Multiplicity as Way of Life and Way of Life

Rev. Dr. Cynthia Linder comes from a Midwestern family with a crazy-quilted immigrant background (her grandfather was a Palestinian immigrant; her grandmother was from Italy.) Despite the homogeneity of her 1950s small town, she was deeply shaped by her grandparents’ diverse cultures—their plural languages, Mediterranean music and foods, and their spiritual and religious sensibilities. This textured upbringing funded her abiding delight in ambiguity and multiplicity: she studied theology and psychology; attended a college of the church (St. Olaf College) and a “secular” research university (the University of Chicago); was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and trained as a psychotherapist; and was a pastor in small town Oregon for 16 years while serving as a hospice chaplain and a pastoral psychotherapist. She returned to the Divinity School at Chicago in 2002 to direct its ministry program, which opened its doors to students from a wide variety of faith traditions a few years later. She currently teaches worship practices, spiritual care and counseling, and community leadership to students who come from many different Christian denominations, as well as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucian traditions. Linder’s research is fueled by her long-standing interest in the complicated ways that human beings “tell themselves” how our various communities shape us through story and embodied practices, and how, in our current climate or rapid change, these communities can learn to honor and embrace difference.To learn more about Holden Village, visit: www.holdenvillage.org or to listen to more audio recordings visit: http://audio.holdenvillage.org