It is a delight to have the Rev. Dr. Sarah Coakley in Alexandria. She can often be seen on the campus as she enjoys the library or visits a faculty colleague. So, I am excited to share the news that she is offering a very distinctive opportunity for the seminary community during Lent. For five […]
So, a Faculty member decides to join your table at lunch. After your initial sense of surprise, you have to find an opening for conversation. Please allow me to suggest a line: “Were you at AAR or SBL this year?” The AAR is the American Academy of Religion; the SBL is the Society for Biblical […]
Yesterday I had a delightful meeting with the new bishop suffragan for armed forces and federal ministries. Her journey has involved both the military (she served for 17 years in the Marine Corps) and in music (she was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music); and now she is a bishop in a vitally […]
Yesterday, I had two search committee meeting interviews for the Ethics professor; and on Thursday, there will be another one. Search committees are hard work. All searches are tricky: one is very aware that you are asking another human being to make your institution their vocation and to work within this particular community. One is […]
A key word at Virginia Theological Seminary is residential. By residential, we do not just mean “in person” classes; we mean a shared life as a community; we mean “class, chapel, lunch” – we study together, we worship together, and we take table fellowship together. This phrase is a key part of “formation” – we […]
Normally, there is a commentary for every weekday when the Seminary is open. However, this week we are migrating part of the website; so I am writing a commentary for the week. This is the week of gratitude. Gratitude is a fundamental Christian disposition. Christians look at the world through the lens of gratitude: every […]
As you know, we are introducing some new safety protocols from Monday across the campus. Following the vast majority of educational institutions (and of course our neighbor Episcopal High School), access to all the buildings (save for the Refectory and the Welcome Center) is with a swipe card. Naturally, many questions are being asked. These […]
Today is a day when the campus has several significant guests. We have the editors of Voices Found – Marilyn L. Haskel and Lisa Neufeld Thomas; we have the president of the Women’s Sacred Music Project – Lyn Loewi; and we have Michael McMahon, the Executive Director of the Hymn Society in the United States and […]
As you start thinking about the gift giving season of Christmas, please allow me to suggest one gift for every golfer or ‘wannabe golfer’ in your life. Our alum, the Rev. Dr. Russ Levenson, has written an extraordinary meditation that draws parallels between faithful discipleship and the game of golf. “In God’s grip: What Golf […]
Today we continue an important series of events: Scriptural Reasoning. This evening at 6:30 pm, faithful Christians, Muslims, and Jews will gather here in the Lettie Pate Evans Room and on Zoom to study each other’s sacred texts. You are invited to be among them. You may sign up here, but you are also welcome […]