In the Eye of the Hurricane: Explore the Latest Issue of the InSights Journal

What does it mean to flourish in hard seasons?  

That question sits at the heart of the most recent issue of the InSights Journal for Global Theological Education. Juliany González Nieves opens with a striking image borrowed from Puerto Rican poet Mayra Santos-Febres, whose collection Huracanada was written in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The poet’s words, “Together, all of us, can lift up what has fallen, birth ourselves a new Island,” provide a powerful frame for the articles that follow.

That’s because the hurricanes González Nieves has in mind are not only meteorological. They are the man-made storms that batter nations, institutions, communities, and individuals: the war grinding through Ukraine, the ongoing crisis in Gaza, the systemic forces that keep women at the margins of theological education. The articles in this issue take those storms seriously — and then ask what it looks like for the Church and its leaders to midwife life in the middle of them.

Two book reviews bring readers face to face with theological communities forged in conflict. Daniel Muvengi reviews Serving God Under Siege: How War Transformed a Ukrainian Community by Valentyn Syniy, and Judy Wanjiru Wang’ombe reviews The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology Amid Gaza, edited by John S. and Samuel S. Munayer. Together, these books raise urgent questions about theological leadership under pressure, and together the reviews make a compelling case that theology is never done in the abstract.

Three articles examine what it takes to build and sustain theological schools that can actually serve the Church for the long haul. Casthelia Kartika offers a rich case study of Amanat Agung Theological Seminary in Indonesia, tracing how a coaching process helped the school move from reactive, activity-driven management to something more grounded: discernment-based leadership aligned with vocation. Her argument, that sustainability in theological education is fundamentally a theological problem, not just a managerial one, is worth sitting with. Evan Hunter turns attention to faculty, making the case that investing in a unified, developed faculty body is not a luxury but the most important thing a school can do. And Lisa Lamb takes on one of the more persistent institutional storms: the barriers that prevent women from preaching in majority-world seminaries, and the cost those barriers exact on entire faith communities.

This issue also features a roundtable from the Scholar Leaders Women’s Peer Leader Forum. Leaders from Indonesia, Kenya, the Middle East, Korea, and Latin America reflect together on what spirituality means in their particular contexts. Casthelia describes Indonesian spirituality as “a journey of being with God for the sake of others.” Judy writes that “African women’s spirituality defies compartmentalization — wherever we go, our spirituality goes.” Grace Al-Zoughbi highlights hospitality as a “vital dimension of Middle Eastern spirituality.” 

Finally, the new ISJ includes an important conversation with Jocabed Solano — theologian and advocate for Indigenous communities in Abya Yala (Latin America) — pushes readers to reconsider how Christian theology is understood and practiced beyond Western frameworks. It is a challenge and an invitation in equal measure.

Whether you work in theological education, lead a faith institution, or simply care about how the global Church navigates a turbulent world, this issue has something for you. Read it at insightsjournal.org and bring your theological questions with you.