Written by: United Theological Seminary July 30, 2020

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.

Faculty-TSenapatiratne (Dr. Tim Senapatiratne)

“I am probably most excited about becoming part of and engaging with the community,” says Tim about United. “The United community has already been so much fun. There are so many wonderful people, so many interesting stories. The work that people are doing, students and the faculty and staff, is life giving! I had a conversation with an alum a couple of days ago about a library thing and it was so much fun hearing this particular person’s stories about their time at United.”

Tim’s approach to being a librarian is rooted in his love for teaching. Indeed, being a librarian wasn’t Tim’s original path. “My career plan was always to be a teacher or instructor in Biblical Studies. I kind of figured out that’s what I wanted to do when I was in undergrad. So then I did a Master’s Degree and worked on a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at Marquette University.”

But during the economic crisis of 2008, Tim had to change his plans as many of the schools where he was applying for jobs suspending their positions in Biblical Studies. The decision to start what turned out to be long career as a librarian began with a bit of a surprise.

Tim says, “I sort of accidentally got a job at the Bethel library–I thought I was applying for something else. Halfway through the interview I realized, ‘Oh, this is for the library!’” As it turned out, the work of a librarian was a perfect fit. “I fell in love with being a librarian in an academic environment. Those two things fit together for me. I continued to teach as an adjunct but really worked on becoming a good librarian. I ended up earning a library science degree as well.”

Over the years, Tim has seen first-hand the importance of library research for seminarians. He says, “Research rarely ever proves anything; it’s more about disproving bad ideas. In theology especially we can all see examples of bad theology every day–theologies that are oppressive and hurtful and marginalizing. Research is how we become aware of the broader conversations, both historical and contemporary, and try to understand how we as individuals fit into those conversations. Research helps us become aware of the human story, hopefully keep us from making mistakes, and guides us into new ways of thinking and experiencing the world.”

“The role of the library is about access,” explains Tim. “A library helps students and faculty get access to the materials they need. It’s not about ownership or having the most books on the shelf. It’s about being able to point students to resources. This has become so evident during the pandemic. We have a lot of good books on the shelf at the library, but unfortunately we can’t use them right now. So how do we create access to other kinds of materials to help with research and contextual understanding?”

At United, this means students have access to a broad range of resources across traditions and denominations. As both a librarian and a professor, Tim challenges students to look comparatively across scriptural traditions and is a strong advocate for interreligious scholarship.

I think of Biblical Studies as a broader discipline of textual studies,” says Tim. “So we have biblical materials–Hebrew Bible and Christian New Testament material–but we have others texts as well. We have Buddhist texts, we have the Quran, we have all kinds of different texts. What’s fascinating to me is that in a sense those texts are libraries themselves. They contain within them huge traditions. It’s been my experience–and I include myself in this–that we often fail to understand the depths and beauty and wonder of these texts because we have been prejudiced by things other than the texts themselves.”

Tim sees in theological education a need to challenge those prejudices. He says, “A few years ago there was a publisher who was publishing commentaries on the Christian Bible—I say that because I can’t remember which books of the Bible that was about, but I think mostly New Testament—but they were written by people who were not Christian. That’s the kind of conversations we should be having. Those are the kinds of conversations that bring life to the text. So that is the sort of thing that gets me really excited.”

Part of the appeal of United for Tim is the strong culture of questioning—questioning the notion that one tradition has all the answers, curiosity in the face of new concepts, and freedom to explore any train of thought. He says, “As individuals, if we stop asking questions, in a lot of ways we stop living. Otherwise it seems as if we have figured it all out and at that point we are just coasting. So I hope I am always asking questions and hopefully some of those questions are dangerous and provocative. You don’t know what the answer will be until you ask.”

This enthusiasm for critical thought is at the heart of Tim’s role at United. When asked about advice he has for current and prospective students, Tim responds, “Ask questions! Ask for help. Often, we wait until we are really frustrated before we actually ask for help. Oftentimes if we ask just a little bit earlier in the process we can save ourselves a lot of time. I think that’s one of the roles I can really help with–saving students time at the beginning of their research. I hope students will ask questions, lots of questions. That’s how we learn.”

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Alum Rev. Todd Lippert (’03): Living a Public Ministry

As Rev. Todd Lippert was growing up, his life was dominated by two constants: music and church. Both of his parents were music teachers. His dad was the high school choir director, and his mom was the elementary school music teacher. Though his family had been Baptist for generations, they ended up attending a United Church of Christ (UCC) church where his mom was hired to play the organ. It was also much closer to home than the nearest Baptist church. “I always took Christian faith very seriously,” Todd asserts. “The church was a sacred and holy place to me.” In seventh grade, Todd remembers talking to his father. “I was at the bottom of the stairs talking to my dad at the top of the stairs. And that was when I said for the first time, ‘I wonder if I might want to be a pastor someday.’” But, Todd adds, “the idea was really terrifying to me,” so he put it out of his mind. At the University of Iowa, he pursued a music degree. During a philosophy class toward the end of college, a professed atheist professor began asking some of the same questions about faith that Todd was confronting. “I was wrestling with whether I was a Christian or not.” Deciding on Seminary The turning point came one Sunday morning after graduation when Todd and his wife were at church. At the time, he was selling Yellow Pages ads and contemplating an MBA. “I hated it,” Todd confesses. “I was miserable.” Watching the preacher at First United Methodist Church in Iowa City, he thought, “Maybe I could do that, and maybe I need to pay attention to this call to ministry that keeps bubbling up.” United was the first UCC seminary that came up on the computer, and when Todd visited, “it felt like home for me as soon as I arrived.” Since his wife was doing graduate work at the University of Minnesota, they moved to the Twin Cities. “At United,” Todd recalls, “I had the space to figure out how Christianity was meaningful and how this faith fit together for me.” Professors who welcomed and encouraged his questions were key to his faith formation, and the “liberation theology that moved through the curriculum, with its focus on justice, was extremely appealing to me.” Todd was also inspired by his classmates. “I saw the student body deeply engaged in the political and social questions of the day.” At United from 2000 to 2003, Todd experienced the Bush v. Gore lawsuit, 9/11 terror attacks, Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone’s tragic death, and the Iraq war launch as he was earning his MDiv. Public Theology Justice-seeking activism, Todd asserts, “really cemented my understanding that the body of Christ is about bringing the realm of God into being wherever it is. And that was something that would have to make my life better and make my community better.” Since graduating, Todd has worked as a UCC pastor, a Minnesota state legislator (2018–2022), a community organizer with ISAIAH, and a community minister with Creekside Church. The clergy organizing work during Operation Metro Surge was especially impactful and reconnected him with United. Todd went through “nonviolent direct action training with Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, one of the authors I read.” He also worked with Rev. Dr. Carolyn Pressler, his former Hebrew scripture professor. United, notes Todd, equipped him “to be able to understand what is going on in our world, and in our communities, and I had the tools to get better and better at that, reading the present through a biblical and theological lens.” He is extraordinarily proud of the way the church showed up in Minnesota and grateful for United. “I really want,” Todd concludes, “the love-your-neighbor values of the church to be a force in our public life, not an afterthought. I want it to be a force in our political life.”

Rev. Dr. Andrew Packman Promoted to Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, supported by the McVay Endowment

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, June 24, 2026 —United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is delighted to announce that, effective July 1, 2026, Rev. Dr. Andrew Packman will become the Associate Professor of Christian Ethics, supported by the McVay Endowment, and Director for Formation. This promotion to an endowed chair follows Rev. Dr. Justin Sabis-Tanis’ appointment as the inaugural Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts. Announced during Commencement in April, the McVay chairship reflects the esteem with which United’s board and faculty members regard Professor Packman. In February, Dean Kyle Roberts proudly reported that Dr. Packman was being promoted from assistant to associate professor and transitioning from a three-year contract into a tenure-track position. Dr. Packman joined United in July 2021 as a Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics and Practical Theology. At the Spring 2022 Convocation to welcome and bless our new faculty member, Dr. Packman—who holds an MDiv and PhD from the University of Chicago—presented on “The Atmospherics of Theological Education.” By December 2022, Dr. Packman’s “teaching, mentoring, and other stellar capabilities” prompted United to offer him a contract to continue teaching past the terms of his Louisville Fellowship. Since then, he has co-authored an article in The Oxford Handbook of Friedrich Schleiermacher, had a paper (“The Consolation of Studying Theology”) published in the Christian Century, and presented at the September 2025 Schleiermacher Kongress in Kiel, Germany. Spiritual and personal formation is a vital component of Packman’s work with students, and he will continue in his role as the director for Formation. In May of 2025, he began a new initiative, the Formation Pilot Program, to gauge the foundational axis points of students’ formation at United. “This is a remarkable moment in theological education,” Dr. Packman explained this spring, “where what it means to be a theological learning community is being reimagined in real time. This pilot program is designed to interrogate this question from across the life of the seminary, and to build up our community in the process.” “Dr. Packman’s doctoral studies,” observed Dean Roberts in his April announcement, “focused on Christian theology and ethics, and his current research explores questions about racism, intransigent evil, and Friedrich Schleiermacher’s philosophical and theological ethics. Combined with his MDiv studies in pastoral formation, these make Dr. Packman well-suited to occupy this chair while he continues…serving as the Director for Formation.” President Molly T. Marshall reflects, “Dr. Packman brings academic excellence and pastoral sensitivity to his teaching, collegial relationships, and community involvement. His theological depth suffuses his courses in ethics and formation, seeking to form good human beings as transformative agents for a world in travail. I am delighted by this appointment.” As Dr. Packman shared when he was offered a chance to continue teaching at United past his Louisville Fellowship, “It’s such an immense gift to get to do this work, and it’s an honor to get to do it with folks like you. I’m so eager to see what we build together!” Now, as a new chapter begins with his elevation to the McVay Chair, we are overjoyed that such a prodigiously talented scholar and teacher can continue to journey with our dedicated and curious students. 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

Rev. Dr. Tim McGregor (’26) Finds Hope for Healing in Exploratory Theology

Rev. Dr. Tim McGregor (’26) has been a chaplain, pastor, and church planter for years. How did he find this well-trodden path? Tim says his mother introduced him to Christ. “She was very devout,” he explains. Unfortunately, she was also very sick, so Tim spent more time in hospitals than in church as a child. Still, he recalls one incident during communion when he was 11. Tim shares that he “had a very out-of-body experience with the divine while I was in church, and it touched my soul.” Tim grew up and pursued a BA at Tuskegee University. While there, he experienced another out-of-body experience when he was robbed at gunpoint and stabbed. “At that point,” he reflects, “I decided to rethink some of my living and some of my decisions. It reignited my spiritual walk.” As he changed the way he lived, Tim felt a spiritual nudge. Others observed that they “saw the calling” on his life. And dreams about preaching began to recur. “Before I ever preached a sermon, I dreamed I was preaching…in the same church where I ended up preaching later on.” Christian Theological Seminary Though Tim identified as National Baptist, he decided to attend Christian Theological Seminary (CTS) in Indiana—a progressive school aligned with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). It helped that Dr. Edward Wheeler, an ordained Baptist minister whom Tim knew when Wheeler worked at Tuskegee, was CTS’s president. During a United chapel service this March, Tim described his experience at CTS as “quite grueling,” but also that he “learned a lot.” As he clarified more recently, he had to “let go of a very fundamentalist perspective,” and that sort of deconstruction was difficult. “It was a crucible situation,” Tim asserts. Chaplaining and Church Planting After earning his MDiv in 2003, Tim spent years in Mississippi and Texas planting churches and working as a hospital chaplain. Since returning to Minnesota, he’s been a chaplain at Regions Hospital, Abbott Northwestern, and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and pastored at Family Bible Church. He suspects that the time he spent with his mother in hospitals likely inclined him toward hospital chaplaincy. When he decided to pursue a DMin, Tim reviewed his options. Only United, he found, had the interreligious chaplaincy program and liberal ethos that made his MDiv work transformational. Plus, he could attend onsite or online as his schedule allowed. “It was a great benefit,” Tim attests, “to do both.” United and Nat Turner Tim credits Dr. Jessica Chapman Lape, former director of the Interreligious Chaplaincy program, with positively shaping his education. Her theological knowledge and emphasis on her African American heritage impressed him. Dr. Munjed Murad’s Comparative Theology course elevated Tim’s intercultural acuity. Munjed is an assistant professor of World Religions and Intercultural Studies, supported by the Johnson-Fry Endowment. Tim describes his dissertation, “The Exploratory Theology of Nat Turner and Its Effects on African and African American PTSD,” as “a labor of love.” Why Nat Turner? “I appreciate his passion and his desire to live and fight for the rights of his people,” Tim explains, “and his willingness to do so in the name of his religious beliefs.” In addition, “I’m always interested in people that…have been misunderstood or written off as villains.” Shepherded with vital support from Rev. Dr. Andrew Packman (assistant professor of Theological Ethics and Formation), Tim’s dissertation studies Nat Turner, his traumatic experiences as a slave, and his burgeoning theology. It also traces links to the moral injury, trauma, and PTSD endemic to military service, especially for African American veterans. Tim wants to “understand more about…how to be an asset to my community.” He feels that “United was a really good place for that” and is a rich resource for “clergy…and spiritual caregivers” who are going to help us “keep pressing toward better understandings.” Tim is grateful for United’s role in honing his academic and spiritual voice.