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.
Berkeley, CA 94709
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

See Remembering Theological Education in the Sixties  for Wayne Rood's oral history on the beginnings of GTU and his experiences teaching.

 

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 / 4

Job – Four lectures 1959

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 / 10

Words and the Word 1966

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 / 18

I John – A Lecture 1980

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 / 22

Hearing the Voice 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 / 26

Festival of Faith 1957

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 / 30

Paths to a Mountain 1973

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 / 33

Star Eternal 1972, 1984

box-folder 1 / 34

The Unique Luke 1985

box-folder 1 / 35

Jonah on Stage 1986

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 / 8

Sermons 1946-1987

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 / 16

Prayers 1983-1985

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 / 23

Wings and Things 1970

box-folder 2 / 24

Christian Education – Articles and Reviews 1970-1983

box-folder 2 / 25

Management Principles 1979

box-folder 2 / 26

On Comedy 1985

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 / 30

Building the Bridge 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

box-folder 2 / 35-36

Chained by Grace undated