Christmas Eve: a story for your Silent Night

Will this be a silent night?

For most of us, there will be no celebratory church service tonight, no Nativity pageant, no choir... Instead, Christmas Eve will be a quiet evening at home, perhaps far from the ones we love.

At Theological Horizons, we have created something special for this very night: a retelling of the Christmas story by Walter Wangerin with images by several favorite artists. It's our hope that you will take time to read, reflect and rejoice with us, wherever you are. Read our reimagined Christmas Story below. Print out the pdf here; send it on to friends and family. From the Bonhoeffer House to your house, may this Silent Night 2020 be ablaze with the wonder of Christ's coming into the world...

Once upon a time the world was dark, and the land where the people lived was in deep darkness. It was as dark as the night in the daytime. It had been dark for so long that the people had forgotten what the light was like. This is what they did; they lit small candles for themselves and pretended it was day. But the world was a gloomy place, and the people who walked in darkness were lonelier than they knew, and the lonely people were sadder than they could say.

But God was in love with the world.

God looked down from heaven and saw that the earth was stuck, like a clock, at midnight. "No," he said. "This isn't good. It's time to make time tick again. Time, time," said the mighty God, "to turn the earth from night to morning."

And God was in love with the people especially.

He saw their little candlelight, and he pitied their pretending. "They think they see," he said, "but all they see is shadow, and people are frightened by shadows. Poor people!" he said. "They wonder why they are afraid." God watched the people move about like fireflies in the night, and he shook his head. "People, pretending to be happy," he said. "Well, I want them to be happy. It's time," declared the Lord our God. "It's time to do a new thing! I'll shatter their darkness. I will send the sunlight down so they can see and know that they are seeing!"

God so loved the world that he sent his only son into the world itself. And this is how he did it:

Heinrich Vogeler, “Verkuendigung an die Hirten”

And there were shepherds in that same dark country, abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

And God turned to his angel. And God said, “Gabriel.”

And the angel answered, “Yes, Lord?”

And the Lord God said, “Go down. All of the people must know what I am doing. Tired and lonely and scattered and scared, all of the people must hear it. Go, good Gabriel. Go down again. Go tell a few to tell the others, till every child has heard it. Go!”

And so it was that an angel of the Lord appeared to the weary shepherds. Their dark was shattered, for the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.

The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid.”

Reed Damon Lamar, “Don’t Let Nothing Hold You Down”

But the light was like a hard and holy wind, and the shepherds shielded their faces with their arms.

“Hush, said the angel, “hush,” like the west wind. “Shepherds, I bring you good news of great joy, and not only for you but for all of the people. Listen.”

So the shepherds were squinting and blinking, and the shepherds began to listen, but none of them had the courage to talk or to answer a thing.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David,” said the angel, “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly, the sky itself split open, and like the fall of a thousand stars, the light poured down.  There came with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace – Peace to the people with whom he is pleased!”

He Qi “Glory to God”

But hush you shepherds.  Hush in your wonder.  For the choral singing soon was ended.  The host ascended, and the sky was closed again.  And then there came a breeze and a marvelous quiet and the simple dark of the night.  It was just that, no terror in that then.  It was only the night, no deeper gloom than evening.  For not all of the light had gone back to heaven.  The Light of the World himself stayed down on earth and near you now.

And you can talk now.  Try your voices.  Try to speak. Ah, God has given you generous voices, shepherds.  Speak.

So then, this is what the shepherds said to one another:

“Let us,” they said, “go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

So the shepherds got up and ran as fast as they could to the city of Bethlehem, to a particular stable in that city, and in that stable they gazed on one particular baby, lying in a manger.

Bernard Stanley Hoyes “Madonna and Child”

Then, in that moment, everything was fixed in a lambent, memorial light.

For there was the infant, just waking, just lifting his arms to the air and making sucking motions with his mouth. The holy child was hungry. And there was his mother, lying on straw as lovely as the lily and listening to the noises of her child. “Joseph?” she murmured. And there was Joseph, as sturdy as a barn, just bending toward his Mary. “What?” he whispered.

And the shepherds’ eyes were shining for what they saw.

Exactly as though it were morning and not the night, the shepherds went out into the city and began immediately to tell everyone what the angel had said about this child. They left a trail of startled people behind them, as on they went, both glorifying and praising God.

But Mary did not so much as rise that night.  She received the baby from Joseph’s hands, then placed him down at her breast while she lay on her side in straw. With one arm she cradled the infant against her body.  On the other arm, bent at the elbow, she rested her head; and she gazed at her small son sucking. 

Mary lowered her long, black lashes and watched him and loved him and murmured, “Jesus, Jesus” for the baby’s name was Jesus.

“Joseph?” she said without glancing up.

And Joseph said, “What?”

But Mary fell silent and said no more.  She was keeping all these things – all that had happened between the darkness and the light – and pondering them in her heart.

Mveng Engelbert “Holy Angels” mural, Holy Angels Catholic Church, Chicago

Story by Walter Wangerin in Light Upon Light, compiled by Sarah Arthur

Advent 4: HOPE

2020: a Christmas Star in the darkest night

In tomorrow night's sky, the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter will appear as a bright "double planet" for the first time since the Middle Ages! Recalling the Scripture, “The star which they had seen in the East went before them,” 17th century astronomer Johannes Kepler calculated that a similar conjunction happened shortly before the birth of Jesus. Our 2020 "Christmas Star" blazes out into the solstice sky: the longest night of the northern hemisphere. What weary heart won't feel a thrill of hope? Learn more and then head outside!

Beloved writer Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) writes this as she stargazes from her New York apartment window during Advent:

“When I think of the incredible, incomprehensible sweep of creation above me, I have the strange reaction of feeling fully alive. Rather than feeling lost and unimportant and meaningless, set against galaxies which go beyond the reach of the furthest telescopes, I feel that my life has meaning..I feel a soaring in my heart that the God who could create all this—and out of nothing—can still count the hairs of my head.”

On this 4th final Sunday of Advent, may our selection of Madeleine L'Engle poems add rich meaning to your own stargazing.

"The Glory"

Without any rhyme without any reason

my heart lifts to light in this bleak season

Believer and wanderer caught by salvation

stumbler and blunderer into Creation

In this cold blight where marrow is frozen

it it God's time my heart has chosen

In paradox and story parable and laughter

find I the glory here in hereafter.

(Madeleine L'Engle)

"The Risk of Christmas, 1973"

This is no time for a child to be born,

With the earth betrayed by war and hate

And a comet slashing the sky to warn

That time runs out

and the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,

In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;

Honor and truth were trampled by scorn--

Yet here did the Savior make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?

The inn is full on the planet earth,

And by a comet the sky is torn--

Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

(Madeleine L'Engle)

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices!

Primitive people used to watch the sun drop lower on the horizon in great terror, afraid that one day it was going to go so low that it would never rise again; they would be left in unremitting night.

Somewhere in the depths of our unconsciousness we share that primordial fear, and when there is the first indication that the days are going to lengthen, our hearts, too lift with relief. The end has not come: JOY! The night is far spent. The day is at hand. (Madeleine L'Engle)

Advent 3: Prepare

Alfred Delp (1907-1945) was a German pastor, an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime who was tortured, imprisoned, and executed. While in prison, Father Delp wrote meditations on Advent, texts that were smuggled out and shared among friends and parishioners.

The grave danger of wartime, that sense that the "end" was imminent -- the end of his own life, the lives of loved ones, the longed for end of the war -- heightened the urgency of his Advent message: "Because we mean so much to God, no external distress can rob us of this ultimate consolation."

Delp writes,“We should not come to Christmas as if we do not live in the year 1942. The year must be redeemed along with everything else." How may you and I prepare for Christmas in our own difficult year: 2020? Can we turn our aching, anxious hearts toward the One who comes?

Hear Alfred Delp's words today: Space is still filled with the noise of destruction and annihilation, the shouts of self-assurance and arrogance, the weeping of despair and helplessness. But just beyond the horizons the eternal realities stand silent in their age-old longing. There shines on us the first mild light of the radiant fulfillment to come.

It is all far off still, and only just announced and foretold. But it is happening. This is today. And tomorrow the angels will tell what has happened with loud rejoicing voices, and we shall know it and be glad...

---

“It was not suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world. He came into a world that had been prepared for him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation…Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of his time, did Jesus come.” (Phillips Brooks, 1835-1893)

"Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world."

Face to face with our limits,

Blinking before the frightful

Stare of our frailty,

Promise rises

Like a posse of clever maids

Who do not fear the dark

Because their readiness

Lights the search.

Their oil

Becomes the measure of their love,

Their ability to wait—

An indication of their

Capacity to trust and take a chance.

Without the caution or predictability

Of knowing day or hour,

They fall back on that only

Of which they can be sure:

Love precedes them,

Before it

No door will ever close.

(Thomas J. O’Gorman)

Keep your lamp trimmed and a-burning,

Keep your lamp trimmed and a-burning,

Keep your lamp trimmed and a-burning,

Oh, see what the Lord has done.

Sister don't get worried, for the work is almost done.

Brother don't get worried, for the work is almost done.

Elder don't get worried, for the work is almost done.

Heaven's journey, is almost over, see what the Lord has done.

(Blind Willie Johnson,1897-1945)

---

Therefore, deep down, we are the people who are comforted and we are the last refuge for the homeless people who do not know anything about the Lord anymore. May we know about the indisputable fact of this Child and not let ourselves be disconcerted, not even by our own great un-freedom.

"The goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior is appearing." May we impart that goodness. May we attend to humanity again, and witness to the Lordship of God again, and know of His grace and mercy, and have gentle hands for other people again. (Alfred Delp)

Interview with Goodwin Prize winner, Tim Shriver

What inspired you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?  

Before coming to UVA, I spent about three years leading the Jesuit Volunteer Corps where I became fascinated with the intersection of faith and justice. When I was ready to return to the classroom, I decided the best way to further pursue that curiosity would be a joint degree in religious studies and law. UVA's religious studies department gave me the flexibility to pursue these degrees together and it offered a wealth of professors conducting research in this area, too. 

What do you hope to do with your degree? 

Currently, I am completing my degree in religious studies while in my second year of law school. So, I still have some time in school on the horizon. When I finish, I hope to pursue civil rights law. My paper chronicled the theological work of civil rights hero, Fannie Lou Hamer. So much of what she struggled for half a century ago— voting rights, economic justice, racial justice—still needs to be struggled for today.

Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life? 

I loved writing on Fannie Lou Hamer because she is, for me, both a fascinating subject for scholarship and a personally inspiring example of faith in action. Pouring over her words and listening to the recordings of her speeches and songs simultaneously constituted prayer and research. My master's thesis, which I wrote six months after this paper, further focused on her uniquely theological leadership and the role of anger in her witness. Her anger and how she channeled it was a pressing intellectual issue given the overwhelming anger in our society and the need to find models who can guide us through anger. But it also was a personal teacher to me as I struggle with what to do with my own anger at the brokenness of the world. So, that's just one example of how my research on Hamer bridged the gap between my personal faith life and my intellectual work. 

How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background? 

If you've heard of Fannie Lou Hamer, you probably know her as a fearless civil rights leader. And while most people understand that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was grounded in the Black Church, far less attention has been given to the specific theology of various leaders, and particularly to Hamer. Using her songs, speeches, and the unexpected parallel of 14th century Christian mystic Julian of Norwich, I argue that Hamer's informal but robust theological training gave her a unique capacity to syncretize seemingly contradictory notions of defeat and victory, pain and joy, death and birth. And I conclude that her unique theological contributions and expression demand that she be remembered not just as an activist but as a great contemplative of the Christian tradition.  

How might this award make a difference in your life? 

This award has encouraged me to make time to write more and to consider further research and scholarship. It has also reminded me why I pursued a joint degree and why my religious studies graduate work is so important to me. In the rush of law school, it can be easy to forget!

How do you spend your time when you are not studying? 

I spend most of my time with my wife, Tamara, my two-year-old son, Francis, and our dog, Finn. We try to spend as much time outdoors as we possibly can, enjoying the natural wonders of the greater Charlottesville area.

Any other comments? 

Thank you to the Theological Horizons community for this award and for all the work you do to invite us all into a life of faith in action. 

Advent 2: WATCH

Christina Rossetti knew the pain of long watching. Her poem, "Advent," opens:

This Advent moon shines cold and clear. These Advent nights are long;
Our lamps have burned year after year, and still their flame is strong.
"Watchman, what of the night?" we cry, heart-sick with hope deferred:
"No speaking signs are in the sky," is still the watchman's word….

Born in 1830, Rossetti lived with depression throughout her life. Perhaps you, like her, peer into the deep winter dark, watching for some sign of hope, some sign of life, some sign of Christ's presence in these long Advent nights. May these brief words spark the light of hope in you. May you continue to keep watch.

PDF OF THIS ADVENT 2 READING

LISTEN TO OUR ADVENT PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY

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You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.” Romans 13:11-12

Be attentive to the times of the day. We live in the fullness of time. Every moment is God’s own good time. (marker in the Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul in Llandaff, Wales)

John Bowring: Watchman, tell us of the night, what its signs of promise are.

Traveler, o’er yon mountain’s height, see that glory-beaming star.

Watchman, does its beauteous ray aught of joy or hope foretell?

Traveler, yes; it brings the day, promised day of Israel.

Jan L. Richardson: THE SEASON of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… .What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God's back fade in the distance.

So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon. Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas

Eugene Peterson “Wonder keeps us open-eyed, expectant, alive to life that is always more than we can account for, that always exceeds our calculations, that is always beyond anything we can make.”

Joan Chittister Advent is the season that teaches us to wait for what is beyond the obvious. It trains us to see what is behind the apparent. Advent makes us look for God in all the places we have, until now, ignored….The process of finding God in the small things of life is as profound as it is simple.

Advent is about learning to wait. It is about not having to know exactly what is coming tomorrow, only that whatever it is, it is the essence of sanctification for us. Every piece of it, some hard, some uplifting, is a sign of the work of God alive in us. We are becoming as we go. We learn in Advent to stay in the present, knowing only the present well lived can possibly lead us to the fullness of life.

We all want something more. Advent asks the question, what is it for which you are spending your life? What is the star you are following now? And where is that star in its present radiance in your life leading you? Is it a place that is really comprehensive enough to equal the breadth of the human soul? The Liturgical Year

Dietrich Bonhoeffer It is God, the Lord and Creator of all things, who becomes so small here, comes to us in a little corner of the world, unremarkable and hidden away, who wants to meet us and be among us as a helpless, defenseless child.

John Henry, Cardinal Newman Lead, Kindly light, amid the circling gloom, Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home—Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene,--one step enough for me.

Thomas Merton If we really want prayer, we’ll have to give it time. We must slow down to a human tempo and we’ll begin to have time to listen. And as soon as we listen to what’s going on, things will begin to take shape by themselves. But for this we have to experience time in a new way.

One of the best things for me when I went to the hermitage was being attentive to the times of the day: when the birds began to sing, and the deer came out of the morning fog, and the sun came up – while in the monastery, summer or winter, Lauds is at the same hour. The reason why we don’t take time is a feeling that we have to keep moving. This is a real sickness. Today time is commodity, and for each one of us time is mortgaged. We experience time as unlimited indebtedness. We are sharecroppers of time. We are threatened by a chain reaction: overwork–overstimulation–overcompensation–overkill.

We must approach the whole idea of time in a new way. We are free to love. And you must get free from all imaginary claims. We live in the fullness of time. Every moment is God’s own good time, his kairos. The whole thing boils down to giving ourselves in prayer a chance to realize that we have what we seek. We don’t have to rush after it. It is there all the time, and if we give it time it will make itself known to us.

Caryll Houselander How small and gentle his coming was. He came as an infant. The night in which he came was noisy and crowded; it is unlikely that, in the traffic and travelers to Bethlehem, the tiny wail of the newly born could be heard. God approaches gently, often secretly, always in love, never through violence and fear. He comes to us, as God has told us, in those whom we know in our own lives.

Very often we do not recognize God. God comes in many people we do not like, in all who need what we can give, in all who have something to give us; and for our great comfort. God comes in those we love. In our fathers and mothers, our brothers and sisters, our friends and our children…. The Passion of the Infant Christ

Howard Thurman Christmas Is Waiting to be Born

Where refugees seek deliverance that never comes

And the heart consumes itself as if it would live,

Where children age before their time

And life wears down the edges of the mind,

Where the old man sits with mind grown cold,

While bones and sinew, blood and cell, go slowly down to death,

Where fear companions each day’s life,

And Perfect Love seems long delayed.

CHRISTMAS IS WAITING TO BE BORN:

In you, in me, in all mankind.

The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations (1985)

“Advent” by Christina Rossetti

This Advent moon shines cold and clear,

These Advent nights are long;

Our lamps have burned year after year,

And still their flame is strong.

"Watchman, what of the night?" we cry,

Heart-sick with hope deferred:

"No speaking signs are in the sky,"

Is still the watchman's word.

The Porter watches at the gate,

The servants watch within;

The watch is long betimes and late,

The prize is slow to win.

"Watchman, what of the night?" but still

His answer sounds the same:

"No daybreak tops the utmost hill,

Nor pale our lamps of flame."

One to another hear them speak,

The patient virgins wise:

"Surely He is not far to seek,"--

"All night we watch and rise."

"The days are evil looking back,

The coming days are dim;

Yet count we not His promise slack,

But watch and wait for Him."

One with another, soul with soul,

They kindle fire from fire:

"Friends watch us who have touched the goal."

"They urge us, come up higher."

"With them shall rest our waysore feet,

With them is built our home,

With Christ." "They sweet, but He most sweet,

Sweeter than honeycomb."

There no more parting, no more pain,

The distant ones brought near,

The lost so long are found again,

Long lost but longer dear:

Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard,

Nor heart conceived that rest,

With them our good things long deferred,

With Jesus Christ our Best.

We weep because the night is long,

We laugh, for day shall rise,

We sing a slow contented song

And knock at Paradise.

Weeping we hold Him fast Who wept

For us,--we hold Him fast;

And will not let Him go except

He bless us first or last.

Weeping we hold Him fast to-night;

We will not let Him go

Till daybreak smite our wearied sight,

And summer smite the snow:

Then figs shall bud, and dove with dove

Shall coo the livelong day;

Then He shall say, "Arise, My love,

My fair one, come away."

On Belief by Horizons Fellow Jonathan Buchinsky ('21)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly - Jesus speaking to the Jews. 1

I came across this verse a few years ago and it quickly captivated me. Deep down I’ve always known that Jesus provides this abundant life, but I’ve also noticed that many of my actions don’t reflect that belief. Anytime I forget that God’s plans are perfect and I flee from His hand in my life, deep down it is because I believe that my initiative, my actions, my agency are sufficient to guarantee this abundant life on my own. Not only is this ultimately fruitless as moments of hedonism leave me unfulfilled, but also these thoughts cheapen the sacrifice of the cross. Whether I accept this reality or not, my attempt to ensure the abundant life for myself is, at its core, a statement that I don’t trust that Jesus’s perfect sacrifice is sufficient. Who am I to make this foolish claim? 

Thank goodness that the cross covers all. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” is the promise, and the death and resurrection of Jesus is the culmination of that promise. 2

So what does that mean? Where is this abundant life? John 3:16 promises it for “whoever believes in him.” Belief in the omnipotence and perfect nature of God is the foundation upon which all else rests. However, even the demons believe this. Even the evil forces in the spiritual realm recognize the Lordship of God. James the brother of Jesus writes “Even the demons believe—and shudder!”3 I have no interest in experiencing faith in the same way that the Devil does. Therefore it seems to follow that I am called to more as a Christian. Where this belief leads then is the question. 

When Jesus reveals himself as the Son of Man to the blind man in John 9, the man’s actions were striking. “He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him.”4 Belief leads to worship, and in the Bible that ranges from Job shaving his head and tearing his robe, King David dancing in the streets, and incredible other examples of expressive, verbal, and other acts of thankfulness for our Heavenly Father. 5,6

In my life, I have felt more and more convicted to bring worship into the mundane. I am inspired by Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth-century French Monk whose letters and conversations were compiled into a great little book titled The Practice of the Presence of God. He believed that “our only business was to love and delight ourselves in God” and to this end, he thought that “it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other times.”7,8 His richest times with the Lord occurred while washing dishes at the monastery — inviting God into his time of service to others. Similarly, I wonder how I can offer my current and future occupations, my relational times with others, my meals, exercise, rest, travel, and all the rest of it up to the Lord as worship. I can trust God to use these things for my good and His glory, and I trust in His eternal grace to fill in the cracks of my unbelief, and to bring the abundant life that only He can provide. 

1. John 10:10 ESV

2. Matthew 28:20 ESV

3. James 2:19b ESV

4. John 9:38 ESV

5. Job 1:20 ESV

6. 2 Samuel 6:14 ESV

7. The Practice of the Presence of God p. 21

8. The Practice of the Presence of God p. 26

Advent 1: WAIT

What are you waiting for? For the chance to be with family again? For a Covid vaccine? For a job offer?  For schools to re-open?  We are all learning, painfully, what it means to wait.

This Advent is a time of longing, a season of expectation and ancient yearning for the fulfillment of God's promise. As another Christian year begins today, we prepare once again for Christ's eternal coming among us.  We wait for the moment when heaven comes to earth, announced by angels above. We wait for the moment when heaven is born in our midst, infusing our tired, sad world with fresh, life. We wait for our Redeemer.

Welcome to this journey through the four Sundays of Advent. Today we wait. Then we will watch. We will prepare. We will hope. We will rejoice.

--from all of us at Theological Horizons | www.theologicalhorizons.org

WAITING FOR GOD by Henri Nouwen

CLICK HERE FOR THE READING

Most of us consider waiting a waste of time, an awful desert between where we are and where we want to go. Waiting is even more difficult because we are so fearful. We are afraid—afraid of inner feelings, afraid of other people, afraid of the future. We have a hard time waiting because want to get away from where we are.

All the figures who appear on the first pages of Luke’s gospel are waiting. Zechariah and Elizabeth are waiting. Mary is waiting. Simeon and Anna are waiting. And right at the beginning these waiting people hear the words, “Do not be afraid. I have something good to say to you.” They receive a promise that allows them to wait, to be attentive, to live expectantly.

READ MORE

THANKSGIVING 2020: to choose gratitude

for simple gifts

As the semester ends, we thank God for the fall's daily blessings: for a sunny day & lunch in the grass; for melting s'mores & a warm cafe blanket; for mountain views at a Fellows' retreat; for the presence of one another, whether physical or virtual. Simple gifts found amidst the griefs of this time.

We send you our thanks, too: for walking through these days with us, for praying for us, no matter where you are.  Now savor the words of Horizons friends Corey Widmer & Diana Butler Bass (with thanks to Corey & Diana for permission!). We've created this printable pdf just for you! 

*** CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE THANKSGIVING 2020 MEDITATION & TABLE PRAYER ***

“All of life is grace” a meditation by Corey Widmer, lead pastor, Third Church Richmond

"be thankful." I always considered gratefulness as something that happened to you when a happy, positive circumstance occurred. But Paul suggests exactly the opposite: the discipline of gratitude in the midst of any circumstance leads to joy. It is not a happy person who is grateful --- it is the grateful person who is happy, whose eyes are open to the abundance of things.

So how has this changed my life?

Read all of Corey Widmer's reflection...

A table prayer by Diana Butler Bass, author & commentator

God, there are days when we do not feel grateful. When we are anxious or angry. When we feel alone. When we do not understand what it happening in the world or with our neighbors. When the news is bleak, confusing. God, we struggle to feel grateful. But this Thanksgiving, we choose gratitude.

We choose to accept life as a gift from you, and as a gift from the unfolding work of all creation.

Read all of this prayer from Diana Butler Bass... Discover Diana's book, Grateful

Reflections by Horizons Fellow Sophia Van Horn ('21)

St. Martha is stalking me and I’m not too upset about it.

Over the past two months, she has made her presence known and has showed me that she is not going to leave my side for a while. One week in September, I got caught up in all of the “doing” and “serving”. I had a particularly long day in the kitchen, cooking meals for my best friend Cora’s birthday. She deserves only the best, so the day called for a big breakfast and her dinner of choice—spaghetti and meatballs. I’ll spare you the details, but imagine 80 handmade meatballs, two Dutch ovens of sauce which simmer for 3 hours. It seemed like enough food to feed an army. I felt like Martha. I was rushing between class and the kitchen, wanting to serve only the best for Cora. I was so carried away with the tasks of the homemaking that I neglected to sit down with her, to be with her. Does this sound familiar? 

If you read the gospel passage Luke 10:38-42, you can see some stark differences between sisters Mary and Martha. They are on two sides of a spectrum, Mary is the contemplative sister and Martha is the active sister. Jesus is visiting the women and Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, gazing into eyes of Christ, completely enamored by his presence. Martha, on the other hand, sees a need to serve. She wants to pretty up the house, make Jesus the best meal, and cater to His every need. She so famously says, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me!” And what does Christ do? He rebukes her. He tells her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

This seems like a slap in the face to Martha, who has tried to do it all. She has tried to please Christ, but all he is calling her to do is to sit and rest with Him. Perhaps we too fall into that trap. Perhaps we see everything that should get done and put it upon ourselves to complete the tasks right then and there. Christ calls us to slow down.

For all the Martha-like people who are reading this, have hope! We cannot all be like Mary and that is a good thing. We should rejoice in our Martha-ness. By our service, we leave space for Mary to adore Christ. We do the things to give an opportunity to Marys to be Marys. Notice, also how Martha was “burdened”. Christ calls us all to give our heavy burdens to him, to take on his yoke. Matthew 11:30 reads, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Our burdens can unite us closer to Christ, who has compassion for us and our sufferings.

Still not convinced? Turn to John 11:17-37. Lazarus has just died, and the sisters are mourning. Mary has locked herself in the house, but where is Martha? She is running through the streets to find Christ. She does not even know if he has entered into the city walls and yet, she is running to Him. Martha runs to the feet of Christ and perhaps we can too. Let’s run to Him, and let us gaze into His eyes.

Check out all the times I can recall the story of Mary and Martha coming up in my life:

1.     I called Father Joseph-Anthony Kress, O.P. who is the chaplain to Catholic Hoos to have him preach to me about my Martha-ness. He spoke truth into my heart.

2.     I went to daily Mass and noticed a lack of ushers, so I asked Fr. Joseph-Anthony if I should help. He said, “I’m going to let you sit and be a Mary for a hot second.”

3.     The Gospel passage the following Tuesday was the story of Mary and Martha.

4.     I was in discipleship with some of my girls, and Meaghan said that the Gospel from Tuesday really hit her. See above, it was Mary and Martha. So, we talked about Mary and Martha.

5.     One of the girls in my Bible study brought up how she has felt like a Martha.

6.     One of our FOCUS missionaries led some of the ladies in an Ignatian Meditation on Mary and Martha.

7.     I took a brief retreat and the room I stayed in was called the St. Martha Room.

Reflections by Horizons Fellow Walter Sharon '21

If this current moment has primed us for anything, perhaps it is reflection. The past seven months have certainly taken more than they have given, but one small offering has been the unavoidable chance (or impetus) to think deeply, critically, and maybe even exhaustingly about our social and existential realities. As students in our last year of undergraduate education, add to this cocktail of philosophizing a healthy dosage of vocational angst, or the simple but repetitive panic caused by wondering what comes next in a world that struggles to understand its present.

I have found that there are two fundamental ways to think about vocation, and they are unsurprisingly quite dissimilar. On the one hand, you can discuss your job aspirations with anyone ranging from your therapist to your Uber driver, although these conversations only break the surface of an existential kiddie pool by comparing notes with little vulnerability and little consequence. At the other end of the spectrum lies an olympic-sized swimming pool of purpose-questioning and long-term consternation, a deep abyss into which we all know we must dive yet do our darndest to avoid. This polarization of approach, of course, renders intentional introspection a practice in measured investment: how deeply do we want to think and at what cost? What is the best way to swim through this metaphor?

There is something to be said about striking a balance between reflecting too much or too little, and unfortunately I do not know what that something is. However, for the sake of this ignorance and a quiet break from the deafening circulation of our own thoughts, with gratitude I remember that a lot of other people have thought about vocation before us. As Horizons Fellows, we get the chance to engage with a wide swath of individual philosophies on life, faith, and vocation, presenting a respite and a lesson on where to begin to approach a moment such as this. We read Patrick Reyes’s belief in the importance of life as the most fundamental calling; we approached Kate Harris’s hopeful connection between Christ’s incarnation and the reality of vocational flexibility; we listened to Kate Bowler’s testimony to the fallibility of prosperity gospel and the resilience of a faith rooted in the unknowable.

What, then, is our calling for the present? Is it to give up and give in to our ongoing apocalypse, or rather to wrestle in our current mud pile? Reverend Bill Haley and Patrick Reyes both remind us of the significant truth that our vocation is far simpler and deeper than we might expect, for it is not an attachment of ourselves to a certain understanding of what’s next but rather a full investment in and awareness of the glory of our present. What if our calling is to live now? What if it is to love today? What if purpose is not about what is next, but simply what is?

It is difficult if not outright futile to predict the next few months and years for those of us approaching our final months as students, but despite the benevolent pressures from career fairs and loved ones alike, our plans are not fully our own. If this is one of the few revelations worth keeping from this ordeal understood as 2020, then let the reminder of our sanctified present and a faith in the rest be most present in our ordained, ordinary walk.

image: original painting by Walter Sharon of the Blue Ridge mountains.

Interview with Goodwin Prize winner, Abraham Wu

A $1,000 prize has been awarded to Abraham Wu (Regent College, Vancouver) for the essay, “In Loving Memory: Applying a Theological Anthropology of Trinitarian Personhood to the Problem of Memory Loss.”

Abstract: How should we understand the implications that memory loss has for human personhood? If memory is wholly constitutive for personhood, then human personhood seems imperiled for those suffering from diseases such as dementia. This paper will argue that while memory is indeed constitutive of personhood, it is not wholly constitutive. Instead, this paper will put forward a theological anthropology that seeks to humbly understand human personhood by viewing the human reality from the perspective of an understanding of God. This paper starts from the imago Dei and imago trinitatis in order to understand human beings as "persons-in-relation." This means that one is not merely self-constructed by memory but is also constituted by their relationships with others and—ultimately—in relationship to the God who does not forget (Is. 49:15).

What inspired you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?  

To be perfectly honest, it came about as a surprise! While I have always been interested in theology—in thinking, describing, and living in relation to the God who is “above all, through all, and in all” (Eph. 4:6)—I have not always felt called to formally study it.

I originally studied economics and political science and worked in consulting before answering a call to pastoral ministry, which led me to Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. It was during my studies at Regent that I began to see how expansive and interconnected theological study is, and how faith and study go hand-in-hand for fostering joyful faithfulness to Christ and forming Christlikeness. Studying theology has been such a gift that has formed me to know God’s love and participate in it. I have yet to tire of seeking to know God and His world—and I expect that will never change.

What do you hope to do with your degree? 

I currently help oversee spiritual formation at a local church and one of my favorite tasks has been writing and teaching an Old Testament and New Testament overview course. In many ways, what I hope to eventually do with my degree is simply more of what I do now: to pastor, teach, and write for the well-being of God’s people and God’s world.

Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life? 

It is hard not to see connections when thinking about God, “from whom, through whom, and for whom” are all things (Rom. 11:36). This leads me to see my life, intellectual work, and faith as being deeply interrelated since the source, means, and goal of all these things is God. Moreover, I think this also means that faithful and rigorous intellectual work involves one’s life and asks about how one inhabits God’s world—we cannot divorce faith, life, and work. Indeed, the more we are “in relation” to God via participation in Christ and in relation to others, the more we are truly ourselves. For example, this paper arose from pastoral concerns about dementia and disability, and aspects of my life (i.e. both my wife’s family and mine have family members who suffered from dementia). So, this paper was an attempt to “do theology” while integrating my faith and life, with each aspect informing and enhancing the other. 

How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background? 

Essentially, the paper is about what it means to be a person and how personhood can be clarified in the face of a crisis like memory loss. We may think about memory as basically being wholly constitutive of a person. So, if a person lost their memory, we might risk thinking that this person had “lost their minds” or “lost themselves” and is “gone”. If this were true, it would be very troubling considering that approximately 50 million people, worldwide, suffer from dementia. I argue that the aforementioned account of personhood is problematic since it basically sees persons as self-engendered and self-enclosed beings. Rather, a Christian vision of personhood must be theologically re-described with reference to the triune God—in whose image humanity is made (Gen. 1:26-27).

For example, in Augustine of Hippo’s account of the Trinity and the mind in On the Trinity, he argues that a person can possess faculties like memory, but not be wholly constituted by them—since memory, along with intellect and will, are analogies of the Trinity. This Augustinian account relates to the belief that humans bear God’s triune image—suggesting that a theological account of memory should lead to a consideration of what it means for human beings to bear God’s image. Something significant about being made in God’s image is that God’s being is relational—the divine persons are constituted and distinguished in relation to one another. Therefore, as image-bearers of the Trinity, we can understand human beings as also being fundamentally relational; we are analogously constituted and distinguished in relation—ultimately to God and then, penultimately, to others.

The significance of this vision of relatedness, which humans participate in through Christ, is that it re-defines personhood as not being contingent on one’s faculties, but as being anchored in relationship to God and others. This means that even if one loses their memory, their personhood is not destroyed since it is held by God and those they are in relation to.

For example, I am a husband and a son because of my relationships with my wife and parents. Even if I forgot this, my relationships (and my personhood) are still not destroyed as my wife and parents (and others) would still know me. This can allow for the possibility of those suffering from dementia to be “re-membered” by the loving relationships surrounding them. Moreover, it means that those suffering from dementia are ultimately remembered and sustained by God, who does not forget those whom He loves (Is. 49:15).

How might this award make a difference in your life?  

I am very grateful for this award; it is an incredible honor and encouragement that has helped me discern what I might do after this degree. This award also helps our family with practical, financial matters and less practical ones (e.g. buying more books).

How do you spend your time when you are not studying? 

When I am not studying, I enjoy reading, listening to podcasts, spending time with friends and family, cycling, and playing basketball. As I already mentioned, I also help oversee spiritual formation at our local church and it is a joy for me to walk alongside our congregation as we grow in becoming more like Christ. 

Any other comments? 

First, my fondest thanks and gratitude goes to my wife, Fiona, and our family—for their love, patience, support, and for teaching me what relating well to God and others looks like. I am also extremely grateful for the faculty, staff, and students at Regent College, which is an incredible, formative community where I learned how faith and rigorous academics can be integrated to foster a joyful commitment to Christ, His church, and His world. Again, my gratitude and thanks go to the entire Theological Horizons team for administering and awarding this prize, and to Mr. & Mrs. Frank Garrett Louthan III for generously funding this prize. Finally, I want to share my gratitude for my church, Tenth Church, with whom I worship, serve, and hope.

Interview with Goodwin Prize winner, Rachael Griggs

Congrats to Rachael K. Griggs (University of Dayton) for the essay, “Becoming Pro-Mysterion: Embracing a Future of Mercy for All in Romans 11.”

Abstract: This essay presents an exegesis of Paul’s allegory of the olive tree (Romans 11) within the framework of present-day tragedies caused by antisemitism. While Paul exhorts gentile believers to express humility regarding their newfound position within God’s family, supersessionism has placed the Jewish and Christian faiths in a dichotomous relationship. Greek word studies and models of religious pluralism in this essay demonstrate that supersessionism is a poisonous root from which antisemitism grows. Paul’s revelation of God’s cosmic plan of salvation asks Jesus’s followers—in any era—to become pro-mysterion: to embrace in faith God’s redemptive plan for all.

What inspired you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?  After working for nearly two decades in the government and private sectors, I decided to pursue a life-long dream of returning to school full time. I realized that I needed to devote my energies to working within my strengths and strive for those things that bring me joy.

What do you hope to do with your degree? I wish to continue writing on theological topics. I know my degree will compliment my writing-- add credibility and accuracy to it. I also hope to continue into a PhD program in the same subject. 

Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life? The paper I submitted for the prize has personal implications for me, because I grew up with a Jewish stepfather, grandparents, and siblings. The more I learn, the better equipped I am to provide life-giving responses to those in my inner circle who have questions and concerns about religion. 

How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background? Essentially, there's a biblical defense to support that the Christian faith has not replaced Judaism. That idea of replacement can ultimately lead to antisemitism if left unchecked. There's no room for boasting, as St. Paul teaches. The Jews remain God's chosen people, and Christians can learn how to trust in God's plan of salvation for all, even if the fullness of that plan has yet to be revealed.

How might this award make a difference in your life? The prize is like finding a secure foothold in a high cliff I'm trying to climb. With this award, I'm able to lift myself even closer to the top!

How do you spend your time when you are not studying? I am usually outdoors, even when it's cold. I like to stay active, so I'm out running or bicycling or playing frisbee-golf. I really enjoy serving as lector for my church and visiting my extended family when I can get away.

Any other comments?  I am simply grateful for the prize, the support of my professors, and to the whole religious studies department at the University of Dayton.

To learn more about the Goodwin Prize in Theological Writing, click here.

Interview with Goodwin Prize winner, Jimmy Myers

Congrats to Jimmy Myers (Duke Divinity School) for his essay, "Give Gifts to the Evildoer: A Rereading of Matthew 5:38-42."

Abstract: What does Jesus teach his followers to practice in Matthew 5:38–42? That is the question that this paper answers, seeking to provide the church a more faithful way of reading, living, and imagining Jesus’s command than has been done in the past. I contend that our collective imaginations as a Christian tradition have been constrained by readings of this passage that have failed to discern its unity and positive character, a character which gives birth to a repeated pattern of gift-giving in response to evildoing that the church––who lives in the “present evil age” (Gal. 1:4) yet follows a God who gives grace to evildoers (us)––has the opportunity to embody in order to bring about something positive, active, and beautiful into God’s creation––loving it, with God, into a new creation.

What inspired you to pursue an advanced degree in theology?

The inspirations for my pursuit of an advanced degree in theology were many, but they all revolve around one particular kind of inspiration: people. I suppose my parents are first of all to blame. Early on they formed my imagination through scripture, song, prayer, and dance while living in a missional context in Yaounde, Cameroon where my parents served with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Hearing from God, singing to and about God, praying to God, and enjoying God's good, bodily gifts––and all this in a vibrant cultural and ecclesial setting––saturated my existence and co-opted my imagination in an inexpungible way. Perhaps it was only inevitable that later I discovered a longing to explore these dimensions through rigorous intellectual investigation. A second, later group that inspired me were theological guides who had already trudged the path that led to doctoral work in theology, guides like my brother-in-law Wes vander Lugt, who at a particularly formative time in my life pursued a degree in theology and the arts at St. Andrews which gave me a glimpse at the joy––even if laborious joy––involved in advanced study; guides like Kelly Kapic, who I met and studied with at my undergraduate institution and who first trained me into a mode of theological thinking; and guides like Stanley Hauerwas and––though dead––Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who matured and fine-tuned the training I had already received, putting pressure on me to think in a more ecclesiocentric and christological way. It wasn't until I came to Duke for an MTS to study with the many excellent professors here, however, that I discovered the theological trajectory I needed to take was the one that led me to prolonged engagement with scripture. So I'm very glad to be back at Duke doing a doctorate in the New Testament, and I'm especially glad to be doing it in the ThD program, which has a distinctive ecclesial, christological, and intellectually interdisciplinary focus, a focus which is well-fitted both with my past formation from the people I've mentioned (as well as ones I didn't) and my future hope to serve the academy and the church as a scholar of the New Testament. 

What do you hope to do with your degree? 

I hope to teach and write as a professional New Testament scholar in an academic (collegiate, university, or seminary) setting. It has become a cliche today to say that the job market in biblical studies/theology is horrid, but it is a cliche that nonetheless seems to be true. This truth can sometimes cause great anxiety among graduate students, for understandable reasons. Of course, the contingencies of the present are always subject to change in the future; we don't know what will happen and so we must not resign ourselves to despair. But in any case, the desire I have to read, write on, and form people's imaginations with the grain of scripture is not motivated by the prospect of a job. Whether there is a professional position at the end of the process or not does not decide for me whether to pursue what I take to be a vocational calling. The pursuit of the vocation is out of my control, and I can only make sense of it by saying, it is what God made me to do. I'm a student of scripture and theology and will be until I die: hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. The wonderful thing is that that vocational calling to read, write on, and form people's imaginations with the grain of scripture is pertinent to more than just an academic setting. It can gladly find a home in publishing, secondary education, and ecclesial settings. In fact, in the future (as in the present) I plan to help lead the church in whatever way I can, whether formally or informally, and I'm currently en route to ordination in the Presbyterian denomination ECO. Which is all just to say: I hope to put my degree to use to serve the people of God and I'm sure I will irrespective of whatever future field I'm planted in. 

Where do you see connections between your personal faith, your intellectual work and the other aspects of your life? 

The way I see it, to be a Christian is to be initiated into a comprehensive way of speaking and living in the world, to embark on a total life-practice patterned on the pattern of Jesus's life, death and resurrection. Critical biblical scholarship and theological investigation of the sort I'm involved in are thus generated by that life and positioned to serve that life to be shaped more truthfully into the shape of Jesus's life. Faith, study, and life are united for me. I cannot think outside of the tradition of life that Christianity is any more than I can participate in the Christian tradition of life without thinking. To put it differently, I take Wittgenstein's aphorism, "Words are deeds," to be right on the money and reversible: the life of a Christian is an embodied word and the words of a Christian are the life encoded into language. That highly integrated vision of thought and life obviously imagines a mutually edifying relation between faith and intellectual work: I think in order to help the church live more faithfully, and I live among the church in order to think more truthfully. To put it less epigrammatically, I see my work as a scholar to help the church to continuously reform its teaching and practice into conformity with the polyphonous scriptural witness about Jesus. The church can all too easily and lazily assume that it already knows what scripture says because it has in hand a comprehensive theology and polity that synthesizes all of its parts and smooths out all of its difficulties. And to be clear I think theology is absolutely critical in the life of the church. But it is a theology relentlessly anchoring itself in scripture and what harmonizes with the total grain of scripture that is needed. The task I see before me is to begin at the beginning each new day in order for the church to encounter the scriptural mercies of God every morning. This, I trust, will lead the church not farther away from its richly textured, traditioned orthodoxy, but further up and farther into it. 

How would you summarize your paper for someone without a theological background? 

In this way: Jesus calls his disciples to give gifts to evildoers in Matthew 5:38-42. He doesn't call them to respond to evildoing with passive inaction. He doesn't call them to respond to evildoing with aggressive counteraction. Jesus calls them to give gifts: when slapped, to offer another cheek; when stripped, to release another piece of clothing; when compelled one mile, to go a second mile; when asked, to give abundant gifts. Thus Jesus wants his followers to become a people who overcome evildoing with gooddoing, just as Jesus himself overcomes evil action with the hospitable gift of his life on the cross.  

How might this award make a difference in your life?

It is, of course, quite a gift to receive a cash prize as part of the award. My wife and I are expecting our second child in February, so we are grateful for any extra boost that will make birth more manageable. But the significance of this award for my life and vocation goes far beyond the cash prize. Receiving first place in this competition is important corroboration that the practice I'm engaged in is the right one to continue pursuing. Many of us graduate students travel a tortuous path that is full of despair-filled wanderings – am I really qualified for this? Am I a goat in sheep's clothing? Will people "discover" what I know about myself, my deep incompetencies and weaknesses, and kick me out of the vocation as a result? Those are obviously rather melodramatic musings, but they are real for many people, and when you couple all that with the lack of job prospects at the end of it all, the graduate pilgrimage can seem a rather hopeless affair. The Goodwin Prize serves as a gift from God that offers encouragement to carry on and endure in this situation, trusting that this is only the beginning of a longer pilgrimage, that maturation takes time. There is, of course, a danger in participating in competitions like the Goodwin Prize: if one is not careful, one can easily be distracted by the external goods of awards and prizes and honors and thus lose sight of the internal goods of the practice of theology. But the Goodwin Prize is a helpful corrective to this posture, for it values goods that are internal to the practice and awards the excellent pursuit of those goods: goods like creative theological thinking, excellence in scholarship, engagement with the Christian tradition, and commitment to the well-being of the church. It is too bad that there aren't more competitions out there like the Goodwin Prize, because I know that there were many fine essays that weren't awarded prizes that nevertheless pursued those internal goods with excellence and passion. I applaud Theological Horizons for creating and maintaining this opportunity, and for awarding a large number of prizes, and I hope that more Christian organizations invest in encouraging Christian scholars toward the excellent pursuit of the goods internal to the practice of theology. In a word, then, I'm surprised and honored to have received this award, and grateful for the encouragement it signifies to carry on in the theological vocation and pursue its goods. 

How do you spend your time when you are not studying?

When I'm not studying I'm enjoying the gift of life with my wife Mary Lynn and daughter Lila, with friends and church, and neighbors. That means a whole host of activities: gardening in our front yard boxes, kindling fires in our backyard pit in the cool of the evening, going on hikes and runs at the Eno River State Park which is just adjacent to us, singing and playing guitar in our home, arguing about literature and theology and philosophy and scripture long into the night over beer and spirits, worshipping and sharing childcare with our church community, playing basketball with our neighbors, and sharing breakfast with homeless friends in the church neighborhood. I take great joy in my studies, but it is only one part of a much larger life that God has given us to enjoy in the wonderful place that Durham, North Carolina is.

Any other comments?

The only other comment I have is one of thanks: thanks to the Board of Theological Horizons, to the Executive Director Karen Marsh, to the blind judges who read the papers, to the Associate Director Christen Yates, and all the rest at Theological Horizons who make the Goodwin competition possible. I hope this opportunity continues and develops in the years to come. 

To learn more about the Goodwin Prize in Theological Writing, click here.

Nathan Walton "MLK and the Witness of the Black Freedom Church"

Nathan Walton of Abundant Life Ministries Talks with UVA Students About MLK’s Formation and Relevance

How did Martin Luther King, Jr. become Martin Luther King, Jr.? How should we understand him in terms of history and today’s conversations around social justice?

Nathan Walton, executive director of Abundant Life Ministries, explored these questions and more during a Zoom discussion, on Sept. 16, with University of Virginia students.

Video and audio of Walton’s talk, “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Witness of the Black Freedom Church,” are now available on The Project on Lived Theology’s website.

• Listen to the lecture.

• Watch the lecture.

During his talk, Walton placed King within the history of the black church and showed how the church shaped King’s theological outlook and social engagement. Walton then examined how King was a byproduct of the black church and other social traditions. According to Walton, “King was often asking the big-picture question, ‘What do the specific claims and events from the Bible mean for the world? And what do they mean specifically for us?’”

The talk was followed by a question-and-answer session, during which Walton and the students exchanged ideas about King, the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter movements, ownership of narratives, the concept of American exceptionalism and the importance of self-awareness and intellectual rigor.

Walton’s discussion was part of “The Civil Rights Movement in Theological and Religious Perspective,” a UVA undergraduate seminar taught by Charles Marsh, director of The Project on Lived Theology and a professor of religious studies at UVA.

Nathan Walton has served as executive director of Abundant Life Ministries since April 2018. He holds an MDiv from Duke Divinity School, and both a BA and a PhD in religious studies from UVA. His interests include community development, theology and parish ministry. In addition to his role with Abundant Life, Nathan serves as Community Life Pastor at Charlottesville Vineyard Church.

This event was hosted by our partner, The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia - a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

For more event details and up-to-date event listings please click here to visit the PLT Events page. We also post updates online using #PLTevents. To get these and other news updates, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @LivedTheology. To sign up for the Lived Theology monthly newsletter, click here.

Announcing the 2020 Goodwin Prizes for Excellence in Theological Writing

The board of directors of Theological Horizons is pleased to announce the winners of the 2020 Goodwin Prizes. The Louise and Richard Goodwin Writing Prize for Excellence in Theological Writing initiative was founded in 2001 to encourage upcoming scholars in the theological field.

Awards recognize graduate students whose essays demonstrate creative theological thinking, excellence in scholarship, faithful witness to the Christian tradition, and engagement with the community of faith.

A $2,500 prize has been awarded to Jimmy Myers (Duke Divinity School) for the essay, "Give Gifts to the Evildoer: A Rereading of Matthew 5:38-42."

A $1,000 prize has been awarded to Abraham Wu (Regent College, Vancouver) for the essay, “In Loving Memory: Applying a Theological Anthropology of Trinitarian Personhood to the Problem of Memory Loss.”

A $500 prize has been awarded to Rachael K. Griggs (University of Dayton) for the essay, “Becoming Pro-Mysterion: Embracing a Future of Mercy for All in Romans 11.”

A $500 prize has been awarded to Timothy Shriver (University of Virginia) for the essay, “Fannie Lou Hamer: Smiling at Satan’s Rage.”

We are deeply encouraged to see young scholars of such promise and commitment and we offer our warm congratulations to all who participated in this year’s competition.

To read essay abstracts, see past winners and learn more, visit the Goodwin Writing Prizes page.

Faith & the election virtual series

We’re partnering with our friends over at Coracle (a ministry centered around Spiritual Formation for Kingdom Action) to help bring thoughtful and diverse speakers together around issues relating to our upcoming national election.

See below for their virtual offerings:

Thursday, September 17 from 12:30-1:30 PM (ET)
Digital Soundings Seminar: “The Moral Burden of Voting”
Feat. Michael Wear, Chief Strategist for the AND CampaignLEARN MORE & REGISTER

Wednesday, September 30 from 5:30-6:30 PM (ET)
Questions that Matter:  “What Are Your Spiritual Anchors During This Political Storm?”
LEARN MORE & REGISTER 

Thursday, October 1, 15, and 29 from 12:00-1:00 PM (ET)
Compassion (&) Conviction Reading Group:  Facilitated by Drew Masterson
LEARN MORE & REGISTER

Thursday, October 8 from 12:30-1:30 PM (ET)
Digital Soundings Seminar: “Immigration, the Bible, and the Election”
Feat. Sami DiPasquale of Abara FrontiersLEARN MORE & REGISTER

Tuesday, October 13 from 5:30-6:30 PM (ET)
Questions that Matter:  “How Can a Christian Think About the 2020 Election?”
LEARN MORE & REGISTER

Thursday, October 22 from 12:30-1:30 PM (ET)
Soundings Seminar:  “A Christian, Conservative Perspective on the Election”
LEARN MORE & REGISTER

Tuesday, November 3 from 8:30-9:00 AM (ET)
Space for God:  “Praying for the Election” w/ Bill Haley
LEARN MORE & REGISTER

Thursday, November 19 from 7:00-8:30 PM (ET)
Soundings Seminar:  “Protestants, Catholics & Race in America”
feat. Fr. Christopher Pollard of St. John the Beloved Catholic Church
LEARN MORE & REGISTER

Tuesday, November 24 from 5:30-6:30 PM (ET)
Questions that Matter:  “How Are You Going to Follow Jesus in America Now?”
LEARN MORE & REGISTER

Meet Theological Horizons @ UVa: your video intro!

Welcome new students, families & friends! Here's your video introduction to the people & purposes of Theological Horizons at the University of Virginia. We support Christians and seekers by providing a welcoming community for engaging faith, thought and life. You'll meet current students, alumni & staff -- and get a peek into all that waits for you at the University of Virginia and beyond (with new safe social distancing practices in place)!
Check out theologicalhorizons.org/vintage

Help Us Welcome the Class of 2024!

Do you know of any first years coming to UVA this fall? We want to help welcome them to the University!

Here at Theological Horizons we are already looking to the start of classes in August, and even in the midst of necessary changes to University life in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic we have been busy thinking of new and exciting ways to continue to welcome new students to grounds, and into the Theological Horizons family. 

Help us spread the word about Theological Horizons to this very special class of incoming first years by sending the names of your friends and family members to us HERE!

Even though we know life in Charlottesville will look different this fall - we cannot wait to be together again in this special place - and welcome new friends into the Theological Horizons family!

Articles, audio & video: So much good stuff in one place!

Perkins Fellows out on the town in Richmond!

Are you a student who's curious about other undergrads' experiences at college?

A parent seeking advice or encouragement?

A curious person who'd like to dive deeper into spiritual readings or fascinating lectures?

We're certain to have something for you! Scan our collection of resources to see what captures your interest...

Our archive of blog articles is right here.

Listen to audio conversations and talks is here.  

Watch one of our videos over here.