The Tablet, September 16, 2009

the

tablet

A branch of the WFU School of Divinity Keeping you informed

September 16, 2009

Volume 5, Issue 1

Philip Pfeifer will be missed Classmate, friend, husband, father and minister By Brian Russell Second-Year Divinity Student

inside this issue

Philip gladly broke his alabaster jars to pour his love on his family and friends. His peaceful presence has added honor to our divinity school and his absence has left WFUSD a little colder. Philip was a kind and patient man. Philip was wise, yet humble.

2 Student Spotlight:

He was called to be a husband, a father, a friend and a minister. In each of these callings, Philip was exemplary. When God called and put it on Philip’s heart to become an ordained pastor, he dropped his nets and said, “I’ll go.” Philip was called to follow Christ, and that’s just what he did. I love Philip, I want to be like him, and I’ll miss him.

Photo contributed by Alfonso Marcel Rivera-Trevino, Second-Year Divinity Student Second-year student Philip Pfeifer looks like he was paying attention in this New York trip pic. Philip passed away September 9, 2009, at his home.

Hilary Floyd

3 Community in Review, Job Postings and Announcements

4 Common Thread, Worship Bulletin and NEW Advice Column, Sincerely Sophia 5 Top Ten Impossible Possibilities of 2009

6 Alumni Voice and DivVine

7 The Trivial

Inquisition, Entertainment and Cartoon

Fall semester brings fresh faces and topics By Melissa Guthrie-Johnson Editor-in-Chief

If I knew all the new students, there would be 31 fewer new things to report as news! This fall, the Div School welcomes its firstyear students and a handful of other additions that get us started anew. (Have I emphasized the ‘new this year’ theme?) While Craig Atwood is our new admissions director, Academic Dean Jill Crainshaw explained that there have not been any other staff changes. New courses range from various denominational studies to ministry topics.

“The Sexualities course is new…as is Veronice’s course on Women and Preaching, my course on Worship, and Tupper’s course on Christian Philosophy,” Crainshaw said. “And…Barbara Brown Taylor’s visit has created quite a stir.” Barbara Brown Taylor will lecture and preach September 25-27. The School of Divinity celebrates its 10th anniversary in October. “Alton Pollard is the speaker and will be teaching his course, a course new to us,” Crainshaw added. The School of Divinity convocation is set for Tuesday, October 6.

Thankful for new faces, classes, and an anniversary celebration, we also recognize summer changes and improvements to our facilities. Administrative Assistant Kim Hovis explained that they try work on the student lounge every summer. “Preston Harris, Amber Harris’ husband, fixed the bookshelf in the student lounge and painted it,” Kim said. “It makes the place look better…hopefully next year we will paint it a warm color.” Warm welcomes well underway, the 2009-2010 school year is off to a great start with its fresh faces and topics of study.

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Laughing it up with SLC President Hilary Floyd By Ben Wright Staff Writer

“I’m really sarcastic and cynical and hopefully funny, I think I’m funny,” replied SLC President Hilary Floyd in response to a question about what she wanted the WFUDS community to know about her. The third-year does admit though that it takes some time for her to feel comfortable enough to joke around new people. Hilary was born in Waterloo, Iowa but grew up in Tampa, Fla. She majored in economics at Furman University before graduating in 2006, but did not come directly to Wake Forest; “I wasn’t 100 percent sure that I would be going to school again when I graduated. I just really wanted to do a year of ministry or service,” she said. This desire was met by a year of inner city ministry in Chicago through a group called Mission Year. In addition to working with a local congregation, Hilary worked with ex-offenders to help them transition back into life outside of prison. “There are many people who don’t make it . . . it’s very rare but that’s why it’s needed,” said Floyd. “It was really tough and really challenging, but it brought a lot of experience to the Divinity School; kind of formed my

theological development, the classes that I take, and my perspective on things,” she added. Hilary revealed that she left Chicago during a low point in her life. In addition to personal and family situations, she felt like a failure because of the way things ended during her work with ex-offenders. She had feelings of being overwhelmed and questioned her since of calling. The Divinity School proved to be exactly what she needed. “So I came to Divinity School this crazy mess and found this incredible life-giving community. Wonderful friends, wonderful profes-

Faculty Journey By Pete Zimmerman Staff Writer

Some of us were surprised this summer to learn that Dr. Craig Atwood had accepted the position of Director of Admissions and Student Services for the School Divinity. So the Tablet set out to learn more. Craig started the First of July of this summer. When asked what motivated him to take this position, Dr. Atwood said, “Really, I have always, in my ministry, loved to help students with their vocational quest and especially those who wanted to pursue a full time call to Christian service. When I was chaplain at Salem College about a dozen of the students I worked with went off after their undergraduate degree to pursue theological studies. It is nice to be helping students as they enter the program here at WFUSD. Also, I already knew I enjoyed talking about Wake Forest Div. It is the only school I would want to be a director of admissions.” When asked why this was so he went on, “Well, it is a wonderful

school and what impresses me most is the faculty, which is so committed to scholarship yet also mentors the students. I love the student life here. I like how we are connected to a large university. This makes it really the best of two worlds. We have a small, closely knit program but have the benefits of being part of the larger university.” Some students have wondered if Craig would continue to teach. This semester he is teaching theology and he will continue teaching theology in

sors, great classes; through that [I] really recovered my sense of self,” said Floyd. In addition to rediscovering the love of her life, Hilary rediscovered her passion for feminism when she joined Wake Div. She states that she was a feminist when she was younger but became a Christian in college within a kind of “conservative Baptist mold.” “It wasn’t that women were awful, but there were mixed messages and a lot unsaid that I just picked up on,” said Floyd. By coming to WFUDS she recovered this part of herself. “I’m able to combine faith and feminism. It’s pretty cool,” said Floyd. Hilary’s senior project examines the parable of the Prodigal Son. She is applying for PhD programs in New Testament and Early Christian Studies for next fall. Outside of classes Hilary is involved with Wake Forest Baptist Church, likes to be active and outside, and confesses to an unhealthy obsession with Jim Gaffigan (often quoting him). She also loves to read but admits to the difficulties of leisure reading during the academic year. “I am what I am. This is it. What you see is what you get,” concluded Floyd.

Craig Atwood the Spring. Craig said he will always teach one course per semester while he is the Director of Admission. He is the first director of admissions at Wake Divinity to also be faculty. During the next two years he will be a part of the transition from the current Dean to the search for the next Dean. Craig is aided in his role as Director of Admission by Kim Hovis who serves as Administrative Assistant and of whom Craig says, “She is a great help in all this.” He is also glad to be working with a host of work-study students. Craig says he is not an administrator by vocation so it was very important that he be doing it at a place he truly believes in. When asked about his role with Student Services he said that Student Services is not a large part of his job because so much of student life here is student-led. His office is involved with community lunch and coffee hour as well as overseeing SLC programs and student orientation. We are excited to have Craig here full time at Wake Divinity.

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community in review Service welcomes students, old and new

Third-year spends five years redoing the Student Handbook;

Actually, coordinators reflect on orientation By Melissa Guthrie-Johnson Editor-in-Chief

By Brian Layman Staff Writer

Tuesday, September 1, 2009, the Wake Forest University School of Divinity inaugurated its 10th year with a service of beginnings. To begin the service Sally Ann Morris, the composer of the divinity school hymn “Draw Us Together and Make Us One,” led a riveting rehearsal in preparation for the performance at the end of the service. WFUSD Academic Dean Jill Crainshaw continued the celebration providing welcomes and introductions. The President of the Student Leadership Committee spoke next. Hilary Floyd offered a reflection on her time spent at divinity school and the many lessons she has

learned over the years. Her testimony gave the rising first years an insight into the possible impact of a divinity school education. After a worshipful litany encouraging faith and community K. Lee Scott offered a beautiful musical reflection entitled “Gracious Spirit.” Following John Calloway’s scriptural reading from John 20 Dean Bill Leonard delivered the sermon. In it he explored the disciples encounter with the post-resurrection Jesus and compared their questions and struggles to the ones believers continue to wrestle with today. The service provided a meaningful and reflective beginning to the new year.

Events and Announcements

Jill Crainshaw will celebrate her birthday September 21. Student birthdays: Laura Foley celebrated September 11 Derek Wilhelm, September 17 Dianne Horton, September 21 Shannon Axtell and Brian Russell, September 25 Doug Biggerstaff and Chris Welch, September 26 Andrew Heil, September 27 Anniversaries? Special occasions? Accomplishments? Group meetings and events? Share events and announcements by emailing [email protected]

Third-year student Stephen Russ served as one of the two orientation coordinators and explained that he became an orientation leader so that he could “spend five days redoing the Student Handbook.”Stephen clarified, “Okay, not really. I have always enjoyed working in Admissions and this was a way to really get to know the incoming students while also giving back to the school.” Second-year student Anne Jones served with Stephen and explained the theme of this year’s orientation “Like Trees Planted by Rivers of Water” taken from Jeremiah 17:7-8: “The orientation leaders thought this scripture spoke to both the spiritual and economic realities of our current times.” Anne added, “In many ways our students are like trees planted near life-giving water. Nourishment at the Divinity School,” she explained, “comes through relationships with classmates,

professors, and self. It is also discovered through study and worship.” According to Anne the highlight of orientation was either the Dean’s Dinner or the Student Fair. “Both of these events encouraged conversation and allowed incoming students to learn more about the Divinity School…At the Dean’s Dinner, anxiety was low as first-years built friendships with each other and discovered a few things about Dean Leonard.” Both Anne and Stephen noted that a couple of things were modified for this year’s orientation. “A couple of things that we added were a Student Organization Fair, a tour of Winston-Salem, and a campus tour where we visited the counseling center, the student clinic, etc.” Stephen added, “We really just wanted to make sure the new students got all the information they needed while building relationships, learning the geography of the area, and staying awake!”

Job Postings Youth Minister Piney Grove Baptist Church Mount Airy, NC

Worship Leader Creekside Terrace Retirement Community Winston-Salem, NC

Senior Pastor Fishing Creek Baptist Church Whitaker, NC

More job postings are displayed on the third floor of Wingate.

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Common Thread Seaming the Creative Soul

By Ben Wright Staff Writer

“Common Thread,” is a segment of the Tablet used to write about a student’s skill or talent that the student feels incorporates an element of the divine outside of traditional settings. Last year I wrote about DJ-ing and the ability of music to comfort, transform and unify. This section is also used to write about things that unify the WFUDS community. On the tails of Tuesday’s service, I find myself recommitted to the Wake Div family through the experience of Divinity School Chapel. Each Tuesday for chapel we come together. We come together to worship, to receive, to learn, to give, to take, to pray, to welcome, to laugh, to love and to be with one another while also honoring the presence of the sacred. Whether sharing the highlights of that morning’s speaker or losing patience with your ability to get the morning’s hymn out of your head, Divinity School chapel is a time that transforms us for the rest of the week. It is a time when we together recognize the creator of us all, bringing our stories together into the larger story that we find ourselves in. Chapel is a common thread that ties us together.

Worship Bulletin Sept. 22 at 11 a.m. in Davis Chapel: Divinity School Chapel led by Dr. Sam Stevenson Sept. 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Wait Chapel: Worship in Wait series features Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor

An advice column of sorts Send your letters to Sophia at [email protected]

the

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tablet

a branch of the WFU School of Divinity keeping you informed

Melissa Guthrie-Johnson Editor-in-Chief

Christa Chappelle Design Editor

Top Ten top 10 Top Ten Impossible Possibilities of 2009 10. Jason Apicella and Malachi

Kosanovich share a pork chop dinner. Charles Smith Copy Editor

9. Diane Lipsett frowns. 8. Benjamin Wright wins the

Adam Huffman Artwork & Photography Editor

Perfect Attendance Award.

7. Matt Johnson wins the

Timeliness and Punctuality Award. Barrett Wooten Staff Writer

6. Joel Osteen speaks in chapel.

The Divinity School students decide to Live Their Best Life Now! Ben Wright Staff Writer

Brian Layman Staff Writer

5. Dr. Dunn sponsors Wake Vegas – and cleans house!

4. The Divinity School wins an intramural game – forfeits not withstanding.

3. Alfonso Marcel Rivera-Trevino identifies with one group.

Pete Zimmerman Staff Writer The Tablet is a bi-monthly publication of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity and serves as an informative, community-building vehicle. Submissions can be e-mailed to [email protected]. Please include a contact phone number or e-mail address. Submissions must be no longer than 250 words. The right to edit is reserved. Please note that the newsletter content does not represent the views or opinions of the divinity school or all Tablet members.

2. Dr. Leonard submits his application for the position of Dean at the Wake Forest School of Divinity.

1. The Tablet Top Ten

actually gets new material!

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Kevin Sinclair

Alumni Voice Over a year ago I left Winston-Salem with all my worldly possessions packed into my Honda and with a fist full of memories shoved into my back pockets on the road to Houston, Texas. I knew at that moment that I was leaving the most “Christian” community of which I had ever been a member. Saying goodbye to the div school family was a painful process of grief (Fortunately, I was armed with my handy-dandy Grief Recovery Tools learned in Pastoral Care with Mark Jensen!). I came back to the Great Sovereign State with an even larger duffel full of questions than the one with which I entered Wake Forest, but I was still haunted by the same truth that I carried with me throughout those three glorious (yet, at times fairly inglorious) years... The Church needs good people. After spending 457 days ministering in the local church, the words of my once sworn enemy, Karl Barth, ring with a truth that I could never have fully appreciated and still cannot: Theology is for the Church. Yes, my friends, when you were told by your pastor, “All that stuff you learned in Seminary ain’t worth a lick when you get into the trenches,” was flat wrong and you have been sadly misled. It matters. Theology matters. The ability to think theologically about your life situations, your successes and failures, your hopes and worries, and your moments of resurrection and crucifixion (and believe me, they are coming) will save your life. And will save your call. You just have to listen. Now, the trick here is not that everything you learned in Divinity School is directly applicable to a local congregation. Time, patience, and creativity are essential. Especially patience. And time for that matter. Okay, all three are especially essential. The difference in the Old School theological pedagogy as compared to whatever we have at Wake is this: We entered Wake being slapped in the face by ambiguity, uncertainty, and doubt. But we (hopefully) came out the other side with the courage to be okay with our own sense of faithlessness and fear and not buy into the lie that doubt

and faith cannot make for good bed fellows. This difference is, when the darkened clouds of doubt begin to gather in our lives, we were taught – nay, encouraged – to grab hold of that creepy, shiny guy and wrestle him down by the riverside, but as Phyllis Tribble says, “Just be ready to walk away with a limp.” So, yeah, we all know the church has its problems. We know it’s full of racists, homophobes, bigots, misogynists, people who have made their fortunes through the misfortune of others, and you spend more of your day working on calendars and sitting in staff meetings than ruminating on the mysteries of the Divine Mother-Father, etc etc etc. I get it. But my question is: what are YOU going to do about it? Not everyone is called to change the world from the ivory tower. Not everyone is called to write books that no sane person will ever read. The reason why the Dean, Neal, Diane, Jill, Frank, Craig, Doug, and the whole gang do what they do is so that you–and yes, I am talking to you, generic-PhD-bound-Div-Student-with-all-the-gifts-inthe-world-for-ministry, will get out there and scream from the top of your lungs, “Behold, God is making all things new!” to a world that is broken, hurting, and in desperate need of some good news. Our beloved profs are fulfilling their call to cultivate you into the person and minister God has created you to be whether that is in a church, as a politician, or as a director at a Boys & Girls Club, and I can guaran-darn-tee you that the truth and light that echoes through the halls of Wingate needs a pulpit. That truth needs a youth group where the Good News of God’s universal reconciliatory love through Jesus the Christ can be proclaimed. Without you, we are less than what we could be. Don’t forget us. Don’t write us off just because we aren’t where we should be. In fact, who of us were where we are now when we began this journey? People change. Even institutions can change. Ecclesia semper reformanda, but not without you, my friend.

Q. What is your biggest fear or concern about divinity school this year? Being smart enough... seriously, no joke. - Laura Foley, First Year Paying the bills. - Beth Walden, Third Year

One of my biggest concerns for this year is achieving balance. I’ve added a lot of new responsibilities since last year and I’m very excited about them, but hoping to keep up with schoolwork and do well even with more strains on my time. -Shanon Axtell, Second Year

I have to divide the year in half because my 1st semester concern will surely not affect 2nd semester-and that is to get back on my feet and cruise the hallowed halls of Wingate again! As for 2nd semester, like many others, I’m sweating getting my Senior Project done on time so I can graduate! - Debbie Collins, Third Year

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Productivity doesn’t take a summer break for students By Pete Zimmerman Staff Writer

Most Wake Divinity students scatter for the summer. The Tablet wanted to find out some of what a few of them did over the three all-too short months of summer. Here is a brief report of some of the summer’s that your fellow classmates experienced. Burt Sanders stayed in WinstonSalem and took bioethics with Jay Foster and Spirituality and Healthcare with Mark Jensen and says of the last few months, “It was a blast.” He continued his internship at Harbor Acres retirement center and also got to do a lot of preaching and speaking. Christie Barker took Greek this summer, as did Carter McNeese. Donna Maree worked all summer at her Church and said, “church, church, and more church! I was glad to come back to school. But that was not all. I spent some time with my kids and did some family stuff and also spent a lot of time with my mom.” Lynn Rose related that she got to spend a lot of time where she spread mulch and built a dam in the gully be-

hind her parents house She did this using boxwood which is common around here but more so in the mountains. Jason Apicella went all the way to Israel to take an intensive Greek course. Doug Biggerstaff saw Don Rickles live and loved it. Stephen Russ went on tour with his band The Fire Tonight where he often took off his shirt in typical drummer fashion. He also worked in the library and co-coordinated orientation for the incoming first years where he enjoyed working with Anne Jones. Sally Taylor-Bershears enjoyed this summer taking time out for herself. She also went to her daughter’s wedding. Ryan Newson and Andrew Heil worked on learning German this summer. Ryan says it was a good experience, “not fun but worth it to gain proficiency in reading another language.” Will Henderson went to the UK and worked at Bloomsbury Central Baptist church, a church that is involved with

the homeless population in downtown London. The church community was very enjoyable. “It was incredible. I am looking to go back.” He also loved the pub scene and the museums. He got to go to a cricket match. Ellen Sizemore did her first unit of Clinical Pastoral Education this summer. She says it is hard to describe her experience of CPE but says, “I appreciated the experience and it really helped me grow as a minister.” Shannon Axtell stayed in town this summer to work at United Baptist and also led teen camps at the YMCA. Jenn Fredette says, “I went on an adventure to a land called Texas. It is a foreign country! I learned the national anthem, which is “Deep In the Heart of Texas!” It is hot as hell there.” Hilary Floyd was a nanny this summer and poured her heart and soul into the lives of 4 small children. She got to see one of them take their first steps, which was one of the more moving events she has seen. Isn’t summer time supposed to be relaxing? Apparently not for Divinity School students!

The Trivial Inquisition Starting this week, each issue of the Tablet will feature a trivia question about the divinity school or someone in the divinity school. E-mail the correct answer to [email protected] on the day of publication. The subject line must be “Trivial Inquisition.” One correct answer will be selected at random to win a prize. Winners will be notified via email and will be printed in the following issue. Good luck! Q: What was Dean Leonard’s very first job?