Culture Creating

What Is Work For? AI, Human Dignity, and the Audacity of Shalom

What Is Work For? AI, Human Dignity, & the Audacity of Shalom Pope Leo XIV, the future of labor, and why the real question is not how much more we can produce, but what kind of world our work is

Dwight J. Friesen October 15, 2026October 15, 2026

What is a Human Being for? Engaging Pope Leo’s AI Encyclical

What Is a Human Being For? AI, Work, and the Future of Flourishing A conversation with Pope Leo XIV, New College Berkeley, and the question of what we dare to become Tonight (Wednesday, October 14), I have the privilege of

Dwight J. Friesen October 14, 2026October 14, 2026

A Drought in Posting, a Season of Re-membering

If you’ve noticed a drought in my posting, there’s a reason. I’ve been spending much of my discretionary writing energy listening to the past, attending to the present, and wondering about the future of a community that has profoundly shaped

Dwight J. Friesen October 8, 2026October 14, 2026

Flourishing Requires More Than One Kind of Courage

I have been learning so much about Dolly Parton since her death. The more I have learned, the more taken I have become by a life invested in something I can only describe as a beautifully holistic vision of flourishing—the

Dwight J. Friesen September 6, 2026September 6, 2026

Better Together

Today we began another academic year at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. Not with syllabi. Not with enrollment numbers. Not with strategic plans or learning outcomes. We began by gathering. Each year, before our new and returning students

Dwight J. Friesen September 2, 2026September 3, 2026

Honoring Wendell Berry

Yesterday, Wendell Berry died. He was 92 years old, at home in Port Royal, Kentucky—the place to which he had given so much of his life, attention, labor, and love. There seems something fitting about that. Wendell Berry spent a

Dwight J. Friesen September 1, 2026September 1, 2026

“Topsy-Turvy” . A Poem

Topsy-Turvy by Dwight J. Friesen Something has gone topsy-turvy.We have put our shoes on our hands,our hats on our feet,and somehow are surprisedthat walking has become difficult.We have begun loving things that cannot love us back—flags, borders, institutions,the carefully guarded

Dwight J. Friesen August 13, 2026August 15, 2026

Beyond the Ruins . Building Communities Without Rebuilding the Walls

Beyond the Ruins: Building Communities Without Rebuilding the Walls Why the future of faith requires more than reconstruction—it requires practices of re-membering One of the unexpected gifts of publishing my recent long-form essay, “After Deconstruction,” has been the conversations it

Dwight J. Friesen August 12, 2026August 12, 2026

Thirty Years in Seattle

Thirty Years in Seattle On immigration, belonging, faithful presence, & the slow education of beauty. In the first days of August, thirty years will have passed since Lynette and I loaded everything we owned into a moving truck, hitched our

Dwight J. Friesen August 3, 2026August 3, 2026

Beyond the Blue Angels

Every August, something remarkable happens over Seattle. The shores of Lake Washington fill with families. Boats gather in anticipation. Conversations pause. Children cover their ears while simultaneously looking skyward. Then, with a deafening roar, six blue-and-gold fighter jets streak overhead,

Dwight J. Friesen August 1, 2026August 1, 2026

After Deconstruction: Re-membering an Ecology of Shalom

After Deconstruction: Re-membering an Ecology of Shalom Introduction… “I think I’m Deconstructing” She knew the stories before she learned to read. Noah’s ark hung above her crib. Bible verses adorned the hallway. Sundays meant polished shoes, potlucks after church, and

Dwight J. Friesen July 30, 2026August 1, 2026

Review of Dr. Woodley’s New Book

The churches of North America stand at a theological crossroads. Whether they possess the courage to choose a different path may depend, in part, on whether they are willing to receive books like Randy Woodley’s How Western Christianity Got It

Dwight J. Friesen July 21, 2026July 21, 2026

“Raising Little Dwights”

Raising Dwights by Dwight J. Friesen When fear comes,it is rarely alone.A little boy arrivesalready scanning the roomfor danger.A teenager pulls out his résumé,certain he can earn our belongingif given enough work.Another reaches for humor.Another for theology.Another quietly packs a

Dwight J. Friesen July 18, 2026July 18, 2026

“Grandma Loeppky”

Grandma Loeppky by Dwight J. Friesen There are still momentswhen I measure loveby the way your face openedbefore a single word was spoken.As though delightcould arrive ahead of me,already setting another placeat the table.You welcomed methe way morning welcomes windows—not

Dwight J. Friesen July 17, 2026July 17, 2026

Toward a Shalomic Imagination in the Age of AI

Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas represents one of the most significant contributions to Christian social thought since Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti. More than an encyclical about artificial intelligence, it is an exercise in theological discernment that asks a more

Dwight J. Friesen July 16, 2026July 16, 2026

A Mary Oliver Kind of Day

Some days seem to know exactly what they are. Friday was one of those days. My partner and I went to see the new Mary Oliver documentary at SIFF near Seattle Center. Before the film, we stopped by KEXP, where

Dwight J. Friesen July 11, 2026July 12, 2026

Seattle… So Proud of Us

As the final FIFA World Cup crowds begin to drift home, I find myself feeling unexpectedly grateful. Not because Seattle was perfect. It wasn’t… we weren’t. Not because we solved homelessness, transportation, affordability, or the thousand complexities that come with

Dwight J. Friesen July 6, 2026July 7, 2026

Soul of the City

One of the most compelling descriptions of Christian identity outside the New Testament comes from an anonymous second-century letter known as The Epistle to Diognetus. Written sometime in the second century, the letter seeks to answer a simple question: Who

Dwight J. Friesen June 22, 2026June 27, 2026

The Courage to Welcome

Today is World Refugee Day. A day set aside to remember more than 120 million people around the globe who have been displaced by war, violence, persecution, climate disruption, and political instability. Yet if we are not careful, the scale

Dwight J. Friesen June 20, 2026June 27, 2026

“Breathwork”

Breathwork by Dwight J. Friesen Before you learned the names of things,before you called anything sacredor ordinary,you were breathing.The first sermonwas not spoken,it entered your lungs.Each inhale:receiving what you did not create.Each exhale:returning what was never yours to keep.The trees

Dwight J. Friesen June 17, 2026June 17, 2026

Gathering with West Coast Anabaptists

Next week, I’ll have the privilege of joining the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference Annual Meeting. As someone formed by the Mennonite tradition—while also finding a home among Lutherans, Episcopalians, emergents, evangelicals, urban practitioners, and ecumenical communities—these gatherings always feel a

Dwight J. Friesen June 16, 2026June 17, 2026

Ecological Vision of Human Flourishing

Seeing the Forest, Not Just the Tree Many of us were taught to think about human development as something that happens inside an individual. When a child struggles in school, we ask what is wrong with the child. When a

Dwight J. Friesen June 15, 2026June 15, 2026

WUF13 . Faith Pavilion Call to Action

As conversations from the 13th Session of the World Urban Forum continue to ripple outward, we are witnessing a growing global recognition that housing is far more than infrastructure or economics. Housing is about dignity, belonging, safety, community, resilience, and

Dwight J. Friesen May 26, 2026June 3, 2026

Thank You Baku & WUF13

The 13th Session of the World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan felt like one of those moments when new possibilities were opening up. Over the course of WUF13, more than 53,000 participants from 176 countries gathered under the theme “Housing

Dwight J. Friesen May 23, 2026May 23, 2026

Free Download from Faith for Cities

Participants gathering at World Urban Forum 13 know that the future of our cities will require more than policy, infrastructure, and technology alone. Sustainable urban futures also require meaning, moral imagination, community trust, and shared purpose. This is where faith

Dwight J. Friesen May 7, 2026May 8, 2026

Thanks . Chicago, Little Village, & Lovers of Place

This year’s Inhabit Conference 2026, hosted by Lawndale Christian Community Church on Chicago’s West Side, felt less like a conference and more like a homecoming—an embodied reminder of what it means to live, love, and witness in the Way of

Dwight J. Friesen May 4, 2026May 7, 2026

The Jesus Way Confession

A Confession for Such a Time as This We are living in a moment of rupture. Across our neighborhoods and nations, the fractures are visible—political, racial, ecological, ecclesial. Many who bear the name “Christian” are increasingly entangled with power, exclusion,

Dwight J. Friesen April 27, 2026May 4, 2026

Multifaith Pavilion @ WUF13

What does your faith tradition have to say about housing, homelessness, and the future of our cities? More than you might think — and there is now a global stage to say it. This May, I’ll be heading to Baku,

Dwight J. Friesen April 10, 2026April 10, 2026

Remembering Dr. John Perkins

“The gospel of Jesus is about reconciliation—reconciliation with God and reconciliation with one another.”— John M. Perkins I am grieving the death of Dr. John Perkins. Dr. Perkins died on March 13, 2026, at the age of 95. My heart

Dwight J. Friesen March 14, 2026March 14, 2026

Grenz Lecture 2026 . Dr. Gary F. Green II

The Seattle School is hosting its 13th annual Grenz Lecture, on Friday, January 9th at 6:00PM, 2026. This year’s lecturer is Rev. Dr. Gary F. Green II. Rev. Dr. Green is the associate professor of Pastoral Theology and Social Transformation and

Dwight J. Friesen January 7, 2026January 7, 2026