ResoNation Celebrates Sacred World Music

GTU hosted ResoNation: Sacred Sounds Beyond Borders, Berkeley’s first sacred world music festival, on Saturday, September 21. The locally based performers represented musical traditions from across the world, selected by Dr. Eleanor Shapiro, a recent GTU graduate (Dissertation: “The Sound of Change? Performing ‘Jewishness’ in Polish Small Towns”). The following day the performers and other […]
Uriah Y. Kim, Dean (2016-2020), President (2020-Present)

Earning his PhD from the GTU in 2004 and standing as a highly regarded member of the larger religious and theological academy, Dr. Kim was honored as the GTU’s alumnus of the year in 2013 and served as Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs beginning in January 2017. Undergoing an extensive, rigorous, and competitive […]
In Celebration of Tibetan Year 2142: Year of the Wood Sheep

An exhibition of Tibetan art and artifacts from the Sacred World Art Collection, the Northern California Tibetan Community, and the Graduate Theological Union Special Collections was held in the library from February through April. Featured were a full Tibetan Shrine, unique Tibetan objects, and Thankas on loan from Jamyang Lama of the Tibetan Culture House. […]
“Reinhold Niebuhr’s theological anthropology in light of evolutionary biology: Science shaping anthropology shaping ethics” Ph.D. Dissertation by Braden Molhoek
This dissertation argues that when Reinhold Niebuhr’s anthropology is informed by evolutionary biology, the resulting framework provides increased moral significance for relationships of humans with each other and non human creation and reemphasizes humanity’s responsibility as created co-creators. After exploring briefly the life and context of Reinhold Niebuhr, his criticism of his contemporaries’ response to […]
“Unsettling the landscape: representation, appropriation,and indigenous aesthetics in the land art of the American Southwest” Ph.D. Dissertation by Yohana Agra Junker
Abstract: Representation of the landscape have been considered one of the most consequential subjects in Western visual arts for at least five centuries. When artists choose to delineate the landscape in their artistic productions, they participate in the ongoing history of shaping and interpreting our relationship with the physical environment. The way the re-present the […]
Center for Swedenborgian Studies becomes consortial affiliate
The Center for Swedenborgian Studies (CSS) has trained scholars and clergy since 1866. Today it is the official seminary of the Swedenborgian Church of North America, also offering New Religious Movements, Western esotericism, and mysticism studies.
“The Impact of Theological Foundations of Restorative Justice for the Human Rights Protections of North Korean Stateless Women as Victims of Human Trafficking” Ph.D. Dissertation by I Sil Yoon
Abstract: Korean women who reside in China. The human trafficking experienced by stateless women causes moral injury that violates the human rights of the victims, leaving them With physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds. North Korean female refugees residing in China can easily become the target of trafficking by those who attempt to take advantage of […]
Interreligious Chaplaincy Program begins
The Interreligious Chaplaincy Program is designed to equip professionals with the skills and interreligious understanding necessary to offer spiritual care among increasingly diverse populations. This is one of the certificate programs that GTU has developed “toward empowering working professionals to apply the insights of interreligious scholarship to creatively address contemporary needs.”
Diandra Erickson becomes Director of Digital Learning
Diandra Erickson (PhD, 2018) becomes Associate Dean of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment and Lecturer in Course Design and Pedagogy. Already on a path to provide more extensive online learning, GTU’s response to COVID-19 made the process more critical. Erickson led and assisted faculty to an online and hybrid engagement. Other digital learning initiatives continued: increased […]
“”Flesh that dances”: Constructing a womanist liturgical theology of embodiment” Ph.D. Dissertation by Khalia Jelks Williams
Abstract: This dissertation argues that embodied experiences of African American women are crucial consideration for a womanist liturgical theology of embodiment. Through the intersection of womanist theory, dance performance analysis and liturgical theology, this project engages worship in the Black Christian church by interpreting liturgical experiences of African American women through a womanist lens of […]