The Seminary Explores

Mark Jalbert, Director of Bakewell Farm, shares his love of bread and explores ways that Bakewell Farm is using bread to build community. From the science of fermentation to sharing a loaf with a neighbor or those in need. You can almost smell the loaves come out of the oven.

Dylan Miller spent his last year of college living in a hut he built himself in the middle of the woods. While it was part of his capstone project on living a minimalist life it was truely much more than an "assignment."  Dylan discusses his approach to life, what led him to this project and where he is going from here in this truely unique perspective on living an examined life.

Clay Pasqual, a college senior, spent the summer as intern for the Fund for American Studies in the Institute for Business and Governmental Affairs. The focus of his work dealt with healthcare issues in the United States. The internship included:

• Attending congressional hearings
• Working on Press Releases and Community Materials
• Attending and participating in a seminar
• Expanding healthcare to include issues beyond medicinal and hospitalization, i.e. socio-economic

Dr. Dwight Michael, physician in family practice with Gettysburg Family Practice and member of Physicians for a National Health Program and Health Care for All Pennsylvania, believes that healthcare is a human right, recognized as such by every modern industrialized nation except the United States. Opponents have not considered the savings that a single-payer system would bring to the economy; on the contrary, he asserts, the cost of not adopting universal health care will be counted in the trillions by 2020.

Please note this discussion was recorded on July 7, 2017, references to specific bills in Congress should understood in this context.

Recorded live at St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, long time host, Dr. Gerald Christianson, talks with Dr. Elizabeth Wood, retired physician in private practice, about the decline of private practice in medicine.  Dr. Wood expresses concern that some important values are in danger of being lost: a single physician’s knowledge of the whole person; drug over-dose or contradicting prescriptions; lack of communication among specialists.  Much has been gained as well, but two universal issues remain open to debate: the delivery of quality care for all and end of life decisions.

Dr. Collinge discusses the content and context of the encyclical, Laudato si, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi. It is a meditation on created nature and the place of humanity in it. The pope adds something new: he joins the Catholic theology of creation (not anthropology) with the tradition of Catholic social ethics, especially his concern for the poor. 

Dr. Christianson asks Dr. Daryl Black, new President and Executive Director of the Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum, the question, “Why do we have museums and should they do more than just collect “keepsakes”? Dr. Black describes the change in museums over the past two decades from emphasizing a collection of items, e.g. rifles, to interpretation of these items in the wider context of the need for human beings to make meaning of the past.  He illustrates this with the conflicting ways North and South used the Bible and even viewed God in the Civil War.

Will Lane, Director of the Writing Center, Gettysburg College and former Chair, Adams-Hanover Health Care for All discusses the current status of healthcare in America with host Dr. Christianson.  Mr. Lane says the health care is slowly improving under The Affordable Care Act, but the goal is still to cover everyone with affordable health care. The obstacles today are political and not value or workable solutions.   Two models to meet the goal are regulated private companies and the expansion of Medicare for everyone. 

Dr. Christianson and John Spangler, Executive Assistant to the President for Communication and Planning and former President of the Seminary Ridge Historic Preservation Foundation, explore what we can learn from a small school on a large campus on how to realize a commitment to preserving the environment by “going green:” using new technologies, such as geothermal wells, measuring the “carbon footprint,” recycling, and planting.  The Historic Walking Pathway and campus renewal with new parking and tree planting are prime examples at Gettysburg Seminary.