Monday, April 18, 2011

The Death of Denver Seminary

Denver Seminary has a page with a list of videos called, Stories of Transformation. Scroll down to the sixth video by Vaun Swanson (with whom I attended classes while we were both students there). Then browse this page, Affiliate Guides , listing bios of all the Jungian, Enneagram, Spiritual Plant Healing and other assorted therapist, "sacred container" whatsits my co-alumna promotes through her women's center.

And don't forget the grad of the (is this a joke?) Kerouac School at Naropa University. The bios range from the frivolous to the frankly evil. I'd have to believe it was a spoof or a hack if I didn't already know this was Vaun and her work.

Is it time for me to give my degree back? This is not the first occasion on which I have been truly ashamed for Denver Seminary.

7 comments:

Eric said...

What was evil about the bios?

Alice C. Linsley said...

I understand how you feel, I think. My seminary (which will remain un-named) lost focus on the "centrality of the Cross" after the Lutheran merger.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Kamilla......Would you like to meet for a cup of tea sometime? I would enjoy catching up with you.....hearing what's going on in your life. Vaun

Alice C. Linsley said...

Since this isn't a private conversation, might I say: "It seems that bridge collapsed some time ago."

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, odd. Assuming that's really Vaun Swanson who comments on April 27, 2011 1:47 PM, it's interesting that she doesn't contact you privately to invite you to tea, but publishes a comment to a blog entry devoted to her DenSem promotional video and her list of "Affiliate Guides" at Pomegranate Place. Odd as well that although she makes a public comment here, she has nothing whatsoever to say about the topic at hand. Instead, she chimes in only to express her desire to meet with you privately in order to to "catch up" with you and to "hear what's going on in your life."

Wouldn't such a communication have been better suited to an e-mail, since it seems clear she had no intent of discussing the substance of your post here? Or, by posting a public invitation to a private get-together, is she trying to convey the message to everyone looking in that she's not only "above" discussing the topic at hand, but magnanimous in showing her concern for you even though you've criticized Denver Seminary and Pomegranate Place?

Like I said, odd. But I would enjoin you to take her up on the invitation, on the assumption that maybe she will discuss the substance of your criticism in a private setting. I'm guessing you'd find that conversation very illuminating.

Anonymous said...

P.S.: Seeing as Michanda Lindsey has apparently made herself available, perhaps she could be invited to the tea and you could ask her about her ordination to the priesthood and exactly which "local cathedral" she serves as a "priest." (I noticed from her Pomegranate Place bio that she "is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio", but there's no mention of which seminary, if any, she attended.)

Kamilla said...

Vaun,

I am inclined to agree with Alice on the state of a certain bridge and see little point in private meeting to "catch up" when we would be doing so across a great chasm. If you want to meet to discuss what I've written here, though, you are welcome to contact me via email since I do not set appointments in public. The link is available on the profile page.

Also, since my private correspondence with religious feminists has a nasy habit of showng up in public, any correspondence of substance between us (other than things such as setting appointments to meet) is subject to publication here or on any other website for which I write. Turnabout and all that you know.