Divcast

Join Rev. Todd Maberry and Dr. Nina Balmaceda, Consulting Faculty and Associate Director for the Center for Reconciliation (CFR) at Duke Divinity School as they talk about her life and work. Dr. Balmaceda has contributed to the legal profession in Peru and she is the current president of Peace and Hope International. She instructs Divinity students through her work with the CFR and also as a professor in and co-director of the Certificate in Faith-based Organizing, Advocacy, and Social Transformation. Find the book she mentions, Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation edited by Helmick and Peterson here https://templetonpress.org/books/forgiveness-and-reconciliation/. Stream The Chair on Netflix.

Learn more about the Center for Reconciliation, their programing, and global impact on their website: https://divinity.duke.edu/initiatives/cfr

More information on international Field Education opportunities for Residential Master of Divinity students can be found here: https://divinity.duke.edu/formation/field-education/international-field-education

Join us for our next faculty conversation between Rev. Maberry and Dr. Ron Rittgers. They cover topics such as, the value of having space to ask all your questions and what it means to be a theologian of the cross. Dr. Rittgers explains his scholarship broadly as taking what we have learned from the past and applying it to the present day. He explores the delight in unearthing texts and engaging previous generations of Christians. And, perhaps most importantly, they answer the question: can you be cool and a Christian at the same time?

Dr. Rittgers recent publication, A Widower's Lament: The Pious Meditations of Johann Christoph Oelhafen, can be found here. Find a copy of the book Dr. Rittgers recently read, Josef Pieper's, Faith, Hope, and Love, online. You can stream Picard on Paramount+.

Learn more about the Duke Divinity student body on our website: https://divinity.duke.edu/admissions/our-students

If you have just started thinking about graduate theological education, this episode will be a resource for you! "Start Here" features the three Duke Divinity School recruiters discussing basic questions like:

What is graduate school?

What are the degree options at Duke?

What are some tips for successfully starting this process?

We hope that you will enjoy this conversation and learn a little about where to start.

Rev. Todd Maberry joins one of our newest faculty members, Dr. Daniel Castelo, to discuss what it is like to join our community, what can be lost in translation, and how family can support our stories. They also face questions such as, is theological work an act of worship or a spiritual discipline? Can a siesta be the key to surviving life as a night owl? Join us for this lively conversation.

You can find the books Dr. Castelo mentioned, The Cost of Discipleship and These Truths, through their publishers. You can stream the show Monk on Amazon Prime. Dr. Castelo is the William Kellon Quick Professor of Theology and Methodist Studies at Duke Divinity School. He joins two other new faculty this fall and you can learn more about all the new faculty and their  scholarship here.

The Pentecost Window mentioned in this episode is found on the ground floor of the Westbrook Building. You can register for an on-campus visit here to see it in person.

Welcome to a new academic year at Duke Divinity School and a new season of Divcast episodes! We are excited to share conversations with new faculty members, those who have been woven into our community for years, alumni stories, and bonus episodes that we hope will help prospective students in their discernment.

Our Dean, Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric, was recently installed at our opening convocation service by Duke University provost, Dr. Sally Kornbluth. He joins Rev. Maberry (Senior Director of Admissions, Recruitment, and Student Finance and Divcast host), to talk about his vision for Duke Divinity School in 2021. We hope you are inspired, as we have been, by the promise and hope of new leadership as we work together to continue to build the cathedral that Duke Divinity School aspires to be.

Please read about or watch Dean Colón-Emeric's installation service on our Stories@DDS website.

Join Rev. Maberry as he chats with '11 M.Div. graduate and current Senior Director of Cross-Sector Initiatives at Duke Divinity School, A.J. Walton. A.J.'s current role entails diverse responsibilities such as serving with graduate and undergraduate fellowship programs through the Purpose Project of the Kenan Institute for Ethics, working with Kate Bowler and Everything Happens, and storytelling related to anti-racism initiatives at Duke Divinity School. The thread that runs through his varied educational and career history is his interest in community impact and improving the lives of others.

Take a listen to hear advice for seminarians, and those considering seminary, including: not apologizing for your identities, finding common spaces that provide freedom and peace, and finding a mentor. You will also hear the answer to the burning question, "can you mail Bojangles sweet tea?"

Join us for a conversation between ’06 M.Div. alumna Rev. Elizabeth Hagan and Rev. Maberry as they discuss the unexpected pathways that a life in ministry can take. Their conversation contains advice for those who dream of using their theological training to lean into the ministerial vocation of a published author, the need for community among writers, and whether study groups might be the most fun part of the seminary experience. The book she is reading, titled Christian Minimalism, can be found here https://www.churchpublishing.org/christianminimalism

Rev. Hagan is a pastor, speaker, and author with a book forthcoming, Brave Church: Tackling Tough Topics Together, that serves as a catalyst for congregations willing to have difficult conversations with love. Learn more about her work and how your church might become a brave church at https://elizabethhagan.com/

Rev. Maberry spends this Divcast speaking with Duke Divinity alumnus Rev. Ryan Spurrier, an elder in the United Methodist Church currently serving as Campus Minister at the Wesley Campus Ministry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC Wesley is a vibrant ministry that has many students go on to seminary and is also a field education placement location for residential Master of Divinity students at Duke Divinity School. Rev. Spurrier has been leading UNC Wesley since 2015, and before UNC, he served as an associate pastor in South Carolina.

Listen in as they discuss what it is like to be part of campus ministry at a large southern university in the time of Black Lives Matter and during the removal of Confederate war monuments established during the time of Jim Crow laws, how to root the sense of home in your call to ministry, and the ever pressing tension between love of Duke University, love of UNC basketball, and love of Clemson football.

Rev. Maberry connects with Rev. Michael Gulker in this episode of Divcast. Rev. Gulker is a '05 M.Div. alumnus and is a co-founder and current president of The Colossian Forum in Grand Rapids, M.I. The Colossian Forum started in 2011 as an effort to help church congregations turn points of tension into positive spiritual formation. Michael is particularly interested in the intersections of culture and faith, and how they can lead to worship. He is the co-editor of All Things Hold Together in Christ: A Conversation on Faith, Science, and Virtue. He is an ordained Mennonite pastor. Rev. Maberry and Rev. Gulker explore topics such as finding delight across difference, the important discussions that happen in seminary hallways between classes, and how conflict resolution can occur through embodied practices and worship.

Learn more about The Colossian Way conflict resolution discipleship practice. Read about Rev. Gulker at Faith and Leadership. Check out the book Rev. Gulker read, The Church of Us vs. Them by David Fitch. We also invite you to learn more about the Duke Divinity School Center for Reconciliation, mentioned in this episode, and their 2021 Summer Institute for Reconciliation (virtual sessions May 12-14) or register online.

On this episode we are joined by Rev. Mycal X. Brickhouse, a 2016 M.Div. grad, pastor in Cary, N.C., and also our Director of Alumni Relations at Duke Divinity School. Rev. Brickhouse and Rev. Maberry connect across many topics, but they especially answer the following questions: what is it like to serve as a bivocational pastor, what role can the church have in the public sphere, and does UNC Chapel Hill have a Divinity School? Take a listen for the answer to those questions and more.

If you would like to read the book Rev. Brickhouse just read, The Politics of Jesus by Obery Hendricks, find it here. You can stream Lovecraft Country over at HBO. Enjoy Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles here. Rev. Brickhouse's writing can be found on his website and you can learn more about the work of his church, Cary First, on theirs.

We invite you to learn more about our Office of Black Church Studies, including the Certificate in Black Church Studies, and the many courses, preaching series, and events curated each year.