"Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest-time, if we will not give up." Galatians 6:9
FACULTY NEWS
Dr. Davidson presented a paper titled "Constructing Theologies of Prayer in the Midst of Worship" in the Liturgy and Spirituality Seminar for the North American Academy of Liturgy at their annual meeting this year held in Montreal, Canada, January 5-8, 2012.
Jennifer is on sabbatical for the spring 2012 semester.
Dr. Nancy Hall is currently on a teaching sabbatical...
...from ABSW for the 2011 fall semester. She had a busy summer, however, with the highlight being the annual July conference of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, held this year at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. The theme of this year’s conference was “Touch the Earth Lightly” (borrowed from the title of a hymn by New Zealander Shirley Erena Murray).
The five-day event included hymns festivals each day: “Touch the Earth Lightly: Singing Our Care for the Earth,” “A Heart to Praise Our God: a Festival Highlighting Hymns by Gay and Lesbian Poets and Composers,” “Rooted in the Rockies: Congregational Song with a Colorado Connection,” “The Earth is Our Mother,” and “Look in Wonder, Hold in Honour.” Four of the festivals were held in local churches; the final festival took place in the beautiful Air Force Academy Cadets’ Chapel.
The first plenary speaker for the conference was Dr. George “Tink” Tinker, who spoke on “How American Indian Spirituality Can Inform a Christian Response to Care for the Earth.” Dr. Tinker, a member of the Osage Nation, is Clifford Baldridge Professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions at Iliff School of Theology, in Denver (he is also a PhD graduate of the Graduate Theological Union, and a longtime friend of Dr. Hall’s). The second plenary speaker was Dr. I-to Loh, who spoke on “Sound a Mystic Bamboo Song: Sounds and Images of Christ in Asian Hymns” (for an interesting overview of Dr. Loh’s contributions to church music, see http://sg.christianpost.com/dbase/culture/1375//1.htm)
During her sabbatical, Dr. Hall is continuing her work as editor of “THE HYMN: A Journal of Congregational Song,” the quarterly research and hymnic news publication of The Hymn Society. At Colorado Springs, Dr. Hall convened a meeting of the journal's editorial board and made a report to the annual business meeting of the Society. She is also a member of The Hymn Society's executive committee. With the publication of the Autumn 2011 issue of the journal, Dr. Hall will complete her three-year term as editor.
As an ABSW sabbatical project, Dr. Hall begins in October a three-month unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, through the campus-based program at San Francisco Theological Seminary. (For details on this unique CPE setting, go to http://www.sfts.edu/programs/CPE_welcome.asp)
As part-time pastor of First Baptist Church of Berkeley, Dr. Hall is leading the congregation this October in a month of stewardship emphasis, “Fruitful Trees, the Spirit’s Sowing.”