|
From the Executive Director
 "Show Up"
Good advice from one of our own, Rev. Patrick McCollum told Pagans in Washington recently that perhaps the most important thing we can do is to "show up." What does this mean? Patrick admonished us to attend Pagan events and support each other, to become involved where we see a need, be people of integrity.
Part of integrity, it seems to me (and, I know, to Patrick), is going beyond service to the Pagan community, and beyond the fulfillment of our obligations. We talk a lot about the interconnected web of existence, forgetting much of the time that this web is a complex construction, pitching together some unlikely companions, whether we want the connection or not.
Nowhere is this more difficult than here in the Bible Belt of South Carolina. Yet, while I regularly despair of the rigidness around me, I'm just as often surprised by the unexpected: the nun who turns to me in front of a women's group to say, "you know we have Pagan nuns, don't you?", the minister with whom I must conduct a very sad memorial service, whose tenderness to the bereaved inspires me to be a better clergy person, the neighborhood fundamentalist minister who helps my family through a difficult passage, just because he can. Little do these folks know how much healing they convey - can I do less, even when their religions stir painful memories for me?
At the same time that we advocate with an increasingly strong voice for tolerance of Paganism, we do well to look back at the religions that many of us left behind in earlier years with our own tolerance and acceptance. Such grace becomes Pagan leaders, the ministers that we train at Cherry Hill Seminary.
|
|
|
Promoting For CHS
 The weather might be starting to turn colder, but there are still plenty of chances for you to gather with your local communities. We have fliers, brochures, business cards, and presentations that you can give to your groups to tell them about CHS and our mission.
And don't forget, your group can always hold a fund raiser on behalf of CHS! This can be a wonderful opportunity to learn some basics of effective fund raising, while raising funds for both Cherry Hill and your group or favorite local cause.
Email us for more information! |
Holli Emore with Rev. Tony Brown of the N.C. Church of Wicca, at Piedmont Pagan Pride Day last Saturday.  | |
|
Webmaster Opportunity
 Are you creative, reliable and tech-savvy? CHS is looking for a webmaster so that Selina can devote more of her time to other duties. This is a volunteer position with specific responsibilities and the expectation of roughly ten hours per week work. If you are a CHS student, you are entitled to a modest discount on your tuition. Applicants should submit a resume, three references, and provide copies of or links to samples of web design work you have done. Email us for a job description or with your questions.
Email us for more information! |
|
|
CHS to Lead Samhain Ritual at AAR Conference
 On October 31, Cherry Hill Seminary will host a Samhain ritual for Pagans who are attending the annual conference of the American Academy of Religion in Atlanta, GA. Our board president Macha NightMare, also the former chair of the Public Ministry Department, is organizing and leading the ritual.Are you attending the 2010 AAR meeting? Would you like to participate in, perhaps even take a part if asked? If so, email us and let us know!
|
|
Call For Papers
 The annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion Southeast Region will take place March 4-6, 2011 at the Gault House in Louisville, KY under the auspices of SECSOR (Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion). Paper proposals are due to the appropriate section chairs by October 11, 2010 (extended from October 1).
The call for papers may be accessed on the SECSOR website. For further information, Bernadette McNary-Zak (Rhodes University), this year's program chair. |
|
Meet Catherine Levitt
 Catherine Levitt holds a B.A. magna cum laude in French and Philosophy from John Carroll University, a Master's degree in International Business from Pepperdine University, and a Doctorate in Business Administration in Strategic Management from United States International University. Dr. Levitt also holds another graduate degree in Southeast Asian Studies and Vietnamese Language and is a certified Commercial Contracts Negotiator.
Dr. Levitt has more than 15 years of private industry experience at an executive level as well as several years with Department of Defense.
Dr. Levitt has lived, worked and taught in China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, France, Germany and the Czech Republic. Her particular area of interest and expertise is in the privatization process that accompanies the transition from a command economy to free-market practice. Integral to this research, is study of the changing mindset and cultural change that accompanies and underpins economic change. Interested in languages, art and cultural formation, Dr. Levitt speaks English, German, French, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese well and can limp along in a few other languages. She reads Spanish and Italian.
Currently, Catherine Levitt continues as Director of the Center for East-West Entrepreneurial Studies in Southern California and does consulting on privatizing industries in transitional economies. Dr. Levitt is the Representative at Large for the Americas to the Executive Council of the International Association for Chinese Management Research. She was Provost of Golden Gate University's Southern California Region from 1998-2000. Dr. Levitt was a nominee for the PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Ansoff Prize in Strategic Management, 2000.
Through Kozen Sampson, Dr. Levitt was introduced to Kirk Thomas and his Celtic and Druid studies and projects, and of course, Cherry Hill Seminary. She was fascinated with the concept and approached Diane Edgecomb about offering 2 classes one on Economics and the Pagan dynamic with in economics and the other on starting a spiritually centered business. So far the one class that is running is as much a learning experience for teacher/facilitator as it is for the students and is a wonderful experience. |
|
Graven Images edited by Christine Kraemer
 Comic books have increasingly become a vehicle for serious social commentary and, specifically, for innovative religious thought. Practitioners of both traditional religions and new religious movements have begun to employ comics as a missionary tool, while humanists and religious progressives use comics' unique fusion of text and image to criticize traditional theologies and to offer alternatives. Addressing the increasing fervor with which the public has come to view comics as an art form and Americans' fraught but passionate relationship with religion, Graven Images explores with real insight the roles of religion in comic books and graphic novels.
In essays by scholars and comics creators, Graven Images observes the frequency with which religious material-in devout, educational, satirical, or critical contexts-occurs in both independent and mainstream comics. Contributors identify the unique advantages of the comics medium for religious messages; analyze how comics communicate such messages; place the religious messages contained in comic books in appropriate cultural, social, and historical frameworks; and articulate the significance of the innovative theologies being developed in comics.
Graven Images is edited by A. David Lewis and Christine Hoff Kraemer, includes essays by Douglas Rushkoff and G. Willow Wilson, and has original cover art by Carla Speed McNeil. It will be released in October 14, 2010 from The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. Contact marketing director Kimberly Petit for more information or buy it from Amazon. |
|
Bridging the Gap edited by Michelle Mueller
 Cherry Hill Seminary faculty member Michelle Mueller recently edited Crystal Blanton's book, Bridging the Gap: Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society, which is now in print from Immanion Press. Crystal Blanton, a trained and experienced Registered Addictions Specialist in the field of drug and alcohol counseling, draws on her understanding of spiritual balance and behavior to help the Pagan community. Bridging the Gap: Working Within the Dynamics of Pagan Groups and Society offers readers techniques and tools to assess, understand, and work with the changing dynamic of any group or coven. Visit Immanion Press or Amazon to order. |
|
|
Cherry Hill Seminary provides quality higher education and practical training in Pagan ministry.