Synod luncheon honors ‘trailblazing leadership’ of BBZ

Brenda James, a member of the UCC Historical Council, recalls the first time she encountered the Rev. Barbara Brown Zikmund.

“At my very first national meeting, I saw this tall, striking lady that would strut around the room and demand attention. When she walks in a room, everybody knows BBZ is in the room. I thought, oh my gosh, this is a powerful person,” James reflected at the July 12 General Synod luncheon honoring Zikmund.

Brown described the importance of Zikmund’s influence toward the publishing of the book The Afro-Christian Convention and recognizing this fifth stream of the UCC, in addition to being an influential role model for Brown personally.

Stories and gratitude like this poured out from many gathered at the luncheon for Zikmund – who is widely known throughout the denomination as BBZ. Several reflected on the impacts of either having studied or taught BBZ’s writings in seminary and polity classes.

To begin the time of honoring BBZ’s accomplishments, UCC General Minister and President/CEO Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson described BBZ’s “trailblazing leadership” in the UCC, remarking, “I’m so keenly aware that I could not be here if it were not for the disappointments that you experienced.”

Prior to Thompson’s election as the first woman GMP just two years ago, only two women – the Rev. Yvonne Delk and BBZ – had been previously nominated for the UCC leadership position, but neither was ultimately elected.

Ordained in the UCC in 1964, Zikmund was the first woman to teach at Chicago Theological Seminary, the first woman to serve as dean of the faculty at The Pacific School of Religion, the first woman to be elected president of the Association of Theological Schools, and the first woman to become president of Hartford Theological Seminary. Her editorial work on UCC history is well known through such titles as Hidden Histories in the United Church of Christ (Volumes 1 and 2) and the seven-volume Living Theological Heritage of the United Church of Christ.

‘Embracing Our Roots’

The Synod luncheon was co-hosted by the UCC Historical Council and The Pilgrim Press to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Hidden Histories of the United Church of Christ: Volume 1, edited by Zikmund.

The event also heralded the release of Embracing Our Roots, a newly curated selection of BBZ’s writings. Edited by Rachael Hackenberg, publisher for Pilgrim Press, the book originated as a request from the UCC Historical Council to collect BBZ’s works. Since her writings fill 120 boxes in several archives, Hackenberg curated Embracing Our Roots as a focused collection of BBZ’s fundamental writings. The result is a slim volume just over 100 pages long.

“In reading, culling through, and being enraptured by the writing of Barbara Brown Zikmund over the years, I have been impressed by the impact on the UCC’s self-image that BBZ has had. With love, with honesty, she has reflected back to us our best and our worst and always pushed for the clarification of who and why the UCC is,” Hackenberg said.

‘Passing the torch’

Zikmund, now nearing her 90s, reflected at the gathering how a great deal of her career “was to make words and opportunities for women, and to make the church see in new ways.”

“I don’t have the power to do the stuff I once did, but you do,” she said. “You’re sitting in settings where things are changing all the time in the churches. They need to be helped, guided, pushed.”

The Rev. K. Ray Hill emphasized a call for others to continue passing BBZ’s light forward. Hill is slated to become the next chair of the Historical Council as the Rev. Nancy Nollau Mack ends her term as chair following Synod.

“The most important thing I hope we take away from this Historical Council gathering is the light,” he said. “It doesn’t go out; it just gets passed on. And that is what BBZ is doing for us in this moment as she passes the torch to a new generation.”

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