Directory

Dwight Friesen, DMin

Professor of Practical Theology
Faculty & Instructional Staff

dfriesen@theseattleschool.edu 206-876-6103

Schedule a Conversation with Professor Friesen

Dr. Dwight J. Friesen [he/they] is passionate to embody faithful presence seeking to follow in the Way of Jesus—personally, communally, and contextually. Dwight’s scholarly work explores how people convene in local communities to cultivate imagination, practices, postures, and narratives that embody God’s shalom. Rooted in real places and real relationships, their work seeks to center shalomic love in ways that can’t help but subvert dominant systems of nationalism, classism, sexism, racism, naturism, and any system or structure that oppresses or divides.

As a practical and public theologian Dwight describes his vocation as “searching for, learning with, and training leaders for the church emerging after Western whiteness Christianity.” Known for beginning his classes with the resonance of a singing bowl and the light of a peace candle, he brings decades of contextual pastoral leadership to The Seattle School. He has served as Pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Bellevue, as community curate of an Eastside emerging simple church for more than a decade, and was formerly ordained by the Christian & Missionary Alliance—credentials he surrendered in solidarity with women pursuing ordination. A liturgical Anabaptist with progressive and emergent sensibilities, Dwight seeks to root his faith in place while linking globally with others embodying faith within their own contexts. Dwight’s theological life invites apophatic and cataphatic traditions to dance together in everyday practice.

Professor Friesen earned his Doctor of Ministry from George Fox University, where his dissertation developed a relational hermeneutic for connective leadership and ecclesial structures. They hold a Master’s degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, where his thesis examined biblical metaphors of community, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies from Ambrose University College in Calgary, Alberta.

In addition to their leadership development work at The Seattle School, Dwight consults with local faith communities and missional organizations seeking a more faithful presence within their neighborhoods. He specializes in helping congregations from diverse traditions reimagine asset stewardship in the development of more sustainable funding models for ministry while serving the common good. Dwight co-founded the Inhabit Conference, serves as a founding board member of Parish Collective, and contributes internationally through Faith for Cities and the Urban Shalom Society in partnership with UN-Habitat. Dwight’s current projects intersect most directly with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals #11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities),#16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), and the Inner Development Goals.

Dwight has served on the National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission, and continues to teach and speak across North America and beyond, engaging leaders in theological education at undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.

He and his partner, Lynette, live in the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue, Washington, where they are joyfully adjusting to life as empty nesters. Learn more at www.dwightfriesen.com.

Courses in Dr. Friesen’s Regular Teaching Rotation

  • Intersections 2: Biblical Traditions & Theological Formations
  • Intersections 3: Textual Integrations
  • Critical Reading Lab
  • Gathering & Becoming: Convening Communities of Faith & Practice
  • Listening & Leading: Spiritual Leadership within Communities of Faith & Practice
  • Contextual Learning Lab
  • Mission & Faithful Presence
  • Triune G-d & Creation: Ecotheology

Books

Published Chapters in Edited Books

Dwight regularly publishes articles, posts, and book reviews, is available for interviews and podcasts, and is open to speaking or facilitating formational learning at conferences, schools, or public events.

25 Books that Shaped Professor Friesen

  1. Prayer, Hans Urs von Balthasar
  2. Letters & Papers from Prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  3. Living Toward a Vision: Biblical Reflections on Shalom, & Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann
  4. I and Thou, Martin Buber
  5. God, Sexuality, & the Self, Sarah Coakley
  6. God of the Oppressed, James H. Cone
  7. Reimagining the Human: Theological Anthropology in Response to Systemic Evil, Eleazar S. Fernandez
  8. Violence & the Sacred, René Girard
  9. The Social God & the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei, Stanley J. Grenz
  10. Love Trilogy, bell hooks
  11. The Death & Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
  12. God’s Being Is in Becoming: The Trinitarian Being of God in the Theology of Karl Barth, Eberhard Jüngel
  13. Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming, Catherine Keller
  14. Why We Can’t Wait, Martin Luther King, Jr.
  15. Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology, Jürgen Moltmann
  16. Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Leslie Newbigin
  17. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, Henri J. M. Nouwen
  18. Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, Mary Oliver
  19. Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy, Michael Polanyi
  20. The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis, John C. Polkinghorne
  21. Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics, Linn Marie Tonstad
  22. Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, Evelyn Underhill
  23. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, & Reconciliation, Miroslav Volf
  24. Who do We Choose to Be? Margeret J. Wheatley
  25. Shalom & the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision, Randy S. Woodley