School Notes: Yale Divinity School
May/June 2011

Faith community challenged to confront poverty here and abroad

Anti-poverty advocates gathered on Ash Wednesday at the launch of a 40-day Lenten campaign called "Mobilizing Faith, Fighting Poverty," organized by Yale Divinity School. Sen. Chris Coons '92MAR, '92JD, keynoted the event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Among the other presenters was Arthur Keys '73MDiv, president and CEO of International Relief and Development. In closing remarks, Dean Harold Attridge urged people "to act, by giving and giving generously, by connecting with religious and secular organizations … that are committed to effective ways of combating poverty, and by engaging vigorously in the current debate about our responsibility as a nation to combat poverty." The "Mobilizing Faith, Fighting Poverty" initiative used the YDS website and a special Facebook page to disseminate anti-poverty resources during Lent.

Chlöe Starr named one of seven Henry Luce III Fellows in theology

Chlöe Starr, assistant professor of Asian theology, is a Henry Luce III Fellow in theology for 2011–12, one of seven scholars selected for the honor by the Henry Luce Foundation and Association of Theological Schools. Fellows are selected on the basis of the strength of proposals submitted to conduct creative and innovative theological research. Starr’s project seeks to understand and describe the development of Chinese intellectual Christianity. She has been compiling a reader in Chinese theology that will serve as a basis for research on the monograph she plans to produce as a Luce Fellow.

New mission statement embraces commitment to social justice

A new mission statement unanimously approved by the Yale Divinity School faculty on March 1 contains some noteworthy changes, including references to YDS’s "commitment to social justice" and to engagement in a "global, multifaith context." It was written in conjunction with the school’s ongoing self-study process mandated by the Association of Theological Schools. Clement-Muehl Professor of Homiletics Nora Tubbs Tisdale, who chaired the task force that drafted the statement, said, "This new statement reemphasizes our enduring commitment to 'foster the knowledge and love of God' and to train leaders for church and world, while also acknowledging that the world and church in which we do so continue to change."

Turmoil in Egypt forces YDS students to return

The political turmoil in Egypt disrupted plans to inaugurate a pioneering initiative between Yale Divinity School and Al-Azhar University in Cairo, forcing a contingent of students to leave Cairo and return to New Haven for the semester. The students—seven YDS students, along with a Yale sociology PhD candidate—returned to New Haven on February 4, just nine days after arriving in Egypt. Under the supervision of Joseph Cumming, director of the Divinity School's Christian-Muslim Reconciliation Program, the students were ready to begin a semester-long course of study at Al-Azhar in Arabic and Islamic thought. While not a formal exchange program, the YDS/Al-Azhar relationship has been described by Dean Harold Attridge and other Yale officials as a "collaboration" or "partnership" to encourage YDS students to study at Al-Azhar and vice versa.