Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

A lecture and Q&A at a seminary counseling program, given by a Hagar Sisters volunteer and its executive director, on how churches and counselors should respond to domestic violence. It argues that abuse is about power and control, that churches often harm survivors by misusing Scripture on submission and headship, and that couples counseling is unsafe where abuse exists. It urges empowerment rather than pressure, training for pastors and leaders, and a reading of Genesis 3:16 and Ephesians 5 that rejects domination and affirms mutual submission and dignity.

A pastor's lecture at a seminary forum argues that Christians in a polarized political moment must locate the Jesus of the Bible rather than an edited Jesus shaped by conservative or progressive worldviews. Surveying Jesus's own political world, he argues that Jesus refused political kingship, showed no partiality to his nation, and disrupted every political strategy of the day, and that his disciples slowly overcame nationalism and zealotry. He offers "check engine lights" for detecting partisan distortion, and in Q&A discusses moderation, pastoral prudence, anxiety and fear in politics, and discipleship in war zones.