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CURRICULUM VITAE

James Rowe Adams

I. RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Currently
Honorary Advisor, The Center for Progressive Christianity

Adams 2004

1996 - 2006
President, The Center for Progressive Christianity

As I was preparing to retire from parish ministry, I founded The Center for Progressive Christianity, a nonprofit corporation that encourages the presentation of the Christian message to those who have found organized religion to be ineffectual, irrelevant, or repressive. TCPC supports congregations that embrace the search for meaning — rather than a particular brand of certainty. Through conferences, a newsletter, a website, and correspondence, we have been building a network of people who have an interest in recovering our Christian symbols and in defining what it means to be a follower of Jesus in a pluralistic society.

In June of 1996, we held our first major event, a forum in Columbia, S.C., called “Out of the Whirlwind: Claiming a Vision of Progressive Christianity”. Since then, we have organized a national gathering each spring, but we are now concentrating our attention on local and regional conferences. Much of the Center’s current energy goes into supporting progressive Christian networks abroad. We held the first meeting of the International Steering Committee in conjunction with our annual forum in June of 2003. At that meeting, representatives from Britain, Ireland, South Australia, New Zealand and the United States formed “progressivechristianity.net”, which is also the name of our portal website. In 2005, at the second meeting, Canada joined the network.

In addition, we are developing educational materials for progressive churches. We design the courses to help people understand that they can affirm Christianity as their way, without having to declare their religion as the only way, or even the best way, to God.

Adams 1996

Parish

1966 - 1996
Rector, St. Mark’s Church on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC

After being on the verge of collapse, St. Mark’s took a new lease on life in the mid-fifties by concentrating on the arts, adult Christian education, and community service. By the time I arrived, the congregation had developed strong lay leadership and a budget of $53,000 a year supported by 130 pledges. In succeeding years, we expanded the Christian education program and evolved a style of shared authority and responsibility. By 1994 we had 535 pledges. Our operating budget by 1995 was $570,000. In addition, we raised $1.7 million to renovate our 100-year-old building. When St. Mark’s was threatened with demolition in the early 1970’s, a Washington Post editorial urged Congress to preserve this “citadel of enlightened Christianity”.

During my tenure, St. Mark’s acquired a reputation for being a place where people could improve their capacity for leadership in a diverse community by practicing in the congregation. Emphasizing the nature of community as the collaboration of equals, the parish offered people the opportunity for working in teams of men and women, gays and straights, believers and skeptics. St. Mark’s tradition of supporting the arts gave the parish an appreciation for the value of racial and ethnic diversity. The dance studio, the St. Mark’s Players, and the music program included participants not always found in an Episcopal church. The building itself became a working symbol of inclusion by providing space for artists to display their work, for self-help groups and neighborhood organizations to meet, and for pastoral counselors to have offices.

Adams 1989

1960-1966:
Vicar and then Rector, St. Christopher’s Church, Lanham, Maryland

When I was appointed its vicar, St. Christopher’s four-year-old congregation was all white, subsidized by the Diocese, and meeting in a small, multi-purpose building. Six years later, as I left for St. Mark’s, it had become a racially-integrated, self-supporting parish established in a church building that had won an award for architectural excellence. Christian education was a high priority for the congregation as we grew in numbers, income, and racial diversity.

1958-1960:
Curate, St. John’s Church, Georgetown Parish, Washington, DC.

Although the Rector generously shared with me all aspects of parish ministry, my primary responsibility was to develop adult education, especially for people in their twenties and thirties. I also worked with the elderly, and I found a great deal of satisfaction in helping to facilitate conversation between the generations.

Theological Education
And Parish Development

My work in the diocese and in the larger church arena centered largely in pre- and post-ordination training of clergy and on parish development. In 1964, I helped design an internship program for new seminary graduates in the dioceses of Washington and Maryland, and for five years I led seminars for these interns. Later, I chaired a committee charged with the evaluation of the Parish Internship Program. On our recommendation, the Bishop and Commission on Ministry shifted the intern year to the beginning of the training process, the year prior to seminary, to give applicants an opportunity for testing their vocations in a parish setting.

From 1970 until 1972, I was deeply involved in an experiment: congregationally based preparation for ordained ministry. The planning group and the student body included Jews as well as people of both African and European descent representing several Christian traditions. I chaired the committee that designed the educational process and served on the board of directors of this enterprise, called Inter-Faith Metropolitan Theological Education (Inter/Met).

My interest in clergy development began in the mid-sixties when I worked closely with Virginia Theological Seminary. We devised a training program for a seminarian at St. Christopher’s that included his working with a committee of lay people, a process that was later incorporated into all field education at V.T.S. and was a basic ingredient of the Inter/Met experiment. I also lectured at V.T.S. and served four years as a mentor for groups of students gathered to reflect on their field work.

I lectured at three other theological schools in the United States, and during my six-month sabbatical in 1972, I served as a guest tutor at the Salisbury and Wells Theological College in England. I also worked as a consultant for two seminaries as part of my responsibility with the Academy of Parish Clergy, an organization I served as president in 1973-1974.

Lectures, Conferences, and Workshops

My work as a consultant and conference leader has given me direct contact with clergy and congregations as well as with other church structures and with related organizations. Since 1989, I have given lectures and led workshops for congregations and progressive Christianity groups around the country and in England. Also, I have made presentations or provided conference leadership for the following groups:

Clergy Conferences

Episcopal clergy; Raleigh, NC – 1989

“Understanding Skeptics”, Pennsylvania Pastors Conference; Camp Hill, PA – 1989

“Men and Women: Partners in Ministry”; Newark, NJ – 1990

“Sharing Ministry with Laity”, Annapolis, MD, the Alban Institute – 1990

“Reaching the Skeptic”, Foundation for Contemporary Theology, Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, TX – 1990

“Progressive Christianity: The Church’s Response to Uncertainty and Pluralism”, Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire clergy – 1996

“New Opportunity for Mission”, Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, TX – 1997

“Making Skeptics Feel Welcome”, Re-imagining Progressive Campus Ministry, New Britain, CT, the University Christian Movement in New England – 1998

“Forming a Progressive Christianity for a New Century”, The Seabury Institute – 2000

Other Settings

Martin Luther King Library, Washington, DC – 1989

Community Library, Chevy Chase, MD – 1989

Episcopal Campus Ministry, University of Maryland – 1989

Eleventh Step AA Meeting, Alexandria, VA – 1989

“The Role of Spirituality: Faith and Doubt”, National Coalition of Cancer Survivors, Washington, DC – 1990

“Better than Believing: Living the Questions in Congregational Life”, Symposium, The Educational Center; St. Louis, MO – 1991

“How to be a Vestry”; Kanuga Conference Center, Hendersonville, NC – 1992

“Evangelism in an Age of Skepticism”; Bexley Hall, Rochester, N – 1996

“A Feast for All People”; Joint Education Ministries, Buffalo, NY – 1996

“Congregational Leadership”; Region III, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts – 1997

“Relational Evangelism”, Presbytery of the New Covenant, Houston, TX – 1997

Conference on Evangelism, Episcopal Diocese of Newark – 1997

“Agnostics at Prayer”, Sea of Faith Conference, Sheffield, England – 1998

“Racial Integration and Mainline White Churches”, National Conference on the Future Shape of Black Religion, Wright State University, Dayton, OH – 2000

“By What Authority”, Burning Issues Conference, Diocese of Virginia – 2000

“Where we belong in our Church”, St. Deiniol’s, Wales – 2002

Lectures & Workshops, Community for Progressive Christianity, Wilmington, DE –

2004

“The Future of Progressive Christianity”, Progressive Christianity Network–Britain,

London, U.K. – 2006

Church Growth Workshop, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities – 2007

So You Think You’re Not Religious? A Thinking Person’s Guide to the Church; Cowley Publications, 1989.

Sisters and Brothers—Reclaiming a Biblical Idea of Community, with Verna J. Dozier; Cowley Publications, 1993.

So You Can’t Stand Evangelism? A Thinking Person’s Guide to Church Growth; Cowley Publications, 1994.

From Literal to Literary—The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors; Rising Star Press, 2005; second edition, Pilgrim Press, 2008.

“Collaboration of Psychiatrist and Clergyman: A Case Report,” Family Process; Vol. 3, No. 2, September 1964.

“Liturgy in Evolution,” Journal of the American Society for Church Architecture; No. 9, September 1968; reprinted in Living Worship; Vol. 6, No. 3, February 1970.

“Toward Expertise in Ministry: Consultants for the Clergy,” The Journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy; Vol. 1, No. 1, April 1971.

“The Parish as an Environment,” The Journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy; Vol. II, No. 2, November 1972.

“Reflection on Mission: the Acts of the Apostles,” The Journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy; Vol. III, No. 1, May 1973.

“Tribal Instinct and the Urban Parish,” The Journal of the Academy of Parish Clergy; Vol. III, No. 2, December 1973.

“Whatever Happened to Hypocrisy,” The National Observer; February 2, 1974.

“Sermon Critique Groups—‘Feed Forward, Feed Back,’” College of Preachers Newsletter; Vol. XX, No. 4, Fall 1974.

With Celia Hahn: “Managing Pastoral Care,” The Christian Ministry; Vol. VI, No. 6, Nov. 1975.

With Celia Hahn: “Ministry in the Church, Ministry in the World,” Action Information; Vol. XII, No. 4, July/August 1986.

With Celia Hahn: “Living with Authority,” Action Information, Vol. XVII, No. 1, Jan./Febr. 1991.

With Priscilla Adams: “Evaluation of the Clergy: Here’s How,” Evaluating Ministry by Jill M. Hudson, Alban Institute; 1992.

“Risking Art, Risking Faith,” Songlines – Magazine of the Brookfield Centre for Christian Spirituality; No. 18, Autumn 2002.

“God, Darwin and the Church,” The Progressive Christian, Vol. 181, Issue 5, September/October 2007.

“Better Than Believing—Christianity for skeptics, agnostics and atheists,” The Progressive Christian, Vol. 182, Issue 1, January/February 2008.

With Delwin Brown: “A TCP Dialogue: What is Progressive Christianity?” The Progressive Christian, Vol. 182, Issue 3, May/June 2008.

"Confederate Spy in the White House?" The Intelligencer, Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies, Vol. 17, Number 3, Winter/Spring 2010

Huck, Gabe; “House Church,” Liturgy, Vol. 17, No. 1, January-February 1972.

Des Portes, Elisa L., with Hahn, Celia A.: “The Story of St. Mark’s,” New Hope for Congregations; Loren B. Mead, editor, Seabury Press, 1972.

Critz, Richard L.: “An Interview with James R. Adams Concerning Experimental Worship,” Your Church; Vol. 20, No. 3, May/June 1974.

Fletcher, John: “Religious Authenticity in the Clergy: Implications for Theological Education;” The Alban Institute, September 1975.

Hahn, Celia: “Authentic Clergy,” Action Information; Vol. II, No. 2, June 1976.

Guttman, Judith: “Collaborative Preaching,” Action Information; Vol. II, No. 4, December 1976.

Warren, Joyce: “St. Mark’s, Capitol Hill: Patron of the Arts,” The Christian Century; July 6-13, 1977.

Harris, John C.: Stress, Power, and Ministry, pp. 44-48, 110-111, and 133-134; The Alban Institute, 1977.

Hahn, Celia and McKelvey, Jack M.: Inter/Met: Bold Experiment in Theological Education, pp. 9-36, 42, and 46; The Alban Institute, 1977.

Hahn, Celia: “Lay Advisors for the Minister,” Action Information; Vol. VI, No. 1, January 1980.

“How Churches Try to Woo Yuppies,” U.S. News and World Report, August 26, 1985.

Unsworth, Tim: “What every parish needs is a good Catholic beadle,” National Catholic Reporter, November 15, 1985.

“Christ on Broadway,” Science and Religion, published by the Order of Lenin, USSR, May, 1986.

Hahn, Celia: Growing in Authority Relinquishing Control—A New Approach to Faithful Leadership; pp. 36-38, 61-68, 122-125; The Alban Institute, 1994.

Wortman, Julie A.: “On the edge of cultural change,” The Witness; Vol. 79, No.11, November 1996.

Kelley, James L.: Skeptic in the House of God; Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Taussig, Hal: A New Spiritual Home—Progressive Christianity at the Grass Roots,

Spong, John Shelby: Jesus for the Non-religious, p. xviii; HarperSanFrancisco, 2007

I was born in Nebraska in 1934 and attended schools there through the first semester of my sophomore year at the University in Lincoln. In 1953, I transferred to the George Washington University, graduating two years later. In 1958, I received a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1956, I married Virginia Marie Mann. We have three daughters and five grandchildren.

1995, a foundation representing local merchants and professionals honored me with an award for “Distinguished Service to the Community of Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.”

2009, the Episcopal Divinity School granted me the Distinguished Alumni/ae Award.