Alumni News
BUSTH welcomes Two New Associate Deans
The Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) is pleased to announce the new appointments of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Associate Dean for Students and Community Life.
Professor of the History of Christianity Rady Roldán-Figueroa (’05) has been appointed as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, succeeding Bryan Stone, who served on the BUSTH faculty since 1998 and in this role since 2011. Dr. Roldán-Figueroa is a scholar of the history of Christianity, with expertise spanning from the 15th to the 20th century. His research focuses on early modern global Christianity, colonial Latin American Christianity, and the intersection of Catholicism, race, and colonialism. An accomplished author and editor, he has published numerous books, articles, and collaborative works on Christian history and theology. His teaching includes courses on Christianity in Colonial Latin America, Mystical Theology and Modernity, and Spirituality in Historical Perspective. Notably, he is the first Hispanic and Latinx full professor at BUSTH and previously held the prestigious Rev. Robert Randall Distinguished Professorship in Christian Culture at Providence College.
Associate Professor of Religion and Society Nicolette Manglos-Weber has been appointed as the Associate Dean of Students and Community Life, succeeding Cristian De La Rosa, who has served in the role since 2021. Dr. Manglos-Weber served in this position ad interim for the spring 2024 semester. She is an interdisciplinary sociologist whose work examines how religious communities shape political and social well-being. Her research spans faith communities in Anglophone Africa, migrant populations in the US, and young adults facing adversity. She has published extensively, including her book Joining the Choir: Religious Membership and Social Trust among Transnational Ghanaians (Oxford University Press, 2018). Currently, she is conducting research on religious leaders of community-based organizations in Uganda, highlighting the interfaith and innovative nature of their caregiving work. Passionate about hospitality and care in the academy, she is affiliated with the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Episcopal Community of Learning, and has served as STH’s Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion the past three years.
“Leadership in these challenging times is a high calling and a service of compassion, courage, and wisdom,” says G. Sujin Pak, dean. “I am incredibly grateful that these two exceptional colleagues have chosen to share their gifts, time, and vision with STH. It is an honor to partner with them in furthering the vocation of this School for such a time as this!”
Both Dr. Roldán-Figueroa and Dr. Manglos-Weber bring deep scholarly expertise, commitment to student development, and a passion for fostering BUSTH’s vibrant and inclusive theological community. We are deeply grateful for the leadership of Deans Stone and De La Rosa and look forward to the continued growth and excellence of the School under the guidance of the new associate deans.
BUSTH announces Faculty Publications and Presentations for March 2025
The School of Theology is pleased to announce the following faculty publications and scholarly presentations for March 2025:
- Eunil David Cho
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"Psychospiritual Stress, Trauma, and Migration: Understandings for Displaced Communities" in Reframing Trauma: A Psychospiritual Theory and Theology edited by M. Jan Holton and Jill Snodgrass. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 2025
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- Rebecca Copeland
- Presentation: “Re-thinking Sin-Talk,” Trinity Episcopal Church (Indianapolis, Indiana) March 9, 2025
- Luis Menéndez-Antuña
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Bridging the Interpretive Abyss: Reading the New Testament After the Cultural Studies Turn (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2025)
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- G. Sujin Pak
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"The Next Future of Theological Education? A Call to Formation, Relational Integrity, and Radical Community: Reflections on Aleshire’s Beyond Profession: The Next Future of Theological Education." Political Theology, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2025.2463788
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- Dana L. Robert
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Presentation: “The Journey to, in, and through World Christianity.” Harvard Radcliffe Institute Symposium “Real Paradigm Shift or Passing Academic Fashion? Exploring the Contours of World Christianity Studies,” Cambridge, MA, March 6, 2025
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- Rady Roldán-Figueroa
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“Las Casas and the Christian Antihero: A Retort Against Palacios Rubio’s Heroic Spirituality?,” Renaissance Society of America, Boston, MA (March 21, 2025)
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- Brandon Simonson
- Presentation: “The Role and Function of Religious Names in the Creative World of Dungeons & Dragons,” at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Philadelphia, PA, 10 January 2025
- Brandon Simonson, et al
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Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson, eds., Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds (Lanham, MD: Fortress Academic, 2025)
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- emilie m. townes
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Presentation: American Lectures in the History of Religion. University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Palmer Seminary of Eastern University. February 19-21, 2025, Philadelphia, PA
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Rev. Canon Cristina F. Rathbone (’09) authors “The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border”
Rev. Canon Cristina F. Rathbone ('09) recently released her text The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border.
The book description reads:
"A remarkable, decimating work of 
reporting by award-winning journalist and priest Cristina Rathbone about asylum seekers trapped at a port of entry to the US: the trauma they carry, the community they create, and the faith they maintain.
The Asylum Seekers offers a rare narrative account of the horror of the US-Mexico border. Borders run through author Cristina Rathbone too, whose mother was a Cuban refugee. So in 2019 she travels to Juarez, unsure what to do but determined to learn.
Weaving intimate portraits of individuals with broader stories about the community, reporting from the border as a whole, and reflections on the meaning of faith in a place of suffering, Rathbone tells the story of Mexican asylum seekers living in a makeshift tent camp at the foot of a bridge. Life in the camp is both hectic and harrowing. Families arrive. Families leave. Families get through to the US. Families are returned from the US. Women weep, children squabble, and grown men sob over photographs of their murdered sons' mutilated bodies.
Here too, however, are beauty, and empathy, and hope. Over time, a leadership team emerges. The community begins to convene daily meetings, establish systems of distribution for donations, and start classes for the kids. Serving as an unofficial chaplain, Rathbone is there through it all: listening, receiving, assisting, and most of all learning about what authentic faith looks like under conditions such as these.
Written in the tradition of My Fourth Time, We Drowned and Rivermouth, The Asylum Seekers renders in startling, intimate detail the day-to-day lives of people who are determined to enter the US legally and who often suffer for it. The result is a fierce, poignant inquiry into the dignity of those who seek asylum--and into what we owe each other."
Director of Faith Exploration, Part-Time, UU: Watertown, MA
This ministry is primarily centered around the spiritual needs, nurturing and growth of our children, youth and families. The person in this role develops and implements faith exploration programming with the intention of helping children and youth cultivate a Unitarian Universalist identity and a sense of meaningful community within and beyond our walls.
Qualifications and Skills:
- Experience working with children, youth and adults in church, educational or community based settings.
- Ability to communicate clearly and consistently with congregants, parents, volunteers and other staff members.
- Highly organized and works well both independently and with others.
- Familiarity with Unitarian Universalism, our liberal religious theology values and programs.
- An understanding of, and commitment to welcoming and accommodating all children, including those with special needs.
- Demonstrated love of learning.
REPORTS TO: Minister
STATUS: 30 hrs/wk with possibility to grow. Includes Sundays, September to June, with mid-week flexibility.
BENEFITS: Self-employment offset tax; Retirement Plan; UUA Health Plan; Disability Coverage; Term Life Insurance; Dental; Professional Expense Allowance; Vacation; Study; Sick Leave; Holidays.
SALARY: Salary range is $48,750 – 54,150 (based on experience within UUA Fair Compensation Guidelines for GeoIndex 6)
TERM: Two-year with the option to renew annually
Start Date: August 1, 2025
How to Apply: Submit a cover letter expressing your interest and call to family ministry, and a resume of experiences and qualifications related to this position to jobs@fpwatertown.org
We are committed to creating an inclusive and talented team to achieve our mission. First Parish of Watertown (FPW) is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to the full inclusion of all. We value a diverse workforce; people with disabilities, people of color, and those who identify as LGBTQ+ are encouraged to apply. If you are excited about this role, but are unsure whether you meet 100% of the requirements, we encourage you to inquire and/or apply.
For full job posting please visit our website: https://fpwatertown.org/hiring-a-director-of-faith-exploration/
BUSTH Community Members share Inspiration during Women’s History Month
The following is an excerpt from the article “The Women who Inspire Us” featuring Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Religion and Black Studies Emilie M. Townes and STM student Greta Gaffin ('23,'26), published on March 16, 2025 by BU Today.
Each March, the nation celebrates Women’s History Month, honoring the vital role of women in American history. The theme for this year’s observance is “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations,” and to acknowledge the enduring legacy of women, BU Today invited members of the BU community to write short essays about the women who have inspired them.
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Katie Geneva Cannon moved from icon to mentor to colleague to friend in the years I knew her, before she died far too soon, in 2018. For young Black women like me in the late 1970s and 1980s, who were entering seminaries and did not have very many role models that looked like us, Cannon, the first Black woman to be ordained in the Presbyterian Church US and one of the key figures who founded the academic discipline now known as Womanist Ethics and Theology, was someone I and others could hold onto as we were making our way through master’s programs and, eventually, doctoral programs. Cannon had a way of inviting you to join her as she looked beyond your affect and words to probe your inner life and invite your ideas and hopes to see the light of day. It is impossible to say how many lives she touched in this way. But she gave us a model for what mentoring can and should look like and the importance of passing it along to the generations a-coming.
Emilie M. Townes, Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Religion and Black Studies, School of Theology
Katheryn Darr, Harrell F. Beck Professor of Hebrew Scripture at BU’s Shool of Theology, is an amazingly knowledgeable professor about the Hebrew Bible, but what makes her inspiring to me is not just her knowledge, but that she got where she is in an extremely male-dominated field. A woman getting a professorship in Biblical studies at a prominent school of theology in the 1980s was no mean feat.
When I came to STH everyone warned us first years about how tough her class was, and it was true. But we learned a lot. I appreciate a female professor who will keep high expectations when so often female faculty are expected to be soft and easy. What I also appreciated was that she was quick to stand up for women in the Bible. One of the things I most remember was her telling us that the “temple prostitutes” in Hosea were a metaphor for Israel’s idolatry, and that we should ignore scholarship that acted like this was real.
Greta Gaffin (STH’23,’26)
Dr. Stephen Stacks (’12) to release “The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song after 1968”
Dr. Stephen Stacks ('12) authored the text, The Resounding Revolution: Freedom Song after 1968, set to be released in May of 2025.
The book description reads:
"Far from being bounded by the timeframe of the 1960s, freedom song continues to evolve as a tool both of historical memory and of present activism. Stephen Stacks looks at how post-1968 freedom song helps us negotiate our present relationship to the era while at the same time sustaining the contemporary struggle inspired by it.
Stacks’s analysis shifts the focus 
of attention from genre--freedom song--to process and practice--freedom singing. As he shows, freedom singing after 1968 generates multilayered meanings. It can reinforce, or resist, consensus memories or dominant narratives. Stacks illuminates freedom singing’s diversity by examining it in three contexts: performance, protest, and within documentary sound recording/film.
Insightful and vividly detailed, The Resounding Revolution examines sixty years of Black music to challenge and reshape the entrenched story of the Civil Rights Movement."
Thumbnail photo courtesy of North Carolina Central University.
Rev. Dr. Wayne Kendall (’92)
The following obituary was originally published by Blake Chelmsford Funeral Home and can be found here.
Reverend Dr. Wayne Kendall, 86, a resident of Townsend, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, at Fitchburg Healthcare surrounded by his loving family. He was the beloved husband of Janice (Nolan) Kendall with whom he shared 23 years of marriage.
He was born in Leominster on November 3, 1938, and was the son of the late Edward and Carol (Wilson) Kendall.
Wayne was raised in Townsend and 
spent his high school years in Leominster. After the loss of his girlfriend, Claudia, in his senior year, and graduating in 1956, he decided to enter the service and joined the Air Force where he served for over 4 years in various locations such as in Greenland, Labrador, and Truro as an Electronics Technician. After years in the service and marrying Dorothy in 1961 he worked at Sanders and Raytheon for a couple years, but feeling the calling of God, went to Kentucky Wesleyan College and then to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia where he received his Bachelor of Divinity degree as well as his Masters in Divinity, and PhD in Psychology and pastoral care at Boston University. Wayne was always a sensitive, caring, thoughtful, and beloved Reverend who served over 15 congregations over his career. Congregants appreciated his warm, kind, sense of humor. His sermons were meaningful, and spirit filled. He was a member of the New England Conference, and was involved in Westford Against Substance Abuse, and Graniteville Pride for many years.
Among his various hobbies are bird watching, hiking, drawing, astronomy, woodworking, reading, puzzles and, exercising but probably the most important one to him was “visiting” people.
In addition to his loving wife, Jan, her daughter Kimberly Fahle Peck, step son-in-law Mike Peck, and grandson Walter Peck, Rev. Kendall leaves his son Scott Kendall of Chelmsford and granddaughter Vail-Marie Kendall of Nashua, NH, his son Brian Kendall and his wife Nancy of Westford; his grandsons Patrick and Ryan and his wife, Nikki; his step great grandchild Thomas, and his great grandchildren Parker and Benson. Many of you may recall when he talks about them, he speaks about how it is the first time he has ever been “great.” He also leaves behind his sister, Del Tomasi, his niece Becky Wheeler, and his nephew Matt Leupold.
Sadly, he is predeceased by his wife Dorothy E. (Staples) Kendall of over 39 years who passed away in 2000.
Memorial donations may be made in Rev. Kendall’s name to the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell, 68 Tadmuck Road Ste. 1, Westford, MA 01886. For online donations, please visit Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell.
Visiting hours will be held on Sunday, February 9, 2025, from 1 pm – 4 pm at the Blake Chelmsford Funeral Home, 24 Worthen St., Chelmsford. His funeral service will take place on Monday, February 10 at 10:00 am at the United Methodist Church of Westford, 10 Church St., Westford. KINDLY GATHER AT THE CHURCH. Interment to follow in West Chelmsford Cemetery, Chelmsford.
Dr. Carolynne Hitter Brown (’09) authors upcoming work, “Singing through Struggle Music, Worship, and Identity in Postemancipation Black Churches”
Dr. Carolynne Hitter Brown ('09) authored
The book description reads:
"Singing through Struggle: Music, Worship, 
and Identity in Postemancipation Black Churches offers an innovative look at the vital role music and worship played in nurturing Black citizenship and identity during the Reconstruction era. In such border cities as Baltimore, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, the church was where newly emancipated migrants and members of the free Black community merged identities, priorities, and experiences through a process of cultural negotiation. Music, as a sign of Black achievement and as a genuine expression of identity, produced both bastions and battlegrounds in the fight for democracy.
The music of Black churchgoers, singing together in sanctuaries as well as in homes, schools, and outdoors, expressed resistance to uplift ideologies within and to white supremacy without. Even while using hymns and music of the European sacred tradition, members infused the songs they chose with new meanings relevant to their evolving concerns and situations. Drawing on fresh archival sources, Singing through Struggle sheds light on the unexplored gap in the study of African American religious music between slavery and the Great Migration, demonstrating the continuous stream of Black creativity and dignity that existed in religious music making between gospel music and the spirituals.
This close-up investigation of three Black congregations draws out previously forgotten stories of men and women who understood church music as key to shaping a collective purpose and civic identity. Their stories demonstrate how faith, music, and ritual gave the Black community means for exploring a deeply complex and ever-changing reality."
The Very Rev. Dr. Marion Pardy (’97) awarded for leadership among interfaith communities
The following is an excerpt from The United Church of Canada's article, “Dr. Pardy nominated for her interfaith and guaranteed living income (GLI) work,” published on February 4, 2025. Click here to read the full article.
"The Very Rev. Dr. Marion Pardy, 37th Moderator of The United Church of Canada, will receive the King Charles Coronation Medal in recognition of her leadership and commitment to interfaith community service. This is not her first medal of recognition; in 2013, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador awarded Dr. Pardy a Queen’s Jubilee Medal in recognition of her contributions to church and community.
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'From pew to pulpit, to public officials, to public and social media; from synagogue to mosque, to temple, to Gurdwara, Dr. Pardy has spent years in education, consciousness-raising, advocacy and solidarity,' says Haseen Khan, executive member with the Canadian Interfaith Conversation, who initiated the nomination on behalf of the Religious Social Action Coalition, of which he also is one of the directors. '[Her work highlights] for society the benefits of the pluralistic nature of our country and the necessity for appreciation and understanding of all religions, noting that the many paths to the Divine command respect from all.'”
Mr. Sean Glenn (’13) joins in developing Haven Religious Community
The following is an excerpt from The Living Church article by Greta Gaffin ('23, '28), “Three Members Form a Nascent Religious Community,” published on January 1, 2025. Click here to read the full article.
"Haven Religious is an emerging religious 
community in Hartford, Connecticut that hopes to provide active service to the church and the city. There are three members: the Rev. Marta Rivera Monclova, Gregory Simmons, and Sean Glenn. Rivera Monclova and Simmons are novices in the Order of the Body of Christ, a traditional vowed religious community that exists within Haven.
Rivera Monclova is the leader. She wants to create something she sees as not prominent within the Episcopal Church: active religious life. 'We’re very inspired by the early Victorian sisterhoods, who often were just women who started living together in a house and serving the church,' she said.
The community uses the Carmelite Rule of St. Albert, because it was written for a group of hermits who wanted to unite into a more corporate life. Because members can pursue different ministries, as opposed to having one shared apostolate, they felt like a rule emphasizing individual discernment and spirituality would work best. The community shares in daily Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, acknowledging that sometimes ministry needs mean someone cannot attend."