TAP: Welcome to Canada! How have you and your family been settling into Toronto and the Wycliffe College community?
KDJ: Thank you. Yes, I moved to Toronto with my husband and two teenage children as well as two dogs, and then we added a kitten into the mix as well! So, lots going on and I would welcome your prayers! But the Wycliffe community has been exceptionally welcoming, as has our local church. Overall, we’re very grateful for the tremendous generosity of spirit people have extended to us as we’ve made this transition.
TAP: You are Wycliffe’s first non-ordained principal. How does this shape your approach to leading a theological college today?
KDJ: Yes. I am grateful that Wycliffe was open to considering me for the position. I deeply love the Church; it was life-changing for me to encounter the love of Jesus Christ through a local Episcopal church. I want to see the Church thrive and be faithful in every way God is calling it to be. I don’t know if I can yet answer exactly how being non-ordained is shaping my leadership. However, my underlying questions as a Christian have always been around the deep formation of disciples: What does it mean to live fully and faithfully as followers of Jesus Christ? I’ve thought of that on behalf of the Church, and I hope that’s what our clergy are passionate about as well – what does it take in our ministries to be ourselves faithful followers and part of God’s work in forming others? In theological education, that’s the same end goal, but perhaps I bring a slightly different vantage point as a layperson.
TAP: Can you tell us a bit more about your church background?
KDJ: I initially came to faith through an Episcopal parish, deepened that faith in a non-denominational church during my university years, but then came back to Anglicanism when I was about 22, through The Episcopal Church in the US and then the Scottish Episcopal Church when I studied at the University of St. Andrews.
TAP: Your own scholarship has explored themes of justice, Christian engagement with pluralism, and related topics.
KDJ: Yes, I’m a theologian by training (undergraduate at the University of Virginia, PhD at the University of St. Andrews). Underneath all my different writing projects, there is a common thread: What does it look like to faithfully follow Jesus? In my earliest work, I wrestled with how we think about being Christian in pluralistic societies – societies made up of people with many different beliefs and ways of life, trying to live together. How do we go about that? How has political theory imagined that, and how might Christian theology help us? I drew a lot on Augustine and how he wrestled with those questions in his own time, carefully trying to make connections with our context. My subsequent work, like my book on justice, is really about discipleship, exploring the biblical narrative for God’s calling on us. When God says, “Seek first his kingdom and righteousness,” what does that mean? Knowing the close connection between righteousness and justice in Scripture, how does our call to seek what is good, just and right connect to our discipleship?
TAP: How does your past academic work inform your vision for Wycliffe?
KDJ: This definitely impacts my work here. The context of any Western society is still one of pluralism. At Wycliffe, we see this in different ways: for instance, with Christians coming from different backgrounds or traditions, or even different currents within Anglicanism, plus we also have students from other Christian traditions entirely. My conviction, coming out of my early work, is that we benefit from being deeply rooted in our own beliefs while generously engaging with others. The answer isn’t to pretend we all believe the same things or to offer a trite appeal to ignore our differences. Rather, the more space we can make for our particular beliefs – among Christians, but also with people from other faith traditions – the more space there is for honest interaction, even respectful attempts at persuasion, including the desire to invite others into the truth we inhabit. We want to hold space for mutual learning and engagement. It’s about being deeply rooted, with wide branches – generous and spacious in engagement without compromising core beliefs.
TAP: That’s a powerful and fresh way of framing things – being deeply rooted in our own beliefs while engaging generously without compromise. Are you familiar at all with something called Scriptural Reasoning? Years ago, I observed a session led by Jewish scholar Peter Ochs, and it seemed quite similar in spirit to what you’re suggesting in terms of how to engage people of other faiths without compromising one’s own beliefs. [Scriptural Reasoning is an interfaith practice where participants, often from Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, read and discuss passages from their respective scriptures together to foster mutual understanding, rather than aiming for agreement or debate].
KDJ: Yes. In fact, I used that as an example in a follow-up article to my earliest book where people asked, “What does living faithfully in a pluralistic environment practically look like?”. I used Scriptural Reasoning as an example because it models being deeply rooted in your tradition and scriptures (which may or may not overlap) while interacting. I think we can actually trust our ability to disagree. As long as we’re shaped by the Spirit to embody the fruit of the Spirit, then we can interact with generosity and kindness even when we disagree, and it’ll be okay.
TAP: Wycliffe once hosted the popular Refresh! conference, serving both clergy and laity. Do you see a place for reviving large-scale public events as a resource for the wider church?
KDJ: We are in a time of discernment about what our church-engaging role can and should be. This connects to a particular passion of mine, but also thankfully to a long-term interest of Wycliffe: how are we engaging with and serving the church beyond our current student body? Things like Refresh!, as I understand it, often involved using a convocation speaker for an extra event for the wider church. We are looking at different forms this could take. It’s something I want to be in intentional conversation about with local Christians and beyond – what could this look like? I just want to make sure whatever we do is fruitful and worthwhile for all involved, but I definitely want that engagement to be part of our future.
TAP: You concluded your Anglican Journal interview with the powerful image of graduates spreading the “aroma of Christ.” Looking forward, what is your hope for the kind of aroma the Wycliffe College community itself will exude to the university, the city of Toronto, and the broader culture?
KDJ: Yes, I love the imagery of the aroma of Christ [2 Cor 2:15] and the beauty of what can be offered through faithful followers. Perhaps especially in a contentious and polarized time, there is a place for a more beautiful, fragrant offering. Referencing my convictions about pluralism, I hope Wycliffe can model being deeply rooted in our convictions while remaining committed to engaging others within the body of Christ. Within the Toronto School of Theology, the university, the wider Anglican Communion, and the wider church, I hope we model that you can inhabit your faith fully, deeply, “orthodoxly,” in keeping with Scripture and tradition, and be kind, generous, and faithful – exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit – as you interact with others, even when you disagree. We don’t have to be afraid of disagreement because in Christ, all things hold together. We want Wycliffe to offer that kind of aroma. TAP
RECENT events in the Anglican Communion have been tumultuous.
The appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullally as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, after almost a year of deliberation, has brought this all into sharp focus. While Bishop Mullally herself brings commendable personal qualities to the role (such as her principled stand against euthanasia and her refreshing openness about her dyslexia), the process and the reactions surrounding her appointment seem to have made the fragmentation consuming the Communion much starker.
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“Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” the Baptist cries.
Jesus is coming! Repent, and believe the good news.
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WHOM do you look up to?
Everyone has a person or persons they admire or look up to. For some it is an actor, for others it may be a pop star or athlete or a political figure, perhaps a teacher or a parent. For some, their hero may be a biblical figure – someone they learned about as a child in Sunday school.
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Kristen Deede Johnson, the new principal of Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, speaks with Joey Royal, himself a former seminary principal.
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” the Baptist cries.
Jesus is coming! Repent, and believe the good news.
IN THE 250th anniversary of her birth, Jane Austen’s reputation has never been higher. But what would surprise many devotees is the depth of Austen’s Christian faith, especially her deep prayerfulness. This may even be news to many of her fans. But Christian prayer was at the core of who she was and the books she wrote. And Austen offers us considerable resources for our prayer, not least the prayers she wrote.
BOLDLY announcing that “the future has arrived,” GAFCON, the Global South-based conservative renewal movement also known as the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, declared the creation of a “Global Anglican Communion” in an Oct. 16 communiqué by its chairman, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda.
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