10.2012
Amy Allen Writes Preaching Helps for Currents in Theology and Mission
Amy Allen, a third year Theology and Practice fellow, recently contributed the preaching helps for the August 2012 issue of Currents in Theology and Mission. Currents is a journal published by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, in cooperation with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Wartburg Theological Seminary. Currents aims to provide resources for mission, ministry, and theological growth for pastors, diaconal ministers, associates in ministry, and other church leaders. Allen is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) pursuing a Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity.
10.2012
Amy Allen Receives Denominational Grant
Amy Allen, a third year Theology and Practice fellow, has been selected to receive a grant for advanced theological study in the 2012-2013 school year. This grant is through the Educational Grant Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Grants are given to Ph.D., Th.D., and Ed.D. candidates in theological study appropriate to seminary teaching. Allen is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) pursuing a Ph.D. in New Testament and Early Christianity.
07.2012
Katherine Lassiter Appointed to Faculty of Mount St. Joseph
T+P fellow Kate Lassiter has accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Religious and Pastoral Studies at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. A member of the very first cohort of T&P fellows, Kate's work has centered in the area of Religion, Psychology and Culture. She served her externship at the Institute for Pastoral Studies at Loyola University in Chicago. She graduated this May. Congratulations, Kate!
07.2012
Casey Thornburgh Sigmon Receives Denominational Grant
Casey Thornburgh Sigmon, a second-year Theology and Practice fellow, has been selected to receive a grant through the Ann E. Dickerson Scholarship Fund for the 2012-2013 academic year. The Ann E. Dickerson Scholarship is rewarded to female members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) working toward the Ph.D. degree in religion studies. Sigmon is an ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ pursuing a Ph.D. In Homiletics and Liturgics.
05.2012
Michael Brandon McCormack receives Dissertation Fellowship
Michael Brandon McCormack received a 2012 Dissertation Fellowship from the Fund for Theological Education. The FTE Dissertation Fellowship is awarded to African American doctoral students who are writing their Ph.D. or Th.D. dissertations and intend to teach and do research in theological schools.
05.2012
Michael Brandon McCormack to present paper at University of London, Birkbeck
Michael Brandon McCormack, a fifth year fellow in Theology and Practice will be presenting a paper entitled, “Black Activist Clergy and the Search for Justice in the Era of Hip Hop,” at the Black Church Activism and Contested Multiculturalism in Europe, North America and Africa conference at the University of London, Birkbeck. The conference, which meets May 28-30, 2012, is a part of the ongoing Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race. The paper will be presented at the Plenary Panel on Churches and Black Youth Empowerment. http://religionandrace.org/
05.2012
Angela Cowser appointed to Garrett-Evangelical
Sixth-year fellow Angela Cowser has been appointed to serve as Instructor in the Sociology of Religion and Director of the Center for the Church and the Black Experience at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Located on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University, Garrett is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Angela will begin her work there in November 2012. Congratulations, Angela!
03.2012
Andover Newton website features T&P Fellow Gerald Liu
Theology and Practice fellow Gerald Liu will be serving his externship during the 2012-13 academic year at Andover Newton Theological School. You can read more about Gerald and the placement here.
01.2012
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary story about T&P Fellow Sean Hayden
Sean Hayden, a sixth-year fellow in the Program in Theology and Practice, is serving his externship at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. Read more about his work here.
01.2012
Lilly Endowment Renews Grant to Support the Theology and Practice Program
The Lilly Endowment has renewed its support for the Program in Theology and Practice with a $5 million grant. This grant will extend the program by five years, making for a total of 15 cohorts and over 70 fellows. Read the whole story here.
11.2011
Jennifer Williams Writing for Oxford Handbook of the Prophets
Jennifer Williams has been invited to contribute an essay on Queer Readings of the Prophets for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the Prophets. The invitation came following Jennifer's presentation of "A Feminist Reading and a Queer Re-reading of the "Cities' Destruction" in the Book of Jeremiah" in the Writing/Reading Jeremiah section at the SBL's 2010 Annual Meeting.
11.2011
Amy Allen Recieves Grant
Amy Allen, 2nd year fellow, received an educational grant from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for candidates in theological study appropriate to seminary training.
11.2011
Amy Allen Presents Paper at SBL
Second-year fellow Amy Allen will be presenting a paper entitled "Towards a More Perfect Union: A Scriptural Reading of the Purpose of Marriage in Luke-Acts" at the Society of Biblical Literature's Annual Meeting in San Francisco this November. The paper will be read in the Contextual Interpretation group and will call for a contemporary treatment of marriage and family life in service of God's mission rather than family concerns based on Luke-Acts.
Towards a More Perfect Union: A Scriptural Reading of the Purpose of Marriage in Luke-Acts
11.2011
Peter Kline C0-Presents at AAR
Second-year fellow Peter Kline will be co-presenting a paper entitled "God" at the American Academy of Religion's Annual Meeting in San Francisco this November. The paper will be discussed at the Theology and Apocalyptic Working Group session. It is a constructive statement on the doctrine of God that takes its bearings from an apocalyptic account of prayer.
11.2011
Jennifer Williams presents at SBL
Fourth-year fellow Jennifer Williams will be presenting a paper entitled "The Book of Job: On Friendship, Bullying, and Sacrifice" at the Society of Biblical Literature's Annual Meeting in San Francisco this November. The paper will be read in the Bible and Pastoral Theology section and will consider strategies for reading and teaching the Book of Job with high school youth in light of the contemporary issue of bullying.
10.2011
First-year T&P fellows to offer panel at SECSOR
The entire cohort of first-year fellows collaborated to propose a panel to the upcoming SECSOR conference. Their panel - "Beyond the Boundaries? Theorizing (Liberative) Gendered Spaces at the Intersections of the Theological Disciplines and Christian Practice" - was accepted. It will be jointly sponsored by the Bible and Modern Culture and the Women, Gender and Religion sections.
The panel will feature the following five papers:
"Manly Men & Spirited Women: The (Paradoxical) Inclusion & Exclusion of Gendered Bodies in the Pulpit," Casey Sigmon (HL)
"Embodying Inferiority: Inadequate Interpretations of the Legacy of Eve," Yolanda Norton (HB)
"Belonging & Border Logic: Scripture, Theology, & LGBTQ Suicides," Brandy Daniels (TS)
"What God Hath Not Bound: Challenging Biological Essentialism by Re-reading Scripture in Conservative Stone-Campbell Congregations," Lauren White (TS)
"Shame and Redemption in the Genders of Young Adolescent Boys," Richard Coble (RPC)
09.2011
Angela Cowser serving as Lead Organizer for POGO
Sixth-year fellow Angela Cowser works as Lead Organizer for POGO (People of God Organized) in East Nashville. POGO currently involves 10 congregations from five different denominations (UMC, PCUSA, PCA, Episcopal, and Missionary Baptist).
On September 15, POGO held a District 6 Candidates' Forum. 100 people turned out to hear candidates Peter Westerholm and Dave Rich respond to questions derived from POGO members on public education, unemployment, entrepreneurship, and fresh food accessibility issues.
09.2011
T+P Fellow Peter Kline on theology and pop culture
Second-year T&P fellow Peter Kline recently wrote two essays offering theological reads of pop-culture. The first is a paper he delivered in March at Princeton Theological Seminary for their conference "Religion in Popular Culture." His paper was titled "Christ-Haunted Ohio: The Spiritual and Theological Vision of Over the Rhine." The second is a piece for the journal Gaga Stigmata titled, "A Religion Against Itself: Lady Gaga, God, and Love." It can be found online here: http://gagajournal.blogspot.com/2011/09/religion-against-itself-lady-gaga-god.html
09.2011
Oxford University Press has published "Twig and Tafash: HIV/AIDS, Hip Hop, and Ugandan Female MC’s”
Oxford University Press has published "Twig and Tafash: HIV/AIDS, Hip Hop, and Ugandan Female MC’s”, co-authored by 5th-year fellow Gerald Liu and Associate Professor of Musicology/Ethnomusicology Gregory Barz in the volume The Culture of AIDS in Africa: Hope and Healing Through the Arts. The manuscript follows the recent release of the CD Kampala Flow. Both projects arise from Gerald's 2008 fieldwork in Kampala, Uganda as a fellow of the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture.
09.2011
First cohort of fellows begins their externships
The first cohort of Fellows in Theology and Practice began their externships with the fall semester. The externships are designed for fellows in their final year of study. They provide a capstone to the whole T&P curriculum. Each fellow's externship involves a year-long immersion in the work of a school known for excellence in teaching for ministry. Externs teach one course each semester and engage in limited service work as they finish their dissertations. A complete list of placements for this first year is below.
Jin Young Choi is at Columbia Theological Seminary
Angela Cowser is at Memphis Theological Seminary
Sean Hayden is at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Kate Lassiter is at Loyola Institute for Pastoral Studies (Chicago)
Asante Todd is at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
09.07.2011
PC(USA) notice of Asante Todd's externship (September 7, 2011)
The Presbyterian News Service featured a short story about T&P fellow Asante Todd's externship at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
05.2011
Jennifer Williams writing for Oxford Handbook of the Prophets
Jennifer Williams has been invited to contribute an essay on Queer Readings of the Prophets for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the Prophets. The invitation came following Jennifer's presentation of "A Feminist Reading and a Queer Re-reading of the "Cities' Destruction" in the Book of Jeremiah" in the Writing/Reading Jeremiah section at the SBL's 2010 Annual Meeting.
03.05.2011
Jennifer Freeman presents paper for the South Eastern Commission for the Study of Religion
"In March, first-year fellow Jennifer Freeman presented her paper "Epitaphios: the Divine Liturgy embodied" for the History of Christianity panel at the conference for the South Eastern Commission for the Study of Religion, held in Louisville, KY."
11.03.2010
T+P program featured in article by Michael Jinkins
Michael Jinkins, President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, wrote an article on "The End(s) of Theological Education" for the Resources for American Christianity website. The article locates the Program in Theology and Practice in wider currents for reform in theological education.
http://www.resourcingchristianity.org/downloadfile.aspx?ITEMID=8bb1f41a-890b-4128-8a70-c36e5ab7a613
10.14.2010
Peter Kline's article in IJST
First-year fellow Peter Kline recently wrote an article entitled "Participation in God and the Nature of Christian Community: Robert Jenson and Eberhard Jüngel" for the International Journal of Systematic Theology.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2400.2010.00520.x/abstract
Four of the T&P fellows - Jin Young Choi, Carolyn Davis, Daryl Ellis and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson - recently presented papers at a conference on "Attending to the Other: Critical Theory and Spiritual Practice" held by the International Society for Religion, Literature and Culture at Oxford University.
Jin presented a paper entitled “Transnationality, Transcorporeality, and Spirituality” in a session on Postcolonialism. After the conference she also made a presentation for the Society, Religion and Belief Research Group at the University of Derby. Carolyn presented a paper for the Higher Education panel that offered a discursive model of the relationship between institutional ethos and diversity in the classroom, with special reference to theological education. Daryl and Natalie both presented on Modern Theology panels. Daryl’s paper, “Divine Dissociation: A ‘Monstrous Compound’ or the Frailty of Love?” examined the phenomenological similarities of violent trauma and self-giving love while reading the drama of Jesus’ journey from Gethsemane to the Cross. Natalie’s paper, “Christology as Crucible: Practicing Wisdom at the Intersection of Church and Academy” examined the practice of ecclesial teaching to explore the performative and transformative nature of Christian doctrine.
09.2010
Kampala Flow
In September 2010 third-year fellow Gerald Liu and Blair School of Music Professor Gregory Barz released their compilation of East African Hip-Hop, Kampala Flow, on Lime Pulp Records. The compact disc is a compilation of recordings Barz and Liu undertook during Gerald's summer 2008 fieldwork as a Center for the Study of Religion and Culture Fellow. Gerald's article exploring the theological dimensions of HIV/AIDS messages rhymed by two female MC's is forthcoming in a book from Oxford University Press.
08.2010
Gerald Liu Hired at Trevecca University
Gerald Liu was hired as adjunct faculty at Trevecca Nazarene University to create and teach a required course for all worship arts majors. "The Contextualization of Worship" combines readings in congregational analysis and critical theory with assigned fieldwork in local religious communities to introduce to students a variety of methods and contexts by which to understand worship.
08.2010
Gerald Liu @ Societas Homiletica
Third-year fellow Gerald Liu was selected to present his essay, "Chin Toy, Yong-Seen-Sang, and Charlie Soong: Chinese American Proclaimers of the 19th Century" at the meeting of Societas Homiletica held at Yale University August 1-5, 2010. Gerald was also welcomed into membership of Societas Homiletica, an academic and international society for teachers and researchers of preaching and homiletics.
06.13.2010
Third-year Fellow Gerald Liu ordained as UMC Elder
Gerald Liu was ordained as an Elder in the Mississippi Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church on June 13th, 2010.
05.2010
Ordination of Carolyn Davis
Third-year fellow Carolyn Davis was ordained a deacon in the United Methodist Church (Texas Annual Conference) in May 2010.
1.04.2010
Fourth year fellows Asante Todd and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson invited to participate in Inter-faith conference on Human Rights
Asante and Natalie participated in a conference on “Clergy Beyond Borders: Human Rights in Judaism, Christianity and Islam” held at American University in Washington D.C. December 14-15, 2009. U.S. and international imams, rabbis, and ministers joined scholars of Islam, Judaism and Christianity at the nation’s capital to discuss the role of religious communities in response to human rights issues. The conference addressed issues such as human trafficking and slavery in the 21st century, prisoner treatment in peace and war, the role of religion in the public square of a pluralist democracy, human rights after 9/11, and civil liberties of immigrants and (perceived) others.
Clergy Beyond Borders invited Natalie and Asante based on work the two did with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). In 2008 Asante and Natalie offered reflections on an Emerging Scholars panel at NRCAT’s “A National Summit on Torture.” This summit assembled religious leaders, scholars and public officials for critical dialogue on American practices of torture occurring over the last eight years. The emerging scholars’ presentations have been included in the collected volume of proceedings from this conference in the forthcoming book, Religious Faith, Torture and Our National Soul, due for release from Mercer University Press in Winter/Spring, 2010.
6.29.2009
Third-year fellow Jin Young Choi invited to participate in Asian Theological Summer Institute
At ATSI held at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, May 26-30, Jin Young Choi presented her paper, "(Mis)understanding and Mystery in Mark." She examined a way of knowing through the embodied experience of mystery in the Gospel and explored the possibility of affirming the subjectivity of people living in the margins of the existing power structure, while developing a model of Asian and Asian American biblical hermeneutics and employing interdisciplinary approaches. The Institute was initiated by the Henry Luce Foundation to promote cultural awareness and theological discourse of Asians and Asian Americans who are engaged in theological education at the doctoral level.
6.18.2009
Third-year fellow Kate Lassiter interviewed by local media
Third year fellow Kate Lassiter was interviewed by local NPR and NBC affiliates and quoted in The Tennessean regarding the economic and health benefits associated with a local rezoning policy introduced by Councilman Jason Holleman. The Davidson County Code currently prohibits cultivation of agricultural products for commercial sale within the urban service district. Changes to the law would allow for the sale of fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals produced in commercial and industrial brownzones as well as backyards.
05.02.2009
T&P Fellows hired for translation
Fellows Sean Hayden (Theological Studies) and Gerald Liu (Homiletics and Liturgics) were hired to translate Jürgen Moltmann's commentary on the encyclical, 'Salvi Spe' from Pope Benedict XVI. The translation, entitled 'Horizons of Hope: A Critique of 'Salvi Spe'' can be found in The Christian Century, 5/20/2008. Vol. 125 Issue 10, 31-33.
5.01.2009
Third-year fellow Angela Cowser wins Fulbright Scholarship
Congratulations to Angela Cowser for her selection as a Fulbright Scholar to Namibia! Angela first traveled to Namibia with Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Global Immersion Seminar. She served as a Teaching Assistant in the seminar as part of her work for the Program in Theology and Practice. The program requires fellows to serve in an “integrative” T.A.ship, and Angela chose this one.
The seminar brought Angela into contact with a variety of leaders in the Namibian government, international NGOs, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia [ELCRN]. “At the end of our stay,” Angela said, “one of the ELCRN pastor-guides asked if I would consider returning to Namibia to teach English. I said that I would try. In the fall of 2008 I submitted a Fulbright application to return to Namibia to study as part of my dissertation research on the role of religion and religious institutions in postcolonial economic development.
Angela’s application was strengthened by courses in ethnography, qualitative research, practical theology and social theory for her home area – Ethics and Society – and the Program in Theology and Practice. A summer of fieldwork for Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Religion and Culture helped her develop her skills in these areas.
Recipients of the Fulbright are selected on the basis of their demonstrated leadership potential as well as their outstanding research and academic achievement. Administered by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Program was established by Congress in 1946 with the intent to “enable the government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.”
4.25.2009
T+P Fellow Ben Anthony selected as preacher for Day1
Ben Anthony, a member of the 2009 cohort of Fellows in Theology and Practice, will be featured as a preacher on the multimedia non-profit ministry Day1. His sermons entitled "Folding Screens and Forgiveness," "A Visitor, a Mapmaker, and a Banquet," and "Neither Heaven nor Hell" will be broadcast on April 26, May 3, and May 10, respectively. All are available in text and audio on the Day1 website . Congratulations, Ben!
4.22.2009
Congratulations to the 2009 class of Fellows in Theology and Practice
Jennifer Pouya - History and Critical Theories of Religion
Ben Anthony - Homiletics and Liturgics
Bridgett Green - New Testament and Early Christianity
Myounghun Yun - Religion, Psychology, and Culture
Daryl Ellis - Theological Studies
2.28.2009
Life Abundant: A Conference in Christian Practical Theology
On February 26-28, 2009 Vanderbilt Divinity School welcomed “Theological Education for Life Abundant: A Conference in Christian Practical Theology.” The conference was sponsored by the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, a project of the Lilly Endowment based at Valparaiso University. The vision for theological education articulated in For Life Abundant (Bass and Dykstra, eds.) served as a starting point for the conference and as a regular touchstone in the proceedings.
The conference brought together scholars from a wide range of disciplines, institutions, and traditions to think together about the meaning, purpose, and practice of theological education. Charles Marsh of the University of Virginia offered a keynote address. Plenary panels featured presentations from Dorothy Bass, Brad Braxton, Charles Foster, Willie Jennings, Charles Marsh, Ted Smith, David Daniels, Edward Farley, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Nadine Pence, John Witvliet, Craig Dykstra, Barbara Holmes, James Hudnut-Beumler, and Mary Ann Moman. Morning prayer was coordinated by Robin Jensen and led by Gerald Liu, Brandon McCormack, and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson, all fellows in the Program in Theology and Practice.
Workshops at the conference were offered by Thomas G. Long, Daisy L. Machado and Samuel Cruz, Barbara Rossing and Benjamin Stewart, Christian Scharen and Eileen Campbell-Reed, Mary McClintock Fulkerson, and Lynne Westfield. Conference participants also broke out into small groups organized by discipline for conversations around sample syllabi – a practice many participants named as the most valuable part of the whole event.
For more information on the conference, and a partial posting of the proceedings, please see the website of the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith.
9.14.2008
T+P program featured in The Presbyterian Outlook's analysis of theological education (click title to view article)
8.25.2008
Congratulations to the 2008 class of Fellows in Theology and Practice
Naomi Annandale - Religion, Psychology and Culture
Carolyn Davis - Theological Studies
Sarah Sanderson-Doughty - Theological Studies
Lisa Thompson - Homiletics and Liturgics
Jennifer Williams - Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel
5.04.2008
Gathering of practice-related doctoral programs
From Duke, Emory, and Vanderbilt
May 1-3, 2008
In May of 2008 Vanderbilt hosted a conference that brought together students and faculty from Duke’s Th.D. program, Emory’s Concentration in Religious Practices and Practical Theology, and Vanderbilt’s Program in Theology and Practice. Plenary conversations focused on syllabi for core courses and the role of “practice” and “practical theology” in each program. Small groups considered samples of writing from each student within the larger context of that student’s vocation.
People from each school reported learning more about their own program even as they learned about the programs from other schools. Participants followed up with individual essays and conversations with others from their home institutions that should help translate some of what they learned at the conference into concrete program developments. We had a great time – and so we hope to gather at least these three schools again in two years.
Participants included Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Randy Maddox, Laceye Waner, Jeff Conlin-Miller, Melanie Dobson Hughes and Heather Vacek (all from Duke); Elizabeth Bounds, Michael Brown, Letitia Campbell, David King, AnneMarie Mingo, and Joshua Thomas (from Emory); and Patout Burns, Nicholas Head, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Ted Smith, Brad Daugherty, Brandon McCormack, and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson (from Vanderbilt).
Thanks to the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, which funded the gathering. And special thanks to the Valparaiso Project’s Dorothy Bass and Doretta Kurzinski for wise and generous help in designing and putting on the conference.
2.26.2008
Bonnie Miller-McLemore and Ted Smith describe the origins, substance, and hopes of the program in this essay for the Christian Century.
Copyright 2008 Christian Century . Reproduced by permission from the February 26, 2008 issue of the Christian Century . Subscriptions: $49/year from P.O. Box 378, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. 1-800-208-4097
10.04.2007
Congratulations to the 2007 Fellows in Theology and Practice:
Brad Daugherty - Historical Studies
Gerald Liu - Homiletics and Liturgics
Brandon McCormack - Homiletics and Liturgics
Elizabeth Madden - Religion, Psychology, and Culture
Kelly Whitcomb - Hebrew Bible
4.20.2006
The Association of Practical Theology holds its biennial conference at Vanderbilt University.
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