PRAXIS WINTER 2019
An Unlikely Journey
Twists, Turns & Theology Bring Joel N. Lohr to Hartford Seminary by Rand Richards Cooper
PRAXIS WINTER 2019
HARTFORD SEMINARY 860.509.9500 www.hartsem.edu
EDITOR Susan Schoenberger
Director of Communications sschoenberger@hartsem.edu
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DESIGN Steven Havira
HARTFORD SEMINARY PRESIDENT Dr. Joel N. Lohr PRAXIS is published annually by the Office of Communications for alumni and friends of Hartford Seminary
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4 AN UNLIKELY JOURNEY Twists, Turns & Theology Bring Joel N. Lohr to Hartford Seminary by Rand Richards Cooper
12 MEET THE IPP CLASS OF 2019 15 HONOR ROLL OF DONORS 2017-18 22 STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES 3 President’s Message 10 Faculty Publications 11 News Highlights
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COVER President Joel N. Lohr at his Inauguration on Nov. 4, 2018 COVER PHOTO | BACK COVER PHOTO Jon Olson
Dear Friends, Inspired. Blessed. Hopeful. These are the words that come to mind when I think about Hartford Seminary, and my call to be here. Inspired. To engage with the students, faculty, staff, and friends of Hartford Seminary is a sheer delight and unsurprisingly time has flown by since I arrived last summer. Our message of hope could not be more inspiring, or relevant for our hurting world. The other day I sat with a nonagenarian after a talk I gave to a group here in Hartford. He shared some of his life experiences, including being a soldier in the Second World War. He was inspired by the content of my talk about the Seminary and what we are doing. Even with his long perspective, he felt the world has never been more in need of the leaders we are graduating and the work we are doing. We were built for this time! Blessed. I count myself as one of the most blessed people on earth. My call to the Seminary could not be a better fit, and I love the work I get to do each day. As a family, we could not feel more blessed to live in the beautiful city of Hartford, in a state as lovely as Connecticut. I regularly ask myself: why did Hartford Seminary become what it is in this city? I am increasingly convinced that Hartford is not a liability but the reason we are what we are today – the nation’s leading center for graduate interfaith education. Until we embrace this identity – this location – we will not fully realize our potential to bless our local communities, nation, and world. Hopeful. I could not be more hopeful, even while I am deeply aware of the challenges seminaries face today. Due to the committed, intelligent, and thoughtful work of my predecessor, Heidi Hadsell, as well as our dynamic Board of Trustees, our amazing faculty, our talented staff, our wonderful alumni, and steadfast Corporators, we could not be in a better place. We are poised to grow and show the world how engaging with the other, learning from and with those who are different than us religiously and culturally, is the message of hope our world needs. I’m ready to shout that message from the rooftops. Will you join me? Be inspired. Be blessed. Be filled with hope. Our future is bright together.
Joel Lohr P.S. Though I’m not comfortable with the focus of Praxis being so squarely on me – rather than on the great things our faculty, staff, students, and alumni are doing – I was urged to allow space in this special issue for you to get to know me. I hope the feature article helps with that! 3
An Unlikely Journey Twists, Turns & Theology Bring Joel N. Lohr to Hartford Seminary by Rand Richards Cooper Photos by Jon Olson
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t could hardly have been a more apt – or imposing – challenge for the new leader of a seminary dedicated to interfaith dialogue. Mere weeks into his tenure as Hartford Seminary’s eleventh President, Joel N. Lohr, a teacher and scholar whose work addresses Jewish and Christian scriptural traditions and dialogue, was asked to speak at a candlelight vigil at Congregation Beth Israel in West Hartford. The day before, in Pittsburgh, a man driven by antisemitic hatred had attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue during morning services, killing 11 members in the deadliest assault on a Jewish community in U.S. history. The sole Christian clergy representative invited to speak at the vigil, Lohr felt the momentousness of the occasion. “I was shaking,” he said, recalling the day three months later. “I was holding the microphone, and I remember thinking people could probably see I was shaking. So I told them, ‘I’m shaking because I’m nervous. And I’m nervous because of how important the words are that I need to say today.’” The remarks Lohr had scribbled down in haste that afternoon opened with greetings of peace in all three languages of the Abrahamic traditions, and quoted an aching question from Psalms: “My soul is in deep anguish. How long, oh Lord, how long?” He went on to speak with hard candor about what he called a Christian history “ugly with antisemitism.” “I humbly call on all of my Christian brothers and sisters,“ he concluded, “to rethink how we relate to our Jewish family. May the Holy One grant us wisdom. May the Holy One forgive us. And may the Holy One help us to heal and to turn from sin.” Afterward, Lohr confessed to his wife, Teresa, his relief at having managed to prepare suitable remarks so hurriedly. “My wife said, ‘What
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you talked about wasn’t whipped up in 20 minutes. You’ve been thinking about this for 20 years.’” I spoke with the new President about this and other topics in his office on the top floor of the Seminary, where last summer he took over after the retirement of Dr. Heidi Hadsell. Lohr came to Hartford from the University of the Pacific, having served there as Dean of Religious Life. Though he hadn’t been looking to move into seminary education, he heard about the job from his close friend, Professor Joel Kaminsky of Smith College, with whom he co-authored a highly-praised book, The Torah: A Beginner’s Guide. “Joel called me and said, ‘You should apply for this. This place is doing real dialogue.’ And when I looked into it, I saw a seminary that really is moving the needle on religious dialogue.”
“My whole life has led up to this, and not just my professional life, but my life overall.”
Trustee Nancy P. Roberts and Board Chair James K. Robertson Jr. bestow the Hartford Seminary medallion.
The son of Dutch immigrants to Canada, Lohr grew up in small-town Ontario. Unpretentious, soft-spoken and thoughtful, he combines passionate sincerity with a touch of genial self-deprecation. One of his goals is to be highly visible in the community – which won’t be difficult, he acknowledges, for someone who is 6’8” tall. But while some of the Seminary’s spaces may be a bit cramped for him, the position and the institution, he says, fit him like a glove. “My whole life has led up to this,” he told me. “And not just my professional life, but my life overall.” Asked to explain, he talked about growing up with five adopted siblings – all from Southeast Asia – whom his parents raised together with him and his biological brother. They did so, Lohr says, from a deep religious impulse to care for those in need. Lohr’s grandmother in the Netherlands had helped hide Jews during WWII, and his parents tried to live out their faith similarly. “They were not armchair theologians with
a lot of theory behind them, just loving, intelligent working-class people who knew what they needed to do. They have their faults like all of us. But they lived out a faith that was very real and important to them.” Lohr’s upbringing in a blended family shaped his commitment to difference and diversity. Explaining what appealed to him in Hartford Seminary, he invokes a favorite term – “the distinctives” – to describe the way in which people learn about themselves and others through difference. “Any dialogue that doesn’t take seriously the distinctives of who we are as people of different faiths isn’t getting it. Hartford Seminary gets it.” The idea is encapsulated in the Seminary’s tagline: Exploring Differences, Deepening Faith, and Lohr takes it seriously. “When some religious people think of interfaith, they worry, because for them it means something watered down – you know, let’s all just get along, Kumbaya. 7
Vionlinist Matthew Valenti leads President Joel N. Lohr out of 8 the Inauguration with his wife Teresa, left, and his daughter Aviyah.
And there are seminaries like that.” Lohr himself was raised a Reformed Christian, and embraces the traditional doctrines of his faith: the Nicene Creed; the Apostle’s Creed; Jesus as Lord, savior, coming again, and so on. “It’s important to me to be at a seminary that doesn’t make you check those things at the door, or minimize them.” The essence of Hartford Seminary, he reminds anyone who will listen, is its insistence on affording all its students – Muslims, Christians, Jews and others – a place to participate in dialogue without sugar-coating or by implying that, in the end, they all believe the same things. Lohr described a class he taught in the fall, and a student – a Muslim student – who questioned an assigned reading addressing a Gospel passage about Jesus’ rejection by Jewish leaders of his time. The student was uncomfortable with how the author dismissed that point by implying that today we all know that it’s antisemitic. “My student said, ‘But it’s part of the Gospel, it’s part of what Christians believe, isn’t it? You can’t just say it is unimportant, even if it’s hard, right?’ And I said, you’re right. There are hard things about our sacred Scriptures that still need to be wrestled with.” That tradition of wrestling with difficulty is something Lohr intends to safeguard at the Seminary. “Some interfaith institutions act as if somehow we’re all on the same journey, and some day we’ll all get to the same place. We want to be a place that allows for discussion, even dissent on that. What if that is not the historic or widespread position of our various Abrahamic faiths? We need space to talk about that.” Lohr’s own journey has been an unlikely one. Not many press releases announcing the appointment of a Continued on page 18
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2018 HIGHLIGHTS Faculty Publications President Joel N. Lohr is the co-author of a new, third edition of a religious studies textbook and co-editor of a “festschrift” containing scholarly essays, released last summer. Making Sense in Religious Studies: A Student’s Guide to Research and Writing was published by Oxford University Press. President Lohr co-authored the book with Margot Northey, a specialist in communications and the former dean of the School of Business at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and Bradford A. Anderson, who lectures in religious studies at Dublin City University, Ireland. The second book, Found in Translation: Essays on Jewish Biblical Translation in Honor of Leonard J. Greenspoon, was published by Purdue University Press. President Lohr edited the book with James W. Barker, an assistant professor of New Testament at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, and Anthony Le Donne, Associate Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Professor Seyfeddin Kara’s In Search of Ali ibn Abi Talib’s Codex: History and Traditions of the Earliest Copy of the Qur’an was published by Gerlach Press in 2018. “The history of the text of the Qur’an has been a longstanding subject of interest within the field of Islamic Studies, but the debate has so far been focused on the Sunni traditions about the codices of Caliphs Abu Bakr and ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan. Little to no attention has been given to the traditions on ‘Ali b. Abi Talib’s collection of the Qur’an. This book examines both Shi’i and Sunni traditions on the issue, aiming to date them back to the earliest possible date and, if possible, verify their authenticity.”
An essay on mentoring by Professor Shanell T. Smith was included in The FTE Guide to Doctoral Education: For Scholars of Color in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies. The guide is produced by the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE). Professor Smith’s essay, “I Want to Be Your Mentor. We Want to Be Your Mentor!” is written as an open letter offering assistance to the scholars who will read the guide.
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Professor Miriam Therese Winter is one of a number of authors included in the book Soul Seeing: Light, Love, Forgiveness, which was released in November 2018. The book was compiled by Michael Leach, a friend and colleague of Professor Winter, who writes the award-winning spirituality column Soul Seeing published in the National Catholic Reporter.
Interim Academic Dean David D. Grafton was the North American Section Editor of Vol. 12 of Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographic History: Asia, Africa and the Americas (17001800). This volume is one of a series intended as a basic tool for research in Christian-Muslim relations.
Professor Najib George Awad has a new book published by Gorgias Press. Umayyad Christianity: John of Damascus as a Contextual Example of Identity Formation in Early Islam is described as “a study of the identity-formation process that the Christians of Syria-Palestine experienced during the Umayyad Caliphate.” Professor Awad has also written his third book in Arabic. Postmodernity and the Future of Religious Discourse in the West was published in Rabat, Morocco, by Believers Without Borders.
Hartford Seminary Receives $1 Million Grant from Lilly Endowment Hartford Seminary has received a grant of $999,790 to help establish a program called “Thriving in Poor Soil: Creating a Pastoral Innovation Network of New England Clergy.” It is part of Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Thriving in Ministry, an initiative that supports a variety of religious organizations across the nation as they create or strengthen programs that help pastors build relationships with experienced clergy who can serve as mentors and guide them through key leadership challenges in congregational ministry. Hartford Seminary’s program directly addresses the increasingly barren and infertile soil for congregations in New England by building a network of highly creative and entrepreneurial clergy nominated from across the region’s Mainline judicatories. The grant will bring these clergy together for regular gatherings, mentoring sessions and virtual communications. The first cohort will meet for 2 ½ years and then serve as mentors for the second cohort. The ultimate goal is to develop an ongoing initiative that will foster and sustain clergy innovation and creativity as well as developing mentors for other regional clergy.
Hartford Seminary Receives $50,000 Grant in Support of Library Project The H.A. Vance Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to help fund the modernization of the Hartford Seminary Library Archives and Special Collections. The project involves conducting an inventory of the original materials held by the Seminary and, eventually, creating a web presence to provide access to information about the collections. Director of Library Services Ann Crawford had this to say about news of the grant: “We are so grateful to the Vance Foundation because this funding will help us make our unique archival collections more available to scholars around the world.” The project is expected to take place in two phases, according to the grant proposal. “The initial phase will be to assess and prioritize these important materials, while also creating the infrastructure necessary for ongoing modern archival functions. Using that as a foundation, we can move into a second phase of making our collections more visible to researchers around the globe via enhanced online description and preservation and digitization of high priority items.”
James K. Robertson Jr. Elected Chair of Hartford Seminary Board of Trustees In May 2018, Hartford Seminary’s Board of Trustees elected James K. Robertson Jr. as its chair. A prominent litigator, Robertson is a partner in the law firm Carmody, Torrance, Sandak, Hennessey LLP, as well as a recently ordained minister. Robertson is a long-time member of the Hartford Seminary Board, having served as Vice Chairman, Treasurer, and Chair of the Academic Programs Committee. He recently served as Chair of the Search Committee that recommended President Joel N. Lohr. “Hartford Seminary is an utterly unique and extremely important institution in today’s world,” he said. “It is the leader in interfaith education and engagement with students and faculty from throughout the world. It trains Muslim chaplains and international peacemakers, sponsors programs on Women’s Leadership and Transformative Spirituality, educates students heading toward ministry, hosts leading scholarship in the sociology of religion, and serves as a public forum for the presentation and exchange of ideas. I am very proud to be a part of it.“ In addition to his service on the board, Robertson is an alumnus and has taught courses in theology, including one called “The Causes and Origins of Evil.”
New Staff Chantel Gardner joined Hartford Seminary in June 2018 as our Business Office Associate. She is a graduate of our Black Ministries Program and has worked for the Capital Region Education Council (CREC) in their accounting/payroll department and at Great Path Academy at Manchester Community College. She has also worked for Automatic Data Processing (ADP), the Girls Scouts of Connecticut, and most recently Community Health Resources. .
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INTERNATIONAL PEACEMAKING PROGRAM 2018-19 Albi Hoxha of Albania
Megan Strouse of Connecticut
Haifa Souilmi of Tunisia
My name means my heart. It comes from the Arabic language. I love making other people smile. I graduated from Beder University College in Tirana, Albania, for Islamic Sciences. Nowadays there is much need for peace, in my opinion. Not only inside our soul but also peace between each other.
I first heard about Hartford Seminary’s International Peacemaking Program through a friend. I had been contemplating going to seminary for a few months at the time, in particular taking classes at Hartford Seminary because it was close to home. Applying seemed like the perfect opportunity to not just talk about it, but be about it! I studied both Documentary Studies and Production, and Anthropology at Ithaca College from 2010-2014.
I have a BA in English Language, Literature and Civilization from the Higher Institute of Languages in Tunis and a Master’s Degree in English Civilization with a focus on American Studies from the University of Manouba. Tunisia is the Northernmost country in Africa. Most people do not actually realize that its ancient name Ifriqiya is what gave the African continent its name.
Being in interfaith leadership for me is like being a flower in the middle of the desert. Everyone may think that the flower will die, but for me the challenge is to find water so I can live. I mean that it is hard but not impossible as long as we have faith and hope in our hearts. So I, Albi, as one person cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person.
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I am interested in learning about peacemaking because I think our society is lacking in productive, civil discourse. It is essential for people with diverse opinions and backgrounds to have constructive conversations which can lead to positive behavioral, social, and political change. I am optimistic that diverse groups of people can pray together, work together, and live together.
The history of the country is that of a crossroads for different civilizations. As someone who feels deeply committed to contributing to peace in the world and in my community, I hope to use the skills I will learn in improving my peace-building practices and also to be able to use those skills in an interfaith context. Academically and professionally, my goal has been to pursue Ph.D. studies and to be a peace-building practitioner. So the more I learn the more I have to offer to others while pursuing my goals and dreams.
Hartford Seminary has welcomed its class of peacemakers for the 2018-19 academic year. These students – three from the United States and three from other countries – develop leadership skills, mediation techniques, interfaith dialogue strategies, and much more in Hartford. At the end of the year, they will return to their home communities to put these skills into practice.
George LaBoeuf of Connecticut
Ruth Alcabes of Connecticut
David Dwi Chrisna Damping of Indonesia
I received a BA in psychology as well as a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from the University of Connecticut, where my concentration was in Group Work, with focus areas in Mental Health, Human Rights, and Women, Children & Families. I have also acquired independent study in neuroscience, sociology, philosophy, and religion.
I have come to Hartford Seminary after having studied history as an undergraduate, then attending law school and working in the legal field in governmental and private settings. Subsequently I obtained a Master of Library Science degree and have worked as a librarian in educational institutions, which I continue to do on a part-time basis.
I graduated with a BA in Psychology from Maranatha Christian University in Bandung. I then took my Master of Divinity at Southeast Asia Bible Seminary in Malang with a thesis about Christian attitudes toward religious violence using the First Epistle of Peter as a model of engagement.
The goals of my study at Hartford Seminary are twofold: to fulfill my interest in learning about different faiths and to learn of their role in enacting and impacting social change. My hopes are to use my existing knowledge as a social worker, and this year of learning, to work towards the eradication of social disparities and inequities. This program will provide me with the tools necessary to initiate dialogue and mediate conflict in my community, to make for a more welcoming and safe place to live in our generation and generations to come.
Over the past several years I have become involved in several interfaith groups in the Hartford area, and believe that strengthening skills in dialogue and conflict transformation would be of great value for interfaith work. I think that it is possible that religious communities in the United States could play a constructive role in the supporting those working to resolve conflicts abroad. I believe that there is great value in helping to improve the level of trust and feeling of connection between followers of different religious traditions, as well as increasing knowledge and understanding about the religious traditions of other groups.
Most of the time people of different faiths can live peacefully and harmoniously in Indonesia, but in history, we also have witnessed how religious conflicts and violence have torn apart many regions of our country. I believe the work of peacemaking cannot be done just in one or two generations, but it is continual work that must be carried out from generation to generation. As a citizen and a Christian minister, I want to be equipped with peacemaking skills so that in turn I can equip others to be peacemakers.
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SEMINARY LEADERSHIP Board of Trustees
Corporators Samsiah Abdul-Majid Winthrop R. Adkins Kamal Ali Saud Anwar LeRoy Bailey
Dean Ahlberg Pastor, First Church of Christ Congregational, Redding Center, CT
Shakeeb Alam Co-Founder and President of East Bridge Capital Management, L.P.
Najib George Awad Associate Professor of Christian Theology
Karen Bailey-Francois Minister, Second Congregational Church, Cohasset, MA
Martin L. Budd Retired Partner, Day Pitney, Stamford, CT
Donna Berman John A. Berman Shelley D. Best Judith Borus James M. Boucher Courtney Bourns Harold C. Buckingham Scott Cady Thomas G. Carr Sajjad B. Chowdhry
Stephen Camp Senior Pastor, Faith Congregational Church, Hartford, CT
Debra Cantor Rabbi, Congregation B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom, Bloomfield, CT
Allison Chisolm Principal, Choice Words/Chisolm & Co. Worcester, MA
Clare Feldman Retired SVP of Citizens Bank; Former President, Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT
James E. Curry Julie Grace Alumni Council Vice Chair
Carole C. Fay Lowell H. Fewster Bridget Fidler Shawn Fisher James T. Fleming Jerry Franklin Karl A. Fransson James P. Friedman Harriet H. Gardner Arnold C. Greenberg
Wendy Grammas Former financial executive at major multinational corporations
Deena Grant Associate Professor of Jewish Studies
Yahya Hendi Muslim Chaplain, Georgetown University
Peter Kelly Senior Principal, Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, PC, Hartford, CT
Joel N. Lohr President
R. Nelson Griebel Rashid Hamid Walter L. Harrison Katherine Heichler Alyce F. Hild Shareda Hosein Molly F. James S. Edward Jeter Christine Joyner Kathleen W. Kellogg
Jean Amos Lys Alumni Council Chair
Umar F. Moghul Corporate and Finance Attorney; Brooklyn, NY
Frank R.A. Resnick Former CFO, Mandell Greater Hartford Jewish Community Center
Nancy P. Roberts Former President, Connecticut Council for Philanthropy
James K. Robertson Senior Partner, Carmody & Torrance, Waterbury, CT; Chair, Board Of Trustees
Colleen M. Keyes Kimat G. Khatak B. Patrick Madden Nitza M. Nieves Erline M. Patrick Judith Perkins Syed Raza Ezra H. Ripple Jonathan Rosenbaum Pilar Schmidt John L. Selders
Nelson Rodriguez Financial Advisor with Barnum Financial Group, Glastonbury, CT
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Edmund (Ted) See Former Partner, Day Pitney LLP
Naseem Shaikh Former Vice President and CFO at UTAS, a division of UTC
Ali Shakibai Cardiologist
Alwi Shihab Special Envoy to the Middle East and the Organization of the Islamic Conference for The President of the Republic of Indonesia
Mark S. Steiner Sohaib N. Sultan M. Philip Susag Ritu Zazzaro
HONOR ROLL OF DONORS 2017-18 President’s Circle ($5,000+) Dr. Abubaker Al Shingieti Anonymous Mr. Martin and Mrs. Aviva Budd Mr. Frank and Mrs. Ruth Butler Mr. David E.A. and Mrs. Sara Carson The Ruth Conant Trust Fund Mr. William and Ms. Ann Policelli Cronin Dr. John and Mrs. Lynn Fulkerson H.A. Vance Foundation Dr. Heidi Hadsell Mrs. Mary and Mr. Stillman D. Knight Jr. Mr. John B. Lindner Mr. Hugh and Mrs. Kate McLean Francis Asbury Palmer Fund Prior Family Foundation Ms. Cindy Richter Ms. Nancy and Mr. Stephen Roberts Ms. Annelieke and Mr. Peter Schauer Mr. Ted and Mrs. Ellen See The Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Webster Bank
Leadership Circle ($2,500 – $4,999) Mrs. Martha and Mr. Robert Adams Mr. David and Mrs. Janet Ezekiel The Rev. Margaret and the Rev. Dr. Kenneth Thomas Mr. Eliot and Mrs. Susan Williams
Visionary ($1,000 – $2,499) Ms. Cynthia Modlin Adams The Rev. Dr. Ralph and Mrs. Beverly Ahlberg Ms. Bettsey L. Barhorst Ms. Sheryll Bedingfield Mrs. Joyce and Mr. Harold C. Buckingham Jr. Mr. Sanford and Mrs. Diane Cloud Community Foundation of Western Mass. Ms. Marianne Dubuque First Church of Christ, Congregational – Redding Center First Church, Windsor Mr. L. Sidney and Mrs. Elisabeth Garvais Ms. Julie S. Grace and Mr. Paul Bukowski Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts Ms. Christine Joyner Mr. Peter and Mrs. Susan Kelly Mrs. Constance and Mr. Michael Koskelowski Ms. Ilona W. Kwiecien Ms. Fay and Mr. Richard Levin-Lavoie Ms. Ann Marino
Mr. Sergio and Mrs. Lora Mazza The Rev. Dr. William and Ms. Linda McKinney Mr. Philip and Mrs. Rose Marie McLoughlin Dr. Vanda and Mrs. Maria McMurtry The Rev. Dr. Cynthia and Carolyn Morse The Rev. Sarah E. Newhall Dr. Erline and Mr. Alphonso Patrick Mr. Roy Peche Ms. Alexis Rankin Popik Mr. Edward J. Requardt Mr. James K. Robertson Jr. Ms. Chris Sanders Mr. Scott Schooley and Ms. Giuliana Musilli Dr. Ali Shakibai Ms. Marilyn Sponzo Dr. Bruce Stewart Mr. Philip Susag Mr. Ralph and Mrs. Vicky Tate Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum and Mr. Travis Tatum The Rev. Dr. Barbara and Dr. Joseph Zikmund
Pacesetter ($500 – $999) The Rev. Anne S. Alvord American Baptist Churches of Connecticut Dr. Mohammad and Mrs. Kaneez Bajwa Mr. John and Mrs. Laura Berman Ms. Karen A. Bing Mr. Courtney B. Bourns and Ms. Anne Lundberg Bourns The Rev. Thomas and the Rev. Dr. Marilyn Breckenridge The Rev. Bobbie Chapman Cuesta Foundation The Rev. Marjorie H. Davis Ms. Shirley S. Dudley Mrs. Alice F. Evans Ms. Clare Feldman First Church in Windsor Mrs. Harriet and Mr. Phillip Gardner Mr. Michael F. Gilligan Ms. Wendy Grammas Ms. Gale E. Grayson Mr. Mike Hawbecker Dr. Donald and Mrs. Karen Helm Imam Yahya Hendi Mr. David S. Hill Mr. Richard M. Howe Mr. Robert C. Knox III Mr. Charles M. Kuchenbrod and Ms. Rebecca A. Sielman Ms. Ilona W. Kwiecien Mr. Bawa Lengani 15
Dr. Louise Loomis Dr. Kathleen D. Moody The Rev. Joyce B. Myers-Brown National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Mr. Frank and Mrs. Judith Resnick Ms. Nina Sakun Dr. Alwi and Mrs. Ashraf Shihab The Rev. Linda M. Spiers Ms. Laura J. Sweeney Dr. Scott L. Thumma Ms. Joanne T. White Ms. Meg Wischer Ms. Jean and the Rev. Robert Young
Investor ($250 – $499) Aon Corporation Ms. Barbara A. Bacewicz The Rev. Dr. Karen Bailey Francois Ms. Margaret and Mr. James Carroll Congregation Mishkan Israel Mr. Paul and Mrs. Alice Cruikshank Ms. Linda and Mr. John Eaton Dr. Jane Ellingwood Fiduciary Investment Advisors Mr. Kenneth L. Gentili Mr. Arnold and Mrs. Beverly Greenberg Mr. Nelson and Mrs. Kirsten Griebel The Rev. Dr. Charles and Mrs. Kathleen Gross Ms. Gwen and Ms. Maria Haley The Rev. David and Mrs. Georgia Hall Ms. Anne Hardy The Rev. Ernest and Mrs. Millie Harris Ms. Samira Hussain Mr. Shariq Iqbal The Rev. Glendon C. Jantzi Ms. Brianna J. Johnston The Very Rev. Dr. James and Dr. Anne Kowalski Dr. Christine and Mr. Paul Lohr Sapp Mr. Omar Mahmassami Ms. Linda Mayo-Perez Williams and Mr. James E. Williams The Rev. Carolyn O. Mikels Ms. Linda Mosley Dr. Fred F.B. Mudawwar Mr. Evan and Mrs. Leah Odden The Rev. Dr. Anna S. Pearson The Rev. John E. Post Mr. Marc and Mrs. Karen Reich Robinson+Cole Ms. Amy and Mr. Lewis Robinson Rocky Hill Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Deborah Kapp and Mr. Anthony Ruger Mrs. Ramla and Mr. Naseem M. Shaikh Mrs. Kitty and Mr. Jim Vangunten 16
Ms. Corrine E. Wachtel The Rev. Charles and Mrs. Mary West Mr. Edward and Mrs. Brooke Whittemore Ms. Dionne L. Williams
Partner ($100 – $249) Ms. Samsiah Abdul Majid Aetna Foundation, Inc. The Rev. Dr. Dean and Mrs. Jennifer Ahlberg The Rev. Jonathan and Mrs. Nancy Albright Ms. Patsy Allen Mrs. Kathleen and Mr. Sherwood Anderson Ms. Evelyn M. Andre Mrs. Julie and Mr. Richard Aroian Ms. Martha M. Baker Ms. Shawnee C. Baldwin The Rev. Gordon and Mrs. Wanda Bates Ms. Linda Beher Ms. Judith and Mr. Robert Benton Ms. Mary and Mr. David Bice Ms. Linda M. Bieze Ms. Dolores Black Mr. James C. and Jane F. Bledsoe Dr. Marian O. Boehr Ms. Jo Ann B. Bourquard Dr. Auburn and Mrs. Ruth Boyers Ms. Janet and Mr. Matthew Bristow Ms. Julian J. Brix Broad Brook Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Shirlee M. Bromley The Rev. Hazel Anne Burnett The Rev. Stephen and Mrs. Patricia Camp The Rev. Dr. M. Dosia Carlson Dr. Jackson and Mrs. Anne Carroll Ms. Jane and Mr. Paul Charette Ms. Allison Chisolm and Dr. Peter H. Hansen Mrs. Elizabeth and Mr. Michael Chosak The Rev. Richard and Mrs. Thelma Chun Church of the Holy Trinity Columbia Congregational Church The Rev. Warren Covell The Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree Ms. Ann Crawford The Rev. Richard and Mrs. Judith Crocker Ms. Charlene and Mr. Richard Dann Mrs. Maribel and Mr. Nafi Donat Ms. Rosanne Druckman The Rev. Dr. Edward and Mrs. Lynne Duffy Ms. Lisa M. Eleck Mrs. Ruth and Mr. William Farley The Rev. Dr. Lowell and the Rev. Julie Fewster Ms. Elvira Filippone Ms. Joy M. Floyd Mr. Karl A. Fransson, Esq. Mr. James and Mrs. Dianne Friedman
Mr. Arthur and Mrs. Alfreda Gaither Mr. Richard and Ms. Ann Gallion The Rev. Donald L. and Mrs. Debbie Hamer Mr. Paul J. Hartung Mrs. Angela and Mr. Frank Hauzeur The Rev. Mary N. Hawkes Ms. Alyce and Dr. David Hild Ms. Alice Hollingsworth Ms. Shareda Hosein Ms. Miriam Hostetter Ms. Georgette Huie The Rev. Dr. Norman and Mrs. Faith Jackson The Rev. Dr. Molly and Mr. Reade James Mr. Edward and Mrs. Michael Jeter Tyrene Johnston Ms. Dawn and Mr. Mark Karlson The Rev. Stanley and Mrs. Nancy Kemmerer Dr. Colleen Keyes and Imam Bilal Ansari Ms. Shirley Kiefer Dr. Tukyul and Mrs. Sookyoung Kimm Mr. Wilson H. Kimnach Ms. Jeannette E. King Mr. David Koehler The Rev. Dr. Mary and Mr. David Larson Ms. Christina G. Laurie Dr. Priscilla and Mr. Deacon F. Linehan The Rev. Dr. Robert Loesch Mr. Joseph R. Marfuggi Mr. Stephen and Mrs. Lynn Marino Mr. William and Mrs. Mary McGurk The Rev. J. Alan and Mrs. Joan McLean The Rev. Robert and Mrs. Joanne McWaid The Rev. Carolyn O. Mikels Ms. Margaret Mitchell The Rev. William and Mrs. Rosalind Moldwin The Rev. Gary and Mrs. Lori Mongillo Imam Dr. Salahuddin and Mrs. Fonda Muhammad Mr. Robert E. Muller Mrs. Henrietta J. Near Ms. Brandy Neff The Rev. James and Mrs. Sharon Nelson Ms. Ann Gail B. Nichols Noank Baptist Church Dr. Douglas R. Norell The Rev. Dr. Marjorie E. Nunes Mr. John and Mrs. Darlene Oblak Mr. Francis O’Gorman The Rev. Arthur and Mrs. Karen Orth The Rev. Joseph L. Pace Ms. Betty Pagett Mrs. Carmen and Mr. Harry Pak The Rev. Rose and Mr. Daniel Petronella Mr. Justin L. Peyton Pilgrim Way Baptist Church Dr. Shyamala and Dr. Krishnan Raman
Ms. Emily W. Rankin Mr. Larry and Mrs. Nyla Rasmussen Ms. Martha Rhine Dr. V. Bruce and Mrs. Mary Rigdon Dr. Michael and Mrs. Nancy Rion The Rev. Robert and Mrs. Susan Rock Dr. David and Mrs. Suzanne Roozen Dr. Peter and Mrs. Pamela Rosa Mr. Robert and Mrs. Anne Schmalz The Rev. J. and Mrs. Beatrice Shepherd Dr. Jane I. Smith Mr. Robert and Mrs. Sharon Smith Mr. Christopher Solimene St. Mark’s Episcopal Church The Rev. Dr. E. and Mrs. Alinda Stanley Mr. Jeffrey Stein Ms. Dorothy and Frank Sterpka Mr. Michael Sullivan Mr. Saadat Syed Mr. Paul and Mrs. Corinna Tamburini Mr. Ken and Mrs. JoAnne T. Taylor Mrs. Karen Trepp Mr. William C. Tubbs Ms. Abigail Turner Mrs. Catherine L. Ufford-Chase The Rev. Dr. Ann Van Cleef Ms. Betsy and Mr. Peter Van Loon Dr. Ben and Mrs. Janice Wade Ms. Alice F. Walker Mr. Jon and Mrs. Marilyn Webber The Rev. Dr. Gregory and the Rev. Amy Welin Mrs. Amy and Mr. Carl Wolsdorf The Rev. Robert and Mrs. Susan Woodward Mrs. Martha and Mr. Sidney Yules The Rev. Jon Zappulla The Rev. Dr. Andrew and Joyce Zeman The Rev. Dr. William and Mrs. Janet Zito
Every effort has been made to list names and amounts correctly. If yours is in error, please contact Steven Havira at shavira@hartsem.edu, and we will make corrections on our website.
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Continued from page 9
religious leader would include this sentence: “Dr. Lohr served in higher education in Canada, the UK, and the U.S., and before that was a successful and sought-after leader in construction management.” When I pointed this out, the new President chuckled, then volunteered some details of his singular career. It started when he was fifteen and went to work stocking shelves at a department store. Later came a second job – at a pickle factory. His task was to identify jars that were leaking, and remove them from the line. “They called me Leaker Boy. It was terrible. But I worked my butt off.” After the pickle gig, Lohr followed family tradition – both his father and grandfather were carpenters – and entered the construction trade. An apprenticeship led to a job at a construction company, where by age 20 he was working as a project manager. He worked in construction for six years,
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before realizing he wanted to go into ministry. The call arose from his involvement with a youth group at a Baptist church. Lohr had been raised in a Calvinist tradition, and while pondering doctrinal differences between the two branches of the faith, he immersed himself in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. His pastor at the youth-group church took notice. “The guy thought I was nuts. He had been assigned portions of Calvin’s Institutes in his seminary education and hated it. And here I’m reading it for fun. He said to me, ‘If you don’t go to seminary, you’re gonna waste your life.’” The would-be theology student called a Reformed seminary to inquire about applying, and was told to send in his transcripts. “I said, transcripts? They said, you know, from your BA. And I said, ‘What’s a BA?’ I honestly said that
– ‘What’s a BA?’!” Neither of his parents had finished high school, and Lohr’s only degree was his trade-school certificate. So he decided to get a college degree. An elder at his church recommended Trinity Western University, near Vancouver. “They took me on a probationary status, because my grades in high school were – well, I just was skateboarding, listening to heavy metal, and hanging with friends, so my grades were terrible. But I went, and I got straight A’s. A professor said to me, you should go get a Ph.D.” Which he did, from the University of Durham in the U.K.; the diploma now hangs in his office at the Seminary, alongside his carpenter’s certificate. Lohr’s unusual career fostered a habit of thinking outside the box, one that guides his vision for the Seminary and
“If seminaries are to survive, it won’t just be through traditional training of clergy. It will be through showing how ultimate things – to use that as another way of talking about religious concerns – play a role in government, in healthcare, in business. We need to get our noses out of the same old places and look at the horizon.”
where he hopes to lead it. Successful institutions have a laser focus, he notes, and they also know how to adapt. “Hartford was the first seminary to figure out interfaith and do it well. We were the first Islamic chaplaincy program in the country. Now there are others.” So what to do next? Lohr likes to cite the case of the Blackberry, a successful product that coasted on its reputation. The message is innovate or die. “If seminaries are to survive, it won’t just be through traditional training of clergy. It will be through showing how ultimate things – to use that as another way of talking about religious concerns – play a role in government, in healthcare, in business. We need to get our noses out of the same old places and look at the horizon.” Lohr believes the Seminary must bring its special kind of training to new places while building upon its tremendous strengths. He is committed to developing a new strategic plan this year, along with Trustees, faculty, staff, community members, alumni and other stakeholders. “Let’s continue to support those going into religious work. Let’s continue to have the best Islamic chaplaincy program in the country. Let’s continue to be a leader in religion research, women’s leadership, and so on. But where else might the things that we train religious leaders in be valuable?” He ticks off examples. The insurance agent who goes to Singapore and doesn’t understand the customs there. The healthcare professional who oversees end-of-life care for an immigrant family. The city planner asked to approve a mosque in a neighborhood. “Do you want a city planner who says, ‘What do I know about Afghan immigrants and mosques?’ Or do you want one who says, ‘Oh, actually, we took a course offered by the leading institution on inter-religious relations. We learned how to navigate things like this.’” Lohr would like to explore the idea of a center that would reach beyond “the imam, rabbi and reverend world” into the world of other leaders and professionals who stand to gain by learning about dialogue and understanding. In the process, he believes, the Seminary can extend its tradition of service while 19
raising its profile. Lohr noted that Hartford Seminary is better known in Indonesia than in Hartford. “It’s sad that this potential beacon of light hasn’t entirely gotten out from under its bushel,” he said, referencing one of Jesus’ parables. “If we can hone in on our message, and find ways to lift that basket to get the light out in different places, that we can help bless the world through this small place.” The Seminary community has greeted its new President with unabashed enthusiasm. James K. Robinson, Jr., Chair of the Board of Trustees and head of the search committee that chose Lohr, describes him as “a towering figure, both physically and intellectually,” calling him “uniquely qualified” to lead the Seminary. Students echo the praise. Enas Ghassal attended the class Lohr taught last fall, “Dialogue in a World of Difference.” “He has empathy for everyone,” she told me, “and he really cared about what we have to say.” Fellow student Amber Hai agrees. The class, she said, took up controversial topics. “He showed us how to be able to respect each other even as we talked about some pretty gnarly issues. He always made us feel we could talk about anything.” Hai also noted the new President’s sense of humor, recalling the autumn day when a group of students were frolicking in the leaves out on the Seminary lawn. Someone behind her started throwing leaves, and when she turned around, she was startled to find President Lohr. “He knows how to get to our level. It makes him so approachable. He doesn’t know it, but we call him the Gentle Giant.” Last November saw the new President’s inauguration. Addressing the community, Lohr invoked the Seminary’s 185year “narrative of hope,” promising to help “continue to blaze new paths and provide compelling, relevant educational experiences for a new generation of students and professionals.” The ceremony took place with full pomp and circumstance – a trumJames K. Robertson Jr., Board Chair
pet fanfare, charges from religious and academic communities, a call to prayer – before an audience in academic and religious regalia. The new President closed this display of tradition on a less solemn note. “The Hartford Seminary faculty and staff found out something that I’ve tried to keep a secret for a long time,” he told his audience. “I am a Metallica fan.” Invoking the spirit of celebrating diversity, he introduced a song by the band called “Nothing Else Matters.” Then, as the new President looked on with a half-beatific, half-sheepish grin, violinist Matthew Valenti delivered what is surely the most elegant rendition of a heavy-metal song ever performed. When I asked Lohr later how a Metallica song came to be played at his inauguration, he smiled. He had actually resisted the idea at first, he said. “But I was told it was important that the full Joel gets to come out.” The full Joel: it is a fitting concept for a man whose height so extravagantly exceeds the norm, whose personality is graced with both wisdom and humor, and whose life story contains such unexpected plot turns. Those in the coming months and years who get to know the full Joel Lohr will get to know his wife, Teresa, an occupational therapist (“the other OT in our family,” Lohr jokes, referring to his own work with the Old Testament) and his 12-year-old daughter, Aviyah. They will get to know something about their President’s passionate recreations. A boogie boarder in summer, he’s an avid snowboarder in winter, one who discovers in the sport’s downhill thrills a metaphor for life – “finding the line between going as fast as you can and recognizing when it’s dangerous.” And they will get to know a deeply spiritual person, one who habitually sees the universe in a grain of sand. Or hears it in a Metallica song. It turns out that playing heavy-metal music at Lohr’s inauguration was no mere novelty or gag. In
2006 he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and given a 50 percent chance of surviving. “Death knocked on my door pretty close,” he told me, “and I wasn’t sure I would make it through.” In that dreadful moment he found solace in prayer, and in the music he had loved since adolescence. “The powerful laments of Metallica, side by side with the hope I found in the words of the Creed and prayers I learned as a child – I came to realize that both were important in my life, and God was okay with that.” It is a typical reflection for a man for whom thoughts of faith, difference and communicating with others are never far from mind. When I asked if he had chosen “Nothing Else Matters” because that song in particular had helped him through his health crisis, Lohr shook his head; he had chosen it, he explained, because it’s one of the heavy-metal band’s gentler compositions. “If you’re gonna ease people in,” he said, “you need to start with something they might connect with.” He pondered for a moment. “You know, that’s actually a pretty good metaphor for dialogue. You can’t go too hard right away. You’ve got to start with something that can work.”
Rand Richards Cooper is a contributing editor at Commonweal Magazine and writes a column, “In Our Midst,” for Hartford Magazine. He and his family live near the Seminary in Hartford’s West End.
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STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES OPERATING REVENUE 2018
2017
Student Revenues
1,081,809
1,146,971
Investment Return Utilized for Operations
2,777,590
2,268,554
Private Gifts, Bequests and Grants
487,969
454,112
Research and Grants
179,993
279,574
Auxiliary Activities
115,884
100,608
Other Revenue
183,622
109,998
$4,826,867
$4,359,817
Institutional Support
2,084,366
1,904,234
Instructional
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUE OPERATING EXPENSES
1,620,370
1,333,524
Academic Support
682,276
770,445
Plant Expense
478,008
430,462
Depreciation
156,844
152,224
93,922
1,337
$5,115,786
$4,592,226
(288,919)
(232,409)
286,759
98,170
Other Expenses TOTAL OPERATING EXPENSES CHANGE IN NET ASSETS, OPERATIONS OTHER CHANGES Private Gifts and Pledges Contribution to Restricted (Perpetual) Trust
5,479,811
Investment Return, Net
4,474,238
6,139,652
(2,777,590)
(2,268,554)
457,462
263,849
TOTAL OTHER CHANGES
$7,920,680
$4,233,117
CHANGE IN NET ASSETS
$7,631,761
$4,000,708
NET ASSETS, BEGINNING OF YEAR
$52,881,299
$48,880,591
NET ASSETS, END OF YEAR
$60,513,060
$52,881,299
Investment Return Utilized for Operations Change in Value of Beneficial Interests
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WAYS TO GIVE
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