CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY ANNOUNCES THE G. CAMPBELL MORGAN PREACHING AWARD, THE SANDERSON AWARD FOR WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP, & THE CASTANEDA–JENNINGS AWARD

CHICAGO – APRIL 20, 2021 Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is proud to announce the Rev. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan Award for excellence in preaching 2021 recipients: JULIE BRITTON AND TIMOTHY DOTSON

The G. Campbell Morgan Award in Preaching honors a current Chicago Theological Seminary student. Submissions will be judged anonymously based on excellence of biblical, theological, and social reflection. The cash prize of $1,000 for the G. Campbell Morgan Preaching Award is made possible by an endowment gift from Dr. Morgan’s grandchildren.

The Sanderson Award for Women in Leadership was established in 2006 by Howard C. Morgan in memory of Judith Parks Sanderson who died in 2004 after a courageous battle with Ovarian Cancer. A fund of $25,000 was created at CTS from gifts of career colleagues, family and friends. It was decided by the family to use the income from this endowment annually as a cash award of $1,000  to an outstanding woman candidate to assist in furthering her career.

And finally, we announce the 2021 Castañeda–Jennings Award recipient as MAC BUFF.

The Castañeda-Jennings award goes to students who, in our estimation, embody in exceptional ways the vision and values of our program in LGBTQ religious studies.” The award is named for Gilberto Castaneda and the late Dr. Ted Jennings, CTS Professor of Biblical and Constructive Theology Emeritus.

The Morgan and Sanderson awards will be honored virtually on April 28 at 12pm CT. As these gifts were established to honor members of his family, Howard Morgan will be present to share in the celebration. On that day recipients are being asked to highlight their journey at CTS and what the award means to them. Join on Zoom here.

The Castañeda–Jennings award will be honored on April 21st at the Annual Lecture. Mac Buff will speak at the event.

Julie Payne Britton (she/her) is a Master of Divinity student at CTS and a Member In Discernment with the Southern New England Conference of the United Church in Christ.  She is a member of Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, Massachusetts which sits just 18 miles north of Jonathan Edwards’ fiery pulpit. Julie is a queer, disabled, feminist theologian and pastor-in-the-making who stands in solidarity with her womanist and liberationist siblings.  She is also a writer, a psychotherapist, and the survivor of a head-on collision with a drunk driver.  Julie, her wife, and many rescue pets split their time between the rolling hills of Greenfield and the salty air of Provincetown, Massachusetts. 

Pastor Timothy L. Dotson is the fourth Pastor of the Haven of Rest Missionary Baptist Church of Chicago Illinois. Reverend Dotson wears a plethora of titles such as Husband, Pastor, Father, Grandfather, Scholar, Preacher, Teacher and Friend. Reverend Dotson is the lineage of a long line of gospel preachers. He was licensed and ordained into the Gospel Ministry and developed as a minister under the leadership of the late Reverend Dr. James B. Stovall, and his successor Pastor Christopher T. Harris of the Bright Star Church of Chicago. Reverend Dotson served on staff as an Associate Minister for several years at the Bright Star Church before accepting the call to become the Pastor of The Greater New Birth Church on Chicago’s westside. Rev. Dotson is a CTS student in the ACTS DMin in Preaching program.

Mac Buff is a queer/trans feminist, activist, and hiker. They are the only child of a Presbyterian minister. Mac’s religious background includes work with Presbyterian, Episcopal, Quaker, Methodist, and UCC churches in Northern Ireland, Mississippi, California, and the Pacific Northwest. They hold a master’s degree in elementary education and work at an art museum while pursuing their M.Div. at CTS. Mac lives in the Seattle area with their wife and very spoiled dog. Their work can be found online at https://religiousqueeries.com.

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ABOUT THE AWARDS AND THE PEOPLE BEHIND THEM:

The Rev. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan (DD 1902) was voted one of the ten greatest preachers of the twentieth  century by the Christian Century. The legacy of Dr. Morgan’s preaching is its emphasis on the great themes of Christian theology – creation, providence, and redemption – directed toward the great social and spiritual crises of the day with prophetic pastoral precision. He was a genius of expository preaching, unfolding the biblical text with rigor, compassion, imagination, and art.

Judith Parks Sanderson had an outstanding career as an educational development manager with leadership roles at William & Mary College, Princeton University and University of Chicago. It was a time when women in managerial roles were rare as “the glass ceiling” limited opportunity. At the University of Chicago Medical Center, Judith was responsible for raising $750,000,000 for the medical center during her career, retiring in 2003. She planned to assist startup not for profits in their development efforts and wanted to mentor younger women who showed management promise.

The Castañeda-Jennings Award was established in 1994 in loving memory of Gilberto Castañeda, the “adopted” son of Dr. Theodore Jennings and Rev. Dr. Ronna Case. Gilberto first met Case in California, where she worked to develop mission congregations among undocumented workers from Mexico. Gilberto “found the love of God so compelling that he not only became a member but also a leader in the new congregations of young people” that were being established by Rev. Case. In 1994, at the age of 29, he died of complications from AIDS.