Jann Aldredge-Clanton

Last updated

Jann Aldredge-Clanton
Born
Jann Aldredge

May 3, 1946
Abilene, Texas, US
DiedSeptember 20, 2024
Alma mater Minden High School

Louisiana Tech University
Texas Christian University

Contents

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Occupation(s) Christian minister, author, hymn writer
SpouseDavid McPhail Clanton
ChildrenChad Aldredge Clanton and Brett McPhail Clanton and daughter-in-law Beth Lousteau; grandchildren = Lyle Henry Clanton, Emmett Callahan Clanton, Paul McPhail Clanton
Parent(s)Reverend H. Truman Aldredge

Eva Louise Hickerson Aldredge Henley

Taylor Henley (stepfather)

Jann Aldredge-Clanton (May 3, 1946 - September 20, 2024) [1] was an ordained Christian minister, author, teacher, and chaplain, who led workshops and conferences throughout the United States. She authored eleven books, six songbooks, a children's musical, and a children's songbook. [2] She also published many articles in publications such as Christian Feminism Today, The Journal of Pastoral Care, [3] The Christian Ministry, and Patheos. She specialized in feminist theology and inclusive worship resources.

Ordained in the Alliance of Baptists, she ministered in ecumenical and interfaith settings. She serveed as co-chair of the national ecumenical, multicultural Equity for Women in the Church Community, [4] on the council of Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus-Christian Feminism Today; [5] adjunct professor at Richland College in Dallas, Texas; [6] and on the Dallas Workers’ Rights Board. [7]

Her diverse career included serving as consultant in the internship programs at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas and Brite Divinity School; associate pastor, St. John's United Methodist Church in Waco, Texas; executive director, Waco Conference of Christians and Jews; Pastoral Counselor, Samaritan Counseling Center of Central Texas; chaplain, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas and Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco; English professor, Dallas Baptist University. [8]

Feminist theology and inclusive language

Since 1990, Aldredge-Clanton wrote, spoke, and preached about feminist theology and specifically about the need to include female language for the Divine as a foundation for equality, justice, and peace.

In her introduction to Changing Church: Stories of Liberating Ministers she writes: “My vision is for the Divine Feminine to shine forth in all Her glory in multicultural visual imagery and in the language of worship, supporting equal partnership of women and men. My vision is of a church where the Divine Feminine and women ministers don’t have to be defended or marginalized, but are fully and equally included throughout every worship service and every activity of the church. My vision is for the Sacred Feminine to be worshipped not only in Christian congregations, but in every religion all over the world, and for women to share equally in the leadership of every religion. My vision is for girls to believe they are equal to boys because they hear and see the Supreme Being worshipped as ‘She’ as well as ‘He.'” [9]

Many traditionalists are critical of Aldredge-Clanton's views. Plumeline, a conservative Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) publication, criticizes the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) for Aldredge-Clanton's leadership at a CBF annual gathering: “The SBC has no feminist theologian leaders calling for the worship of the ‘Christ-Sophia.’ But the CBF does. Jann Aldredge-Clanton conducted a breakout session at the 1995 General Assembly and is a promoter of feminist theology. She is the cited ‘leader’ who espouses ‘Christ-Sophia.’” [10] Additionally The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, an evangelical organization opposing an egalitarian view of gender, takes the organization, Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), to task for including Aldredge-Clanton's children's book, God, A Word for Girls and Boys, in the CBE webstore. [11]

Aldredge-Clanton served as one of the contributors for the CEB (Common English Bible) Women's Bible (Common English Bible; Sew edition, 2016). [12]

Inclusive worship resources

Aldredge-Clanton wrote and published inclusive language Christian worship resources, including prayers, responsive readings, hymns set to familiar tunes, and even a children's musical.

One of the conservative critics of inclusive theology and language, Russell D. Moore, warned that the children's musical by Aldredge-Clanton and composer Larry E. Schultz, Imagine God! A Children's Musical Exploring and Expressing Images of God is "dangerous" because "feminist theologians are correct indeed that it is easier to transform the imaginations of children in thinking about God." Moore continues his critique writing, "What is at stake here are [sic] not whether the church will accommodate more ‘gender-inclusive’ language, but instead the doctrines of God and revelation—and indeed the gospel itself." [13]

Aldredge-Clanton was one of the founders of the New Wineskins Community in Dallas, Texas. The community was founded because "We’re all in deep need of healing. We can never be all we’re created to be in the divine image until we expand our image of the Divine. That’s why New Wineskins Community creates rituals that name and image the Divine as female and male and more. Our words and images for the Divine carry great power to shape belief and actions for justice and peace." [14]

Personal life

She was born in was born in Abilene, Texas, [15] the younger of two daughters of H. Truman Aldredge (1912–1966), the pastor from 1950 until his death of the First Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation in Minden, Louisiana. She graduated in 1964 as the valedictorian of Minden High School. Her mother, Eva Louise Hickerson Aldredge Henley (1918–2016), an educator and Baptist laywoman, married another Southern Baptist pastor, Odus Taylor Henley (1918–2000), after the death of her first husband and spent her later years in San Angelo, Texas. She taught Sunday school for eighty-two years. Truman and Eva Aldredge are interred at Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Minden, Louisiana. [16] [17]

In 1968, Aldredge-Clanton received the Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude in English] from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, then known as Louisiana Polytechnic Institute. She procured Master of Arts and PhD degrees from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She then obtained a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, also in Fort Worth. [18]

Aldredge-Clanton resided in Dallas with her husband, David McPhail Clanton, an artist and communications expert. They have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and three grandsons.

Honors

Aldredge-Clanton's hymns have received numerous honors. [18] "Renewing, Reforming the Church in our Day" won in the category of "New Hymn Text for Traditional Hymn Tune" in United Theological Seminary’s first annual song and hymn writing competition; the judges commented that this text "has outstanding theological significance in church renewal." [19] In 2013, the Religious Institute selected Aldredge-Clanton’s “Praise the Source of All Creation” as the winner of its first hymn contest. [20] In 2011, St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, sponsored a hymn contest in celebration of 25 years of Jesuit leadership; her hymn “Celebrate Our Maker’s Glory” won third place. [21] “We Come in Celebration” won honorable mention in the 2012 Alliance of Baptists hymn contest. [22] “O Loving Creator, We Labor with You” won honorable mention in the 2007 international hymn contest sponsored by Macalester Plymouth United Church of St. Paul, Minnesota. [23]

Bibliography, books and music

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "Remembering Rev. Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton (May 3, 1946-September 20, 2024)". Christian Feminism Today. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Books by Rev. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, PhD – SkyLight Paths Publishing".
  3. ↑ Maxwell, Travis; Aldredge-Clanton, Jann (1994). "Survivor Guilt in Cancer Patients: A Pastoral Perspective". Journal of Pastoral Care. 48 (1): 25–31. doi:10.1177/002234099404800104. PMID   10133165. S2CID   34307986.
  4. ↑ "Board Members". Equity for women in the church. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Remembering Rev. Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton (May 3, 1946-September 20, 2024)". Christian Feminism Today. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Schedule | Richland College". Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Dallas Workers' Rights Board: Workers Rights Board Meeting Sept. 3, 2011". September 12, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Jann Aldredge-Clanton – Biography". Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  9. ↑ Aldredge-Clanton, Jann. Changing Church: Stories of Liberating Ministers. Cascade Books, 2011.
  10. ↑ Plumbline 69 (October 1998), 30, http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/baptist/analy_r05.html
  11. ↑ "Our Mother Who Art in Heaven," Gospel, Gender, Flourishing: The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (November 1, 2003), http://cbmw.org/uncategorized/our-mother-who-art-in-heaven/ Archived August 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Editors and contributors" (PDF). commonenglishbible.com. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  13. ↑ "’Mother God’ Goes to Children’s Church" SBC Life: Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention (August 2004)
  14. ↑ "Jann Aldredge-Clanton – New Wineskins Community". Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Home". digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  16. ↑ "Eva L. Henley obituary". Dignitymemorial.com. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Eva Louise Aldredge Henley". Ancestry.com. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  18. 1 2 "COMPOSER – Jann Aldredge-Clanton".
  19. ↑ "United Theological Seminary Announces Song and Hymn Writing Competition Winners," prweb (July 22, 2012), ()
  20. ↑ “Worship Resources—Hymns,” Religious Institute (February 2013), (http://www.religiousinstitute.org/worship-resources-hymns/)
  21. ↑ “Recent Hymn Contest Winners,” The Hymn Society: The Verse: a Monthly Newsletter (June 2011), (http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs078/1104039006581/archive/1106341163774.html)
  22. ↑ “They Write the Songs that Make the Whole World Sing!” Alliance of Baptists Blog (March 12, 2012), (http://allianceofbaptists.org/PCP/alliance_blog_detail/they-write-the-songs-that-the-make-the-whole-world-sing).
  23. ↑ “List of Winning Hymns,” Macalester Plymouth United Church (2015) (http://www.macalester-plymouth.org/historyofthempuchymncontest.htm)
  24. ↑ Scanzoni, Letha Dawson. "Review of She Lives! Sophia Wisdom Works in the World" Christian Feminism Today, September 2014. https://eewc.com/BookReviews/sh-lives-book-jann-aldredge-clanton/
  25. ↑ Herder, Marg. “Review of Earth Transformed with Music! Inclusive Songs for Worship,” Christian Feminism Today (December 2015), (https://eewc.com/BookReviews/earth-transformed-with-music-inclusive-songs-for-worship/
  26. ↑ Rock Poti, Nancy. "Review of Inclusive Hymns for Liberation, Peace, and Justice," The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song, vol. 63, no. 3 (Summer 2012), 52.
  27. ↑ Michaels, Patrick. “Review of Inclusive Hymns for Liberating Christians,” The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song, vol. 58, no. 3 (Summer 2007), 57
  28. ↑ James, Beverly Wallis. Review of Praying with Christ-Sophia: Services for Healing and Renewal by Jann Aldredge-Clanton. The Christian Ministry, May–June 1999. and https://www.amazon.com/Services-Healing-Renewal-Praying-Christ-Sophia/dp/0896226972
  29. ↑ Aldredge-Clanton, Jann (2004). In Search of the Christ-Sophia: An Inclusive Christology for Liberating Christians. Eakin Press. ISBN   1571687874.
  30. ↑ The Other Side (January–February 1991), 47
  31. ↑ Dykstra, Robert C. Review of Counseling People with Cancer by Jann Aldredge Clanton. Princeton Seminary Bulletin vol 21, no. 2, 2000, 267–268
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