 From the Executive Director
Where do my freedoms end and your rights begin? At the late June Summer Intensive CHS grad students tackled every conceivable aspect of dual relationships and ethics for Pagan ministers and counselors.
We continue to hear stories of Pagan groups which blow up because of interpersonal issues, or an event that is marred by rumors of sexual abuse. There are the violent crimes which receive widespread media attention because the perpetrator is portrayed negatively as a Pagan. And then there are all the times that Pagans have parted ways without a word, with no explanation, no closure, no continuity.
We struggle with the many ways that Pagan values and those of the dominant socio-religious culture seem at odds. Too often, people leave Pagan groups with deep psychological wounds. The religion we found so refreshing becomes a painful reminder of misunderstandings and missteps.
Many are reluctant to air our dirty laundry by reporting a crime, even though we want to be respected as peers with the ministers of other religions. Are our values really so different from the rest of the world? Don't we start with "harm none," long before we reach the part about "all acts of love and pleasure?"
I'm convinced that if more Pagans took advantage of good training like CHS offers, we would all better withstand the occasional storms that blow through our lives. As CHS grows, we hope to become a foundational resource that the Pagan world can count on for many years to come.
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 Ask Maggie
What financial aid does Cherry Hill Seminary offer? What about student loans?
Sad to say, we are still such a young and small institution that student aid is not possible. We do not yet qualify for federal funding through student loan programs or veterans' benefits.
On the other hand, our tuition rates are among the lowest available for grad-school education. Many students are able to spread out their tuition payments by using credit cards or borrowing tuition money from family and friends. Some covens and groves have raised money to send members of their leadership to Cherry Hill Seminary, so you might consider seeing if your group or congregation would consider helping you attend. |
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Thank You, Donors
 Why would you give to Cherry Hill? While many resources exist to train and assist students as they pursue their chosen Pagan tradition or path, there is an acute need for specific training in areas such as rites of passage, working with children and families, counseling, addictions, marriage and family issues, religion and the law, interfaith work, Pagan scholarship, media and public relations, ritual arts, leadership development, and nonprofit management. No other seminary provides such training in a Pagan environment, by Pagans, for today's Pagan communities.
As with any worthwhile endeavor that serves the public, the support of our donors helps Cherry Hill keep our tuition rates affordable, and our quality of service and programs cutting edge.
We'd like to sincerely thank all of our recent donors:
Maggie Beaumont
Carol and Denton Blumberg
William Blumberg
Julie Soito-Bussell
Natalie Dunn
Holli Emore
Valerie Freseman
Ellen Friedman
Devi and Heather Hughes
Sandra Lee Harris
John Hedtke
Carol Hutte
Lucia Jameson
Deb Jung
Julie Leary
Beth Livingston
Eileen Macholl
Michael McDermott
Norman Meres
Scott Mohnkern
Patricia Monaghan
Cynthia Nalbach
Jennie Newnum
Ron Zimmerman
and several more who choose to remain anonymous |
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Fall Registration Now Open
Fall Semester Registration is now open!If you have not yet tasted the juicy fruit of CHS classes, here's handy set of things you should know:More subjects, more class time options, see for yourself."Distance ed" means you don't have to go anywhere - study from home and interact with classmates online.No bachelor's degree needed for Foundations and Pagan Community Education.Most master's courses are open to anyone if you get the okay from the instructor.Build your certificate to fit your unique needs.Still have questions? Email us for answers!
Research and Writing in Pagan Studies Potts
Why Magickal Thinking Isn't Crazy Dobyns
Effective Website Development for Pagan Organizations Mohnkern
A Saunter with John Muir and Walt
Whitman: The Poetry and Politics of Nature Highland
Erotic Ethics Kraemer
Rites of Passage Arthen
The Warrior in Shadow: Violence From a Pagan Perspective Rifkin
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
NDI/PCE/PAL: Paganism and the Body Kramer
NDI/TTI: American Spiritualities Whedon
PCE/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
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Student Survey Results
 Recently, many of you were kind enough to take our online student information survey. The "official" report is not finished yet, but we can share a few things with you.You want more flexibility in class meeting times, and some courses with no class meetings, particularly for those of you in other countries, or otherwise far away from the Eastern Time Zone. We hear you and this fall we are offering more such options.You want more workshops in other parts of the country. We are working on a Pagan Basic Ministry Skills two-day workshop that will be open to the public. Total cost will probably be about $2,000 for a group of up to 35. If you are interested in bring us to your region, let us hear from you [email link].You seem to feel that our tuition rates are reasonable, even if you don't have the money to attend at the moment. That's good to hear! We know that we are among the lowest rates nationwide for seminary graduate courses, and our PCE and Foundations courses have artificially low rates in order to make them as widely available as possible.Please keep talking to us! When you share your ideas it helps us improve and grow. |
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Chris Highland's New Book
 Life After Faith is an intensely personal book that begins with a story from my work on the streets and moves on to my emergence from early Protestant roots and the tangled vines of Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity. The narrative brings the reader on a quick journey through my college Philosophy studies, the seminary years, ordination and on through 25 years of Chaplaincy and out the other side--to "other rivers"--to experience the meaningful life of "natural spirituality" post-faith. Along the way we meet up with the energizing thoughts of "insurgents" like John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Frances Wright, Thomas Paine and many others who sing a new kind of liberating song that makes sense for our world today. Life After Faith pushes believers of all religions to consider creative alternatives to old worldviews and pulls non-believers into what could be the most revolutionary step for all "sides" in the God-debate. Without an angry, bitter, mud-slinging, anti-God kind of tone, the book presents 400 pages of reasonable, thoughtful and, yes, at times pointed and persistent critique of super-natural faith. Not meant to be a throw-your-glass-and-run polemic, I think you will find it a raise-your-glasses-together contribution to honest and healthy dialogue with collaborative possibilities. Positive, hopeful, sensitive, humorous as well as incisive and jarring at times, I don't think you will put this book down before being shaken in some delightfully troubling ways!You can order it right now through Createspace. The book will also be available in about two weeks through Chris' Amazon Page. |
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Congratulations, Patrick!
 On behalf of all of us at Cherry Hill Seminary, we extend my heartiest congratulations to Patrick McCollum for being honored by the Hindu American Foundation with the Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Pluralism and Religious Tolerance. Patrick will receive the award at the Capitol in Washington, DC on September 14, 2010. We are so grateful to have Patrick overseeing our chaplaincy studies, and ever so proud of all his accomplishments on behalf of Paganism. Huzzah, Patrick! |
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