A Letter From Christine Kraemer
 Dear friends,With increasing numbers of scholarly publications and its own well-established program group at the American Academy of Religion, Contemporary Pagan Studies has been making great strides forward in rigor and credibility. The creation of a viable Pagan intellectual culture -- along with the ability to dialogue effectively with others in both scholarly and religious contexts -- is one aspect of what will allow Pagans a place of respect on both local interfaith councils and in global meetings like the Parliament of World's ReligionsI am excited and proud to be involved with Cherry Hill Seminary, where I serve as instructor and head of the Nature, Deity, and Inspiration department. Cherry Hill Seminary provides professional training for Pagan ministry in a mostly on-line format. Degree candidates are required to participate in a small number of in-person, face-to-face academic intensives before graduation.Having taken classes at both the Boston University School of Theology and Harvard Divinity School as part of my PhD in Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University, I can attest that ourMaster's level classes offer a similar level of challenge and rigor as these well-established schools. Our faculty publish in both scholarly and popular venues, present at the American Academy of Religion and other academic conferences, and teach in other university and college settings. As we continue to develop our curricula, we envision a seminary education that will equal any other Master's program available. Not only will our graduates have the professional skills to serve Pagan religious communities of various sizes and configurations, but they will be able to interact confidently and knowledgeably with highly educated clergy of other faiths.I'm very excited about the classes we'll be offering this Fall! (see list at right)Whether you're looking for a complete Master's program or simply to acquire some specific knowledge or skills, Cherry Hill has a great deal to offer. We particularly celebrate the efforts of covens and small communities to raise funds for their leaders and facilitators tostudy ministry skills at Cherry Hill and encourage other interested students to do the same.Because accreditation is a time-consuming and expensive process, we also appreciate your donations. Building a seminary takes years, and our dedicated staff and instructors put in large numbers of volunteer hours. Please spread the word about our work!Christine Hoff Kraemer, Ph.D.Chair, Department of Nature, Deity & Inspiration
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 Ask Maggie
Does a Cherry Hill Seminary degree equal ordination?
No. A degree from Cherry Hill Seminary is an educational credential; ordination is a religious one. Graduates may use their education as part of their qualifications for ordination by the organization or tradition they choose.
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Patrick McCollum at World Conference
 Cherry Hill Seminary instructor and director of chaplaincy, Patrick McCollum, has been invited to participate in the World Forum of Spiritual Culture October 18 - 20, 2010. McCollum, a longtime Pagan minister, advocate, and participant in international interreligious affairs, will present an inclusive spiritual framework for a sustainable world, based on the The Noospheric Ethical Ecological Constitution for Mankind.
Others invited to the event include theologian Hans Kung, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Charles, Prince of Wales, former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore, The Reverend Canon Andrew White, The Archbishop of Canterbury's Special Representative to the Middle East, Nobel laureate Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, former President of the Republic of South Africa Nelson Mandela, and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The World Forum of Spiritual Culture is hosted by the Kazakh government, the International Association of Peace Through Culture, the Congress of Spiritual Concord, and other other Kazakhstan, European and Russian organizations. McCollum will become the first Pagan leader to address the World Forum of Spiritual Culture, his remarks becoming part of the international journal published following the event.
The World Forum hopes "to find a solution to the systemic crisis of the modern civilization by realizing the priority of spirituality and culture above all other public values." The Kazakh President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, will address the group during the conference.
McCollum, who teaches chaplaincy for Cherry Hill Seminary, has a long history of spiritual service. Following the 1997 settlement of a case involving a Wiccan inmate, McCollum became the first government-recognized Wiccan chaplain. He is a member of the American Correctional Chaplain Association, the Program Chair for the National Correctional Chaplaincy Directors Association, and the Chaplaincy Liaison for the American Academy of Religion.
Cherry Hill Seminary provides quality higher education and practical training in Pagan ministry, including Master of Divinity and Master of Pagan Studies degrees, community education and certificate programs. For more information, contact Cherry Hill Seminary at 888-503-4131 or CHS@cherryhillseminary.org
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Preview of the Fall Semester
Registration for the fall semester opens July 15. We have several new instructors and several new courses this fall, so here's a preview of the courses being offered.
FDN: Research and Writing in Pagan Studies Potts
FDN: Why Magickal Thinking Isn't Crazy Dobyns
FDN: Effective Website Development for Pagan Organizations Mohnkern
NDI/PCE/PAL: Paganism and the Body Kramer
NDI/TTI: American Spiritualities Whedon
NDI/TTI: A Saunter with John Muir and Walt Whitman: The Poetry and Politics of Nature Highland
PAL: Religion and the Law Bianchi
PAL: Spirit of Economics Levitt
PAL: Starting a Spiritually Centered Business or Organization Levitt
PCE/NDI: Erotic Ethics Kraemer
PCE: Rites of Passage Arthen
PCE: The Warrior in Shadow: Violence From a Pagan Perspective Rifkin
PCE: Call of the Dark Mother Bennett
PPC: Human Development in a Pagan Context Mason
PPC: Personality Theories Oringderff
TTI: Contemporary Global Paganisms Kraemer
TTI: Western Initiation: Theories and Issues Winslade
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Meet Sarah Whedon
 Sarah Whedon joins us this fall with a new course on American Spiritualities. Whedon hopes to convince those who sign up for the course that even though calling oneself "spiritual, but not religious" has been hailed as a new trend (one recent survey estimates that 72% of young adults now identify this way), and one which is marked by a turn away from institutions toward individual experience, it is actually the case that spirituality has both a long history and a deep culture. The course will also ask questions about the relationship(s) between Paganism and the larger American spiritual landscape and create space for students to reflect on spiritually in their own lives and ministries.
The course reading list includes Courtney Bender's The New Metaphysicals: Spirituality and The American Religious Imagination, an ethnography of spirituality in Cambridge, Massachusetts just released this summer, and already getting a lot of attention from scholars (see the blog series at The Immanent Frame). Whedon says, "It's exciting to have this opportunity for Cherry Hill students to get involved in the conversation about the book as it is unfolding in the scholarly community."
Whedon lives a short walk from the Cambridge of The New Metaphysicals with her partner and their daughter Bridget, who will celebrate her first birthday during the fall semester. She returned to Boston after several years away from the area, earning an M.A. in Religious Studies at CU Boulder and a Ph.D in Religious Studies and Women's Studies from UC Santa Barbara. Her research areas include American religious history, women and religion, new religious movements, childhood studies and religion, religion and nature, western esotericism, and contemporary Pagan studies and she teaches courses in religion and women's studies at Boston-area colleges and universities. You can learn more about her at http://www.sarahwhedon.org.
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