Divinity school

School Notes: Yale Divinity School
July/August 2023

Gregory E. Sterling | http://divinity.yale.edu

YDS professor gives lectures at Oxford

Professor Willie James Jennings was selected to give Oxford University’s Bampton Lectures for 2023—the first African American tapped for the 243-year-old lecture series and one of the few Americans ever to earn the distinction. Jennings, associate professor of systematic theology and Africana studies, was slated to give the lectures at Oxford’s University Church on May 23 and May 30. The four-part series was titled “Jesus and the Displaced: Christology and the Redemption of Habitation.” Video of the lectures can be found on the YouTube page of University Church, Oxford.

Public theology center launches

A large crowd including numerous Yale dignitaries packed the Divinity School’s Old Refectory on April 5 for a celebration of the launch of the new Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at YDS, directed by famed religious leader Bishop William Barber. In an address punctuated by standing ovations at the beginning and end, Barber declared, “For every transformative movement in this country, somewhere in that mix has been the voice of religion shifting the narrative.” Barber told the crowd—which included provost Scott Strobel, Law School dean Heather Gerken, and Yale College dean Pericles Lewis—that he felt called to spend the rest of his working days training and inspiring a new generation of prophetic leaders in “moral analysis, moral articulation, moral agenda-building, and moral activism.”

Divinity School history book honored

The new 256-page history of Yale Divinity School has won top honors for best nonfiction book of 2022 in the annual Associated Church Press (ACP) awards contest. “This Grand Errand”: A Bicentennial History of Yale Divinity School by Ray Waddle won the Award of Excellence in the nonfiction category. The award was announced at the ACP annual banquet in Chicago on April 21. Copies are available through yalebooks.yale.edu.

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