News
New(ish) to the Neighborhood
Moral Leadership in Global Contexts
Widening the Circle
Double the Honor
Something about that Name
Small But Mighty
Twin Peaks
Magna Cum Laude
Herzliche Glückwünsche!
Bright Lights, Big Speakers
Paying it Forward
Accolades for Alumni
New Scholarships Salute Trailblazers
Kudos for Candler, Courtesy of Con Ed
Expanding the Possibilities
TheoEd: Brief Talks, Big Ideas
Faculty and Staff Honor Roll
New(ish) to the Neighborhood
Candler has welcomed a host of top scholars, talented teachers, and committed church leaders to our ranks since 2015. Take a moment to meet these newest members of the Candler family.
Deanna Ferree Womack joined the faculty in fall 2015 as the school’s first assistant professor of history of religions and multifaith relations. She is ordained in the PCUSA.
Letitia Campbell 17G was hired in fall 2015 as director of Contextual Education I and Clinical Pastoral Education and senior program coordinator for the Laney Program in Moral Leadership, and has since been named assistant professor in the practice of ethics and society. She is ordained in the PCUSA.
Ellen Shepard was appointed in fall 2015 as director of the Women, Theology, and Ministry Program and assistant professor in the practice of practical theology. She is also senior pastor of Stone Mountain First UMC.
Lang Lowrey III 04T, an Episcopal priest and canon for Christian enterprise for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, is director of the Episcopal and Anglican Studies Program and professor in the practice of church leadership. He joined the faculty in fall 2015.
David Daniel began in fall 2016 as director of chapel music and assistant professor in the practice of music ministry.
Larry Goodpaster 73T 82T, retired United Methodist bishop, joined as bishop-in-residence in fall 2016.
Kendall Soulen 86T came (back) to Candler in fall 2016 as professor of systematic theology. He is an ordained elder in the Virginia Conference of the UMC.
Khalia Williams came to Candler in fall 2016 as assistant dean of worship and music and assistant professor in the practice of worship, and was named co-director of the Baptist Studies Program in fall 2018. She is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and American Baptist Churches USA. Photo credit: ORLANDO EVANS 19T/BOWTIE PHOTOS
Helen Jin Kim joined the faculty in fall 2017 as assistant professor of American religious history.
Richard Manly (“Bo”) Adams, Jr. 05T 12G was appointed in fall 2017 as director of Pitts Theology Library and the Margaret A. Pitts Assistant Professor in the Practice of Theological Bibliography.
Antonio Eduardo Alonso 17G joined the faculty in fall 2018 as assistant professor of theology and culture and director of Candler’s new Catholic Studies Program.
Alison Collis Greene came to Candler in fall 2018 as associate professor of American religious history.
Susan Bigelow Reynolds joined the faculty in fall 2018 as assistant professor of Catholic studies.
Damon Williams was appointed in fall 2018 as co-director of the Baptist Studies Program and assistant professor in the practice of practical ministry. He is also senior pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Kevin Murriel 11T, senior pastor of Atlanta’s Cascade UMC, began in fall 2018 as the first Black Methodist Seminarians Program director and assistant professor in the practice of practical theology.
Ryan Bonfiglio 14G was named in spring 2018 as the inaugural director of public theological education and assistant professor in the practice of Old Testament.
Marla Frederick joined the faculty in fall 2019 as the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion and Culture. She comes to us from Harvard University, where she was professor of African and African American studies and the study of religion.
Ian A. McFarland returned to Candler in fall 2019 as the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Theology. He previously served on Candler’s faculty from 2005 to 2015, and then as Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.
Moral Leadership in Global Contexts
Students in Robert M. Franklin, Jr.’s travel seminars have journeyed to Haiti and South Africa in the last two years to learn firsthand from noted moral leaders how they work for positive change in their specific locales. Franklin, the James T. and Berta R. Laney Professor in Moral Leadership, leads these international seminars to challenge students to extend the concept and understand the complexities of moral leadership in contexts and cultures outside the United States. The groups visited with artists, academics, and spiritual and political leaders who have responded to both persistent and emergent crises—public and private corruption, stabilizing society after rapid changes in government, and rebuilding after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and poverty, the lingering legacy of apartheid, and stark inequality in South Africa. Highlights of the trips were meetings with Haitian literary giant-artist-activist Frankétienne and South African anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Widening the Circle
Long considered dry ground for Roman Catholicism, the South is now home to 27 percent of the nation’s self-identified Catholic population, according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center. Today, the Archdiocese of Atlanta is one of the most diverse Catholic contexts in the country, comprising 1.2 million Catholics, more than half of whom are black or Latinx. In response to these shifts, Candler has launched a Catholic Studies Program and begun a formal affiliation with the Aquinas Center of Theology to prepare leaders for lay ministry in the Catholic Church and scholars for research in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Both developments have already increased Candler’s engagement with the Catholic community in Atlanta and beyond and promise to build on that footing at a rapid pace. The new program, led by noted scholar and composer Tony Alonso, features a master of divinity concentration in Catholic Studies. The Aquinas Center, established at Emory in 1987, provides a Catholic scholarly presence, ecumenical in spirit, for the benefit of the university, the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and the region. The two entities collaborate closely, bringing relevant programming and prominent Catholic scholars and speakers to campus to address issues ranging from spiritual formation to politics to conservation to reform in the Catholic Church.
Double the Honor
Two Candler faculty members received honorary doctorates in 2018: Emmanuel Y. Lartey (pictured) received a doctor of divinity, honoris causa, from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, and Lang Lowrey III 04T, director of Candler’s Episcopal and Anglican Studies Program and professor in the practice of church leadership, received the same degree from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church (GTS) in New York. Lartey was nominated by the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria in recognition of his “unique and important contributions” in developing an African practical theology, which argues that African spiritual heritages should be embraced and built upon using an inter-cultural and cross-cultural approach. Lowrey was tapped for his active engagement in diverse, meaningful ministry. He served as president of GTS from 2010 to 2013, leading the financially challenged institution through a period of broad-based restructuring and the development of new revenue streams.
Something about that Name
Names are important in the Bible—and in the academy! Congratulations to Teresa Fry Brown, Philip L. Reynolds, Jan Love, Emmanuel Lartey, Ian McFarland, and Walter T. Wilson, all of whom were installed into named positions in recent years. In fall 2015, Fry Brown became the Bandy Professor of Preaching, the first woman and African American to hold the post, considered by many to be the academy’s preeminent chair in homiletics. Reynolds, already Aquinas Professor of Historical Theology, added a second named title to his signature block in fall 2016, becoming Charles Howard Candler Professor of Medieval Christianity. In fall of 2017, Love (pictured), Candler’s dean, was installed as the school’s inaugural Mary Lee Hardin Willard Dean, an event made possible by a gift from the estate of Mary Lee Hardin Willard of Gadsden, Alabama, which created a permanently funded endowment to support the Candler deanship. And in fall 2019, Lartey was installed as Charles Howard Candler Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spiritual Care, McFarland as Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Theology, and Wilson as Charles Howard Candler Professor of New Testament.
Small but Mighty
Though only about an inch in diameter, the Haskins Medal is among the most prestigious awards in medieval studies—and this year, Candler’s own Philip Reynolds has won it. Given annually by the Medieval Academy of America for a distinguished book in the field of medieval studies, the medal was awarded to Reynolds for his 2016 book, How Marriage Became One of the Sacraments: The Sacramental Theology of Marriage from its Medieval Origins to the Council of Trent (Cambridge University Press). Marveling at the book’s enormous scope and extensive bibliography, the judges praised Reynolds’s “1,051 pages of cogent analysis” of “extraordinary depth and lucidity,” and his “rich and magisterial treatment” of the material. They predict that the book will be the standard work on the subject for the foreseeable future.
Twin Peaks
As their nearly identical titles suggest, Carol Newsom and Carl Holladay, the Charles Howard Candler Professors Emeriti of Old and New Testament, respectively, have a few things in common: an interest in ancient sacred texts, sterling reputations as distinguished scholars in their fields, a gift for guild leadership (president of the Society of Biblical Literature for Newsom, president of the Society of New Testament Scholars for Holladay), and almost 40-year careers on Candler’s faculty. But in the realm of professional accomplishments, perhaps one shared trait rises above them all: Both Newsom and Holladay have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. Newsom signed the AAAS membership book in 2016 and Holladay in 2017. They now join the leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th…and Candler’s own E. Brooks Holifield, Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of American Church History, who was inducted in 2011.
Magna Cum Laude
Several members of the faculty have received external recognition for their scholarship, leadership, and teaching. Associate Professor of Church Music and Worship James Abbington was selected as a fellow of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, the highest honor the organization bestows. • Professor of Theology and Ethics Noel L. Erskine received the Atlanta Jamaica Association’s 2016 Black History Month Award. • Associate Professor of the History of Early Christianity Anthony Briggman won a student-selected 2016 Crystal Apple Award at Emory for excellence in graduate education/instruction. • Associate Professor of New Testament Susan E. Hylen received the 2017 “Women of Excellence” Excellence in Teaching and Pedagogy Award from the Center for Women at Emory and the Emory Alumni Association for her use of teaching methods, syllabi, and/or course design that addresses women’s issues or matters of feminist importance with innovation and success. • Associate Professor of Religious Education Jennifer R. Ayres and Walter Wilson were the Presidential Fellow and the Senior Theology Fellow, respectively, at Emory’s Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry during 2017-2018. • Robert Franklin was named a 2018 Peter J. Gomes Memorial Honoree by Harvard Divinity School for his public voice for moral leadership. He also was recently appointed by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to the city’s Task Force for the Promotion of Public Trust, created as part of multiple reforms to improve transparency and accountability in government. • Professor of Historical and Philosophical Theology David Pacini won a 2019 Eleanor Main Award for excellence in mentoring at Emory’s Laney Graduate School. • Associate Professor in the Practice of Sociology of Religion and Culture Nichole R. Phillips was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College in 2019. • Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Conflict Transformation Ellen Ott Marshall was awarded the Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education for the Laney Graduate School in 2019. • Dan and Lillian Hankey Associate Professor of World Evangelism Arun W. Jones was elected president of the American Society of Missiology for 2019-2020. • Tony Alonso won the 2019 Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Herzliche Glückwünsche!
…Or in English, “Heartfelt Congratulations!” on the 40th anniversary of Candler’s international exchange program with Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany. Since 1978, nearly 80 theology students from both Candler and Göttingen have experienced seminary life on the opposite side of the ocean, returning home with broader theological knowledge, international perspectives on Christianity and culture, clarity around vocational call, and deep friendships—not to mention a marriage or two. Supported and nurtured by the late Theodore H. Runyon, Jr., former professor of systematic theology, and his wife, Cindy, the exchange has made its mark on more than a generation of global leaders in the church and the academy, and will continue to do so for years to come. See a video-enhanced story, remembrances from exchange participants (and a photo of Ted Runyon on his first trip to Germany!) in the news section.
Bright Lights, Big Speakers
A bevy of big-time speakers has visited campus in the past few years, illuminating students and members of the broader community with their insights, anecdotes, and advice. Some of the most memorable include eminent theologian Jürgen Moltmann, who attended the “Unfinished Worlds” conference Candler hosted in honor of his 90th birthday; atheist-turned-Episcopal-priest and food activist Sara Miles; pastor and social justice activist William J. Barber II; the presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, the first African American to be elected to the post; popular speaker and award-winning author Joan Chittister; the Vatican’s Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; syndicated columnist and political commentator E.J. Dionne, Jr.; Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms; and author, academic, and civil rights legend Angela Davis (pictured). Videos of most of these speakers are available on Candler’s Vimeo channel at vimeo.com/candler.
Paying it Forward
With $6.3 million in financial aid distributed in 2018-2019, Candler is already known for one of the most robust scholarship programs in theological education. Now that program is even stronger. In fall 2019, Candler announced major expansions to its scholarship offerings for students admitted to master of divinity, master of theological studies, and master of religious leadership degree programs. Available to incoming students beginning in fall 2020, the new program features full-tuition scholarships for all certified candidates for ordination in the UMC, new merit scholarships covering 75 percent of tuition for non-denominational, pan-Wesleyan, Latinx, and chaplaincy-track MDiv students, additional full-tuition scholarships for qualified MTS students, and awards of at least 50 percent of tuition to all MDiv, MTS, and MRL students. The revamped program is designed to advance Candler’s longstanding commitments to reduce student debt and promote equity, diversity, and inclusion. “We’re eliminating part of the financial obstacle that can prevent folks from pursuing graduate theological education,” says Sam Martinez, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid. “Removing this obstacle at the beginning of the journey translates to more diverse and inclusive leadership in the church, the academy, and society in the future.”
Accolades for Alumni
Candler alumni serve all around the world, garnering honors and awards as they go. David Graves 90T, R. Lawson Bryan 75T 85T, and Sue Haupert-Johnson 95T were elected bishops of The United Methodist Church at the Southeastern Jurisdictional meeting in 2016. Graves serves the Alabama-West Florida Episcopal Area; Bryan, South Georgia; and Haupert-Johnson, North Georgia. • Pamela A. Cahoon 77T and Marshall L. (Jack) Meadors 58T received Candler’s 2015 Distinguished Alumni Awards, Cahoon in recognition of 36 years as executive director of CROS Ministries in Palm Beach County, Florida, and Meadors for five decades of service as a UMC pastor, district superintendent, bishop, and bishop-in-residence who was especially active in issues around children and poverty. • Robert (Bob) N. Clarke 58T and Allan Sandlin 89T were the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees, Clarke for more than six decades of service through music and education ministries, and Sandlin for 25 years of ministry in Episcopal parishes from Maine to Germany. • Timothy McDonald III 78T and Sarah Gerwig-Moore 02L 02T won the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Awards, McDonald for lifetime achievement in service to the church, university, and larger society, and Gerwig-Moore for faithful and creative leadership in the community. • R. Lawson Bryan 75T 85T received the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his 40+ years of service to the church, first in the Alabama-West Florida Annual Conference and currently as bishop in South Georgia. • Carolyn Abrams 92T, Robert Lee Abrams 92T, and Michael Zdorow 12T received the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards, the Abramses for lifetime achievement in the Mississippi Annual Conference of the UMC, and Zdorow for faithful and creative leadership while serving as pastor of the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy through the General Board of Global Ministries of the UMC. • Eight alumni have been chosen for Emory’s “Forty Under 40” list across the last three years: Jeania Ree Moore 15T, Austin Dickson07T, Kevin Murriel 11T, Nancy Smith-Mather 08T, Shelvis Smith-Mather 06T 07T, Sarah Toering 06L 06T, Alisha Gordon 15T, and Kimberly Jackson 09T. Mazel tov to all!
New Scholarships Salute Trailblazers
Candler has established two new scholarships honoring three individuals who played key roles in the school’s history. The Bishop Woodie W. White Scholarship, named for Candler’s longtime bishop-in-residence, and the Ducree–Turner Scholarship, named for Candler’s first black graduate, Edward Ducree 68T, and first black student, Otis Turner 69T 74G, were announced in fall 2018. The three honorees also received the prestigious Dean’s Medal, an award reserved for persons whose efforts on behalf of the school have had a transformative effect. The two scholarships will be awarded beginning in fall 2019 to selected master of divinity students who have discerned a vocational call to ministries of racial justice, inclusiveness, and reconciliation, and to those who are called to serve in historically black denominations.
Kudos for Candler, Courtesy of Con Ed
Candler recently earned high praise from outside organizations including Auburn Seminary and the Center for Faith and Service. We were featured as a case study for “innovation” in Auburn’s 2016 report “Bright Spots in Theological Education,” which focused on our immersion-based Contextual Education (Con Ed) program, then tapped a second time in their 2018 study, “Making Theology Matter: Field Education as the Practical-Prophetic Heart of Effective Ministry Preparation,” which highlighted Con Ed’s integration of classroom and experiential learning. • In fall 2018, Candler was named for the sixth consecutive time to the Center for Faith and Service’s annual list of “Seminaries that Change the World” (STCTW). We were among 18 institutions honored in the original STCTW list in 2013, and have been included every year since. A big reason for our perennial inclusion? You guessed it: Con Ed, for helping students connect the dots between faith and justice in both nonprofit and church settings.
Expanding the Possibilities
Several new concentrations have added depth and breadth to the MDiv program, expanding possibilities for students as they more closely align their coursework with their academic and vocational interests. The Chaplaincy concentration introduces students to the range of contexts in caregiving ministry while also providing depth in the practices of spiritual care. The World Christianity concentration allows students to gain competency in the study of Christianity as a global phenomenon and helps equip them for ministry and church leadership in culturally and internationally diverse Christian communities. The Catholic Studies concentration prepares students for leadership in Catholic parishes, schools, nonprofits, and other contexts, as well as for further academic research in the Catholic intellectual tradition. The concentration in Criminal Justice Ministries(pictured) shapes religious leaders who are equipped to constructively engage issues and people connected to the criminal justice system through work in both congregations and communities, including ministry in prisons, mentoring of youth in juvenile facilities, congregational support for reentering citizens, educational offerings in prison, jails, and detention centers, and policy advocacy. The Justice, Peacebuilding, and Conflict Transformation concentration equips students to constructively engage conflict within their congregations and communities by providing a structure for theological reflection on violence, justice and peacebuilding, studying nonviolent alternatives, and practicing skills in conflict transformation. Candler now offers 14 MDiv concentrations ranging from 12 to 18 credit hours.
TheoEd: Brief Talks, Big Ideas
As part of a new initiative in public theological education, Candler is partnering with First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta to sponsor TheoEd Talks, an ecumenical speaker series where leaders in the church and the academy share “the talk of their lives” in 20 minutes or less, aimed at sparking conversations that change the way people think about God, religion, and the power of faith to change lives. Speakers at the fall 2019 TheoEd Talks were Austin Channing Brown, author of I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, on “The Double-Sided Pursuit of Racial Justice”; Mihee Kim-Kort, Presbyterian minister and author, on how learning her “Mother Tongue” (Korean) opened up new ways of understanding God, culture, and her own vocation; noted journalist Jonathan Merritt 10T on “The Death and Resurrection of Sacred Speech”; and Candler’s own Ted A. Smith 04G, professor of preaching and ethics, on “Reckless Love: Living for Things that Die.” Next up? Womanist Episcopal priest and Hebrew Bible scholar Wil Gafney; “Love or Work” podcast hosts Jeff and André Shinabarger; Hillary McBride, therapist, author, and host of the podcast “The Liturgists”; and Bryan Massingale, Catholic priest and Fordham University Christian ethics professor. Watch their talks at theoed.com.
Faculty and Staff Honor Roll
The end of each academic year brings a host of awards to Candler faculty and staff for outstanding teaching, service, and commitment. Here’s the full rundown of award winners from 2016 to the present:
- 2016 Faculty Person of the Year: Barbara Day Miller
- 2016 On Eagle’s Wings Award: Rex Matthews
- 2016 Emory Williams Award: Karen Scheib
- 2017 Faculty Person of the Year: Gregory C. Ellison II
- 2017 On Eagle’s Wings Award: Kevin Watson and Steffen Lösel
- 2017 Emory Williams Award: Teresa Fry Brown
- 2017 Exemplary Teacher Award, sponsored by the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry: Elizabeth Corrie
- 2017, 2018, 2019 Staff Person of Year: Sarah Bogue
- 2018, 2019 Faculty Person of the Year: Kwok Pui Lan
- 2018 On Eagle’s Wings Award: Brent Strawn
- 2018 Exemplary Teacher of the Year (GBHEM): Steven J. Kraftchick
- 2019 On Eagle’s Wings Award and the inaugural Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education: Nichole Phillips (pictured).