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Cherry Hill Seminary Awards Master of Divinity Degree to Cynthia Cebuhar

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COLUMBIA, SC — Cherry Hill Seminary today announced the graduation of Cynthia D. Cebuhar, awarding her the Master of Divinity in Ministry, Advocacy & Leadership.  Cebuhar is the seventh student to complete her master’s degree at Cherry Hill Seminary.

During the March 4 virtual ceremony, Academic Dean Margo Wolfe explained the importance of Cebuhar’s accomplishment, saying, “Cherry Hill Seminary is honored to confer this Master of Divinity degree to Cynthia. As the only provider of Pagan and Nature-based master programs, we see the need now more than ever in our growing international Pagan population.” In her opening remarks Seminary director Holli Emore said, “Cynthia embodies the very mission of Cherry Hill Seminary, to empower and lead others as they seek their own spiritual meaning.”

“We are proud of the accomplishments Cynthia Cebuhar has made as she studied toward her Master of Divinity degree,” Seminary board chair Jeffrey Keefer shared, “And we are even more thrilled knowing the potential she has for taking her success and using it to help transform the world. Cynthia is an example of one who comes for their studies while leaving a new person with the knowledge, passion, and commitment to make the world a more inclusive, healthier, and inspired place.”

The Master of Divinity degree is a terminal degree, requiring significantly more credit hours and practical experience than a master’s degree. Cherry Hill Seminary is the leading provider of education and practical training in leadership, ministry, and personal growth in Pagan and Nature-Based spiritualities, empowering spiritual leadership, scholarship, and ethics through theological and pastoral education to nurture interfaith engagement in a diverse society. For more information, visit www.cherryhillseminary.org or contact us here.

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2022 Professor of the Year

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Rev. Amy Beltaine, M.Div., Dept. of Ministry, Advocacy & Leadership

Columbia, S.C. — During a special virtual ceremony on Saturday, February 20, the Votaries Alumni Circle of Cherry Hill Seminary announced the winner of this year’s Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award. The recipient is Rev. Amy Beltaine.

Beltaine is an active Unitarian Universalist minister and spiritual director/companion, in addition to her role as professor at Cherry Hill Seminary. She created the Spiritual Direction Certificate program (also called SpiDir), a two-year professional certification program, which is nearly one year along for its first cohort. Beltaine also brought together students and others to create the weekly online gathering and ritual space called A Spiritual Feast (was A Spiritual Potluck), which is open to anyone and may be found on the Seminary Facebook page.

“Amy has helped guide us through the experience of spiritual direction, granting both challenge and reflection, and at the same time, she has offered us unending patience and grace. She herself has grown as we walk this first cohort together. If something wasn’t working, she has adjusted. She has taken our feedback, our struggles, our failures, and turned them into places of growth, opportunity, and change. Her favorite quote is ‘Fail forward, not backwards’ and it has been a part of the backbone of the first cohort of students. She encourages each of us as we learn, grow, explore, and takes the program she created, and shifts it to meet the needs of her students. She does this while still placing a foundation of ethics, morals, and tools in all the students so we may tend to the spiritual needs of our seekers, particularly those of the unique and under-represented pagan! She is a pillar in the Cherry Hill Seminary community.”

 – Shannon McLean, CMC

About the Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award

Sponsored by the CHS Votaries Alumni Circle, this prestigious award is presented annually to one deserving faculty member who has demonstrated teaching excellence in the classroom and a commitment to spiritual growth for students. Nominations are accepted throughout the calendar year until Thanksgiving weekend, and the award is announced and presented at a special online event early in the new year following.

Honoring Academic Dean Emerita Wendy Griffin

As Cherry Hill Seminary’s first permanent Academic Dean, Wendy Griffin, Ph.D., and Academic Dean Emerita, brought to our seminary a dedication to academic integrity and a devotion to Pagan and Nature Spirituality. She was an academic pioneer in the study of Goddess Spirituality and Wicca, and served in the American Academy of Religion and on the editorial board of The Pomegranate: the International Journal of Pagan Studies. By the time she retired in 2018, Griffin had inspired students and colleagues alike with her intellect, skills and engagement.

Cherry Hill Seminary Receives Major Gift

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Michael York, PhD, Professor Emeritus

Columbia, S.C. — Cherry Hill Seminary announces that it has received a major gift to from a longtime friend, donor, and emeritus faculty member.

Dr. Michael York, familiar to many in our Seminary family as well as the international Pagan studies community,  made his contribution at the very end of 2022. He said this about his decision:

“The rebirth of paganism in the contemporary West–especially as earth-centric spirituality–is unquestionably vitally important for the ecological future of our host planet and also for a wider appreciation of our human species’ place in nature and our responsibility for the restoration and maintenance of environmental sanity. Consequently, I fully believe in the momentousness of Cherry Hill Seminary for both the promotion of pagan ministry and as a teaching institution to expand religious understanding for people in general. My wish is that CHS will gain accreditation, and to this hopeful end I have made my gift.”

Chair of the Board of Directors, Dr. Jeffrey Keefer, noted the significance of York’s gift as an incentive to increased philanthropy by Pagans. “Many of us have come to see Cherry Hill Seminary as an essential factor in the blossoming of our spirituality. Dr. York has a special understanding of our role, having founded the first Pagan studies program in the world (Bath Spa University), and having mentored and supported so many of our students over the years. We are proud to accept his gift as affirmation of our mission,” said Dr. Keefer.

Cherry Hill Seminary is the leading provider of education and practical training in leadership, ministry, and personal growth in Pagan and Nature-Based spiritualities for more than fifteen years. For more information contact us here.