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June 5, 2026
Campus News Islam Islamophobia Progressive Christianity Theology

Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis to Be Appointed Inaugural Occupant of the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, June 5, 2026 — United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is elated to announce that Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis will be appointed as the first-ever occupant of the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts. Until now, he has served faithfully as the McVay Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Social Transformation, as well as Director of the Social Transformation Program. Before joining United, Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis served as a congregational minister in Boston, Honolulu, and San Francisco, and was Director of Leadership Development for Metropolitan Community Churches, after which he joined the United Church of Christ (UCC). Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis’ ministry includes community organizing and advocacy. He has served as managing director at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS) as well as communications director for the Hawai’i Equal Rights Marriage Project, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. He received his PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from Graduate Theological Union in 2017, his DMin from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 2003, and his MDiv from Harvard Divinity School in 1990. His teaching experience spans courses at the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, Iliff School of Theology, and Pacific School of Religion. As an eminent academic and theologian, Dr. Sabia-Tanis’ scholarship has deepened the study of the intersection of art and LGBTQ+ religious identity. He recently completed writing Queer Spirituality, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity in Contemporary Visual Art, to be released later this year by Bloomsbury Academic. Dr. Sabia-Tanis also wrote the groundbreaking book Transgendered Ministry, Theology and Communities of Faith (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2003; Wipf & Stock, 2018) and authored a chapter in Transbiblical: New Approaches to Interpretation and Embodiment in Scripture (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2025).  In 2024, he gave a lecture in the art gallery of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, MN, on the life and art of Keith Haring. Dr. Sabia-Tanis is himself an artist, and he hones and cultivates the creative expression of the artist-theologians enrolled in his courses. In his announcement of the news to United students, Dr. Kyle Roberts—Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs—connected Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis’ education and qualifications to the field of theology and the arts. “Dr. Sabia-Tanis appreciates and champions the legacy of Dr. Yates and the leadership of United in the area of arts and theology,” Dr. Roberts asserted. “He also advocates for the intersection of the arts with movements for social justice and will bring to his teaching and leadership a synergy of theology and arts, along with his contributions to the education of social transformation at United.” Rev. Dr. Molly T. Marshall, President, commended the news for this esteemed member of the faculty. “The wide-ranging scholarship of Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis will elevate this position as the arts serve as a medium for social transformation.” Established in 2025 by generous gifts from friends, alums, and former United faculty, the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts is an endowed faculty position named after Rev. Dr. Wilson Yates, President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religion, Society, and the Arts. Yates joined United’s faculty in 1967, became Dean in 1988, and was made President in 1996. He retired from the seminary in 2005, having led and innovated in theology and the arts, deepened scholarship, and integrated the subject as a pillar of United’s academic programs. Rev. Dr. Yates celebrated the news and is eager to see Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis installed into the chair. He reflects, “I am very excited about Justin’s selection for this role. His studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley will provide an important background to this work. Justin brings a solid understanding of the relationship to the arts in theology, the church, and everyday life. It is not incidental that he is also a practicing artist.” On his appointment to the chair, Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis shares, “United has valued and integrated the arts since our founding. They are critical to how our students are formed, and in the ministries and projects they will lead when they graduate. I am so honored to move into this important role at United and continue the incredible legacy of Wilson Yates. And I'm looking forward to the ways this program will evolve and grow in the coming years.” The installation of Dr. Sabia-Tanis into the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts will be formally celebrated at Fall Convocation on Thursday, September 24, 2026. Details will be announced in the coming months. About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, exploring multi-faith spirituality, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Contact Nathanial Green (he/him) Director of Marketing and Communications press@unitedseminary.edu • 651.255.6138 Admissions and Enrollment admissions@unitedseminary.edu

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August 21, 2020
Campus News Islam Islamophobia Progressive Christianity Theology

Building Interreligious Bonds: United Partners with The Islamic Seminary of America

On August 6, 2020 United announced a partnership with The Islamic Seminary of America (TISA) to develop a degree in Interreligious Chaplaincy with a focus on Islam. This fully accredited MDiv degree combines United’s Interreligious Chaplaincy courses with other general courses offered at United with core courses in Islamic theology and religious texts taken through TISA with a faculty led by Dean Yasir Qadhi Ph.D.. The degree will be available to students beginning in January 2021. (more…)

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July 30, 2020
Beliefs interfaith Interreligious Library Research Scripture Theology

Meet Tim Senapatiratne, New Director of the Spencer Library

On June 1 of this year, United welcomed Dr. Tim Senapatiratne as Director of the Spencer Library and Associate Professor of Theological Bibliography. Tim comes to United after 15 years at Bethel University where he was Senior Reference and Instruction Librarian. Tim has also been teaching a research course for United’s Doctor of Ministry students for about six years now, but he is excited to have a more prominent role at United. (more…)

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July 14, 2020
Coronavirus Lament Pandemic Theology Unitarian Universalism United States of America Voice

A Call for Lament (in the time of a global pandemic)

A while ago, I woke up from a nightmare. In this dream, I knew that my brother was in an upper level of an abandoned skyscraper, unconscious and badly burned, hooked into an IV that I did not know who operated. When I learned about his condition on the phone, I felt and heard a noise escape my throat - one I have only heard once before. The unmistakable, guttural cry of grief: someone is dead or dying. By the time I saw my brother’s body in front of me, in the dream, I woke up. It was dark. My body automatically turned over, bringing me to my knees and I prayed. With gratitude, gratitude that I knew, with almost certainty, that my brother was safe at home. Then grief washed over me again, because just as I knew my brother was fine, I knew that someone else’s brother was experiencing my dream as their reality.  (more…)

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June 16, 2020
black lives matter Community resources social justice social transformation

United Responds to the Killing of George Floyd: A collection of statements, reflections, and resources

Reuters/Eric Miller In the wake of the brutal killing of George Floyd while he was detained by Minneapolis Police officers, and the local and global calls to address systemic violence against Black lives, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has compiled the following list of statements, ministry and reflections, articles, petitions, educational resources, and community funds. This is a living document that will be updated as we get more information, so remember to check back.  (more…)

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May 29, 2020
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Students Respond to the Killing of George Floyd

In response to the violent killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, MN, students in Professor Eleazar Fernandez's Public Theology for Social Transformation class worked together to write this statement. We share it as a reminder that the work of theology is always grounded in lived human experience and that calls for justice remain fundamental for people of all faiths. (more…)

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May 28, 2020
Activism news police violence social justice Voice

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities Statement on the Death of George Floyd

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is outraged and grieved at the death of yet another unarmed Black person while being detained by the police. We join countless voices in the Twin Cities and across the nation calling for justice for George Floyd and an immediate end to the horrific killings of Black people in this country. Injustice and death continue to run rampant so long as there is impunity for those who murder Black members of our communities. (more…)

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May 13, 2020

Restraint in the Anthropocene

One of the unexpected effects of this terrible pandemic is that global pollution levels have dropped significantly. In China, after two months of near shut-down, carbon emissions have decreased by an estimated 25% and people in Northern India can see the Himalayas for the first time in decades. Travel restrictions have forced millions globally to stop flying and driving, heavy industry has slowed production, and we have largely slowed our manic consumerist habits, or at least channeled them into buying dried beans and pasta. In fact, except for those working the front lines of the health care crisis, and except for our consumption of media, we have collectively slowed way down in almost every other way. This is not a “silver lining." There is no silver lining to the thousands of people who have lost their lives to this pandemic, or to the many, many more who will not survive coming months, to the real and painful effects of an economy in recession. This is real, and the grief is real and the fear and shock, and the danger and insecurity. The realness of it all is also the only reason why we have changed our habits. It is the only reason why we are forced to practice restraint during this time, but that in itself is no small thing. On collective restraint, humanist theologian Anthony Pinn retells the Hebrew Bible story of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel as one in which God is a force of restraint keeping human activity in check. Nimrod, argues Pinn, acts in an unprecedented way by exercising freedom to build the tower, even while knowing the impossibility of the feat, and thereby damaging the “metaphysical groundings of restraint.” What happens to restraint, then, post-Babel? It does not go away, but is instead internalized, given a humanist reality, according to Pinn. He writes: “Human maturation entails the absorption of restraint, the recognition that restraint must issue from the inner self in the form of measured realism.”  I’d like to focus in on this version of restraint that issues from the inner self. It is not a quality that is sexy like abundance or courage. Restraint is quiet and muted, and on first inspection has the dampening spirit of a parental shushing. It is a discipline that seems to have gone out of style, a word we don’t often use. And yet, as a quality that is internalized, it carries the seeds of creativity. Restraint is at the heart of the Lenten sacrifice, of the fast of Ramadan, of countless rituals in earth-based traditions, all of which exercise a kind of will power towards non-doing. It is easy for us ultra-liberal Christians, skeptics and humanists to reject prescriptive traditions wholesale. But let us not throw out restraint. It may be exactly the quality we need to cultivate, and it is a quality that my UU faith—which sanctifies all life in our seventh principle—is perfectly poised to live into. I put forth that it is a kind of moral obligation in this time. Certainly during the COVID 19 pandemic, but beyond as well.   Restraint is also fundamentally anti-capitalist. Dorothee Soelle, for whom the only place we find God today is in the political struggle, defines sin as “structural alienation from nature, from ourselves, from our being part of the human family and from our fellows.” Sin is a hard little word that makes liberals uncomfortable for good reason, but applied to structural inequity and systems of oppression, may be worth retaining. This type of sinfulness, adds Sharon Welch, is directly related to capitalism. And restraint is the kryptonite of capitalism.  The geological age we now live in is called the Anthropocene, and it is distinct from any previous age because it’s defined by human activity, now the primary factor altering ecological systems. Think about that: our behaviors over such a short period of time, geologically speaking, have shifted us into a new geologic age. The complexities here are mind-boggling, but we do know that in order to address the messes of the Anthropocene, we simply have to stop. It is a deeply humbling stance, and an unfamiliar one, to restrain ourselves, to listen first, to sew patches instead of buying new pants. Restraint is fundamentally opposed to the ways that our culture is organized, and opposed to capitalism which is built on a model of continual growth and relies on the cycles of extract, posses, consume, repeat. Restraint is iconoclastic, going against the fabric of our culture. It is subversive. It makes space for something in us that is deeply reverential and deeply wild and never needs to buy anything.  At its heart, restraint is the act of mindfully and purposefully not doing. It should be the easiest thing, this non-doing. Yet, anyone who has attempted meditation for more than thirty seconds knows that it is not. It requires great maturity, great trust in ourselves, in the empty space that it opens in us. And that is also its great gift. Because the space that restraint forces open is not, on further investigation, an empty one. It is full of tension, full of disappointment, maybe, full of agitation. Full of all those layers we’ve been compressing over time, like sedimentary rock. And that tension is energy. Audre Lorde writes that “Anger is loaded with information and energy.” Well, so is the space opened up when we refrain, when we step back actively. Eventually, if we’re lucky, wisdom may come to take up residence in the space that restraint makes possible. Eventually, maybe we learn to love what is there rather than what is not. “This could be our revolution—to love what is plentiful as much as what is scarce,” writes Alice Walker. Restraint is the tempering energy which may have its time yet. It is uncomfortable, maybe, but it is not boring. Within restraint you find a spaciousness that contains all the strangeness of our particularities while diminishing the importance of the individual ego. The space that restraint forges is where creativity can take hold. Artists know this, that the tension between restraint and exuberant expression is creative gold. The Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca wrestles with this tension in his essay about duende. You could even say that Jesus lives this tension during the last supper. Restraint can engender spectacular creativity.  And so, we can look at this time of the pandemic of 2020 as a practicum in restraint. Restraint is both non-action and a kind of prayer. Studies suggest that when a new behavior like not driving, for example, is practiced for long enough, it has the possibility of sticking around. Every day now droves of people in their family or designated germ-sharing groups come out to the parks playing soccer, arguing, throwing stones in the water, or just wandering. None of them being consumers. All of them being fully human. It is so beautiful that it makes my heart ache. Will this be enough? I wonder.  Carbon emissions sometimes seem like a global manifestation of our collective anxieties. We, the creators of the Anthropocene, are actually quite anxious about the imbalances we’ve introduced to the planet. We express that anxiety by doing more of the same. I suspect that we don’t really want to be in charge. I suspect that we are much more comfortable when our structures reflect that we’re part of nature, not in charge of it. This understanding of interconnectedness, of our humble place biologically, is woven into our DNA, resides in our consciousness. The Unitarian Universalist principle, “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part” is a most natural attitude. And restraint follows from internalizing this principle. This is not to misplace our focus—when it comes to environmental destruction, focusing on personal habits can be a dangerous distraction if not coupled by political mass resistance. It is true in oppressive regimes, and it’s true in a carbonized economy. I’d like to suggest to you that restraint’s natural conclusion isn’t just more restraint—it is resistance. Let us learn restraint, then, but let us not stop there. Let us take that restraint and orient it towards resistance. Effective resistance, after all, is a kind of directed, creative and collective restraint. This kind of resistance can have enormous political consequences because it’s lit by from the inside, because when we do it we are transformed. In praxis, resistance becomes prayer.  When this particular pandemic has loosened its grip on us, that will be a new moment of reckoning. Will we return to our familiar? Will our recovery efforts be short-sighted and fear-based? What we have may instead be just enough universal disruption for something new to take hold.

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