Rick Axtell has marked the milestones of the Centre College community

These articles first appear in the Spring 2024 edition of Centrepiece. 

真正衡量我们生活的不是我们身边的时钟或日历，而是那些在我们记忆中作为路标的里程碑.

从洞穴壁画到口述家族史，再到Instagram视频，这在整个人类生活中都是正确的.

12月你在哪里. 1989年7月3日晚7点55分.m.?

谁还记得? 但是，当你和你最亲密的朋友分享美味的甜点时，今年的第一场雪开始飘落——那一刻就像家庭电影一样在你的记忆中挥之不去.

Culturally, we mark many of the events that stand out from all others. 我们庆祝成就、婚礼和转变. 我们哀悼失去和离开.

在电影和书籍中, we like to imagine someone will be with us in these moments, 标注意义. 文学中充满了这些存在:命运, 合唱, 观察人士, sentinels and guardian angels  – or those very human mediators of comfort or grace, perhaps even shapers of meaning in the ritual pauses of our lives.

在过去的三十年里, the Centre college community has had one of its own filling that role — Rick Axtell, 谁将在五月退休.

— — —

芝加哥人芝加哥地区的本地人, 阿克塞尔最初于1992年至1993年在bwin体育任教，1995年回到学院任教至今. 当H. W. 小Stodghill. 阿黛尔·H. 斯托吉尔宗教教授和大学牧师, 他于2003年和2008年被评为bwin体育bwin体育, and received the Kirk Award for excellence in teaching in 2000 and 2015. In 2012, he was included in The Princeton Review’s The Best 300 Professors, and he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in 2022.

在加入Centre之前，Axtell获得了博士学位.他获得了美南浸信会神学院的博士学位，并在圣母大学完成了深造.

阿克塞尔的职业生涯一直以他对贫困和无家可归的理解和斗争而闻名, as well as to advocate for a society that prioritizes human needs and human 正确的s.  他毕生的事业受到了启发, 在某种程度上, 1976年夏天在孟加拉国打工, 而就在5年前，该国刚刚经历了20世纪最严重的饥荒之一.

What he saw there left an enduring mark on his approach to education, 部, 宗教和我们对待彼此的方式.  他后来在路易斯维尔的两个无家可归者收容所担任住宿助理和案件经理, and numerous “delegations” to sites of conflict in Central America, further shaped his passion for the study of social ethics in the context of religion.  人们如何利用宗教作为达到各种目的的手段, 不管是好是坏, 成为他关注的焦点

“宗教可以成为一种非常有害的现象，它切断了相互理解和人类繁荣的可能性, 宗教有时是积极的社会变革和解放运动的深层基础,他说. “I found that as stimulating, and as fascinating as any study I could get into.

“And so it became kind of a passion to study religious ethics, 宗教是如何成为冲突之源的——我们现在看到的是可怕的冲突——但同时也是缔造和平的源泉.“贫困与无家可归或宗教与暴力等受欢迎的bwin体育课程是向学生介绍同样问题的机会.

阿克塞尔对bwin体育社区的服务已经超越了他的宗教课程，甚至超越了他作为牧师的工作. 无数次出国留学之旅的常客, Axtell通过向学生介绍可能引发对社会正义概念的类似反思的现实而充满活力.  同时, 他认真对待自己的使命，帮助学生和同事度过人生中最重要的时刻, from learning about new cultures to embarking on a marriage or facing the death of a loved one.

阿克塞尔的话在追悼会上给人们带来了安慰, 在无数的大学活动中得到鼓励, including campus vigils during times of national or global crisis, 还有十几个学士学位的地址. But it’s his work uniting members of the Centre 社区 in marriage that stands out, 名单上有100多个名字.

但其中大多数远不止是有bwin体育的名字.Edu邮箱地址. 他们是学生、同事和朋友. 那些阿克塞尔指导过和一起旅行过的人... 一起欢笑，一起哭泣，一起安慰，一起庆祝.

他的服务符合这种深刻的联系，因为他将他们生活故事的细节编织到服务中.

“我在里面投入了很多，”他说. “我喜欢这样。. 我重视关系纽带和过程本身, 这些人是我珍惜的一生的朋友.”

Axtell also pours himself into the task when asked to perform memorial services, a somber task he has taken on more than a dozen times during his 30 years. It’s another form of serving and helping the community — not only offering words of comfort, but actually providing help in what is one of life’s hardest moments.

“That is a pivotal juncture where you can be present when someone needs presence. 或者你可以成为他们需要的人，当他们的一切都是混乱的，生活已经崩溃了,他说. “It means a lot to be able to be in those moments with them.”

那些服务的时刻——那些在我们生命的时间轴上突出的标记——在那里你会找到里克·阿克塞尔. From helping students learn who they are and who they will become, 为了团结同事和亲人.

“我总是说，移情的根源是当你接触到自己的情感——你自己的想法, 你自己的恐惧, 你自己的痛苦,他说. “你意识到这些是我们所有人的共同之处，因为你在自己身上知道它们.”

—————————

里程碑式的人

约翰·金凯德著 
英语教授

读者，他为我们主持了婚礼.

I mean specifically that Rick Axtell officiated my wedding to 妮基, 2007年6月, 在我们丹维尔家的后院. 但是第一句中的“我们”是一个大的“我们”. 中央书院.

To have Rick officiate your wedding is a bit like joining a subfamily in the Centre mafia, 社区中的社区. And what number of Centre alumni, faculty and staff have been present for these weddings?

里克在那里让这么多工会正式成立，这是很合适的:他明白联系的力量, 的社区, 工会的, 他最伟大的精神天赋之一就是他能把别人带进把我们联系在一起的共享空间. Who has done more work to make Centre a real community than Rick Axtell?

如果你对维多利亚时代小说的记忆不太好, 我的第一句台词改编自夏洛蒂·勃朗特的《bwin体育》,” where she announces her marriage at the beginning of the last chapter. 婚礼s are endpoints in novels, but in life they are better understood as beginnings.

我数不清有多少学生曾坐在我的办公室里，谈论过里克·阿克塞尔对他们来说是一位多么神奇、多么具有变革意义的老师. 妮基 and I, and all of those for whom Rick has officiated, have been transformed by him. He has set us on a path as surely as he has set his students on a path, 引领我们进入新生活.

One of the things that great novels do is remind us of the power of language: it’s magical. 它使事情发生. When you say “I do,” you change your existence in the world. So in that sense, my wife 妮基 and I got to be part of the language-as-magic process. 但我们婚礼上真正的魔术师是里克·阿克塞尔.

我认识的人中没人比里克·阿克塞尔说得更神奇了. 当我在2007年让里克担任我婚礼的司仪时(当时的流行价格是:100美元加一瓶黑朗姆酒), 我知道他是一个多么神奇的演说家. 或者以为我知道. 当他在你面前的时候, 送你踏上人生中最重要的旅程, you’re not really prepared for the spell that Rick can weave.

当然, 我必须承认:我只记得他说的部分内容，因为在你结婚的那天，你也会考虑是否有足够的食物, 会不会下雨, 如果每个人都舒服.  

我知道我们的仪式是围绕着《bwin体育》展开的，因为我让里克把它作为最主要的自负. 《bwin体育》是一代bwin体育学生来到丹维尔后读的第一本书, 虽然我的妻子不是bwin体育毕业生(而且一开始, a little concerned about how into being Centre grads we all are), 瑞克根据这个想法设计了一个仪式, 它让我们的生活变得有意义, 还有我们的爱, 以一种开始违背我自己语言的方式.

这是一首关于归乡的诗, 当然, 也是一个关于永恒爱情的故事, 一对夫妇, 还有孩子和父母. (最后一点对我们来说尤其重要:从结婚那天起，我们就是一个四口之家.)

I’ve known officiants who are all business — get the legalities taken care of and be done. The moment will matter no matter what: Rick has the power to make it matter more, 充分打开情感共鸣.

I’ve been at Centre long enough that I’ve been to several 葬礼s where Rick officiated, and you may wonder: have I had the thought that though I have no interest in dying, it would at least be some consolation to have Rick deliver my eulogy?

读者，我有.

2007年秋天, 汤姆·麦昆的葬礼在威西格剧院举行, and the stage had already been set up for the student production; it was too late to take it down, 仪式必须在演员出入口的门之间进行. 瑞克走上舞台, 不用剧本的, 打开所有的门, 这是汤姆一生中所作所为的隐喻. 我不太了解汤姆, 但当我还是个学生的时候, 他是国际项目主任, 他为我打开了那扇门, 这是我人生中最深刻的变化之一.

婚礼, 葬礼, baccalaureate sermon just before commencement: Rick Axtell has helped us make sense of the biggest moments in our lives; he has shepherded us into new understandings of who we have been, 并, 可以变成.