Princeton Theological Seminary

Admissions Virtual Open House: Learn More About Princeton Seminary's Dual Degree Programs
2021-02-25 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | NJ
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays for 60 minutes. See you soon!
This week: “Admissions Virtual Open House: Learn More About Princeton Seminary’s Dual Degree Programs”
The MDiv/MACEF program is designed for students who at the time of application know they wish to emphasize teaching, youth, and young adult ministries, or spiritual formation and mission in their program. The studies are coordinated from the outset to integrate preparation for ministry in the church with a specialization in teaching, youth and young adult ministries, or spiritual formation and mission.
The Rutgers School of Social Work and Princeton Theological Seminary offer an accelerated program in social work and ministry leading to dual master of social work (MSW) and master of divinity (MDiv) degrees. The program is designed for students who expect to enter forms of ministry requiring competence in the disciplines of theology and social work. The joint MDiv/MSW program allows a student to complete both degrees in four years of full-time study.
Join us February 25 to learn more about Princeton Seminary’s dual degree programs.

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There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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Perspective, Violence, & Empathy in Literature
2021-02-18 19:00 - 20:30
Read the award-winning book The Power by Naomi Alderman ahead of time and then come to hear Dr. Maggie Elwell, PhD ’19, MDiv ’14, speak on how we read and respond to violence in literature. Also, sign yourself up for a breakout room with friends for discussion before a final Q&A with Dr. Elwell. The Power is widely available in print, electronic, and audiobook formats through local libraries. This event is open to current students and members of the Princeton Seminary campus community, alumni, and friends of the Seminary.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Theology, Women, and Gender of Princeton Theological Seminary.

There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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On Womanist Theology
2021-02-18 19:00 - 20:00
Join the Center for Black Church Studies as we examine the past, present, and future of womanist theology within theological scholarship and the Black church in the United States. Womanist theology is a religious conceptual framework which reconsiders and revises the traditions, practices, scriptures, and biblical interpretation with a special lens to empower and liberate African American women in America. The term “womanism” was coined by Alice Walker, who offered a definition of the word in her 1984 book In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens. Walker described a womanist as a “Black feminist or feminist of color” who is bold and assertive, relishes African American culture, and is committed to the flourishing of the entire African American community. In the 1980s African American scholars — Katie Cannon, Jacquelyn Grant, and Delores Williams — realized there was a need for a more inclusive theological and ethical framework concerning Black liberation theology.

Speakers

The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman is dean and vice president of Academic Affairs, as well as associate professor of homiletics and Hebrew Bible, at Methodist Theological School of Ohio. She also is founding president and CEO of WomanPreach! Inc., the premiere nonprofit organization that brings preachers to full prophetic voice. She has been in licensed or ordained ministry since 1977.
Bridgeman earned her PhD in biblical studies (Hebrew Bible concentration) and secondary studies in ethics from Baylor University. She earned her Master of Divinity from Austin Theological Seminary in Austin, Texas and a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major of communication and religion from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
She is a peace activist and advocate for human rights, and was inducted into the 2010 class of Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars and Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. For more information about Bridgeman, visit WomanPreach.

The Rev. Melanie C. Jones is a womanist ethicist, millennial preacher, and intellectual activist. Jones joined the Union Presbyterian Seminary faculty as instructor of ethics, theology and culture and inaugural director of the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership in fall 2019. Formerly, Jones served as the 2018-19 Crump Visiting Professor and Black Religious Scholar-in-Residence at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, and lecturer at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas; American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee; Chicago Theological Seminary; and The Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.
Jones’ research probes the scripting of the body in theology and philosophy that fosters religious, cultural, and moral meaning for the present with particular attention to Black women’s body politics. Jones engages womanist theological ethics and sacred texts, millennials and faith, and Black aesthetics and popular culture. For her distinguished research, Jones has received notable fellowships and scholarships, including The Forum for Theological Exploration, The Louisville Institute, Wabash Center, and Villanova University Center for Church Management.
Jones is a thinking woman of faith embodying radical love and revolutionary justice in the academy, church, and global community. She is co-curator of #MillennnialWomanism Digital Forum and co-founder of The Millennial Womanism Project (TMWP) — an enterprise committed to enhancing the well-being of Black millennial women of faith and justice and fostering trans-generational womanist dialogue. As a global leader serving professional societies and international boards, Jones is the chair of the board of directors of the Daughters of the African Atlantic Fund.
A third-generation ordained Baptist preacher and sought-after lecturer, Jones is an emerging millennial voice with noted academic and popular publications as well as features on television, radio, and news outlets. Follow Jones on her website.

The Rev. Dr. Monica A. Coleman is professor of Africana studies at the University of Delaware. She is also an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She works at the intersection of faith, culture, and social justice. She is the author or editor of six books, and several articles and book chapters that focus on the role of faith in addressing critical social and philosophical issues. Her book Making a Way Out of No Way: a Womanist Theology is required reading at colleges and universities around the United States. Her memoir Bipolar Faith: a Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith received the Silver Illumination Award in 2017. Coleman is active in academic guilds, including the American Academy of Religion, the Society for the Study of Black Religion (SSBR), and the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought (IARPT). Coleman has received funding from the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation, the Association for Theological Schools, and the Forum for Theological Exploration (formerly, the Fund for Theological Education). Coleman speaks widely on religion and sexuality, religious pluralism, churches and social media, mental health, and sexual and domestic violence.
In 2020, Professor Coleman was nominated and elected to the Program Committee of the American Academy of Religion (the world’s largest guild for the academic study of religion). She was also inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars. The American Academy of Religion Program Committee oversees the annual meeting program (over 10,000 attendees) — designing and reviewing the program structure, establishing categories and criteria for governing program units, and advising the executive director and the director of meetings on important programmatic aspects of the meeting. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars provides a creative learning environment where clergy and laity from diverse backgrounds, distinct faith traditions, and different generations come together as students of Dr. King’s philosophies to reflect on their personal calling, foster meaningful relationships with others who are answering their calling, and develop ideas and strategies for taking their calling to the world.

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There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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Admissions Virtual Open House: A Conversation with Current Students
2021-02-18 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays for 60 minutes. See you soon!
This week: “Admissions Virtual Open House: A Conversation with Current Students’

Registration
There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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WIM on Wednesday Bible Study: "I See You, Sis"
2021-02-17 19:00 - 20:00
Sister, are you ready to effect change in your life — and your world — as a follower of Jesus?

A look at the stories of women from the Bible reveals that the issues they faced weren’t all that different from the heart issues with which women still wrestle today — being hidden or forgotten, trying to live up to an impossible ideal, struggling with difficult relationships, and waiting for God’s deliverance and favor. Now, come alongside both well-known and obscure women from the Bible to learn more about God’s plan to bless your own life!
Reverend Tisha Williams, a Brooklyn native, began serving as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton in Bridgehampton, New York, in 2018 and is the creator of Who’s That Lady? Ministries, a global women’s ministry movement curated to inspire all women to live full, authentic, and passionate lives. As “Reverend Tish,” a gifted natural communicator, shares her heart, you will be encouraged by amazing biblical women who have a message for you, including:

Hannah, who discovered she had never been forgotten by the God who provides
Bathsheba, who went from a questionable past to a woman of virtue
Euodias and Syntyche, church leaders who were stuck in a seemingly hopeless conflict
Rahab, who waited for God’s deliverance from the place of the enemy
The daughters of Zelophehad, who boldly laid claim to their inheritance

Each chapter concludes with thought-provoking questions and suggested action steps to help you apply the timeless truths of these women’s stories to your life in the 21st century.
Are you ready to put aside the demons and difficulties of your past to embrace the victorious future and inheritance God intends? Read I See You, Sis to discover the lives of the women hiding in plain sight within the Bible — and be inspired to heroism in the story God has written especially for you!
This event is sponsored by the Women in Ministry (WIM) Initiative of Princeton Theological Seminary.

﻿Meeting Dates
WIM on Wednesday Bible study meets every third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. through June. Meeting dates in spring 2021 are:

January 20, 2021
February 17, 2021
March 17, 2021
April 21, 2021
May 19, 2021
June 16, 2021

If you would like to participate, send an email using the button below. A link to the Zoom meeting invitation will be sent to you!
EMAIL

Admissions Virtual Open House: Learn More About the New Curriculum at Princeton Theological Seminary
2021-02-11 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays for 60 minutes. See you soon!
This week: “Admissions Virtual Open House: Learn More About the New Curriculum at Princeton Theological Seminary”
Last year, Princeton Theological Seminary approved a new curriculum that builds on a decades-long commitment to intellectual excellence to also emphasize emotional, social, and spiritual development. One of the notable changes is an emphasis on how students can enhance their communities with gospel-infused leadership. The result is a program truly dedicated to holistic formation.
Join our virtual open house session and hear from Dean Jacqueline Lapsley, dean and vice president of Academic Affairs and professor of Old Testament, and Dr. Shawn Oliver, senior associate academic dean.

Registration
There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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Addressing Racism from the Pulpit
2021-02-08 00:00 - 2021-03-08 23:59
Course Description

When was the last time you preached about racism? When was the last time you heard a sermon that addressed racism? In a world where racism continues to evolve and wreak havoc on individual lives and whole communities, preachers need to name it as the sin that clings so closely. Join Dr. Carolyn Helsel, preaching professor and author of two books, Anxious to Talk about It  and Preaching about Racism, as she helps us unpack the challenges to preaching about racism and ways to tackle those challenges head on. Preaching about racism has never been easy, but this course will give you tools to make the task less daunting and give you the courage you need to address this important subject.

Who Should Enroll
This course is for preachers interested in exploring racism and how this difficult topic may be addressed in the preaching life of the church. Any curious Christian seeking deeper theological understanding and personal enrichment may take part in this online course but pastors are with regular preaching responsibilities are encouraged to enroll.

What to Expect
Learning community: You will be immersed with a community of learners. Just as you would in a traditional classroom, you will engage the course material with your peers, faculty, and teaching assistants.
Course platform: The inviting environment of the online course platform engages students in active learning. The weekly modules guide you, step by step, through videos, readings, written reflections, and peer discussions.
Book: Participants will need to have a copy of the primary text for the course, Preaching about Racism: A Guide for Faith Leaders, by Dr. Helsel.
Live sessions: Dr. Helsel will offer two 90 minute live online sessions as part of the course. The two live sessions with Dr. Helsel will take place 7:00–8:30 p.m. eastern time on Mondays, February 8 and March 8.
Time commitment: Complete course material on your own schedule while meeting weekly deadlines.  Teaching assistants follow your progress and respond weekly to your work in the learning path.  You will exchange ideas with peers in the discussion board.  Expect to spend 6–8 hours per week on course modules and the live sessions.
Instruction and review: Written course work is reviewed by the instructor and teaching assistant.  Dr. Helsel will engage with students in the online discussions.
Successful Completion and CEUs: Those who satisfactorily complete all steps of the three modules will receive a notice of completion and earn three Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

About the Instructor
Carolyn Browning Helsel obtained her MDiv and ThM from Princeton Theological Seminary. After completing her PhD at Emory, she joined the faculty of Austin Seminary in 2015. Prior to her appointment she was a transitional pastor for The Presbyterian Church in Sudbury (Massachusetts). She also served as visiting professor at both the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry and Wartburg Theological Seminary. She was a teaching assistant for professors Tom Long, Teresa Fry Brown, and Luke Timothy Johnson; the title of her dissertation is “The Hermeneutics of Recognition: A Ricoeurian Interpretative Framework for Whites Preaching about Racism.”
Helsel was ordained to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and served as associate pastor at John Calvin Presbyterian Church (2005–2007) in San Antonio, Texas. While in Boston, she served on the Synod Work Group on Race for the Synod of the Northeast and on the Committee on Preparation for Ministry for Boston Presbytery.
Helsel is the author of Preaching about Racism: A Guide for Faith Leaders (Chalice Press, 2018) and Anxious to Talk About It: Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully About Race (Chalice Press, 2018)

Fees and Registration
There is no cost for this course but registration is required.
Registration will close on February 1st at 11:59 p.m.

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A Conversation with White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor
2021-02-05 19:30 - 21:00
Join the Center for Black Church Studies as we speak with journalist Yamiche Alcindor. Alcindor is currently the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour. She also serves as a political journalist on NBC and MSNBC. Alcindor will join us to talk about her vocational work as a journalist and about covering the Trump White House and the tumultuous election and post-election crisis.

Guest Speaker

Yamiche Alcindor is the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour and a contributor for NBC News and MSNBC.
Before joining PBS NewsHour, she worked as a national political reporter for The New York Times where she covered presidential campaigns, Congress, and the impact of President Donald Trump’s policies on working class people and people of color.
Alcindor often tells stories about the intersection of race and politics as well as fatal police encounters. She’s also traveled extensively to closely cover the campaigns of Senator Bernie Sanders and Trump. Before joining The New York Times, she was a national breaking news reporter for USA Today and traveled across the country to cover stories including the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut; the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida; and the police-related protests in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland.
She earned a master’s degree in broadcast news and documentary filmmaking from New York University and a bachelor’s in English, government, and African American studies from Georgetown University. A native of Miami, Florida, Alcindor is the daughter of Haitian immigrants who met while attending Boston College.

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There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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Admissions Virtual Open House: A Conversation with the Center for Black Church Studies
2021-02-04 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays for 60 minutes. See you soon!
This week: “Admissions Open House: A Conversation with the Center for Black Church Studies”
The Center for Black Church Studies endeavors to cultivate Black theological genius and inspire people to interweave their ministry and scholarly work into the historical tapestry of the Black church’s prophetic witness. Subsequently, critical reflection is for emancipatory action. Come and meet Rev. Kermit Moss, the interim director of the center and current students that will share their experiences of the center and of Princeton Seminary.

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There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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Virtual Open House: A Conversation with Housing
2021-01-28 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays for 45 minutes. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!
As a residential community of learning, students not only take classes together but share life together in a way that extends and deepens the educational experience. It is a crucial part of how we prepare students for ministry. This week, representatives from Housing and Student Administrative Services will discuss the various housing options offered at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Preaching in the Purple Church
2021-01-21 14:00 - 15:30
How do you preach faithfully to a purple congregation? Red vs. blue partisan tensions are also present in the pews of “purple churches,” both large and small, creating weekly angst for the preacher. The preacher in the purple church often feels like they are on a homiletical tightrope. They want to follow the text where it leads, or speak to a pressing contemporary issue, but are unsure of how to avoid falling into the trap of political divides and partisan echo chambers. Join these preachers in a conversation about faithful preaching in the purple church the day after the presidential inauguration.

Leaders

Patrick W. T. Johnson, PhD ’13, MDiv ’06, began his call to ministry at First Presbyterian Church Asheville, North Carolina on December 15, 2015. Johnson has served congregations in several states, including Virginia, California, and New Jersey, and is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to being called to Asheville, he was a solo pastor for six years in New Jersey and adjunct faculty at Princeton Seminary. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, and the book The Mission of Preaching: Equipping the Community for Faithful Witness.
His spouse, Caitlin, is also a seminary graduate and candidate for ordination in the PC(USA). They live in North Asheville, with their four children, Isla, Luke, Claire, and Felicity. Johnson loves to spend time with his family outside, whether hiking the mountains or playing in the waves; and he enjoys any time spent in the woodshop.
At FPCA, Johnson focuses on worship and preaching, strategic direction, leadership and stewardship development, pastoral care, and community involvement.

Amy Miracle is the pastor at Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Ohio. A lifelong Presbyterian, she grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and attended Princeton University. Following graduation, a Marshall Scholarship sent her to Northern Ireland where she received her Master of Social Sciences in Irish political studies from Queen’s University of Belfast. Upon returning to the United States, she earned her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Before coming to Broad Street, Pastor Miracle served as associate pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado, and senior pastor and head of staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa.

Hardy Kim is head of staff at Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, California. In 1996 he received his bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard University and enrolled in law school at the University of Michigan until confirming his calling in ministry after serving a year as a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer in Mission in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Kim received a Master of Divinity degree in 2007 from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois.
In 2008, he completed a two-year program at Fourth Presbyterian Church as a Lilly Pastoral Resident and continued that ministry as Associate Pastor for Church Growth Ministries at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta before returning to Fourth Church in 2011 to serve as Associate Pastor for Evangelism. He joined Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church in 2017.

Registration
There is no cost for this event but registration is required.
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Virtual Open House: A Conversation with Alumni in Non-Traditional Ministries
2021-01-21 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives.
Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting.
Come and meet Princeton Seminary alumni that have vocations in various ministries that are beyond the church.

Virtual Open House: A Conversation with the Asian American Program
2021-01-14 18:00 - 19:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!
The Asian American Program seeks to equip and empower the next generation of Asian American leaders for service in church, society, and academy. You are invited to meet Dr. David C. Chao, the director of the newly expanded Asian American Program at Princeton Theological Seminary. He teaches courses on Asian American theology, organizes academic programming in Asian American theology and ministry, and mentors Asian and Asian American students. Come and hear more about the program and the student experience.

Black Church Traditions Related to Land, Food, and Racial Agency
2021-01-11 09:00 - 2021-01-15 12:00
The lack of racial diversity in some of the most widely known environmental movements often reveals glaring blind spots that frustrate sustainable progress on issues such as food security, conservation, and climate change. The “green ceiling” — as it’s called — can not only be found in White-led environmental organizations but in ecclesial and academic circles as well. As a result, we are often left ignorant, for example, about the robust legacies of African Americans and the Black church as it relates to land, food, and agricultural resistance to oppression. Through this lens, we will study people of faith such as Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, Rev. Vernon Johns, Elijah Muhammad, and more. We will center experiences found within various African American religious communities that engaged in land and food sovereignty projects as expressions of both their spiritual life and socio-political desires.
This online course will meet Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EST and will include group sessions.

Course Leader

Community organizer, social entrepreneur, base builder, and network weaver are all words that describe the work and expertise of Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III, senior pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. For nearly two decades, Brown has been a catalyst for personal transformation and social change. In 2015 he launched the Black Church Food Security Network (BCFSN), a multistate alliance of congregations working together to inspire health, wealth, and power in the Black community. The BCFSN accomplishes this by partnering with historically African American churches to establish gardens on church-owned land and cultivates partnerships with African American farmers to create a grassroots, community-led food system.
Brown’s dedication to service has been widely recognized. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ella Baker Freedom Fighter Award and The Afro American Newspaper’s “25 Under 40 Emerging Black History Leaders” award. In 2011, Urbanite Magazine identified him as one of the “Change Makers of Baltimore City.” In 2013, he received a $10,000 Fellowship Award from The Beatitudes Society, which identified him as one of eight leading young progressive faith leaders in the country. In 2016, Grist.Org named him among innovators, organizers, and visionaries as one of “The 50 People You’ll Be Talking About This Year.” In 2018, Baltimore Magazine named him a Visionary of the City and the Baltimore City Office of Civil Rights presented him with their Food Justice Award. In 2019, he received the coveted Emerging Leaders Award from the Claneil Foundation which brought with it a $250,000 investment in the work of the Black Church Food Security Network.
​He earned his BS degree in psychology from Morgan State University, a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Union University, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary.

Tentative Schedule
Monday – Friday 9 am – noon
9 a.m. | Gathering
9:30 a.m. | Main Presentation
10:30 a.m. | Break
10:45 a.m. | Small Group Discussions
11:15 a.m. | Report Backs
11:45 a.m. | Closing Thoughts/Assignments
12 p.m. | Dismissal
Daily Focus
Monday: Introduction to Course
Tuesday: Father Divine and The Peace Movement
Wednesday: Rev. Vernon Johns
Thursday: Rev. Albert Cleage, Jr. and the Black Christian Nationalism
Friday: Current Models/Close

Registration
The fee for the course is $125 per person.
Registration closes on January 4, 2021.
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Virtual Open House: Tips on Applying
2021-01-07 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives.
Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting.
The admissions team looks forward to sharing some tips on applying and responding to any questions that you may have. We look forward to seeing you there.

Virtual Open House: A Conversation with the Hispanic Theological Initiative
2020-12-17 10:00 - 11:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!
This open house session will include representatives from the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI):

Joanne Rodriguez, executive director
Angela Schoepf, assistant director
João Chaves, assistant director for programming
Suzette Aloyo, office coordinator

An important part of HTI’s mission is to increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of Latinx PhD students across the nation by uniting and leveraging institutional resources (human, financial, and infrastructural). Join us and find out more about The Hispanic Theological Initiative.

Virtual Open House: A Conversation with the Institute for Youth Ministry
2020-12-10 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!
This open house session will include representatives from the Institute for Youth Ministry:

Abigail Visco Rusert, director
Megan DeWald, associate director
Carmelle Beaugelin, program coordinator for the Log College Project

Virtual Open House: A Conversation with the Association of Black Seminarians
2020-12-03 13:00 - 14:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!
This open house session will include representatives from the Association of Black Seminarians (ABS):

Jalen Baker, moderator of ABS, MDiv senior
Al Curley, ABS Men’s Fellowship co-chair, MDiv senior
Tamesha Mills, vice moderator of ABS, MDiv middler
Kamaria Byrd, treasurer of ABS, MDiv middler
Lenmarie Pascall, ABS Women’s Fellowship co-chair, MDiv first year

Virtual Open House: Tips on Applying for Second Career Students
2020-11-19 18:00 - 19:00
You are invited to attend our virtual open house session to ask questions, learn more about Princeton Theological Seminary’s degree programs, and meet admissions representatives. Open house sessions are held on Thursdays. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!

Theological Education in Prisons: The Incarceration Crisis and the Church
2020-11-19 15:00 - 16:15, 2020-11-18 15:00 - 16:15, 2020-11-17 15:00 - 16:15, 2020-11-16 15:00 - 16:15
Despite increasing public attention to our current mass incarceration crisis, roughly 2.3 million individuals are currently incarcerated in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers in the United States. The call for the church to care for those in prison is clear, but discerning the best course of action to fulfill this call is challenging.
Using frameworks of reform or frameworks of abolition, many civic organizations, educational institutions, and religious congregations have pursued varied responses to the crisis. Churches and church members may work to raise awareness, get involved in political organizing, or volunteer to visit or correspond with those in prison. There is also a growing movement in the church and its institutions to offer theological education in prisons as a response to this crisis.
Originally planned as a one-day conference on the seminary campus, Theological Education in Prisons: The Incarceration Crisis and the Church, is now being offered as a series of four online webinars. Presenters were selected through a call for papers process. Together, we will seek to identify and learn from current approaches to theological education in prisons to strengthen the church’s ministry with and pursuit of justice for those in prison.

I. Doing Theology in Prison: Academic Theology as Liberation and Resistance
Monday, November 16, 3–4:15 p.m. ESTPresenter: Jennifer McBride
This presentation examines the role academic theology programs in jails and prisons may play in the work of resisting the carceral system. Certificate and degree programs in theological studies, often sponsored by seminaries and divinity schools, are part of a larger national movement that sees higher education in prison as a vital resource in the work of advocacy and resistance. The presentation will briefly examine the role Christian education has played historically and today to bolster the prison and, in contrast, will outline four characteristics of programs that are in the service of liberation. While doing so, the presentation will lift up the voices of incarcerated students, sharing the theological insights of women matriculating through an academic theology certificate program in Georgia, which served as a model for a similar program created at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.

Jennifer McBride is associate dean and assistant professor at McCormick Theological Seminary. McBride previously held the Board of Regents Endowed Chair in Ethics at Wartburg College in Iowa and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology at Emory University. At Emory, she served as program director for the Atlanta Theological Association’s Certificate in Theological Studies at Metro State Prison for Women (2009-2011). She founded a similar program through McCormick at Cook County Department of Corrections and serves as the academic representative of McCormick’s Solidarity Building Initiative. She is a graduate of University of Virginia (PhD) and author of Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel (Fortress Press, 2017). Her most recent essays include “Bonhoeffer’s Critique of Morality: A Theological Resource for Dismantling Mass Incarceration” in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance (2020). In addition to scholarly journals and anthologies, her work has appeared in popular publications like The Christian Century and CNN.com and has been featured in The New York Times.

II. A Model for Institutional Leadership as Servants of Solidarity: Liberative Carceral Education
Tuesday, November 17, 3–4:15 p.m. ESTPresenter: Jia Johnson
The research and praxis presented in this presentation seeks to answer the question: How might seminaries in the service of liberation theologies create programs of carceral education that intentionally mitigate the collateral consequences of incarceration? The presenter will offer a model for institutional leadership as servants of solidarity. This model is grounded in the notion that when seminary institutions in the service of liberatory theological education exercise their institutional agency and deploy their resources and networks beyond their academic institution, and directly serve marginalized communities, they create capacities to become institutions of solidarity-builders and justice-makers. Their institutional character embodies leadership as servants of solidarity.

Jia Johnson currently serves as program director for McCormick Theological Seminary’s Solidarity Building Initiative for Liberative Carceral Education at Cook County Jail. Integrating her corporate, entrepreneurial, and management skills with her commitment to public ministry and liberative pedagogy, Johnson serves as McCormick’s liaison and convener in co-creating learning communities and collaborations that tend to the whole of incarcerated learners and their communities. Johnson is a strategic consultant, collaborating with diverse populations, industries, and networks to identify creative solutions for justice-making and solidarity-building. She currently serves as a board member for Community Renewal Society.
Previously, she developed partnerships with formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs at Sunshine Enterprises and Pathway to Enterprise for Returning Citizens, and served as public ministry engagement coordinator for Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She served on the board for Off the Pews: Faith in Action and later transitioned to become the summer program director. Johnson holds a Master of Arts in public ministry with a concentration in racial justice from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Johnson became involved with McCormick’s program while pursuing her master’s degree. She chose McCormick’s Certificate in Theological Studies Program (the “Program”) at Cook County Department of Corrections (“CCDOC”) as her field site and co-taught the pilot course with Dr. Jenny McBride.

III. Where You Feel Like Yourself Again: Transformative Theological Education in Prison
Wednesday, November 18, 3–4:15 p.m. ESTPresenters: Elizabeth Bounds, Sarah Farmer, and Rachelle Renee Green
How does theological education in prison feel? Reflecting on the ten years of the Certificate in Theological Studies program at a women’s prison in Georgia, we explore the theological dimensions of the generative space experienced by both teachers and students. Each of us will use biblical stories as the lens through which to name ways theological education in prison challenges not only assumptions about “prisoners,” but also assumptions about the nature and purposes of theological work. Jesus’ action to raise both Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter from the dead points to the radical creativity and possibility within death-dealing spaces. Jesus’ healing of the blind man through spit is a lens to explore the new/renewed visions of student-teachers, who often start blinded by their own assumptions. Finally, the parable of the works in the vineyard points to the subversion of values, of students and teachers, in the creation of learning spaces where all matter. Ultimately, in sharing stories, we come to understand that theological education in prison is where students incarcerated can “feel like yourself again.”

Dr. Elizabeth M. Bounds is associate professor of Christian ethics at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. The core of her work is focused on the complexity of moral and theological responses to violence and exclusion, whether in the U.S. prison system, ordinary congregational life, or post-conflict situations. Her current research studies theo-moral understandings of the good life among incarcerated women. She is co-founder/administrator of the Certificate in Theological Studies at the Arrendale State Prison for Women.

Sarah Farmer is assistant professor of practical theology and community development in the School of Theology and Ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University. As a practical theologian, she not only teaches community development courses, but also teaches in the areas faith formation, youth ministry, and transformative pedagogy.
Before coming to Indiana Wesleyan University in the Fall of 2018, Farmer served as an associate research scholar and lecturer at Yale Divinity School and helped direct the Adolescent Faith and Flourishing Program at Yale Center for Faith and Culture. Farmer received her MDiv and PhD from Emory University, where she taught as an adjunct faculty and co-directed a Certificate in Theological Studies Program at a Women’s Prison.
Farmer co-founded the Youth Arts and Peace Camp in Chester, Pennsylvania, and worked with the Youth Hope-Builders Academy at Interdenominational Theological Center. She is co-author with Anne E. Streaty Wimberly of Raising Hope: 4 Paths to Courageous Living for Black Youth, which explores the ways adults can become agents of hope in the lives of young people who might be in the midst of circumstances that seem hopeless.

Rachelle Renee Green is assistant professor of practical theology and education at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education. Her interdisciplinary scholarship brings together liberationist theologies, social ethics, and critical pedagogies to explore theologies and philosophies of education for populations on the margins of academic discourse. Her current research focuses on vocation, redemption, and the life-affirming purposes of theological education among incarcerated women.
Green is a former director of the Certificate in Theological Studies Program at Lee Arrendale Prison for Women in Georgia. She comes to theological scholarship after a career in business management and strategic marketing where she focused intently on the needs of women and families of color. Green is a licensed minster in the National Baptist Convention, USA. She is an alum of Emory University (PhD 2019) and Emory’s Candler School of Theology (MDiv 2014).

IV. Freeing the Imprisoned and Those Who Imprison Them
Thursday, November 19, 3–4:15 p.m. ESTPresenters: Andrew Skotnicki
The robust literature pointed toward the demonstrative failures of the criminal justice system by both secular and religious critics needs to be augmented by a metaethical component. The root problem, not unlike our political impasses, is that those on each side of the issue are speaking different languages. The ethical presuppositions of the major religions concerning an ontological orientation to care for creature and creation have been at best misinterpreted and at worst dismissed by a prevailing national discourse of binary divisions, none more destructive than that which separates the lawless from the lawful and the imprisoned from the free. Teaching theology in jail/prison is a small step in reorienting the incarcerated students, and those who oversee them, to expand the horizon of care to include everything and everyone. This goal is addressed by a pedagogical focus utilizing the concepts of conversion and prophecy.

Andrew Skotnicki teaches theological and criminological ethics at Manhattan College in New York City. He is the author of numerous articles on the theological and ethical implications of criminal justice. He has also written four books, the latest of which, Conversion and the Rehabilitation of the Penal System, has received the 2019 Aldersgate Prize that honors the book that best exemplifies Christian engagement with the social order. He is founder and director of the E3MC program (Engaging, Educating, Empowering Means Change), an educational partnership between Manhattan College and jails on Rikers Island and Westchester County.

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Electoral Aftermath: Can We Still Begin Again?
2020-11-16 16:30 - 17:45
A conversation with Professor Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, moderated by Keri Day, associate professor of constructive theology and African American religion.

About the Speaker
Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is an intellectual who speaks to the complex dynamics of the American experience. His most well-known books, Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, and In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America, take a wide look at Black communities, the difficulties of race in the United States, and the challenges our democracy faces. He is an American critic in the tradition of James Baldwin and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his writings, the country’s complexities, vulnerabilities, and the opportunities for hope come into full view. Hope that is, in one of his favorite quotes from W.E.B Du Bois, “not hopeless, but a bit unhopeful.”
He is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of African American Studies, a program he first became involved with shaping as a doctoral candidate in religion, at Princeton University. He is the former president of the American Academy of Religion. His books on religion and philosophy include An Uncommon Faith: A Pragmatic Approach to the Study of African American Religion; African American Religion: A Very Short Introduction; and Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America, which was awarded the Modern Language Association’s William Sanders Scarborough Book Prize. Glaude is also the author of two edited volumes, and many influential articles about religion for academic journals. He has also written for the likes of The New York Times and Time Magazine.
Known to be a convener of conversations and debates, Glaude takes care to engage fellow citizens of all ages and backgrounds — from young activists, to fellow academics, journalists and commentators, and followers on Twitter in dialogue about the direction of the nation. His scholarship and his sense of himself as a public intellectual are driven by a commitment to think carefully with others in public.
Glaude’s most recent book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, was released on June 30, 2020. Of Baldwin, Glaude writes, “Baldwin’s writing does not bear witness to the glory of America. It reveals the country’s sins, and the illusion of innocence that blinds us to the reality of others. Baldwin’s vision requires a confrontation with our history (with slavery, Jim Crow segregation, with whiteness) to overcome its hold on us. Not to posit the greatness of America, but to establish the ground upon which to imagine the country anew.”
Some like to describe Glaude as the quintessential Morehouse man, having left his home in Moss Point, Mississippi at age 16 to begin studies at the HBCU. He holds a master’s degree in African American studies from Temple University, and a PhD in religion from Princeton University. He began his teaching career at Bowdoin College. In 2011 he delivered Harvard’s Du Bois lectures. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Colgate University, delivering commencement remarks titled “Turning Our Backs,” which was recognized by The New York Times as one of the best commencement speeches of the year. He is a columnist for Time Magazine and a MSNBC contributor on programs like Morning Joe, and Deadline Whitehouse with Nicolle Wallace. He also regularly appears on Meet the Press on Sundays. Glaude hosts the podcast AAS 21, recorded at Princeton University in Stanhope Hall, the African American Studies department’s home.

About the Moderator
Keri Day is associate professor of constructive theology and African American religion at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Day earned her PhD in religion from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned an MA in religion and ethics from Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science from Tennessee State University in Nashville. Her teaching and research interests are in womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism. Her first academic book, Unfinished Business: Black Women, The Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America, was published in November of 2012. Her second book, Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives, was published in December of 2015. In 2017, she was recognized by ABC News as one of six black women at the center of gravity in theological education in America.

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Sponsored by the Religion and Society Program and Office of Multicultural Relations.

What’s Next? Ministry Hacks for a Post-Election Church
2020-11-12 19:00 - 20:30
Overview
A hyper-polarized electorate just made the strenuous task of leading Christian communities in 2020 harder. Adapting worship and other programs to a COVID-19 context would have been enough. Then came a national referendum on race. And now we’re not talking to one another across Red-Blue lines. Want help with that? As the ballots are counted and limbo gives way to a fifty-fifty split between the joyful and the jilted, join Rev. Dr. Allen Hilton, the founder and leader of the House United Movement (and an alum of Princeton Seminary, class of ’89) for a webinar that offers practical approaches to preaching, praying, and pastoring in the aftermath.

About the Instructor
Allen Hilton, MDiv ’89, is a speaker, teacher, writer, and leader who brings people together across lines of political and racial difference for the common good. He is the founder and executive director of House United, flying or Zooming 35 weeks per year to help divided communities around the nation collaborate and build community. His book, House United: How the Church Can Save the World (Fortress, 2018), describes American political polarization and calls Christians to help solve it. After earning an MDiv at Princeton Theological Seminary (Class of 1989) and a PhD in New Testament at Yale, Allen began his vocation as a professor, serving on the Bible faculties of St. Mary’s College of CA and the Yale Divinity School; he then joined the pastoral teams of large churches in Connecticut, Washington, Minnesota, and Arizona. He lives now in Austin, Texas, with his beloved wife, Liz, and their teen sons, Sam and Isaac.

Date and Location
Thursday, November 12 at 7 p.m. EST on Zoom

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Virtual Open House: Wait, You Want to Major in What?
2020-11-12 13:00 - 14:00
Join us today and hear from current students who will speak about their journey to seminary without holding an undergraduate degree or taking courses in Theology or Religious Studies. Register by clicking here to complete a simple registration form. When you submit your registration form, you will receive an email with instructions and a link to join the meeting. See you soon!

Virtual Open House: Women in Ministry: A Conversation with Alumnae
2020-11-05 13:00 - 14:00

A Political Conversation
2020-11-02 19:00 - 20:30
Join the Center for Black Church Studies (BCS) as we discuss the 2020 election and sociopolitical issues that are crucial to the Black church, including racism, voting rights, poverty, education, and public health. BCS Interim Director Kermit Moss will moderate the discussion.

The Rev. Dr. Earle Fisher serves as senior pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a community organizer; co-organized the Memphis Grassroots Organizations Coalition; and is spearheading initiatives in criminal justice reform, media accountability, the removal of confederate monuments, and voter empowerment. Through this justice work, Fisher formed #UPTheVote901 to give more political power to more people and increase voter turnout. Fisher is the 2019-2020 Henry Logan Starks Fellow at Memphis Theological Seminary and the 2020 Political Science Research Fellow at the University of Memphis teaching and studying political theology and radical Black politics. Most of Fisher’s work focuses on the African American religious rhetoric, contemporary rhetorical theory, Black liberation theology, and the prophetic persona of Albert Cleage, Jr. Fisher holds a BS from LeMoyne Owen College, an MDiv from Memphis Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the University of Memphis. He is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Missionary Baptist denominations.

Dr. Terrence L. Johnson is an associate professor of religion and politics in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. He is also a senior research fellow at the Berkley Center, an affiliate member of the Department of African American Studies, and serves on the executive committee of the Center for Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University. Johnson’s research interests include African American political thought, ethics, American religions, and the role of religion in public life. He is the author of Tragic Soul-Life: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Moral Crisis Facing American Democracy (2012) and serves as co-editor of the Duke University Press Series Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People. Johnson is completing a manuscript titled We Testify with Our Lives: Black Power and the Ethical Turn in Politics, which explores the decline of Afro-Christianity in the post-civil rights era and efforts among African-American leftists to imagine ethics and human rights activism as necessary extensions of political liberalism, pragmatism, and liberal public philosophies. Johnson holds a BA from Morehouse College, an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD from Brown University.

The Reverend Dr. Regena Thomas is the director of the Human Rights and Community Relations Department of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). In addition, she serves as the Executive Minister at Grant Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Trenton, New Jersey. Prior to the position with AFT she was the director of community engagement and constituency at the Democratic National Committee. Thomas served as Secretary of State for the State of New Jersey from 2002 through 2006, appointed by Gov. James McGreevey. Prior to her appointment as Secretary of State, Thomas was considered a leading political consultant for the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Governors’ Association, and the Democratic Senatorial Committee specializing in African American turnout. She has worked for District of Columbia mayors Marion Barry and Sharon Pratt Kelly both in government and their political campaigns. She accepted her call to ministry and was ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She earned her MDiv from New Brunswick Theological Seminary and her DMin with a specialty in urban ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary.

This event is virtual and free but registration is required. All are welcome.
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