Disciples Divinity House of the University of Chicago

DDH Scholars Annika Fuller and Hayden Skaggs pose with Vy Nguyen, Executive Director of the Week of Compassion, in the Philippines last week. They traveled with other Disciples seminarians who are Global Theological Education Fellows to learn about disaster response, sustainable development, and ministry in global contexts. They visited local farming and fishing villages and spoke with leaders from partner churches. Annika sang during worship in Lupang Ramos.

The program is sponsored by Week of Compassion, Higher Education & Leadership Ministries - HELM, and Overseas Ministries. Disciples Scholars MariaIsabelle Garcia, Ella Johnson, and Katie Varon have been selected for next year's cohort.

It's Juneteenth, and this year in Hyde Park that means the public opening of the Obama Presidential Center. Besides a museum, it's a community center, a public library, and a showcase for 28 commissioned works of contemporary art, including Richard Hunt's "Book Bird."

Carrie Shepherd of Axios Chicago says, "It would be nearly impossible to have a conversation about contemporary Chicago artists without including the late, great sculptor Richard Hunt, whose instantly recognizable bronze statue 'Book Bird' sits next to the new Chicago Public Library on the campus." The sculpture is partly cast and partly direct metal fabrication. It was finished not long after Hunt's "Becoming" in the DDH Courtyard. (See link to Shepherd's article in comments.)

Hart Lang, House Scholar and third year MDiv, is co producing a short film he and friend wrote called "Buggy." Set in South Carolina, the film is about abortion access and what it's like to come into your own as an artist in a red state. They are hosting an event/fundraiser tonight at 7:00pm at "The Third Space" in Chicago, at 716 West Addison. Tickets are $25 - link is in the comments. Alum Rebecca Anderson and current Scholar Annika Fuller will both be giving monologues, along with several talented Chicago-area folks.

Best wishes to Luke Soderstrom, PhD Candidate in Theology and DDH Scholar, who will defend his dissertation tomorrow, Tuesday, June 16, at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Titled: "Moravian Changelings: Children, Feeling, and Religious Certainty in the Protestant Atlantic," Soderstrom recasts the contentious history of the early Unitas Fratrum (Moravian Church) under the leadership of Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf. It tracks the community's elaboration of a "figure of the child"—through children, childhood, and childlikeness—and argues that they used the child and a corresponding array of affective indications to verify grace and to ground their religious certitude and eschatological identity. Through children’s expressions, play, and emotional responsiveness, Moravians sought to prove that grace could be immediately felt, institutionally confirmed, and communally sustained.

Luke elaborates, "The dissertation begins with the 1727 Herrnhut revival and its impact on Zinzendorf's early writings, in which children’s religious feeling is a privileged sign of Christ’s presence. It then traces the development of a radical childlike ethos into the Sifting Time crisis of the 1740s. This playful and affectionate "niedlich piety"—emphasizing Christ’s wounds, bridal ecclesiology, and liturgical experimentation—was castigated by outsiders, prompting a reassessment of the community's relationship to the child and a restructuring of leadership toward stricter oversight, in order to govern affect's ambivalence. The final chapter describes Moravian missionaries' application of niedlich piety among the enslaved of the St. Thomas and St. Jan islands. There, children’s responses both bolstered Moravian religious identity and exposed the racialized limits of Moravian universalism. Reading the archive with and against the grain, Moravian Changeling demonstrates how the child was variously employed as the solution to the problem of uncertainty and argues that the child is the site where the cost of such certainty became visible."

Delaney Beh, House Scholar, was honored with the John Gray Rhind Award, presented to a graduating Master of Divinity student whose excellence in academic and professional training gives notable promise of a significant contribution to the service of others. Beh came to the Divinity School to pursue chaplaincy and found a vocation in preaching and congregational leadership during a field placement at First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn. Their thesis, "The Courage to Be Church," calls on religious communities to take up spiritual practice and moral leadership in a season of institutional anxiety. Beh will continue with the Glen Ellyn congregation as they prepare for ordination in the United Church of Christ. Congratulations, Delaney!

This summer, two House Scholars - Amelia Richter, entering MDiv student, and Fiyori Kidane, rising second year MDiv student - will be spending eight weeks in, respectively, the Philippines and Pakistan, in what is called the Disciples Seminarians Summer Immersion in International Disaster Response through Week of Compassion. The aim of the program is to introduce seminarians to "what locally led humanitarian response looks like and to better understand how faith communities accompany one another in moments of vulnerability and rebuilding." Linked article in the comments.

There is a tradition of sharing toasts in the backyard after DDH's Convocation service in the Chapel of the Holy Grail, held on Friday evening, June 5. Colorful festive garb was on display, and there was both champagne and sparkling beverages for all and all ages to raise a glass together.

Congratulations to the graduates!! MDiv graduates to the left: Lilia Ellis, Delaney Beh, and Delaney Wallace. PhD graduate Rachel Abdoler at center. AM graduates to the right: Wendy Hao Wang, Sai Srinivas, Ethan Yu, and Emma Yeager (not pictured: Noah Sveiven). All are Disciples Scholars or DDH residents who earned their degrees at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

DDH's Convocation Service is Friday, June 5, at 6:00 pm in the Chapel of the Holy Grail with alumna Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson speaking. The Divinity School's Pinning and Hooding Ceremony is Friday at 12:30 pm. University of Chicago Spring Convocation is this Saturday. Below are University bagpipers and an archival photo of the tented stage for the 1896 University Convocation.