Wayne R. Rood Collection
Mary Mead
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Graduate Theological Union
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, California, 94709
Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
Email: archives@gtu.edu
URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections/
© 2013
Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Wayne R. Rood Collection
Collection number: GTU 92-7-02
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Graduate Theological Union
Berkeley, California
- Processed by:
- Mary Mead
- Date Completed:
- July 2005
- Encoded by:
- David Stiver
© 2013 Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Wayne R. Rood collection
Dates: 1946-2002
Bulk Dates: 1963-1992
Collection number: GTU 92-7-02
Creator:
Rood, Wayne R.
Collection Size:
2 linear feet (2 record boxes)
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Abstract: Wayne R. Rood (1915 - 2000) taught for 44 years at the Pacific School of Religion. He wrote, directed and acted in religious
plays, taught courses on theater and theology, and supervised many theses and dissertations on the subject. Rood was raised
and ordained in the Seventh Day Baptist tradition. He received his AB and BS from Salem College; BD, Alfred University; MRE,
Hartford Seminary Foundation; and ThD, Pacific School of Religion.
Physical location: 4/D/6
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
Wayne R. Rood collection, GTU 92-7-02. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Acquisition Information
The Collection came to the Graduate Theological Union Archives as a direct
donation by Wayne Rood in July 1992.
Biography / Administrative History
Wayne Ray Rood was born in Neillsville, Wisconsin, on June 24, 1915, and
raised in the Seventh Day Baptist tradition. His family moved to Riverside, California,where he attended public schools from
the second grade through Junior College. He completed undergraduate work at Pacific Union College in California and Salem
College in West Virginia before enrolling in The School of Theology of Alfred University in New York where he graduated with
a Bachelor of Divinity in 1940. Rood was ordained in the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Riverside where he served as pastor.
He attended the
Hartford Seminary Foundation in Connecticut where he earned a Master of Religious Education in 1943. In 1949, he achieved
a Doctor of Theology degree, graduating magna cum laude from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.
Rood was trained in the U.S. Military Chaplain School and served as Army
Chaplain from May 1944 until September 1946. He was stationed variously in New
Caledonia, New Hebrides, Okinawa and Japan during the war years. These
experiences were later privately published 2002 in You Okay, Chappy? Memories of
Infantry Field Chaplain WWII, and his Wife on the Home Front. Upon discharge as a Major in 1945, he taught Historical and
Systematic Theology at Alfred University. 19521981, he was Professor of Religious Education at Pacific School of Religion,
continuing as Adjunct Professor of Theater and Theology until his retirement in 1996.
Rood developed an early interest in theater arts. He participated in the
development of the Religion and the Arts program at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He was founder and artistic
director of BARDS (Bay Area Religious Drama Service). Using liturgical readings and performances to teach Christian education,
he served as lecturer, director and/or actor. He staged dramatic productions on Christian themes and figures in churches throughout
the San Francisco Bay Area.
In addition to his teaching career, Rood also held Baptist pastorates in Rhode
Island and New York, and served as interim pastor for Swedenborgian and Baptist
churches in El Cerrito and Berkeley, California. He taught at The College of Theology at Silliman University in the Philippines,
served as Acting Dean of the Chapel at Stanford University in Palo Alto, and acted as Resident Theologian at the University
of Colorado and the Lilly Visiting Professor at Berea College in Kentucky. He was also a Student of the University of Oxford
in the United Kingdom for two sabbatical years.
Rood authored three books published by Abingdon Press,
The Art of Teaching Christianity (1968),
Understanding Christian Education (1970), and
On Nurturing Christians (1972). He created numerous lectures, addresses, articles, sermons, theater scripts and autobiographical ruminations.
Rood met Anna Loofbourrow while he was a seminarian in New York, and they
married in 1940. They had two children. He died on May 20, 2000, in Berkeley,
California.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Collection consists of materials for lectures and seminars for teaching purposes; dramatic readings and dramatizations
adapted from liturgical sources; service materials and sermons; articles, criticisms, essays; books and autobiographies, published
and unpublished. All materials in the Collection
are mimeographed, Xeroxed, or laser-printed copies. Dr. Rood did not include personal papers in the Collection.
Arrangement
The Collection is divided into five series: Series 1) Academic: Lectures,
Seminars, Addresses, Curricular materials. Series 2) Theater: Readings,
Performances, Dramatizations. Series 3) Worship: Services, Sermons, Convocations.
Series 4) Articles: Articles, Essays, Criticisms, Other Writings. Series 5) Books:
Books, Autobiographies.
Rood often adapted liturgical sources for readings and theatrical productions. He
included a brief preface for many of these materials in the Collection that helps to place their origin and purpose. Materials
that he reworked over time will show the original dates and the reworked dates in the Container Listing.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Rood, Wayne R. (1915-2000)
McPherson, Aimee Semple, (1890-1944)
Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley, Calif.)--Faculty.
United States. Army--Chaplains.
Theology--Study and teaching--California--Berkeley.
Christian education--Teaching methods.
Christian education--Outlines, syllabi, etc.
Theater--Religious aspects--Seventh Day Baptists.
Drama in Christian education.
Seventh Day Baptists--Clergy--Biography.
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American.
Seventh-Day Baptists--Missions--Nigeria.
World War, 1939-1945--Chaplains.
Related Material
Series 1
Academic
1951-1989
Physical Description: 24 folders
Scope and Content Note
Lectures, seminars, addresses, curricular materials.
box-folder 1 / 1
Theological Trends in the 20th Century
1951
box-folder 1 / 2
Christian Education – Lectures
1952-1992
box-folder 1 / 3
Dramatists and Plays
1958
box-folder 1 / 5
Academic Experiment – BARDS Lectures
1964
box-folder 1 / 6
The People and the Story of the Old Testament
1964, 1992
box-folder 1 / 7
The Teacher and the Message of the New Testament
1964, 1992
box-folder 1 / 8
The Church and Its Faith Through the Centuries
1964, 1992
box-folder 1 / 9
The Message and the Mission of the Christian Faith
1964, 1992
box-folder 1 / 11
Readings for Worship and the Arts
1969
box-folder 1 / 12
A Time for Learning
1969-1970
box-folder 1 / 13-15
Pastoral Conference and Earl Lectures
1969-1983
box-folder 1 / 16
The Experience and Doctrine of Creativity
1974
box-folder 1 / 17
Ceremony and Survival
1976
box-folder 1 / 19
Archetypes and Prototypes
1981
box-folder 1 / 20
Evolution of a Lecture into a Sermon
1982-1989
box-folder 1 / 21
Materials for the Bridge
1982
box-folder 1 / 23
The Arts of Storytelling
1983
box-folder 1 / 24
The Bible on Stage
undated
Series 2
Theater
1946-1996
Physical Description: 19 folders
Scope and Content Note
Readings, performances, dramatizations.
box-folder 1 / 25
The Sign of Jonah; an adaptation of The
Sign of Jonah by Guenther Rutenborn, 1946
1946, 1985
box-folder 1 / 27
Chapel of the Great Commission
1960
box-folder 1 / 28
The Gospel of Mark
1960, 1990
box-folder 1 / 29
Revolution and Response
1963
box-folder 1 / 31
omegAlpha – The Revelation to John
1977
box-folder 1 / 32
The Making of Meaning in a Play
1982, 1992
box-folder 1 / 36-37
Scenes on the Bridge
1992
box-folder 2 / 1
Good News: God is Love – A Performance
1992
box-folder 2 / 2
Job – The Biblical Text
1993
box-folder 2 / 3
The Teachings of Jesus – A Reading
1994
box-folder 2 / 4
The Tragical History of Saul
1995
box-folder 2 / 5
Aimee! – A Play About Aimee Semple McPherson
1996
box-folder 2 / 6
Modern Drama and the Search for Meaning
undated
box-folder 2 / 7
I, Paul: Agent of the Heart Set Free
undated
Series 3
Worship
1942-1985
Physical Description: 10 folders
Scope and Content Note
Services, sermons, convocations.
box-folder 2 / 9
The Beginning of Wisdom
1942
box-folder 2 / 10
What is the Faith We Live By?
1958
box-folder 2 / 11
Materials for a Communion Service
1959
box-folder 2 / 12
A Biblical Service for Communion
1967
box-folder 2 / 13
Vesper Service the Week of Graduation
1974
box-folder 2 / 14
Worshiping and Preaching – First Baptist Church of Berkeley
1975
box-folder 2 / 15
Once Upon a Graduation
1981
box-folder 2 / 17
Meditations for Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany
1984-1985
Series 4
Articles
1955-1985
Physical Description: 11 folders
Scope and Content Note
Articles, essays, criticisms, other writings.
box-folder 2 / 18
The Nigerian Investigation
1955
box-folder 2 / 19
The Shining Man – A Myth
1963, 1994
box-folder 2 / 20
Ventures into Criticism
1965-1988
box-folder 2 / 21
Risking the Creative Process: The Arts Retreat
1967
box-folder 2 / 22
Thoughts of Albert Camus on Rebellion
1969
box-folder 2 / 24
Christian Education – Articles and Reviews
1970-1983
box-folder 2 / 25
Management Principles
1979
box-folder 2 / 27
Practical Principles
1985
box-folder 2 / 28
How to be a Director of Religious Education
undated
Series 5
Books
1991-2002
Physical Description: 8 folders
Scope and Content Note
Books and autobiographies, published and in manuscript.
box-folder 2 / 29
The Art of Teaching Christianity
1991
box-folder 2 / 31-32
Glimpses – An Autobiography
1991
box-folder 2 / 33
A Theological Autobiography
1993
box-folder 2 / 34
You Okay, Chappy? Memories of Infantry Field Chaplain WWII and his Wife on the Home Front, Wayne and Anne Rood
2002