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October 7, 2005|Volume 34, Number 5


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Sam Todd



Divinity School alumni will honor memory of missing classmate at Convocation/Reunion

Two decades after being called back from Christmas recess to help search for missing classmate Sam Todd, alumni of the Yale Divinity School (YDS) will gather in Marquand Chapel on Monday, Oct. 10, for a service in his honor, "Mourning a Loss, Celebrating a Life."

Todd was entering his last term at YDS when he disappeared in New York City in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 1984 after a night of celebration with his younger brother, Adam, and friends from Vassar College, his alma mater.

The student was never found, despite countless hours of street-by-street searches in New York by YDS students, faculty and friends; placement on the New York City Police Department's Missing Persons list; thousands of fliers posted throughout New York City; and multiple articles in The New York Times and other major media.

Scheduled to preside at the service is Letty M. Russell, professor emerita of theology, who was teaching at YDS when Todd was a student. A luncheon will precede the 1:30 p.m. service, which is being held in conjunction with the Oct. 10-13 Convocation and Reunions 2005. Alumni are being invited to share memories of Todd or recollections of the search in New York City that will be put into a YDS memory book.

Speakers at the convocation will include Harry S. Stout, the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History, who also has appointments in the Departments of History, Religious Studies and American Studies, and at the Divinity School (Lyman Beecher Lectures); William P. Alston, professor emeritus of philosophy at Syracuse University (Nathaniel Taylor Lectures); the Reverend Robin Eames, Anglican Primate of Ireland and chair of the Lambeth Commission (Berkeley Divinity School Pitt Lecture); and Janet Walton, professor of worship at Union Theological Seminary (Institute of Sacred Music Kavanagh Lecture).

Stout will deliver three lectures on the subject "Preaching Morality in America's Civil War." He is the author of several books, including "The New England Soul," a Pulitzer Prize finalist for history, and "The Divine Dramatist: George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism," which received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for biography, as well as the Critic's Award for history in 1991.

Alston is perhaps best known for his work in the philosophy of language, epistemology and the philosophy of religion. His most recent books include "Perceiving God: A Study in the Epistemology of Religious Experience," "The Reliability of Sense Perception," "A Realist Conception of Truth" and "Illocutionary Acts and Sentence Meaning." The topic of his three Taylor Lectures is "Divine Mystery and Our Knowledge of God." Due to limitations on Alston's travel imposed by health problems, his lectures will be delivered by Nicholas Wolterstorff, the Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology at YDS.

Eames was created a life peer in 1995 and has for many years been involved in Irish politics as a prominent advocate for peace and understanding. He is also renowned within the general Anglican Communion as chair of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, which examined challenges to Anglican unity. Eames' lecture is on "Where Now for World Anglicanism?"

Walton's research and teaching focus on ritual traditions and practices in religious communities, with particular interest in artistic dimensions, feminist perspectives, and commitments to justice. Her lecture is titled "Ritual Action <--> Global Action." Walton is the author of "Feminist Liturgy: A Matter of Justice" and co-editor of "Worship and Art: A Vital Connection, Sacred Sound and Social Change" and "Women at Worship: Interpretations of North American Diversity."

All lectures are open to the public and free to members of the Yale community, but advance registration is required.

Details on the YDS Convocation and Reunions 2005 -- including a complete schedule, registration information and biographies of alumni award recipients -- are available online at www.yale.edu/divinity/convocation/index.htm.


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