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FEATURED ARTICLES

New ClassNew class enters YDS, with abundance of M.Div. students

This year’s entering class of students tips the balance of M.Div. and M.A.R. students toward the M.Div. side, with the largest number of M.Div. matriculants in at least the past five years.  The class includes 16 international students, hailing from distant lands such as South Africa, Egypt, Venezuela, and Norway, among others. Professor of Christian Ethics Jennifer Herdt officially began the new academic year on Aug. 31 during Opening Convocation, with an address entitled “The Circle of Courage.”  Most members of the new class arrived on campus in time to participate in YDS’s annual week-long introduction to life at YDS, Before the Fall Orientation, organized this year by Alex Peterson ’12 M.Div. and Josh Rodriguez ’12 M.Div.  >Go to story  

Steve Blackmer ’12 M.Div. and Michelle Lewis ’13 M.Div. garner major environmental awards
Two Yale Divinity School students are among 21 graduate and professional students from across New England and California selected for prestigious Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation environmental fellowships.  Chosen for the 2010 class of fellows are Stephen Blackmer ’12 M.Div. and Michelle Lewis ’13 M.Div.  >Go to story

CoonsFaith and shoe leather: Chris Coons ’92 M.A.R. and Rebekah Davis ’06 M.Div. campaign for U.S. Senate, House of Representatives
In one of the most volatile election cycles in recent memory, two Yale Divinity School graduates are running uphill campaigns for federal office against opponents who by conventional wisdom enjoy considerable advantages. Christopher Coons  ’92 M.A.R., a Delaware Democrat with a legal background and commitment to social justice issues, is running for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President Joseph Biden.  Rebekah Davis ’06 M.Div. is the Democratic nominee in Nebraska’s Third Congressional District, a vast, rural area that last sent a Democrat to Congress in 1935. Her feisty, barebones campaign is seeking to unseat Adrian Smith, a two-term Republican with financial support vastly superior to that of Davis. In Delaware, Coons is in a tight race against former governor and current U.S. Representative Mike Castle. Coons, the elected head of New Castle County government, has been gaining in polls and is counting on strong support from a locally popular Biden.  In a recent interview with YDS’s publications office, both Davis and Coons spoke animatedly about how the Divinity School helped shape their approaches to issues and decisions to enter political life.>Go to story

Dean Attridge speaks out on mosque, Glenn Beck
Those lazy days of summer actually proved to be quite busy for Dean Harold Attridge, who spent some of his time fielding questions from national media on controversial topics like the mosque near Ground Zero and conservative talk show host Glenn Beck.  Attridge weighed in on the side of the mosque in Time magazine and challenged Beck’s critique of President Obama’s views of salvation in the Christian Science Monitor.

Web Update
Notes from the Quad did not publish in August to allow the communications staff more time to implement a content management system on the YDS web site.  We are pleased to announce that templates have been created for interior pages that will enhance and streamline our web management capabilities, allowing for increased focus on content creation.  The migration of content from the old system to the new Drupal CMS templates has begun with the Prospective Student pages, and more migration will follow in coming months, including conversion of the YDS home page to Drupal.

YDS alumni gather in paradise

In mid-August, Honolulu, HA was the setting for a Yale Divinity School reception for alumni – the first time in recent memory that alumni on the island paradise have gathered for a YDS-sponsored event. >More

Mary Evelyn Tucker teams with cosmologist Brian Swimme to create film Journey of the Universe

Emilie Townes featured in Christian Century “How My Mind Has Changed” column

Nate Klug ’13 M.Div. among the elite of nation’s younger poets

Mary Ann Cejka ’81 M.Div. on Fr. Bill McCarthy, on being a Catholic woman at YDS

Alumni Board to select officers, consider bylaws changes, at Oct. 12 Annual Meeting

BTFO reflection (Alex Peterson, co-organizer)

Busy summer on the Quad, capped by homiletics conference

UPCOMING EVENTS

Reflections launch at UN
Fall CoverThe official launch of the fall 2010 issue of Reflections, YDS’s magazine of theological and ethical inquiry, will be held Sept. 22 at the Church Center for the United Nations.  The fall 2010 issue, entitled “No More Excuses:  Confronting Poverty,” features a number of prominent thinkers on the issue of poverty, many of whom will be at the Sept. 22 event.  A conversation with the writers begins at 6:00 pm, followed by a reception ending at 8:00. >More

Bainton Lecture
Anthea Butler, associate professor of religious studies and graduate chair at the University of Pennsylvania, will deliver the 2010 Bainton Lecture at Yale Divinity School on Sept. 14 on the topic “Reformation in Black: African American Women and Bible Reading in the Late 19th Century.”  Her most recent book, Women in the Church of God in Christ, Making A Sanctified World (University of North Carolina Press) chronicles the history of African American women’s religious lives and civic engagement in the Church of God in Christ. >More

Jeremiah consultation Sept. 10
The first of two consultations in connection with an international, ecumenical, contemporary interpretation of the Book of Jeremiah will be held at Yale Divinity School on Sept. 10, featuring a keynote address by Judith E. McKinlay of the University of Otago, New Zealand on the topic "Challenges and Opportunities for Feminist and Postcolonial Biblical Criticism.” >More

Plans firmed up for Women’s Reunion at Convocation
What was the journey that brought you to YDS as a student? What has been your journey since then? What challenges have you faced? Where have you found “grace in the wilderness?”  These and other questions shape the Women’s Reunion during Convocation this year. Part of a yearlong celebration, the Women’s Reunion offers an opportunity to re-connect with classmates, faculty and colleagues. It’s also a time to reflect on the challenges and opportunities faced by women over the decades at YDS and in the varieties of ministries that followed. >More

Letty Russell Common Book project panels

ArrowRegister for Convocation and Reunions 2010

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