Summer 2012 | The Reading Issue
Welcome
Welcome to the new Candler Connection, the magazine for alumni and friends of Candler School of Theology. This magazine is designed to foster community among the 7,500 Candler alumni around the world.
Our first issue after a three-year hiatus is dedicated to the topic of reading. What does it mean to read in community? Can reading change the world? How do we read more deeply? What is your favorite professor reading? The answers to these questions are explored in the articles below.
Page through the digital magazine.
Features
See Spot Run: Reading as a Spiritual Practice
“We live in a sea of reading, and like fish, we’re mostly oblivious to what we swim in.” In this adaptation of her spring 2012 convocation address, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament Carol Newsom reflects upon the spiritual dimensions of reading.
Reading for Real Change
First-year MDivs Rachelle Renee Brown and Miranda-Lynn Gartin up and left lucrative marketing careers in Ohio and California because they wanted to make a difference in the world. Little did these corporate exiles know that teaching English literacy to an immigrant Burmese family—a mom and dad with four children who had spent most or all of their lives in a Thai refugee camp—would make a world of difference disappear.
Lectio Divina: The Art of Divine Reading
Scripture has always been important to Audrey Hindes, program associate for academic and international support at Candler. In an effort to “dig deep,” she studied Greek and Latin in college, and then went on to graduate degree in Biblical Languages. She taught the Bible at a University for seven years. But then, this knowledge wasn’t enough anymore. Something was missing. Then Hindes found Lectio Divina, an ancient way of praying Scripture that the Benedictines call “listening with the ear of one’s heart.”
Does It Matter How You Read a Hymn?
At Candler’s spring conference, “The Singing Church: Current Trends and Emerging Practices in Congregational Song,” participants explored the idea that the texts of hymns must be more carefully considered in order to be effective and meaningful to our spiritual development. But how do we achieve this kind of close reading of hymn texts? Are the ways we see hymns—in hymnals and on projector screens—holding us back?
Also in this Issue
The Collect
Reading for comfort, challenge, connection
News
The latest from Candler
Giving
Campaign Update
Benediction
Brooks Holifield offers closing thoughts on reading
Faculty
Required Reading
What faculty are reading now
Now & Then: A Faculty Dialogue
Professor emeritus Bill Mallard and current professor Ellen Ott Marshall talk teaching
Alumni
An Interview with Stacia Brown
Candler alumna turns novelist with Accidents of Providence
Commencement 2012
The Day in Pictures
Resources
Reading Beyond the Lines
Volunteers at Pitts Theology Library expand its reach around the world
Upcoming at Candler
Mark your calendar
The Fine Print
Candler Connection is published two times a year by Candler School of Theology at Emory University and is distributed free to all alumni and other friends of the school. Send correspondence regarding the magazine to: Laurel Hanna, Director of Communications, Candler School of Theology, 1531 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322; laurel.hanna@emory.edu
Produced by the Office of Communications, Candler School of Theology
Laurel Hanna, Director of Communications
Molly Edmonds, Communications Specialist
Copyright 2012 Candler School of Theology, Emory University. All rights reserved. Articles may be reprinted in full or in part if source is acknowledged.