Work Done, Work Begun

Work Done, Work Begun Unknown (or inaccessible) property:CurrentPageVersion.PageID

On October 5-7, 2000, the Wesleyan Center sponsored Work Done, Work Begun: Women Creating Sacred Spaces. The conference was a wonderful success with over 200 participants in attendance.

Bios and Speaker Topics

Rebecca Chopp

“Holy Living, Holy Alive: Christianity and Feminism in the 21st Century”

Dr. Chopp is currently the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Emory University. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and has had an illustrious career in teaching and administration. Significantly published in scholarly journals and a distinguished presenter at professional and ecclesial gatherings,
Professor Chopp is also well-known for her books; her most recent is
Differing Horizons: Feminist Theory and Theology, co-edited with Sheila Davaney.

R. Marie Griffith

“Bodies of Faith: The Flesh as Burden and Blessing in Evangelical Women's Experience"

Dr. Griffith earned her Ph.D. at Harvard University in the study of religion and is currently the Associate Director at the Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University. In addition to her many scholarly articles, she recently published God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission and is under contract with University of California Press on Body Salvation: Christianity and Disciplines of the Flesh.

Marjorie Suchocki,

“Feminist Theologies: Feminist Journeys”

Dr. Suchocki earned her Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate School and is currently Ingraham Professor of Theology, Claremont School of Theology. Her work as an administrator (Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean, Claremont; Academic Dean at Wesley Theology Seminary, Washington, D.C.) is complemented by her extensive publications and visiting professorships. Her most recent publication is The Whispered Word:
A Process Theology of Preaching.

Charles Wallace, Jr.

“A Regular Method of Living:
Sacred Space at Susanna Wesley’s Table”

Author of Susanna Wesley: The Complete Writings (Oxford), Dr. Wallace continues significant work on women devotional writers and women writers of the 18th century. He earned his Ph.D. from Duke University in historical studies and is currently Chaplain and Associate Professor of Religion at Willamette University. A work in progress is “Antepast of Heaven: Eating and Drinking with the Wesleys.”

Amy Oden

“Sacred Space, Dwelling Space: Women and Hospitality in Early Christianity”

After completing her Ph.D. in religious studies at Southern Methodist University, Dr. Oden joined the faculty of Oklahoma City University as Bell Associate Professor of Church History. Her publications include
In Her Words: Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought and the forthcoming A Light in the Window: Hospitality in Early Christian Communities.

Kathy Black

“Feminist Liturgy”

Dr. Black earned her Ph.D. at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, in worship, preaching and the arts. Currently she holds The Gerald Kennedy Chair of Homiletics and Liturgics at the Claremont School of Theology. She is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, and listed with her publications is her forthcoming book, Culturally-Conscious Worship: Worship in Multicultural Contexts.

Susan VanZanten Gallagher

“At Home in the Hymn: Early Nineteenth-Century American Women Hymnists”

Dr. Gallagher earned her Ph.D. at Emory University, and is currently Professor of English and Director of University Scholars at Seattle Pacific University. Her published books include Literature through the Eyes of Faith,
A Story of South Africa: J.M. Coetzee’s Fiction in Context, Postcolonial Literature and the Biblical Call to Justice, and the forthcoming Literature and The Renewal of the Public Sphere, edited with Mark Walhout.

Lydia Hernandez

"Creating the Sacred in the Everyday"

Ms. Hernandez earned her Master of Nursing at the University of Florida and Master of Divinity at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Currently she is Executive Director of Manos De Cristo, an organization that serves the poor, homeless, and new immigrants. As a missionary in Guatemala, she taught in a seminary and advocated support for the defense of human rights among the Mayans.

Barbara Korner

Dramatic Performance,“Women of Spiritual Action: African-American Women Preachers in the Wesleyan Tradition”

Dr. Korner earned her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts from Ohio University. She is currently Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, College of Fine Arts, and Professor of Theater, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Well-known for her acting and singing, she has performed throughout the midwest in the Importance of Being Earnest, Harvey, Twelfth Night, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Jewish Wife, The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet. She has also done work for several arts councils and commissions such as the Washington Commission for the Humanities: Creating Sacred Spaces.
Performance co-sponsored by Cultural Events, Point Loma Nazarene University

W. Stephen Gunter

“Susanna Annesley Wesley: A Woman of Spirit and Spirituality”

Dr. Gunter earned his promotie to Doctor of Theology at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands, and is currently the Arthur J. Moore Associate Professor of Evangelism in The Candler School of Theology, Emory University. In addition to his many scholarly articles, he has authored
The Limits of Love Divine, Wesley and the Quadrilateral, and Resurrection Knowledge. Recently, Professor Gunter was awarded a Fulbright senior scholar research grant for the writing of Susanna Wesley, Methodism’s First Feminist.

Donald Hall

"The Sacredness of the Secular Place"

poet and essayist
Donald Hall , distinguished poet and essayist, will be reading some of his poetry and poetry of his late wife, poet Jane Keynon. For forty years, Donald Hall has read his poems at universities and arts centers. He and Jane Kenyon were featured several years ago on Bill Moyers’ Journal, an hour-long program called “A Life Together.” The program won a 1994 Emmy. Hall’s most recent book of poetry is Without: Poems. Session co-sponsored by the Department of Literature, Journalism and Modern Languages.

Related Links