Challenge and Response http://www.ctschicago.edu/ Thu, 17 May 2012 05:37:22 GMT FeedCreator 1.8.0-dev (info@mypapit.net) Reflections on Golden States of Grace http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/472-reflections-on-golden-states-of-grace “Golden States of Grace”

Reflections by CTS students Brian Blackmore and Andrea Davis on a multi-media exhibit at by CTS.

“Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited,” is an acclaimed traveling exhibition of black & white photography which aims to give image and voice to nearly a dozen virtually invisible communities on California’s religious landscape. It opened at Chicago Theological Seminary on April 2, 2012 and runs through May 31, 2012.

“Golden States of Grace,” created by photographer and writer, Rick Nahmias documents groups ranging from a transgender gospel choir, to San Quentin inmates who have converted to Zen Buddhism, to a branch of the Mormon Church created by and catering to the Deaf, to a halfway house for recovering Jewish addicts. Each participating community in the project represents a different denomination, different part of the state’s geography, and different ethnic group.

The exhibit includes fifty six portraits plus text and

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Administrator) Thu, 17 May 2012 00:28:01 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/472-reflections-on-golden-states-of-grace Stepping Into Someone Else's Shoes http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/428-stepping-into-someone-elses-shoes Stepping Into Someone Else’s Shoes

Rachel MikvaWorship with the Center for Jewish, Christian and Islamic Studies

Rabbi Rachel Mikva

It happened when Brian Clarke played his band’s original song, “In My Father’s House” --  I decided we needed them to come and worship with us at CTS.  I’m not a big fan of patriarchal references to God, but the spirit of this song was so enveloping with its “many voices,” it was impossible to remain unmoved.  The lyrics transform John 14:2 from a promise of heaven to the faithful to an embrace of pluralism and peace here on earth.  It seemed just right for the service led by our Center for Jewish, Christian and Islamic Studies (JCIS).  JCIS directs programs to deepen engagement between and knowledge about all the faith traditions of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.

So Congo SWB came and

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Administrator) Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:48:22 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/428-stepping-into-someone-elses-shoes The Doors of the Community are Open Wide http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/389-the-doors-of-the-community-are-open-wide “The Doors of the Community are Open—Wide”

A reflection by Benjamin Ledell Reynolds*

CTS at Chicago Pride 2011

Benjamin Reynolds (center), Director of the
LGBTQ Religious Studies Center, and
CTS faculty, staff, students, alumni/ae and
friends gather in solidarity with our banner.

It’s Gay Pride Sunday and celebration has begun to permeate the city. I arrive at the Belmont Station at 8:30 in the morning, although the event is not scheduled to kick off until noon. I want to be there early enough to see the crowd gather.

One out of many gatherings in Chicago, the Pride Parade has a way of proving the diversity of the city.  Rainbow flags and bunting wave, a sea of swarming colors, flamboyant fashion is everywhere from bright shirts and fairy wings to wigs, kilts and knee-high rainbow socks, smiles galore, and the

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Benjamin Reynolds) Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:13:36 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/389-the-doors-of-the-community-are-open-wide Reflections on a CTS Education http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/362-tiuana-giseok-reflections Reflections on a CTS Education

At the Spring 2011 Trustee meeting, President Alice Hunt asked two CTS students to preface her remarks to the Board about the year's activities with their own reflections. Their remarks are listed in full below.

Giseok Joo

Giseok JooIt has been one year and a half since I came to Chicago from Korea. As many international students do, when I first came here I was worried that I might experience a kind of alienation as one of the strangers, partly because of my humble English and partly because of my little bit different--or a lot different--faith, different even than the one in my home country.

With

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Administrator) Mon, 09 May 2011 23:15:17 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/362-tiuana-giseok-reflections God is With the People of Japan http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/333-god-is-with-the-people-of-japan God is With the People of Japan

Don't Blame God, Get Busy

On Tuesday, March 15, 2011, the Rev. Dr. JoAnne Marie Terrell offered her Christian Ethics class time to reflect on Japan's natural disaster.

Several students were upset by a video circulating online. In it, a young woman claimed the quake as God's answer to her community's Lenten prayers that atheists know God's power.

Below is the class' response: God is With the People of Japan (or Don't Blame God, Get Busy)


"God is the source of true goodness.  God knows our pain through the suffering Christ and is with us in our brokenness, not apart from it. We believe God is with the people of Japan and with us all. Some are blaming God for this tragedy. 

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Administrator) Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:07:19 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/333-god-is-with-the-people-of-japan Respect Marriage Don't Defend It http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/332-respect-marriage-dont-defend-it Dr. Alice Hunt, PresidentRespect Marriage, Don't Defend It

Rev. Alice Hunt, President of Chicago Theological Seminary

As the Respect for Marriage Act is introduced in the House and Senate today in an effort to repeal DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), the time has come for religious leaders, and all people of faith, to do what we are called to do, to speak the truths of our tradition, to acknowledge that love should be celebrated wherever it is found. I, as a person of faith, a minister, and a biblical scholar, support the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons to marry the people they love.

One of our wonderful students at Chicago Theological Seminary became a mom this fall. Her spouse had a baby, a beautiful little girl who will be loved and cherished in a home marked by

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Administrator) Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:54:29 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/332-respect-marriage-dont-defend-it A Faithful Witness to Revolt http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/321-a-faithful-witness-to-revolt In Wisconsin, a faithful witness to revolt

By Wendy Cooper


protesters inside the Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin on day 3 of what is now being called the "Cheddar Revolution," I was struck by the identification of the crowd with the people of Egypt, despite the stark differences between their circumstances.

The demonstrators in Madison, WI don't look much like the demonstrators in Egypt. They come from the heart of conventional middle class America gathered by the thousands, with a strong sense of elementary school classroom etiquette at work. After all, public school teachers were a major group present. When quiet was needed among the thousands of protesters, fingers went up in the air and magically the classroom technique of bringing

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]]> ayates@ctschicago.edu (Adam Yates) Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:17:05 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/321-a-faithful-witness-to-revolt Remembering in London http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/292-remembering-in-london Remembering in London

Ana & Tod GobledaleBy Ana & Tod Gobledale

On the occasion of Remembrance Day Sunday in the United Kingdom, 14 November 2010, held on the Sunday nearest Armistice Day, 11 November.

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. --Isaiah 2:4b

Imagine these words said with a South London accent: “We didn’t ‘ear a sound. One moment, peace reigned on Greenwich South Street. The next, a ton of ‘igh explosives detonates destroying St. Mark’s Church... The only person killed was the minister’s wife...”

Settling into southeast London this summer we walk around our neighbourhood like kids in a candy shop. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed we take in the sights, smells and sounds. Some streets stand aged and venerable, wearing a patina of timelessness.

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]]> yatesa01@gmail.com (Administrator) Thu, 02 Dec 2010 02:46:31 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/292-remembering-in-london It Gets Better http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/242-it-gets-better It Gets Better

In response to anti-gay bullying, four professors at Chicago Theological Seminary participate in the It Gets Better Project with the following videos below.

 

Other Essays in the Series:

Teen Suicides
Forgive Them
When There is No Peace

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]]> ayates@ctschicago.edu (Adam Yates) Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:18:29 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/242-it-gets-better Teen Suicides http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/237-teen-suicides


The Rev. Dr. Alice Hunt

Other Essays in the Series:
It Gets Better
Forgive Them
When There is No Peace

Teen Suicides

How can we fathom the deaths of Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase and Billy Lucas?  How many more will it take before we come to our senses?  Before we speak?

Many of us, learning of the number of teen suicides recently—teens bullied because of perceptions of sexual identity—find ourselves heart-broken and furious at the same time.  What about Christianity allows for Christians to bully anyone? Nothing! Nothing justifies the horror inflicted on these, and many other, young people.  Christianity does not perpetuate violence.  Being Christ-like does not encourage people to hate themselves, or others.  Being a follower of Jesus means choosing not to remain silent about injustice anywhere.

And the burden of addressing the horror is not on

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]]> ayates@ctschicago.edu (Adam Yates) Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:30:00 GMT http://www.ctschicago.edu/index.php/mnusocialmedia/challenge-and-response/237-teen-suicides