Candler embraces new faculty, old roots

Candler School of Theology at Emory University is a United Methodist-related seminary in Atlanta. A UMNS file photo by Mike DuBose.

A UMNS Report
By Jennifer Lind*

Candler School of Theology is strengthening its ties with The United Methodist Church by welcoming seven new faculty members, six of whom are United Methodist.

Jan Love

The hiring is part of strategic plans adopted by both Candler and Emory University in Atlanta "to ensure that the university draws on its United Methodist heritage," according to Jan Love, dean of the theology school.

"Emory University is owned by the Southeastern Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church," Love told United Methodist News Service. "… The university has always been close to The United Methodist Church."

The six new United Methodist faculty members have diverse backgrounds in scholarship and ministry.

Ruediger Minor

Retired Bishop Ruediger Minor of Dresden, Germany, will serve for two years as the Daniel and Lillian Hankey Chair of World Evangelism. This position complements the Arthur J. Moore Chair in Evangelism at the school.

Minor will teach courses in evangelism, lead a contextual education group, and work closely with the World Methodist Evangelism Institute, a cooperative ministry of Candler and the World Methodist Council that trains evangelism leaders.

"The nomination for the Hankey Chair of World Evangelism came to me as a complete surprise and a great honor and challenge," said Minor, who helped re-establish the denomination's presence in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

"From my background and experience as bishop in Germany and Russia, I see world evangelism as a challenge to the ecumenical community. Therefore, I will pursue dialogue with concepts of evangelization in other confessional families, especially Catholicism and Orthodoxy. While methodology is certainly of importance, I see the major task in a joint effort to formulate the Good News - the 'evangel' - as a healing word for a hurting world."

Love views Minor's commitment to ecumenism as a vital part of Candler's celebration of the Wesleyan tradition. "You can't be a follower of John Wesley without being ecumenical," she said, referring to Methodism's founder. "It's just part of our DNA."

Minor led United Methodists in former East Germany during the Cold War. He graduated with a doctorate in theology from Karl Marx University (now the University of Leipzig) and has taught at the United Methodist Theological Seminary in Bad Klosterlausnitz. Minor has also taught at the United Methodist Theological Seminary in Moscow. He was elected bishop and assigned to lead the East German Central Conference in 1986 and retired from the Eurasia Area in 2005.

Theological perspective
Ellen Ott Marshall joins the faculty as associate professor of Christian ethics and conflict transformation. She will teach Christian ethics and advanced electives and participate in Candler's contextual education program.

Love said Marshall "brings a powerful theological perspective to issues of conflict and peace building and right relations between people, and all those things that we imagine in the biblical vision of shalom."

She pointed out that Candler needs "…greater training on how to navigate the conflicts that every church encounters and how to treat each other more like sisters and brothers in Christ. … Many churches and many denominations feel like a war zone sometimes."

Marshall, who has a doctorate in religion, ethics and society from Vanderbilt University, has served as associate professor of religion at United Methodist-related Claremont (Calif.) School of Theology since 2002. She also has worked with the refugee resettlement programs of the Church World Service and has been involved in the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

She has authored Christians in the Public Square: Faith that Transforms Politics (Abington Press 2008), Choosing Peace through Daily Practices (Pilgrim Press 2005) and Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom: Toward a Responsible Theology of Christian Hope (Abingdon Press 2006).

The Rev. Anne Burkholder has been named associate dean of Methodist studies, a new position designed to coordinate curricular and non-curricular programming for students interested in being ordained in The United Methodist Church and other Wesleyan denominations.
Burkholder, who holds a doctorate in ethics and society from Emory University, will also supervise the United Methodist Course of Study and manage relations between Candler and the denomination's annual (regional) conferences.

She most recently served as the director of connectional ministries and as a district superintendent in the United Methodist Florida Conference, and she has helped redevelop congregations in Florida and North Carolina. She previously was executive director of Miami Urban Ministries, overseeing the development of faith-based social service ministries, including Head Start, a program for Haitian children, and has taught at Duke Divinity School.

Additional faculty members
The Rev. Don Harp will serve one year as pastor-theologian in residence, a new position created to provide guidance to seminary students. He has served the denomination's North Georgia Conference for more than 40 years and helped increase the congregation at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church to some 6,900 members. Harp earned a master of divinity degree from Candler and a doctorate of divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary at the University of Chicago.

The Rev. L. Edward Phillips has been named associate professor of worship and liturgical theology. Most recently an associate professor of practice of Christian worship at Duke Divinity School, he taught at Union College and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He earned a doctorate in the history of liturgy from the University of Notre Dame.

The Rev. Robert "Bob" Winstead joins the faculty as director of lifelong learning, a position created to support the college's initiative to broaden and deepen programs of lifelong learning. Formerly the senior pastor at Haygood Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta, he also is an author and church educator. He holds a master of divinity degree from Candler and a doctorate in ministry from McCormick.

*Lind is an intern at the United Methodist News Service. She is a senior religious studies major at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.