Central America Travel Seminar: Worship and futbol

…There is something deeply theological about a sports game. It is not often that we are able to share an emotional experience with thousands of people in a single moment and place. Attending a game provides a connection, a spirit that humans are always yearning for that is seldom attained. Today we partook in such a connection through worship as…

Gems for the Journey: Keep Playing Even When You’re Hurt

…and if it is genuine faith, testing and trials develop its persistence. God tests us in order that He might produce patience in our lives. It is patience which will make you a full grown Christian, but how does God produce patience in you? You will never become patient by simply trying it; but neither will the Holy Spirit place…

Monumental Confederate controversy solution might be ancient history

…not heard before. “In my career, I’ve always been about bringing attention to what I consider marginalized voices.” “Of course, I’m interested in characters who have some profile like the fourth century Roman ascetic Melania the Elder, but I’m also interested in those women whose names we don’t know, but played significant roles.” She is fascinated by the “mechanisms” that…

Lilly Endowment Grant to Provide a Bridge for Early Career Preachers

…Lilly Endowment’s Compelling Preaching Initiative. Union Presbyterian Seminary is one of 32 organizations receiving funding in an invitational round of grants for the initiative, which is designed to help Christian pastors strengthen their abilities to proclaim the gospel in more engaging and effective ways. By providing multiple levels of support to navigate the changing congregational dynamics faced by new religious…

Ghana’s Canopy Trail

Today’s Ghanaian journey started at the Kakum National Park in southern Ghana, near the coast. The park’s prominent landscape is tropical forest, accounting for 90% of its area. It is one of three places in Africa with a canopy walk through the trees. Within the park boundaries are 266 species of birds, buffalo, forest elephants, civets, Colobus monkeys, red river…

Live simply

…what God has done for us and what God wants us to do for others. The core mission of members is to be God’s people engaged in proportionate giving and tithing. Set your hope in God and keep Paul’s message in your heart: if you live in the current age by not being arrogant, by being rich in good works,…

Let’s change the discussion

…professionally while I am “out and about” and I am likely to clam up (not as often as I used to, but it is definitely still a struggle!). I have spent time thinking about this “clam up” response and have realized that it is merely a response to how I think the other person will respond. It seems that every…

Our Central America travel seminar has landed!

…of travel from both Richmond and Charlotte, our group of eight students and two faculty — Drs Paul Galbreath and Christine Luckritz Marquis — have safely arrived in San Salvador, El Salvador (Richmond crew pictured above)! Our CEDEPCA (Protestant Center of Pastoral Studies of Central America) guides were patiently waiting for us to make it through customs and after a…

Tricia Vesely: Finding Union, Handstands, and Hebrew

…balance class. For Tricia Vesely, finding Union in 2005 helped her to find a path for her future. She found her calling to be a professor while studying and teaching at Union. “Once I started teaching, I knew this is really what I want to do.” Top photo: Dr. Tricia Vesely doing a handstand in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park…

Pathways Online 2020-2021 flyer

India travel seminar: Andhara Christian Theological College

This is post 7 of 11 in the series “India travel seminar” India travel seminar begins India travel seminar: Religious and cultural diversities India travel seminar: Deep care & kindness India travel seminar: A dream fulfilled India travel seminar: Spirit of the Sikhs India travel seminar: Observing faith formation practices India travel seminar: Andhara Christian Theological College India travel seminar:…

Online Application

…send it to us, click on the Submit Application section of the application. If a required section or item has not been completed, then you will be alerted to the items that need to be completed in the Submit Application section. You will not be able to submit your application until these items are completed. Once all required sections and…

Union Seminary hosts commencement in a cloud

…and philosophy — be it their church’s technology director or their child’s homeschool teacher — to remember the first and most important thing they will always be is a child of God who is loved by the Creator of the world and everything in it. “And nothing, absolutely nothing — degree status, the nature of a pandemic, whether or not…

NEW — Master of Arts in Theological Studies (M.A.T.S.)

…engage the changing world, especially as it shapes and is shaped by religious identity in new ways. Drawing on faculty training and their cutting edge research, students will learn to think critically about faith, culture, and ethics in relation to vocation, texts, and contemporary issues. M.A.T.S. degree holders may use this degree in non-profit leadership and other non-traditional ministries. The…

NEW — Master of Arts in Theological Studies

…engage the changing world, especially as it shapes and is shaped by religious identity in new ways. Drawing on faculty training and their cutting edge research, students will learn to think critically about faith, culture, and ethics in relation to vocation, texts, and contemporary issues. M.A.T.S. degree students are equipped for lay leadership in the church, in non-profit leadership and…

Slavery, Race, and Civil Rights

…its earliest beginnings in his book A Copious Fountain: A History of Union Presbyterian Seminary, 1812-2012 (Westminster John Knox Press, 2016). Union’s history includes much to regret and much to celebrate with regard to matters of slavery, race, and Civil Rights in the United States. These webpages chronicle that history in brief in an effort of reflection, repentance, and renewal….

Dr. Richard Voelz awarded grant to strengthen preaching preparation

…public worship and faith formation at the local, grass-roots level. An advisory board of pastors and teachers from a variety of backgrounds assists in the grant selections, and the program is generously supported by Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1937, the endowment’s major areas of programming are religion, education, and community development. For more information on the grants program,…

Almond Sin called to Union Seminary as Visiting Instructor of Old Testament

…Church in New Brunswick, NJ, during her study at Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to her study in the United States, Sin served as a pastor in the Wing Kwong Pentecostal Holiness Church in Hong Kong. Her research interests are in the areas of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. Her dissertation focuses on Primeval Wives and Their Afterlives. She has published…

Dr. Samuel Adams to be installed as McNair Professor of Biblical Studies

…and interim pastor, and as a teacher of English and American Literature at a Church of South India College. Adams’s research and writing efforts focus primarily on wisdom literature. He has published two works, including “Social and Economic Life in Second Temple Judea” (Westminster John Knox, 2014) and “Wisdom in Transition: Act and Consequence in Second Temple Instructions” (Brill, 2008)….

Megan Strollo called to join Union Seminary faculty

…since 2016, including Hebrew and Greek. In 2012 she received the seminary’s Patrick D. Miller Award for Excellence in the Study of Scripture. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in music, minoring in religious studies, from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2008. “Dr. Strollo has already proved to be an invaluable resource for the biblical program at UPSem,” President Brian…