On March 27, 2023, the student-led Harvey Lecture featured the Rev. Dr. Bradley S. Hauff, the Episcopal Church Missioner for Indigenous Ministries, a member of the Presiding Bishop’s staff. Hauff is responsible for enabling and empowering Indigenous peoples and their respective communities within the Episcopal Church while also guiding the broader Church in intercultural competencies.
The lecture was titled “It Ain’t Easy Being Native: Indigenous People, the Doctrine of Discovery and the Episcopal Church.” In it he examined the situation of Indigenous Americans, beginning with the pre-Columbian historical context and the initiation and impact of the Doctrine of Discovery. The involvement of the Christian Church, from early missionary and colonization efforts was discussed, focusing particularly on those of the Episcopal Church. Following the lecture, Dr. Steven Tomlinson, Associate Professor of Leadership and Administration, led a Q&A with Hauff.
Hauff also was the preacher at midday Chapel that day, as well as joining the Southwest community at the weekly Community Hour held on Monday Afternoons.
“Bradley Hauff’s lecture was a sobering account of the Christianity’s role in colonization and violence against indigineous people,” said the Very Rev. Cynthia Briggs Kittredge, Dean and PResident. “The pictures and stories of the Episcopal Church boarding schools and their role in his own family vividly displayed a part of our history with which we must reckon. It was good to have the Rev. Hauff as preacher and lecturer at Seminary of the Southwest.”
The student steering committee for the 2023 Harvey Lecture was Leesa Lewis, Luis Rivas, Teri Calinao, and Tina Mutungu. Tomlinson serves as the faculty liaison.
“Dr. Hauff brought an insightful message about the challenges the indigenous people face today in their struggle with cultural identity,” said Lewis. “He encouraged us to build relationships while recognizing the contribution the Episcopal church played in the doctrine of discovery.”
“I am grateful for Dr. Hauff sharing his ministry with us and teaching us these difficult chapters of our church’s history so that we can better love God and our neighbors, especially our Indigenous neighbors,” said Rivas. “In highlighting how his Indigenous heritage has shaped his Christianity and vice versa, Dr. Hauff is also inviting us to draw from the deep well of wisdom that Indigenous traditions bring on important issues like creation care, racial justice, and gender equality that our church is wrestling with.”
The student-led Harvey Lectures were conceived at Seminary of the Southwest as a way of honoring the late Dean Hudnall Harvey, who died unexpectedly in 1972, after serving as the seminary’s dean for just five years. During Dean Harvey’s tenure, following some institutional turbulence during the 1960s, the seminary had begun rebuilding: in terms of enrollment, financial strength, and earning back the trust of many dioceses through the church.
The seminary community established the Harvey Lectures an annual series that would be overseen by student leaders and that would address the relationship between pastoral leadership and contemporary issues confronting the church.
Over the years, these Lectures have become a lasting and vital resource for the seminary, bringing important and diverse theological voices to our campus.
