Next steps on the journey
06-01-2023
Dr. Steed Vernyl Davidson arrived at McCormick eight years ago as an associate professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. This June, after serving as Dean of the Faculty, Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, and Professor of Hebrew Scriptures, he’s stepping into a new role – the executive director of the Society of Biblical Literature. Dr. Davidson will help guide that organization into new areas of scholarly research, offering its members and the public a greater understanding of the Bible and its influence. Leading Change asked him about his tenure at McCormick and how it has prepared him to trust the journey that lies ahead.
Tell us about the Society of Biblical Literature. What is its relationship to McCormick and other seminaries or schools of divinity?
The Society of Biblical Literature is a professional organization for academic scholars. It helps to shape and support those who will teach biblical studies in seminaries, graduate schools, undergraduate schools, and in some instances, parochial high schools. McCormick and other seminaries are in one of the sectors where it offers support.
How has your McCormick experience prepared you for your role with the Society of Biblical Literature?
My leadership skills were refined in the crucible of the [COVID-19] pandemic. That experience forced me into new ways of thinking about institutions and the place of institutions in our world today. I started to realize some of those concerns before the pandemic. But the pandemic accelerated these questions and started to stretch me and press me in new directions about what are the broader ecosystems within which this institution and other seminaries exist. The experience of pandemic-era leadership opened my mind to possibilities beyond McCormick…ways in which I could now think about the larger world…to think about theological education in ways that will impact larger spaces.
How has your passion for theological education evolved during your years with McCormick?
When I came to McCormick, I put together a personal position paper of sorts. One of the things I remember wanting was to center reflective practice into theological education. I didn’t always think that way. When I started teaching, I was more about the core body of knowledge for a field, what you need to know. Along the way, I picked up ideas about teaching for change, then teaching for transformation.
When I got to McCormick, I realized that I was teaching students for whom theological education would be a tool for them to impact their world. I wanted to nurture skills that would help students serve the churches and communities they were already serving and to take advantage of the opportunities that would open for them in the future.
Why has it been important to you to see reflective practices become more centered in theological education?
At McCormick, we send students into churches and social organizations for a year of internship. They get a sense of how to do certain things within those spaces. But often, there’s a gap between what is happening in their internship and what they are learning in the classroom. There is one class where they process these experiences and achieve integration. However, those experiences and reflections do not always feedback into their other courses. I’d like to see that gap become smaller…for students to see a greater connection between what is happening at their places of internship, in fact their ongoing development of the practice of ministry and what they are learning in all classrooms. Encouraging students to take time to reflect on what they are doing can help them tie the learning and the doing more closely together.
The type of reflective practice can vary…personal journaling, group reflection, and developing critical incidents reports are a few ways to achieve this outcome, not simply in the required integration course but through all courses. Adult learners do not simply absorb knowledge for the sake of knowledge. This knowledge is used for professional skill enhancement, and they require space to integrate new knowledge into their way of being and the way they move in the world.
What is one of your most important takeaways from your McCormick experience?
McCormick confirmed for me the necessity of relevance…being relevant to communities that need leadership. McCormick recognizes that there are constituencies or a set of constituencies that need to be nurtured and therefore, works to build relationships with them and provide resources so that they can make a difference for their constituencies. This need to be relevant really came home for me during the pandemic. We were all asking: “what is this good for?” Meaning, what is higher education…theological education good for. “Does the world need this?” “How can we serve in such a way that what we do makes a difference in the world?” We need to continually ask those kinds of question because the world we serve is requiring that of us. The times and the pressure upon our collective resources require us to attend to these and other questions.
McCormick has been inviting its students, faculty, and community to reflect on four questions: are you doing what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you could get paid for? How did those four questions show up for you as you were pondering the opportunity with the Society of Biblical Literature?
The last months were marked by days and weeks of struggle to think through those questions in relation to moving on to a new opportunity. Of the four, the one that really stood out for me as I considered the opportunity to lead an organization dedicated to the development of biblical knowledge, was what do I love. I have a strong affinity and passion for working with biblical texts. I love going back into an ancient world…to image what it was like…to dig around in ancient communities and discover what they were dealing with. What were their fears? What were their expectations? What kinds of anxieties did they face that influenced how they shaped the texts? What and who were they trying to control? I ask of the texts how were they restricting God and who were they trying to exclude from God and the things of God? I ask those questions because perhaps we can find answers for our present day since these are the types of questions that confront us today. I’ve discovered that biblical studies and its future in our lives is something I’m good at. I would also maintain that the world needs a more engaged conversation with the Bible, one that doesn’t merely authenticate a European way of being. And, of course, any professional position includes compensation, so I was also concerned about whether I could get paid for doing what I love.
What dreams to you still have for McCormick?
One thing I was reluctant to let go of was the curriculum redesign, but I know it will happen. The foundational pillars are in place and there is a community that’s committed to making new contributions to theological education. McCormick has a long tradition of being restless enough to take on new explorations…to make sure it continues to live into its potential. I believe McCormick will always be that kind of community…always searching, always seeking to expand the ways in which it maintains its relevance in the world.
Dr. Steed Vernyl Davidson