As our Symposium on the Future of Seminary Education enters its fourth week here at Patheos, we continue to add compelling perspectives from a variety of voices on the future of theological education. If you haven't seen these new pieces by some of our favorite scholars and bloggers, I encourage you to check them out, and join the conversation with a comment or two: Read more

As the discussion about what and if a seminary should be and do swirls around this website, I remember a quotation I read once about good parents: "There are two things we can give our children: one is roots,the other is wings." Read more

If the growing majority of students desiring an MDiv today come from non-euro-centric communities, have not completed a BA, are looking for shorter—less expensive programs, and have several years of pastoral experience, then we need to redesign the degree to fit this market—or create something entirely different. Read more

I pray that seminaries will morph into prayer tanks, places where lay and professional people can come to deepen their spirituality and hone their leadership skills. I envision a time when seminaries are better known as retreat centers for lay people than as schools for professional pastors. Read more

The ideological challenge for seminaries is America's move toward a post-Christian society. Whether one agrees with their thinking or not, evangelical seminaries remain in demand because their students sense something living there, something that might make a difference. The question is whether these answers have staying power. What institutions will future ministers perceive to be able to best address the issues that our culture is raising? Read more

What is your one-sentence summation of the sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street movement? Write it up and send it to everybody on your email lists! Or copy mine and do the same. It's up to us to re-frame the political discourse in this country. Our politicians aren't going to do it for us. Read more

What challenges do seminaries face in the coming years? How are they—and the churches and communities that are the focus of their mission—preparing for those challenges? What signs of transformation can we see as we survey the horizon of theological education? What will seminary look like 10 years from now, and what purposes will it serve? Join Patheos this month and next for a special series spotlighting perspectives from more than 25 thought leaders on the future of seminary education in America. Read more

About a month ago, on the anniversary of 9/11, a bevy of progressive bloggers, including me, spoke out about the need to forgive the terrorists who attacked the United States a decade ago. That altruistic sentiment to love one’s enemies was all over the Internet. A quick Google search yields some 42 million hits — way more than the seventy times seven Jesus commands. While all our posts were admirable, it was, I would wager, an easy thing to forgive... Read more

Even as we point the finger at the possible oppressors, I have to wonder: "Where is the loud and unambiguous public voice of the progressive Church on this issue?" Read more

I am so very tired of a church that hangs onto its mythic , anthropomorphic language of God so tightly, a church so myopically focused on how truth was expressed that we fail to call people into covenant relationship with the creative love now driving creation forward. Read more