Education

[1] When my son started thinking earnestly about college, he was pretty sure he wanted to major in biology and environmental science, but his high school studies had also centered around singing and playing the tuba.  I told him, that with a very few exceptions, the best liberal arts schools that, also, offered excellent music […]

[1] When I was first asked to consider contributing an essay to this issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics, I wondered whether—as a fairly new president of an ELCA seminary—I really had much to say that would be new or different from my many colleagues in this work. But then I realized that I […]

[1] In Spring 2021, I taught a course on Lutheranism for the first time in a few years. As with probably every single other institution of higher education, Midland University, where I have taught since 2008, was responding to the COVID-19 epidemic and to the challenges it presented to our students, staff, and faculty.  We […]

[1] Rooted and Open: The Common Calling of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities was adopted on January 4, 2018, as a collective statement about the vocation of Lutheran higher education for ELCA colleges and universities. It is the first statement that frames a Lutheran mission in higher education derived from the ideals of […]

With temperature and humidity pushing into the nineties, the football team broke early for lunch. As players headed over to the cafeteria for lunch, a few hung back. The coach approached, offering to walk with them. “Thanks,” one replied.” “But it’s Ramadan, and we’re fasting.”  When the non-Muslim teammates heard the reason for their absence […]

[1] Over 10,000 youth from 22 countries surveyed by Amnesty International ranked climate change as the most important issue of our time.[1] Teenagers in the United States make the same case.[2] Increasing average temperatures, rising sea levels, extreme weather, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, and mass extinction associated with climate change threaten public health, water supply, […]

Bouquet of Humanity [1] Just minutes after Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd, I logged on to Zoom with a small group of St. Olaf staff and faculty convened by Dr. María Pabón, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion. The purpose of the meeting—scheduled before anyone knew when the verdict would be announced—was […]

These questions are written to spark conversation among readers in small groups or to inspire thoughtful contemplation and reflection for individual readers. Consider your own journey academically and spiritually. Whether you went to parochial or public schools and/or college, how did you see the convergence of your faith commitments and the way you used observation […]

[1] How should ELCA colleges and universities committed to responsible learning form students for a post-COVID-19 world?  Pandemics, says Laura Spinney, illuminate and exacerbate social needs.[1]  Citizens respond in panic.  They quickly forget when plague ends and return to complacency.  Still, pandemics change societies.  They can be an inflection point and even a portal from […]

[1] Martin Luther wrote his Small Catechism after traveling and observing how little of Christian teaching most people knew. Four hundred years later, one of us (Amy) had a Missouri Synod Lutheran grandmother who was not permitted to move from lower to upper Michigan with the rest of her family until she had finished memorizing the Small […]