Elaine A. Heath, a theologian and preacher, will be the next dean of the Duke Divinity School, beginning July 1.
She is currently professor of evangelism at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology in Dallas. She succeeds Ellen Davis, who has served as interim dean since the retirement of Richard Hays in August.
Virgilio Elizondo, 80, a Mexican-American Catholic priest and theologian described as “the father of U.S. Latino religious thought,” died March 14 in San Antonio.
The Medical Examiner’s Office for Bexar County, Texas, determined his death from a gunshot wound to have been a suicide.
Stephen H. Webb, theologian and author, perhaps best known for his work on animal rights, died March 5 at age 54 in Brownsburg, Indiana. He died by suicide, the county coroner said.
Webb taught religion and philosophy for 25 years at Wabash College. He left the school in 2013 to focus on writing. The college’s tribute to Webb notes that in addition to his regular courses on theology, he taught courses on Bob Dylan, men and masculinity, and existentialism.
To protest the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the election season, high school counselor Martha DeVries of North Kansas City, Missouri, is wearing a hijab every Monday until the end of the school year in May.
DeVries, 47, who attends a Baptist church, said she felt a responsibility to display her acceptance of Muslims. DeVries was also inspired by a sermon her pastor preached on making a difference.
Jonathan Sacks, a leader in efforts to promote interfaith understanding, has won the 2016 Templeton Prize, which recognizes “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”
Sacks’s “future-mindedness” was a key reason he was chosen for the honor, said Jennifer Simpson, who heads the John Templeton Foundation Board of Trustees.