Teresa Blythe is a spiritual director who writes about religion and popular culture, and she will be pinch hitting for Eric Close as the presenter at the General Assembly Media Luncheon. The topic: Meeting God in Virtual Reality: Using Spiritual Practices with Media. She interviewed actor Eric Close for Presbyterians Today magazine early in 2003 (see May edition of PT). Eric Close, CBS-TV series Without a Trace, was to be the presenter for the General Assembly Media Lunch on Sunday, June 27, 2004, at the Marriott Hotel in Richmond, VA, until his schedule changed. Close, in an e-mail to Presbyterian Media Mission, says “that he looked forward to doing this but it will have to be at some later date.”

Teresa is best known for her writing and presentations on the theological analysis of television and other visual media. As a spiritual director, she promotes a spiritual awareness of the media we consume.

Teresa’s interest in the theological analysis of television emerged as a student at San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS), where she graduated with a Master of Divinity and Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction in 2000. For three years, she co-taught the ethics course that, in 1997, sparked her interest in the intersection of theology and media: “Television Through the Lens of Faith.”

Prior to and during seminary, Teresa worked as a broadcast journalist for radio stations in Baltimore, Tucson and San Francisco. She is the co-author of Meeting God in Virtual Reality: Using Spiritual Practices with Media published by Abingdon Press in April of 2004, and the Geneva Press book Watching What We Watch: Prime-Time Television Through the Lens of Faith. She has contributed writing on media to Belifnet, Spirituality and Health, Sojourners, and Presbyterians Today magazines. She also wrote the chapter “The God of Prime-Time Television” for a Peter Lang book of essays entitled Religion as Entertainment (2002) and "The Collar and the Bottle: Film Portrayals of Drinking Clergy" for Religion & Alcohol: Sobering Thoughts (Peter Lang 2004).

As a spiritual director, Teresa works with individuals and groups to assist them in discovering God’s purpose and desire in their lives. She has served as a staff spiritual director and teacher for Youth Specialties Sabbath program, the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, and SFTS's Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction program. She currently works part-time as a liturgist and retreat leader at Southside Presbyterian Church, and does spiritual direction work with St. Mark's Presbyterian Church's Youth Advisory Council. 

Teresa's media literacy work includes writing projects for the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles, leadership in the Faith Alliance for Media Literacy Education caucus of the Alliance for a Media Literate America and serving as media literacy consultant to Film Clips, a project designed to promote the use of quality film clips in the nation’s classrooms.  She served as a seminary intern with Presbyterian Media Mission.

For more information, contact Gregg Hartung at Presbyterian Media Mission (PMM), ghartung@nauticom.net.