Rebecca Anderson (2007) curated a Story Hour at the Regional Assembly of the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin in October. Yvonne Gilmore (2001; associate dean), Judith Guy (2013), and current scholars Sarah Zuniga and Hiatt Allen were among the story tellers.

Tabitha Isner (2005) was featured in the October 17 New York Times Magazine article, “Struggling to Bring the ‘Blue Wave’ to Deep Red Alabama.” It portrays her as pursuing “a calling to be in the race,” even if a win was “nearly impossible.” Against formidable odds, she garnered 38.5% of the vote for the Alabama 2nd Congressional race.

Michael Karunas (1995; trustee) performed the Gospel of Mark at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago on October 14.

Yvonne Gilmore (2001; associate dean) and Sandhya Jha (2001) were the keynote speakers for the 2018 Capital Area Regional Assembly.

Sympathy to Irami and Bonnie Osei-Frimpong (2005) on the death of her father, David William Carenen, on September 13, 2018. 

Carolyn Crook Long, 85, widow of alumnus Arthur Long (1950) died at her home in Elyria, Ohio, on August 3, 2018, following an extended illness. Mrs. Long was born in Wadsworth, Ohio, in 1932. She graduated from Hiram College in 1954. In August, she married Rev. Arthur Long, whom she met on summer staff at Camp Christian when she was 17. They raised three daughters and were married for 49 years until his death. The Longs served the Ohio communities where Mr. Long ministered: Champion, Crooksville, and Elyria. After earning education credentials at Ohio University, Mrs. Long was a dedicated teacher at Crooksville High School for more than two decades, retiring to Elyria. Active in religious and civic organizations and musical groups throughout her life, she most recently served as an elder, pianist, and choir member of Washington Avenue Christian Church in Eyria. She volunteered at the Salvation Army and with the public library. She is survived by her daughters, Janet A. Long (Daniel Clark), Rachel Long (Robert Mattox), and Barbara J. Long; and by a granddaughter, her sister, Alice Crook Massay, and extended family. Her daughter, Janet Long, officiated at her memorial service.

PhD student Mark Lambert will present "Holy Host, Holy Sores: The Franciscan Connection between Leprosy and the Eucharist," at a conference at McGill University September 20-22, 2018. Leprosy and the ‘Leper’ Reconsidered is an interdisciplinary conference that aims to bring together historians working in many periods and many countries, social scientists, physicians and biomedical scientists to begin a conversation that will unify and broaden the discourse on leprosy sufferers and leprosy (Hansen's disease). Focusing on Francis and Angela of Foligno, Mr. Lambert argues that "the Franciscan tradition, with its emphasis on materiality, was host to a fertile linkage between leprosy and the Eucharist that centered on the potentiality of corruptible and decay-prone matter to reveal the divine. Likewise, the mingling of leprosy with Eucharistic language permitted a theological trafficking between the comfort and confusion afforded by the shared vulnerability and pliability of God’s physicality in the Incarnation and that of our own. I propose that leprosy, at least in the Franciscan tradition, was neither an episodic distraction nor a self-evident prop but rather a vehicle for sophisticated (and sometimes subversive) theological reflection."

Congratulations to Casey and Beau Underwood (2006) on the birth of Thomas Jesse Underwood on September 10! 

Colton Lott (2015) was installed as the Senior Minister of First Christian Church, El Reno, Oklahoma, on September 9.

In her Christian Century review of Faithful and Fractured: Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis (September 5), Cynthia Lindner (1978) commends the book’s research, but says greater attention is needed to discernment as theological work. She calls for “a theological model for what we must yet become: fearless and future-leaning.”