Intersections at The Seattle School
Intersections features essays, dialogues, critical engagement, and art from faculty, staff, alumni, students, and other thought leaders. Grounded in the hope of fostering faithful dialogue, we are guided by a commitment to understanding narrative, wrestling with intersections, resisting reactivity, and fostering radical hospitality. With that in mind, we seek to feature work from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. Therefore the opinions expressed on the Intersections blog are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect an official statement regarding the views or opinions of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. If you would like to offer feedback, respond to a piece published here, or offer your own submission, you can email us at submissions@theseattleschool.edu.
A Conversation about Racial Trauma and Resilience with Dr. Howard Stevenson
Am I living my own story, or living someone else’s? -Dr. Howard Stevenson Earlier this year, Dr. J. Derek McNeil sat down for a conversation with one of his life-long friends, Dr. Howard Stevenson, about trauma and resilience, especially as these topics relate to African-American men and boys. Dr. Stevenson is a clinical psychologist who […]
Faculty Friday: Dr. Chelle Stearns
For our next Faculty Friday, we’d like to introduce Dr. Chelle Stearns, Associate Professor of Theology. Dr. Stearns has a PhD in Systematic Theology from University of St. Andrews in Scotland, a Master’s degree in Christian Studies from Regent College, and an undergraduate degree in music from Pacific Lutheran University. Her academic work has focused […]
Practical Resilience in Ministry: A Webinar with Andrea Sielaff
On June 25, Andrea Sielaff, MAC, Researcher for Resilient Leaders Project, hosted a conversation on the need for practices that can help cultivate practical resilience for ministry leaders. This was the final installment of the “Resilience in Crisis” webinar series, created to support, resource, and encourage leaders and practitioners through the pandemic crisis. Andrea interviewed […]
The Liminal Place
We shake with joy, we shake with grief. What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body. –Mary Oliver Being human is complex—especially being human in a body. There are moments in life when the tensions we hold are simply overwhelming, disorienting, and beyond language, like losing someone we […]
Meet the Student Leadership Quad
August is a magical month. Summer has had some time to work its way into us and we have a few weeks remaining in which to savor her good gifts. Here in the Pacific Northwest, these gifts can be found in the golden light of sunsets extending for long hours while we watch from home, […]
Cultivating Anti-Racism through Posture and Proximity
We live in a culture constructed on the scaffolding of systemic racist ideas, the racialization of ethnicity or safely siloed in our own ethnic communities. The murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery; as well as the Make America Great Again anthems, have illuminated where we are in regard to equity and justice. […]
Resilience in the Unknown: An Interview with Artist Scott Erickson
Scott Erickson is a multi-hyphenate artist: a touring painter, co-author of two books, and a performer of autobiographical, multimedia, interactive plays. As Andrea Sielaff, researcher for Resilient Leaders Project at The Seattle School, conducted qualitative interviews about what contributes to resilience in ministry, Scott was identified as an exemplar of resilience by one of his […]
Faculty Friday: Dr. Doug Shirley
Today’s Faculty Friday is an introduction to Dr. Doug Shirley, Assistant Professor of Counseling. Doug previously worked as adjunct faculty at The Seattle School, having taught Practicum I and II, Interpersonal Foundations, and History and Therapeutic Perspectives before becoming core faculty in the Counseling Psychology program. Doug now serves as practicum director, overseeing Listening Lab […]
Meaning-Making at the Intersection of Sacred Texts and Online Learning
We asked Dr. Celene Lillie and Dr. Misty Anne Winzenried, Associate Dean and Teaching & Learning to talk with us about The Seattle School’s first large-scale, fully online course: A New Testament Survey and how the students embraced creativity in their final visual projects. Keep reading to watch two projects from the course, where students […]
An Introduction to Assistant Instructors
Welcome from your Assistant Instructors! We have an excellent team of folks who are looking forward to supporting your learning here during your first year at The Seattle School this year, and beyond. The role of Assistant Instructor (AI) at The Seattle School is somewhat different than what you may have encountered as Teaching Assistants […]
Moving from Passivity to Responsibility to Participate in Justice
When I returned from a week away around the Memorial Day holiday and learned of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police officers, I sat in stunned silence and then I wept. There seems to be no end, no respite from the violence and oppression, no collective awareness, repentance, or change. I was preparing […]
What You Need to Know about Student Lifecycle Groups
Here at The Seattle School, we talk about the Lifecycle of students and alumni. While every practitioner who trains at The Seattle School has their own unique stories and journey through this place, there are some shared rhythms and formational pathways that all students follow through our degree programs. Over time, we have collected data […]