Five YDS graduates chosen for distinguished-alumni awards
He has been called a "renegade preacher," "civil rights legend," "iconoclastic
storyteller," "radical prophet of the South," and "Redneck Preacher." Now,
another label: recipient of the 2007 William Sloane Coffin ’56 Award for Peace
and Justice. Will D. Campbell ’52BD, civil rights advocate and author of 17
books, is among five graduates honored this year with distinguished-alumni
awards from YDS. Campbell was one of only four white ministers to escort
African American students through angry mobs during the school desegregation conflict
in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Other honorees include: Rita Ferrone ’83MDiv, a writer and speaker on
liturgical reform in the Roman Catholic Church; Frederick Hilborn Talbot ’57MDiv,
90th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who served episcopal
districts in the Caribbean, Georgia, Arkansas/Oklahoma, and Kentucky/Tennessee;
Otis Young ’57BD, a United Church of Christ minister who has advocated on
behalf of gays and lesbians, racial minorities, and women; and Joseph C. Hough
Jr. ’59BD, president of New York's Union Theological Seminary, which he helped
bring to fiscal viability while invigorating academic programs.
Lux and Christianity in China
"Many doors were opened on this trip. Now we just need to keep them
open and see what comes through," said Paul Stuehrenberg, Yale Divinity School
librarian. "Once we start doing something, it will be easier to do other
things."
Stuehrenberg was referring to a visit to China that he made with
Chi-wah Chan, librarian for the Chinese collection in Yale's East Asia Library,
during the spring academic term. The two served as "academic ambassadors" of
sorts, opening and developing relationships with Chinese institutions in a
joint effort to shed light on the Christian presence in China. In the wake of
the trip -- which included meetings in Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai -- Stuehrenberg
sees several opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration and exchange: "Our
interest is in documenting contemporary Christianity -- trying to set up
collaborative programs with the national church and Nanjing Union Theological
College. What we are negotiating now is what we will send them in return for
their sending us their current publications, whether it be things currently
published about China or copies of historical materials."
Yale's extensive collection of historical materials is particularly
valuable, because many collections of religious materials in China were
destroyed during the anti-intellectual days of the Cultural Revolution. The
collection of manuscript materials related to mission work and the Christian
church in China at the YDS library is one of the largest such collections
anywhere.
Feminist theologian Letty Mandeville Russell dies at 77
Letty Mandeville Russell, one of the world's foremost feminist
theologians and a longtime member of the Yale Divinity School faculty, died
July 12 at her home in Guilford, Connecticut. She was 77. A leader for many
years in the ecumenical movement, she remained active in ecumenical circles
until her death. One of the first women ordained in the United Presbyterian
Church, she joined the faculty of Yale Divinity School in 1974 as an assistant
professor of theology, rose to the rank of professor in 1985, and retired in
2001. In retirement, she continued to teach some courses at Yale Divinity
School as a visiting professor.
Russell will be especially well remembered for the "shalom meals" she
hosted at the end of each semester for students in her courses. Students would
come to Russell's home on the shores of Long Island Sound to sing songs, tell
stories, laugh heartily, eat, and drink -- and offer praise to God.
Dean welcomes experts in religion and ecology to YDS
"Yale is fortunate to have scholars of the caliber of Mary Evelyn
Tucker and John Grim exploring the important synergies that exist -- and
that can be developed -- between religion and the environment. I believe
their work here will have a significant impact not only on the academy but on
the broader religious and environmental communities as well." YDS dean Harold
Attridge was referring to the joint five-year appointments of Tucker and Grim,
a husband-and-wife team, as senior lecturers and senior research scholars at
the Divinity School, the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies,
and the Yale Department of Religious Studies.
Tucker and Grim are founders of the Forum on Religion and Ecology, a
multireligious organization dedicated to encouraging dialogue between religions
and other disciplines in order to address environmental concerns.
School of Drama
James Bundy, Dean
www.yale.edu/drama
Playwright honored with "genius grant"
American playwright Lynn Nottage ’89MFA, a visiting lecturer at the
Yale School of Drama, was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in
September. She is one of only 24
recipients of the award this year, also known as the "genius grant." Her plays,
which include Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Mud River Stone, Por'
Knockers, Intimate Apparel, and Fabulation, have been produced throughout the United States
and Europe at such venues as the Second Stage Theatre, New York; the Tricycle
Theatre, London; and the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago.
The MacArthur Foundation stated that Nottage's "imaginative exploration
of history, her ability to find resonance in unexpected moments in the past,
and her sensitive evocation of social concerns have made her a powerful voice
in theater. She is a dramatist who
will continue to provide us with provocative plays in which her characters
confront some of society's most complex issues."
Returning to the Rep
Director Irene Lewis ’66MFA has returned to Yale Repertory Theatre this
fall to stage Trouble in Mind, a
play by Alice Childress, with dramaturgy by Yale Rep's resident dramaturg
Catherine Sheehy ’92MFA, ’99DFA. The production runs through November 17.
Recent graduate lands television role
Sarita Covington ’07MFA appeared as Krista on the CBS daytime drama As
The World Turns for three episodes
broadcast in September.
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