Category: Dean’s Commentary

I Think We’ve Forgotten to Play

I shared these sentiments elsewhere last year and have been thinking about it a lot more recently with the rapidly increasing illiteracy rates in the U.S. alongside the rising use of Generative Artificial Intelligence over and against more “analog” ways of creating ideas, research, and study. I am convinced that a significant hinderance to our […]

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Faithful Presence in Times of Transition: Teaching for Transformation

I am acutely aware that this is my last academic year serving on the VTS faculty and senior administration. There are moments that feels ordinary but increasingly the ordinary is becoming significant as I log a growing list of “lasts.” In response, I am determined to be faithfully present to my students and campus life, and that commitment only becomes more urgent with the hourly news of human […]

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Worship and Welcome in January 2026

Not too long ago, the January term was fairly uncomplicated. We offered a couple of week-long courses on campus as well as longer travel seminars. Recently, as a way to support doctoral students writing their thesis we added a Doctoral Writing Course during the first week. With the affiliation with GTS, we now also welcome […]

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Learning and Doing Justice

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. Justice is not only a principle, a value, or a virtue. Justice is a practice of building right relationship with neighbors and enemies. Next week a group of 16 students […]

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Dean’s Advisor for Partnerships

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. I was fourteen years old when I began a friendship with Phillips Brooks. As a new sophomore at his namesake school, I knew him as an Episcopal […]

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The Doctrine of Salvation

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. As we approach the spring semester, I am preparing to teach my new elective “The Doctrine of Salvation.” Christians have always believed that Jesus Christ saves but […]

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Changes to Bathrooms in Scott Lounge

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.  With the campus returning to its normal pace after the Christmas break, you might notice that the Gender Neutral bathroom in Scott Lounge has been reconverted to […]

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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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