Seminary Education in a Time of Change PDF Download

Author: John Tracy Ellis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Catholic theological seminaries
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Author: Virginia S. Cetuk
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426719078
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
In What to Expect in Seminary, Virginia Samuel Cetuk looks at the various facets of theological education -- the call to ministry, classroom learning, community life, field education, financial realities, time-management challenges -- through the lens of spiritual formation. In each chapter she challenges readers to view the particular topic as an avenue to spiritual growth instead of as an obstacle to the same. Offering readers the conceptual tool of reframing, she draws upon psychology, Scripture, and her many years' experiences in theological education to help readers see both the challenges and the rich opportunities of theological education related to ministry and spiritual formation.

Author: Dr. Justo L. Gonzalez
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426787782
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
Theological education has always been vital to the Church’s life and mission; yet today it is in crisis, lacking focus, direction, but also resources and even students. In the early Church, there is no doubt that to lead worship one had to be able to read and interpret the Bible. In order to lead, it was necessary to know at least something about the history of Israel and the work of God in the Gospels, and interpret that history, making it relevant to daily living. Quickly the Church developed schools for its teachers, whether lay or clergy. A catechetical system was organized through which candidates prepared for baptism were given a basic form of theological education. Hence to be a Christian meant persons knew what and why they believed. But over the years, theological education has come to mean education for clergy and church professionals. It has drifted, seeking new moorings.

Author: David McAllister-Wilson
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1501858904
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Many churches are “mule churches”–strong for a generation but unable to reproduce themselves. As a mule comes from a horse and a donkey, they were the product of demographics and cultural conditions conducive for a generation of strength but did not produce many offspring in new church starts or strong candidates for ministry. Mule churches create a generation or more of pastors, superintendents, and bishops who think they knew what made for strong church, who think their approach to ministry is the key reason for their success. And it produces churches with a nostalgia for the way things used to be. This makes it hard for churches to adapt to change. We've been declining for a long time due to changes in secular and consumer culture, demographics radically adjusting normative family structure, and a theology based in consumer marketing rather than mission-driven vitality. Now we realize that the church is free to not just make the gospel relevant to life but to make life relevant to the gospel. Conservative evangelical Christianity was able to focus on relevance prior to its ascendency on the national stage. Methodism requires a similar period of confessional self-definition. We are going through these confessions now in the debate about our stance toward homosexuality. Most students and most professors go to the seminary "to fix the church," because they realize that the future of the church and its seminaries are inseparable. Seminaries provide scholars for the church, who learn how to think, who learn how to take the long view, who shape identity, who foster a "culture of calling." A new kind of Methodist progressive evangelicalism is regenerating, which lives the great commandment (love) and the great commission (reproducing disciples) on a global scale. Before, seminaries prepared pastors to maintain healthy churches in stable neighborhoods. Now, every neighborhood is changing and many churches are losing their members and their confidence. They long for a recovery of their sense of mission and a new kind of leadership. A new kind of seminary is regenerating to foster hope, wisdom, creativity, and engagement with the great issues of our day.

Author: Daniel O. Aleshire
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467461067
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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What should theological education become? Theological education has long been successful in the United States because of its ability to engage with contemporary cultural realities. Likewise, despite the existential threats facing it today, theological education can continue to thrive if it is once again reinvented to fit with the needs of current times. Daniel Aleshire, the longtime executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, offers a brief account of how theological education has changed in the past and how it might change going forward. He begins by reflecting on his own extensive experience with theological education and then turns to reviewing its history, dating back to the seventeenth century. Amid this historical survey, he uncovers an older model of the field that he believes must become dominant once again—what he calls formational theological education—and explores educational practices that this model would require. The future of theological education described here by Aleshire would return seminaries to their original role as places where a “deep, abiding, resilient, generative identity as Christian human beings” is fostered within emerging Christian leaders. This, he argues, more than professional preparation, is what theological education must be most essentially about.

Author: Daniel O. Aleshire
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802863612
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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"In Earthen Vessels, Daniel Aleshire, executive director of the Association for Theological Schools, makes the case for the future of theological education in a personal and conversational essay. Rather than using a historical or analytic approach, Aleshire uses what he terms appreciative inquiry to identify the strengths of theological education and how they can support future work in the field. By describing this work and its far-reaching benefits, he aims to inform school board members, donors, administrators, and faculty who may be seeking to understand the bigger picture of their institutions. Aleshire organizes the book into three parts. The first makes the case for theological schools by describing the work they were intended to do and the contributions they make. The second focuses on the nature of their work - teaching, learning, and research. Finally the third describes the partners who make this work possible. Aleshire notes that much of the future of these schools will be framed by changes in these partners - administration, the church, and the higher education community - and the ways that schools change in response"--Amazon.com.

Author: Jessica A. Heybach
Publisher: Academy for Educational Studie
ISBN: 9781975501891
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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A 2021 SPE Outstanding Book Award Winner Making Sense of Race in Education: Practices for Change in Difficult Times takes a fresh look at the perennial issue of race in American schools. How do educators, in all settings, confront the issue of race with students and colleagues, given the contemporary backdrop of social movements for racial justice and change? How do educators affect change within their everyday classroom practices without fostering further alienation and discord? Although much has already been written about race and racism in school, this book addresses racial incidents directly and offers practical insights into how P-20 educators can transform these events alongside students and colleagues. Each chapter provides detailed analysis of curriculum, instruction, practices and pedagogical strategies for addressing race while at the same time wrestling with theoretical conceptions of race, justice, and fairness. Perfect for courses such as: Social Foundations of Education - Sociology of Education - Higher Education - Multicultural Education - Cultural Studies in Education - Schools and Society

Author: David Mathis
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433540339
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Seminary is dangerous. Really dangerous. The hard truth is that many seminarians enter pastoral ministry feeling drained, disillusioned, and dissatisfied. But the problem isn't with the faculty or the material. Rather, the most perilous danger to the soul of the pastor-in-training is the sin residing deep within his own heart. Drawing on their years of pastoral ministry and seminary experience, David Mathis and Jonathan Parnell take a refreshingly honest look at this oft-neglected—yet all too common—experience, offering real-world advice for students eager to survive seminary with their faith intact. In seven short but challenging chapters, the authors remind readers of the foundational role of the gospel in the life of ministry, equipping them with the keys to grow in their faith while making the most of their education.

Author: Katarina Schuth
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814648274
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The past thirty years have witnessed tremendous societal and ecclesial changes that continue to inform ministry education in the 21st century. In Seminary Formation, Katarina Schuth, OSF, examines the many aspects of theologate-level schools including their structures and missions, organization and leadership, student enrollment, backgrounds of both seminarians and lay students, and the evolution and development of degree programs, including human and spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. Seminary Formation also helpfully includes substantial commentaries on Schuth’s research by Ronald Rolheiser, Thomas Walters, Leon M. Hutton, Barbara Reid, and Peter Vaccari. An exploration of the changes in seminaries and schools of theology, with statistical analysis, from 1985 to the present, Seminary Formation anticipates the challenges ahead and considers new directions for the future.

Author: Thomas C. Hunt
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351128205
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Published in 1989, this bibliography considers religious seminaries that are affiliated with the various denominations of the theological institutions established in the United States by the Protestants in the early 1800s, it also considers non-denominational and independent settings. Divided into two sections, the first short section considers the relationship between the civil governments and the seminaries, the second, organized by denomination into 15 chapters provides an extensive bibliography with annotations. The work pulls together a wealth of reference material and identifies salient works, whether book, article, dissertation or essay, to provide a much-needed resource for those interested in seminary education in the United States, whether scholar, student, policy maker, or interested citizen.