In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, St. Luke and St. Matthew opened its buildings, including the church itself, to relief efforts, most notably Occupy Sandy, which harnessed the organization and volunteer power of Occupy Wall Street. Having served as a hub for volunteer training, meal preparation, and supply distribution throughout the winter, the church has developed an ongoing partnership with Occupy Sandy. Moving into the future, St. Luke and St. Matthew will continue to support and provide resources for the movement.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Michael Sniffen about his exciting work.  Because his words resound with authenticity and a powerful call for action, I am publishing the entirety of the interview, with only minor editorial amendments.

Q: What are the three most important things you want the Drew community to know about Occupy Sandy relief efforts?

MS: First, Occupy Sandy is evidence of how effective and well organized grass-roots movements can be. Long before larger bureaucratic relief efforts were active, neighbors came together, assessed needs and mobilized to bring relief to those in need. Second, many communities have the human resources to respond to all sorts of crises. What is lacking is a place to come together and organize. Faith communities, which often have large unused spaces can provide the infrastructure for robust community responses to serious problems.  Third, people genuinely desire to be involved in helping those around them, but often don’t know where to start. Occupy Sandy is successful in the area of disaster response because all volunteers are accepted and connected with work they find meaningful.

Q: In what ways does your academic work in the Liturgical Studies program influence or intersect with your work with Occupy Sandy relief efforts?

MS: In my academic life, I am intrigued by the connections between liturgy and justice. What is the connection between worship and faithful living? Housing a major relief effort in a liturgical space seemed right to me. My church seats 1700 people. It is a huge space. Overnight it was turned into a recovery center housing millions of dollars’ worth of donations and training tens of thousands of volunteers.

The worship life of the congregation continued, of course. A very powerful moment for me as a priest was holding up the bread and wine at the altar and saying “The gifts of God for the people of God.” I was looking out at a sea of donated goods going to people in need. The connection could not have been clearer to us as the gathered assembly that these too were the gifts of God for the people of God. We also had several baptisms in the midst of the recovery work – it was a powerful vision of what baptismal ministry ought to be.

Q: In what ways are these concepts applicable to ministers and professors in other church-related and academic settings? In other words, what “transferrable” knowledge base are you developing?

Partnerships between faith communities and local activists/community organizers can be incredibly fruitful. If the church and its associated academic institutions are truly missional, then we must partner with anyone and everyone who can help us achieve our mission.

It was immediately clear to me after the hurricane that I knew people in the neighborhood who were much better organizers than I am. Opening the church completely without pre-determining the parameters of what sort of recovery program we might create allowed for an enormous amount of creativity and vision to emerge. We ended up involving more people than anyone had imagined–over 60,000 within a matter of two months.

Congregations and schools often act as gate keepers who like to have control over how mission happens in their sphere. Occupy Sandy is evidence of the momentum that can be built when freedom is granted to the wider community to engage the passion as they feel moved.

Q: Do you see this work as a spiritual practice that can deepen one’s faith? If so, would you broadly recommend such involvement for others? Do you see this work as a method by which theories can be tested? If so, what might the value be of assigning such activism to doctoral students who are otherwise involved in heavily analytical and theoretical work?

MS: This relief effort has had more impact in the lives of God’s people than other aspects of my ministry that I have spent years developing. Why? Because I let go of control and allowed something to come to term that I could never have envisioned myself. I find that faithful leadership is mostly about giving away power and control for the sake of the kin-dom of God, which is always ready to break in.

Losing control for God’s sake and the sake of our neighbors is certainly a spiritual practice. It is a practice that I find very challenging personally, but a challenge to which I feel called. I find that when I practice it well, my academic work as well as my work as a faith leader is greatly enriched. The world is inspired by praxis, not theory.

As academics, it is essential that we engage the world as fully as possible on praxis level. In a world urgently in need of healing, served by churches which are largely dying, institutions associated with the church do not have the luxury of retreating into dislocated theory. Academics are called to act to ensure the common good. Those actions ground the work we do and make it useful to the church at large.—Shelley L. Dennis, GDR Graduate Student Intern

Ongoing Hurricane Sandy Relief

Read more about St. Luke St. Matthew relief efforts: The New York Times and Episcopal News Service.

For more information visit the official Occupy Sandy relief website, which includes opportunities to volunteer.

“Living the Common Good(s)” encompassed the public events offered Thursday and Friday, providing opportunities for members from the wider community to join those at Drew and hear from a range of religious leaders, scholars, activists, and students. We began at midday on Thursday with a gathering of students and faculty to meet with Joerg Rieger, Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology, SMU. Prof. Rieger discussed his 2009 book, No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future, focusing on his concepts of the “logic of downturn” and “deep solidarity.” On Thursday evening, journalist Nathan Schneider, whose coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been widely praised, continued the theme of political action with his presentation, “Crazy Eyes: Notes from Occupy Wall Street’s May Day Apocalypse.”

On Friday, the public events continued with a series of workshops while the graduate student paper presentations were given concurrently in the afternoon. Despite a threatening blizzard, many community members came out to attend workshops and to support student papers. The workshops represented a number of local activist issues. These included Nathan Schneider with a panel on broadening the influence of religious studies: “How Religious Studies Can Take Over the World.” George Schmidt and Joe Strife of Union Theological Seminary presented “Taking Place: Squatting and Organizing with and As the Homeless.” Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of Greenfaith presented “Divest and Reinvest – Climate Change Campaigns for Campuses and Faith Groups.” Darnell L. Moore presented “Standing in the Intersection: An Interactive Conversation on Race, Sexuality, Activism, and Religiosity.” Drew alumna Leena Waite of America’s Grow-a-Row and Debi Hall-Dean of Partners in ACTS presented “An Hour on Route 78: Bridging Environmental and Economic Landscapes Through Partnership.” GDR student Michael Sniffen presented “From the Pulpit to the Streets: Empowering God’s People for Social and Economic Justice.”

The graduate student panels and the scholars’ colloquium took up the role of religion’s public voice and the political tensions inherent in any concept of the “common good.” This discussion was animated by the variety of disciplinary and research interests of our presenters. A public lecture by colloquium presenter William Connolly, Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, encouraged us to think philosophically about planetary politics. The graduate student presenters included An Yountae, Karen Bray, Elijah Prewitt-Davis, Charon Hribar, Beatrice Marovich, Dhawn Martin, Michael Oliver, and A. Paige Rawson. Two visiting students also presented their work – Anatoli Ignatov (Johns Hopkins University) and P. Joshua Griffin (University of Washington). Drew students Shelley Dennis and Elizabeth Freese, along with Harvard Divinity School student Hannah Hofheinz gave formal responses to the student panels.  In the Saturday and Sunday colloquium, two Drew faculty were among the main presenters. Melanie Johnson-Debaufre presented her work on utopia as a means for exploring the “kingdom of God” concept found in the synoptic gospels. Elias Ortega-Aponte presented his work regarding mass-incarceration, suggesting a “political theology of prison abolition.” Other presenting scholars included Joerg Rieger (Perkins/SMU), Clayton Crockett (University of Central Arkansas), John Thatamanil (Union Theological Seminary), Jacqueline Hidalgo (Williams College), Gary Dorrien (Union Theological Seminary), Paulina Ochoa Espejo (Yale University), Vincent Lloyd (Syracuse University), and Nimi Wariboko (Andover Newton Theological School).

The organizing committee for TTC XII was made up of Catherine Keller, Melanie Johnson-Debaufre, and Elias Ortega-Aponte, with Elijah Prewitt-Davis and Natalie Williams serving as the student coordinators. Michael Oliver provided technical and visual expertise in the construction of the conference website which can still be accessed for more details: drew.edu/ttc12.—Natalie Williams, GDR Graduate Student

Matthew T. Riley, a student of Dr. Laurel Kearns in the sociology of religion, received the 2013 James and Sylvia Thayer Short-Term Research Fellowship to do archival research in the UCLA Library Special Collections. Matt will use this fellowship to conduct archival research at UCLA and at Mills College in Los Angeles. This research focuses on the the life and scholarship of Lynn White, Jr., as it relates to the thought of Max Weber, ecotheology, and to scholarship in the field of religion and ecology.

Neal is a Filipino American, serving as pastor of Middlesex Presbyterian Church (middlesexpresbychurch.org) and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship at New Brunswick Theological Seminary (nbts.edu).

Neal is a committed ecumenist, having lent leadership through the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and its predecessor, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), having served on both executive committees, and serving as convenor of the Caribbean and North American Area Council. Neal has served as a trustee of Princeton Theological Seminary, chair of the General Assembly Special Committee on the Heidelberg Catechism, and as vice chair of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (formerly the General Assembly Council); regionally as vice moderator and moderator of the Presbytery of Elizabeth.

He is the author of Here I Am, Lord, Send Me: Ritual and Narrative for a Theology of Presbyteral Ordination in the Reformed Tradition (Resource Publications/Wipf and Stock, 2012). He has edited two books: That They May All Be One: Celebrating the World Communion of Reformed Churches:essays in honor of Clifton Kirkpatrick (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010) and Insights from the Underside: An Intergenerational Conversation of Ministers (Broadmind Press, 2008). He has past and forthcoming essays in Ecumenical Review, Homiletic, Homily Service, The Present Word, The Presbyterian Outlook, Call To Worship, The Living Pulpit, Patheos, and the upcoming multi-volume series, Feasting on the Gospels (WJKP)

Professionally, he is a member of Societas Liturgica, the North American Academy of Liturgy, the Academy of Homiletics, and serves on the editorial board of the international peer-review journal, Studia Liturgica.

He studied at Drew University (Ph.D, M.Phil. in liturgical studies/liturgical theology), Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.M. in pastoral theology), San Francisco Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Westminster Theological Seminary California (graduate theology/history courses), and the University of California, Davis (B.A. in political science summa cum laude and historycum laude).

Born in Guam and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Neal and his wife have two sons; the Presas live in New Jersey. Neal enjoys hanging out with his family and friends, traveling, fine wine and great food, working out, reading, and politics.

Contacts:

Facebook/LinkedIn: nealpresa

Twitter: @nealpresa

Email:  ndpresa@gmail.com

1-888-728-7228, ext. 5424

Completing a doctorate in liturgical studies in 2010, Drew graduate Neal Presa has wasted no time finding ample outlets for the passions fueled by such rigorous study.  In July of 2012 he was elected Moderator of the 220^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), making him the highest elected office in the 1.9-million member church.

The profoundly interdisciplinary character of study at Drew no doubt played a role in his formation as a unifying leader of strength and wisdom.  According to Neal, “My approach to addressing ecclesial and ecclesiological realities at the congregational and national levels is to bring to bear interdisciplinary perspectives to view challenges and potential solutions through various angles and lenses.”   He goes on to say that the PhD program at Drew trained him “to work with multiple sources simultaneously…Analyzing those multiple sources, finding connections between some, or holding those which weren’t readily connected in a tension…have proven to be very helpful skills in ministry and in my current role as General Assembly Moderator.”

Neal credits his studies at Drew for shaping him not only into an interdisciplinary thinker at the national level of his faith community, but also into an interdisciplinary academician.  Since graduating, Neal was appointed Affiliate Assistant Professor of Preaching and Worship at New Brunswick Theological Seminary.  This unique position, neither adjunct nor tenure-track, allows him to vote in departmental and faculty meetings and focus his energies primarily upon teaching.  He teaches introductory courses in preaching and worship, an advanced preaching course, a Presbyterian studies sequence (history, theology and worship, polity), and also a new elective on missional preaching and worship.  He reports that “at New Brunswick Theological Seminary we are working towards a curricular pedagogy that emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to theological education.”

Dr. Presa’s passion for justice merges with his interdisciplinarity in his congregational role as well. Dr. Presa states that “Drew University’s commitment to justice in the church and world have enabled me to articulate and embody a vision for liturgical practice and a common ecclesiology that sees the role of the Church as not being insular, or celebrating the Lord’s Supper for parochial concerns of grace mediated to individuals for salvation; rather whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup we are sent by God to be restless until all are fed, when the naked are clothed, when the orphans and widows are cared for, when war will be no more.”

Dr. Presa counts the five years of doctoral studies at Drew as one of the best times of his life.  He has not only carried the Drew legacy out into the world but has also stayed in touch with the Drew community since graduation.  Presa notes that “maintaining close connections has been key to my personal, spiritual, and professional/vocational growth and maturity.”  Like many of us, he has found Facebook an invaluable tool for sustaining ties with both professors and former student colleagues!  He also regularly attends the annual meetings of the North American Academy of Liturgy.  There and elsewhere, Drew is acknowledged for its “long-time, pioneering program in liturgical studies” and many of its graduates harbor hopes “for the re-starting of the program in new and fresh ways,” Presa confesses.

We are grateful that Dr. Presa took the time to keep us aware of his activities and hope to hear from others of you, too!—Shelley L. Dennis, GDR Graduate Student Intern.

For more information on Dr. Presa.

Although Drew’s Graduate Division of Religion no longer houses an official Liturgical Studies Area, both the students who are completing their doctoral work for this degree and graduates of the program have been creating quite a stir.   Recently Professor Heather Elkins graciously gave of her time in order to contextualize the creation and closing of this notable doctoral program.

Elkins situates the program’s beginnings in the early 1980’s, when Dean Bard Thompson, along with some colleagues from nearby seminaries, called attention to the fact that, despite the centrality of liturgy to church life and theological studies, worship was not a required course in any of their institutions. According to Elkins, “The proposal was to initiate a program and raise awareness of the central role of liturgical studies as a primary language out of which further scholarship comes. The problem might be corrected by preparing PhDs, since a bottom up approach wasn’t working.”

The program was founded in a time of dynamic ecumenical conversation. Drew desired to accommodate a breadth of disciplines since the field itself was undergoing transformation due to developments such as Vatican II and increased interest in Ritual Studies. As Elkins stated, “diversity could not be sustained when only drawing on our own faculty.  It required a larger conversation beyond institutional boundaries.”

The profoundly interdisciplinary nature of the field of Liturgical Studies—which includes at the very least homiletics, liturgics, and musicology—is reflected in the work of the three remaining students.

Nam Joong Kim is researching the role of social justice and preaching in Korean churches as it related to immigration, globalization, and gender.  Inherent to such work, Elkins notes, is a deeply interdisciplinary focus.

Michael Sniffen, who is featured in another article in this Newsletter, is interested in performative practice and preaching, as seen through the Occupy Wall Street and Sandy movement. He’s tracking social justice activism as preached and lived beyond the confines of the often overly-structured relationship of pulpit and pew.

Suzanne Duchesne’s work on anti-racism and preaching for social transformation centers around Methodist preaching in relationship to Native Americans. She will be drawing on women’s studies, anti-racism studies, Methodist history, and studies of identity formation.

Elkins states that the “thing that continues to make a difference for these scholars is that colleagues here have been very helpful. The historians, the biblical scholars, and the women’s studies faculty all opened their doors and took our students who were sent to them because their research needed to go beyond their denominational and disciplinary identity.”

Drew’s need for a diversity of denominational approaches had for many years been filled through alliances with faculty of other institutions, but as the Graduate Division of Religion was forming and key Drew faculty retired, this pattern was discontinued.  Elkins recalls: “With the formation of the GDR it was determined…that primary faculty needed to be full-time Drew people and that the associative faculty pattern was not going to be continued.”  She adds: “Within the present Drew faculty, there’s a narrow band of people who are interested in liturgical studies.”

Currently, the only tenured faculty specializing in this area are Professor Elkins and half-time homiletics and pastoral theology professor Rev. Dr. Gary Simpson.  Classes are geared to the needs of MDiv and MAM students rather than doctoral or MA students. Two required courses, one in preaching and one in worship, are taught each semester. Elkins no longer lists advanced classes such as Sacramental Preaching or Sacred Meals for GDR students because there is no place in the curriculum.  But in a spot of good news for current students, Professor Elkins is on the lookout for Teaching Assistants with experience as either pastors, choir directors, or youth leaders, for the upcoming Fall and Spring classes in worship and preaching.

Recently, the Theological School has obtained approval for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position in homiletics—a significant development in this time of academic budget cuts.  This is particularly welcome news to the graduates of the program, who have put pressure on the Deans to reopen the program, citing the dwindling availability of doctoral programs in Liturgical Studies and Drew’s strong placement record.

Elkins identifies this newly approved position as “the clearest bridge to the future I see” for the area’s potential reopening.  When asked directly if the program will reopen, Elkins says it depends on who fills the position and how the curricular conversation unfolds with the other GDR faculty.  She notes that there is cause for optimism; but there is no guarantee. “As Dean Kuan has reminded us, as an area we are asleep, not dead. That affirmation, however, requires a conviction about resurrection.” Nonetheless, current and past students continue to make all of us proud!—Shelley L. Dennis, GDR Graduate Student Intern.

Drew has just weathered a devastating storm—one that felled two dozen trees and shut down the campus entirely for a week—and I know that many of us continue to feel the effects of hurricane Sandy. I hope that this greeting finds you and your loved ones safe; our thoughts go out to those who have suffered loss and may still lack electricity or access to clean water, for example.  In the meantime, life begins to resume its normal rhythms, which for us includes the annual meeting of the AAR/SBL, this year in Chicago.  I hope to see many of you at the Drew reception Sunday evening, November 18, 2012, when we will be celebrating Otto Maduro’s presidency of the AAR.For more on the meeting—as well as a handy schedule of Drew faculty and student presentations—click here!

This issue features articles on three alums—Morrey Davis, Mary Nangweso Wangila, and Charles McCollough.  If you are an alumna or alumnus and would be interested in contributing an article or being interviewed for a feature, or if you know of another alum whom you think we should feature, please do let me know.  I am always moved and inspired when I learn about the lives and contributions of our graduates.

In this issue we also celebrate our new entering class and commemorate the amazing life of Adelaide Boadi, a student who died, tragically young, this past September.

Finally, you will also find articles on some exciting events that have taken place recently at Drew—lectures by Father Roy Bourgeois in honor of Ada-Maria Isasi-Diaz, an international conference on interreligious dialogue in honor of Drew graduate Dr. Pyun Sun Hwan, and annual Tipple-Vosburgh lectures devoted to “Faith, Race, and Politics“—as well as one that is upcoming, namely, the Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium. This year the TTC will, in slight break with tradition, take place February 7-10, rather than in the fall. The theme is “Common Good(s): Economy, Ecology, Political Theology.”  Please join us if you can!

On a different note, some alumni/ae have asked me about access to Drew’s online library resources.  Unfortunately, we cannot offer blanket access; however, alums of Drew do have access to the database ATLAS for ALUMNI, which includes quite a few theology journals, for example.  The link is: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?group=alumni.  The user ID is: drew. The password is: alumni.

As some of you know, I am not, as they say, “a facebook person.”  Nonetheless, on behalf of those of you who are, I am happy to announce that Drew’s Graduate Division of Religion now has a facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/DrewGraduateDivisionOfReligion.  Please visit us, “like” us, and post any news or information that you think might be of interest to our community!  And even if you are not a facebook person, you may enjoy lurking a bit, as I do….

All best wishes,

Virginia Burrus
Professor of Early Christianity
Chair of the Graduate Division of Religion
vburrus@drew.edu