A charge for the sowers
Whatever is next, you have critical work ahead: to make stony ground viable, to tend land constantly so it isn't swallowed by thorns, and to spread the news of love, opportunity, inclusion, and the possibility of joy for everyone, to worry less about where it is spread than that it is spread.
Sandhya Jha, 2025 Convocation Address
Congratulations, graduates! MDiv graduates to the left: Lilia Ellis, Delaney Beh, and Delaney Wallace. PhD graduate Rachel Abdoler at center. AM graduates to the right: Wendy Hao Wang, Sai Srinivas, Ethan Yu, and Emma Yeager (not pictured: Noah Sveiven). All are Disciples Scholars or DDH residents who earned their degrees at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Convocation 2026. On Friday, June 5, DDH celebrated the close of its 131st academic year with an afternoon cookout (held indoors because of rain), chapel service, and champagne toasts and dessert out in the backyard, as evening fell and the rain cleared. Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson, chaplain, pastor, writer, and alumna, was this year's speaker.
Week of Compassion sponsors a Summer Immersion in International Disaster Response for Disciples Seminarians. This summer, Fiyori Kidane, rising second year Scholar, and Amelia Richter, entering Scholar, will be in Pakistan and the Philippines, respectively, to learn about locally led response and "to better understand how faith communities accompany one another in moments of vulnerability and rebuilding."
Rachel Abdoler, PhD candidate in History of Christianity, and Disciples House Scholar, spoke about her research on a 13th-century Coptic manuscript written in Arabic. A Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship allowed her to study medieval copies housed at the Vatican Library in Rome and in Egypt. She shared her travel experiences and manuscript study exploits on May 18.
Courage to be church: On May 11, Delaney Beh spoke about "renewing liberal Protestant discipleship in an age of uncertainty.” Their senior ministry project pointed to theological and practical tools within the liberal Protestant tradition to help confront precarity with hope rather than fear, inviting churches to consider the power of faithful discipleship amid an uncertain future.
Looking for an affordable, community-oriented housing arrangement for the 2026-27 academic year? Applications are open for Divinity School students to live at DDH. More information here.
