Stephen De Staebler, Memorial Exhibits and Retrospectives

Stephen de Staebler in his studio, October 1992. Below, with Jane Dillenberger. From the slide collection of Jane Dillenberger.

Stephen de Staebler (1933-2011), one of the artists associated with Graduate Theological Union since at least 1978, has had one memorial exhibit this year and a larger one that is currently beautifully displayed at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.

The first one featured bronze sculptures from his last works and was on display at the Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, which went through January 28.

The larger retrospective, Matter + Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler, is on display at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, January 14 -April 22, 2012. One room shows scale models of his work, figures and other sculptures and an impressive wall of masks. A second display area is peopled with his ceramic statues,

A panel discussion on De Staebler's work is set for Saturday, February 25, at 1 pm, in the Koret Auditorium at the museum. Moderated by John Handley, a doctoral candidate at the GTU, the panel includes Timothy Anglin Burgard, Ednah Root Curator in Charge of American Art for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Nancy M. Servis, Executive Director of the Richmond Art Center; and John Toki, a noted Bay Area sculptor and former assistant to Stephen De Staebler. for more information see www.deyoung.famsf.org.

Jane Newhall (1913 - 2011)

Jane Newhall, around 1990

Jane Newhall passed away in late July at her summer home in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard. A San Francisco resident, she was known for many benevolent acts, including establishing the endowment that funds the Newhall Fellows at GTU. She began serving on the Board of Trustees in 1968, was named a Life Trustee in 1995 and a Trustee Emerita in 1999.

Each year the Graduate Theological Union recognizes a group of doctoral students as Newhall Scholars, providing the opportunity to work collaboratively with core faculty to develop and teach new courses, lead research, and expand the boundaries of innovative scholarship. Hundreds of students at GTU have benefited from her endowment.

This photograph is from the GTU Photograph Collection. For a more personal perspective of her life, see her obituary in the Vineyard Gazette.

Earth Day 2011

On some afternoons, there appears to be far more children from day care on the Pacific School of Religion campus than students in divinity school. This Earth Day post is for the parents and the children. (Please click on the image for a full spread.)

"We give thanks for the earth and its creatures and are grateful from A to Z."

From Gary Kowalski, Earth Day: An Alphabet Book. Boston: Skinner House Books, 2009. Design and illustrations by Rocco Baviera. These two pages are shared, courtesy Gary Kowalski.

Thanks to some wonderful donors, we have several alphabet books and a number of prayer books for children in our graduate theological library.

Gary Kowalski's book is a simple yet exquisite reminder of the wonders that we need to respect and steward.

A number of our archival collections document the struggles for intelligent stewardship of nature within religious traditions. These include the Starhawk Collection, Dody H. Donnelly Collection, and Albert Cohen Campus Ministry, Social Justice and the Environment Collection. We also manage the Thomas Starr King Collection. King, among many gifts, was one of the most eloquent of nature writers in the 19th century.

Space for Faiths

Space for Faiths: Stephen De Staebler's Winged Figure is contained in the most recent issue of arts: Arts in Religious and Theological Studies. One of the last major projects of the late Professor Doug Adams, the work is a collection of invited essays on the sculpture that was placed at the center of the GTU library.

The project was completed by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona. The Center for the Arts, Religion and Education (CARE) provided financial support for the publication (it's over a hundred pages).

Originally, the atrium of the library was empty. Richard Peters, the architect who completed the building, had considered at one point a "pendant piece" to hang down in the atrium and play on the theme of light. In 1978, unsolicited, De Staebler had prepared a site plan model to be incorporated at the entrance of the library. This was not realized. He remained in close contact with Jane Dillenberger and Adams. In early 1993, De Staebler felt that the piece he was working on was for the library. He offered to donate the sculpture to the library. The GTU board accepted after a vigorous discussion. Adams with CARE arranged to cover the $60,000 cost of the installation: the sculpture sits on a 24 foot bronze covered plinth with an additional six feet embedded in the bedrock below.

The dedication of the Winged Figure took place on September 18, 1993, at the 30th anniversary of the GTU and the inauguration of the fifth president, Glenn R. Bucher. Doug Adams closed the ceremony with these words:

Stephen De Staebler's sculpture embodies incompleteness (one leg, a partical torso, one arm...) an incompleteness which allows us to remember that we are incomplete. Such rememberance evokes empathy for others. Let our experience of this sculpture WINGED FIGURE increase our empathy for others.

His sculpture does not detail the head for he has learned that we too easily focus on the head and neglect the body. His sculpture draws our attention to our connection to the earth. Let this scuplture increase our care for the body and the earth.

Stephen's work is frontal and evokes a commitment akin to conversation at a dinner table where we face others at length in contrast to cocktail part chatter where we stand at oblique angles to others and avoid engagement. Let this sculpture increase our commitment with others.

The concave wing provides space and suggests a transformation into an as yet unknown form. There is room for our new thoughts and the different thoughts of
others who may dream new dreams. Let this sculpture increase our thoughts and faiths and hopes and dreams unseen.

Amen.

To see the essays, please view the issue in our current periodicals. For more information on Doug Adams, see the finding aid for his collection and request access to his archives at the library. Archives and Special Collections are open from 8:30 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday.

Stephen De Staebler installing the Winged Figure, one of the images referenced in Jane Dillenberger's article.

Ecumenism: Catholic Inclusion in the GTU

The Spring 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic Historian explores ecumenism in the 20th century. Bishop John S. Cummins, second Bishop of the Diocese of Oakland (1962-1971) contributes a wonderful article on the Catholic involvement with the Graduate Theological Union, "Bishop Floyd L. Begin's Bold and Steady Service in the Development of the Graduate Theological Union: A Personal Reflection."

This article and others in the issue not only provide an excellent supporting reference to our Oral History of the GTU Collection but also to the Robert McAfee Brown Exhibit (October 1 through January 15) that is being installed in the library this week.

Jesuit Gustave Weigel and Presbyterian Robert McAfee Brown, 1964

Brown (1920-2001) is remembered as one of the Protestants that the Catholics could turn to for ecumenical support. He wrote with Gustave Weigel (1906-64), An American dialogue : a Protestant looks at Catholicism and a Catholic looks at Protestantism (1960). These and other articles and talks in part discuss differences and common ground as well as address the issue of John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, running for president.

For more information, see the Spring 2010 U.S. Catholic Historian in the library. For more information on Brown, visit the exhibit in the library starting next week, view the finding aid or view the online exhibit.

Earth Day 2010, Thomas Starr King

Emerson gave us last Monday evening the most brilliant lecture I ever listened to from any mortal. It was on the identity of the laws of the mind with the laws of nature. He proved conclusively that man is only a higher kind of corn, that he is a squirrel gone up into the first class, that he is a liberated oyster fully educated, that he is a spiritualized pumpkin, a thinking squash, a graduated sun-flower, and inspired turnip. Such imagery, such wit, such quaint things said in a tone solemn and sublime! I have the most profound respect henceforth for every melon-vine as my ancestor (melancholic thought). I look upon every turtle as of kin. Tonight he lectures again. I fear I may lose it.

Page 3 of letter from Thomas Starr King to Randolph Ryer, January 29, 1849.

Thanks to Erika Hewitt for requesting a copy.

For further information about King, see our finding aid, which links to our Digital Content Site.

John Pairman (Jock) Brown (5/16/23 - 4/5/10)

John Pairman (Jock) Brown passed away on April 5, 2010. He was a lecturer at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in the sixties, a visiting scholar at GTU and active in Friends of the Library for many years. In addition to his scholarly efforts, much of his activities supported peace and justice through such organizations as the Ecumenical Peace Institute, an arm of Clergy and Laity Concerned.

Brown initiated the Sacred Text lectures at the library in 1993, providing the very first address: What Makes a Text Sacred? The lecture continues as one of GTU's most interesting annual events.

Son of two mathematicians (Eleanor Pairman and Bancroft Brown), he studied mathematics and the classics at Dartmouth and Harvard, served in the US Army Air Corp, and received a doctorate from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He taught classics at the American University in Beirut and then returned to the US.

Brown was a mentor for Richard York, directing minister of the Berkeley Free Church, which ran from 1967 to 1972. Brown became the resident theologian to the church, applying his profound knowledge of classical literature and the New Testament to the experimental ministry. He was beaten by police without provocation during one of the many protests in the late sixties. Such incidents and the difficulty in finding a hospital that would treat street people, led to founding the free medical clinic in Berkeley. His house became a central point for processing donations to pay legal expenses for those arrested during the initial People's Park protests. His wife Emily Waymouth Brown created and managed Win with Love (4 publications 1969-1971), described as "A Comprehensive Directory of the Liberated Church including Peace organizations; Youth Switchboards; National resource groups; Immigrant aid centers in Canada."

Beginning with a great deal of media attention and influencing the creation of support services on multiple levels in Berkeley, the Free Church collapsed in a whimper of internal struggles in 1971-72. Brown continued his work for peace and wrote his well received writings on Israel and Hellas.

Brown's style is supremely clear. Below is a sample, addressing the need to study the past, from the preface of Ancient Israel and Ancient Greece: Religion Politics and Culture (2003, p x.):

In decades when the human race faces unprecedented dangers--political, military, environmental--I propose that one necessary feature of our response is to study how we got where we are. From the civilizations of the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates we can learn most of all not to repeat their false starts; from Iran ...the dangers of imperialism. Rome, heir to both Israel and Greece, as well as of Iran and the Hellenistic empires, is here seen as a bridge to the ambiguities and dilemmas of our world. In the end, then, this work is a plea for better and deeper understanding of the societies that lie behind us in our best moments."

Brown is well worth further study. His books and articles on Israel and Hellas are available in the library. His efforts for peace and justice, as well as liturgical reform, can be found in materials from the Berkeley Free Church Collection, which links to images on line, and from his books, several of which are on Internet Archive. A few images and two articles about him are at our Digital Content site.