyterian churches meet their ordination requirements. Forty-three participants attended the first 10-week course, which began in September. Among the pastors providing instruction in the new Korean-American lay leadership training program are (front, l to r): Sam Young Kim, Bong Jang, Byung Ho Choi, and Soon Hong Kang.

Building bridges in all communities

John Calvin’s Geneva Style Trail Mix Members of the Columbia Friendship Circle Council were treated to bags of John Calvin’s Geneva Style Trail Mix prepared by Council President Camille Ruddick (circled) of Thomson, GA. Here is Camille’s recipe, and it is delicious!

2½ C oatmeal ½ C raisins ½ C sesame seeds (optional) ½ C shelled sunflower seeds ½ C unsweetened wheat germ (optional) ½ C dried apricot (or other fruits) finely chopped ½ C honey or syrup ¼ C oil Combine all dry ingredients except fruits and spread in a 9 x 13 x 2 pan. Combine honey and oil. Pour over dry ingredients. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 - 50 minutes. Remove and stir in fruits.

Stir to prevent clumping.

If you want to make a huge batch of Calvin Trail Mix, go to Vantage Online for the recipe.

John Calvin’s Geneva Style Trail Mix Meanwhile, his disciples urged him, “Rabbi eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”…“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do with the will of him who sent me to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:31-35 NIV

Ingredients: Predestinated Peanut Oil, Poly Unsaturated Dogma, Homiletic Haggis, Partially Hydrogenated Monotheism, Extract of Exegesis, Grains of Truth, Sodium Selfrighteousate, Oil of Stewardship, Justification Juices, Sanctification Salts,Various Longlasting Preservatives, and Legumes of Louisville.

All ingredients carefully frozen and chosen.

VANTAGE Winter 2009

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events

L i f elong lea r n i ng

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or more information about opportunities listed below, to register online, or to download a registration form, go to www.ctsnet.edu > Lifelong Learners (in the top navigation bar), Courses and Events. Then scroll to the dates of the courses and events you wish to attend. For more information or to register by phone, call the registrar, Pat Roper, at 404-687-4587. Unless otherwise noted, events take place on the seminary campus, in Decatur, GA. Some events listed below require registration through the Presbyterian Board of Pensions. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for most events. Inquire at time of registration/event sign in.

January 8 The Art of Worship. Designed to teach ways that prayer-infused art can

supplement congregational worship expressions. Co-hosted with the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta’s Spiritual Nurture and Worship Resourcing Committee. Leaders: Troy Bronsink, Dana Lupton, Emily Ra, Jeff Meyers, and others. $25 (includes dinner).

January 27–29 Celtic Christian Spirituality for Today. Come explore Celtic Christian Renowned author and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor led “God in Ordinary Time: Faith Practices Today” on October 23-25. Offered by Columbia’s Center for Lifelong Learning, the weekend course explored reasons why physical Christian practices, such as walking labyrinths, going on pilgrimages, hammering nails, and keeping prayer journals, may strengthen the human spirit far more than mental exercise.

P r epa r i ng t h e W ay

Explore the Missional Church as a Thompson Scholar Prepare the way toward becoming a missional church: Apply now to become a Thompson Scholar, May 26-30, 2009, on the Columbia Seminary campus.

Steve and Sharol Hayner will lead the event, which features small-group discussions, family-style meals, and visits to other ministry settings. Steve is the Peachtree Associate Professor of Evangelism and Church Growth at Columbia. Sharol, who graduated from the seminary in 2006, is associate pastor for discipleship at Peachtree church in Atlanta.

Participation is limited to 15 individuals. To be considered for selection, submit an application via e-mail to Sarah Erickson (ericksons@ctsnet.edu).

Applications will be reviewed and accepted until the event is full, or until April 1.

Include the following information in your e-mail: name of applicant, church name and mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, and a brief answer to two questions: 1) How would you describe the missional church? and 2) Why would you like to participate in this event?

The $150 program fee includes all meals except breakfast and housing (double occupancy) at the Holiday Inn Conference Center. Single rooms are available for an additional $240.

Funding for this event is provided by gifts in honor of Dr. Cecil Thompson and dedicated to the support of the work of evangelism in the church.

spirituality as a way of being transformed in our consciousness of the earth’s oneness and passionately engaged as Christians in the human journey towards wholeness. Leaders: J. Philip Newell, John Bell, and Celtic artist Cynthia Matyi. $250 (includes Tuesday and Wednesday lunch).

January 29–February 1 An Invitation to a Deeper Spiritual Life. Join us for this feast for the soul.

Explore the origins of the Christian spiritual tradition. Study the formative elements of biblical, monastic, and Reformed spirituality. This course is the starting place for the Certificate in Spiritual Formation. Occasional students are welcome. Leaders: CTS Faculty. $300.

February 12–15 Spiritualities of World Religions: Neighbor Love in the New Religious South. In this brief introduction to four groups of new religious neighbors in the

metro Atlanta area, you will gain rudimentary knowledge of Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and Sikh spiritual practices, along with concrete experience of how local communities bring those practices to life. This course counts toward the Certificate in Spiritual Formation. Occasional students are welcome. Leader: Barbara Brown Taylor. $250.

February 27–28 Because the Bible Tells Me So: Putting the Bible Back in Bible Study.

Our focus is the major themes in the Old Testament, the Synoptic Gospels in the New Testament, and how to weave Bible study and pop culture together in ways that work for young people. Leaders: E. Elizabeth Johnson, William P. Brown, Neema Cyrus Franklin, Sarah Erickson. This is a course in the Youth Leadership Ministry Initiative certificate program. Occasional students are welcome. $150 (includes two meals). On-campus housing: additional cost.

March 6–8 Crafting Continuing Education: Identity and Intentionality. Annual Meeting

of the Society for the Advancement of Continuing Education in Ministry (SACEM). Consider what it means to craft continuing education for ministry programs that honor tradition and at the same time embark on new directions.

Leaders: Russ Moxley, Ron Cervero. For details, including registration and SACEM membership, go to http://sacem.com/.

March 10–12 Learning Together in Ministry. First/Early Call Conference for CTS Classes of

2005, 2006, 2007. See ad on page 15.

March 15–20 A Study in the Book of Isaiah. Consider the Book of Isaiah as a guiding script

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VANTAGE Winter 2009

for an urban economy that has failed and that might be restored. Attention will be given to historical questions and “original” contexts of the book, but the focus will be on the “contemporeneity” of the text. This course counts toward the Certificate in Spiritual Formation. Occasional students are welcome. Leader: Walter Brueggemann. $350.

events

L i f elong lea r n i ng

March 21 Latino Immigration: Challenges & Opportunities for the Church.

See conference ad on page 11.

March 22–24 Winter/Spring St. Andrew Presbytery Partnership Event. Open to members

of the presbytery. Takes place at Camp Hopewell, Oxford, MS. Leader: Mark Douglas. Details: 662-234-6069 or mail@standrewpresbytery.org.

April 16–19 Growing in Discernment: Attuning our Spiritual Senses. Explore the nature

of spiritual discernment and practical patterns that can help open us to the gift of growing clarity. At Montreat Conference Center. This course counts toward the Certificate in Spiritual Formation. Occasional students are welcome. Leader: Marjorie Thompson. $378.

April 19–23 Women’s Contemplative Retreat. At Benedictine Spirituality and Conference

Center, Sacred Heart Monastery, Cullman, AL. Registrations due by April 10, 2009. Leader: Barbara McKee. $300.

April 20–22 Calvin Now! (Colloquium 2009). See ad on page 4.

April 23–24 Religion Writers’ Workshop. Led by Cecil (Cec) Murphey. $200 ($180

members of Presbyterian Writers’ Guild). Pre-workshop intensive on April 22 open by selection to five participants.

Mar c h 2 0 0 8 Cou r se f o r Classes of 2 0 0 5 , 2 0 0 6 , 2 0 0 7

Learning Together in Ministry Graduates from the classes of 2005, 2006, or 2007 who are in their first call are invited to come to campus March 10-12, 2009, for Learning Together in Ministry.

Among the program leaders are Kim Clayton, director of Lifelong Learning events; Dent Davis, dean and vice president for Lifelong Learning, and Sarah Erickson.

Thanks to support from the seminary’s President’s Advisory Council and others, the only cost to participants is transportation.

Applications are due by February 6, 2009. For more information, go to www.ctsnet.edu > Lifelong Learning > Courses and Events (then scroll to the date of the event).

April 27–May 1 Guthrie Scholars—CTS Class of 1990

This learning opportunity is offered twice a year on an application basis. Pursue a topic of your choice, engaging a pressing issue of the church from a Reformed perspective. The spring 2009 event is dedicated to the CTS class of 1990. Class members were sent letters of invitation in late September. Participation is limited, so early application is encouraged. The seminary covers all costs except travel. For more information, including application instructions: http://www.ctsnet.edu/ lifelong/continuing_education/guthrie_scholars.asp.

April 26–May 1 Men’s Contemplative Retreat. At the Shrine of the Holy Spirit (near Conyers,

GA). Leader: John Knight Hill. $350, includes housing and meals; $50 nonrefundable deposit due at time of registration. Payment due April 6.

April 26–May 1 History of Western Spirituality. In this foundational course in the Certificate

U R C H A N D M I N I S I T RY NDCULTURENEWCHU LOPMENTCHRISTIAN ITYDMINMCHURCHA T RY G O S P E L A N D C U L CHURCHDEVELOP ISTIANSPIRITUALITYD RCHANDMINISITRYGOS LTURENEWCHURCHDE TCHRISTIANSPIRITUAL D RCHANDMINISITRYGOSP TURENEWCHURCHDEVE

Program, we will deal with practices or understandings that provided the center of faith and renewal in the life of Christians throughout the centuries. We will consider the cultural context of each period and will discuss our own present setting. Occasional students are welcome. Leader: Catherine Gonzalez. Program fee: $350.

May 1–2 Theology & Polity: How Presbyterians Talk About God (YMLI) Talking

about theology using the lens of Chapter 2 of the Book of Order, we will look at affirmations Presbyterians share with other Christians and affirmations distinctive to Reformed Christians, making reference to the Confessions in connection with these themes. A course in Youth Leadership Ministry Initiative certificate program; occasional students are welcome. Leaders: Martha Moore Keish, Sarah Erickson, Neema Cyrus-Franklin. Program fee: $150 (includes two meals). On-campus housing: additional cost.

May 26–30 Evangelism in Ministry: Exploring the Missional Church (Thompson Scholars). See boxed article on page 14.

Equipping

resilient, imaginative leaders for Christ’s church.

D O C TO R of M I N I S T RY

Apply now!

Intro Seminars Begin in the Summer

Gospel and Culture Church Planting and Transformation

(formerly New Church Development) Coming in Fall 2009

Introductory seminars for

Church and Ministry Christian Spirituality

www.ctsnet.edu

Go to Prospective Students

Doctor of Ministry students in the introductory seminar for Church and Ministry, September 2008. Assistant professor Jeffery Tribble (circled) led the course. For more information about Doctor of Ministry programs, go to www.ctsnet.edu > Prospective Students > Degree Programs > Program Descriptions > D.Min. Or contact Charles Raynal, director, AdvancedStudies@CTSnet.edu.

404-687-4534

VANTAGE Winter 2009 15

Capital Campaign Objectives Become Reality

Joseph L. Roberts, Jr., nationally acclaimed pastor emeritus of Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, will join Columbia’s faculty in early 2009 as the Wade P. Huie Professor of Preaching.

The appointment is for a three-year term, during which Roberts will provide leadership for the seminary’s new Center for Preaching.

Roberts is the first person to hold the Huie chair. That position and the Center for Preaching were funded by a generous gift to the Formation and Transformation capital campaign from the William S. Morris family of Augusta, GA.

During Roberts’ 30-year tenure as senior pastor at Ebenezer, the congregation grew by more than 2,000 new members and financial giving increased more than 300 percent. Roberts also launched an expansive community outreach program that included the Teenage Mother’s Ministry, a tutoring program, counseling, a food co-op, and a seniors’ daycare center. He is also an accomplished musician and author. Roberts’s book, Sideswiped by Eternity: Sermons from Ebenezer Baptist Church, was published in 2006 by Westminster/John Knox Press.

Joanna Adams is pastor of Atlanta’s Morningside Presbyterian Church, former chair of the seminary’s Board of Trustees, and a Columbia graduate. “What a coup for Columbia,” Adams says.

“Dr. Roberts is one of the most gifted and respected preachers alive today. He will bring a wealth of wisdom, intellect, experience, and skill to his new post, and the church of the future will be mightily blessed by the fruits of his labors.”

Roberts is a native of Chicago and a cum laude graduate of Knoxville College, in Knoxville,

Formation | Transformation

Capital Campaign Gift Brings Distinguished Leader to Head Center for Preaching

TN. He received the Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and the Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey. Before coming to Ebenezer, he worked in various administrative positions in the Presbyterian Church, U.S., and was pastor of Weequahic Presbyterian Church and Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in New Jersey. He has received numerous honors from civic, social, and religious organizations. He has been listed in Ebony magazine as an outstanding clergy person, and five institutions have honored him with the Doctor of Divinity degree. In 2004, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from both Union and Princeton seminaries. He serves on several board and committees both locally and nationally.

Columbia trustee and alumnus Joseph Harvard served on the search committee for the Huie chair. Harvard, who is pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Durham, NC, says, “With roots in both the Presbyterian and Baptist denominations, Joe Roberts brings to this position unique insights into Protestant Christianity in this country. We are delighted that he has accepted Columbia’s call to provide leadership for the development of our new Center for Preaching.”

Wade Huie, in whose honor the position was established, says, “Joe Roberts’s strong pastoral and prophetic preaching during his long and fruitful ministry with both Presbyterian and Baptist churches equip him in a special way to lead our new Center for Preaching. His teaching will enhance and enrich the preaching of the students and ministers at Columbia Seminary. I am truly delighted and honored to have him occupy a chair bearing my name.”

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Fo r m at i on | T r ans f o r mat i on

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Incarnation is that wonderful word that singularly defines the mystery and majesty of God. Word became flesh! How can this be? Only a miracle could allow it or provide it, but then again miracles are for God a part of the eternal day to day. I have always loved what I first heard Roland Purdue say about the incarnation of God. He said, “God got dressed up in the overalls of humanity, into something that you and I could understand.” Isn’t it wonderful that the greatest gift of all at Christmas is none other than Jesus Christ!

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I n v e s ti n g i n T e c h n o l o g y

A New Administrative Information System After a year of work, a committee comprising representatives of all seminary departments has selected the vendor for a new administrative information system: CAMS (Comprehensive Academic Management Solutions) from Three Rivers Systems, Inc. The software is installed, and various faculty and staff members are involved in training and data conversion. The “go live” target is the end of February 2009.

CAMS will provide an integrated platform replacing three software programs and a myriad of manual systems. The administrative package will also provide integration with student and faculty portals as well as a web-based course management system.

According to Marty Sadler, vice president of business and finance, seven vendors submitted proposals for the contract. Three finalists were selected to come to campus to make daylong presentations and to be interviewed by the committee. Sadler says, “All seven had strengths, and our three finalists offered unique capabilities. In the end, however, we felt that CAMS was the most robust—and the most user-friendly of the three.”

Fo r mat ion | Trans f o rmat i on

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Construction of Columbia’s new student residence hall is on schedule to welcome its first occupants in late summer of 2009. Gifts to the capital campaign for the building’s construction include more than $1.5 million from four Atlanta foundations.

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books

Vantage

Vol. 100, No. 2, Winter 2009 Published quarterly by Columbia Theological Seminary Periodicals postage paid at Decatur, GA Circulation: 13,000

F ro m the CT S B ook stor e

The Office of Institutional Advancement

Living As t he Body of C hrist

Edi tor : Genie Hambrick

by Sue W. Crannell ’05, bookstore manager

Ass istant E d itor s : Carol Boe, Duncan Meadows ’11, Laura Neely ’11 Photo E d ito r : Ben Beasley ’10 Des ign : Lucy Ke Contr ib utor s Bob Boston ’56 Glen Busby ’80 Randy Calvo, Jr. ’81 Scott Chester Kim Clayton ’84 (DMin ’08) Rita Cochrane ’94 (TH.M. ’95) Sue Crannell ’05 Mary Lynn Darden Richard DuBose Sarah Erickson ’03 Jane Fahey ’01 Eleana Garrett ’95 Bill Iverson ’52 Todd Jenkins ’90 April Love-Fordham ’06 Jessi Higginbotham ’09 Paul Huh Ernie Johnson ’72 Stanley Leary Ben Mathes ’78 Mike Medford Laura Mendenhall Linda Morningstar (MATS ’98) Laura Neely ’11 Elizabeth Orth Barbara Poe Charles Raynal Camille Ruddick Marty Sadler Jody Sauls Thirza Sayers ’09 Jeff Vaughan Lucy Webb ’08 Pamela Cooper-White Postmaster: Send address changes to Vantage Columbia Theological Seminary P. O. Box 520 Decatur, GA 30031-0520 h ave yo u seen Vantage Online? www.ctsnet.edu > News & Publications > Vantage please r e c y cle After you read this issue of Vantage, pass it along to a friend or colleague, or take it to your neighborhood recycling center.

c o r r e c t i on In the last issue of Vantage, we should have listed the Columbia Leadership Award, presented to Emily Zeig, as the Robert H. Ramey, Jr., Christian Leadership Award. Our sincere apologies to Dr. Ramey for this error.

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hese days, fewer of the books coming across my desk in the bookstore have themes about church administration, doctrine, and devotionals. More and more new books are about climate change, non-violent resistance, process theology, and living in community. They seem to be challenging us to leave our comfortable institutions and go out into the world to live as if we are the body of Christ.

These calls for embodiment and community, rather than spiritual transcendence and individual relationship, may require us to let go of the notions that spiritual needs supersede bodily needs, and that human beings live in creation rather than being one part of creation.

Ideas about what it means to “follow the Way” seem to be changing from personal responsibility and devotion to servant leadership and devoted action. In fact, it seems to me that a new paradigm is emerging that focuses on living into the incarnation and what that means for a groaning creation and a suffering humanity.

Citizens of Christ’s body are being called again into the shadows to bring healing light into broken neighborhoods. Offered to all of us, it is a new, exciting adventure. It is an invitation for everyone to join the incarnational community.

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community

by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay In The Tangible Kingdom the authors define incarnational living as witnessing to the gospel, by “bringing tangible slices of heaven down to life on Earth, and continuing to do this until those to whom we’re reaching out acknowledge that our ways are ‘good news’ to them.” Written for those who are trying to nurture authentic faith communities and for those who have struggled to retain their faith, the book offers theological answers and real-life stories that demonstrate how the best ancient church practices can re-emerge in today’s culture.

Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

by Shane Claiborne Many of us find ourselves caught somewhere between unbelieving activists and inactive believers. We can write a check to feed starving children or hold signs in the streets and feel like we’ve made a difference without ever encountering the faces of the suffering masses. In this book, Shane Claiborne describes an authentic faith rooted in belief, action, and love, inviting us into a movement of the Spirit that begins inside each of us and extends into a broken world.

The Incarnation and the Church’s Witness

by Darrell L. Guder In this book Guder argues that churches often see mission efforts as simply one more program of the church, efforts that have often been criticized rightly as exercises in cultural imperialism. Guder argues that instead the church should be looking to the incarnation of God in Jesus to provide a foundational model for the practice of Christian mission in the world today, for it is this event in which God initiates the healing of a broken world.

Schools for Conversion: 12 Marks of a New Monasticism Edited by The Rutba House Throughout the history of the church, monastic movements have emerged to explore ways of life in the abandoned places of society. Schools for Conversion is a communal attempt to discern the marks of a new monasticism in the inner-cities and forgotten landscapes of the empire that is called America.

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® ava ilable fro m t h e CTS Boo kstore No. of Copies Retail Price

Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Shane Claiborne $15.00 The Incarnation and the Church’s Witness Darrell L. Guder

The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

Schools for Conversion: 12 marks of a New Monasticism Edited by The Rutba House

TOTAL AMOUNT FOR BOOKS

$12.75

$11.00

$24.00

$20.40

$22.00

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$1.00

All books shipped United Parcel Service.

Georgia residents: add seven percent (7%) sales tax on books and shipping.

TOTAL DUE METHOD OF PAYMENT (Please check one):

O Check payable to CTS Bookstore (included with order) O Visa O MasterCard O Discover

Please print information below: Visa/MasterCard/Discover #

Exp. Date

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State

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Please send this completed form to: CTS Bookstore, P.O. Box 520, Decatur, GA 30031 | Fax 404-687-4658 | E-mail bookstore@ctsnet.edu

April Love-Fordham ’06

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When I arrived in West Point, MS, 13 years ago, I found a small congregation of committed Presbyterians determined to be an example of what the church of Jesus Christ looked like—rich and poor, young and old, black, and white—with doors open to everyone no matter where they were in their faith journey.

They were the loyal remnant that remained with the denomination, never missing Sunday worship in the house they purchased on the corner of Mulberry and Main Streets to continue the church in a new place.

The congregation has changed over the years, but to me, the church that is, and those no longer with us, will always be the incarnation of the grace of God with us, and I miss them.

Ri ta Coc h rane ’ 9 4 ( TH .M .’ 9 5 ) VANTAGE Winter 2009 19

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SHIPPING AND HANDLING: Orders under $20, add $4.50; orders from $20 to $49.99, add $6; orders $50 and over, add $7.50.

Add $1 for residential deliveries.

d ’s I have been using this image taken after a summer thunder-and-lightning storm to ponder the presence of God during the silent times in my life: The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

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Columbia Price Prices subject to change

Calling All Partners!

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hese last two months in the Advancement in the current economy, we nevertheless are

by Richard DuBose Office at Columbia Theological Seminary expecting a decline in endowment income have been interesting and atypical times. All of for the coming year. At the same time, the a sudden, everybody wants to talk about money, about fundraising, and recession is likely to increase the financial needs of our students and especially about how the current economy is likely to affect the seminary, so place greater demand on our financial aid program. the church, and stewardship and capital campaigns in particular.

In the midst of all of this, we look forward to increases in enrollment.

For churches, I’ve offered words of caution, tempered with history.

In fact, we are on a mission to make that happen, as we invest in a new Since 1967, in years where a recession lasted eight months or more, giving residence hall and academic spaces, and in improved technology. In fact, to religion declined an average of 1.4 percent, according to Giving USA. attendance at October’s Conference on Ministry for prospective students Churches lost ground, but times were hardly catastrophic, and evidence was up 50 percent over last year. suggests that Christians do not abandon their churches in a pinch.

In other words, like churches and many other non-profits, the need (Of course, as your financial advisor is required for our mission and for your support will to explain, past results do not guarantee future only increase during slow economic times. . . . the need for our mission and for performance.)

We are, therefore, “Calling All Partners.” your support will only increase during For Columbia, there is also reason for We are asking that everyone with a heart for calm. Our annual supporters, in numbers and ministry and an interest in Columbia’s work slow economic times. generosity, have grown steadily since 2003. support our Annual Fund this year. If you That year, the seminary launched Partners are already giving to our Annual Fund, thank In Ministry, our initiative to raise not only awareness of Columbia but to you! We hope that you will continue to do so, as your gift is even more encourage direct and generous giving to our annual fund. Our Partners’ important now than ever.

Remember that Columbia’s programs and students receive as much gifts have been generous and consistent, enabling Columbia in profound and remarkable ways to develop and expand programs and to increase support from an outright gift of $500 as is produced by $10,000 of our support for students. We have every expectation that our Partners’ support endowment. Especially if you need this year to ensure that your own will continue. charitable dollars go farther, Annual Fund gifts—to Columbia, to your Of course, economic conditions will affect this seminary. First, church, and to most non-profits—yield the maximum effect.

Columbia’s mission is heavily supported by investment income from We thank you for your support of Columbia and for answering this call! our endowment. While the seminary’s investments are holding up well

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Contents

President’s Message: Nothing is the Same: An Advent Sermon . . . . . . . . 2 Faculty appointed to distinguished chairs. . . . . . . . . . 2 Presidential search committee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Colloquium 2009. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 i n ca r n atio n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5–9 “Trinity” by Pamela Cooper-White. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 For the Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Lifelong Learning events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Formation | Transformation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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VA N TA G E

Periodicals Postage Paid at Decatur, GA Publication No. 124160

w int e r 2009

P.O. Box 520 Decatur, GA 30031 404-378-8821 www.ctsnet.edu