McCormick Theological Seminary Awards 2016 Herman E. Schaalman Interreligious Leadership Award to Marvis L. Hardy

03-13-2017

“It was an honor for me to learn that I was a recipient of the 2016 Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman Interreligious Leadership Award.” Hardy said. “As a writer, I am always seeking new topics and conversations. I enjoy writing on topics that stretch the boundaries of my own context because I feel it helps me grow and develop as a person. This competition was an opportunity for me to engage in another conversation adding to the discussion on leadership and diversity. I sincerely thank the selection committee.”

This award honors the memory of Rabbi Herman E. Schaalman, who died at the end of January at the age of 100, for his life-long commitment to interfaith understanding, civil rights, and social justice, and for his active engagement with seminary students in all of these areas.

In her essay, Hardy describes the Kingdom of God as a place of Shalom, peace, and calls for an orchestrated move towards the Kingdom of God. She reflects on what the Kingdom of God looks like in her essay, calling it “a place for beloved community where all God’s creations are living and loving together.”

“What is striking is her argument for inclusivity in the Kingdom of God and her insistence on interfaith leadership to bring it about,” states Dr. Sarah Tanzer, Professor of New Testament and Early Judaism.

Hardy explores what it means to love one’s neighbor and find one’s way back to a God of pathos. Hardy describes the context for this restorative justice movement in a world in which “love for one another has become almost imperceptible in the violent bloodied waters of racial hatred, privilege, and injustice.” She also urges us to be “unapologetically cross cultural” in seeking peace, harmony, and the reconciliation with the community of humanity that will mark the Kingdom of God on earth.