WARNING: Christian Talk :zombie:
Seminary.
I have a BA in Film, and then realized that I hate Film (though I currently work with media software). It's stressful, long hours at times, and because it's seen as 'glamorous', its hard to get a good-paying job doing it. And I'm just on the software side of things - I can't imagine what it's like to work for a TV station or on a film set. Finally, I decided that my heart wasn't in media or software anymore, and it's time to make a change. I've been interested in spirituality and religion for a long time, and I finally decided to have a go at it.
San Francisco has an umbrella organization of sorts, called the
Graduate Theological Union, and there are some 10-11 seminaries under that - mostly Christian, but one Buddhist. We also have both Jewish and Islamic Studies, as well as a program that studies Religion and Science. (Spirit generator!)
Last year I talked with the Episcopalians at the
Church Divinity School of the Pacific; I liked the staff and students a lot, but they don't have the programs that I'm interested in. I'm more interested in Religion and how it interacts with society and/or culture, and they're much more focused on either the arts, or hardcore Biblical and Anglican history.
So, I talked with a friend of mine who is a priest, and she attended classes at GTU - she recommended the Lutheran Seminary,
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Spiritually, they're pretty closely aligned with the Episcopalians; they're the one branch of the Lutheran Church (ELCA) that ordains women, and sometimes the two churches will 'swap out' priests - a Lutheran will get hired at an Episcopalian church, and vice versa. Plus, this church has an emphasis on Religion and Society, which is what I'm interested in. I'm not interested in going into the priesthood (though that would be funny!), but maybe pursue a more spiritual type of a career. Maybe counseling or advocacy; I have friends on all parts of the spiritual spectrum (up to and including Satanism), and I seem to be one of the only people they know who will listen to them and can 'translate' their religious beliefs to others. (Though trying to explain Asatru to Evangelical Christians was a bit of a stretch
)
I'm going to try to go down and talk to them in a couple of weeks. I'm burned out on Seattle, I may have a job lead in SF, and it'd be good to go to Grad School and not live in a dorm. They (along with the GTU) also have part time programs, certificate programs, you can audit classes, you can take one class at a time, etc. They also have a lot of students like me, who graduated from college a while ago, worked for a while, and need a change of pace. But, that's the goal at least. I may just start out with one class to see if I can handle it before jumping in full time.
It'll be interesting.
.
. It's really amazing that they released two albums in two years, and both albums are really amazing).
