2022 Convocation: “Extending Exodus”
As DDH marked the close of its 127th academic year on June 3, Yvonne Gilmore exhorted the graduates to re-read religion and “make the exodus movement legible.” MA, MDiv, and PhD graduates were honored, including Disciples PhD graduates Joel Brown, who has been named President-elect of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, and Hyein Park, whose dissertation compares mysticism and theologies of suffering in Buddhist and medieval Christian women thinkers. Sarath Pillai, a longtime resident and recent Head Resident, will receive his PhD from the History Department with honors. All three anticipate receiving their degrees this summer. Four Disciples Scholars are spring or summer MDiv graduates. Ross Allen will be ordained in the Kansas Region and is currently interning at the Christian Century; Monica Carmean is also a JD graduate of Georgetown Law Center. Emily Griffith, whose senior ministry project explored resources for mental health and spiritual care, will begin a chaplain residency program at Rush Medical Center. Benny VanDerburgh will be a Theological Education Leadership Fellow at DDH. Three members of DDH’s interfaith residential community are MA graduates: Cetovimutti Cong, X.K. Ding, and Jeffrey Sanchez.
Yvonne Gilmore, Interim Administrative Secretary of the National Convocation and Associate General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was the speaker. Taking Hebrews 11:39-12:3 as her text, she spoke about “Extending Exodus” by re-reading religion, discovering community, and extending joy. “What makes exodus movement legible? What gives us eyes to see and comprehend the promise of liberation historically? What makes the work of exodus legible in the Hebrew Bible, in our text, and in the world today?,” Gilmore asked. “The subtext of our text is the practice of communal re-reading. It is re-reading religion that extends exodus movement and makes possibilities for future flourishing legible to us and our communities of care and service….” (more here)