Vanderbilt University Divinity School And Oberlin Graduate School Of .

Readers’ ForumFrom the EditorWhile preparing the winter issue for publication, the editorial staff in the Office of AlumniPublications & Communications and theDivinity School received two awards whichwe are pleased to announce to our readership.In October we learned from Patricia A.Pierce, director of the Opportunity Development Center at Vanderbilt University, thatThe Spire had been chosen to receive an Affirmative Action and Diversity InitiativeAward at the ODC’s 15th annual awardsprogram. Upon accepting the award, wewere recognized for opening the pages of TheSpire to writers and artists of African andAsian heritage and for creating a publicforum that encourages the exchange ofdiverse ideas.The Council for the Advancement andSupport of Education (CASE) informed us inDecember that our publication was the recipient of the Award of Excellence for editorialdesign in the District III competition. Thecommittee of judges selected Christian Holihan’s cover illustration titled “A Partnershipin Ministry” to receive this honor, and thesummer 2001 issue of The Spire that featuredChristian’s rendering of the ministerial partnership between theological education atVanderbilt University and philanthropicfoundations was displayed at the District IIIconference in Atlanta during February.As I compose this column, I am contemplating an excerpt from the speech deliveredby University Chancellor Gordon Gee duringthe ODC awards program: “Remember thatwhen you are at Vanderbilt, you participatein a community. Remember that whateveryour background or identity or point of origin,you have a voice within this community. Iwill honor and protect that voice. Butremember as well that diversity is not a pro-gram but a process. We must all worktogether on a daily basis to ensure that justiceand fair opportunity exist in all areas of University life.”The Chancellor’s references to community,diversity, and justice are words that recur inthe mission statement and commitments ofthe Divinity School—words that acquireflesh through the actions of an administration,faculty, staff, and student body dedicated toimproving the human condition. In this issueof The Spire, you will find evidence of theSchool’s commitment to justice and fairopportunity by reading Brandon Gilvin’sessay about the campesinos of Nicaraguaand by viewing Adam Sayler’s photographsthat document the plight of these CentralAmericans. Lee Mitchell’s article on hisinternship as chaplain at a correctional workcenter offers an alternative to treating addiction, and the profile of Kaye Nickell and herministry to a congregation of 13 membersexamines her decision to leave the role ofemergency room nurse and begin the journeyof student theologian.As I reflect on Chancellor Gee’s statementabout community, I am reminded of a quotation by the 20th-century German-born American political scientist and philosopher HannahArendt who remarked, “For excellence, thepresence of others is always required.” Anyrecognition The Spire has earned this academicyear may be attributed to the support from acommunity that encourages me in my workas editor—a community whose members’names do not appear always in the masthead.I am grateful to Nicholas Zeppos, vicechancellor for institutional planning andadvancement and professor of law, underwhose auspices The Spire is published;Anthony J. Spence, executive director ofalumni communications and publications,who resists micromanagement and whoencourages editors to become immersed inthe life of the University; James HudnutBeumler, dean of the Divinity School, whodemonstrates a genuine respect for the publication’s 26-year-old tradition and whooffers sound, constructive criticism; DouglasKnight, chair of the graduate department ofreligion and professor of Hebrew Bible, AliceHunt, associate dean of academic affairs,Lloyd Lewis, assistant dean for student life,Christopher Sanders, director of alumni/aeand development, and Trudy Stringer, president of the alumni/ae association, who generously provide ideas for stories and whounderstand the demands of the writing life;Judy Orr, director of creative services, DonnaDeVore Pritchett, artistic director, and JenniBongard, graphic designer, who have conceived and developed an aesthetic appropriatefor the Divinity School and who patientlygrant me extensions as each deadlineapproaches; Tom Fox, director of Universityprinting services, and Brian Waack, associatedirector, who tolerate with good humor mylimited understanding of printing technology;Samantha Fortner, Web assistant, wholaunches The Spire into cyberspace and whohas the remarkable gift of explaining Webtechnology in terminology a layperson canunderstand, and Ljubica Popovich, associateprofessor of art history, who for the past fiveyears has selflessly imparted to me her encyclopaedic knowledge of religious art andarchitecture.For the presence of these 15 individualsand the contributions this “community”makes to The Spire, I remain thankful.–VJHands on WisdomEditor’s Response:We are pleased that the article “Shared Wisdom” and the photograph of Divinity Schoolstudent Andrew Barnett truly capture the“hands on” effort of The Remnant Trust. Wehave disseminated copies of The Spire to ourboard members. It is refreshing to see such aprofessional publication come out of academia.The image of a hand or an arm issuing fromthe heavens is a direct translation, in visualterms, of the scriptural reference “the handof the Lord,” a metaphor for the power andwill of God. Emerging from stylized cloudsand with the palm open and fingers pointingdownward, the hand represents in Judaicaand in Christian art the act of God speaking.Because the voice of pure spirit cannot bedepicted except by imagery, the hand, therefore, represents the gesture of speech.The image of the hand of God is particularly prevalent in scenes of the Akedah, orthe binding of Isaac, recorded in Genesis22.11-12. As examples, consider the one-inchhigh onyx pendant, provenance unknown,from the private collection of antiquitiescollector SholomoMoussaieff. In theupper left corner, thehand of God extendsfrom the sky asAbraham turns fromIsaac and the sacrificial altar and sees theram. One also mayobserve that in the Onyx Akedah Pendantmonochrome painting entitled “TheOffering of Isaac”by the 15th-centuryNorthern Italian Renaissance painter andengraver Andrea Mantegna, whose technique of painting invarying tones of asingle color oftenimitates sculpture,the hand of God inThe Offering of Isaacthe upper right staysAndrea Mantegnathe hand of Abraham.(1431-1506)Kris BexPresident, The Remnant Trust, IncorporatedChurch & StateThe articles published in the summer 2001issue of The Spire are timely and truly importantissues. “Constructing a Critically CooperativeRelationship: Religion, State & Faith-BasedCharity” by Christopher Sanders could notbe more appropriate, and the essay “TheParadox of the Thistle” about the work of theReverend Becca Stevens was outstanding.Betty D. BegleyNashville, TennesseeThe Hand of GodThe article on Becca Stevens, “The Paradox ofthe Thistle,” prompts involvement. HerbertMarbury’s examination of troubled textsdrove me to the dictionary for the meaningof “pericope.” The emergence of the story ofDinah seems to be flourishing. My daughterin Barcelona gave me Anita Diamant’s RedTent, and a friend in San Francisco sent aclipping about Primo Levi’s Search for Roots,noting Jacob’s prank at the expense of Esau.For the future, would you explore further“the image of the hand” in Jewish iconographyand elsewhere in religion? In painting, thetwo-finger gesture seems to imply benediction,but what is the meaning of the palm-forwardgesture?Pat BurtonNashville, Tennessee2T H ES P I R EWinter 2002TranslationIf my native tonguewere Hebrew,I would pour black inkon white paperand with my fingerspaint the letters:hey, bet, tav, pe(swirl, dash, dot, line)to mold a poem.In the same languagethat drew picturesof a brother’s dry blood,dark-eyed lions in dens,and fiery bushes that speak,I would draw a storyin three dimensionslike thick inkrising from paper.Black removed,white exposed:hey, bet, tav, pe.Language breathes,waiting for translation.—Darian Elise DuckworthA native of Jackson, Mississippi, the poetis a sophomore at Vanderbilt Universitywhere she is studying mathematics andEnglish. “Translation” was inspired bythe course “The Hebrew Bible and ItsInterpretations” taught by M. Shai Cherry,assistant professor of religious studies.3

Around th quadrAngleFrom the DeanDisembarking the HMS ChurchI have discerned that much of what I read regarding the so-called crisis in the leadership of today’schurch focuses on what might be termed “sociological determinants of success.” The averagechurch membership is too small to be successful;the average salary of beginning and experiencedpastors is too low to attract and retain qualitypeople to the gospel ministry. I don’t wish to denythat salaries could be higher and that more members would be nice; however, the events of September 11 should put us in a different frame ofmind to talk about the possibilities of religiousleadership on the contemporary scene.Ministry has had nothing to do with thenumber of congregants or your salary. Youhave been helping people understand whereGod is during this tragedy; you have beenhelping people grieve, love, trust, wake up,and live. This is what ministry involves; it’sabout enabling people to come to terms withGod in a way to accept the full fruits and limitations of the wonderful lives they havebeen given by God.Rick Dietrich, a colleague at ColumbiaTheological Seminary, relished his work intheological education for laity. After 20 yearsin the parish, he developed a rather trenchant critique about the way clergy start tothink about their jobs after a while. Rick saidthe clergy, given the institutional features ofchurch life, begin to think their job is to harness people to the shipboard jobs of the HMSChurch. The whole point of being a churchmember, then, becomes what job you can doat the church. But people should not come tous just to fill up empty hours or crowdanother set of voluntary activities into theirlives to make them feel better about howthey spend their lives. Almost no one gets ona ship just to perform a practical service job,but as I think about it, we do have cruise4job, when they ask for stones instead ofbread, is to transform their hearts so thatthey will want bread, the bread of heaven.This means transforming first and foremostour understanding of ministry.Ministry is nothing more than service,and we need a shared and renewed theological sense of ministry in our churches. Helping create that sense in the communities andcongregations where we serve is the first taskin ministry. Contemporary Christian churches and their pastors tend to break in one oftwo directions when they enlarge their definition of ministry beyond what ministers do:the liberals interpret ministry as service toothers while conservatives interpret ministryas bringing people to a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”We need a definition of ministry for alltime that is non-clerical, dynamic, and theological. Let me suggest one such definition ofministry. It comes from two of the great theologians of the last century, Daniel Dayexpectations within“We need a definition of ministry for all timethe laity such that thechurch is thought to that is non-clerical, dynamic, and theological.”be the only place youcan be a Christian, justWilliams and H. Richard Niebuhr. Theyas if a cruise or vacation is the only place youdefined ministry as the “increase of the lovecan be yourself at peace.of God and love toward neighbor.” It mayLeadership in the church involves makingsound familiar. It should. It’s taken fromone statement: “We are in this together; I’mJesus’ summation of the law. In fact, Jesusin this with you.” We aren’t Captain Stubingderived that definition of what it meant to befrom the Love Boat. Church members don’tGod’s righteous people from Deuteronomywork for us; we aren’t CEOs. Most of the litin which the Ten Commandments themerature that is written about leadership isselves, if thought to be too many, could bewritten for business executives and wouldreduced to two simple principles. We couldbe CEOs. Ministry is not about being thedo worse in our churches, and we have.chief executive officer of a company whereOnce we can agree on the task of ministry,leadership means cutting jobs and slashinga task that is shared, not borne by you alone,profit estimates. It isn’t like military leaderthen you can lead without extraneous expecship where one’s job is commanding authortations. The job is hard enough with extraneity. Servant leadership, as practiced by theous matter. And that’s why you must aspiredisciples of Jesus, is not doormat leadership.to more than management of the mysteries,It is helping people to do what God wantsto a priesthood of a church where everyonethem to do with and through the expendialready knows what’s occurring. Instead,ture of their lives in faith obedience.you must be evangelists, servants of theThe difficulty of being a leader in today’sgood news, leaders of a new way. That’s thechurch is that what people want is a cruisechallenge of leadership: to be servants of theship leader, or a CEO, or a commandingGospel who lead human beings to love Godpresence in the pulpit. While personal magand neighbor. To achieve this leadership, younetism and a sense of authority are assets toneed to create a culture, not fill an opening.ministry, they are not the substance of theleadership that today’s church needs. YourThe Call to ServeTo promote diversity within an academic environment and to provide opportunities for students’ spiritual and personal development, 18representatives from Vanderbilt UniversityDivinity School have accepted leadership roles forthe 2001-2002 academic year.Photographs by David Crenshaw, BA’87Scott Fritz, secretary of the Student Government Association; Jason Shelton,director of the Divinity School choir; Nancy Emrich, coordinator of worship;Kaye Harvey, cochair of the United Methodist Student Organization; MarLuScott, coordinator of worship; and Matthew Charlton, cochair of the UnitedMethodist Student Organization are among the students working to ensure asense of community at VDS.Officers of the Student Government Associationinclude William Young, vice president; HollieWoodruff, chair of public relations; RobertPhillips, president; and Annette Grace Zimondi,treasurer.While fulfilling requirements for the master of divinity degree, these students alsoare serving on committees at VDS: Brandon Gilvin, representative to the HonorCouncil; Charles Turner, cochair of the Vanderbilt chapter of Black Seminarians;Heather Godsey, coordinator for the Office of Women’s Concerns; Josh Tinley,chair of the Political Action Network (PAN); Michelle Jackson, cochair of theBlack Seminarians; Will Judd, chair of Eco Concerns; Eric Schlegel, coordinatorof the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Concerns (GABLE);and Erika Callaway, coordinator for the Office of Women’s Concerns.—Dean James Hudnut-BeumlerT H ES P I R EWinter 20025

New Staff Appointments at VDSDuring the 2001 fall semester, the DivinitySchool welcomed new staff members to theOffice of Alumni/ae and Development, Cokesbury Bookstore, the Refectory and FacultyReading Room, the Admissions Office, and thePEYTON HOGEPEYTON HOGEAssociate Professor Renita J. Weemsresponds to a question from alumnus RodericL. Murray III, MDiv’69, DD’71, following theOctober community breakfast on “Preachingand Teaching Difficult Biblical Texts.”6Amy Ward Edwards, BS’78, MEd’80, ofthe United Methodist Publishing House, isserving as manager of the CokesburyBookstore located in the Divinity School. Anative of Dalton, Georgia, Edwards studiedspecial education and psychology atGeorge Peabody College for Teachersbefore earning her master’s degree in elementary education and educational psychology from the University. She completedpostgraduate courses in educational psychology at the University of Maryland andtaught in the Metropolitan-DavidsonCounty Public Schools System beforeaccepting a position with the UnitedMethodist Publishing House.“I am glad to be on campus again,” saysEdwards, “and I consider working in thebookstore to be my ministry.”Vanderbilt University’s Division of InstitutionalPlanningandAdvancementannounces that Christopher Kelly Sanders,MDiv’95, has been appointed director ofalumni/ae and development for the DivinitySchool. A doctoral student in historical studiesin the Graduate Department of Religion atthe University, he previously served as seniormanager for human resource development atDollar General Corporation.Sanders, a native of Hodgenville, Kentucky, was graduated in 1992 from CentreCollege in Danville where he earned a baccalaureate in religion and government. Heattended the Divinity School as a Dollar General Scholar and received the Elliott F. ShepardPrize in church history.“I am honored to be able to work with thefriends, faculty, staff, students, and graduatesof the Divinity School and the GraduateDepartment of Religion,” says Sanders. “Ourhistoric commitments to scholarship, dialogue, and social issues are helping us imaginethe future of theological education today.”He succeeds Cathy H. Snyder who hasbeen appointed vice president for institutional advancement at the Watkins Collegeof Art and Design and Film School inNashville.T H ES P I R EThe 2001-2002 academic term marks not onlythe 25th year Antoinette Hicks has servedVanderbilt University but also her return tothe quadrangle where she is manager of theremodeled Refectory and Vanderbilt FacultyReading Room. To provide a centrally locatedplace for faculty and students to gather andexchange ideas, the Refectory was reconfigured during the summer to feature a diningarea and a reading room with wireless accessto the Vanderbilt network.The Refectory also serves as one of thesettings for Salon V, a series of informal afternoon conversations on interdisciplinary subjects hosted by the Office of the Chancellor.“The Greeks had the agorae,” remarks DeanJames Hudnut-Beumler. “They deliberatelyconstructed public places where peoplecould meet to discuss ideas, and now theReading Room is a public place that willencourage collegial relationships among faculty and students from all the schools in theUniversity.”“I am delighted to be reassigned to theDivinity School,” says Hicks, who also hasworked in Vanderbilt Catering, “and thenew Reading Room will offer opportunitiesfor building community relations acrosscampus.”Winter 2002DAVID CRENSHAWDAVID CRENSHAWJames Hudnut-Beumler was installed as the15th dean of Vanderbilt University DivinitySchool during the fall convocation. Amongthose joining in the celebration were hiswife, the Reverend Heidi Hudnut-Beumler,their daughter, Julia, and their son, Adam.The text of the dean’s installation addressmay be read on pages 12-14 of The Spire.DAVID CRENSHAWDAVID CRENSHAWPEYTON HOGERegistrar’s Office.When prospective students make inquiryabout applying to Vanderbilt UniversityDivinity School, one the first individualswith whom they’ll become acquainted isJamison Fee, MDiv’99, who returned tocampus this fall as assistant to the director ofadmissions. He succeeds Brian Heuser,MTS’00, who has enrolled in the doctoralprogram at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College.A native of Nashville, Fee was graduatedin 1994 from David Lipscomb Universitywhere he studied early American history. Heand his wife, Melissa, MSN’99, a lecturer inthe School of Nursing and practitioner at theVanderbilt Page-Campbell Heart Institute,are parents of a five-year-old daughter, Sydney,and a two-year-old son, Wallace.If Fee is not corresponding with applicantsto VDS or fulfilling his responsibilities as aparent, he may be found in his workshopdesigning and building wooden cabinets orlearning the craft of building traditionalwooden boats.Scheduling classes, coordinating registration,and calculating students’ credit hours areamong the responsibilities of Keith Cole,registrar for the Divinity School. He assumedthe duties of the office upon the retirement ofAline Patte, who served the School for 24academic years.Born in Dayton, Ohio, Cole earned hisbaccalaureate in music and theatre fromBaldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio,before matriculating at Scarritt GraduateSchool in Nashville where he was awarded avocal scholarship for pursing a master’sdegree in church music. He was graduatedin 2000 with the master of divinity degreefrom Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and he has studiedabroad in Iona, Scotland, and in Taizé,France.Cole has served as minister of music forchurches in North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia,and Tennessee. His partner, John Semingson,is director of music ministries at WestminsterPresbyterian Church in Nashville.7

8Laurie Zoloth-Dorfman, president of theAmerican Society for Bioethics and Humanities explored the ethical complexities surrounding human stem cell research duringan October public lecture sponsored by theCal Turner Program in Moral Leadership forthe Professions, the Center for Genetics andHealth Policy, and the Divinity School.“According to the Talmud, all knowledgeis permitted for teaching and learning; however, this does not mean that all knowledgehas to be applied,” Zoloth-Dorfmaninformed the audience in Light Hall. “Stemcell research introduces two challenges forthe Academy: How do we morally justify all knowledge? Considering the gravitas of stemcell research, do we need to articulate a theory of virtue for our research?”Zoloth-Dorfman also holds an appointment at San Francisco State University where sheis an associate professor of social ethics and director of the program in Jewish studies. Theresponse to her lecture was given by Brigid L. M. Hogan, the Hortense B. Ingram Chair inMolecular Oncology, professor of cell biology, and senior fellow in the John F. Kennedy Centerat Vanderbilt University.T H ES P I R EInternationally known Islamist John L. Espositoaddressed the origins and political ramificationsof Islamic radicalism in a lecture titled “Politicsand Islam: Radicalism or Reform?” The foundingdirector of the Center for Muslim-ChristianUnderstanding and professor of religion andinternational affairs at Georgetown University,Esposito was invited to the University in conjunction with a new interdisciplinary course—Ancient Origins of Religious Conflict in theMiddle East—taught last fall by Susan FordWiltshire, professor of classics and chair of theclassical studies department, and Robert Drews, professor of classics and history.Esposito is among the scholars who translated and provided an interpretation of thehandwritten letter composed by a hijacker of the first American Airlines plane that hit theWorld Trade Center. He has edited The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World and TheHistory of Islam, two volumes that have been recommended to help the public understand thecomplexities surrounding the events of September 11.The lecture in Furman Hall was sponsored by the Department of Classical Studies, theDepartment of Religious Studies, the Graduate Department of Religion, and the Divinity School.Reclaiming the Birthright of Giftedness“The blizzard of the world has crossed thethreshold and has overturned the order ofthe soul,” stated Parker J. Palmer whendelivering the 2001 Cole Lectures in October.The author, educator, and social activistemployed this quotation by contemporarycomposer Leonard Cohen to illustrate theeffects of transgressions in the international community since September 11.In his lecture titled “Divided No More:Spiritual Formation in a Secular World,”Parker J. Palmer greets guests in BentonPalmer also discussed ways to recoverChapel following his delivery of the 2001from the “individual blizzards” that createCole Lectures.incongruity between the inner and outerstages on which we conduct our lives. He encour

Divinity School, the Graduate School's Department of Religion, and the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology are encouraged to submit news items of their personal and professional accomplishments. Readers may correspond by U.S. mail to: The Spire VU Station B 357703 2301 Vanderbilt Place Nashville, TN 37235-7703 by e-mail: spire@vanderbilt.edu