Last week The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology hosted the 8th annual Stanley Grenz Lecture series. The lecture was scheduled for November 2, 2020 . . . yes, that’s right! On the eve of 2020 Presidential election. Dr. Brian
Immediately following the release of The New Parish, Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, myself, and a number of artists who joined us for legs of the tour hit the road. Our travels – which were a purposeful blending of on the
Pope Francis released his sixth his encyclical letter today after visiting the Umbrian town of Assisi. In fact, he officially signed the letter at the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi after celebrating Mass at the tomb of the poverello
The ongoing collaboration between the Parliament of World Religions together with the UN-Environment Programme, has set forth a “Faith for Earth: A Call for Action.” This beautifully compiled document describes the essential, unshakeable reverence that all religions have for creation
Today my school posted a short blog post I wrote as part of a summer long conversation amongst our core faculty regarding race, systemic and personal black-body racism, and white privilege. The post can be found Here. I titled the
Vale University philosopher and theologian, Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff in conversation at Biola’s Center for Christian Thought offers a very helpful critique a shallow evangelical interpretation of the Gospel as only “getting to heaven,” and discusses the implications of the Gospel
This week I’m finishing up assessing end of term papers in which my students articulate their theological anthropology through the question ” What is a human being fully alive?” Which as you may hear is drawing from Irenaeus’ famous quotes, “the
I find the metaphor of a gardener to be a fertile one in helping me feel and think my way into my work as a formational educator. Rather than tending to fruits, vegetables, and flowers, I picture my formational role
I’m actively facilitating the online course “Toward a Spirituality of Contextual Listening Amidst COVID19” that I’m teaching through The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. Part of loving our neighbors is anticipating the changes that may affect them tomorrow. While we
“What Love Tells Us About God Love, which might be called the attraction of all things toward all things, is a universal language and underlying energy that keeps showing itself despite our best efforts to resist it. It is so
Christ is risen! _ _! “Death and taxes,” well… after the resurrection of Christ, I suppose taxes are the only inevitable thing remaining. Death doesn’t win! The grave isn’t the last word. Thanks be to God! It’s often said because
If I can speak candidly for a moment, I’ve never understood why we call Good Friday “good.” Don’t get me wrong, I understand the historical and theological rationales, and yet… I hate Good Friday, and I see nothing about it
Dr. Chelle Stearns was the 2019 Stanley Grenz Lecture Series presenter. It’s a lecture offered in honor of former Professor Stanley Grenz, a prolific Christian scholar with a pastoral heart and deep intellectual presence. In his memory, each year The
Dr. Esther Lightcap Meek delivered The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology’s 2018 Stanley Grenz Lecture. This annual event happens the first Monday of November. Although I have never been a matriculated student of Dr. Meek, she has nonetheless been
Just finished up a wonderful few days as the keynote speaker at the annual Canadian Baptists of Ontario & Quebec “Reignite” leadership conference. All the Bapist leaders and their partners are invited to pause their regular day-to-day work, and gather
“The gospel of Jesus is not a rational concept to be explained in a theory of salvation, but a story about God’s presence in Jesus’ solidarity with the oppressed, which led to his death on the cross. What is redemptive
On November 6, The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology hosted its 5th annual Stanley Grenz Lecture Series. This year, we were grateful to have as our featured speaker, Reverend Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, a professor, pastor and dynamic author whose
During a recent prospective student “Preview Event” Dr. Angela Parker delivered a lecture titled “Reading Texts, Reading Cultures.” I was thrilled to discover that someone at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology recorded it. I wanted to share it
A few months ago – September 25, 2015 to be exact – the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” I can only imagine the
Dr. Shelly Rambo recently served as The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology’s 3rd Stanley Grenz Lecturer. Dr. Shelly Rambo, a constructive theologian and author of Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining. She focused on “Resurrection Wounds.” Dr. Rambo
Convergence and ATS have collaborated to bring together some of the more innovative theological educators, seminaries administrators, and directors of leadership training programs for a national summit for Reimagining Theological Education. October 9 & 11, 2015. The Seattle School was
I just got back from team teaching an immersive learning course at McMaster Divinity College. The course was “Leadership in the New Parish” and I got to team teach it with my brother, Dallas Friesen. So grateful for the team
I read and reread everything that Dr. Randy S. Woodley (Keetoowah Cherokee) writes and try to sit at his feet every chance I get. I sense he may be a prophet of our time and place. Maybe especially to Whiteness
Tonight I get to participate in a conversation annual gathering of The Society of Christian Ethics (SCE). Tonight’s conversation will bring together the “Liturgy & Ethics Interest Group” and the “Technology & Ethics Interest Group.” Both liturgy and technology are formative
Recently I had the opportunity to be a part of an international gathering of Emergent minded followers of Christ from Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, New
What a privilege to be one of the keynote speakers for this year’s PLU’s annual Summer Institute on Pastoral Theology. Granted Dr. Nate Frambach, who is the Associate Professor of Youth & Culture at Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa was scheduled
I’m excited to inform you that as of the beginning of last week we officially changed the name of our school – Mars Hill Graduate School is now The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. The staff has been hard
Last month Kathryn Schulz delivered an outstanding TED talk on the idea of “Being Wrong.” Early in her talk she askes her audience what it feels like to be wrong. The audience responds with. “awful”, thumbs-down, embarrassing, etc. To which
