Written by: United Theological Seminary June 29, 2018

Showcasing Student Work: Theology in Contemporary Film

In Spring 2018, students had the opportunity to enroll in United’s course TR650: Theology in Contemporary Film taught by Dr. Jann Cather Weaver. Dr. Weaver selected a number of films from the last 18 years, and each week, students were assigned to view a film outside of class. After watching the assigned movie twice and doing class readings, each student wrote a paragraph on the religious and ethical themes in the film and posed a theological question to be discussed in class. Focusing on films that are not explicitly religious, the course teaches students how to see theologically, and explore implicit theologies in art.

Several students from the course have volunteered to share their responses to films viewed in class, demonstrating how we can watch films “theologically.”

Responding to Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) directed by Scott Hicks.

“What is truth? Fact is not necessarily truth, yet it is the truth we believe that can obscure fact. The deep, thick fog and the raging blizzard in Snow Falling on Cedars are metaphors for the personal or communal truths obscuring the fact that Carl’s death was accidental and that Miyamoto was accused of that death simply because he had been there moments before and that he was Japanese. While it is not an actual fog or raging blizzard, the same effect happens when one group of people allows their belief of the truth to lead to events like the interment at Manzanar, to the murder of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis, and to the use of religion as an excuse for discrimination. It is not only the fact of hate that can be lost in the fog, but love as well. Ishmael taking the steps to expose the facts that freed Miyamoto simultaneously cleared the fog away from the bad memories of the end of his relationship with Hatsue and allowed them both to be free in the memories of their love. Cedar trees are often used to symbolize immortality, protection, and strength. What tools do we need, as faith leaders and spiritual caregivers, in order to embody the symbolism of the Cedar tree as we stand with others in the deep fog or raging blizzard?”

“When we live in a welcoming community, we value the dignity and worth of every person. Snow Falling on Cedars is a painful reminder that even today our nation is attempting to repeat the monstrous act of making people invisible. Director Hicks does an eloquent job of using nature to both reinforce the wrongdoing of oppression while also proclaiming God’s cleansing ability. In the opening scene, the fog obscures Carl’s boat causing him to meet with a tragic end while seemingly sealing the case against Kazuo. A severe storm knocks out the lights of the courthouse as Hatsue admits to withholding evidence in order to avert predestined prejudice against her husband. As the Japanese are driven away from their homes, the snow has downed an ancient cedar resulting in its removal, metaphorically pointing to the abrupt removal of the Japanese themselves.”

Responding to Moonlight (2016) directed by Barry Jenkins

” ‘Notorious G.O.D.’
Little, Chiron, and Black: three different names played by three different actors for the one main character in Moonlight. As Chiron struggled to find his identity, he identified himself by names assigned to him by his community. Throughout human history people have assigned names that prescribe identities to generate cultural “norms” and pathologize difference. The same can be said for the practice of naming g-d. Is it possible to name g-d without inferring superiority? How does one’s individual experience and naming of g-d intersect with collective identification and communal worship? Is naming g-d a way of appropriation? What is the purpose for a universal name for g-d?”

Responding to Departures (Okuribito) (2008), directed by Yôjirô Takita

“In Departures, Daigo’s first assignment as an encoffiner is to act as a corpse for an encoffinment training video: he is stripped, dressed in a diaper, made up, shaved, and handled by both a costumer and by his boss, Sasaki. In a later scene after having encountered his first corpse, Daigo forces his wife Mika to expose her belly and waist. He thrusts his face against her skin, then slowly moves upward on her body, almost breathing her into himself. A scene in which Daigo is objectified as a body is followed by a transference of objectification onto his wife. The forceful –even irresponsible– ways Daigo is handled and the way he handles Mika occur within a film that challenges of a societal prejudice about those who work with the dead. Throughout the film, the encoffiners’ work is depicted as careful, loving, and respectful, ushers the corpse from a thing to a person who is recognized by their family. In placing the life-giving handling of the corpses against exploitative uses of bodies between living people, how is the subject/object relationship between bodies critiqued, renegotiated, or fully transformed? What does this say about God as handler?”

Responding to Billy Elliot (2000), directed by Stephen Daldry

“Being yourself in a world that demands assimilation is a radical act of resilience. Daring to embrace one’s whole self, both as complex being with many intersectional talents and identities and as a beloved child of G-d, demands boldness in vulnerability and a generous leap of faith. Differentiating ourselves from outside forces that have shaped us requires incredible spiritual endurance and emotional stamina, not only because of environmental and familial pressures and expectations but because the process of discerning our wants and needs, ideologies and values, can sometimes take a lifetime to understand. I found the progression of Billy’s differentiation of self to beautiful in its familiarity and wondrous to behold. From his initial interest in ballet, to his undercover rehearsals and research, to the many conflicts with both his family and Miss Wilksinson, to the acceptance of his father through Billy’s hard work, passion, and persistence, to his audition , and finally to his acceptance to the Royal Ballet School and eventual tole in Swan Lake, we see Billy wrestle with what it means to be himself. We see his own doubts and fears, as well as the doubts and fears of those around him__his fear of his own ability and inadequacy, his father and brother struggling to keep their faith in the midst of the strike, their fear of what others will think of Billy if he follows his vocation, and their ow judgments of what it means to be a ballet dancer (sexual orientation, gender, patriarchal ideals of masculinity). It begs the question: what does it mean to be ourselves and to embrace our own identity as a beloved child of G-d; how do we recognize the divinity within us?”

As the course nears its conclusion, students have the opportunity to choose from a number of exciting final projects, including: create your own film and theology curriculum, write a sermon using a film, and make a short movie with theological themes. TR650: Theology in Contemporary Film can be taken as a general theology elective and as an elective for the Theology and the Arts concentration.

Interested in Theology and the Arts at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities?

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June 25, 2026

Activism Alums immigration justice Liberation Theology

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.