School Notes: Yale Divinity School
November/December 2009

Another year, another Before the Fall Orientation

During the last week of August, entering Yale Divinity School students were treated to the traditional "Before the Fall Orientation" to life at YDS, followed by opening convocation ceremonies on September 1. BTFO was full of activities designed to introduce new students to YDS, to each other, and to returning students, faculty, and staff. At the convocation, professor of Reformation history Bruce Gordon warned a packed Marquand Chapel audience against settling for easy answers or platitudes—which he dismissed as "verbal junk food"—and urged them to be prepared for the many challenges that truth will present. "We shall not spare you difficulty and controversy," Gordon assured students, for, "faced with the question of truth, we find ourselves challenged on every front." This year's YDS entering class is the largest in recent years, with a total of 169 new students.

Four honored with alumni awards

A highlight of convocation and reunions, held annually in October, is always the opportunity to honor a select group of alumni who have distinguished themselves in various ways. Among the honorees this year is Nancy Taylor ’81MDiv, the first woman to serve as senior minister at historic Old South Church in Boston, who was chosen to receive the Distinction in Congregational Ministry award. At a conference, "The Future of the Congregation," held at YDS in spring 2009, Taylor argued for church services that convey some of the energy of the Gospel: "I would propose that part of what needs to happen is that it needs to be a place that is truly exciting, in which people are being connected with things that matter deeply. . . . Church can and ought to be as riveting, as enthralling, as compelling, in its own way, as is Fenway Park when the Sox are in town. . . . I think some excitement, as well as elegance and beauty and contemplation, is what's wanted." Other 2009 honorees, chosen by the YDS Alumni Board, are Bonita Grubbs ’84MAR, Lux et Veritas Award; Peter Laarman ’93MDiv, William Sloane Coffin ’56 Award for Peace and Justice; and Don Saliers ’62BD, ’67PhD, Distinction in Theological Education.

Emory University's graduate school named for YDS alumnus

The Emory University Board of Trustees has approved renaming the Emory graduate school in honor of James Laney ’50, ’54BD, ’66PhD, who led Emory from 1977 until 1993. Laney was awarded an honorary degree from Yale in 1993 and served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea in 1993-97. During a spring 2007 conference on faith and citizenship hosted by YDS, Laney described his experience as a key player in the brinksmanship between the two Koreas, recalling how during some of the tensest moments in the standoff he would go into the embassy bathroom, lock the door, and get down on his hands and knees to pray. "Now, I realize that what I was praying for was a continuation of clarity of vision, that I would not be confounded by or overwhelmed by anxiety, or just see the thing in skewed terms," said Laney. "I never told anybody in the embassy that, anybody in the government that."