“Your leadership is tied to what you can imagine,” said Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture Jaco Hamman when addressing a room of faith leaders, alumni, and faculty at a recent Vanderbilt Divinity School community breakfast. Hamman also serves as the director of the program in theology and practice at Vanderbilt Divinity School and is one of many faculty teaching courses through the Divinity School’s Lifelong Learning program, which sponsored the event.
The breakfast is held each semester and brings together clergy from various fields and denominations to connect with Divinity School leaders and faculty. In this session, leaders challenged what it means to have hope, imagination, and a new frame to shape our perspectives of the world around us.
“It is simply an opportunity for us to be present for one another in a world that demands so much of us,” said Yolanda Pierce, dean of the Divinity School. But presence, she suggested, is not passive. She explained that these gatherings are a way of opening deeper conversations about biblical stories of conflict and mercy and acknowledging something larger at work.
The theme of reexamining conflict continued with Research Professor of Political Science and Law Samar Ali. Ali is also a member of the Vanderbilt Divinity School advisory council, an expert in conflict and war, and a self-described peacemaker. During her session, she challenged the idea that conflict always leads to war and instead proposed that we can imagine a different future.
“If you are in the frame that war is inevitable, then peace is also inevitable,” Ali said.
Religious leaders of all faiths, Hamman argued, are “kind of good, but kind of really bad at managing anxiety, conflict, and tension.” Rather than an imagination that runs towards anxiety and fear, Hamman concluded by articulating a desire for leaders to anticipate joy, rather than fear.
“If you imagine only realistic things that can and should happen, if you only imagine how things should be, if your imagination easily drifts to fear and dread, how effective can your leadership be?” he asked.
Continued Learning
Starting this spring, Hamman is sharing his expertise on religion, creativity and imagination through an asynchronous online course on The Wisdom of John Prine through Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Lifelong Learning Program. Lifelong Learning provides faith-informed continuing education and formational programming for individuals, organizations, and religious communities.
“John Prine was a wise sage,” said Hamman. “His timeless songs explore themes such as the self’s longing for intimacy and transformation, overcoming grief and sorrow, being playful, protecting ecological sustainability, and aging with integrity. These themes are central to the good life.”
For more information and registration for VDS Lifelong Learning courses, visit the Lifelong Learning website.