I had a bizarre experience several years ago; bizarre perhaps because it happened in the most ordinary of moments.  I was going through my typical routine to prepare to go to work:

• Eat breakfast? Check.
• Teeth brushed? Check.
• Hair in order? Check.
• Socks match? Yikes…glad I checked.

What was different on this particular morning was that I happened to glance down at the swirling pattern of my fingerprint on my left index finger. It occurred to me that I hadn’t looked this closely at my finger since I was 5 or 6 years old, if not younger. I was struck by the complexity of the pattern and astounded by how unfamiliar it looked to me. I wondered, “How on earth have I been bearing these marks on my fingers for all of this time and yet failed to notice them, literally, for decades?”

Continue Reading Curiosity

Professor Dwight Friesen recently posted a list of his top 10 reads of the year. We thought it was a good list and wanted to share!

1. Loving to Know: Covenant Epistemology, by Esther L. Meek
2. The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture, by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
3. God and the Art of Happiness, by Ellen T. Charry
4. Recovering the Commons: Democracy, Place, and Global Justice, by Herbert Reid & Betsy Taylor
5. Christ the Key, by Kathryn Tanner
6. The Pastor: A Memoir, by Eugene H. Peterson
7. The End of Evangelicalism? Discerning a New Faithfulness for Mission: Towards an Evangelical Political Theology, by David E. Fitch
8. Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love, by Mark Scandrette
9. Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church, by William T. Cavanaugh
10. Missional Spirituality: Embodying God’s Love from the Inside Out, by Roger Helland & Leonard Hjalmarson

Excuse the self-indulgence, but we’re pretty proud of our alumni!

We recently commissioned Blaine Hogan to write up a post about our school on his blog. It’s a great read and highlights the-very-messy-but-always-worth-it transformation that happens through our education:

They believe (as do I) that with intentionality, sacrifice, and a dot of hope, glorious things can be redeemed through the process of uncovering your story…It was in this intersection that I began to discover what I referred to above as my “full self.” It is because I ventured into this intersection that I’m starting to tell more truth and create continually better work.

Give the post a read, and be sure to subscribe to Blaine’s great blog.

Blaine’s also been very busy himself! This summer, he published his first book, aptly titled UNTITLED: Thoughts on the Creative Process.

UNTITLED will walk you through the creative process of attacking the blank page, executing vision, believing in the importance of contemplation, fighting the beast of resistance, learning from your failures, and creating beauty from the inside out.

This book is my manifesto and I hope it becomes yours as well.

You should buy two copies of his book: one for you and one for a friends!

As if that wasn’t enough, Blaine is currently working on a short film. He’s blogging a bit about the process and we can’t wait to watch it. This teaser is making us itch for more!

Reaching Alice (look & feel teaser)

Gretchen Batcheller’s tremendous artwork is currently on display in our first-floor gallery. David Jaeger interviewed Gretchen about her art and creative process. Photos by Stephanie Elaine Berbec.

How does the rest of your life influence your artwork?
I have been teaching painting and drawing for the past three years in academia.  It is a place where I find an incredible amount of reciprocity between teaching and learning.  Cultivating the community of the studio classroom with my students keeps me on my toes and accountable for practicing what I preach.

Continue Reading An Interview with Artist Gretchen Batcheller

 At The Seattle School, reading groups are a central part of our education – many classes have assigned groups where you discuss the readings and lectures. First-year Mallory Larsen talks about the initial struggle and eventual saving grace of her reading group.

Top: Kristi, Mallory, Brian, Drew; Bottom: Claire, Cori (Facilitator), Grace, Lindy, Hayden

It was the second week of my graduate school experience. I had been drowning in readings, questions and fears as I sat in a room with eight strangers, better known as my assigned Reading Group. We are required to meet for two hours each week to discuss the readings in our Interpersonal Foundations and Hermeneutics classes. Although it was only our second meeting, I’d already grown to dread it – just another thing jamming up my calendar.

On this particular Tuesday evening, I decided to share with this group of strangers the decision I had considered about 30 minutes earlier. “I think I’m going to quit school,” I said, fearfully. Continue Reading Reading and Community

Dan Allender speaks before a room of Seattle business leaders

Today, Dr. Dan Allender spoke with leaders at a Leadership Luncheon hosted by The Seattle School. In this brief message, Dr. Allender identifies the reasons why most people are leaders, the top 5 issues leaders face, as well as some personal reflections on how to care for one’s self in the midst of leadership fatigue. Dan draws from his life experience and extensive psychological research. Dan’s central question is “Leaders know they should take better care of themselves, why do they not?”

Listen to Dan’s message below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Scott Small, an MDiv student in his final year, wanted to try his hand at writing fiction. So as an exercise in writing, he asked friends to send him short sentences that he could use as writing prompts. One writing prompt a day, one short story a day. For a year. It was a grand experiment.

So when he was assigned to write a piece of fiction on text, soul, and culture, he used it as another trigger. Below is Scott’s story:

In a way, it was back at the beginning of all things. Before the light and the darkness, before anything at all. Yet, in another way, it was not in the beginning. It was in the space outside of beginnings and time. At once before the beginning, after the beginning, above and below the beginning. This is when the Storyteller walked in the shade of the nothingness. Clearly, there was no true walking, or shade, or even nothingness; yet, this is one of those times when the truth can only be touched by saying things that are merely hints and gestures. Sometimes we get at the truth of the matter best by telling a story, of a story, of a story. This is one of those times.

Continue Reading An Experiment in Writing

First-year Counseling Psychology student Kelly Pattison walks us through the range of emotions at this year’s orientation week.

It was the first day of orientation. I was walking toward that red brick building and I was terrified. I had given up so much to pursue this journey, and suddenly, here I was at the end of the process. I was at the doorstep of matriculation, and I didn’t know if I was ready.

Continue Reading (Re)Orientation

Here’s a great weekend read: Professor Chelle Stearns, Assistant Professor of Theology at The Seattle School, wrote a great article for our sister site, The Other Journal, on storytelling and heros.

Chelle is also a regular blogger and you can follow her writings on her own site, where she posts great photos like these:

My head emerged from murky, dark green depths to strains of an undulating voice. A supportive Eastern Indian drone buzzed in minor just below the melody. I did not expect this sound on such a sultry evening. Normally, an errant duck squawks in the distance and the surrounding air is punctuated by the soft flapping of bats blindly gathering their dinner. But not tonight.

Continue Reading And God Longingly Smiles