David Nirenberg, who has served as interim dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School since 2018, has been appointed dean, University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer and Provost Ka Yee C. Lee announced. Nirenberg, the Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Distinguished Service Professor of Medieval History and Social Thought, is a leading scholar of the ways in which Jewish, Christian, and Islamic societies have interacted with and thought about each other. As interim dean, he has advanced the Divinity School’s efforts to bring informed discourse on religion to a global audience.

Prior to leading the Divinity School, he served as executive vice provost, focusing on issues of critical importance related to administrative coordination between the divisions and the College. He also strengthened resources for graduate students, including serving as chair of the Graduate Education Committee, which assessed the current state of graduate education at the University. He previously served as dean of the Division of the Social Sciences from 2014 to 2018 and was the founding Roman Family Director of the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. He holds an MA and PhD in history from Princeton University and an AB from Yale University.

His new term begins July 1, 2022, at which time he will take a one-year sabbatical. James T. Robinson, the Caroline E. Haskell Professor of the History of Judaism, Islamic Studies and the History of Religions, has agreed to serve as interim dean during this time. Read the original story on the University of Chicago News site.

Ayanna Johnson Watkins, Lead Organizer for MICAH (Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope), a coalition of community and faith-based organizations, will preach for the first chapel service of the winter quarter on January 11. She is a joint MDiv and MA in Social Service Administration graduate and a current member of DDH's Alumni/ae Council. She previously led NBA's Incubate initiative, and had served as a new church minister in residence at DDH. She is back by popular demand after participating in a panel discussion during the autumn quarter.

She heads a calendar of diverse offerings for the quarter. On January 25, alums Tabitha Isner, a former Alabama congressional candidate, and Rob Wilson-Black, CEO of Sojourners, will discuss "Religion and the 2020 Election." On February 15, Erin Galgay Walsh, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Divinity School, will present, "Speaking in Her Voice: Late Antique Poets and Biblical Storytelling." On March 8, alumna and Gilead Church co-founder Rebecca Anderson will take up storytelling in a different vein with "Campfire Stories." 

The quarter will also feature the preaching of House Scholars Aneesah Ettress and Sarah Zuniga in the February and March chapel services. W. Clark Gilpin advances teaching and learning with two sessions of the Disciples History and Thought Seminar, both in February. All programs will convene virtually during the winter quarter.

At DDH we knew Eddie Evans Griffin best as a key officer of the Board of Trustees, a mentor to students, and a lover of the Chapel of the Holy Grail. She was a pioneer in several realms. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from what is now Clark Atlanta University, she became the first Black student to enter (and to graduate from) the Master of Social Work program at the University of Illinois. "She took life on," her dear friend Dolores Highbaugh remarked. She died December 21, 2020, after having been in hospice care. She was 85.

Born August 10, 1935 to Myrtle and Lorenzo Evans, Eddie Lo Evans spent her formative years in Indianapolis, where her father, an academic, served as the first African American staff of the National Convocation in Christian education, beginning in 1947. (In 1960-61 he became one of the first group of the merger staff of the NCMC and UCMC.) After graduate school, she married John Griffin and moved to Chicago. He predeceased her. Most of her professional career was at the Chicago Child Care Society. She began as a case worker, working primarily with sexually active teen girls; she served as a field education supervisor for the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration. She became a senior administrator with CCCS and retired as Director of the Chicago Comprehensive Care Center.

In 1999, and within a few years after she was first elected to the DDH Board of Trustees, Eddie Griffin became an officer of the board. Her experience as a leader of nonprofit organizations, her commitment to higher and theological education, her mentorship of students, and her knowledge of the church in every manifestation, as well as her wisdom and skill in decisions and processes contributed decisively to the Board’s work. She served on the Executive Committee for twelve years: as Vice President from January 2005 until December 2011, when she stepped down from the board, and as Secretary from 1999 through 2004. She knew the student community well as a regular participant in Monday dinners, programs, chapel services, as well as at Convocation and other special events. She took special pleasure and solace in the Chapel of the Holy Grail.

She was an elder at Park Manor Christian Church and a longtime Sunday school teacher. At Park Manor she was also a chair of the board, sponsor of the college program, chair of the Christian Women’s Fellowship (now Disciples Women), and a member of the Spires Women’s Group. Mrs. Griffin was a leader within the general church and served on the General Board, the Time and Place Committee, and the New Church Start Committee. She wrote meditations for women’s groups. She worked with the Chicago Disciples Union. When she became the Moderator of the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), she was the first Black female to hold that role. During that time, she was also elected Secretary for the Conference of Regional Ministers and Moderators. In 2012, she was recognized as one of three inaugural recipients of the CCIW’s Disciple of Merit award.

Eddie Lo Evans Griffin is survived by her sister Stacy Duke (King), son Brian (Luba), and grandchildren. A virtual memorial service was held on January 16 at Park Manor Christian Church.

We are saddened to learn of the death of Robert Searle Bates (1950) on December 8 in Indianapolis. He was 92. He capped a lifelong career with Global Ministries by serving as the Area Executive for East Asia and the Pacific. Bob and Sue Bates began their careers as mission co-workers in India in the 1950s. He earned BD, MA, and PhD degrees at the Divinity School as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar.

He was born on September 22, 1928, in Shanghai, China. He attended high school in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. After graduating from Hiram College, he entered the University of Chicago as a Disciples Divinity House Scholar in 1950. He was ordained at University Church in 1953. In 1957, he married Margaret Sue Gillespie, and they went to India as mission co-workers, appointed by the United Christian Missionary Society. They worked alongside student Christian movements in Bangalore and Sri Lanka and taught at Leonard Theological College in in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. They returned to the US in 1970. In 1974, he completed his PhD, which focused on Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. They moved to Indianapolis in 1972, where he joined the faculty of Christian Theological Seminary as an assistant professor of Church and Urban Community, serving until 1976. He directed the Survey of Undergraduate Religious Studies in Colleges and Universities of Indiana, before beginning work with the Division of Overseas Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 1978. He served DOM as Executive Secretary for the Department of Interpretation and Personnel until 1983, when he became the Executive Secretary of the Department of East Asia and the Pacific of the Division of Overseas Ministries. He retired in 1993.

Bob and Sue Bates were members of Allisonville Christian Church and served in the first group of Regional Elders for the Christian Church in Indiana. He served on the DDH Alumni/ae Council. In 2010, on one of their return trips to DDH, the Bates presented a forum on their 2008 trip to Nanjing, China. Bob Bates’s earliest years were lived in Nanjing, China, where his father, M. Searle Bates, taught history at the University of Nanking. He left Nanjing at age 12 with his mother and brother before Japanese troops invaded China in 1937. His father helped to create the Nanking Safety Zone, which protected thousands of Chinese civilians while bearing witness to the atrocities that resulted in the massacre of 300,000 civilians and the rape of women and girls. Today, the Nanjing Massacre Museum remembers the tragedy and the heroism and courage of the international committee. In 2008, Bob and Sue Bates, with their daughters and grandchildren returned to Nanjing to pray for peace, to celebrate Bob’s 80th birthday, and to visit the museum. Sue Bates died in March 2019. They are survived by daughters Karen Bates Hudson and Kristen Bates-Scott and extended family.

In Autumn 2013, Yvonne T. Gilmore became Associate Dean of the Disciples Divinity House. During these past seven years, she has invested intellect and imagination in DDH, in fact, she has exemplified critical thinking and vision for the DDH community and the wider church. She has also exemplified gratitude as she worked with family to bring the Teresa M. Gilmore Fund into being and with donors, especially younger alumni/ae. Among DDH students, she fostered camaraderie and conversation, shared worship and work, as she collaborated to arrange Chapel worship and Monday programs. Grants from the Oreon E. Scott Foundation and another from Reconciliation undergirded the “Constructive Theologies Project” and allowed her to partner with Cynthia Lindner and the Divinity School to sponsor several alumni/ae retreats. She has also worked with Disciples organizations across the country as an anti-racism trainer, and been a featured preacher and speaker at many events. With alumna Rebecca Anderson’s expertise and collaboration, they developed several “DDH StoryHour” events. Most recently, another grant from the Oreon E. Scott Foundation is allowing her to partner with Sandhya Jha for a new project entitled, “Living Justice: An Anti-Racism Practicum.” These are substantive initiatives that have shaped the House and its future.

At the end of November, she will conclude her work as Associate Dean in order to take on a new challenge and opportunity as Interim Executive Secretary of the National Convocation and Associate General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). We are already missing Yvonne Gilmore's style, spark, humor, insight and vision. Our consolation is that she has important work to do there, and, even more, we know she will always be a DDH alumna, and in that sense (and surely in many other ways), she will always be part of “the House.”

When her grandmother, Teresa Gilmore, died—who is remembered in the new fund—Yvonne wrote these words about her. They also apply to Yvonne herself: "She outgrew straight lines before I ever learned to describe them / she was an epic hymn sung in rounds worth repeating." The work of DDH and its students has been enriched and strengthened through the extraordinary companionship of Yvonne Gilmore—and by an epic hymn to move us as we go.

Cynthia Lindner, a DDH alumna and trustee who is Director of Ministry Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, wrote about "The Precariousness of Care" in late October. "Attending to each other and our communities is costly, messy, exhausting — and vital," she observes. It was one of her regular postings for Sightings, a publication of the Marty Center of the University of Chicago Divinity School. Read this and other reflections on religion in a time of pandemic and upheaval in her posts (navigation will take you away from the DDH website).

A stunning bronze sculpture by Richard Hunt will crown renovations to the Disciples Divinity House that symbolize welcome and provide barrier-free access to the historic building.

A magnificent gift in honor of James E. Stockdale funded the courtyard redesign and related renovations to ensure access to the first floor. When University Christian Church in Seattle, Washington, ceased its common life in 2018, the congregation wanted to honor him, their esteemed former minister. The sculpture was commissioned by the family of Thomas V. Stockdale in his memory. He was Minister Emeritus of Union Avenue Christian Church in St. Louis.

One of the most important sculptors of our time, Richard Hunt became the first African American artist to have a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1971). Over 150 of his public sculptures are displayed throughout the US, including in the National Museum of African American History and Culture and in a current solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mr. Hunt's sculpture creates a conversation between fluidity and metal’s strength, form and transformation. In the accompanying photo, he and the model for the sculpture are seen in his Chicago studio. The artist's direct metal technique involves cutting, shaping, and welding sheets of bronze into a shape-shifting, ascending form.

Richard Hunt grew up in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. His history converges with that of Jim and Tom Stockdale on East 57th Street: as young man, Richard had taken classes at the University of Chicago and worked in the biology laboratories a block away from DDH where Jim and Tom Stockdale both studied.

James E. and Thomas V. Stockdale grew up in Peoria, Illinois, where both graduated from Bradley University before coming to the University of Chicago Divinity School as Disciples Divinity House Scholars, Jim arrived in Chicago in 1952; after graduation and ordination in 1956, he served Orchard Street Church in nearby Blue Island before moving downstate to Mount Carmel. In the mid-sixties, he was called to University Christian Church in Seattle, from which he retired in 1994. He was a member of the DDH Board of Trustees from 1985-2019.

Tom followed his older brother to DDH and the University in 1956, graduating in 1960. He served Disciples congregations in Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, Nebraska, and Maryland. From 1986-99 he was the senior minister of Union Avenue Christian Church in St. Louis. After his death in 2016, his family decided to commission a sculpture in his memory. They envisioned an angelic evocation that would remember him and inspire future generations of House Scholars; they discovered the remarkable artistry and vision of Richard Hunt.

Tom and Jim Stockdale were both devoted to congregational life and worship, to ecumenism, and to social and community outreach. Each loved the arts—music, visual arts, architecture, theater, theology, and poetry. In their lives and ministries—as in Richard Hunt's sculpture—form was ever being transformed, with God's spirit descending, ascending, and ever-moving amidst the earthen stuff of shared life.

The courtyard and sculpture will be dedicated on October 24 at 1:00 pm, CDT. The dedication will be videocast. RSVP here.

Scholarship funds allow Disciples Divinity House Scholars to immerse themselves in learning without incurring significant debt. Student achievement and promise have been recognized with these special awards. 

Several awards have been established or will be fully funded as part of DDH's 125th anniversary. These include the Martin Family Scholarship, being awarded for the first time to Joel Brown (see related article), and the Dr. Geunhee and Mrs. Geunsoon Yu Scholarship, which was newly awarded last year to Aneesah Ettress, a third-year MDiv student. The Yu scholarship recognizes high promise for innovative pastoral and intellectual leadership, especially within multicultural contexts.

The Edward Scribner Ames Scholarship for high academic achievement has been awarded to Mark Lambert, a PhD candidate in Theology, his dissertation is titled, “The Sacramental Sickness: The Perceptual Interplay between the Eucharist and the Leper-Christ in Medieval Theology.” The William Barnett Blakemore Scholarship for ecumenical vision and academic achievement has been awarded to Benny VanDerburgh, a second-year MDiv student, DDH librarian this year and co-convener of Open Space, a weekly ritual gathering for students at the Divinity School. Landon Wilcox, a second-year MDiv student and Head Resident this year, is the Bernard F. and Annie Mae Cooke Scholar. The scholarship was established by a spirited lay woman from Houston who prized excellence in ministry.

MDiv student Ross Allen is the recipient of the M. Elizabeth Dey Scholarship. LaSalle Street Church is his field education placement site. Emily Springer, second-year MDiv student, is the recipient of the Drum and Tenant Scholarship. Gilead is her field education placement site. Both of these scholarships were established by Katherine Dey, who wanted to remember her grandmother and dear friends.

The Henry Barton Robison Scholarship is awarded to Paige Spencer, a second-year MA student, for promise in biblical studies. Hiatt Allen was awarded the Rolland and Laura Frances Sheafor Scholarship which was established by a longtime DDH trustee who was the founding president of the Christian Church Foundation and his wife. A dual degree student, he is studying at the Harris School of Public Policy this year. Third-year MDiv Sarah Zuniga is the recipient of the M. Ray and Phyllis Schultz Scholarship which recognizes promise for congregational ministry. She is working as a digital content special at Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training this year. Ainsley Grey, first-year MDiv student, is the Oreon E. Scott Entering Scholar. Alexa Dava, first-year MDiv student, is the William N. Weaver Entering Scholar.  

The Martin Family Scholarship for leadership in congregational ministry or scholarship and teaching, which was established at the Disciples Divinity House by Jerry and Donna Martin and Chad and Crista Martin, has reached the full funding level. It has been awarded for the first time in the 2020-21 academic year to House Scholar and PhD student Joel A. Brown.

The Martin family has seen the impact of DDH graduates firsthand. They established this scholarship to foster future leaders who will enrich the work of the church. Jerry Martin, a Disciples minister, got to know DDH and its students when he chaired the region’s Commission on Ministry. Donna Martin, who taught writing at a community college and was a lay leader in the region, especially appreciated the women graduates from the House she met in the wider church. An inheritance from her parents, Roy D. and Mary Zoe Heath, provided for the initial gift for this fund.

Chad Martin, their son, became a trustee. He had served with Kris Culp on the Administrative Committee of the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and also had the connection to the House through his parents. A graduate of TCU with an MBA from Stanford University, and now a CFO of a software company, he brought financial and executive expertise to the work of the DDH Board of Trustees. Over the last twenty years, he has served as its treasurer, president, and, most recently, chair of the 125th Anniversary Celebration and Campaign. Crista Martin’s passion has animated the family’s commitment to women in ministry, congregations, and intelligent leadership.

Joel Brown, a PhD candidate in Religions in America, is the inaugural recipient. He studies how leaders of Black Chicago congregations shaped the Social Gospel movement. He recently served as editor of Sightings, the biweekly electronic publication of the Martin E. Marty Center at the Divinity School, and co-taught the Senior Ministry Project Seminar with Cynthia Lindner. Joel and Erin Brown with their daughter Margot, are resident assistants in the Undergraduate Housing System.

A beautiful courtyard renovation symbolizes welcome and provides barrier-free access to this historic building. It will be dedicated October 24, 2020, at 1:00 pm, CDT. It will be videocast. Please reply here.

University Christian Church in Seattle, Washington, has honored James E. Stockdale, their esteemed and beloved former minister, with a magnificent gift of $500,000 to the Disciples Divinity House. The gift has enhanced the welcome of this historic building by providing for an ingenious courtyard design and adaptations to the first floor.

An alumnus, longtime trustee, and impassioned advocate of the Disciples Divinity House, Jim Stockdale depicted the House as a “threshold to excellence” for its centennial celebration. How fitting that this gift removes barriers at that threshold. Click here to read more. 

The videocast will be on a separate page of the DDH site, but also streamed on YouTube.