Dear Alumni and Friends of Drew University Theological School,

We begin our 150th academic year thankful for the great legacy of this school and energized by the dynamic future that lies ahead. While celebrating a glorious past, the Drew of today is entirely focused on creating an equally dynamic, sustainable future, and on that front we have much for which to be grateful.  Here are just a few highlights:

• This fall we welcomed an entering class that for the second year in a row included more than 100 new students across degree programs. After years of numeric declines we are stabilizing enrollment by prioritizing the student experience, increasing support, and expanding delivery and content offerings.

• In May 2017 the faculty of the Theological School voted on a curriculum transformation that entirely overhauls the MDiv and MA degrees, creates new degree programs in ministerial innovation and community engagement, and will launch a fully reconceived DMin. Be on the lookout for more information about these exciting curricular innovations that begin in Fall 2018.

• In the last year Drew has had great success securing external funding for the new programmatic and curricular directions we are pursuing. These include significant awards from the Luce and DuPont foundations, the Association for Theological Schools, the Wabash Center, and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, to name a few. This external reinvestment in Drew Theological School enables us to continue the innovations we have begun, to invest more deeply in the ministerial and scholarly formation of our students, and energizes us to expand our offerings both on campus and well beyond.

• As part of the continued revitalization of Drew University, the Theological School has been deeply involved in the university’s process of academic restructuring. The process aims to bring the work of the three schools into greater alignment and increased cooperation. This will allow us to have joint degree programs, expanded curricular offerings, and create new interdisciplinary initiatives drawing on the strengths of faculty and other resources across the university.

I can think of no better way to celebrate our 150th anniversary than by sharing with you the good news of our growth and increasing vitality. At Drew Theological School we remain committed to renewing the church, the academy, and the world “by responding to the urgent challenges of our time with rigorous, independent, and imaginative thought,” and by “empowering creative thought and courageous action to advance justice, peace and love of God neighbor and the earth.” These words from our University and Theological School mission statements capture the essence of our work. It is a privilege to be a part of this effort, and it is an honor to be able to share in that good work with you, our generous and committed alumni and supporters. Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do to strengthen our mission and inspire our work in the world.

With warm regards,
Javier A. Viera
Vice Provost and Dean of the Theological School

David McConnell Graybeal, who taught in the Theological School for 55 years, passed away at his home in Morristown, Tennessee, early in the afternoon on June 2, 2017, just two weeks shy of his 96th birthday, surrounded by his loving family. He lived a long and fruitful life and made a lasting impact on those who knew him.

After serving in the Navy in WWII, he attended seminary at Yale and earned his PhD in the sociology of religion. Subsequently he served several churches in Etowah, Tennessee, area and then as chaplain at Emory and Henry College until 1956, when he and his young family moved to Madison, New Jersey, where he joined the faculty of the Drew Theological Seminary.

He taught at Drew from 1956 until his “retirement” in 1996, but stayed on part time for 15 more years as an emeritus. He was a passionate and dedicated teacher, and delivered his favorite course, “The Good Community,” for more than 40 years. When he finally stepped away from teaching, accolades from more than five decades of former students poured in, illustrating the profound influence of his teachings.

He was, above all, a curious man, relentlessly fascinated by the workings of the mind and soul, a lifelong explorer who interviewed everyone he met: “And what do you do?” “How do you like that?” “How did you decide to get into that kind of work?” “What do you like to do when you have time off?” It was hard to get him to talk about himself, because he just wasn’t interested in talking about that.

He was an optimist, a believer in the essential goodness of people, certain that things would and will work out in the end. He will long be remembered for his teachings, his encouragement for all who encountered him and as a role model for a life well lived.

He is survived by his wife, Shirley, and her son, Chris Wallace, his wife Tonya and their two children, Miracle and Heaven. He is also survived by his former wife, Marjorie; daughter Jean and her husband, Vince; daughter Lee, her son, Daniel Peifer, and his wife, Samantha; son, Clay, and his wife, Deb; brother, Pat, and his wife, Jill; and sisters-in-law, Jamie and Anne, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Henry Clay and June McConnell Graybeal; brothers Charlton, Burke and Bill; and sister, Claire.

The funeral and memorial service will be held in Emory, Virginia, in the coming weeks.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any tributes be directed in his memory to the appropriate scholarships either at Emory and Henry College (contact Monica Hoel, Director of Alumni Affairs at mshoel@ehc.edu) or Drew Theological School in Madison, New Jersey (Kenneth Alexo, Jr., Vice President for University Advancement at kalexojr@drew.edu).

Dear Bishops, Members of the Judicial Council, and Members of the Commission on a Way Forward,

As the faculty and staff of Drew University Theological School, we write pained and in grief because of the recent rulings of the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church. This statement is a response to those actions that bring into question the validity of the consecration to the episcopacy of our alumna, Bishop Karen Oliveto, and threatens the effective and faithful ministries of LGBTQI clergy and candidates in the UMC, including many of our students, alumni, and faculty.

We recognize that the United Methodist Church has wrestled deeply for decades with matters of inclusivity with regard to marriage and ordination of other than self-avowed, practicing heterosexual people, and that we hold different understandings of human sexuality and orientation. We read scripture differently. We see God powerfully at work in the world in differing ways. Yet, we are bound together by our profound faith in Christ and our conviction that the grace and mercy he taught still has the power to heal and restore a broken world and a broken Church. So, especially now, we speak out on behalf of those in the United Methodist Church who fear for their status and influence as church members, candidates for ordained ministry, clergy, and as episcopal leaders, celebrating their ministries and their divinely given sexual identities and orientations.

Our Church has been at difficult crossroads throughout its history. It was not that long ago, 1968 for example, that a sizable contingent within our Church strongly advocated for the continuation of the jurisdictional system–created in 1939 to formalize white supremacy in the Church–so that regions would have certain autonomy and “protection” to make their own decisions, in that case to secure racial hierarchies and prejudices. Yet today many in those regions that insisted on jurisdictional autonomy question the legitimacy of the Western Jurisdiction to elect the person they most believed the Holy Spirit was prompting them to select as their next episcopal leader—an Elder in good standing, with a proven track record of faithful, effective leadership, and the senior pastor of one of our most thriving congregations. The irony is not lost on us. We commend the Judicial Council for recognizing these restraints by preserving the right of the Western Jurisdiction to freely nominate, elect, and assign their bishops.

Yet, we believe that the Council’s decision that may subject Bishop Oliveto’s consecration to further review, and that expands the impact to other LGBTQI sisters and brothers now equally at risk of review, is not a sign of the revolutionary love and mercy that was revealed in Jesus Christ. Instead, it seeks to extinguish that love and mercy. We are reminded of that powerful moment in the early 19th century when Jarena Lee went to Bishop Richard Allen of the AME Church to ask him to license her to preach. Bishop Allen told Lee no, that the Book of Discipline “did not call for women preachers.” In response, Lee prophesied, “O how careful ought we to be, lest through our by-laws of church government and discipline, we bring into disrepute even the word of life.”

It is difficult to appreciate or even conceive of a judiciary process that leaves the United Methodist denomination in such a precipitous position and brings into disrepute “the word of life.” As the Drew University Theological School community, we stand in unity with a United Methodist Church that values God’s people in the many ways that we all contribute to the missional and evangelical aspirations of the Church, and to the wellbeing of the Church and the world. We long for the United Methodist Church to be one in which all of its candidates for ministry, clergy, and episcopal leaders are assessed not in terms of sexual orientation and its expressions, but by whether they, as John Wesley implored, love God and stand with the ones who have no one else: the lonely, the brokenhearted, the impoverished, the voiceless, the imprisoned, the widows, the children.

We believe that this denomination, if we will return to our Wesleyan roots, can and will be a place where all people encounter the love and transformative grace of God. Scripture clearly teaches us that God’s ways are wonderfully mysterious and that God’s mission is passionately and effectively advanced by those who sacrificially and faithfully respond to the call of God on their lives. Establishment leaders were regularly surprised, even appalled, by those God used to advance the cause of love and grace. Yet that never seemed to deter God, and it should not deter us.

At Drew we celebrate the ministry of our alumna, Bishop Oliveto, all our students, faculty, and alumni threatened by the actions of the Judicial Council, and all LGBTQI clergy, candidates, and allies who are concerned for their future ministry and service in the Church. We will not tire in our advocacy and prayers on their behalf and on behalf of our beloved Church. Instead, we take this moment to recommit ourselves to them, to the love and mercy of God in the world, and to call the Church to greater faithfulness and justice as together we proclaim “the word of life.”

We also take this moment to invite further dialogue with those who may disagree with us. Let us truly be an Acts 15 church that comes together to engage our differences honestly, in love and respect, united by our mission to manifest the radical love and transformative mercy of God in the world.

Respectfully and prayerfully,

The President, Deans, Faculty, and Staff of Drew University Theological School

MaryAnn Baenninger
President of the University

Javier A. Viera
Dean of the Theological School

Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Tanya Linn Bennett
Associate Dean for Vocation and Formation

Chris Boesel
Associate Professor of Christian Theology

Katherine Brown
Director, Theological School Center for Language and Learning

Robert S. Corrington
Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Philosophical Theology

Morris L. Davis
Associate Professor of the History of Christianity and Wesleyan/Methodist Studies

Heather Murray Elkins
Frederick Watson Hannan Professor of Worship, Preaching and the Arts

Danna Nolan Fewell
John Fletcher Hurst Professor of Hebrew Bible

Kimberleigh Jordan
Director of Craig Chapel

Laurel Kearns
Associate Professor of the Sociology of Religion and Environmental Studies

Catherine Keller
George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology

Susan Kendall
Director of Doctoral Studies

Hyo-Dong Lee
Associate Professor of Comparative Theology

Annie Lockhart-Gilroy
Assistant Professor of Christian Education

Jesse Mann
Theological Librarian

Mark A. Miller
Associate Professor of Church Music and Composer-in-Residence

Stephen D. Moore
Edmund S. Janes Professor of New Testament Studies

Kevin Newburg
Assistant Professor in the History of Christianity

Kenneth Ngwa
Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible

Elias Ortega-Aponte
Assistant Professor of Latino/a Religions and Cultural Studies

Kate M. Ott
Assistant Professor of Christian Social Ethics

Arthur Pressley
Associate Professor of Psychology and Religion

Carl Savage
Associate Professor of Biblical Archaeology

Gary V. Simpson
Associate Professor of Homiletics

Angella M. Pak Son
Associate Professor of Psychology and Religion

Althea Spencer-Miller
Assistant Professor of New Testament

J. Terry Todd
Associate Professor of American Religious Studies

Traci C. West
James W. Pearsall Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies

Nancy Lynne Westfield
Associate Professor of Religious Education