Welcome to GTU Voices, where students, faculty, alumni, staff, and supporters of the Graduate Theological Union share reflections on the academic and cultural life within our diverse GTU community. If you’d like to join the conversation, contact communications@gtu.edu.
April 09, 2019
Learning and Growing in a Liminal Space
"As the son of a first-generation immigrant, I walk a delicate tightrope when it comes to cultural identification: Am I Mexican or American? . . . Liminal space defines a large portion of my identity. Now, interestingly, it is shaping the way I do my work as a biblical scholar."
April 01, 2019
A Country of Contrasts
GTU President Daniel Lehmann reflects on his March 2019 trip to South Korea."I was struck by the extensive institutional infrastructure of the Christian communities in South Korea and the powerful role church communities play in the lives of so many South Korean parishioners . . . . Through its alumni and current students, the GTU is making a powerful impact on Korean religious life."
March 26, 2019
Where Religion and the Arts Converge
"My role as assistant curator at the GTU’s Center for the Arts & Religion (CARe) and Doug Adams Gallery has given me the opportunity to combine my two professional interests: academic museums and the study of religion. This job has been an incredible learning opportunity for me in more ways than I anticipated."
March 11, 2019
Teachable Moments in the GTU Library
"Students need librarians more than ever to help navigate and determine the authority of content, so they are using sources appropriate for graduate-level research. This is my favorite part of my job, using the teachable moments to help students learn how to research, and then seeing them again later as they ask increasingly complicated questions as they grow as scholars.
February 26, 2019
Know Your Why
"When the steering committee for our GTU’s Women’s Studies in Religion Program had its first meeting of Spring 2019, we set aside the majority of our time to talk about our whys: Why Women’s Studies in Religion at the GTU? Why is each of us involved in women’s studies in general? Why offer the Women’s Studies in Religion seminar course for GTU students?" WSR Chair Jennifer Davidson shares some of the responses...
February 11, 2019
Beneath the Tip of the Teaching Iceberg
Sheryl Johnson reflects on her time as a teaching assistant at the GTU: "I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to be a teaching assistant at the GTU. Being a TA is a profound, liminal space between being a student and being a professor."
January 29, 2019
A Crossroads of Interreligious, Interdisciplinary Solutions
"The access to so many fields of study and faculty resources through the member schools and centers of the GTU is truly unparalleled," --Matthew Hartman
January 17, 2019
Building a Sustainable Future
After graduating from schools in Germany (engineering) and Korea (MDiv and ThM), I felt that I should deepen my theological studies on a third continent, by studying in the United States. I had lived in the Bay area previously, and it had always been my goal to come back one day.
January 15, 2019
GTU: The Right Choice
GTU Voices is a new blog where students, faculty, and alumni reflect on their GTU experiences. In this first entry, Laura Dunn reflects on her doctoral work with the GTU's Center for Dharma Studies.