Deep Ecological Roots

The longer I'm at Claremont, the more I learn about this School's remarkable history.

Last week, the Seminarians for Social Justice (a student group here at Claremont) organized the second annual Responsible Social Engagement Awards to honor Dean Freudenberger, former professor of international development and missions at Claremont School of Theology.

Like many of Claremont's faculty, Dean was way ahead of his time. As an ordained United Methodist elder also trained as an agronomist, he argued early on that ecological sustainability should be a critical theological concern for individuals and their faith communities. This argument he still makes today.

I hope you will take a few minutes to read more about Freudenberger in this recent feature in the Claremont Courier. It includes a great photo of Dean and comments about him from one of his former faculty colleagues, Frank Rogers, who introduced him at the event.

As Claremont looks toward the future, we can learn a lot from its past. And nobody exemplifies the rich history of Claremont more than Dean Freudenberger.

Updates

I have a couple of quick updates to share with you.

First, it came to my attention that the link to my statement about Claremont School of Theology's accreditation was not easily accessible. You can go directly to the statement by clicking here.

Also, additional context about the Mission, Vision and Values set forth by the Board of Trustees earlier this spring is now available online. Read more about the Claremont University Project here.

Again, I look forward to your thoughts about these two statements.

Exciting News from Claremont

We've been busy here at Claremont School of Theology, and I have exciting news to share on two fronts.

You may have heard that the School has had issues with its accreditation due to issues of financial planning and governance. Though the School never lost its accreditation, it was dangerously close when I came to Claremont nearly two years ago. Earlier this spring, we received word that the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) removed its most serious sanction from the school and elevated Claremont to a probationary status. This is good news as it demonstrates the great strides we are making to becoming a financially healthy institution. To read more about this, please see my complete statement at www.cst.edu.

The second piece of news is the new statement of mission, vision, and values set forth by Board of Trustees. In short, the Board recognizes the diverse and multi-faith reality in which the school is already operating, and turns Claremont's gaze in some interesting new directions. As a result, the Board is setting a bold and imaginative course to expand on Claremont's history of preparing religious leaders for service to the world. The statements in their entirety are on the School's Web site.

As we move forward, I look forward to your thoughts about the School's new direction. I encourage you to leave a comment on this blog, or email me at president@cst.edu to continue the conversation.

John Cobb never ceases to amaze me.

As you may have heard, a major celebration in Claremont was held recently in his honor, including a three-day conference on his intellectual legacy and a gala dinner to raise funds for an endowed chair in his honor. Theologians gathered from around the world, including such major figures as Ian Barbour, David Griffin, Catherine Keller, Philip Clayton, Marjorie Suchocki, Thandeka, Rita Nakashima Brock, Jay McDaniel ... the list goes on. You can read more about and see pictures from the events on Claremont’s Web site.

To demonstrate the breadth of John’s impact, one needs only to look at recent references to him in the press: His major book on economics (with Herman Daly) was referenced in an L.A. Times op-ed piece on the current state of the national economy. And John recently commented to Science & Spirit about the ecological crisis. (Another Claremonter—Rosemary Radford Ruether—is also quoted in this story.)

The longer I am in Claremont, the more I learn about this remarkable man. Indeed, Claremont is fortunate to count John Cobb as one of its own.

Reflections on the Pew Forum study

You may have heard about the “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey” published last week by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. It presents findings based on interviews of 35,000 residents of the U.S.

The United Methodist News Service recently published an overview of the survey and asked me to comment. In part, I reply:

"In the mid-20th century, we thought it was a pretty good thing for Christians to learn to talk with one another, and that was the ecumenical movement. Now we assume that Christians should talk with one another, and God is saying that the conversation should be even larger."

I hope you read my comments in the context of the entire article, and I look forward to your thoughts on what should be a continuing conversation.

An Audience with Pope Benedict

In January, I traveled to Rome and Jerusalem as part of a delegation of interfaith leaders from the Los Angeles Area. We were fortunate to attend a general audience with Pope Benedict XVI and meet with religious leaders in the Vatican and Jerusalem. The L.A. Times reported on the visit, and I’ve posted my personal account of the experience on the School’s Web site. In part, it reads:

"Anticipation of the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI was palpable. As the top of the hour neared, many crowed toward the central isle. But suddenly a voice from the crowd cried out, "Il Papa," and Pope Benedict entered from the stage door on the crowd's left. The auditorium erupted in great shouting, cheering, and applause, which continued for some time after Benedict XVI had reached his seat at center stage. When the auditorium finally grew quiet, the Pope delivered a message on the topic of a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity..."

Not MySpace but OURspace

Before I was selected as Claremont's president in 2006, I spent the previous 25 years working to help break the mold of how libraries work. As we all know, the Internet and its abundant technologies have changed the way the First World gathers and processes information. This has significant impacts on libraries, which for hundreds - even thousands - of years operated as the sole repositories of information.

Times, they are a' changin' - and they will to do so at a remarkable rate. And as I approach my two-year anniversary at Claremont, we are ready to embark on some staggering changes in how the School approaches its core mission.

Even though I've helped managed technological change for well over two decades, this is my first foray into keeping a public blog. So I look forward moving with the times and sharing my thoughts on current events, on what's happening at Claremont, and the directions that we'll need to go together to make the world a better place.

It's been said that "... the rigorous practice of rugged individualism usually leads to poverty, ostracism and disgrace." Too much of what we find online is for individual, private consumptions. That's why I don't want this blog to be Myspace, my soapbox on an already crowded street corner of virtual prophets and soothsayers. Instead, this should be OURspace. I want to hear what you think, to have ongoing conversations with those of you who care about the future.

So please leave comments after my posts. Respond to surveys when they are posted. And please keep me honest in my thoughts and perspectives as we move forward together.