Features

In appreciation of Bishop Hassinger’s teaching and mentoring at STH, and her longstanding leadership with the RCT program, Oscar Guana, MDiv, RCT Research Assistant, conducted the following interview in celebration of her retirement this summer.

Interview with Bishop Susan Hassinger, May 2022

conducted by Oscar Guana, MDiv, RCT Research Assistant

After retiring as an active Bishop for the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Susan W. Hassinger was invited to come to BU School of Theology as Bishop in residence in the spring of 2005 in connection with the Practical Theology Department, where she started to transfer her practical knowledge into textual matters or class-related situations. Bishop Hassinger has taught courses in different areas: spirituality and leadership, conflict transformation, leadership in times of change, and dismantling white privilege and racism. She has also worked with students in contextual education. She describes her role as Bishop in residence as being available to help students, especially (not exclusively) those looking to move towards ordination in a Methodist tradition, understand their process. And, also, to do consulting among different Methodist and Wesleyan traditions.

On the occasion of her retirement in 2022, the RCT interviewed her regarding her legacy to the Program and the broader STH.

How did you become involved in Religion and Conflict Transformation?

Before becoming Bishop, I was a District Superintendent, meaning a regional supervisor for churches, where I frequently came into issues with conflict. After that, I was appointed to be a consultant with congregations on various matters. Consultations often involved conflict within the congregation or between the congregation and the wider community. That kind of work led me to take training in religion and conflict transformation. Some of that training was of a practical nature and some academic. At STH, I have always tried to connect the technical practices with the underlying theology and theological understandings of what this was all about.

What has been your role in the RCT Program at STH?

Before coming to STH, my chancellor, the attorney who would work with me on technical legal matters, was Tom Porter. He and I worked very closely together whenever issues came up regarding the Discipline (the book of law/guidelines within the United Methodist Church) and how it would be interpreted or when there were civil legal matters that we had to deal with and churches breaking the law of the Discipline, the church law.

About the time I was starting to teach at STH, Tom Porter retired from working as a practicing attorney, and was invited to bring some of his work to the teaching here. That’s how we started the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program, continually expanding ways of dealing with that: regular classes focused on theory about religion and conflict transformation as well as mediation training; technical knowledge but also practical experience, sometimes through travel seminars. I never directed the program, but I’ve always been part of the committee that has helped guide it.

What classes have you taught as part of the RCT, and why do you think those specific topics are relevant?

I’ve been teaching since 2005, so they have been too many and I can’t mention them all off the top of my head. One would be Practicing Faith for first-year MDiv students. Another is Spirituality and Leadership, the one I probably taught most frequently; I would always bring in some aspect of conflict transformation as a spiritual practice. Some of my courses dealt with Change and Leadership: there was a course, Leading in Times of Change. Inevitably there’s conflict when there’s change. One class I did for online students last semester was Leading From Within, leadership theory and practice combined with personal and corporate spiritual practices. Spiritual Practices for Peacebuilders was one specifically related to the RCT Program that looked at the lives of Martin Luther King and other peacebuilders globally, tying them to spiritual practices and theories of conflict.

I’ve taught Dismantling White Privilege, Power, and Supremacy multiple times. That deals with racial conflict, how we name the problem, and try to move to dismantle the power and privilege that are part of that so that there can be healthier ways, encouraging persons of color, of whatever background, to experience more of a wholesome life. And that relates to the church, the academy, and social justice in the world. I have always co-taught that with a person of color. For several years it was Dean Teddy. Charlene Zuill is my current co-teacher.

How have you seen the RCT Program evolve or grow?

For one thing, the number of courses has expanded across the years. Judith Oleson has brought in other perspectives beyond Tom Porter’s somewhat legal one, looking beyond that. How does a lawyer bring in conversations for solving conflicts without taking them to a legal place? Judith brings experience in teaching from a sociological perspective, which has expanded the Program.

Something that has been added along the way has been travel seminars. Tom may have done a couple of those, but additional faculty have been brought into that. Shelly Rambo has done some excellent work with travel seminars. Those seminars allow people to visualize what’s being done in conflict situations and expand their understanding.

What are some of the major contributions or impacts of the RCT program in the STH community?

Many students enter the Program because they deal with conflict in their personal lives, families, communities, or churches and are trying to sort through “how do I deal with this?” Most traditions now are experiencing the conflict of “how do we survive in an environment where the church is not an expected part of one’s life for everybody?” “How do we deal with conflict around faith-based issues in contrast to what’s happening in government?” and so forth. Over the years, STH has become more diverse in the faith tradition backgrounds of students: different Christian traditions, Muslims, Buddhists, Hinduists, and those who claim no faith tradition. I’ve had to change my ways continually. I can’t be just United Methodist in my thinking. I have to be aware of the dynamics of diverse students.

I think the RCT provides tools for students to manage diversity. Sometimes when the RCT has a special event, they will draw in faculty from various areas. For example, the Fall Retreat several years ago was organized with the Ecological Justice Program because dealing with injustice to our Earth requires being able to talk with people in ways that cross boundaries. Shelly Rambo adds a sociological perspective; Dr. Filipe Maia is a philosopher-theologian, etc. Continually trying to reach out in some of those special programs and events is one way we do it.

What is, for you, the main achievement of the RCT Program in students’ lives as they go into their roles as pastoral leaders, NGOs, or community leaders?

I can tell you what I hope it is: it has to begin with self-awareness: “How do I react when faced with a conflict?” “What am I going to do?” “Will it be productive or counterproductive?” “How can I have communications that help move across lines where we have differences?” “How do we talk across differences?” “How do I manage myself?” “How do I communicate with others?” “How do I understand the justice issues so that I’m not just accommodating the other but speaking on behalf of justice while transforming the conflict into something that produces healthier lives, systems on the other side?”

Do you have any final words for the RCT students and/or STH?

I trust that what I have contributed to the school through this has been meaningful and helpful. And I will carry it with me into my (I keep flunking retirement), into this retirement, a continuing passion for racial justice, for conflict transformation in whatever places I find it as long as my mind and body allow me to do so.