Welcome to Episcopal History and Polity for 2016!

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Welcome to Episcopal History and Polity!


This blog will provide an online forum to supplement the seminar sessions being offered by Molly James and Keith Voets (bios below). If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to post them in the comments or to email Molly (mjames@episcopalct.org). The class will meet virtually for one hour on Fridays at 4pm beginning February 12, 2016.

The syllabus (including links to readings and video conference) for the course may be found here.  

The videos of the sessions may be found here. 


BIOS OF KEITH AND MOLLY

The Rev. Keith Voets serves as Associate Rector at St. Barnabas in Irvington, NY. He previously served St. John’s Episcopal Church in Essex, CT as Assistant Rector.  Sponsored for ordination by the Church of the Holy Trinity in Middletown, CT, Keith was ordained a transitional deacon in June 2012 by Bishop James Curry and was ordained priest in December of 2012 by Bishop Ian Douglas. A Connecticut native, Keith received his BA from Charter Oak State College in political science and had a career for almost a decade in hospitality management before he began seminary in the fall of 2009.  He graduated cum laude with a Master of Divinity and Certificate in Spiritual Direction from the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City in May 2012. Keith served as a seminarian at the Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy a bilingual parish on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for two years.  Along with his work at St. John’s, Keith also served part time as the Program Manager for the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry and Clothing Closet at the Episcopal Church of St Paul and St James in New Haven and as a Spiritual Director with the Annand Center for Spirituality at Yale Divinity School.

An avid fan of anything British, you will often find him searching YouTube for BBC sitcoms or enjoying a cup of Earl Grey and slice of Victoria Sandwich at Tea and Sympathy in the West Village.

 

The Rev. Molly F. James holds a PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter (UK). She holds a Master’s of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Tufts University. She was ordained by The Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen in 2005. She has served as a hospital chaplain and a parish priest. She currently serves on the Bishops’ Staff for The Episcopal Church in Connecticut as the Dean of Formation. She is a priest associate at Christ Church Cathedral and Grace Church, Hartford. She serves as an adjunct professor at Hartford Seminary and the University of St. Joseph, focusing on ethics and pastoral care. Her doctoral research focused on suffering and grief. Her work, With Joyful Acceptance, Maybe was published in 2013 by Wipf and Stock. In addition to her work in CT, Molly was a deputy to General Convention in 2015 and serves on the Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. Molly is co-chair of The Young Clergy Women Project (an ecumenical organization of clergy women under 40), and serves as a board member for the Society of Scholar Priests. Molly and her husband Reade (a mechanical engineer) have two children.