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An exploration of church and society produced by the United Lutheran Seminary with campuses in Gettysburg and Philadelphia, PA.
Episodes
Monday Nov 20, 2023
The African American Presence in Gettysburg: The Black History Museum
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Monday Nov 20, 2023
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.
Monday Jan 16, 2023
The Top Stories in Religion 2022
Monday Jan 16, 2023
Monday Jan 16, 2023
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.
Monday Aug 24, 2020
T1International: The Quest for Insulin Accessibility
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Monday Aug 24, 2020
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/
Monday Mar 23, 2020
A Palestinian Woman Navigates the Borderland between Two Cultures
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
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.
Monday Dec 02, 2019
Town and Country Church Institute at ULS
Monday Dec 02, 2019
Monday Dec 02, 2019
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
Monday Sep 23, 2019
Poverty: An American Dilemma
Monday Sep 23, 2019
Monday Sep 23, 2019
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.
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Up Close with Climate Up Close
Monday Sep 09, 2019
Monday Sep 09, 2019
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.
Monday May 20, 2019
How a Small-Town Newspaper Can Survive and Serve
Monday May 20, 2019
Monday May 20, 2019
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.
Monday Feb 25, 2019
The Housing Crisis in America
Monday Feb 25, 2019
Monday Feb 25, 2019
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.
Monday Dec 17, 2018
Nicaragua: A Political Crisis on Our Doorstep
Monday Dec 17, 2018
Monday Dec 17, 2018
Gretchen Natter is the Executive Director of the Center for Public Service and Assistant Dean of College Life, Gettysburg College; and Communications Liaison, Project Gettysburg-Leon. In this podcast she describes the current political crisis in Nicaragua brought about by protests against President Daniel Ortega, the long-time leader of the Sandinista Movement that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship but is now using similar tactics to suppress opposition. The situation has directly affected the work of groups that encourage cultural interchange and assistance such as Project Gettysburg-Leon and others around the country.