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Theresa F. Latini

EssaysTheology

Please, Don’t Pray for Me

When my daughter was seven months, I took her to the local aquatic center. She loved the splash zone so much that she lunged for the water when I finally carried her out. We proceeded to the locker room to put on our dry clothes. I set her down on a bench and reached for her diaper bag. In that split second, she rolled over and flopped onto the hard concrete floor. I heard her skin smack and saw her…
Theresa F. Latini
October 31, 2018
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Let’s Have (a) Sex (Talk)

MARCH 2012: REVIEW by Theresa Latini Sex and the Soul: Juggling Sexuality, Spirituality, Romance, and Religion on America's College Campuses Donna Freitas Oxford University Press, 2008 (paperback 2010) $16.95 335 pages. Editors' note: This month's review is the second in a set focusing on recent books we believe are essential reading for those who work with young people. In a forthcoming issue, we will also be reviewing Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood by Christian Smith et…
Theresa F. Latini
October 30, 2014
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TV as Mediator of Community

I have relatives who have not watched television in over thirty-five years. At times, I envy them. They spend their evenings reading books that nourish their souls, while I am engrossed in the latest episode of Fringe, Mad Men, Rubicon, or one of the many Seinfeld reruns of which I never tire. At other times, especially in conversation or family games, I am aware that their avoidance of TV actually disconnects them from the rest of us. There is rarely…
Theresa F. Latini
October 1, 2010
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Earthquakes, Stormy Seas, and a Sleeping Savior

"Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One moment he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. The problems began," as Max Lucado tells the story, "when Chippie's owner decided to clean Chippie's cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. Then the phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She had barely said 'hello'…
Theresa F. Latini
April 1, 2010
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Adolescent Passion: A Connection Between Church and Culture

As I write this essay, there are only three days left until the arrival of the long-awaited Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Like Harry Potter fans worldwide, I have been anticipating the arrival of this book for the past two years. I've even pre-ordered it from amazon. com, which I admit is not as impressive as waiting in lines at local bookstores for the synchronous global release. My adolescent neighbors and friends, from ages ten to sixteen, have been…
Theresa F. Latini
August 1, 2007
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Nonviolent Communication and the Image of God

MAY 2007 Nonviolent Communication and the Image of God by Theresa F. Latini I often tell my students that their most challenging moments in pastoral ministry will not be sermon writing, funeral preparation, pastoral care crises, or evangelism. As much as these practices and events stretch our practical theological imaginations, it is the entrenched interpersonal impasses and conflicts among staff, committees, consistories, and denominational factions that lead to the greatest anxiety, frustration, disappointments, and even burn-out in ministry. After citing…
Theresa F. Latini
May 16, 2007