Union Presbyterian Seminary

Pathways Online Course: Mission & Evangelism
2025-04-28 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-05 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-12 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-19 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-26 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-02 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
Pathways Online Course instructed by Rev. Dr. Aram Feinberg: Mission & Evangelism

Before joining Bayside, Rev. Dr. Aram Feinberg was the associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. The shape of her call began in ministry with youth & families before shifting towards outreach & adult faith formation.
Aram attended Smith College and taught fifth grade before going to Princeton Seminary (MDiv). She continued her theological education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond (MACE) and Union Theological Seminary in New York City (PhD) where she served as director of family ministries at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. She is an instructor for Union Presbyterian Seminary’s continuing education program, teaching mission & evangelism.
Course Description:
The overarching goal of this course is to develop a contextual framework to understand mission and evangelism. Students will re-imagine the contours of mission and the task of evangelism, involving a theologically based approach to mission and evangelism and considering the impact of the growing demographic of the “unaffiliated” (or Spiritual But Not Religious) across the religious landscape of America. Students will examine an approach to mission and evangelism that addresses the needs of society, reflecting ways in which a local church continues its commitment to the gospel message (love God and love neighbor) and to the great commission (go and make disciples).
Dates: Mondays from 7-9pm EST, April 28 – June 2, 2025
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on April 23, 2025
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

Pathways Online Course: Church History
2025-04-29 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-06 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-13 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-20 19:00 - 21:00
Pathways Online Course instructed by Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis: Church History

Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis joined Union as Assistant Professor of Church History in Fall 2013. Previously, she taught at Duke University, Lehigh University, and Moravian Theological Seminary. She is the recipient of several awards, including the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship from 2010-2012.
Her teaching and research explore early Christian communities and their practices, especially those founded in Egypt, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula. Her first book, which is forthcoming with the University of Pennsylvania Press, is titled “Death of the Desert: Monastic Memory and the Loss of Egypt’s Golden Age.” The book explores how memory and spatial practices were transformed by acts of violence among Egyptian ascetics. She has also co-edited and translated The History of the Great Deeds of Bishop Paul of Quentos and Priest John of Edessa: Texts from Christian Late Antiquity volume 29 (Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2010). She contributed to Melania: Early Christianity Through the Life of One Family (University of California Press, 2016). Her translation work is found in the first two volumes of More New Testament Apocrypha and on the Coptic Scriptorium webpage.
Course Description
This course is designed to provide an overview of and an appreciation for the history of Christian traditions, the broader contexts in which they are developed, and their continued significance for the life of the church. Participants will study select crucial historical moments (e.g., early Christian movements, church councils, Reformation, Christianity in America).
Dates: Tuesdays from 7-9pm EST, April 22 – May 20, 2025
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

THIS JOY WE HAVE: WOMANIST RESISTANCE IN THE FACE OF MANIFOLD EVIL
2025-05-01 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-02 08:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-03 08:00 - 17:00
THE KATIE GENEVA CANNON CENTER FOR WOMANIST LEADERSHIP
2025 SPRING BIENNIAL CONFERENCE
SAVE THE DATE – MAY 1-3, 2025 – CHARLESTON, SC

Pathways Online Course: Worship and Sacraments
2025-05-01 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-08 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-15 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-22 19:00 - 21:00
Pathways Online Course instructed by Rev. Dr. Donna Giver-Johnston and Rev. Dr. Diane Walton Hendricks: Worship & Sacraments

Donna Giver-Johnston is an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Over her twenty years in ministry, she has served churches in New Jersey and Ohio, and most recently as Pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Currently, she is a member of the faculty and the Director of the Doctor of Ministry degree program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She has earned degrees from Vanderbilt University (PhD and MA), Princeton Seminary (MDiv), and Westminster College (BA). Her published books include Claiming the Call to Preach: Four Female Pioneers of Preaching in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford, 2021); Writing for the Ear, Preaching from the Heart (Fortress, 2021); For Every Matter Under Heaven: Preaching for Special Occasions (Fortress Press, 2022).

Rev. Dr. Diane Walton Hendricks has served as pastor of Clifton Presbyterian Church in Clifton, VA, since September of 2020. She is passionate about nurturing a community that is growing in relationship with one another, with God, with the community, and with God’s ongoing work in the world. Before coming to CPC, Pastor Diane served churches in Arlington and Falls Church. In addition, she serves the greater church as a spiritual director (trained in the contemplative tradition), and has also served on staff at Wesley Theological Seminary and in the Pathways program of Union Presbyterian Seminary. She also served National Capital Presbytery as its immediate past moderator and is presently chair of the Leadership Council. She received her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and her Doctor of Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.
Course Description:
This course will examine the history, theology, and practice of worship and sacraments. While rooted in the reformed tradition, the goal is to deepen appreciation for a variety of worship services and liturgical practices. Through reflections on readings and discussions of observed liturgical rituals, the course will seek to cultivate enlivened worship leadership practices and their theological impact within the particular ecclesial context for each person. At the end of the course, participants will be equipped and inspired to craft and lead worship that is lifegiving for them and their worshiping congregation.
Dates: Thursdays, May 1-June 5 (asynchronous only on May 29)
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on April 27, 2025. Late registration ends on May 6, 2025.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

Sprunt 2025
2025-05-05, 2025-05-06, 2025-05-07
It’s time for the biggest alumni reunion event of the year: the Sprunt Lectures! Please plan to join UPSem alums from the past fifty years for a re-imagined event in Richmond from May 5-7.
Monday 5/5/25
All Day
Richmond Outing Ideas to do on your own: Maymont, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Carytown Shopping, Short Pump Town Center Shopping, Scotts Addition Dining, Virginia Holocaust Museum, Walking/Biking Trails/Golf Courses

10:30 AM – Noon
Seminary Activities:
William Smith Morton Library, Yaupon Place Walks

Morning – 1 or 2 PM
Alumni group or cohort gatherings are possible and on request.
Nearby Restaurants or on campus location TBD

1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Registration & We are Union Fair
Fair Opens with Coffee and refreshments Connection time with others. Come learn more about our Centers, Innovations, Special Initiatives, Faculty Publications in Library, Evening Storytelling Sign-ups, and More!
Holderness Dining Room
Advancement Team and Campus Leaders

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Film Viewing: “Trails of Hope & Terror”
Lake Chapel in the Early Center
Ken McFayden, Dean/VP of Academic Affairs and Professor of Practical Theology

4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Refreshments & Casual Conversations
Rose Reception Area in Early Center

4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
reUnion Choir Rehearsal
All are welcome to join. This choir will sing for opening worship Monday PM and/or Tuesday AM.
Watts Chapel
Doug Brown with David LaMotte

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Miguel De La Torre: Lecture 1
Reflections on “Trails of Hope and Terror” followed by Q&A
Lake Chapel
Rubén Arjona Asst. Professor of Pastoral Care and Director of Doctor of Ministry Program

5:45 PM – 7:00 PM
Dinner
Honoring Distinguished Alum – Angela Sims
Holderness Dining Room
Jacqueline Lapsley President & Professor of Old Testament in the Walter W. Moore & Charles E. S. Kraemer Presidential Chairs

7:15 PM – 9:00 PM
Live on Stage: True & First Person Stories by Attendees.
Theme: Waiting. Stories about being stuck, unresolved conflict, being trapped with no known way out… almost there but not yet.
Lake Chapel
John Carroll Harriet Robertson Fitts Memorial Professor of New Testament

Tuesday, 5/6/25
6:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Coffee & Connecting Time Registrations Continue
Holderness Cafe

6:30 or 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
Morning Groups:
7am Walking: Jacq Lapsley, Others TBD.
6:30 am Running: Josh Morris & Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty
6:30 am Yoga: Christine Luckritz Marquis Prayer, Bible Study, Other TBD
Meet under the Tent on the Quad
Faculty and Staff

7:30 AM – 8:45 AM
Breakfast
Holderness Dining Room

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Opening Worship
Worship Leaders: Mamie Broadhurst, Doug Brown, reUnion Choir, Students, and David LaMotte
Watts Chapel
Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty Davis Family Chair Professor of Theology & History

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM
Coffee Break & Registration Continues
Rose Reception Area in the Early Center

10:20 AM – 11:35 AM
Miguel De La Torre:
Lecture 2 “An Introduction to the Immigration Crisis”
Watts Chapel
Christian Sanchez Asst. Professor of New Testament

11:45 AM – 12:45 PM
Lunch
Honoring Unsung Staff Hero, Amanda Montague & Rising Star Alum, Megan Argabrite
Holderness Dining Room
Sung Hee Chang Assoc. Professor of Supervised Ministry

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
BAA Annual Meeting and Other Connection Groups (on request during registration)
BAA: Early Center 125
Connection Groups: Under the Tent

2:15 PM – 3:30 PM
Miguel De La Torre: Lecture 3 “A Rejection of Eurocentric Thought” followed by Q & A
Watts Chapel
Safwat Marzouk Assoc. Prof. Of Old Testament

3:30 PM – 3:45 PM
Coffee/ Refreshment Break and Connections
Early Center, Rose Reception Area

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Breakout Groups: Facilitated by Alphonso Saville, Am. Religious History Becky Davis, Christian Education Frances Taylor Gench, New Testament Josh Morris, Practical Theology Karen Marie Yust, Christian Education Melanie Jones Quarles, Ethics Theology & Culture
Early Center: Rooms as Assigned
UPSem Faculty

5:00 PM – 5:45PM
Book Signings & Reception with Miguel De La Torre & David LaMotte and connection time with retired faculty members
Under the Tent on the Quad
Robin McCall Seminary Librarian & Asst. Professor of Bibliography and Research

5:00 PM – 5:45 PM
reUnion Choir Rehearsal– All are welcome to join. This choir will sing for Closing worship Wednesday
Watts Chapel
Douglas Brown Director of Music & Adjunct Instructor in Church Music

6:00 PM – 7:15 PM
BBQ Dinner Honoring Trailblazer Award, Brian Blount and connection time with retired faculty members
Under the Tent on the Quad
Black Alumni Association

7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Concert by David LaMotte
Lake Chapel
Lee Hinson-Hasty Vice President for Advancement

Wednesday, 5/7/25
6:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Coffee & Connecting Time Registrations Continue
Holderness Cafe

6:30 or 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
Morning Groups:
7am Walking: Jacq Lapsley, Others TBD.
6:30 am Running: Josh Morris & Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty
6:30 am Yoga: Christine Luckritz Marquis Prayer, Bible Study, Other TBD
Under the Tent on the Quad
Faculty and Staff

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM
Breakfast
Holderness Dining Room

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Miguel De La Torre: Closing Lecture “Ethics Para Joder” followed by Q & A
Watts Chapel
Rachel Baard Asst. Professor of Theology & Ethics & Dir. of MA in Public Theology

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Coffee Break
Watts Lobby

10:45 AM – Noon
Closing Worship
Watts Chapel
Mamie Broadhurst

12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
Lunch with Community by Reservation
Holderness Dining Room

Special Course: The Black Teaching Tradition and the Legacy of Proclamation in the Black Church
2025-05-06 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-13 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-20 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-27 19:00 - 21:00, 2025-06-03 19:00 - 21:00
Special Course instructed by Rev. Dr. Akosua Lesesne: The Black Teaching Tradition and the Legacy of Proclamation in the Black Church
Dates: May 6 – June 10, 2025 // Tuesdays, 7-9pm via Zoom
Course Description:
In this course, we will explore the relationship between the transformative legacy of Black teaching excellence and the powerful tradition of Black preaching. Participants will come away from this course with a new or renewed understanding of how the practices of proclamation in the Black Church and pedagogical genius in Black schoolhouses are aligned. The primary aim of this course of study is to reclaim and (re)member the liberatory power of Black teaching and Black preaching for greater impact in the pulpit and traditional learning settings alike. Study will be taken up through the lens of Sankofa: an African word from the Akan peoples in Ghana. The literal translation of the word and the Sankofa symbol is “it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”

Meet the instructor
Rev. Dr. Akosua Lesesne is an educational design leader and creator of the Black Teaching Tradition (BTT)®: Teacher Development Framework for Pedagogical Genius. She is the founder of The Lesesne Collective Corp (Lesesne Collective) dba Sisters in Education Circle (SIEC) and Lesesne Legacy Learning Village (Lesesne Learning). Prior to founding Lesesne Collective dba SIEC, Akosua’s commitment to upholding historic legacies of Black teaching excellence for justice and liberation defined fifteen years of work as a teacher then district leader in the sixth, fourth, and eight-largest school districts in the nation respectively and design consultant serving a wide array of educational organizations and initiatives across the United States–from preschool through higher education, including theological education. Akosua was licensed and ordained by the late and legendary Rev. Dr. Mack King Carter at New Mount Olive Baptist Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL and served under Dr. Carter as Interim Minister of Education. She is also an ordained elder, Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). Akosua earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Tufts University, and a Doctorate in Educational and Organizational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on May 2, 2025, at 8am. Late registration ends on May 9, 2025.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff you can register for free HERE. If you are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.

Religious Education Theory and Practice
2025-05-20 11:00 - 14:00, 2025-05-27 11:00 - 14:00, 2025-06-03 11:00 - 14:00
Christian Education Certification Course instructed by Dr. Rebecca Davis: Religious Education Theory and Practice
Course Description:
Religious Education Theory and Practice provides Presbyterian Christian Educators an opportunity to think theologically about the teaching ministry of the church. It exposes educators to a variety of educational theories that informs pedagogical practices. Writing publishable, quality lesson plans, as well as choosing and evaluating curriculum are essential components of this course.

Meet the instructor
Rebecca L. Davis is a Minister of the Word and Sacrament and a Certified Christian Educator in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Before being appointed to the faculty of Union Presbyterian Seminary on the Charlotte Campus she served as Associate Professor of Religion and the Director of the Christian Education Program at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC.
Dr. Davis brings 25 years of congregational experience to her academic teaching. She has been both ordained and non-ordained ministry staff in small, medium and large congregations across the south. She was Director of Christian Education at Enslow Park Presbyterian in Huntington, WV, Associate Pastor at Central Presbyterian in Mobile, AL, Pastor of First Presbyterian in Monahans, TX and Executive Director of its child development center, Associate General Presbyter in Peace River Presbytery in FL and Associate Pastor at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
Dates: May 13-June 17, 2025, with synchronous zoom meetings from 11am-2pm on 5/20, 5/27, 6/03, and 6/10
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on May 8. Late registration ends on May 16.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes

Book Club: Up Against a Crooked Gospel by Melanie Jones Quarles
2025-06-03 19:00 - 21:00
Up Against a Crooked Gospel: Black Women’s Bodies and the Politics of Redemption by Melanie Jones Quarles

Online meetings 7-9pm EST; June 3, 10, 17, 24
An essential text for students and scholars of womanist thought, ethics, biblical studies, and Black religion.
Drawing upon her grandmother’s personal struggles with physical “bendedness” and the narrative of the bent woman in Luke 13:10-17, Melanie Jones Quarles engages Black religious thought and cultural criticism to expose how the Black Church paradoxically nurtures Black women while also sustaining their oppression. Quarles mines the prophetic imaginations of influential womanist thinkers, crafting a liberating vision that resists serving as surrogate “saviors” in society and religion.
With insights into politics, Christology, and biblical interpretation, this book boldly calls Black women to unbend their bodies and reclaim their moral agency in the face of crooked systems that attempt to constrain their freedom.
Led by the Author, Rev. Dr. Melanie Jones Quarles

Registration is free for UPSem Faculty and Students. Contact Deborah Keyes to register if you are a student, faculty member, or registering ater 5/27/2025.

Special Course: Stranger No More
2025-06-03 19:00 - 21:00
A Special Course instructed by Dr. Safwat Marzouk: Stranger No More
Dates: June 3 – July 8, Tuesdays from 7-9pm via Zoom.

Dr. Safwat Marzouk is an associate professor of Old Testament. As a Christian Egyptian and migrant to the U.S., he interprets the Bible in ways that are interreligiously and interculturally sensitive seeking God’s shalom and justice for the vulnerable and the marginalized. Dr. Marzouk is author of Egypt as a Monster in the Book of Ezekiel and Intercultural Church: A Biblical Vision in an Age of Migration.
Course Description:
The experience of forced migration, being on the move, seeking refuge or asylum, displacement, and living in diaspora is a fundamental part of the human story. Throughout history and in many parts of the world, humans, individuals, or communities, because of wars, natural disasters, economic crises, have crossed domestic or national boundaries seeking safety and a better life. Given the recent waves of forced migration and internal displacement, and given the intensification of xenophobia in political discourse, the church, and communities of faith, are confronted with vital questions about their witness in these critical times. In this course, students will study closely diverse texts from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that have been shaped by the realities of migration, exodus, conquest, exile, and diaspora. As they engage these texts in their historical and literary contexts, students will reflect on how these texts wrestled with welcoming the stranger and how host and migrant communities negotiated cross-cultural relations. As future faith leaders in a polarized world, students will reflect on how to discern a faithful response to the issue of migration in light of the diverse biblical perspectives on the issue. Students will articulate a theological perspective that takes seriously the culture of fear of the other, that nurtures empathy towards the stranger, and that leads the church and the society to move beyond the politics of assimilation and segregation so that migrant and host communities experience God’s shalom.
Offered by the Leadership Institute at Union Presbyterian Seminary

Registration closes on May 29, 2025. Late registration ends on June 6, 2025.
If you are UPSem faculty or staff or are in financial need of a discounted registration fee, please contact Deborah Keyes.
