Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon’s Legacy: A Griot Teaching Griots

…who experienced her griot womanist characteristics and identity: PhD knowledge and wisdom; storytelling and community gatekeeper; ethics and womanist teachings. Dr. Katie Cannon taught all of us how to embrace our true selves, how to live as a womanist griot in a diverse and multicultural community, and how to use real and relevant social ethics, intracultural and intergenerational encounters and…

President Blount statement on passing of Professor Emeritus Glenn Bannerman

…Recreation Workshop classes in the basement of the Early Center. They were crafting. Making extraordinary recreational tools and toys from innocuous household items like pantyhose. He invited me to sit and listen. And he and his students opened up a wonderful world of engagement, of using scripture, theological perspective, familiar and not so familiar games, common and not so common…

Social Justice Orientation Leads to Missions

…(or Hell’s Bottom) Mission and its impact: For almost a mile, the C. & O. Railroad Yards run parallel to a little creek that the city has converted into an open sewer. In the ravine carved out by this stream lie huddled the buildings that serve as homes for seven hundred Negro families. The air of the place is tainted…

Hannah Fialor-Agbanyo: Finding God In and Beyond Life

…calling, they concluded that I should be trained as a minister. Catechist Senya Kwasi mentored me as I prepared to enroll at Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana, in 2007. At the seminary, I learned about Christian stewardship, Pastoral Conduct, Christian faithfulness, the practice of prayer, communion with the Holy Spirit, and the art of preaching. My coming to UPSem…

Black Religious Education and Public Ministry

…callings as Christians, and our vocations in Christian higher education. As we at Kuyper College wrestle with the complexities and difficulties related to broader, systemic, structural, and institutional forms of racism, we need to listen to the voices of those in black communities who have gone unheard for far too long. Our work this summer is just a beginning to…

Katie Geneva Cannon Scholarship Fund merit scholarship available

…begin at 100% of tuition and include an additional grant for the duration of the student’s academic program at Union. Merit award students are expected to maintain a cumulative 3.0 grade-point average or above throughout the duration of the program. Submit an application form available from our financial aid office. The deadlines are July 1 for the Charlotte campus and…

Virginia Bethune: Evangelist for the harp

…the harp is the most ‘accessible’ instrument that exists.” She is an evangelist for the harp and its healing qualities. “For someone with arrhythmia, an irregular heart rate, we tap into a pendulum effect where two bodies come into synchronicity, to maintain the same rhythm,” she said. “We choose the rhythm of our music to maximize the healing effect for…

Noted Scholar Dr. Leela Prasad Addresses “Religion That Underlies All Religions” on March 15

…practical religious concerns. The event is free and open to the public. To register, visit https://bit.ly/315Dawe23 by noon on March 15. The lecture will also be livestreamed on the Seminary’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/UPSem To hear a podcast interview with Dr. Prasad and the Director of the Leadership Institute, Chris Burton, visit https://open.spotify.com/episode/67MyOLYaynrBUL6oYcOI1S?si=e3fbe55cba664f97 For or additional information, contact Chris Burton,…

Alt-right rally: Spiritual warfare

Members of the Union community who joined demonstrators protesting the August 12, 2017, white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, reflect on what they saw, heard, and learned amid the violent clashes. Alumna Allison Unroe (pictured front row, second from right) is Pastor of Fairlawn Presbyterian Church in Fairlawn, Virginia. Photo credit: Michael Cheuk By Rev. Allison Unroe (M.Div.’11) Here is…

Started UPSem 2019: Ryan Atkinson

…MACE) The following is part of a series of 20 profiles that represent each year that Charlotte has been enrolling students. Pursuing MDiv and MACE Ruling Elder Statesville Avenue Presbyterian Church Charlotte, North Carolina Born in Shelby, North Carolina, and now living in Charlotte, Ryan Atkinson moved to Greensboro after high school to attend Guilford Technical Community College, studying aviation…

Griots’ Dialogical Roots of Faith

…dialogue and learning environments opened to honest dialogue. All generations, regardless of age, are struggling to ‘make meaning’ of what is and what can be, in a rapidly changing technological culture. Each individual in every generation must answer these questions: What do I really believe about God? What is faith? Is faith innate or really organic? How does my understanding…

History: Whose Story? Black Lives Matter! by Rev. William R. Freeman (M.Div.01)

…young Black teenage mathematicians. John Glenn’s first flight was on February 20, 1962. Although the flight data were calculated on a mainframe computer, Glenn insisted on Katherine Johnson’s computations before he was willing to take off. The publicity on Johnson was an 8 ½” x 11” 8-10 page booklet. Little additional information was publicized until Margot Lee Shetterly wrote the…

UPSem Corine Lytle Cannon Colloquy

…In partnership with the KGC Center for Womanist Leadership, contributors to the journal will present their papers at the Corine Lytle Cannon Colloquy held Thursday, April 4, 2019, on Union’s campus in the Early Center. The reception is from 6:00 – 7:00 pm. followed by the colloquy 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Free and open to the public. Registration is requested….

Toni Morrison documentary and panel discussion

…Center director Melanie C. Jones will moderate a discussion with Black filmmaker and author Rebekah L. Pierce and Dr. Faith Harris, Assistant Professor of Theology and Director of Edosomwan Center for Faith, Leadership and the Public Life at Virginia Union University to reflect on Morrison’s legacy. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served….

Dr. Taneti to Present 2019 Dawe Lecture

…impact of social aspirations and dominant cultures in the flourishing and warping of these eclectic traditions. Dr. James Taneti, Director of the Syngman Rhee Global Mission Center for Christian Education and Assistant Professor of World Christianity at Union Presbyterian Seminary, in Richmond, Virginia. Lecture title: Spirit at the Edges: Sanskritization of the Telugu Pentecostals Free and open to the public…

Embodying God’s Story and Our Stories: storytelling, art, worship

A program of the Carl Howie Center for Science, Art, and Theology led by Revs. Shawna Bowman and Nanette Sawyer All events are free and open to the public. Please register for the events you’d like to attend here….

Alt-right rally: Tangible resistance to hatred & evil

…am daily learning what it means to serve Christ in this complex world, to work for justice, and to share God’s love because of the examples the folks of this church provide. For some time leading up to the rally, I had been in prayer and conversation regarding my engagement, but it was a conversation with Ken Henry, my colleague,…

Practicing Resurrection: Radical Discipleship for Beloved Community

Workshop with Janet Wolf, civil rights activist, educator and pastor. Co-sponsored by Union Presbyterian Seminary, the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation, the Leadership Institute, Neighborhood Seminary, and Hope 4 Humanity. In person or online!

Just Talk/Talk Just: The Prison Industrial Complex

Online event, co-sponsored by Union Presbyterian Seminary, the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation, and the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership. Registration link will be available soon….

Union Presbyterian Seminary Charlotte Campus Commencement

Gems for the Journey: Justice or Injustice

…as a positive description of himself. He found himself in good company with a list of extremists. A few of those he named include: Jesus, the Son of the living God, who was a living and dying example of unselfish love; Amos who proclaimed that the people of God were to do justice and live a righteous life; President Abraham…

Congregational Corner: Take on, A Moment of Silence

…myself complaining about that recently. I wonder though, how much of God’s response do we miss because of the noise around us? How much of God’s Word for us do we miss because we only open the Bible on Sunday morning or when we are preparing to teach and preach? A colleague recently suggested that the area of spirituality which…