Deborah J. Kapp
Edward F. and Phyllis K. Campbell Professor of Urban Ministry
Deborah J. Kapp joined the faculty of McCormick in 1995 as an Assistant Professor of Ministry and was named Associate Professor of Ministry in 2002. In 2006 she became the Edward F. and Phyllis K. Campbell Professor of Urban Ministry. In 2004-2005 and in the fall of 2013 she served as the Acting Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs. She retired at the end of the spring semester, 2017,
Deborah is a graduate of Brown University (AB), Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (MDiv), and Loyola University Chicago (MA and PhD in sociology). Her research interests include congregational life and the work of ministry. Her current research uses photo elicitation interviews with women clergy in the Chicago area to examine the everyday work of urban ministry.
Deborah is the author of Worship Frames: How We Shape and Interpret Our Experience of God (The Alban Institute, 2009). She was a contributing author for Feasting on the Word and has published book reviews and articles in Clergy Journal, Horizons, the Review of Religious Research, and the Journal of Religious Leadership. She currently serves on the editorial board and as the book review editor for the Journal of Religious Leadership. Her blog about urban ministry can be found at http://mccormickurbanministry.wordpress.com/ .
Deborah is ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Prior to coming to McCormick she served as a pastor in three congregations and worked for her denomination as part of the women’s program staff. She is an active clergy member of the Presbytery of Chicago, where she has served as the moderator (1990) and as a member of multiple committees.
Deborah is married to Anthony Ruger. They have two sons, Geoffrey and Peter, and two cats.
Education:
B.A. Brown University
M.Div. Union Theological Seminary, New York
M.A., Ph.D. Loyola University Chicago
Courses:
MUM 315 Introduction to Urban Ministry
MUM 325 The Church and Social Change
MUM 425 Food: From Table Grace to the Politics of Food Distribution
MIN 403 The Nuts and Bolts of Everyday Ministry
MIN 425 Seminar in the Practice of Ministry
M647 Where Three or More are Gathered: Group Dynamics and Leadership
M617 Methods in Ministry Research