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The Two Thousand and Twenty-Six Commencement Exercises

May twenty-first • Two thousand and twenty-six

Berkeley, California

The Graduate Theological Union academic procession begins with the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, the 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 the many families and friends that have supported them through this journey.

commencement.gtu.edu

Invocation

EunHye Grace So

GTU PhD Graduate

Biblical Studies

Greetings and Remembrances

Uriah Y. Kim

President

Graduate Theological Union

Announcements and Introductions

Christopher Ocker

Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Introduction of the Commencement Speakers

Remarks by a Faculty Member

LeAnn Snow Flesher

Professor of Ministerial Leadership and Practical Theology

Berkeley School of Theology

Breaking Chains; Building Light

Conferral of Degrees

Uriah Y. Kim, President, GTU

Christopher Ocker, Dean, GTU

Katie Rosson, Vice Chair

Remarks by a Graduate

Ineda Pearl Player

GTU PhD Graduate

Christian Spirituality

Now, is the Time!

Benediction

Tamar Levin

GTU MA Graduate

Jewish Studies

Certificates

Certificate in Interreligious Chaplaincy

Sanmay Mukhopadhyay

Sudha Ramakrishnan

Master of Arts

Carey Averbook

Crisis Reframed: Rabbinic Relational Ethics in Ecological Response

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES

Sam Shonkoff (Coordinator)

Deena Aranoff

This capstone examines how Jewish thought and Rabbinic responses to drought can contribute to a relational ethic in the context of contemporary ecological challenges. Drawing on Indigenous epistemologies, Jewish texts, neurobiology, and dialogical philosophy, it contrasts dominant crisis narratives with an epistemology of coordination. Focusing on Rabbinic responses to drought, it proposes a Jewish model of relationality for navigating ecological disruption.

Master of Arts

Javon Canlas

A Peripatetic Meditation on Miracles as a Proof of Prophethood: Expanding on Muhammad al-Shahrastani’s Theory of the Kalimāt al-Šhahāda in Light

of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics

CENTER FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES

Ahmed Khater (Coordinator)

Raphael Mary, O.P.

This work answers the question, why should religious people believe a prophet speaks on God’s behalf? If one’s interlocutor offers miracles as a proof of prophethood this would suffice, but one must ask what about miracles indicates a prophet speaks the truth. Most Muslims say they know prophets perform miracles because of scripture, but one who states that miracles necessarily signify prophethood must demonstrate the necessary correlation between miracles and prophets. If one cites scripture as one’s authority, then this constitutes a circular fallacy since all scripture comes from prophets. Many proofs of prophethood rest on this circular reasoning since knowledge that Muhammad performs miracles comes from hadith literature (i.e. from the Prophet himself or companions who accepted his prophethood already).

Travis Letourneau

Master of Arts

Spiritual Tight-Rope - A Defense of Generic Chaplaincy

GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION

Rebecca Esterson (Coordinator)

Kamal Abu-Shamsieh

The purpose of this capstone is to investigate the causes and implications of what critics call “generic chaplaincy” in North American hospitals. The capstone will explore theory behind why religion appears the way it does in secular/professional settings, and how chaplains negotiate religious particularity. It will then situate the ethical foundations of the critiques and defend the phenomena.

Tamar Levin

After Babel: Transnational Hebrew Literature and the New Geography of Hebrew Culture

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES WITH HONORS

Sam Shonkoff (Coordinator)

Deena Aranoff

This study examines the Hebrew-writing community in Berlin as a consolidated center of contemporary Hebrew literary activity outside Israel. Situating this formation within the trajectory of Hebrew modernism, it analyzes literary works alongside cultural initiatives sustaining Hebrew literary life in diaspora, reimagining Hebrew culture beyond the language–territory paradigm, while Mizrahi Jewish perspectives rooted in Middle Eastern and North African histories unsettle East–West and Arab–Jew binaries.

Cindy Shinying Lin

Master of Arts

The Concept of Concern: A Zhuangzian Perspective on Kierkegaard’s Matthew 6

GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION

Deidre Green (Coordinator)

Anh Tran

This project elucidates the overlaps between Kierkegaard and Zhuangzi’s characterizations of concern and hopes to illustrate that a preunderstanding diverging from the world of the source text enhances one’s interpretive work. This project is an example of hermeneutical work done by the Chinese diaspora as it encounters Christianity in the 21st century.

Neeti Soota

Developing a Professional Chaplaincy Portfolio: Integrating Hindu Spiritual Care, Clinical Experience and APC/BCCI (Association of Professional Chaplains/ Board of Chaplaincy Certification, Inc) Competencies

GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION

Kamal Abu-Shamsieh (Coordinator)

Braden Molhoek

Rebecca Esterson

This capstone project integrates Hindu theology, interreligious chaplaincy formation and clinical pastoral education within healthcare contexts. Drawing from verbatim analysis and interdisciplinary practice, it explores spiritual care through the lenses of dharma, seva and non-anxious presence. The project demonstrates growth in cultural humility, ethical leadership and trauma-informed spiritual accompaniment across diverse clinical settings.

Doctor of Philosophy

Sami Ameri

Islamic Origin and the Jewish-Christian Borrowing Thesis: A Critique of Historical Misconstrual and the Elision of Quranic

Dialectical Polemics

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

Ahmed Khater (Coordinator)

Marianne Farina

Hatem Bazian, University of California, Berkeley

This dissertation is a research project related to the source criticism of the Quran and early Islamic history. It explores, in particular, the hypothesis that has gained increasing popularity in recent years, that Jewish-Christian sects played an essential role in shaping Islam at the time of its foundation, especially the Ebionites, the Nazarenes, and the Elkesaites.

Doctor of Philosophy

Mae Forrest Barnes

An Accessible Image: Reconstructing the Imago Dei for a More Inclusive Anthropology

THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

Braden Molhoek (Coordinator)

Lisa Fullam

Mary-Jo Iozzio, Boston College

In order to address the systemic ableism within the Christian church and related Christian institutions, a more accessible vision for theological anthropology is necessary. This dissertation elucidates what the core problems are within Christian theology historically, and how the church commits injustice to disabled people. Using a constructive approach incorporating ideas from Reinhold Niebuhr, alongside theological insights from the disabled community, the project seeks to reenvision the doctrine of the imago Dei so that disabled people are included. With this change in theological anthropology, other aspects of theology are affected, most notably the ecclesiology of the institutional Christian church. This work stands as the beginning of a larger project that seeks to address how systemic ableism affects the systematic theology of Christianity, with the hopes of building upon the foundations laid here for future theological development for disability advocacy.

Doctor of Philosophy

David Patrick Harry

Rebuilding Babel: An Eastern Orthodox Christian Critique of Transhuman Deification and Eschatology

HISTORICAL

AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

Jim Lawrence (Coordinator)

Margarita Vega

Jerry Brown, Florida International University

This dissertation presents a comprehensive Eastern Orthodox Christian critique of transhumanism by examining its theological, philosophical, and historical underpinnings. Drawing on the Orthodox doctrine of theosis, this study contrasts traditional Christian deification, achieved through divine grace, ascetic practice, and sacramental life, with transhumanism’s vision of self-deification through technological enhancement. This dissertation argues that transhumanism, rooted in Enlightenment humanism and techno-millenarian traditions, reconfigures religious eschatology into a secular narrative of salvation via artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and cybernetic immortality.

Doctor of Philosophy

Charissa Ann Jaeger-Sanders

Down in the Dirt and Dwelling in Darkness: A Wesleyan Theology in Interreligious & Interdisciplinary Engagement

THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

Rita Sherma (Coordinator)

Theodore Peters

Robert Russell

Francis Clooney, S.J., Harvard Divinity School

This interreligious, interdisciplinary, theological, Wesleyan work involves intentional dialogue with and inspiration from Śākta thealogy and is informed by the natural sciences. It celebrates profound Divine immanence, arguing that sentience, intelligence, agency, and relationality exist within living matter on a spectrum and asserting that organisms can choose whether to respond to the Divine, Who is explicated as Triune and in an empowering, life-giving, pansyntheistic relationship with all of creation.

Yanan Lu

Approaching Ecclesiology from the Perspectives of Chinese Christian Women: A Case Study of Christiana Tsai, Florence Tim Oi Li, and Cao Shengjie

THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)

Julie Rubio

Chloë Starr, Yale University

This dissertation critically engages the autobiographies and oral histories of Christiana Tsai, Florence Tim Oi Li, and Cao Shengjie as theological sources in conjunction with historical documents, personal writings, interviews, and secondary sources to construct a theological analysis of their experiences in the church and their ecclesiological insights.

Doctor of Philosophy

Leah Macinskas

The Rhetoric of Torah Observance in Second Temple Sectarian Competition: A Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of Matthew, 4QMMT, and the Damascus Document

SACRED TEXTS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION

Rebecca Esterson (Coordinator)

Deena Aranoff

Loren Stuckenbruck, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität

This dissertation uses sociology and rhetoric to analyze selected halakhic texts from the Second Temple period in order to bring out the social sectarian dynamics common to them. It demonstrates that this phenomenon was one that was common to multiple Jewish groups at the time; none of these are antiJewish. Instead, this is an intra-Jewish conflict with multiple participants.

Geoffrey Nelson-Blake

Disorganizing Hope: A Study of Seventh-day Adventists, Faith-Based Community Organizing, and Eschatologically Driven Mission

RELIGION AND PRACTICE

Eduardo Fernández, S.J. (Coordinator)

Theodore Peters

María Teresa Dávila, Merrimack College

Douglas Morgan, Andrews University

This study investigates how some present-day Seventh-day Adventists in the United States relate Adventist eschatology with their involvement in faith-based community organizing. This dissertation argues that faith-based community organizing can be enacted as a missiological practice of public witness—projecting alternative eschatological options into the public sphere that are more hopeful, grace-oriented, and life-giving than the dominant public eschatological imaginary.

Doctor of Philosophy

Ineda Pearl Player

Ain’t I a Contemplative: A Womanist Approach to Christian Spirituality

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

James Lawrence (Coordinator)

Wendy Farley

Rachel Harding, University of Colorado, Denver

This dissertation contends that Christian spirituality, as an academic discipline, is structured by a narrow Eurocentric contemplative norm and must be pluralized. A womanist approach centers Black American spirituality as a classical tradition rooted in African inheritances. The thesis advances embodied, communal practices as an example of normative contemplative modalities and proposes an ethical and epistemological reconfiguration of “contemplation” itself.

Emily Ann Pothast

Mediating Revelation: Apocalypse As Divine Media Theory

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

Kathryn Barush (Coordinator)

James Nati

Devin Zuber

Anton Kaes, University of California, Berkeley

Through an analysis of the reception of the Apocalypse during key transitional moments in the history of media, this dissertation theorizes the narrative framework of mediated revelation as a site of practical agency which self-referentially reveals its own power to reframe, and thus transform reality.

Doctor of Philosophy

Victoria Price

Digital Divinity: An Analysis of the Digital Presence of Mata Amritanandamayi

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

Shauna Hannan (Coordinator)

Kyle Oliver

Corinne Dempsey, Nazareth University

This dissertation examines how religious authority is produced in digital environments through a case study of the global Hindu movement led by Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma). Using computational analysis of 634 Instagram posts, visual analysis, and devotee interviews, it argues that digital platforms reorganize rather than diminish authority, sustaining what it terms platformed embodied authority through aesthetic coherence and devotional media practices.

Doctor of Philosophy

Parameshwaran Ramakrishnan

Evidence-Based Theology, Philosophy of Mind, and Clinical

Chaplaincy: Toward a Spiritual-Psychiatry Pedagogy

THEOLOGY AND ETHICS

Rita Sherma (Coordinator)

Kamal Abu-Shamsieh

Thomas Brod, University of California, Los Angeles

Prasad Padala, University of Arkansas

This dissertation establishes an innovative “Spiritual-Psychiatry Pedagogy” by synthesizing interreligious theology, Vedāntic philosophy of mind, and contemplative neuroscience. It proposes an evidence-based framework that integrates a chaplain’s empathic listening care with phenomenological psychiatric assessment. By bridging these disciplines, the research provides a rigorous methodology for training psychiatrists as holistic “healers of soul and mind.” Finally, it demonstrates the medical model for scriptural study, deriving a practical theology of healing applicable across contemporary psychiatry and medicine.

Doctor of Philosophy

Rondall Reynoso

Visual Prayer: The Expression of Christian Spirituality in American Art, 1910 to Present

ART AND RELIGION

Ronald Nakasone (Coordinator)

Anselm Ramelow, OP

SB Rodriguez-Plate, Hamilton College

This dissertation offers the first comprehensive account of Christian spirituality in modern and contemporary American visual art. Using a transdisciplinary, sociohistorical, artist- and object-centered methodology, it treats artworks as theological statements from the 1910s to today. It shows spirituality’s persistence across modernist, popular, and outsider art as “visual prayer,” reshaping dominant narratives and informing contemporary re-enchantment.

EunHye Grace So

“Become as I am, for I also have become as you are (Gal 4:12)”: Paul’s Rhetorical Use of Ethos in Galatians

BIBLICAL STUDIES

Matthew Thomas (Coordinator)

Jeremiah Coogan

Ramona Naddaff, University of California, Berkeley

This dissertation examines how Paul constructs and deploys ethos (ἦθος) in Galatians to reinforce his apostolic authority and advance his argument concerning the nature of pistis (πίστις) amid debates over erga nomou (ἔργα νόμου) and pistis Iēsou (πίστις Ἰησοῦ). Using Aristotle’s account of ethos as a historical proxy, it shows how Paul’s rhetorical self-presentation establishes credibility and persuades the Galatian communities to embrace his gospel.

Doctor of Philosophy

Porsia Nicole Tunzi

Christian Women on Instagram: Reimagining Religious Community and Authority in the Age of Social Media

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)

Julie Rubio

Paula Nesbitt

Ynez Wilson Hirst, Saint Mary’s College

This study argues that Christian millennial-aged women produce the sacred online as both content creators and followers, and, in doing so, disrupt and expand what it means to be religious and practice religion in contemporary society. Based on 75 in-depth interviews with women across the United States, this study finds that Christian women utilize social media to assert agency, center lived experiences, challenge dominant religious narratives, and build meaningful communities in ways not always available in in-person religious spaces. In particular, this dissertation focuses on how women reimagine community and authority on the social media platform Instagram.

Doctor of Philosophy

Brandon L. Westengard

Plainly a Divine Term: Martin Luther and a Mystical Theology of the Unfree Will

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF RELIGION

Kirsi Stjerna (Coordinator)

Christopher Ocker

Volker Leppin, Yale Divinity School

This dissertation explores the mystical dimension of Martin Luther’s understanding of the human will’s lack of freedom. Through close textual analysis, it examines the inner logic of Luther’s theology of bondage using two mystical categories: surrender of the self and the real presence of Christ within the believer. The study situates Luther’s free will argument within late medieval mystical theology.

Graduate Theological Union Board of Trustees

Paul Johnson, Chair

Uriah Y. Kim, President

Katie Rosson, Vice Chair

Julie Petrini, Secretary

Gaurav Rastogi, Treasurer

James Brenneman

Mike Cairns

Linda Dakin-Grimm

Albert Duggan

Heidi Hadsell

Amir Hussain

John Klentos

Steve Knapp

Beth Kumar

Marie Lucero

Adrienne McCormick

Sheryl McReynolds

Meg Mercury

Scott Mitchell

Christopher Ocker

Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator

Raymond Pickett

Mary Jo Potter

LaRae Quy

Ismael Ruiz

Jennifer Ruppert

Rita Semel (emerita)

David Vásquez-Levy

Colleen Windham-Hughes

Graduate Theological Union Consortial Council

Berkeley School of Theology

James E. Brenneman

Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology

Albert Duggan, 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

Colleen Windham-Hughes

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

The Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology

Paschal Strader

Graduate Theological Union

Christopher Ocker

Institute of Buddhist Studies

Takashi Miyaji

Jesuit School of Theology

Jerome Baggett

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University

Michael Hillis

Pacific School of Religion

Susan Abraham

San Francisco Theological Seminary Graduate School of Theology – University of Redlands

Laurie Garrett-Cobbina

GTU Core Doctoral Faculty

Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, GTU

Paula Arai, IBS

Deena Aranoff, GTU

Jerome Baggett, JST-SCU

Kathryn Barush, GTU/JST-SCU

Judith Berling, GTU (emerita)

Aaron Brody, PSR

Peter Choi, CFJ

Jeremiah Coogan, JST-SCU

Diandra Erickson, 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

Gina Hens-Piazza, JST-SCU

Arthur Holder, GTU (emeritus)

Ahmed Khater

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

Leocadie Lushombo

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)

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 Strategy, Advancement and Outreach 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.