GDR News and Notes
2011 Tipple-Vosburgh Lectures
Each year, the Tipple-Vosburgh Lectures feature distinguished scholars and theologians who energize the shared community of the Drew Theological School and the Graduate Division of Religion (GDR). This year’s lecture series, entitled “The Global Bible: Why People and Place Matter,” highlighted the tensive connection between two phenomenon in our present historical moment: global/universal and local/particular….Read featured article by Dong Sung Kim, PhD student in Hebrew Bible.
TTC XI: Divinanimality: Creaturely Theology
The topic of TTC XI, which ran from September 29 through October 2, was “Divinanimality: Creaturely Theology.” The neologism of the main title was borrowed from Jacques Derrida, whose philosophical work on animality, together with that of other prominent theorists, notably Donna Haraway, has catalyzed the emergence of a transdisciplinary endeavor variously termed “animal studies,” “animality studies,” or “posthuman animality studies.” TTC XI was conceived as an attempt to triangulate these novel reflections on humanity and animality with reflections on divinity…Read featured article by Stephen D. Moore, Professor of New Testament.
New York City Walking Tour Becomes Annual Part of GDR Orientation
Each year incoming students to Drew University’s Graduate Division of Religion (GDR) conclude orientation week with a walking tour of New York City. Now in its third year, this tour is an annual reminder that scholars attend not only to scholarly methodology—but to simple, human truth…Read featured article by Wade Mitchell, PhD student in Theological and Philosophical Studies.
GDR Students Awarded HRC Summer Institute Fellowship for Studies in Queer Theology
Queer scholarship and queer theory are becoming burgeoning sites of academic creativity, and Drew University’s Graduate Division of Religion (GDR) is at the forefront of this work. Following in the footsteps of last years’ participants, Peter Mena and Sara Rosenau, this year Drew students Jake Erickson and Natalie Williams were awarded the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Summer Institute Fellowship for scholars of religion working on LGTBQ issues of queer hermeneutics, writing, advocacy, varieties of justice, and religious pluralism…Read featured article.
GDR Students Participate in 16th Annual Patristics Conference at Oxford
In early August, the two of us along with Dr. Virginia Burrus traveled to Oxford University, where we joined other scholars in conversation about late ancient Christianity. Since its inception in 1951, the International Patristics Conference, which meets every four years, has provided opportunities for scholars to present their work to a critical, but sympathetic audience…Read featured article by Jennifer Barry and Peter Anthony Mena, PhD students in Historical Studies.
Summer in the Keys of Scholarship, Identity, and Community
My first year of doctoral work ended in fairly typical fashion. A deluge of papers and readings made the last month of courses exciting, nail-biting, and very rewarding. As May gave way to June, I celebrated with friends and family of those graduating from Drew while beginning work as a research assistant for Professor Terry Todd. My research revealed the complex relationship between politics, gender, sexuality, and trans-national conservative evangelicalism in the late 1970s. This narrative added yet another storyline to an already multifaceted historiographic account of the Religious Right’s ascendancy in the United States. My summer had officially begun in a key of scholarship…Read featured article by L. Benjamin Rolsky, PhD student in Historical Studies.
Edwards-Mercer Prize takes Alumnus to World Methodist Council
In 1999, I received the MPhil in Theological and Religious Studies from Drew’s Graduate School. Since I was writing my dissertation on early American Methodism, I needed to travel to repositories in distant places. The Edwards-Mercer Prize enabled me to visit the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England. While searching for correspondence from English Methodist Jabez Bunting, I discovered original documents written by John Wesley, apparently torn from his journal…Read featured article by Daniel F. Flores, Drew University alumnus.