Category: Dean’s Commentary

The Politics of Mercy

For the month of January the Dean’s commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about. My “Happy New Year” feels off. Instead, I’ve been saying “Mercy, mercy me.” When Marvin Gaye sang those words, it was more than a lyric. It became a lament shaped by love and moral urgency; naming grief, disorientation, and a quiet insistence that something more […]

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The Preaching Congregations Initiative

This month the Dean’s commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about. One of many grants from the Lilly Endowment that VTS sponsors supports the Preaching Congregation Initiative (PCi), which is a program of renewal and formation for preachers and congregations. PCi […]

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Doctoral Thesis Week

For the month of January, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.  This week we are delighted to welcome VTS and GTS students to campus for our Doctoral Thesis Week. Every Project Thesis is a process of dedication, resilience, […]

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Ethics for Everyone: Teaching, Community, and Prophetic Imagination

For the month of January, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.  One of my aims in teaching ethics at Virginia Theological Seminary is to convince students that the study and practice of morality are not the domain of […]

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Welcome Doctoral and GTS Students

For the next two months, the Dean’s commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about..  I’m so very happy to welcome doctoral students to campus to participate in the thesis writing week, along with most of the current GTS students who will […]

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A True Gift at Christmas

For the next two months, the Dean’s commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.  Is it possible to give a gift? So much of our preparation for Christmas involves acquiring and preparing gifts for those we love. The more pragmatic of […]

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Gratitude for Staff Support

For the next two months, the Dean’s commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.  Over the past month, readers of the Dean’s Commentary have gotten a better sense of what the faculty of VTS and GTS do. You’ve read about their […]

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Celebrating Recent Faculty books

For the next two months, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.  Perhaps I’m not the only one who picks up a new book and first peruses the acknowledgments. Most chapter ones begin with words well considered and polished, […]

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The Power of Labels — “Morisco” and the Logic of Exclusion

For the next two months, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about. In January 2026 at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, I will be giving a paper titled “The Nominalization of ‘Morisco’: Discursive Othering and the […]

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VTS Publishes Kathryn Tanner’s 2022 Costan Lectures

For the next two months, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.  I am delighted to announce that VTS Press has recently published Experiments in Early Christian Theology, the 2022 Costan Lectures given by Kathryn Tanner, the Frederick Marquand […]

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