"The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched in Love
Must sound.”—Mechthild of Magdeburg
At San Francisco Theological Seminary, we are rooted in the Christian tradition but celebrate the depth and beauty of the human spirit in its many cultural and religious expressions. We understand spiritual direction as a way to participate in the mending of hearts and society. Our spirituality programs rest on the belief that we are called to awaken our hearts to others through practice, study, and community.
These sessions are designed for both diploma and certificate programs. All classes are Credit/No Credit. Diploma students acquire 1.5 academic credits per course. Certificate acquire 0 credit. Learn more about the requirements for and differences between the Diploma and Certificate.
We encourage students to come to our serene campus for at least two classes during their program. Students are able to have a more retreat-like experience and learn from face-to-face relationships in small groups, meals, and worship. If you are interested in enjoying the benefits of in-person training, please make lodging reservations here. Please also advise us of your decision at wendy_farley@redlands.edu.
If it is not possible to come to San Anselmo, a fully online option is available.
Upon acceptance into the program, students will be sent reading material for orientation and for their classes, a more detailed outline of the schedule, and information how to register for classes.
Students will participate in online orientation to spiritual practice as the foundation of spiritual direction, as well as the richness of multi-cultural dimensions in spiritual direction. Led by Dr. Wendy Farley, Director of the Programs in the Art of Spiritual Direction and Rice Chair of Christian Spirituality.
Contemplative Listening is a meditative discipline that connects our listening to one another in our ability to listen to the divine. This kind of sacred listening begins by attention to your own heart and then deepen your listening to the heart of another. We will practice listening by working in groups, dyads, and triads. This session is offered as the pre-requisite for further work in our programs in the Art of Spiritual Direction.
This session is the continuation of the Contemplative Listening course and is required of new Certificate and Diploma students. It provides basic theory and practice for the work of spiritual direction. In addition to daily supervised practice sessions each afternoon, there will be a panel on multi-cultural and multi-racial issues in spiritual direction. Participation in this session is a prerequisite before spiritual direction students can begin to practice spiritual direction.
Returning students will receive information about registration and material to prepare for their classes in September. Please reserve October 12 and 19 4-5:30 PT for orientation to the January intensives.
In this course we focus on studying the theory and practice of discernment. Students will be able to deepen the practice of discernment in their own lives and also use these practices in their work with directees. This class is designed for second and third year Diploma and Certificate students.
Spiritual Practices for Spiritual Direction
January 17-21, 2023
Dr. Wendy Farley
LEADER BIOS
Rev. Adesanya is the University Chaplain, Director of Spiritual and Religious Life at Willamette University, Oregon. She has served as a spiritual teacher, deeply committed to ecumenically nurturing spiritual and religious growth and supporting broad multifaith engagement and community. She is currently serving as the Board President and chief executive officer at the Chaplaincy Institute, an Interfaith Seminary and Community in Berkeley, California, and as an associate minister at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland.
Adesanya earned a Master of Divinity from SFTS, and has been involved for many years in both the CPE program and the DASD programs at SFTS. She is currently completing her PhD in historical and cultural studies of religion, spirituality and history at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley where she also completed her MA in religion and psychology. Her dissertation is focused on a womanist approach to Christian spirituality. She also earned her BA in architecture, city and regional planning from UC Berkeley.
A leading theologian, Wendy Farley has written extensively on women theologians and mystics, religious dialogue, classical texts, contemporary ethical issues, and contemplative practices.
Professor Farley received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1988. Her teaching and research interests include women theologians, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, spirituality and social justice, classical texts, and contemplative practices. Her first book, Tragic Vision and Divine Compassion: A Contemporary Theodicy (Westminster John Knox, 1990) considers the problem of evil by focusing on suffering rather than sin and abandons the forensic model of God in favor of one emphasizing compassion as a dominant metaphor for the divine. A second work, Eros for the Other: Retaining Truth in a Pluralistic World (Penn State: 1996), also takes up the relationships between ethical and philosophical issues in religion. In 2005, she published The Wounding and Healing of Desire: Weaving Heaven and Earth (Westminster John Knox), which combines attention to contemplative practices, folk traditions, and inter-religious dialogue to reflect on suffering and transformation. Gathering Those Driven Away: a Theology of Incarnation (Westminster John Knox, 2011), reflects on the meaning of Christian faith and tradition for women, queers, and others that the church has had difficulty recognizing as part of the body of Christ. She also recently edited (with Emily Holmes) a collection of essays called Women, Writing, Theology: Transforming a Tradition of Exclusion.
Her latest book, “The Thirst of God: Contemplating God’s Love with Three Women Mystics” (Westminster John Knox, 2015), explores the spirituality of medieval mystics Marguerite Porete, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Julian of Norwich. In Farley’s words, “These women have important things to tell us about our faith, the same as contemporary contemplatives, with the emphasis on divine love.”
I facilitate wholeness for people committed to coming fully alive, especially youngish adults, seminarians, the LGBTQ community, and spiritual seekers, whether or not they affiliate with any faith.
My path started at a conservative church in which I was ordained as a minister. When my views expanded beyond the theology I had been taught, I returned to school and graduated with an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology. I became an educator and spiritual director at an interfaith spirituality center that is part of a healthcare network. Since moving to California, I have completed certificate programs in interfaith spiritual direction, supervision of spiritual directors, and hypnotherapy and have transferred my ordination to an interfaith community, The Chaplaincy Institute. I also serve as Executive Director of the Marin Interfaith Council, a local nonprofit that celebrates faith, advocates justice and builds community.
I am particularly interested in how we can become more whole, happy, and aware in a way that enhances our relationships, communities, and the planet. Of course, this is the work of a lifetime. No one can do this work perfectly or alone, nor can anyone hope to remain authentic during the process without a sense of humor and humility. My hope is that through this online community we will make some progress as we reflect, connect, laugh, heal, and create together. I invite you to explore the topics listed in the right-hand navigation and add your comments, questions, and creative responses to any posting.
My intention is that we engage each other with an open mind, an open heart, and a willing spirit to be awakened and liberated, so that, more fully alive, we become what the world needs. We become what we've been waiting for.
Daeseop Daniel Yi, faculty advisor for Korean students at San Francisco Theological Seminary, is dedicated to understanding how humans can be their authentic selves and live their lives fully through various contemplative practices. This wholistic transformation and growth is interconnected with communal and social change. His main desire is to help people who are hungry for spirituality to find themselves and their vocations through spiritual direction (individual and group), supervision, various spiritual classes, and retreats.
Yi earned a Ph.D. in Christian Spirituality at Graduate Theological Union. He has been on the staff of SFTS’s Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction program since 2008. He has also worked for many years as a pastor and chief of staff at a local church and in a campus ministry for young adults. His pursuit to integrate the discipline of psychology and other traditions (Buddhist mindfulness and body movement) with Christianity has helped others to be whole and to live their lives in an integral way.
Aside from giving spiritual direction and supervising spiritual directors, Yi has been teaching classes in lectio divina, centering prayer, spiritually informed pastoral care, spiritual formation, clearness committee, discernment and prayer, Spiritual Exercises, and other subjects at SFTS, Oikos University, New College Berkeley, and Journey Groups. He is interested in living ‘in between’ so that he can be a bridge between America and Korea and be creative in both cultures.
