2025 Graduate Theological Union Commencement Program
The Two Thousand and Twenty-Five Commencement Exercises
May twenty-second • Two thousand and twenty-five
Berkeley, California
The Graduate Theological Union academic procession begins with the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, GTU President, the GTU Academic Dean, the GTU Associate Dean, and the GTU Manager for Student Services. The GTU Presidents and Deans of the member schools follow. Members of the Faculty come next. The Graduates complete the procession in alphabetical order by last name; Certificate graduates enter first, followed by the Master of Arts graduates and then the Doctor of Philosophy graduates.
This academic procession symbolizes the GTU as the sum of its significant parts. The Faculty is the centerpiece of our academic endeavors anchored by the cooperative and collaborative leadership of the consortium-wide Presidents and Deans and the GTU Board and administration. The Graduates, on this special day, are the focus of our attention. Graduates process through and are greeted by all the many families and friends that have supported them through this journey.
commencement.gtu.edu
Invocation
Hadar Aviram
GTU MA Graduate
Center for Jewish Studies
Greetings and Remembrances
Uriah Y. Kim
President
Graduate Theological Union
Announcements and Introductions
Christopher Ocker
Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Announcement of the 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award
Recipient and Introduction of the Commencement Speakers
Remarks by a Faculty Member
Eduardo Fernandez
Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ministry
Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University
Living Faith Traditions: Wellsprings of Life
Conferral of Degrees
Uriah Y. Kim, President, GTU
Christopher Ocker, Dean, GTU
William Glenn, Chair, GTU Board of Trustees
Remarks by a Graduate
Aaron Terris Grizzell
GTU PhD Graduate
Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Toward a More Just Union
Benediction
Erika Katske
GTU PhD Graduate
Theology and Ethics
Certificate in Interreligious Chaplaincy
Kristine Bell
Sudha Bhat
Ashok Chandrasekhar
Sumreen Chaudhry
Ridhi Khurana
Master of Arts
Faisal M. Azar
The Pursuit of Knowledge: Rethinking Worship (ibādah) in Islam and Contemporary Muslim Thoughts on Knowledge
Center for Islamic Studies
Mahjabeen Dhala (Coordinator)
Kamal Abu-Shamsieh
My research explores the Muslim concept of seeking knowledge as a means of personal enrichment and a deeply spiritual endeavor and worship (ibadah). Drawing on the Qur’an, Prophetic traditions, and contemporary scholarly works, such as Sayed Husain Nasr's Knowledge and the Sacred and Isma'il Raji Al-Faruqi's Islamization of Knowledge. I posit that the idea of worship (ibadah) in Islam includes pursuing religious and scientific knowledge to understand God and fulfill worldly and spiritual obligations.
Hadar Aviram
Behind Ancient Bars: Illuminating the Biblical Incarceration Experience
Center for Jewish Studies WITH HONORS
Deena Aranoff (Coordinator)
Sam Shonkoff
Behind Ancient Bars examines five biblical carceral stories— Joseph in Egypt, Esther in Persia, Daniel in Babylonia, Samson in Gaza, and Jeremiah in Jerusalem—through the lens of modern penology. The stories reveal perennial insights about the carceral experience: carcerality as a microcosm of government, particularly of empire, and the personal transformation that accompanies the experience of confinement. Through these insights, the project seeks to complement the commonly held perception of prison as a feature of modernity with a model of continuity.
Master of Arts
Genevieve Krahe Billings, Ph.D
Not What They Say They Are: Social Justice through the Lens of Genesis 3:1–24, the Banishment from the Garden
Center for Jewish Studies
Deena Aranoff (Coordinator)
Sam Shonkoff
Mark Thornton, Ludwig Von Mises Institute
This Midrashic exegesis of Genesis 3:1–24, the Banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden, critiques social justice using the libertarian-conservative perspectives of Ludwig von Mises and Thomas Sowell. Via the Hebrew text, the banishment story is reinterpreted and a critique of social justice arises in a provocative counter-interpretation: in-Garden (read: social justice) as oppression and out-of-Garden (read: banishment) as freedom.
Natalie Boskin
In or Out: Exploring the Boundaries of Rabbinic Pluralism
Center for Jewish Studies WITH HONORS
Sam Shonkoff (Coordinator)
Deena Aranoff
How does Judaism retain a meaningful connection to what was in the face of inevitable change? This research uses close readings of passages from the Eruvin and Bava Metzia to consider how the Babylonian Talmud authorizes particular truth-seeking strategies that create boundaries around what kinds of contradiction can exist within the rabbinic project and why those boundaries matter.
Master of Arts
Somanjana Chatterjee
In the Womb of the Divine Feminine—Feminine Formulations in Environmental Justice: A Comparative Analysis of Hinduism and Judaism in Sustainability Studies
Center for Dharma Studies
Rita Sherma (Coordinator)
Deena Aranoff
This thesis examines eco-praxis in Hinduism and Judaism through Sustainability Studies, emphasizing feminine principles in ecological preservation. Analyzing Śakta Tantra and EcoKosher practices, it explores how religious frameworks promote environmental stewardship. It advocates eco-praxis as a model for sustainability, challenging corporate-driven ecological degradation, and fostering cross-cultural collaboration towards environmental justice.
Master of Arts
Annalise Brittany Deal
The “San Francisco Model” of Being Church: The Episcopal Church and the AIDS Epidemic in San Francisco
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Jennifer Snow (Coordinator)
Randle Mixon
Lynne Gerber
This project describes the response of Episcopal churches in San Francisco to the AIDS epidemic, which decimated the city from 1981 through 1996. I focus on responses made by the Episcopal Diocese of California, as well as six parishes and two nonparochial ministries hit particularly hard by the epidemic. Many Christians across the nation turned a blind eye to the HIV/AIDS epidemic or, worse, suggested it was a form of divine retribution against gay men. Yet, early in the epidemic in San Francisco, rather than shunning gay men who became infected, the bishop, clergy, and congregations of Episcopal churches in San Francisco embraced them, offering material and spiritual support through their diagnoses, illnesses, and deaths. The support Episcopalians offered took three forms: spiritual care, memorializing efforts, and public advocacy.
Mary-Rose Engle
Master of Arts
Walking with Latina Farmworkers: Insights for Spiritual Care and Beyond
Jesuit School of Theology WITH HONORS
Mary E. McGann (Coordinator)
Eduardo C. Fernandez, S.J.
Frank Buckley, S.J
Latina migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) in the U.S. navigate a complex web of systemic and situational stressors while demonstrating remarkable resilience. By examining these women’s lived realities through the lenses of Mujerista Theology, evidence-based psychology research, and Latine culture, this thesis paper presents spiritual care providers with a framework to inform and tailor their practices in support of Latina MSFWs.
William J. Klein
Of Thetans and Men: Conceptions of the Human Soul in Scientology
Graduate Theological Union
Sam Shonkoff (Coordinator)
Devin Zuber
The Church of Scientology is one of the most recognizable and consistently controversial New Religious Movements (NRMs) to appear in the United States in the last century. This thesis looks at one aspect of Scientology, its conception of the human soul (or Thetan, as Scientologists say), and compares it to other religious ways of viewing the soul to see if it is unique.
Master of Arts
Sam R. LaDue
Like Songs That Never End: Affects and Effects
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
Shauna Hannan (Coordinator)
Rebecca Esterson
How warm is your welcome? “All are welcome” signs and statements are ubiquitous across faith communities, and yet many people sense that they are not fully welcome. Weaving together the work of affect theorists, ritual and liturgical scholars, and my own lived experiences as an artist and poet, I explore the challenges and potential of affective force in liturgical ecologies.
Andrew Joseph Ross
A Complimentary Intersectionality Between Johann Arndt and C.G. Jung Toward Addressing Toxic Masculinity within the Individuation Journey
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)
Adam Braun
An interdisciplinary dialogue between Christian mystic Johann Arndt and Swiss Psychologist C.G. Jung can show how activation of introspection by meditation, active imagination, or therapy can equip Christian men with the tools to process unintegrated individual and collective psychic energies toward a transformative psychological balance that helps mitigate toxic masculinity. In this thesis, I will attempt to show that Arndt’s writing is an example for others to follow in journaling, spiritual direction, or a therapeutic setting to possibly confront toxic masculinity.
Master of Arts
William Wayne Roy
Joy, Suffering, and Hope: Uncovering a Divine Ground of Being Through Kenosis
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary WITH HONORS
Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)
Devin Zuber
It is my firm belief that there is a divine ground of being at the root of everything. Kenosis is key to locating such a reality. This thesis elucidates a generative theology of kenosis that holds the potential to transform spaces of suffering, violence, and despair. Rightly conceived, kenosis can revolutionize the individual and the world.
Amy Rebecca Tobin
Breath from the Beginning: New Songs in the Languages of Prayer Center for Jewish Studies
Deena Aranoff (Coordinator)
Sam Shonkoff
Through composition of original songs and interpretation of Jewish sources, especially the midrash Deuteronomy Rabba 2:1, this project explores how vocal music can be therapeutic in the context of prayer. I studied vocalization within Jewish wisdom to compose new songs and approaches to spiritual singing that are accessible and meaningful to secular Jews in the twenty-first century, especially for those with limited Jewish literacy. At the intersection of art and religious practice, I sought to understand the difference between a song and a prayer.
Master of Arts
Maude Wilson
Steal Away to Jesus & Wash My Soul: Hush Harbor Praxis and Its Role in Turning Trauma into Resilience
Pacific School of Religion
Jim Lawrence (Coordinator)
Leonard McMahon
Experiential strategies are being developed around the need for culturally appropriate ways to address African American historical and racialized trauma experienced today as a result of American chattel slavery. This research points to hush harbor praxis and Christian liberation theology, as the foundation of a transcendent somatic experience that can support the wellbeing of today’s Black community.
Doctor of Philosophy
Sungwoo Cho
Revitalizing Korean Protestant Preaching for the Next Generation in the Post-Pandemic Korean Context: Post-Authoritarianism, Social Responsibility, and Interconnectedness
Religion and Practice
Sangyil Park (Coordinator)
Paul A. Janowiak, S.J
Jinbong Choi, Presbyterian Theological Seminary
The primary objective of the research is to proffer an effective, impactful, and contextually relevant preaching paradigm for the younger generation in the post-pandemic Korean context. Reflecting on theological (Emil Brunner, David Tracy, Minjung theology), sacramental (Edward Schillebeeckx), hermeneutical (Hans-Georg Gadamer), and homiletical (conversational homiletics) paradigms, potential paths for the next Korean Protestant preaching are presented. This paradigm embodies a new understanding of Christian revelation, authority, text, preacher, audience, language, and public responsibility.
Doctor of Philosophy
Aaron Terris Grizzell
History of Religions and Reflections on a New Cognitive Humanism: Mythic Fissure and the Cognitive Imagination of Matter
Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Rita Sherma (Coordinator)
Margarita Vega
Dwight Nathaniel Hopkins, University of Chicago Divinity School
The dissertation connects a specific theory of religious experience developed by historian of religions Charles H. Long to theories in the cognitive sciences. It argues that through his theory of religious experience, as expressed in myth and symbol, there exist fresh pathways of correspondence between this experience and the ways it may be instantiated in the brain.
Rachelle Elizabeth Fawcett
Dialoging with Nature: An Intersectional Śākta Approach to the Work of Remembering
Theology and Ethics
Arthur Holder (Coordinator)
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Anantanand Rambachan, Saint Olaf College
Vrinda Dalmiya, University of Hawaii, Manoa
This dissertation presents a methodological illustration for a “dialogue with Nature” that begins in decoloniality, aesthetic/ sensory dialogue, and Hindu Śākta philosophy in order to accomplish the work of remembering, or to remember one’s role in the interconnected web of life that is our planet while simultaneously identifying and dismantling the patterns of destructive forgetting present in a global colonial paradigm.
Doctor of Philosophy
Sara Elizabeth Ivanhoe
In Search of Sleep: A Comprehensive Study of Yoga Philosophy, Therapeutic Practice, and Improving Sleep in Higher Education
Religion and Practice
Rita Sherma (Coordinator)
LeAnn Flesher
Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount
Jeffrey I. Gold, University of Southern California
Ancient yoga texts offer philosophical frameworks for understanding sleep as a foundational category of consciousness. Yoga postures, yogic breathing exercises, and meditation comprise therapeutic modalities for the alleviation of sleep disorders through philosophically sophisticated, ethicallyinformed, and evidence-based empirical applications. This research developed as an undergraduate course at the University of Southern California and culminated in a threeyear, longitudinal, Institutional Review Board-approved study, demonstrating significant improvements in sleep duration, sleep quality, and insomnia-related anxiety.
Doctor of Philosophy
Uijin Jung
Two Saints with Distinct Approaches to Missions in TwentiethCentury East Asia: A Comparative Study on Rev. Kyung-Chik Han and Rev. Toyohiko Kagawa
Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Anh Q. Tran (Coordinator)
Randi J. Walker
Sebastian C. H. Kim, Fuller Theological Seminary Naoto Sekiya, Doshisha University, Japan
This dissertation aims to explore how two prominent secondgeneration Protestant leaders in East Asia—Kyung-Chik Han from Korea and Toyohiko Kagawa from Japan—despite extraordinary similarities between them, shaped subtle and conspicuous differences in their ministries, theological orientations, and worldviews, deriving from their different sociopolitical environments and personal life experiences.
Hyung-Joo Lee
Our Inflationary Big Bang Universe as Creation, as the Ground for Redemption, and as Characterized by Intra-Physics Emergence
Theology and Ethics
Robert Russell (Coordinator)
Ted Peters
Phillip Clayton, Claremont School of Theology
Using the CMI method, this dissertation demonstrates how scientific theories underlying the physics of our Big Bang universe can interact with Christian doctrines of creation, redemption, and eschatology through philosophical concepts such as contingency and hiddenness. A novel form of emergence found in a sequence of emerging structures within physics leads to multiple types of multi-layered contingency against reductionistic claims.
Doctor of Philosophy
Erika Katske
Reinterpreting Babel: A Case Study in Theological Interrogation of Economic Frames
Theology and Ethics
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda (Coordinator)
Jay Johnson
Barry Eichengreen, UC Berkeley
This dissertation places the fields of economics and theology into dialogue using historical analysis and examination of economic and theological texts. The research argues that economic thought implicitly asks and answers theological questions. The chapters investigate ways of interrogating those assumptions that can contribute to the broader, interdisciplinary task of disrupting neoliberal reasoning at the core of contemporary economic thinking.
Reem Taha Kosba
Religion and Fashion in Contemporary Egypt: The Aesthetics and Politics of Dress
Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Kathryn Barush (Coordinator)
Devin Zuber
Rita Lucarelli, UC Berkeley
This dissertation explores the religious, sociocultural, political, and colonial underpinnings of the modern Egyptian fashion world from the early 20th century to the present, and its interconnectedness with Islam, gender, class, and ethnicity. While arguing that Egypt’s contemporary clothing and textiles industry has origins in the country’s ancient history, I argue that its contemporary foundations are rooted in the colonial period, emerging as a consequence of modernity, colonialism, and industrialization, and heavily influenced by European aesthetics.
Doctor of Philosophy
Kyprianos Koutsokoumnis
Eros, Rasa, and the Metaphysics of Ecology: A Dialogue Between Plato and Rūpa Gosvāmī
Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion
Rita Sherma (Coordinator)
Kathryn Barush
Graham Schweig
Mohammad Azadpur, San Francisco State University
The aim of this dissertation is to illustrate that there is a connection that exists between the inner evolution of human consciousness--as expressed by Platonic Eros, and Hindu Bhakti-Rasa--and the planet Earth. In addition, this dissertation engages in reciprocal illumination between Platonic Eros and Bhakti-Rasa.
Sanghyun Park
Reappraising Humility: Philosophical and Sociological Examination of The Systemic Paradox of Humility
Theology and Ethics
Gabriella Lettini (Coordinator)
Justin Gable, O.P.
Anthony Bak Buccitelli, Pennsylvania State University
Sunglim Lee, Methodist Theological University
This dissertation elucidates the viability and significance of practicing humility amidst the crisis of political and social polarization through an interdisciplinary study. To examine the importance of humility, this work employs the concept of dialogical humility from continental philosophy and practice theory from sociology.
Doctor of Philosophy
Scott Laurent Spitzer
Loving Nature: Traditional Roman and Late Antique
Christian Conceptions of the Natural World
History and Cultural Studies of Religion
Eugene Ludwig, O.F.M (Coordinator)
John Klentos
Diliana Angelova, University of California, Berkeley
Examination of the literature and visual representations of the natural world in late antique Christianity and classical Rome. The lens through which the natural world is understood here is E. O. Wilson’s idea of biophilia, defined by Stephen Kellert as an “inherent inclination to affiliate with the natural world.” While the connection to nature was consistent through both cultures, it was interpreted in ways unique to each culture.
Pace Warfield
Our Greatest Glory: A Queer Reading of What it Means to be Human in Conversation with Martin Luther’s Genesis Lectures
Theology and Ethics
Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)
Christopher Ocker
Jay Johnson, All Saints Episcopal Church
This dissertation creates a queer theological anthropology by putting Martin Luther’s Genesis Lectures in conversation with queer theorists like Marcella Althaus-Reid, José Esteban Muñoz, and Alison Kafer. Luther teaches that sin is the source of embodied shame, and his own sense of God’s erotic desire for humankind opens his anthropology for queering.
Doctor of Philosophy
Sang-Pil Yun
Christ’s Calling and the Formation of Christian Existence: A Christological Inquiry into the Concept of Calling in Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Reconciliation
Theology and Ethics
Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)
Ted Peters
Paul S. Chung, International Public Theology in Forum Center
This dissertation explores Karl Barth’s doctrine of calling, examining how Christ’s calling summons and shapes a person into a particular mode of Christian existence. It clarifies how she is formed as a co-agent with Christ, participating in his prophetic service for the world. It highlights the decisive role of Barth’s theology of vocation in shaping Christian identity and responsibility.
The Graduate Theological Union, located in Berkeley, California, brings together scholars of the world’s great religious and wisdom traditions to grow in knowledge, thrive in spirit, and unite in solutions. With an academic program that brings the arts, sciences, and humanities into the heart of religious studies—and close working relationships with major public and private universities—the GTU offers unique opportunities to expand knowledge through critical and creative interdisciplinary scholarship.
The member schools of the GTU individually train religious leaders in their respective faith traditions while uniting to grant common doctoral and master’s degrees in religious and theological studies. Students and faculty pursue their work in an atmosphere of multi-religious freedom, curiosity, respect, and dialogue.
As partners committed to positive change, GTU students, faculty, and alumni address the challenges and conflicts that shape our global society. Underscoring how religions and wisdom traditions can illuminate solutions, our interdisciplinary educational approach enlightens, prepares, and inspires scholars, educators, and community leaders to choose a vocational life devoted to positive change.
Graduate Theological Union Board of Trustees
William Glenn, Chair
Uriah Y. Kim, President
Katie Rosson, Vice Chair
Julie Petrini, Secretary
Paul Johnson, Treasurer
James Brenneman
Linda Dakin-Grimm
Stephen Fowl
Justin Gable, O.P.
Heidi Hadsell
Yoel Khan
John Klentos
Angela Lintz Small
Adrienne McCormick
Scott Mitchell
Tony Millette
Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator
Raymond Pickett
Mary Jo Potter
LaRae Quy
Gaurav Ratogi
Ismael Ruiz
Rita Semel (emerita)
David Vásquez-Levy
Graduate Theological Union
Graduate Theological Union Consortial Council
Berkeley School of Theology
James E. Brenneman
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Stephen Fowl
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
Justin Gable, O.P.
Graduate Theological Union
Uriah Y. Kim
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Scott Mitchell
Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University
Raymond Pickett
Pacific School of Religion
David Vasquez-Levy
San Francisco Theological School— University of Redlands
Adrienne McCormick
Graduate Theological Union Council of Deans
Berkeley School of Theology
LeAnn Flesher
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Mark Hearn
The Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology
Christopher Renz
Graduate Theological Union
Christopher Ocker
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Takashi Miyaji
Jesuit School of Theology
Julie Rubio
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California
Lutheran University
Alicia Vargas
Pacific School of Religion
Susan Abraham
San Francisco Theological Seminary Graduate School of Theology — University of Redlands
Laurie Garrett-Cobbina
GTU Core Doctoral Faculty
Deena Aranoff, CJS
Jerome Baggett, JST-SCU
Kathryn Barush, GTU/JST-SCU
Judith Berling, GTU (emerita)
Aaron Brody, PSR
Thomas Cattoi, JST-SCU
Peter Choi, CFJ
Jennifer W. Davidson, GTU
Rebecca Esterson, CSS
Marianne Farina, C.S.C., DSPT
Eduardo Fernández, S. J., JST-SCU
LeAnn Flesher, BST
Laurie Garrett-Cobbina, UR-GST
Christopher Hadley, S. J., JST-SCU
Shauna Hannan, PLTS-CLU
Gina Hens-Piazza, JST-SCU
Arthur Holder, GTU (emeritus)
Uriah Y. Kim, GTU
John Klentos, PAOI
Bryan Kromholtz, O.P., DSPT
James Lawrence, CSS/PSR (emeritus)
Elizabeth Liebert, S.N.J.M, UR-GST (emerita)
Gregory Love, UR-GST
Hilary Martin, O.P., DSPT (emeritus)
Mary McGann, R.S.C.J., JST-SCU
Ruth Meyers, CDSP
Valerie Miles-Tribble, BST
Scott Mitchell, IBS
Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, PLTS-CLU/CDSP
Braden Molhoek, CTNS
Ron Nakasone, GTU (emeritus)
James Nati, JST
Christopher Ocker, GTU
Eugene Park, UR-GST
Sangyil Park, BST
Ted Peters, PLTS-CLU (emeritus)
Susan Phillips, NCB
Julia Prinz, V.D.M.F., JST-SCU
Anselm Ramelow, O.P., DSPT
Julie Hanlon Rubio, JST-SCU
Robert Russell, CTNS (emeritus)
Rita Sherma, CDS
Sam Shonkoff, CJS
Kirsi Stjerna, PLTS-CLU
Matthew Thomas, DSPT
Anh Tran, S.J., JST-SCU
Devin Phillip Zuber, CSS
Academic Centers
Center for the Arts and Religion (CARe)
Center for Dharma Studies (CDS)
Center for Islamic Studies (CIS)
Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies (CJS)
Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS)
Affiliates
Center for Swedenborgian Studies (CSS)
China Academic Consortium (CAC)
New College Berkeley (NCB)
Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute (PAOI)
Wilmette Institute (WI)
Special Thanks
The GTU Student and Academic Affairs’ Offices
The GTU Institutional Events Team
The GTU External Affairs Office
In the unlikely event of an emergency, please remain calm. Remain in your seats for official instructions unless you hear a fire alarm; immediately evacuate the building if you hear a fire alarm. If it becomes necessary to evacuate the building, walk, do not run, to the nearest exit. All exits are clearly marked by lighted exit signs. If you require assistance, remain calm, someone from the event staff will assist you. Event staff located at all the exits will guide you.
