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Dr. Ginger Morgan Announced as New Associate Professor and Program Director for Interreligious Chaplaincy

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, April 16, 2026 — United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is thrilled to announce that Dr. Ginger Morgan will join its faculty as the new Associate Professor for Pastoral and Spiritual Care and Program Director for Interreligious Chaplaincy. Dr. Morgan will come to United from Madison, WI, where she is concluding her role at the Presbyterian Student Center Foundation as director of Candid and Community Initiatives. She is a highly qualified program director and chaplain with experience in healthcare, campus ministry, and higher education. With a PhD in Religion and Psychological Studies from Iliff School of Theology at the University of Denver, as well as a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from Vanderbilt Divinity School, Dr. Morgan draws from her theological and multidisciplinary education in her work. Interreligious studies is one of United’s four pillars, and the Interreligious Chaplaincy (IRC) program—unique among peer institutions—constitutes the largest and fastest-growing of the seminary’s programs over the past five years. In alignment with United’s ethos, Dr. Morgan is a gifted scholar of religious pluralism, highly educated in progressive theological education, and foregrounds justice in chaplaincy and pastoral care. These values are evident in a chapter titled “Many Doors: Expanding Thresholds for Grace,” written by Dr. Morgan for the upcoming book Dispatches from Campus (Augsburg Fortress Press). Dr. Morgan’s career also reflects her personal experiences and identity. Writing to the search committee, she shared, “My formation includes reconciling my lesbian identity with my faith and living as a religious minority in India during high school, both of which shaped my intercultural perspective and vocational commitments.” She continued, “Throughout my career, I have sought to create inclusive spaces of belonging, whether supporting LGBTQIA+ students, young adults in recovery from addiction, or building programs attentive to justice and equity." Rev. Dr. Molly T. Marshall, President, reflects, “United welcomes Dr. Ginger Morgan with confidence and great enthusiasm. Her varied leadership roles, especially in chaplaincy, equip her uniquely to lead our robust IRC program and to teach pastoral and spiritual care.” In his announcement to the student body, Dr. Kyle Roberts—Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs—noted that Dr. Morgan’s “career in chaplaincy spans hospital, hospice, and higher education contexts, and extensive program leadership experience.” He added, “I want to thank Dr. Demian Wheeler for leading this search process, especially during its formative stages during my sabbatical.” After participating in a months-long faculty search and on-site candidate lecture, being recommended by a unanimous faculty vote, and gaining approval from the Board of Trustees’ Academic Committee, Dr. Morgan will officially begin on July 1. Students, faculty, and staff are eager to welcome her to United for this exciting new chapter. For more information about United’s Interreligious Chaplaincy program, click here. 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

Queer Ancestors, Holy Pride: A Community Arts Collage

On June 22, 2021, students, alumni, and friends of United got together for a special Pride arts lunch, where we created a community arts collage around the theme of queer ancestry, pride, and lgbtq+ iconography. The Following Pride flag is inspired by Daniel Quasar's Progress: Pride Flag Reboot, which brings together Gilbert Baker's original design with Tierney's inclusive Pride Flag (which incorporates black and brown strips in honor of black and other POC members of the LGBTQ community) and Seattle LGBTQ Commission's flag (which includes the pink, white and blue of the transgender flag).  (more…)

Is Star Wars a Religion? with Dr. Robyn Walsh

Every Tuesday, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities's Arts Program hosts "Arts Lunch," an opportunity for United community members to come together for a variety of workshops, presentations, and conversations at the intersection of Theology and the Arts. For this special May the 4th arts lunch, guest speaker Robyn Walsh talked about her work on the age-old question: Is Star Wars a Religion? In public articles, her podcast, and in the course she teaches at the University of Miami, Dr. Walsh has explored everything from Jediism as an ascetic practice, the Force as Pneuma, fandom and religiosity, and Star Wars and myth. (more…)

Teaching the Flag: A Judeo-Pagan, Radical Faerie Prayer for Pride.

The following prayer/liturgical reading is by local artist, educator, former United staff member, and 2020 alum Max Yeshaye Brumberg-Kraus. It is inspired by Gilbert Baker's original rainbow flag design for Pride. As an artist-theologian, Brumberg-Kraus holds multiple religious belonging including the gay pagan movement of the Radical Faeries, Judaism, and interfaith queer/trans theologies. If this is a prayer that speaks to you or your community, the author is happy for you to use it, with attribution. "All human beings need symbols. All human beings use symbols, and we need a symbol the way other countries, movements, peoples need a symbol to identify us, to show solidarity with each other, and to proclaim our presence."– Gilbert Baker, designer of the original rainbow Pride Flag. One asks, what is the meaning of Pink? We answer: Pink is sex, loving the other, Eros, two-sexed Protogonos, the egg, the ebb of philia and flow of neikos, the double helix of Netzah and Hod, the generative force bridging all opposites and revealing that opposites are illusory. One asks, what is the meaning of Red? We answer: Red is life. Red is Gaia shaping ha adam out of her side, lifeblood and the fight to sustain it, Innana love-in-action crying for freedom, judging of the death-dealing cult of sexual and spiritual repression. It is Gevurah and Din. One asks, what is the meaning of Orange? We answer: Orange is healing, it is the Balm of Gilead which Sheba gifted Solomon, it is Aesclepius and his rod, it Yesod and Yggdrasil, the channel for life's stream, the tree's long body, and the phallic symbol of rejuvenation. One asks, what is the meaning of Yellow? We answer: Yellow is Sun. It is David’s harp and Apollo’s countenance, Shamash and generous Chesed, the heat that stirs the flow of sap, the mango in the monkey's palm who jumped from earth to the sky and back. Yellow is above, separate but reachable, holy but humanistic, our sustenance from above. One asks, what is the meaning of Green? We answer: Green is nature, terrible and beautiful. Demeter of harvests and famines; Snake Skirted Coatlique pregnant with our gods; lightning-eyed Pan/Cernunnos, howling in the mountain; half-beast Enkidu ambivalent toward society; twice-born Dionysus, who gifts wisdom and madness equally from the wine-dripping tip of this thyrsus, and Binah the womb of deep discernment. Green is the many and monstrous rejecting the unnatural uniformity of straight society, the yoni yielding pandemonium, the internal, insight beyond rigid morality, our sustenance from below. Green will devour us, if we cannot love this planet and protect it. One asks, what is the meaning of Turquoise? We answer: Turquoise is magic and art, the caduceus and the paintbrush, theatre and theory, lavish drag and priestly robes, Thoth and the Abyssinian muses, thrice-great Hokhma, realm of inspiration, queer myth-makers speaking our existence across time and space, secret knowledge passed mouth to ear, record to record, heart to heart. One asks, what is the meaning of Blue? We answer: Blue is serenity, the foot and the mouth, She Who Is sovereign in her body and in the land, matter constantly dancing, transubstantial and transgender, fully present: Shekhina. One asks, what is the meaning of Purple? We answer. Purple is spirit. They are beautiful, they are sacred books, they are the bed of myth whence we all rise, symbols, and the dove. They are the breath which flows between all colors, all shapes, all worlds. One asks, what holds the colors line by line? What binds them all together? We answer: When purple seems to end, we circle back to the majesty of all the colors, where all and none become indistinguishable, for the nothingness that is everything, the ever-present invisible. A queer connectivity threads the universe, that part of cosmos which loves, heals, transforms, and take pride in itself. Pride is the memory of Keter, that hiddenmost crown, which was the first to stir in all that is holy. It is the dream of the world and what the world can be. That is what holds the colors and binds them all together. Communion and disintegration, diversity and unity, held in balance by a conscious cosmos who beams with pride: Ehyeh asher ehyeh– I am!

“We call for an immediate ceasefire:” Palestine, Israel, and the Complicity of U.S. Christianity.

The escalating violence within the states of Israel and Palestine fills us with deep grief and concern. We deplore the loss of life, especially the deaths of children, and the trauma that this situation is causing. We also recognize that while both sides are engaging in military action, the Palestinian people have borne a far heavier burden of death and injury, on top of ongoing poverty and devastation. This continuing cycle of bloodshed and the violation of basic human rights not only fails to resolve millennia-old conflicts but, in fact, plants seeds for potential future acts of retaliation and ongoing hostilities.  (more…)

May we be healers of the planet and its peoples: Earth Day 2021

As an ecumenical seminary educating spiritual leaders from diverse traditions, we are called to the same truth: "In this reality of climate change, healing the separation between each other, to the land and waters, and our histories, represents the most important existential and ethical challenges to our collective wellbeing in our time."* (more…)