Principal De Vries - Sabbatical Reflections

The opportunity to take a five-month sabbatical was such a gift to me. From August through December of this past year, I was able to take the time for rest, renewal, and research that is mandated for sabbatical periods granted by the Board of Governors of the College. After 10 years of service at the College, it was also a meaningful time to step back and reflect on the ministry of the college as well as my own service there. Returning this January has also, already reminded me of what I love about the College—it is a community of rich and caring relationships, shared through worship, study, and prayer.

A part of my sabbatical was spent on research and writing, and I was particularly grateful to have financial support from The Priscilla and Stanford Reid Trust and from the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship—this financial support was for the redevelopment of our preaching course with intercultural communication in mind. Also, for a writing project on preaching and intercultural communication.

During a two-week stay at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, I also presented a lecture to PhD students on this theme of preaching and intercultural communication. I have been shaped by this work, and look forward to pursuing these themes in my continuing teaching ministry and writing. (I was also grateful to connect with two Ghanaian, Presbyterian pastors, and grad students at PUTS, while there.) The Presbyterian College also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with PUTS during my time there, and we are looking forward to future exchanges of students and faculty (on sabbatical) with plans already unfolding to welcome friends from Seoul

While in Korea I also had a chance to visit the Presbyterian University and Seminary in Busan, which is at the southern tip of South Korea. I am grateful to Hanvit Lee, a current MDiv student of the college for making introductions, since the seminary in Busan is his alma mater. Thank you Hanvit!

In 2024, my wife Becky and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, and in the Fall were able to take a visit to South Carolina and Georgia—a beautiful region, rich with history. That region is also, of course, representative of many of the challenges and failings of American history (colonialism and slavery) and of its contemporary challenges. Among many highlights of the trip, I remember pausing in one of Old Savannah's many squares, with moss-covered trees—this square dedicated to John Wesley, who spent a short time in Savannah beginning in 1735.

There are several other writing projects I was able to work on or complete:

• An essay for an upcoming volume celebrating the 150th anniversary of The Presbyterian Church in Canada (edited by Sarah Travis and Robert Revington of Knox College). This explores the work of Charles Taylor, in his Cosmic Connections, in relation to the sacramental traditions of the PCC and of Protestantism more widely.
• An invited essay on rûaḥ and pneuma in the traditions of Judaism and Christianity, to be published in the Handbook of Critical Respiratory Studies: Breath and Air in Humanities and Social Sciences (Springer Nature). This piece also engages, in part, with the work of Taylor on poetry and with sacramental theology.
• A new book project is also underway, with almost 5 chapters written. This is intended as an accessible (nearly) systematic theology for students and lay members of the church. It's a project I'm especially excited about and hope to finalize by Summer 2025. 
• Finally, I have revised an earlier paper on the unfinished nature of pastoral ministry and have submitted it to the Journal of Pastoral Theology for possible publication.

The writing of poetry has been a significant part of all of the research and writing I have been doing, and so to conclude these brief reflections on my sabbatical with one of the poems written. It is called Billings Lake (a lake in the Haliburton Region of Ontario).