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A smooth landing: Union Presbyterian Seminary student remembers Katie Geneva Cannon

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  Guest commentary by Linda Kurtz I’m sure I don’t have all the right words to pay tribute to the life of a woman so innovative that she shepherded a whole new field of theology; so determined that she was the first woman to graduate with a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary and the first black woman ordained in the United Presbyterian Church, among other firsts; so loved that the Watts Chapel of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, was full to bursting as we remembered her today. I was often rendered speechless in front of Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, particularly when I sat in her class as a student at Union Presbyterian Seminary. She was always by far the smartest person in the room and her life held a treasure trove of learnings she graciously shared with her students over the decades. I always wanted to know more of what she had to say. Now, facing Dr. Cannon's death, I find myself similarly speechless. How can I even begin to articulate … [Read more...]

Pastoral leadership — September 17, 2018

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As culture changes quickly and extensively, theological education and ministry also takes new shapes. Some of these changes are born of necessity, some emerge through trial-and-error and others after implemented after intentional exploration and study. This issue of the Outlook considers the role of bivocational ministry, shares one seminarian's educational experience and offers insights for innovation in theological education. Click here to read the issue in the Uberflip reader. Theological education for a new age Dustin Benac suggests three axes that may nurture a form of theological education that is able to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the current context. Weird and wonderful seminary Seminary can be a testament to the power of lived experience that shapes how students sense God at work through them and in the world. Bivocational exhaustion blessings How does someone fit pastoring, parenting and professional life into a unified calling? Post-Christian … [Read more...]

Tagged With: leadership • theological education

Harbors and horizons

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Guest commentary by Edward J. Thompson A good few yesterdays ago I grew up amidst fathomless harbors and fantastic castles. Today I live amidst wide horizons and waves of wheat.  I will soon mark 25 years with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since my move from The Church of Scotland in 1995. I think of my faith journey and life pilgrimage as one shaped by harbors and horizons. Harbors, if they are doing their job, offer shelter and prepare you for a journey that will take you to those wide majestic horizons. Horizons, if they are doing their job, extend an invitation. They beckon you to venture out and crossover to a new place.  Jesus’ call –“Follow me” – is a call with no end date; it is as fresh as the morning sun and as comforting as the setting sun. It’s a call from harbor to horizon. My journey “across the pond” has been completed by so many before me. Although life altering, my journey could be likened more to a Sunday afternoon walk when compared with those who risked … [Read more...]

Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America

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Catherine Kerrison Ballantine Books, 448 pages Reviewed by Melissa Kirkpatrick The years of the Revolution and the Early Republic, full of tumult and contradictions as they are, provide the setting for another story — one of extended and interwoven families, a society in the midst of change and three sisters. Read this book, get a refresher course in the public events of the period and let your mind experience the sights, sounds and even smells of the streets of Paris and Washington, as well as Virginia. Learn of the difficulties and ironies of life as the daughters of one of the most prominent of the country’s founders. Jefferson was a brilliant man, but his vision, limited by his times, did not extend to the gifts and potential of women or people of color. Educated in Virginia and in Paris in the style of the elite, his daughters from his marriage to Martha Wayles were bright and capable. This was a period that saw the publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of … [Read more...]

Finding an alternative to “incarnational ministry”

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Guest commentary by Merwyn S. Johnson I seek to navigate through the rocky shoals of being Presbyterian and Christian today. By all accounts, we are engulfed in an epochal paradigm shift from one era of church-and-culture to another. Our challenge is to go from the old era to the new one without foundering. That will take an authentically new message of grace and truth, centered in Jesus Christ. The widespread language of “incarnational ministry,” however, confines us to the old paradigm. I started thinking more deeply about this after reading a review of Samuel Wells’ book “Incarnational Ministry: Being with the Church” in the Outlook. For the record, I am not criticizing the book’s author or the book itself, which I affirm contains helpful tips for ministry. The title illustrates how important the catchphrase “incarnational ministry” has become in church literature, like “embodying forgiveness” before it (see L. Gregory Jones’ 1995 book). In my experience with D.Min. programs … [Read more...]

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