Students, alumni, and others in Louisville Seminary community making a difference

One only need peruse the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary website to see the significant ways in which its students, graduates, seminary leaders, and others in the institution’s community are being change agents in the broader world.

Take, for example, Bruce Berry, who earned a master of divinity degree in 1972. “I am called to administrative ministries, even in retirement. Louisville Seminary prepared me for my life’s work by providing a variety of field placements that enabled me to see how not-for-profits functioned or didn’t function.”

“From working in (Louisville’s) Smoketown (neighborhood) to the prison system, I experienced how effective administration allows mission to happen,” he said. Berry is highlighted on the seminary website’s Alums & Friends page. 

Then there’s first-year student Chelsea Guenther-Benham, who is earning a master of divinity degree. She was recently selected to participate in a two-week FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) program in New York, Germany, and Poland this June.

The fellowship is one of four FASPE programs, each of which uses the history of the Holocaust as a way to engage students in an intensive study of contemporary ethics in their field.

“I want to learn from history in order that I might become a person of solid ethics and integrity who is not afraid to act for what is right,” Guenther-Benham said. “This experience will make me a better minister.” A story about Guenther-Benham and her fellowship is also on the seminary’s website, situated under News.

Louisville Seminary President Michael Jinkins is spotlighted as well, via his regular blogs, which can be accessed via the seminary site. Through “Thinking Out Loud,” Jinkins reflects on leadership, discipleship, theological education, and contemporary culture. 

Titles among his entries include “Prophetic Voices,” “Was Jesus an Extrovert?” and “Is Tolerance a Christian Virtue?” At times in this blog space, and also on his president’s page, Jinkins invites the larger public to be in conversation with him.

“I hope you will share with me your hopes and dreams for the future of the church and your ideas regarding the role of Louisville Seminary in preparing women and men for leadership in the church and in the world,” he says to readers. “You can share your thoughts with me by email at presidentlistening@lpts.edu.”