Several years ago, visiting a colleague-friend, I visited the Universalist-founded Tufts University, musing that this was as close as I was ever to get to a formal Universalist education. Crane, the Universalist seminary at Tufts, and St. Lawrence, the Universalist seminary in upstate New York were both closed in the late 1960s because the powers-that-were […]
There’s a thread at MetaFilter entitled “What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople?” It concerns the hard sciences and mathematics in the main, but the same question is fair for the ministry, church administration or even theology.
Not that any one book would be perfect […]
While most Unitarian Universalist ordinands leap to the late Peter Raible’s ordination and installation guide — which has never much impressed me — I contacted W. Scott Axford, the minister of First Universalist Church, Providence. He has a knack for such things and was quite helpful for that day in 1999 when I was ordained […]
Gordon-Conwell, one of the more sensible Evangelical seminaries, has a free online “seminary level” theological education program which can lead to a certificate. Very interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is that it gives unsure learners a better idea if seminary is the right path. Or it fills a need for higher-level […]
After the strong response to my words about debt — and thank you all for replying — I was going to write about the logjam which is ministerial formation in the Unitarian Universalist Association
If you can pay for school, you might not get the needed internship. If you get fellowship, you might never get a […]
I’ve made it to page 43 — but still in the Introduction — in The Parson’s Handbook, with much of the intervening text more concerning with period controversy about the licit use of ancient ceremonial which, however interesting and useful it might be to Anglican liturgists, is of limited utility here.
Then Dearmer writes about how […]
Psst, seminarians, over here. Recently ordained folks, too. I gotta question.
Whatever happened to Aspire? I haven’t a clue and there’s nothing to be found at UUA.org.
Later still. I was blogging like a fiend during GA, only to drag afterwards. I thought I would promote this one entry — the most read and originally published June 21 to the top for reconsideration.
Later. Another fragment came through: the end of the Clarke Wells liturgical element — people were always confusing me for […]
Psst! Theological students, over here.
If I wanted to improve the profile of my seminary — particularly if I’ve heard that it has a soft reputation, a problem with enrollment or that my denomination is about to slice its funding –Â I might want to follow the example of the students of the United Church of […]
I think the earth-crushing Meadville Lombard ad (and its vague prospectus) and the “brown bag controversy” concerning Starr King are going to be eclipsed by proposed phase-out of direct funding to these seminaries. As someone who didn’t go to either — with good reasons — I think the time for student-following funding is long overdue. […]
