I am full of grief over the horrendous murders of 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the deadliest attack ever on Jews in the United States. An attack on one religious community is an attack on all of us. Each and every person, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim or atheist, is a child of God and beloved by God.   The value of a human life is supreme, as the Jewish scriptures state, “If any man has caused a single soul to perish, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had caused the whole world to perish, and if any man saves alive a single soul, Scripture...

Kinda-Manegda Theophile Zongo is from Burkina Faso. Born and raised in Ouagadougou (the capital of Burkina Faso), he is the fifth of seven children. Zongo tells us, “I’m from the Mossi ethnic group. We are Catholics but a large number of the family are still proudly following our ancestral beliefs. Coming from a modest family, I already realized that only studies can help me to realize my life. I earned my Baccalaureate degree, which is a French high-school diploma. After that, I went to the Université de Ouagadougou where I earned my Bachelor degree in Administration Law and my Master...

UTS administrators often attend Association of Theological Schools (ATS) events. Experience shows that it is important for UTS to stay current with the conversations which are part of the theological landscape in North America. UTS has affiliate status with ATS Robin James Graham, UTS Director of Institutional Advancement Mapping the workforce: What Competencies do ATS Alums need? Last year, as part of the Educational Models Workforce Mapping project, ATS conducted a first-of-its-kind study on alums from ATS schools. It surveyed 940 alums from 42 representative schools...

How does Islam advocate for interfaith dialogue, peace, tolerance and understanding? On Thursday August 30th, the third in a series of monthly interfaith dialogues took place. The first two dialogues tackled the Bahá’í and Mormon faiths. First and foremost, the topic of Islam is an appropriate topic because, this semester, UTS is currently offering an online class on Islam taught by Dr. Drissa Koné. This course introduces the tradition of Islam from an authentic perspective such as the life of Muhammad, the Qur’an, central beliefs and traditions, schools of jurisprudence, the...

In 1999 Marilyn first considered pursuing training as a chaplain; she admits, in retrospect, that it was far more challenging than she had realized. “I had no idea of how intense it would be. I went back to school to get my MA and my MDiv at a Methodist seminary in the Midwest. They graciously took many of my Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) credits so I didn’t have to repeat my MRE (Master of Religious Education).  I added on a year of anthropological studies and indigenous people studies. We really opened up our understanding of religion as a human endeavor to understand the...

UTS administrators often attend Association of Theological Schools (ATS) events. Experience shows that it is important for UTS to stay current with the conversations which are part of the theological landscape in North America. UTS has affiliate status with ATS Robin James Graham, UTS Director of Advancement and Communication Being where? The shift from oncampus to offsite to online education Oxford University Press published a classic study of on-campus residential education at ATS schools 20 years ago titled Being There: Culture and Formation in Two Theological Schools...

A Japanese monk holding colored string beads in his hands…he rubs them to make a crackling sound……a venerated bow…and then moves away and walks along the rocky mountain path in the dark carrying a lighted cylindrical lantern.   He is one of those marathon monks of Mt. Hiei and the Buddhist practice of ‘Kaihogyo’ which is a way to clarify the mind and the spirit.  This was the first scene of the movie, “SACRED” and this was our first field trip with our World Religions class taught by Dr. Charles Chesnavage of the Unification Theological Seminary – which offers educational programs in an...

This article is the first in a short series that will explore the field of chaplaincy, introducing UTS alumni who are now working as chaplains.   During the first two decades after the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) was founded (1975) it was attended primarily by students with a background in the Unification Movement, usually at the direct request of the founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Those early students responded faithfully to God’s call, and while many UTS graduates filled pastoral positions post-graduation, other alumni used their education at UTS as a springboard to pursue...

This Fall 2018 semester, World Religions and Global Conflict taught by Professor Charles Chesnavage is a foundation course that introduces students to the complexity of world religions and the conflicts that affect our world today. The students in the class themselves come from diverse faith backgrounds. An excellent class presentation was given in the second week of semester on the cultural and spiritual background of one of the oldest religions in the world today, Hinduism from India. Aside from learning through our own personal experiences, one of the best ways in improving our...