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Recently, Naomi Seidman, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies, traveled to Warsaw in commemoration of the uprising and the publication of her father's diary into Polish. Upon her return, the j profiled the important work her father did. An excerpt follows:

“My father was the archivist of the pre-war Warsaw Jewish community,” Seidman said in an interview. “He wrote in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish, and was a Ph.D. of Jewish history.”

Seidman’s...

The Graduate Theological Union recently received a gift to support a competitive prize for graduates and faculty.

The GTU is pleased to announce the establishment of the The Borsch-Rast Endowed Fund. The Borsch-Rast Prize and Lectureship of the Graduate Theological Union seeks to encourage the writing and publication of theological scholarship by GTU graduates and current faculty. The endowment for the Borsch-Rast Prize and Lectureship comes from the sale of Trinity Press International, a venture dedicated to the publication of scholarly and often interdisciplinary theological...

The motto of the Graduate Theological Union is “where religion meets the world,” but what does it mean? It’s easy to draw a line between what is “sacred” and “secular” (often whatever is not “sacred”), but that’s not quite it either since religion is part of the world we know and the world interacts with religion. Rather, our motto emphasizes where faith traditions purposefully encounter people and events, sometimes in unique ways — describing this encounter as crossroads, bridges, and dialogue.

The following are responses we received from current students and alumni regarding how...

For almost 40 years the GTU has been a significant part of my life, a part that underscored the theological notion of vocation that each of us is called in a particular way by God to enter a path that will enable us to grow and to use our skills and potentials to make a significant contribution to the world, along a path that will lead us to our own fulfillment.

This idea of vocation or “call” has shaped my own personal history, especially where the GTU is concerned. The GTU has called me three times, the first in 1975. As I searched for graduate programs in theology, I heard a buzz...

By any standard, the Graduate Theological Union is unique. Envisioned as a grand experiment of cooperation and collaboration, the consortium overcame the early struggles of pioneering new ground in graduate theological education.

Berkeley was fertile soil for the germination of such an effort. By the 1950s, six seminaries representing a variety of Protestant traditions were located in the city – Berkeley Baptist Theological Seminary (later American Baptist Seminary of the West), Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Pacific Lutheran...

By Gabriella Lettini

Originally posted on Huffington Post for Veteran's Day

War does not end when peace is declared and the troops come home. It continues to affect the bodies, psyches, souls, lands and communities of everyone involved. War's tragic legacy passes on from generation to generation, more dangerously so when it is ignored and left unattended.

The psychological and emotional effects of combat are often...

Josefina J. Card, Ph.D., who prefers to go by J.J., first learned of the GTU from her friend, Judy Larsen who serves on the Board of Trustees as the representative for the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Larsen approached Card to see if she would accept a nomination to the GTU Board of Trustees. Moved by the interfaith and multireligious mission of the GTU, Card agreed. In her first year as a Trustee, she has seen in action her belief that there are many roads to God, and that the GTU clearly helps articulate those roads.

In her professional life, Card is Founder and...

Though much of our religious traditions are recorded and communicated through text or action, art has been a long-standing avenue for expression and instruction of things concerning the soul.

The Flora Lamson Hewlett Library is hosting a special exhibit in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the GTU. Imaging Religion, which opens October 1 and runs through January 31, 2013, will feature visual and textual expressions characterizing beliefs from various religious traditions. Included in the display are Orthodox icons; Catholic paintings, prints, and vestments; Protestant prints...

Given the continued prominence of economic recovery in public debate, two students and one alumna discussed with us the economy from a faith based perspective.

Consumerism as a World View

Christina Ellsworth, a M.A. student affiliated with the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, came to the GTU to study theology and to expand her awareness of alternatives to consumerism. Her senior thesis was on the integration of faith with what we buy as consumers. Ellsworth’s response to the question of “How do we bring hope to a situation of utter hopelessness” pushes beyond...

An Interview with Robert J. Russell, Director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences

Science and Religion have always been thought of as diametric opposites, searching for different truths. One need only think of Galileo and Copernicus. How have these poles been brought closer together?

The statement about science and faith always being in conflict is a myth, as exposed by Ronald Number’s book, Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion. Many of the founders of modern science were persons of deep religious faith.

Two...