Faculty

Donna Schaper

Faculty Associate in Religious Leadership

Email: dschaper@hartfordinternational.edu

Donna Shaper

Biography

My life mission is spiritual nurture for public capacity. This mission grounds me in my first love, which is parish ministry. My love of teaching is directly related to this first love: I find it thrilling to be able to reflect on decades of action in the parish with others who are there. I also love teaching people in leadership situations beyond the parish, like community organizations, chaplaincies, and non-profits. Action-reflection is a method I learned at the University of Chicago divinity school, and I have treasured it ever since.

Preaching, pastoring and building community (or rebuilding community) are my strengths and graces. I build good teams with deep benches. I like to share power and to increase power. I am best in situations that matter enough to have conflict about who they are and where they want to go. I am glad at the arrival of conflict because it means something new is emerging. I genuinely believe and almost understand the death/resurrection cycle of clearing the way for what’s next. I compost food scraps and not just them. I tend what others throw away.

I write books and articles as a way to clear my own mind and to know what I think. My 38 books are mostly about time, Keeping Sabbath or From time famine to Time feast. I am intentionally inefficient. Therefore I get a lot done.

I teach at several seminaries and enjoy preparing people for what they can’t possibly expect, in life, church, politics and culture making.  My most popular course is the Nitty Gritty of Parish Ministry and second most popular is working with congregations and not for profits about their real estate and its problems and opportunities. At Hartford International University I shepherd the second year D.Min. students towards their projects.

I have a Rachel Maddow haircut and am often introduced as a combination of Henry Ford and Martha Stewart. I grow a good tomato and write a column that showcases my personal tension: it is titled, “City Mouse, Country Mouse,” and runs in the Poughkeepsie Journal near where I was born in Kingston, New York, where the Ashokan Reservoir sends great water to New York City. I live both in New York City and Hopewell Junction, New York.

My partner of 35 years is a public intellectual, writer, professor, and wild mushroom hunter.

I have recently retired as Senior Pastor at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, on the south end of Washington Square Park. .

My Doctoral project was about reimagining denominations, as they die the tough death of the 21st century’s allergy to institutions. Many things remain possible, including a non-parochial localism and a glorious globalism. We find them one step at a time and one community at a time. I place myself with people who want to find a – not the – way.  At my age, you have to call this advanced placement.

My most recent book is about Pope Francis.

 

Background

  • D.Min. (Hartford International University)
  • M.Div. (Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg)
  • M.A. (University of Chicago Divinity School)
  • B.A. (Gettysburg College)
  • Honorary Doctorate (Gettysburg College)

Areas of Study

  • Leadership Development
  • Turn around Congregations
  • Start-up Congregations
  • New Church Starts
  • Fund and Energy Raising
  • Pastoral Theology
  • Public Ministry
  • Parish Ministry Administration

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