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What an extraordinary season! Within a few days this May, the campus hosted Reunion, the Board of Trustees meeting, and celebrated Commencement for the incredible Class of 2026. Each gathering revealed something true about who we are and WHOSE we are. We embraced one another across decades, as beautiful music and benedictions flowed across the Quad.
Reunion 2026 welcomed alumni whose class years end in 1 and 6, spanning the Class of 2021 to the Class of 1956. Seven decades returned home. Some began ministry in the mid-20th century at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Others began while socially distanced during a global pandemic. Yet together they bore witness to the conviction that the work of preparing faithful servants must continue despite economic, social, or political contexts. The work endures.
The week’s offerings were engaging and intellectually inspiring. Alumni engaged first-year faculty in the Faculty Spotlight. Some toured the Princeton University Art Museum with Professor Kenneth Appold, our James Hastings Nichols Professor of Reformation History. Others made their way out to the Farminary for “Wine and the Bible,” led by Dr. Nate Stucky, MDiv ’10, PhD ’15, and Dr. Chip Dobbs-Allsopp, MDiv ’87, for an afternoon of soil and scripture, vineyards and verses, wine tasting and testimony.
The Women’s Alumni Network Workshop, led by Overseas Ministries Study Center Artist-in-Residence Carmelle Beaugelin Caldwell, MDiv ’18, invited participants into a guided, multimodal practice of lectio divina reimagined through communal art-making. Co-hosted by the Center for Theology, Women, and Gender and Iron Sharpening Iron, the workshop reminded us that creativity is not a performative appendage for leaders. It is a leadership capacity that we must all cultivate.
There was also the annual Edwin H. Rian, MDiv ’27, Alumni Lecture. Dr. Amanda Drury, MDiv ’05, PhD ’12, delivered this year’s lecture, which was entitled “The Church at Play.” Dr. Drury proposed that play is a mode of faithful presence that shapes moral imagination. To worship a God who delights and invites delight is to understand that a posture of play is vital for Christians in a world where suffering threatens to silence joy.
This year’s gathering honored the 2026 Alumni Award recipients: Rev. Pamela Holmes-Saxton, MDiv ’14, the first African American female chaplain of the FDNY, who received the Alumni Service Award; and Rev. Mark DeVries, MDiv ’86, a pastor, author, and visionary in youth and family ministry, who received the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Across campus, alumni celebrated the enduring bonds formed at Princeton Seminary. Highlights included music in the Quad with Associate Professor Brennan Breed, MDiv ’06, and Jim McGee, MDiv ’86, and the joy of welcoming David E. Mulford from the Class of 1956 for his 70th Reunion. Rev. Amos Shin, MDiv ’06, senior pastor of Poolhyanggi Presbyterian Church in South Korea, preached at Closing Worship, bringing Reunion to a faithful close.
Celebrating the 2026 Alumni Award recipients.
Music, fellowship, and milestone reunions in the Quad.
David E. Mulford, Class of 1956, at his 70th Reunion.
Rev. Amos Shin, MDiv ’06, preached Closing Worship.
Commencement season at Princeton Seminary was filled with moments of gratitude, blessing, celebration, and faithful transition. At the annual Graduate Banquet, Seminary faculty, staff, and administrators served graduates and their guests in a meaningful ritual of hospitality, formally welcoming the Class of 2026 into a global alumni community of more than 11,000 alums.
The Class of 2026 Service offered another intimate moment of celebration, as graduates were pinned by family, friends, and loved ones and given the opportunity to write notes of thanks to those who supported and accompanied them throughout their Seminary journey. The evening before Commencement also included the presentation of the Daniel L. Migliore Distinguished Presidential Award for Faithful Leadership to Marilynne Robinson, honoring her life and work as one of the most important writers and public theological voices of our time.
On Commencement day, the procession was led by Nancy Lammers Gross, MDiv ’81, PhD ’92, Arthur Sarell Rudd Professor of Speech Communication in Ministry, who carried the Seminary mace in her final Commencement serving as Faculty Marshal. Together, these moments reflected the depth of the Seminary’s traditions and the joy of sending forth the Class of 2026.
Faculty, staff, and administrators serve graduates at the annual Graduate Banquet.
Graduates are pinned by loved ones during the Class of 2026 Service.
Marilynne Robinson receives the Daniel L. Migliore Distinguished Presidential Award.
Nancy Lammers Gross, MDiv ’81, PhD ’92, leads the Commencement procession.
The work of Princeton Seminary continues throughout the calendar year, and summer is a wonderful opportunity to engage a host of learners. I am especially excited about the upcoming Princeton Summer Seminar Series hosted by Professor Heath W. Carter: “Christian Faith and U.S. Democracy: Past, Present, and Prospects on the Eve of America’s 250th,” taking place June 14–18, 2026. It is an immersive, four-day residential seminar on the intertwined histories of Christian faith and American public life. Professor Carter will be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard law professor Annette Gordon-Reed, journalist Jonathan Rauch, as well as other distinguished guests.
As summer begins, I pray that each of you finds opportunities for rest, renewal, reflection, and joyful connection with those you love most. Thank you for your continued commitment to this extraordinary learning community. Together, we continue the sacred work of forming thoughtful, faithful, and courageous leaders for the church, the academy, and the world.
One Luv,
Jonathan Lee WaltonPresident
“The love of God and the love of humanity are one love”—Benjamin Elijah Mays
A few of the books I look forward to engaging with this summer:
