At the end of every academic year, we host the Integrative Project symposium, in which 天美视频鈥檚 alumni, current students, faculty, staff, and the Seattle community at large are invited to witness and celebrate the bold, thoughtful, and creative work of our graduating and students.
For these students, the Integrative Project serves as a capstone of their time in graduate school鈥攂orn out of years of study, countless conversations with peers and faculty, and each student鈥檚 distinctive embodiment of text, soul, and culture. Their work utilizes a blend of research methodology, personal exploration and engagement, and 天美视频鈥檚 unique lens.
In this video, Alicia Landis Choi (MATC) presents on her project, 鈥淎pophatic Mystery and Kataphatic Interrelationship: Re-imagining a Theology of Wilderness.鈥� Drawing on her education and experience as a wilderness guide and from her theological studies at 天美视频, Alicia argues that we need a new theology of wilderness, and that the analogies commonly used to connect wilderness and theology are insufficient.
鈥淎ll those analogies about maps and compasses fall a little flat when you realize that they tell you a story that only acknowledges a very limited idea of God, of Scripture, and what it means to walk in a complex world.鈥�
We tend to think of wilderness from a lofty, pristine vantage point (like a beautiful mountaintop as a background on a computer). 鈥淏ut here鈥檚 the thing,鈥� says Alicia. 鈥淭hat vantage point doesn鈥檛 actually tell you the full story of what it means to be a person in this place, just like the analogy of a map doesn鈥檛 tell us what it means to embody our theology.鈥�
鈥淭he analogy of a map doesn鈥檛 tell us what it means to embody our theology.鈥�
Alicia shares how a theology that acknowledges the mystery of God鈥攔ather than a theology that seeks to dominate and erase blank, unknown areas鈥攈as invited her to a more spacious theology of wilderness that allows her to move as an embodied human who is only one part of a larger creation.
鈥淭he emphasis on the mystery of God creates space in my theology, space in which that which I do not know, and which is not myself, is equally as important as that which I am familiar with. Simultaneously, as I acknowledge mystery, I find myself invited into connection.鈥�
You can watch the full video of Alicia鈥檚 talk below. We are consistently inspired by the work that our graduating students present in their Integrative Projects. You can see more videos from last year鈥檚 graduating class .