MDiv alumni/ae retreat
The Disciples Divinity House and the Divinity School co-sponsored a retreat for younger MDiv alumni/ae on September 16-17. Twenty-eight alums gathered from across the continent, Canada to Florida, and from a wide range of ministerial careers to converse about “Integrity, Multiple-Mindedness, and Innovation” with professors Kris Culp, Cynthia Lindner, and Dwight Hopkins, and to share the gifts of collegiality and reflection. Aaron Smith and Paul Ford are pictured here.
Kris Culp explored “integrity” through the autobiographies of Dorothy Day and Malcolm X. Cynthia Lindner talked about “multiplicity,” the subject of her recent book, Varieties of Gifts. Dwight Hopkins shared his approach to “innovation” and his plans for future research. These seminars, together with the play Ultra American, provided rich fodder for understanding and complicating narratives about ministry and the well-lived ministerial life.
A $15,000 grant from the Oreon E. Scott Foundation provides significant support for both the alumni/ae retreat and the Constructive Theologies Project. Both events resource the development of peer leadership projects and of new models of alumni/ae learning. An intergenerational retreat is being planned in consultation with the DDH Alumni/ae Council for fall 2017. Associate Dean Yvonne Gilmore is the project director.