Summer Session 2009 Instructors
Herbert Anderson (PLTS)
Teaching:
PS-4721: Pastoral Care of Dying and Grieving
Death, Humility, and Radical Trust: Ernest Becker Revisited
Michael Bausch (PSR)
Michael Bausch, DMin, adjunct faculty at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and senior minister at Union-Congregational Church (UCC) in Waupun, WI. His publications include Silver Screen, Sacred Story: Using Multimedia in Worship. Teaching:
FT-1100: Using New Media Technologies and Web-Based Resources in Worship
FT-8100: Preaching with Film Clips and Visual Imagery
John Beck (PLTS)
Rev. John H. Beck, PhD, serves as pastor at St. Timothy Lutheran in Portland, OR. He has previously taught at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Northwest House of Studies in Salem, and Wartburg Seminary, and has presented at various conferences. He has been involved in ministry for over 30 years.Teaching:
Enhancing Congregational Resilience: Matthew 18 as Primary Prevention
Jon Berquist (PSR)
Teaching:
OT-3480: Old Testament Theology
Pamela Blotner (CARE)
Pamela Blotner is an artist and educator based in Berkeley, CA. Her mixed-media sculptures and drawings explore mythology, tradition, and belief systems and their intersection with human experience. Blotner taught at the University of Maryland,Tufts University, San Francisco Art Institute, and California College of the Arts before founding the sculpture program at the University of San Francisco in 2001. Both her research and artwork are informed by her experiences as an illustrator/mission specialist on missions for Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights and a as a consultant to the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Blotner is also a member of the faculty of Pixar University of Pixar Animation Studios. She lives and maintains a studio in Berkeley. Her work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia, Africa, and throughout the United States. Teaching:
Representing the Body
Artistic Vision and Social Responsibility
Joanne Braxton (PSR)
Joanne M. Braxton is Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings Professor of English and the Humanities at the College of William and Mary. She is author of Black Women Writing Autobiography: A Tradition Within a Tradition and Sometimes I Think of Maryland, and the editor of The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Wild Women in the Whirlwind, among other works. Teaching:
SPRA-1340: Authority and Presence: The Narratives of Vision and power by African American Women
Sharon Bray (PSR)
Sharon Bray is best known for her innovative work leading expressive writing groups for cancer patients. She is the author of three books: This Way to Canada, a children’s book When Words Heal: Writing Through Cancer, and A Healing Journey: Writing Together Through Breast Cancer; she is also co-editor of the anthology Learning to Live Again, published by the Stanford School of Medicine. She teaches creative writing for the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program and leads a number of writing groups for cancer patients. She makes her home in San Diego. Teaching:
SP-2988: Writing as Healing Ministry
Caryl Casbon (PSR)
Caryl Casbon, an ordained interfaith minister, writer, and speaker who works through the Center for Courage and Renewal creating circles of trust programs nationally and internationally for clergy and lay communities, medical groups, and educational leaders. Caryl also serves as the leadership/curriculum director with the Sacred Art of Living Center for the Anamcara Project and the Sacred Art of Dying programs, international and interfaith educational efforts that address spiritual suffering and transformation at the end of life. Teaching:
FTSP-2410: Leading from Within: Creating circles of Trust
Bob Crocker (PSR)
Teaching:
LS-3140: Queering Liturgy and Music
Dan Damon (CARE)
Dan Damon is an internationally published writer of hymn texts and tunes. He is pastor of First United Methodist Church, Richmond, California. Damon serves as adjunct faculty in church music at the Graduate Theological Union, Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education in Berkeley, California; he also plays piano in clubs in the San Francisco area. He has four published hymn collections: Faith Will Sing, 1993, The Sound of Welcome, 1998, To the Thirsty World, 2002, and Fields of Mercy, 2007. Damon’s hymns have been included in several current denominational hymnals and supplements; he has also done editorial and translation work. Damon has four recordings: Sleepy Time Down South: Solo Piano, 2002, like a child: Songs and Hymns, 2005, Come Away to the Skies, solo piano, 2008, and Traveler Unknown: Carols, Hymns, and Spirituals, 2009. Teaching:
RA-1760: Global Song
Therese DesCamp (PSR)
Rev. Dr. Therese DesCamp is a graduate of PSR (MDiv 1992) and the GTU (PhD 2004). Ordained in the United Church of Christ, she did her doctoral work using cognitive linguistics to analyze biblical texts. She has published one book on cognitive linguistics and Pseudo-Philo, authored multiple academic and popular articles, helped found the SBL section on Cognitive Linguistics and Biblical Studies, and recently completed two chapters for a forth-coming textbook in the field. Her current interest is the intersection between Christian prayer practices and cognition, with an emphasis on reconnecting body, mind, and soul. Together with her husband, Therese runs Heart’s Rest Retreat Centre in New Denver, British Columbia, which specializes in affordable sabbatical stays for ministers and academics. Teaching:
SP-1410: Cognition and Prayer
Wil Gafney (PLTS)
The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney is associate professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. An ordained Episcopal priest, Dr. Gafney is a member of the Dorshei Derekh Reconstructionist Minyan of the Germantown Jewish Centre as well as the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia. Dr. Gafney's series of Bible studies in Genesis was published in the Abingdon Pastor's Bible Study, Volume III, in 2006. Her monograph, Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel and the Peoples' Bible, which she co-edited, are available through Fortress Press. Her essay on transformative teaching practices will be published by the Society of Biblical Literature. Dr. Gafney has also contributed to the Lutheran Study Bible, now available through Fortress. Teaching:
Using the People's Bible in the Parish
David Hagstrom (PSR)
David Hagstrom is a writer, storyteller, and community builder. He received his formal education at Grinnell College, Harvard University, and the University of Illinois. His most important educational experiences occurred as result of his work as a teacher and school leader in the Midwest, the West Coast, and in Alaska. He is currently facilitating retreats for the Center for Courage and Renewal in the Pacific Northwest, and, engaged in a writing project entitled: “We Are All Called To Sing Our True Songs.” David’s home is on a special piece of land in Sisters, Oregon. Teaching:
FTSP-2410: Leading from Within: Creating circles of Trust
Wakoh Shannon Hickey (PSR)
Wakoh Shannon Hickey is assistant professor of religion at Alfred University in New York. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and earned a BA in political science from UC Berkeley in 1986, an MA in Buddhist and Christian studies from Pacific School of Religion (PSR) in 2001, an M.Div. from PSR in 2003, and a Ph.D. in religion from Duke University in 2008. She is an ordained as a priest of Soto Zen, which she has practiced for 25 years. She trained as a chaplain in three Bay Area hospitals and was the Buddhist chaplain for Duke University and Medical Center from 2004-2007. Teaching:
HR-1640: American Buddhisms: An Experiential Introduction
William Hiebert (PLTS)
Teaching:
Preparing for Committed Relationships
Mary Hunt (PSR)
Mary E. Hunt, PhD, is a feminist theologian who is co-founder and co-director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in Silver Spring, MD. A Catholic active in the women-church movement, she lectures and writes on theology and ethics, with particular attention to social justice concerns. She is the editor of A Guide for Women in Religion: Making Your Way from A to Z (Palgrave, 2004) and co-editor, with Patricia Beattie Jung and Radhika Balakrishnan, of Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World’s Religions (Rutgers University Press, 2001). She is the author of Fierce Tenderness: A Feminist Theology of Friendship (Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991), which was awarded the Crossroad Women's Studies Prize. She edited From Woman-Pain to Woman-Vision: Writings in Feminist Theology (Fortress Press, 1989) by Anne McGrew Bennett. Teaching:
STRS-3290: Feminist Readings of LGBT Theologies
Johori Jabir (PSR)
Teaching:
RS-2503: Race, Religion, Sex, and Citizenship
Richard Jensen (PLTS)
Teaching:
HM-4030: Preaching in Our Contemporary Culture
Sally Juarez (CARE)
Teaching:
RALS-1459: Drama in Worship and Ministry
Sam Keen (PLTS)
Sam Keen, PhD, was educated at Harvard and Princeton and was a professor of philosophy and religion at various institutions for 20 years before becoming a contributing editor of Psychology Today, a freelance thinker, lecturer, seminar leader, and consultant. He is the author of a dozen books and co-producer of an award-winning PBS documentary, Faces of the Enemy. His work was the subject of a PBS special Bill Moyers--Your Mythic Journey with Sam Keen. Teaching:
Death, Humility, and Radical Trust: Ernest Becker Revisited
Ai Ra Kim (PSR)
Ai Ra Kim, PhD, is a Fulbright Scholar lecturing at Ewha Woman's University (2003-2004), professor emerita at United Theological Seminary, and 2005 visiting scholar at United Theological Graduate School of Hoseo University, Korea. Kim has served as pastor of several United Methodist churches. Her major work, Women Struggling For A New Life, was published by State University of New York Press in 1996. Teaching:
RASP-1034: Dance and Spirituality
Timothy Koch (PSR)
The Rev. Timothy R. Koch, PhD, is an artist, author, and professor who is finishing up a 12-year pastorate with New Life Metropolitan Community Church in Charlotte, NC. His writings at the intersection of queers and holy scripture have been disseminated, serialized, translated, and vilified, including out-and-out misrepresentations (scurrilous lies) on Wikipedia! Education is a passion, and for Tim this means helping lead students to come out into their voices and power. He will be attending law school in the fall. Teaching:
BSRS-2334: Queering the Bible I: Erotic Knowing and Scripture
BSRS-2335: Queering the Bible: Tools for Justice Making
Robert Kramish (PSR)
Robert Kramish is a doctoral student in biblical studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He has taught courses in biblical languages and literature at the GTU and its member schools, including PSR.Teaching:
BS-1135: Biblical Hebrew I
BS-1136: Biblical Hebrew II
Elena Larssen (CARE)
Teaching:
RAED-1174: The Art of Campus Ministry
Speed Leas (PSR)
Speed Leas, Alban Institute consultant, is a nationally known consultant to religious organizations and an educator of church leaders, including pastors, laity, and church executives. For the last 42 years he has worked full-time as a teacher and consultant to ecclesiastical groups throughout the U.S. and Canada. He has an extensive background as a management consultant to churches and synagogues and has earned a special reputation as an authority on conflict. His experience with conflicted congregations, judicatories, and church agencies places him in a preeminent position in the nation. From this work and his research, he has written eleven books and numerous articles and monographs, and has given hundreds of seminars and lectures. Teaching:
FT-1280: Dealing with Conflict in Congregations
Richard Lindsay (PSR)
Richard Lindsay is a PhD student in Art and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union. Since graduating with an MDiv from Yale University in 2004, he has worked in media relations and communications with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Soulforce, Pacific School of Religion and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, and That All May Freely Serve, a grassroots organization working for full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Richard has preached and led worship at churches and conferences in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky, and California.
Teaching:
RSRA-2000: Pop Goes Religion
Gerardo Marti (PSR)
After 15 years in local church ministry in a variety of settings both domestic and abroad, Dr. Gerardo Marti became deeply engaged in sociological scholarship at the intersection of congregations and social change. An underlying theme in all his published work is a continual wrestling with congregational vitality in the face of social change, including A Mosaic of Believers: Diversity and Innovation in a Multiethnic Work (Indiana, 2005/2009), Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity, and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church (Rutgers, 2008), and Worship Across the Racial Divide: Notions of Race and the Practice of Sacred Music in Multiracial Churches (forthcoming). Dr. Marti received his PhD at the University of Southern California and is the L. Richardson King Assistant Professor of Sociology at Davidson College. Teaching:
Catalyzing Creative Leadership for the Emerging Church
Kevin Massey (PLTS)
Rev. Kevin Massey received a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin in 1987. Rev. Massey completed his Master of Divinity at Luther Seminary in St. Paul Minnesota in 1993. Kevin is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Kevin is a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. Rev. Massey was a trauma chaplain and spiritual care trainer and coordinator with Advocate Health Care in Chicago from 1999-2005. Rev. Massey has worked extensively in the field of Disaster Spiritual Care administration and training with the American Red Cross and Church World Service including service at Ground Zero in the fall of 2001 and 2005 Katrina response. Rev. Massey is Director of Lutheran Disaster Response since 2007.Teaching:
Faith Community Leadership in Disaster Response
Jim Mitulski was pastor of MCC San Francisco for 15 years and is currently a senior executive with the Metropolitan Community Churches. He is an HIV/AIDS activist and a long-term survivor of HIV/AIDS. Teaching:
LS-3140: Queering Liturgy and Music
Donna Schaper (PSR)
Donna Schaper, DMin, is senior minister at Judson Church in NYC and principal of Bricks Without Straw, a consultation service that helps congregations and non-profits raise money, manage themselves with excellence, and do a lot with a little. She was a consultant for the United Church of Christ’s “Still Speaking Initiative” and is author of 18 books, numerous sermons, and presentations. Teaching:
RS-2514: Where Have All the Coffins Gone?
Pat Schneider (PSR)
Pat Schneider, author of nine books, including Writing Alone and With Others (Oxford University Press) and Wake Up Laughing: A Spiritual Autobiography, has pioneered a writing method that has gained international attention, both for its effectiveness in deepening the artistry of the individual writer, and as a way of empowerment for low-income and other under-served populations. www.patschneider.com. Teaching:
RA-3700: Creative Writing Workshop
Jane Strohl (PLTS)
Jane Strohl is the First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Professor in Reformation History and Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. She has been a member of the faculty there since 1996. Professor Strohl holds degrees from Vassar College, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA, and the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. She has served as an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for 30 years. Her recent research focuses on Luther’s spirituality and Luther’s theology of marriage and family life. Teaching:
HSST-3226: Luther and Calvin on Earthly Life and Eschatology
Alicia Vargas (PLTS)
Alicia Vargas currently teaches multicultural and contextual studies and is director of contextual education at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. She was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. She serves the church in various consulting capacities, is a popular speaker on multicultural matters of the church, as a member of diverse groups such as the ELCA Theologians of Color. Dr. Vargas’ most recent publications include “The Construction of Latina Theology” in Currents in Theology and Mission and “Reading Ourselves into the Cross Story: Luther and United States Latinos” in Cross Examinations: Readings on the Meaning of the Cross Today. She is also the author of Introduccion a La Disputacion de Leipzig-Informe de Martin Lutero a Jorge Spalatin en Lutero al habla and the forthcoming Como estudiar la Biblia/How to Study the Bible. Vargas is passionate about her research interests: Latina Christology and Pauline theology and mission of inclusivity. Teaching:
STFT-2250: Ministry with Latino Neighbors