This month we celebrated the life and mourned the death of longtime faculty member Jim Nestingen, professor emeritus of church history. Jim influenced a generation of pastors, deacons, teachers, and everyday disciples—including, I suspect, many of you. Several of Jim’s former students took time to reach out after his death. Their notes about how his […]

Steve Thomason, associate professor of spiritual formation, is the author of “The Visual Preacher: Proclaiming an Embodied Word,” published by Fortress Press in July 2022. An artist and a rostered minister in the ELCA, Thomason aims to help preachers create and use images that make them better storytellers. Believing that pictures speak differently than words, […]

In these final days of Advent, many of us are frantically finishing holiday preparations—not so much lingering in the light of the Advent hope “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” as rushing headlong toward Christmas and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” This hectic pace has become such a routine part of life. And yet, I […]

Jennifer Wojciechowski, assistant professor of church history, is the author of “Women and the Christian Story: A Global History,” published by Fortress Press in 2022. Spanning two millennia and six continents, the book offers a fresh history of Christianity that foregrounds the story of Christian women. “This is a story about Christian women. It is […]

In this season of Thanksgiving, I am reminded of the psalmist who calls us to “give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 107:1). Today, I give thanks to God for big dreams. Five years ago, we undertook a holy experiment to reimagine theological education for a […]

One of the joys of a Friday morning on campus is the opportunity to gather in chapel to sing favorite hymns in community with one another. One that comes around this time of year is “For All the Saints” (ELW 422). The third verse reads, Oh, blest communion, fellowship divine, we feebly struggle, they in […]