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.
Licensure-Ready Without CACREP Limitations
One of the most common questions we get in the admissions office is: Is The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology CACREP accredited? We are not, nor will we be, but we are fully accredited to set you up for state licensure in most states. We intentionally opted out of CACREP – let us explain! […]
Integrative Project Symposium 2026
The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology hosted the 2026 Integrative Projects & Portfolio Symposium. This is when students from our Master of Arts in Theology & Culture programs shared the projects that served as a capstone of their time in graduate school. Integrative Projects begin with a question that lingers with a student, engaged […]
Alumni Spotlight: Q&A with Jodi Bagge, MACP 2021
Our hope at The Seattle School is to be led by our alumni and their stories–how they labor to live out their calling among the people and communities they serve. Recently we had the opportunity to catch up with Jodi Bagge, MACP 2021, and understand how The Seattle School helped shape her path. How did you […]
Encounter: Reality Exceeds Our Story
There are moments when reality refuses to fit the story we have about it. Someone we thought we understood turns out to be more. We experience something that unsettles our convictions. A moment of beauty catches us unexpectedly and takes our breath away. A loss changes the landscape of our life. A question we thought […]
Listening Lab Common Q&As with Dr. Gadson
Ask almost any Seattle School student or alum about their first year, and Listening Lab is bound to come up. Required for students in both the counseling psychology and theology programs, Listening Lab is where students begin learning the art and skill of embodied listening: first to their own stories, then to the people around […]
A Signature Pedagogy: Listening Lab as a Solution to Fragmentation
At the beginning of every academic year, a phrase stirs throughout the physical halls, virtual classrooms, faculty meetings, and alumni chapters of The Seattle School as new students prepare for one of its most core and storied programmatic features called Listening Lab: This is The Seattle School’s secret sauce. Reverence and nostalgia both informed the […]
Equipping White Folks for Anti-Racist Practice
What does it take to move from talking about anti-racism to building communities where equity, belonging, and meaningful change can happen? Dr. Paul Hoard, PhD, LMHC, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, and Dr. Ron Ruthruff, DMin, Professor of Theology & Culture, explore what it takes for churches, schools, agencies, and other organizations to move beyond […]
Student Spotlight: Q&A with Lindsey Rithner
We are grateful for this conversation with Lindsey Rithner, a student in our Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program. What brought you to The Seattle School and how did you choose your degree program? I was first introduced to The Seattle School because my husband, CJ, attended the on-campus program and graduated in 2020. […]
Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and Psychoanalysis in Practice
This conversation explores Eucontamination as a theological framework for understanding how disgust shapes our inner lives, communities, and responses to difference. Building from their book, Eucontamination: Disgust Theology and the Christian Life, Dr. Paul Hoard and Billie Hoard argue that disgust is not merely an emotional reflex but a formative moment that reveals what we […]
Do You Hear What I Hear? Listening In and To Such Diverse and Polarized Times – Dr. Monique Gadson
During times of deepening polarization, increasing anxiety, and ongoing chaos, it can seem everyone is saying something to no avail. Are we listening to one another? Are we listening for shared values? Understanding of one another? Or are we reacting from our own triggers and concerns? In this webinar, Dr. Gadson discusses how becoming an […]
Beyond Pews and Couches: Finding Care Outside Church and Therapy
What if there is more beyond traditional church and talk therapy models? How do we use the transformative tools of psychology and theology, but also not get stuck in models that lack responsiveness to these times? Theologians, Dwight Friesen and Joel Kiekintveld, join in conversation with psychologist, Paul Hoard, as they explore the question of […]
Keeping Hope Alive in Palestine: Interview with Areej Masoud
Areej is a Palestinian Christian woman from Bethlehem and the founder of Khayari Women’s Leadership and Economic Empowerment Organization. In a September 2025 interview with Dwight Friesen, Professor of Practical Theology at The Seattle School, Areej spoke about. Areej spoke about her experiences having been born and raised under occupation and what it meant to […]