Earlier this year, two summer-term classes took 天美视频 students beyond our walls (and beyond Seattle). In Engaging Global Partnerships, Dr. Ron Ruthruff, Associate Professor of Theology & Culture, and Cheryl Goodwin, Director of Institutional Assessment & Library Services, led a group of students to Kenya, inviting them to let their assumptions, beliefs, and practices be challenged and clarified by the stories of a place and the people who serve it. That same month, spiritual director and pilgrimage guide (MA in Theology & Culture, 鈥�12) and spiritual director and retired faculty member Tom Cashman journeyed to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona to guide students through a pilgrimage grounded in the ancient Christian tradition of desert spirituality.

Engaging Global Partnerships in Kenya

鈥淲e鈥檙e taking a deep look at the history of colonialism and religion, and the relationship between a place and the people who inhabit it鈥攅specially in places of wounding. How can we enter those wounds in a way that is honoring to others鈥� stories and also helps us reimagine our shared future?鈥�
鈥揇r. Ron Ruthruff

Pilgrimage to the Sonoran Desert

鈥淒uring our time in the desert, we explored the ancient Christian tradition of desert spirituality with an emphasis on the apophatic way and the contemplative path. The word apophatic means 鈥榳ithout image,鈥� and during our time in the desert we sought to abandon our expectations and preconceived notions of God through themes such as awareness, inviting us to non-dual consciousness; surrender, inviting us toward a posture of kenosis or self-emptying; and encounter, inviting us to be present to the desert, the Divine, and ourselves with loving indifference or non-attachment. Ultimately, the fierce landscape of the desert served as teacher and guide on our journey, teaching us how to tend to and be with the sacred and fierce landscape of the soul within.鈥�
鈥揕acy Clark Ellman

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Esther: 鈥淩eality is person-like, and our essential human desire is to know, to understand, to have intimate contact and communion with reality.鈥�

There is a contagious sense of delight in how Esther presents her ideas, and it鈥檚 a bit sneaky: She鈥檚 engaging dense, complex theories, and if you鈥檙e not already into philosophy it might be easy to say 鈥淥h I鈥檓 not interested in that,鈥� or 鈥淭hat鈥檚 over my head.鈥� But if you listen, you might start to hear a contagious, almost childlike joy. Esther describes it as 鈥渆xuberant realism鈥濃�攁 grounded, thoughtful desire to approach the big questions of life with vibrant love and an openness to delight. With this posture, philosophy is not about abstract theory detached from our day-to-day realities; it鈥檚 a discipline that invites us to wrestle with the deep needs of our time in new and meaningful ways.

鈥淭here鈥檚 one thing you need to be philosophical, and that is to be born. Because to be human is to be philosophical.鈥�

Esther: 鈥淚t has everything to do with love of God, but it has everything to do with love of his reality, too.鈥�

Much of this conversation stems from the conviction that our 鈥渄efective modernist epistemology鈥� and our attempts to control reality are problematic, and that we are in need of a new perspective on our relationship to the real. Esther shares how, in her teaching and writing, her hope is to cultivate 鈥渓overs of the real鈥濃�攊ndividuals whose adoration for God and God鈥檚 creation compels them to ask better questions, to pursue meaningful work, and to welcome each other with hospitality and delight. Derek and Esther discuss how that turn toward others is also reflected in what we know of human psychology: to be gazed upon with delight, and to offer delight toward others, is a central part of developing an integrated identity.

Esther: 鈥淭o be seen with delight by someone else is something that allows you to find yourself in that gaze.鈥�

Derek: 鈥淚n the current political climate of our country, it鈥檚 been hard to delight in each other, very hard to see beauty. What we seem focused on is ugliness, and our inability to see each other and delight in each other has been a real challenge.鈥�

Esther鈥檚 insights and philosophies have profound implications on how we conceive of God, how we serve each other, and how we respond to trauma and dis-integration in our world. We are deeply grateful for her work and for the generosity of her presence with us. Thanks to Dr. Esther Meek for joining us, and thanks to all of you for listening!

Resources to Go Deeper

• For more from Esther Meek, you can watch her presentation from the 2018 Stanley Grenz Lecture Series, including a panel conversation with Dr. Dan Allender and Dr. Chelle Stearns: Integration in a Dis-Integrated World.
• Esther鈥檚 writing has been an important presence in our classrooms for many years. To jump into her work for yourself, a good starting point might be .
• Esther cites Francis Schaeffer鈥檚 book as helping her realize at a young age that her questions about God and the world were not sin, they were philosophical.
• Much of Esther鈥檚 ideas have been developed in conversation with the work of Michael Polanyi, whose text seemed like the only voice in Esther鈥檚 philosophical quest that addressed her deepest questions about reality.

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The MA in Counseling Psychology with a Concentration in Trauma & Abuse, to be launched in Fall 2019, offers a unique specialization in Trauma-Informed Narrative Therapy, a modality that has been developed over decades of experience by Dr. Dan Allender and The Allender Center. Informed by research into neuroscience, shame, somatic psychotherapy, bodywork, and robust theology, Trauma-Informed Narrative Therapy is a therapeutic approach integrating in-depth story engagement and an awareness of trauma science through the lens of a dynamic Christian faith.

鈥淥ur mission is to train people to be competent in the study of text, soul, and culture to serve God and neighbor through transforming relationships. It鈥檚 not about studying as an end in itself; that call to service is at the heart of everything we do,鈥� says Dr. Derek McNeil, Acting President. 鈥淎s students develop more clarity about the specific realm of service they are called to, their education should become more focused as well. So this concentration will offer very particular training that hones the work students are already engaging through the Counseling Psychology program.鈥�

鈥淎s students develop more clarity about the specific realm of service they are called to, their education should become more focused as well.鈥�

This new concentration, the first of several being developed within our graduate degree programs, is emerging at a crucial time in our culture. We are surrounded every day by evidence of trauma and abuse鈥攊ncluding the heartbreaking revelations of widespread, systemic abuse in institutions; the rising tide of individual stories brought to light through the #MeToo movement; and the myriad ways that more subtle effects of trauma and abuse play out all around us. More than ever, our world is faced with an urgent need for well-trained practitioners who are equipped to address the complex realities of trauma as they help individuals and communities pursue healing.

Our Concentration in Trauma & Abuse will feature teaching informed by a broad range of theories and approaches, as well as experiential training in individual and group story work. Courses will be offered in a laboratory-style learning environment, combining theoretical learning with practical application. Clinical formation will be facilitated by 天美视频鈥檚 practitioner/scholar faculty, in tandem with immersive learning with The Allender Center. Through the integration of these methodologies, students will develop trauma-informed strategies for work in a variety of mental health settings and will be equipped to provide grounded, insightful, and attuned presence to traumatized clients.

鈥淭his concentration is for those willing to listen and attune to the pain and harm they have experienced in their own life. We can only take someone else as far as we have gone ourselves,鈥� says Abby Wong-Heffter, LMHC, Affiliate Faculty and Allender Center Teaching Staff. 鈥淔rom that foundation, we train wounded healers to help others understand and heal from the complex impacts of trauma and abuse by listening to the stories their body remembers and longs to tell the truth about.鈥�

The Concentration in Trauma & Abuse is designed to be completed concurrently with the MA in Counseling Psychology, and is composed of 70 credits: four concentration-specific credits, four required MACP electives, and two intensive offerings from The Allender Center. More information about the curriculum, application process, and goals for this new offering are available here.

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During this hectic season of what I would hands down call the busiest, most challenging semester of grad school thus far鈥攁nd my second to last鈥擨 have been reading Found by Micha Boyett. Her reflections on grace and prayer allow spaces of sweet reflection and pause throughout this hectic season. I鈥檓 getting nostalgic, here in these last days of graduate school. Though life has taught me that nothing is constant but change, I am one prone to sentimentality. Now is a good time for it.

Of her own experience through transition, Boyett writes, 鈥淎nd here I sit in San Francisco, a city I barely considered three years ago, taking communion with a roomful of people I never imagined I鈥檇 one day share my life with.鈥� That is how I feel about Seattle. I never intended to bring myself to this place. Seattle sounded like a nice place I鈥檇 someday like to visit, but it wouldn鈥檛 have made my bucket list. The thing about God is that he has other plans. He is not afraid to surprise, and I鈥檓 starting to believe God delights when we say yes to those surprises. So that鈥檚 all I really did. Said yes to moving to Seattle when God said, 鈥淒ue North.鈥� Then I said a hundred tiny and massive and medium yeses in between. No big thing; and yet it is.

鈥淕od is not afraid to surprise, and I鈥檓 starting to believe God delights when we say yes to those surprises.鈥�

Had I known what I was getting into, what I was signing up for, I may not have come鈥攖hese two tiny years, on top of the several years that came before Seattle, have completely transformed me. They have taken me through fire, and water, and ice. And through that process I have come out differently than I thought I would. Yet it feels just right.

The building which stood just across Elliott Avenue from 天美视频 was demolished recently (). Its walls, beams, and foundation were completely torn down over the past several weeks. It was home to some whose names we will never know. Its parking lot provided dependable parking for moms who are simultaneously raising kids and working their way through graduate school. It was the view out of one of our professor鈥檚 windows. And then it was gone.

After six months of near constant rain, on one recent day, the skies shone clear. I plod-plod-plodded down Wall Street, peering over the buildings to Elliott Bay and the mountains. Distracted by the view, I was walking past the aforementioned building on the way to school鈥攐nly it wasn鈥檛 there anymore. Its walls had been torn down. Its foundations had crumbled. The parking lot was no more. Instead, someone had taken the time to smooth down the gravel into an extraordinary, simple design. I laughed out loud! I laughed, because this is what God does. He tears down our foundations until we think we will be no more鈥攁nd we are no more鈥攂ut then there is space and room for the beautiful design that can now be built.

Boyett writes, 鈥淭he wave rolls through my body, and I stand with my hands on the bed, breathing long and deep while the force grows wide in me. It鈥檚 almost like God: wild and dangerous and making everything new.鈥� Her words make my heart beat just a little bit faster in the way that lets me know they are true. There is now space for new foundations, new rooms, new life. Boyett鈥檚 words about God seem just right: wild and dangerous and making everything new.

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