DDH News Archive
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"The Arts of Leading Across Diversity" series to feature Johnson, Lewton
05.02.09 - On May 4, Ayanna M. Johnson, First Vice Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the founding pastor of Community of Hope Christian Church, will be featured in the final forum of a three-part series on leadership across diversity. The series has extended through the 2008-09 academic year; it has brought 
together Disciples leaders, especially young adult and emerging leaders, to discuss challenges faces and arts of leadership required for a diverse and often fragmented church and society. April Lewton, an alumna who is a community organizer with the Asian American Institute of Chicago, will interview Rev. Johnson during the forum. In June, Johnson concludes three years as the Minister in Residence at the Disciples Divinity House, an initiative funded by the Oreon E. Scott Foundation.
Conference on theology and culture to be held Wednesday and Thursday
04.18.09 - Long preparations will come to fruition this coming week, when a major conference on theology and culture is held at the Divinity School, April 22-23. Entitled Culturing Theologies, Theologizing Cultures: Exploring the Worlds of Religion, the conference will bring together scholars and practitioners to re-examine the role and value of culture in theological reflection and the role and value of theology in cultural reflection. The conference was planned by House Scholars Garry Sparks and Chris Dorsey and is offered as the Divinity School’s Sharpe Lectures; it is co-sponsored by Disciples Divinity House’s Hoover Lectures. Lecturers include Webb Keane, Kathryn Tanner, William Schweiker, Larry Bouchard, Robert Franklin, and Jean Comaroff. Panel presentations feature the work of Mr. Sparks, Mr. Dorsey, and fellow House Scholars Santiago Piñón, Jr., and Kristel Clayville. The conference is featured in a recent article in DisciplesWorld magazine.
House Scholar profiled in Christian Century article
04.10.09 - "No doubt there is a thin line between being a pastor and being a performer," Jayson Byassee observes in a recent Christian Century article. Thinking that "pastors probably can learn something from professional performers about the practice of ministry," he interviews four former professional performers who have become or are becoming pastors. Among them is current Disciples Divinity House Scholar Rebecca Anderson, who reflects on parallels between her work as a comedian and the vocation of preaching that she is now pursuing. Read the article.
Ecumenism to be highlighted on April 6
03.20.09 - A commitment to ecumenical and interfaith conversation has long been a feature of the Disciples Divinity House. This year, Ian Gerdon, a Roman Catholic M.Div. student and long-time House resident, is completing an internship in ecumenical ministry at DDH and in other venues. His ministry has included organizing a study group on the Disciples-Roman Catholic bilateral dialogue and regular evening prayer; he will speak in chapel on April 6. That same evening, Robert Welsh, who is the chief ecumenical officer of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), will present a forum about the work of the Council on Christian Unity.
03.13.09 - Early in March, six Disciples Divinity House Scholars made a pilgrimage to Nashville for the Disciples Seminarians' Conference. Organized by Higher Education and Leadership Ministries (HELM) and sponsored by the General ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the biennial gathering provides an opportunity to meet other new leaders and to learn about resources for ministry. It was held March 5-8 at the Scarritt-Bennett Center, which is adjacent to the Disciples of Christ Historical Society and near the Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt. Grants from DDH and HELM underwrote travel expenses to the conference. The roots of the Seminarians' Conference can be traced to a pilgrimage made by seven House Scholars and Dean Blakemore in 1953. Click here to read an account of that trek. Click here to read House Scholar Adam Frieberg's reflections on the 2009 conference, as reported by alumnus Ryan Singleton in DisciplesWorld.
New CWS post brings Vietnamese refugee full circle
02.24.09 - Alumnus Vy Nguyen is now the assistant director for Church World Service's California/Southwest Region. He and his father were resettled in the U.S. from Vietnam by the Disciples and CWS in 1990, arriving just two days after Vy's eighth birthday. An article in DisciplesWorld tells how Vy Nguyen's personal background proves valuable in his new position with the global, ecumenical organization. Read the story.
"Perspectives on Community" panel considers intentional religious communities
02.24.09 - Ian Gerdon, a Roman Catholic M.Div. student, has thought a lot about community during his years as a resident of the Disciples Divinity House. Reflecting on the possibilities and frustrations of shared life, work, and worship at the House, he proposed to arrange a panel exploring patterns of and theological perspectives on community. Thanks to his organization and gracious hosting, that panel came to fruition on Monday, February 23. Assembled to share their perspectives were: Alexandra Conroy, Executive Director of L'Arche Community of Chicago; Elbert Lott, core member of L'Arche Community; DDH alumnus Ross Martinie Eiler, who is co-founder of Christian Radical/Catholic Worker House in Bloomington, Indiana; Edward Glanzmann, Novice Master of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Chicago; and Tom Roddy of Reba Place Fellowship in Evanston, Illinois.
Faculty speak about current work in DDH Forum 
02.03.09 - Jeffrey Stackert, who joined the Divinity School faculty this year as Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible, spoke at a DDH Forum on Monday evening, February 2. His talk, "Seeking Asylum at the Altar: Conceptualizations in the Hebrew Bible," discussed the notion of altar asylum in the Hebrew Bible against the background of blood vengeance and in relation to later notions of city asylum. Prof. Stackert is the second faculty member to present a forum this year; Prof. Willemien Otten spoke in the fall quarter.
In Memoriam: Robert Sulanke
01.30.09 - Robert G. Sulanke (1935), an esteemed congregational minister and church leader, died January 15 at Westminster Health Care in Muncie, Indiana. He was 95. A native of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Lynchburg College, Mr. Sulanke received his B.D. degree from the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar in 1938. That same summer, he married Francis Abney of Chicago. The couple moved to Maryland where he served Beaver Creek Christian Church and, later, Govens Christian Church in Baltimore. In 1947 the Sulankes moved to Muncie to begin what became a thirty-five year ministry with Jackson Street Christian Church (later renamed Hazelwood Christian Church). Under his leadership, the church moved from a landlocked location in downtown Muncie to an eight acre estate near the Ball State campus. The new building was completed in 1954; when the congregation moved in, they were debt free. He served on the boards of the Pension Fund and of Church Extension. In 1962, Christian Theological Seminary awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree.
Mr. Sulanke retired in 1982 at age 70. He then served two interim ministries in Kokomo, Indiana, one for six years. He led an active life well into his nineties, walking over a mile each day and serving as the volunteer chaplain at Westminster Village where he and his wife lived. Frances Sulanke preceded him in death in 2007; they are survived by four children, seven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. Mr. Sulanke explained that as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar, he was “taught to appreciate the past but to live in the present.” He provided for the education of today's House Scholars through an estate gift arranged through the Christian Church Foundation.
Conference to re-examine theology and culture01.14.09 - A spring conference will bring together scholars and practitioners to re-examine the role and value of culture in theological reflection and the role and value of theology in cultural reflection. Where and how do new theologies and theories of culture intersect? How do these emergent perspectives aid interpretation of and engagement within the ecumene, the whole encultured world? Entitled Culturing Theologies, Theologizing Cultures: Exploring the Worlds of Religion, the conference will be held April 22-23. Planned as the Divinity School’s Sharpe Lectures, it is co-sponsored by the Disciples Divinity House’s Hoover Lectures. Conference organizers are Garry Sparks and Chris Dorsey, both theology Ph.D. candidates and Disciples Divinity House Scholars.
University of Michigan anthroplogist Webb Keane, author of Christian Moderns: Freedom and Fetish in the Mission Encounter, will keynote the conference. Opening and closing lectures will be given by Divinity School professors Kathryn Tanner and William Schweiker, respectively. University of Virginia professor and DDH Board president Larry Bouchard will speak about art, secularism, and “spirituality.” Other speakers are Chicago anthropologists Jean Comaroff and Robin Shoaps, Morehouse College president Robert Franklin, and Columbia philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne. Two sets of panel presentations will explore theological worlds within contemporary Palestine, Southern India, and Senegal, and historic intersections of cultures and ideas including 16th-century Spanish scholastic humanism and land theology in the book of Leviticus. Panelists include Mr. Sparks, Mr. Dorsey, and Divinity House Scholars Kristel Clayville and Santiago Piñón, Jr.
"The Arts of Leading across Diversity" series inaugurated
12.10.08 - A three-part forum during the 2008-09 academic year will bring together Disciples leaders, especially young adult and emerging leaders, to discuss "the arts of leading across diversity." The series is planned and hosted by Ayanna Johnson, DDH's Minister-in-Residence, the current First Vice Moderator of the Christian Church in the U.S. and Canada, and a new church pastor. Sandhya Jha was the first guest on November 17. She has recently completed Room at the Table: Struggle for Unity and Equality in Disciples History (Chalice Press, forthcoming), which surveys the history of Disciples of nonwhite ethnic backgrounds in the United States. Ms. Jha is the Minister of the First Christian Church of Oakland, California, and the Minister of Transformation for the Northern California-Nevada region. The next session in the series is scheduled for Monday, February 9.
University initiative benefits entering Ph.D. students
12.01.08 - As of this fall, the University of Chicago’s $55 million graduate aid initiative includes entering Ph.D. students in the Divinity School. Future Disciples House Ph.D. students will be included in this initiative. The initiative provides entering Ph.D. students with a five-year financial aid package of full tuition, a $20,000 stipend, health benefits, plus funding for two summers of research. “This is good news for the Disciples Divinity House,” Dean Kris Culp commented. “It will extend generous support to new Ph.D. students, while allowing limited House resources to be focused on M.Div. students, on a select number of A.M. students, and on advanced Ph.D. students who are completing their dissertations." Previously, DDH awarded its entering Ph.D. Scholars 60% tuition or $21,300 at 2008-09 rates, a modest stipend ($3,300), and housing assistance. (The Divinity School provided the remaining 40% of tuition and sometimes an additional stipend.) “We are committed to continuing a program of shared intellectual, theological, and vocational inquiry that includes all Disciples Scholars—M.Div., A.M., and Ph.D. students,” Culp added. The Scholarship Committee of the Board of Trustees has been studying the implications of the funding initiative for the DDH’s entire scholarship program.
Chicago Disciples' efforts help document immigrant concerns in recent election
11.25.08 - Alumna April Lewton, current Ph.D. student Garry Sparks, and Disciples colleague Jessica Vazquez Torres worked to document the concerns of immigrants by helping to conduct exit polls in the November election. Their efforts were reported by DisciplesWorld magazine. Read the story.
114th academic year opens
10.03.08 - The 114th academic year of the Disciples Divinity House opened on September 29. Teresa Hord Owens, alumna and Dean of Students of the University of Chicago Divinity School, preached the opening chapel service. Taking Psalm 1.1-3 as her text, she reflected on the beginning of her own studies as a House Scholar and the many streams that nourish study. This fall, three new Disciples Divinity House Scholars have joined nineteen returning Scholars. They are: Anna Liv Gibbons, a 2008 Religious Studies graduate of Grinnell College who is a member of First Christian Church, Eugene, Oregon; Katherine Raley, a 2007 cum laude graduate of Furman University and member of First Christian Church, Columbia, South Carolina; and Jonathan Wallace, a 2008 graduate of the University of Memphis and member of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, where he also served as a youth minister.
In Memoriam: Dan B. Genung
08.15.08 - Dan B. Genung (1938), recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1993 for his remarkable ministry, died August 12 at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California. He was 93. In 1942, after Mr. Genung received his A.M. and B.D. degrees from the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar, newlyweds Dan and Frances Genung were called by the Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples of Christ to South Central Los Angeles. They established a new church and community center in facilities vacated when its previous congregants, citizens of Japanese descent, were confined in WWII detention camps. Against a backdrop of racial intolerance and high tension, the Genungs created the racially integrated All Peoples Christian Church and the All Peoples Community Center, whose multi-ethnic community and service in the inner city continue to this day. Dan Genung’s fifty year ministry later included service in three other congregations. Also distinguished by his journalistic skill, he was the author of A Street Called Love, about his experience at All Peoples, and of Death in His Saddlebags, a history of Arizona territory from 1863-1916, based on his grandfather’s memoirs. He is survived by Francis, and by their four children. A memorial service is planned at Pilgrim Place on September 20. For his Distinguished Alumnus address, click here.
Engineering study underway
07.11.08 - The engineering firm of Jacobs Carter Burgess is conducting a study of the DDH building this summer. Working in consultation with long-time DDH architect Paul Steinbrecher, they are assessing what is needed to air condition the kitchen and dining areas, the environmental and energy effects of the building, and what is needed to prepare for accessibility. Initial observations suggest that the 1928 building is already more energy efficient than might be supposed. However, its sturdy construction poses challenges for air-conditioning and accessibility needs.
In Memoriam: Harry B. Partin
06.19.08 - Alumnus Harry B. Partin (1947) died June 10 in Durham, North Carolina. He was 82. Mr. Partin was a professor of the History of Religions at Duke University for thirty years in the Department of Religion and also in the Graduate Program in Religion. Born in Nicholasville, Kentucky, he graduated from Transylvania University. As a Disciples Divinity House Scholar, and earned his B.D., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees at the Divinity School. Before he joined the Duke faculty in 1964, he served on the staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland, where he conducted a five-year study of the relations between Christians and adherents of other major religions, principally Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Trained particularly in Islamic history and religion, his broader interests included the history and phenomenology of religion. Later in his career, he developed an interest in the study of “new religions” and, in 1988, co-authored Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America with Robert Ellwood, which became a widely used college text. Mr. Partin was a Danforth Fellow and a member of the Committee on History of Religions of the American Council of Learned Societies. He was a longtime member of the Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Durham. He is survived by his wife of more than fifty years, Marilyn Partin, and their three children.
Entering Scholars for 2008 announced
06.15.08 - Three individuals have been selected as Disciples Divinity House Scholars beginning in fall 2008. They are Anna Liv Gibbons, a 2008 Religious Studies graduate at Grinnell College who is a member of First Christian Church, Eugene, Oregon; Katherine Raley, a 2007 cum laude graduate of Furman University and member of First Christian Church, Columbia, South Carolina; and Jonathan Wallace, a 2008 graduate of the University of Memphis, where he majored in African and African-American Studies, and a member of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. They were selected from a highly competitive pool. Each has been awarded full M.Div. tuition, a $3,000 stipend, and free housing or a housing subsidy. As Disciples Divinity House Scholars they will participate in a teaching/learning ethos that undergirds their preparation for ministry and fosters excellence in leadership and scholarship. They will join nineteen returning Disciples Divinity House Scholars who are earning M.Div., A.M., or Ph.D. degrees at the world-renowned University of Chicago Divinity School.
Author and global missionary speaks at Convocation
06.13.08 - Ana K. Gobledale spoke at the Annual Convocation of the Disciples Divinity House on Thursday, June 12. An alumna and author, she has recently returned from Mulgrave, Australia, where she was Professor of Practical Ministry at the Churches of Christ Theological College. The convocation marked the close of the 113th academic year and celebrated graduating Disciples Divinity House Scholars. The tradition began in 1933.
Underwood featured in AP story on religion and politics
04.25.08 - An Associated Press story about young activists, religion, and politics features House Scholar Beau Underwood. In it, reporter Lillian Cunningham writes, "Beau Underwood is putting his faith in politics. He's a 22-year-old at the University of Chicago Divinity School, an active member of the Disciples of Christ and -- in his spare time -- he's showing candidates that the path to political righteousness doesn't always veer right...." Click here to read the article
Townes recognized as Divinity School Alumna of the Year
04.17.08 - Emilie M. Townes, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale Divinity School and a former DDH resident, delivered her Alumna of the Year address, "The Dancing Mind," at the Divinity School on April 17, 2008. She was selected for the honor by the Board of Trustees of the Baptist Theological Union. After earning her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her M.A. and D.Min. from the Divinity School, Ms. Townes earned her Ph.D. from the Joint Garrett-Northwestern University Program in Religious and Theological Studies in 1989. She is ordained in the American Baptist Church. She previously taught at Union Theological Seminary, Saint Paul School of Theology, and DePaul University. She is the author of Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil, Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care, and In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness, and Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope. In addition, she is the editor of two volumes: A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering and Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation. This year she became the first African American woman to serve as president of the American Academy of Religion.
In Memoriam: Harold E. Ranton
Harold E. Ranton (1948) died February 27 in Sacramento, California. He was 87. Mr. Ranton served in World War II as a sea-search radar technician for the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific Theater. A graduate of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, he earned his B.D. as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar at the University of Chicago. After his ordination, he was called to the First Christian Church of Eureka, California, where he served for twenty-five years. From 1977 to 1985, he served Freeport Boulevard Christian Church in Sacramento, California. He was named Minister Emeritus of the South Sacramento Ecumenical Parish. After his retirement, he served a number of interim ministries and also did pulpit supply in area churches. He is survived by his wife of twenty-three years, Janice Ranton, four children, three step-children, two sisters, and two brothers.
Anne Carr, Theologian, 1934-2008
02.14.08 - University of Chicago News Office
Saint Andrew Leadership Initiative to be Established
10.26.07 - A $100,000 pledge over five years will establish the “Saint Andrew Leadership Initiative” at the Disciples Divinity House. The Initiative will help make possible internships as part of the DDH scholarship program. The Initiative honors Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas, and extends their commitment to visionary leadership in ministry.
