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Welcome
Each month, we share news of CDSP's students, faculty, alumni and campus life. We welcome your news, ideas and suggestions via email to Alissa Fencsik. Thank you, as always, for your support of CDSP. |
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Stafford to Be Visiting Church History Professor
Retired Sewanee dean, VTS professor to teach at CDSP   | | photo credit: The School of Theology |
The Rev. Dr. William Stafford will be visiting professor of church history at CDSP during the 2014-2015 academic year, Academic Dean Ruth Meyers announced today.
Stafford, who taught a course in the English Reformation at CDSP during the fall of 2013, was a professor of church history at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) from 1976-2004, and also served as associate dean for academic affairs there from 1997-2004. He was dean of the School of Theology at University of the South (Sewanee) from 2004 until 2012.
"I am just thrilled to have a chance to be back in the classroom in a concentrated way," said Stafford. "My first calling, my first vocation as a Christian and as a priest is to be a teacher and a learner. As I prepare new classes for students at CDSP, I'm getting a chance to learn and relearn a lot of things. I've missed that terribly."
During the fall semester, Stafford will teach a course on the history of the Western church from the second through the fifteenth centuries. In the spring semester, he will teach western church history from the Reformation through the 20th century and a course he developed at VTS and Sewanee called "Classics of the Christian Journey." Students will read Christian spiritual classics by authors including Perpetua, Origen, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux and Julian of Norwich.
Read more.
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Aunt Sue and Solomon Northup
CDSP Board Member Don White tells his family story about "Twelve Years a Slave"
 Growing up in central Louisiana, the Rev. Dr. P. Donald White, Jr. felt he had a cousin whom he'd never met. His maternal aunt, Sue Eakin, a historian who taught at the Louisiana State University's Alexandria campus, was always talking about someone named Solomon Northup. Five decades later, thanks to the film "Twelve Years a Slave," which garnered Oscar wins on March 3rd for best supporting actress, best adapted screenplay and best picture, much of the country knows who Northup was. Still, relatively few who watched the show or saw the film know that White's aunt was the individual responsible for proving that Northup was a real person and that his story of being a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery had occurred. The Oscar-winning film was based on Northrup's autobiography, Twelve Years a Slave.
"His story was around in my mind as long as I have been alive," said White, an alumnus of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (MDiv 1991) and a trustee of the seminary. "If Sue was around it usually came up in some way or other because she was always discovering new things, new proof that he was a real person." Read more of Don White's story on the CDSP website.
Want to know more? The New Yorker published a story about Sue Eakin earlier this month. Read it online.
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The Two Spiritualities of Philomena
President Richardson reflects on Oscar-nominated film's challenges to church
 With the Oscar season just behind us, it is striking that two major films of the year "12 Years a Slave" and "Philomena"-challenge us to face the past with spiritual courage so that our histories may be redeemed, rather than forgotten. In a separate story (above) in this issue of our newsletter, Church Divinity School of the Pacific trustee and alumnus, the Rev. Dr. P. Donald White Jr., writes of a familial connection to "12 Years A Slave."
I reflect here on "Philomena," in which the lead role, played by Judy Dench, offers a study in contrasting spiritualties. This leaves us with food for thought for the CDSP community, including those of us in leadership who are charged with the seminary's mission of responding to contemporary society with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Recounting the true story of the Irish-Catholic Philomena Lee, and her search for the boy she had conceived decades earlier in an out of wedlock birth, the film follows the timeworn Hollywood practice of portraying the Church in an unsubtly villainous manner. What caught my attention is the presentation of spiritual ways of life right on the surface of the story.
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Mission in Today's Church
President Richardson visits Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui
Last week, President Mark Richardson visited the Anglican Province of Hong Kong and Ming Hua Theological College, with which CDSP is developing a partnership.
On Tuesday, he gave a public lecture to the laity of the church titled "Mission in Today's Church: Opportunities and Responsibilities," and on Thursday, he spoke to the diocese of the clergy on "Theological Education in America Today." Afterward, he preached and presided at the seminary's community Eucharist.
During his time in Hong Kong, Richardson also met with Hong Kong Archbishop Paul Kwong. Look for more news about CDSP and Ming Hua's relationship in the upcoming spring issue of Crossings, CDSP's all-new magazine.
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Last Call for Spring CALL
Register for April-June online classes before April 4
 From April 7-June 2, 2014, CDSP's Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership (CALL) offers five online courses for continuing education and formation. Learn more and register online for:
Ethics and Power and the Church with the Rev. Austin Leininger
While parish life, in its ideal, can be bliss, at its worst it can be fraught with power struggles, abuses of authority, political divisions, and characterized more by hurt than Christ's love. This course will equip participants to recognize and address issues of conflict, power abuse, and unethical behavior in their parishes.
The Deacon's Path with the Rev. Dcn. Susanne Watson EptingThis continuing education class will provide an opportunity to reflect on our vocation; what we've learned and where we're still headed in ministry. We'll consider vocational development in the form of personal assessment of our lives in ministry.Paul with the Rev. Dr. Scott Sinclair This course surveys Paul's Letters as pastoral responses to situations in congregations of his own time. Since many of these situations resemble situations today, the lectures will invite students to reflect on what is still relevant in Paul and what is no longer applicable two thousand years later. Early Church History with the Very Rev. Dr. Tom Ferguson The focus of this course is the early development of the Church in the East and West until about 800 CE. Participants will discuss the early theological debates that led to the first ecumenical councils and creeds. Introduction to Anglican Liturgy with the Rev. Dr. Walter Knowles Anglican worship is a broad and varied tradition of relationship to God. Using the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as our primary reference, we will be experiencing and exploring this way of prayer in our own worship life.
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2014 Youth Ministry Day
May 3 event for youth ministers and parents
 Join us at CDSP on May 3 for a day devoted to youth ministry and the people who do it. Dr. Rodger Nishioka, Benton Family Associate Professor of Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary will give a keynote address, titled "Transitions," and workshops will discuss the tween years, confirmation, creative storytelling, and more.
The event is sponsored by CDSP and the Diocese of California. Register online by April 30. The cost is $15 for a half-day without lunch and $25 for a full day with lunch. Visit the Easton Hall website to reserve lodging.
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Why Serve 2014
CDSP hosts discernment event for young adults of color
From June 5-8, young adults of color are invited to gather at CDSP to examine their gifts and explore opportunities at a conference called Why Serve 2014: We are all called by God, but what does that mean for you?
Young adults from the Asian, Black, Indigenous and Latino communities of the Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church (ELCA), and other churches in communion with the Episcopal Church are invited to attend. The conference is sponsored by CDSP; the Episcopal Church; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Learn more on the Episcopal Church's website and register online by May 5.
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Training the Trainers
Professor Susanna Singer and CDSP team at Diocese of Spokane workshop
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Singer with CDSP students (l-r) Stephen Shaver (PhD), Caroline McCall (MTS) and Julia McCray Goldsmith (CAS)
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This week, Professor Susanna Singer and three CDSP students traveled to Spokane for a new workshop to train trainers in congregational leadership.
"We had a glorious time developing skills in group process and facilitation, as well as learning creative new models for congregational development with colleagues from around the US and Canada," said Singer. "I am looking forward to integrating these new resources into my course on issues in ministry."
The CDSP delegation was part of a team from the Diocese of California that attended the event, which was hosted by the Diocese of Spokane and made possible by the Roanridge Trust. The Rev. Melissa Skelton, bishop-elect of the Diocese of New Westminster, led the training.
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MDiv and MTS Admission Deadlines Approaching
2014-2015 students now being recruited
Here at CDSP, we have ahead of us another few months of active recruitment for the 2014-2015 academic year. Do you know students who are ready to prepare for ministry in the rich ecumenical and interfaith environment of Holy Hill?
CDSP's final deadlines for 2014 admission are April 1 for our low-residence MDiv program, which begins in June, and July 1 for our residential MDiv, which begins in September. We also offer an MTS either online or on campus beginning in September, and the deadline for applying to that program is also July 1.
If you know prospective students who would be a good fit for CDSP, please email Dianne Smith, director of enrollment services, or contact her by phone at 510-204-0715.
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Community News
Faculty
Academic Dean Ruth Meyers presented a workshop at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Woodland, California as part of the parish's Lenten series on blessing same-sex covenants.In January, Professor Bradley Burroughs a ttended the Society of Christian Ethics meeting in Seattle where he convened a paper by Jermaine McDonald that compared the respective political approaches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Barack Obama.
Professor Marion Grau will give the faculty address at the Graduate Theological Union's commencement on May 8. Her paper "Germans, Jews and Indians: Negotiating Nation, Religion and Identity in the Enlightenment" is now available online.
News to share? Please email us.
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