Dear GTU Community,

Frederick Buechner once wrote that vocation is where “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” The Graduate Theological Union’s calling to connect faith, ideas, and action has brought both the world to our door and the GTU into the world. In August I spoke on a panel at the “Religion and Democracy” conference co-sponsored by the GTU and the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (p. 11). We spent an entire day listening and talking about faith and society with some of the world’s religious thinkers, including Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Khaled Abou El Fadl, and GTU scholars and alumni. Renowned historian Philip Jenkins opened our academic year with a Convocation address on biblical interpretation in the Global South and the future of Christianity. Bestselling author and Christian leader Jim Wallis challenged us to bring true biblical values─such as concern for the poor─to civic conversation. Former U.S. Senator and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth joined us at our annual Blessing of the Crush fundraiser where we honored him for his efforts in helping to bridge the arenas of religion and politics. (Read more about all three on p. 12.)

 
A look at students and recent graduates reveals the breadth and depth of scholarship that strives for a greater good. Our 2006 commencement speaker, Tamara Rodenberg (Ph.D. ’06; see p. 4), served as theological educator and rural development officer in Swaziland and wrote her dissertation on building radical conversations across cultures. Current doctoral student Ajit Abraham’s dissertation offers a creative response to globalization in the context of his native India (see p. 1). Robert Galoob, one of our 2006-2007 Newhall scholars (pp. 6-7), teaches a class on the roots of anti-Semitism, providing students with the tools to understand prejudice today. 

 
Students, faculty, and friends choose to come to the Graduate Theological Union because we care about intellectual growth together with world transformation. We are proud to serve as a vital crossroads for leading figures in religion to come and engage the role of faith in today’s world. We remain vigilant for new ways of enriching both our minds and each other that stretch beyond the walls of the academy. I hope that each of you will join us in this important endeavor in your own way, every day.

James A. Donahue

President