The Seminary Explores

Joining approximately 100 doctors, dentists, nurses, and volunteers, Dr. Susan Cole participated in a mission to a remote region of Honduras to conduct an annual clinic that provides healthcare to hundreds who otherwise have no access to healthcare in their day-to-day lives.

She delves into the economic and other factors that impact the health status of children and adults and emphasizes how important basic education in simple health practices is to potentially changing the future health of the patients they treat.

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A downloadable transcript has been generated using Otter.AI.

This episode contains a reference to suicides. If you or someone you know is in crisis call or text 988 for assistance.

Jane Nutter, the President of the Gettysburg Black History Museum, talks about the development of the museum. She emphasizes the fact that the museum goes beyond the presence of African Americans in Gettysburg during the Civil War. The museum highlights the Blacks in Gettysburg before, during, and after the War. She notes that the museum contains artifacts from various individuals and families of color including photographs, furniture, and documents. The community was enthusiastic to contribute to the collection. In a sense, due to segregation, the Black community established its own vibrant society and community life  that included its own American Legion, the Elks, and community events.

Dr. Teresa Smallwood, The James Franklin Kelly and Hope Eyster Kelly Associate Professor of Public Theology, United Lutheran Seminary discussed her choice of the top stories in religion for 2022. She discussed her concern for Democracy in the United States, the current role of the Supreme Court, religious freedom, the care for children and their health, and the challenges facing the Black community. She emphasized the importance of our mainline churches to educate its members in the Christian tradition in order to counter the forces that are taking away our God-given human freedom.

Elizabeth Pfiester is the founder and director of the non-profit T1International, which is based in the UK, and is dedicated to using ethics and solidarity in its quest for more accessible insulin. The initiator of the grassroots campaign #insulin4all, it does not accept funding from pharmaceutical companies or any organization that would compromise its ability to advocate for insulin affordability and access.

Pfiester holds a master’s degree in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from The London School of Economics and Political Science.  We caught up with Elizabeth during a busy August at T1International.

You can learn more about the insulin price crisis in the U.S. and how T1International advocates around the world are seeking change so that this essential medicine gets into the hands of all who need it. https://www.t1international.com/

Haya Mohanna came to the United States from the Gaza Strip in Palestine to study at Gettysburg College. She was sponsored by LE.O (Leonard Education Organization) which supports nearly 60 qualified students in American universities. Even with this support, she experienced the difficulty of leaving occupied Gaza, and the frustration of not being able to visit her family whom she has not seen in seven years. She has flourished in America even while she continues to make adjustments as a Muslim woman to her new environment. She believes that this country is a beacon of hope that must come to terms with itself as a cultural mix where no religion, culture, or race can be privileged.

Dr. Gilson Waldkoenig, Paulssen-Hale-Maurer Professor of Church in Society, and the Director of the Town and Country Church Institute at United Lutheran Seminary, asks that we expand our vision beyond the big-topic issues of the day, important as they are, and embrace three universal needs: energy (including climate); food and health, including water resources; and habitat, both for humans and for our non-human neighbors (“all creatures great and small”).

He suggests specific ways in which congregations are doing their part, for example, energy assessments of their buildings and their “footprints” on the ground; cultivating gardens or supporting a farm; and sponsoring fresh produce markets.

Woodcut by Wenceslas Hollar (1607-1677) illustrated Augsburg Confession VII

Leon Reed shares the results of recent studies on poverty in Adams County and Pennsylvania to help answer why poverty prevails in the U.S. even when the economy has flourished. The definition of poverty now includes single persons making $20,000 or less and a family of four making $59,000 or less. He observes that the two fundamental issues are jobs and housing. In the justice system, the poor who get charged with misdemeanors have difficulty making bail and paying fines, resulting in their return to prison. Meanwhile, federal and state funding has dropped drastically to the point where programs that help are being curtailed or shut down.

Nadir Jeevanjee and Nathaniel Tarshish are two members of a group called “Climate Up Close” who share a background in Princeton University research and are traveling with a program that describes, in easy-to-understand terms, what climate change is, how it affects us, and what “bold climate actions” can redress this increasingly critical development. Sharing the scientific consensus on climate change is foremost in their program, using a power point presentation and simple demonstrations, plus a desire to dialogue, even with those who might have a different perspective.

Alex Hayes, Managing Editor of the Gettysburg Times, shares his belief that for a local newspaper to survive it must be local.  Despite, and perhaps because of, the competition from on-line news, people still want to read about their neighbors, their town councils, their courts, and their sports events, even if one reads it as an e-edition.  Furthermore, the newspaper, whether the New York Times or the Gettysburg Times, offers a much higher degree of reliability than on-line news which is often driven by unverified opinion or worse—a development in American history that is a major departure from the past and often disturbing as well.

Megan Shreve, CEO, South Central Community Action Programs, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania talks housing on this episode of the Seminary Explores. The “Wage Gap,” perhaps the most significant contribution to the housing crisis, occurs when a working family on minimum wage does not qualify for aid, but doesn’t have enough to cover the necessities of food, health, transportation, and child care. In addition, declining resources from state and federal governments are threatening even the most basic programs such as overnight shelters. SCAAP has created two innovative, and biblical, programs that involve community resources. “Support Circles” provide dinner and child care as well as action strategies to rise out of the gap. “Gleaning” allows families to harvest agricultural products that growers can’t market.