Do you seek companionship in a practice of silence? Beginning Tuesday, September 3, you are welcome to join the Contemplative Prayer group in the quiet morning beauty for twenty minutes of silent, contemplative prayer, whenever your schedule allows and your heart desires. The Contemplative Prayer gatherings will be held Mondays through Fridays at 7:30am in the Oratory, located in Sherred 3A. The silence will conclude as the Chapel bells call the community to Morning Prayer. Read more...
Author Archives: Jeanne Person
Let Freedom Ring: GTS Chimes in Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
On August 28, 2013, at 3:00 p.m., the Guild of Chimers of General Theological Seminary played a special selection of hymns to mark an occasion of great historical significance, the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington. It was at 3:00 p.m. on that day in 1963 that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Read more...
GTS Digital Formation 2013-14: Webinars, Quick Tips, and Live Twitter Coverage of Lectures
GTS Digital Formation, The General Theological Seminary’s initiative to help clergy and lay leaders throughout The Episcopal Church appreciate the theological foundations and effectiveness of social media and digital technology for gospel proclamation and ministry, is pleased to announce its 2013-14 program. Leading the program will be the Rev. Colin Chapman, GTS ’12, who will serve as Digital Missioner.
The program will include free webinars on various aspects of social media, “quick tip” videos posted on the GTS Digital Formation YouTube channel, and live Twitter coverage of the Seminary’s named lectures in 2013-14, especially those which address topics relating to the Church in the digital age. Read more...
GTS Fall 2013 Courses: Dangerous Christians, Wondering, Wandering, and a Mystery
The General Theological Seminary is now accepting registrations for Fall 2013 courses and especially welcomes General Learners to become part of the Seminary community. Students may pursue compelling and relevant topics, such as the mystery of Jesus’ mission today as the Messiah, bold and dangerous Christian leadership, medieval wandering, the use of digital media in spiritual guidance, the wonder of Jesus’ parables, and the design of churches for common prayer. Read more...
Time, and Times, and Half a Time: St. Michael and the War in Heaven
The Rev. Suzanne Guthrie and her students in the summer course Pretending Bible Stories invite all members of the Seminary community, including children, to Time, and Times, and Half a Time: St. Michael and the War in Heaven, a one-hour experience of Bible play. Come play the story of Michael fighting the dragon, from the Book of Revelation, on Friday, July 19, from 3:30pm to 4:30pm in Seabury Auditorium. Read more...
GTS Welcomes Pilgrims from Clarkesville, Georgia
On June 26, 2013, The General Theological Seminary welcomed a group of high school students from Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville, Georgia, who came to New York City on religious pilgrimage. Led by Jeff Mann, the parish’s Youth and Young Adults Coordinator, the pilgrims wished to see the first seminary of the wider Episcopal Church, of which they are members. Many had never been to New York City before. Read more...
Summer Morning Prayer, 9:00am
Lord, open our lips.
To the General Seminary Community,
After a meaningful two weeks of Morning Prayer with his AT1 summer students, Prof. Clair McPherson plans to continue the Daily Office discipline through the next summer weeks. Please join him for Morning Prayer on weekday mornings at 9:00am, in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. The office will be spoken and casual: no acolytes or sacristans, no processions or vestments. Read more...
GTS Admissions Director Uses Rock Music Talent for Evangelism
Photo: Andrew Ashley
William C. Webster, Director of Admissions at The General Theological Seminary, is a singer and songwriter who is spending part of this summer expanding twelve original rock songs based on the Lord’s Prayer into an hour-long theatrical piece.
The work will debut in the spring of 2014 in Brooklyn with a live performance to be filmed by Long Island filmmaker Max Chance and include an accompanying soundtrack album, which Webster is producing with longtime collaborators Carl Basler (lead guitar) and Jesse Maynard (drums). Read more...
Morning Prayer, Beginning Next Monday, June 10, 9:00 a.m.
To the General Seminary Community,
Have you been missing Morning Prayer in The Chapel of the Good Shepherd? Prof. Clair McPherson and the students of his summer AT1 course will offer Morning Prayer on weekday mornings at 9:00am, beginning next Monday, June 10, for two weeks. The office will be spoken and casual: no acolytes or sacristans, no processions or vestments. Just faithful Christians who wish to hear the Word of God and pray together, in the Anglican tradition. Read more...
Getting to Know You: Prof. Owens Introduces Students to Biblical Hebrew
Prof. Owens shows students a Torah Scroll
In the one-day seminar Shake Hands with Biblical Hebrew held on May 30, the Rev. Dr. Robert J. Owens, Professor of Old Testament at General Seminary, invited students to become acquainted with the ancient language.
The seminar included: basic instruction about the alphabet and grammar of Biblical Hebrew; teaching about the language’s historical context and its relationship to other Ancient Near Eastern languages, such as Akkadian; an introduction to the efforts of Masoretes, Jewish scholars who, beginning around 600 CE, developed a vowel notation system for the ancient language; and thoughtful examples of the translation and meaning of biblical texts. Read more...
GTS to Offer Free Webinar on the Cyrus Cylinder June 18
The Cyrus Cylinder, a small, cylinder-shaped baked clay tablet inscribed with Akkadian cuneiform from the 6th century BCE, is arguably one of the most important texts and objects from the Ancient Near Eastern world. Sometimes called “the first declaration of human rights,” the Cyrus Cylinder, housed at the British Museum, is currently touring museums in the United States, and will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York CIty beginning June 20. Read more...
Wedding: Maria Ball & Zack Cloud
Dearly beloved of the seminary community,
This weekend, the Rev. K. Jeanne Person will celebrate and bless the marriage of Maria Ball and Zack Cloud, neighbors in Chelsea, in The Chapel of the Good Shepherd. The rehearsal will take place beginning at 4:30pm on Friday, and the wedding ceremony begins at 6:00pm on Saturday. Before the ceremony, the Chapel will be open to the wedding florist, photographer and musicians at 4:00pm, and the wedding party will arrive at 4:45pm for photographs. Read more...
General Seminary to Award Three Honorary Degrees at the 2013 Commencement Ceremonies
The General Theological Seminary has announced the next recipients of its Doctor of Divinity degree, honoris causa, to be conferred at the 191st Commencement ceremonies on May 15, 2013. Three distinguished leaders of The Episcopal Church will receive the honorary degree: the Reverend Carol Anderson, the Right Reverend Andrew M. L. Dietsche, and the Right Reverend Dorsey W. M. McConnell.
The Rev. Carol Anderson was ordained a priest in 1977, among the first women so ordained in The Episcopal Church. Read more...
GTS Welcomes Norwegian Scholar to View Rare Papyrus Fragment of 2 Baruch
During the first week in May, The General Theological Seminary was pleased to welcome a Norwegian scholar who came to view one of the treasures of the Christoph Keller, Jr. Library—the only surviving Greek manuscript of 2 Baruch, also known as the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch.
A guest of Dr. Robert Owens, Professor of Old Testament, Dr. Liv Engeborg Lied is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, the largest theological school in Norway. Read more...
A Conversation with James Farwell, GTS ’89 and Former Liturgy Professor
The Rev. Dr. James W. Farwell, M. Div. ’89 and a former liturgy professor at General Seminary, will visit New York City on Thursday, May 16, 2013. You are cordially invited to a conversation with him from 1:00-2:00pm at The Episcopal Diocese of New York’s Donegal Hall, in Diocesan House, located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.
Farwell is the author of The Liturgy Explained, originally published in 1981 and recently released in a updated edition by Morehouse Publishing. Read more...
Gratitude for the GTS Spiritual Directors: Your Gift Helps
This 2012-13 academic year, Barbara Crafton, Louise Litke, Westina Matthews, Nigel Massey, and James Warnke have graciously offered many hours of spiritual direction ministry to students, faculty, staff, and spartners here on the Close. Available to all members of the General Seminary community, the spiritual directors have accompanied you in the spiritual life, as you have grown in prayer and in relationship with God. Their companionship has been a gift from General Seminary to you. Read more...
GTS Professor Clair McPherson Invited to Present New Scholarship on Nilus of Ancyra at International Congress on Medieval Studies
Tradition can be compared to the process of a relay race: the baton must be handed along, the runners must stay within their lanes, but the motion is forever forward. The next runner in the series always covers new ground.
This simile about tradition was devised by Nilus of Ancyra, an ascetic and prolific writer of the early fifth century CE, who is currently the research interest of the Rev. Read more...