Unification Theological Seminary Launches ‘Applied Unificationism’ Blog

On April 30, 2013 the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) launched “Applied Unificationism” (AU), a blog intended to explore “the application of Unificationism to the wider world.” The blog encourages original contributions from Unificationists and interested others. Readers can access it at appliedunificationism.com.

Applied Unificationism is the brainchild of John Redmond, UTS CFO, who helped launch it and continues to help at the Seminary’s undergraduate program, Barrytown College. In AU’s inaugural post, “The Era of Applied Unificationism,” he wrote, “many” first generation Unificationists “hoped that their children would grow up to be super theologians,” but his experience was that “the second generation … have a normal distribution of interests” and “are well equipped to engage society across multiple fields of expertise and to embed unification values in many fields.” He anticipates that the Unification movement will shift from the theoretical to the practical “over the next 40 years as the second-generation intellectuals come of age and begin to exert their diverse passions.”

UTS President Richard Panzer said that the Seminary is “happy to provide a home for the Applied Unificationism blog.” He noted, “There are many talented and thoughtful Unificationists around the country who have developed expertise in a wide variety of fields. We hope that this blog can become a resource for positive development within the Unification Movement and beyond."

Since its launch, AU has posted 10 original contributions in the broad-topic areas of culture and the arts, education, foreign policy, religion and spirituality, Unificationism, and women’s issues. The site has generated more than 2,500 hits in just two weeks.

AU seeks quality commentary or op-ed pieces, written in a lively manner, on a wide range of subjects relevant to Unificationism, in which the writers exhibit a strong degree of familiarity with the content. Each commentary should have a strong lede (opening paragraph) as to what the author will talk about and indicating where the author is headed in the conclusion. A submission ideally should have the following elements: 1) contain a clear point of view; 2) provide a prescription for how a problem affecting society can be solved or improved; and, 3) explain how the author’s recommendation is an application of Unificationism.

Contributions should be a minimum of 800 words and a maximum of 1,500 words in English in a Microsoft Word document (please no footnotes, but embedded hyperlinks welcome). All submissions are subject to editing for accuracy, clarity and brevity, and the AU editorial staff will indicate recommended changes in advance for the author’s approval. Submission of a headshot as a .JPG or .PNG file is necessary as well, to accompany the piece.

Where appropriate, the prospective articles may also include photos, charts and graphics, editorial cartoons and drawings, audio and video files (or links to them). The site will embrace all media relevant to the theme of Applied Unificationism.

To submit a blog article, e-mail the managing editor, Dr. Mark P. Barry at m.barry@uts.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .