A conference on May 19-20 will honor W. Clark Gilpin, the Margaret E. Burton Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Christianity and Theology, at his retirement from the Divinity School faculty. Entitled Writing Religion: Representation, Difference, and Authority in American Culture, the conference will ask how the project of "writing religion" has shaped questions about representation, difference, and authority in American culture. It features lectures by Divinity School colleagues Curtis Evans and Catherine Brekus, a panel discussion, and a lecture by Mr. Gilpin, "Writing Transcendence: When Words Exceed Themselves in Nineteenth-Century America."

Mr. Gilpin served as the Dean of the Disciples Divinity House from 1983-90, shaping a sense of call to leadership among House Scholars; he served as Dean of the Divinity School from 1990-2000, playing a remarkable and significant role in leading one of the major divinity schools in the world; and he was the first Director of the Marty Center, inaugurating new forms and venues of public conversation about religion. A historian of Christianity who studies the cultural history of theology in England and America since the seventeenth century, his first book was The Millenarian Piety of Roger Williams. While serving as dean, he wrote A Preface to Theology. Recent projects include work on the letter from prison as a genre of religious literature and a study of solitude in New England intellectuals. With Catherine Brekus, he recently edited a book entitled American Christianities. He earned his MA and PhD from the Divinity School as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar. He leads the Disciples History and Thought Seminar at the Disciples Divinity House, and he is a member of the Board of Trustees. Read the University's press release here.

Alumnus Ian J. McCrae died this morning at Belton Research Hospital in the greater Kansas City area. A memorial service will be held Monday, May 16, at 3:00 pm at Saint Andrew Christian Church in Olathe, Kansas, Holly McKissick, Senior Minister. He is survived by Cynthia McCrae, his wife of 60 years, and their five children, plus grandchildren, extended family, and many dear friends.

An educator, ethicist, and change agent, Ian James McCrae directed denominational efforts in human rights, economic justice, and global awareness for nearly thirty years, and also served in campus ministry and as a seminary professor. More recently, he was the Volunteer Assisting Minister at Saint Andrew Christian Church, where among other things, he had an important mentoring role with a new generation of Disciples House Scholars.

A native of Canada, he earned his A.B. from the University of Toronto and received his B.D. in 1950 from the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar. In Chicago he met Cynthia Rice, who was a student at Chicago Theological Seminary. They married in 1950. He received his S.T.M. from Yale Divinity School in 1958; in 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree by Christian Theological Seminary. In 2007, he was awarded DDH's Distinguished Alumnus Award. It commended him “for a lifetime of service across the breadth of the church” and specifically for his “keen mind, clear vision, and sharp wit and for vistas of mercy and justice opened because of them; for mentoring persons in ministry, amidst the priesthood of all believers; and for a life of faith that melds and models conviction, integrity, honesty, and humility.”

"Living with eyes opened means recognizing that this place we live in, here in this middle time between the empty tomb and the rise to heaven, is a place that is sometimes as filled with pain and grief as it is with life and love." Lee Hull Moses offered these reflections in a sermon that was broadcast on “Day 1,” a nationally syndicated radio program hosted by Peter Wallace, on May 8. Hull Moses, who is Senior Minister of First Christian Church of Greensboro, North Carolina, was featured in a special series, "Young Leaders of the Church.” An alumna and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Disciples Divinity House, she is the co-author of Gifts of Gilead and serves on the editorial board of Fidelia’s Sisters, an online publication of the Young Clergy Women Project.Her sermon, “Breaking Open,” explores the story of the two disciples’ post-resurrection walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:28-35). "That's where the church lives," she concluded, "in this world that is far too broken, offering little glimpses where grace breaks open and we can see that life just might win again." Listen here.

"Living with eyes opened means recognizing that this place we live in, here in this middle time between the empty tomb and the rise to heaven, is a place that is sometimes as filled with pain and grief as it is with life and love." Lee Hull Moses offered these reflections in a sermon that was broadcast on “Day 1,” a nationally syndicated radio program hosted by Peter Wallace, on May 8. Hull Moses, who is Senior Minister of First Christian Church of Greensboro, North Carolina, was featured in a special series, "Young Leaders of the Church.” An alumna and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Disciples Divinity House, she is the co-author of Gifts of Gilead and serves on the editorial board of Fidelia’s Sisters, an online publication of the Young Clergy Women Project.Her sermon, “Breaking Open,” explores the story of the two disciples’ post-resurrection walk to Emmaus (Luke 24:28-35). "That's where the church lives," she concluded, "in this world that is far too broken, offering little glimpses where grace breaks open and we can see that life just might win again."Listen here.

Rebecca Andersonwill be ordained Saturday, May 7, at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church in Chicago. The Illinois/Wisconsin Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); her home church, Hope Central (DoC/UCC) in Boston, and the congregation of the Holy Covenant, which has been a formative place of service for her---all invite your presence at and prayers for the service of ordination. Ms. Anderson entered the University of Chicago Divinity School's Master of Divinity program as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar; she graduated in June 2010. She is a BA graduate of Hampshire College where she majored in playwrighting; she also brings professional experience in stand up comedy, as a teacher, and as an interpreter at Hancock Shaker Village to her ministry.

Several shifts in staffing at the Disciples Divinity House will occur at the end of the current fiscal year, June 30. These plans, developed over the past year, address changing needs and situate the Disciples House to respond to new opportunities.

Effective July 1, Parag Shah, who has served as a contract accountant since 1996, will join the staff on a part-time basis to oversee finances. For nineteen years, he was the Associate Dean of Students in the Office of Graduate and Postgraduate Affairs of the University’s Biological Sciences Division. He is a CPA and is now building his accounting consulting business. Also on July 1, Administrator Marsha Peeler will move to 85% time. This will allow her to rebalance life, health, and work, and yet to remain fully engaged in the work of administering the House.

After nearly six years of service as Associate Dean, Brittany Barber will conclude her work on June 30, 2011. She has begun a paid study leave in order to devote her full energies to making the transition from responsibilities that focused on fundraising and interpretation to new opportunities for congregational ministry and direct service. Two current House Scholars Katherine Raley and Laura Jennison Reed, will each serve approximately half-time next academic year as Assistants to the Dean; both will be in their final year of MDiv studies. This summer, Ms. Reed will give full-time leadership to interpretation and development work, including coordinating DDH efforts at the Disciples General Assembly in July.

Dean Kris Culp commented, "The Board of Trustees and I are grateful for these individuals and for the opportunity to work with them over many years and in the future. We celebrate especially Brittany Barber's care for the House, its mission, its alumni/ae and friends, and its students, and we wish her the best in her new endeavors."

Two noted Disciples authors will discuss their scholarly collaboration and especially their three-volume commentary, "Preaching without Prejudice," on Monday, November 7. Clark M. Williamson is Indiana Professor of Christian Thought Emeritus at Christian Theological Seminary and a trustee of the Disciples Divinity House. A systematic theologian, he concentrates on rethinking Christian theology after the Holocaust. A Guest in the House of Israel: Post-Holocaust Church Theology and Way of Blessing, Way of Life: A Christian Theology are among his acclaimed books. Ronald J. Allen is the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Preaching and New Testament at CTS and the author or coauthor of more than 30 books. From 2000-2004, he directed a study about how people listen to sermons that was funded by the Lilly Endowment. Together, they wrote a three-volume commentary that identifies and proposes remedies for anti-Jewish tendencies in the common lectionary. The volumes are entitled Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews (2004), Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law (2006), and Preaching the Old Testament (2007), all published by Westminster John Knox Press. Allen and Williamson have collaborated on five other books.

Marvin E. Smith, former President of the Board of Trustees and Acting Dean of the Disciples Divinity House from 1975-77, died March 11 in Gainesville, Florida. He was 97. After receiving the AB and BD degrees from Drake University in 1938 and 1939; he enrolled in the Divinity School as a Disciples House Scholar. He studied Christian education with W.C. Bower and history with W. E. Garrison, and he received his BD from the University in 1941. A native of Illinois, Mr. Smith and his family traced their affiliation with the Christian Church back to Barton Stone's ministry in Jacksonville, Illinois.

In 1940 he married Grady Maxwell. Their two daughters, Emily and Eva, were born in Lewiston, Idaho, where Marvin served a nine-year pastorate. He later served the First Christian Church of Stockton, California, before moving to the Christian Board of Publication (CBP) in St. Louis. As Director of the Local Church Curriculum Division at CBP, he helped to launch the Christian Life Curriculum. For twelve of his nearly 20 years at CBP, he edited the educational leaders magazine, Bethany Guide. The Smiths were active members of Union Avenue Christian Church in St. Louis, and he taught the Interpreters Class.

Marvin Smith became a member of the Board of Trustees of the Disciples Divinity House in 1961.  He served as its President from 1972-75, and then again from 1977-1985. When Dean Blakemore died in 1975, Marvin Smith became Acting Director; he served in that capacity for two years, retiring from CBP to do so. He tended with care the full scope of the work of the Divinity House, from Board policies to the building's furnishings. Generations of students knew his interest and encouragement. In 1989 Mr. Smith was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Disciples Divinity House; in 1998, he was named an Honorary Trustee for Life.  He had previously been honored with Drake University’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award and with the honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Culver-Stockton College.

The funeral service was held at Carlock Christian Church (near Bloomington, Illinois) on Sunday, March 20. Samuel C. Pearson officiated; Katherine Kinnamon and Dean Kris Culp also participated. Marvin and Grady Smith spent their early retirement years in Carlock, where they maintained the family farm. After Grady's death in 1999, Marvin lived with his daughter, Emily Schwartz, in Gainesville, where he remained an avid reader and a volunteer. The day he died, he had gone to his volunteer work at 10:00 am, collapsed, was taken to the hospital, and died about noon of a massive heart attack. His daughters ask that memorial contributions be made to the Disciples Divinity House.

W. Clark Gilpin and April J. Lewton have been elected to the Board of Trustees. Clark Gilpin, an alumnus and former dean of the Disciples Divinity House and of the Divinity School, is the Margaret E. Burton Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Christianity and Theology in the Divinity School. Mr. Gilpin also leads the Disciples History and Thought Seminar at the Disciples Divinity House. April Lewton, an alumna of the Disciples Divinity House and the Divinity School, is Director of Annual Giving and Community Engagement at Chicago Theological Seminary. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Ms. Lewton is known for her generous and incisive leadership in the general, regional, and local church. She is the former Moderator of the North American Pacific Asian Disciples (NAPAD) and a current member of the General Board of the Christian Church and its Administrative Committee.

amyAmy A. Northcutt concludes eighteen years of service as a trustee in December. She was President of the Board from 1998-2004; recently she chaired its scholarship committee. During her presidency, the Board grappled with increased stress on endowment resources due to accelerating tuition costs and needed capital expenditures; over $2 million in estate or planned gifts were completed; a long range planning process clarified the work of the House; and a new model for the Board’s work was developed. An alumna who is Deputy General Counsel of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Ms. Northcutt recently has been named Acting Director of NSF’s Office of Information and Resource Management.

The stained glass windows in the Chapel of the Holy Grail were featured in a tour of stained glass in Chicago this fall and in a just-published newsletter. The September tour was offered by the Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation of Boston. The tour viewed windows that were designed by the Connick Studios: the 1928 windows at the Disciples Divinity House and those at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Bond Chapel, University Church, and the Quadrangle Club, among others. Former DDH resident Albert M. Tannler, who is Historical Collections Director, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, and a director of the Connick Foundation, was a co-organizer of the tour and authored the newsletter article. The chancel window depicts motifs, figures, and scenes from the story of the quest for the holy grail; the stunning window gave the chapel its name. (The central panel of the lower portion of the window is pictured to the left.)