PSR’s DMin is an advanced professional degree for experienced, spiritually rooted leaders and practitioners.
Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
The Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree at Pacific School of Religion is a 30-unit advanced professional degree created for experienced leaders interested in the intersections of religion and progressive social change. Designed as a distance learning program, the DMin permits professionals to live and work anywhere while they study.
The Doctor of Ministry is earned by completing 30 course credits and successfully defending the final project. The 30 credits are earned though twelve credits in cohort pedagogy courses, twelve credits of research electives, and six credits of final project work. Students can finish within two years full-time or up to six years part-time.
The program offers an enriched cohort learning environment, where every student journeys with a mentoring community comprised of their advisor, faculty, and cohort colleagues. This cohort model provides a structure where students can be in partnership with others in different contexts, hone their critical and creative skills, sharpen their communication and research skills and support each other academically and spiritually.
For the final project, students have the choice of writing a dissertation, completing a film, or producing a capstone portfolio as their final project. Final project areas include but are not limited to: LGBTQ+ activism, prison chaplaincy, modern ministry practice and outreach, and areas where faith meets the public square.
Designed for
Experienced church or spiritually rooted cultural leaders looking to make a real-world impact along with a cohort of peers and faculty mentors from diverse backgrounds.
Learning Outcomes & Mission Goals
| 1 | Demonstrate critical, creative, and constructive engagement with practical disciplines, texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures | |
| 2 | Apply contextually based approaches to social issues and the development of self-reflective leadership skills that are effective in the student’s particular spiritual leadership context. The student can present some evidence of social change in that context as a result of the project | |
| 3 | Demonstrate partnership with people in other professional leadership settings, such as: the knowledge of theological thinkers and schools of thought from contexts other than their own; work done ecumenically, in an inter-faith relationship; work across lines of culture; and/or work in partnership with community organizations to address systemic oppression and work for the common good | |
| 4 | Communicate a sense of direction for a professional leadership setting, using appropriate media | |
| 5 | Produce and communicate new knowledge about a selected issue and discipline in the context of praxis | |
| 6 | Give evidence of a self-reflective and engaged spirituality that can critically engage social location and personal experience. These outcomes are demonstrated through clearly articulated projects that locates the student in their own social context and supplies concrete expressions of their spirituality foundations and leadership applications | |
| 7 | Integrate new understanding and competencies into a spiritually coherent analysis of a specific praxis issue as evinced in well-formulated descriptions of new advances achieved and the actions required to manifest them in practice |
Sample Course Progression
The following curriculum route is an example of the DMin course of study with a Fall semester entry date for the January cohort. Students can also enter in Intersession or Spring semesters but the course progression would be slightly different. Contact the admissions team with any questions: admissions@psr.edu.
| Year | Semester | Course |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fall 1 | Cohort Conversations (1 unit) |
| Research Methodologies Seminar (3 units) | ||
| Spring 1 | Cohort Conversations (1 unit) | |
| DMin Seminar (3 units) | ||
| Research Elective 1 (3 units) | ||
| 2 | Fall 2 | Cohort Conversations (1 unit) |
| Research Elective 2 (3 units) | ||
| Intersession 2 | DMin Continuing Seminar (1.5 units) | |
| Spring 2 | Research Elective 3 (3 units) | |
| Research Elective 4 (3 units) | ||
| 3 | Fall 3 | Final Project 1 (3 units) |
| Intersession 3 | DMin Continuing Seminar (1.5 units) | |
| Spring 3 | Final Project 2 (3 units) |
Professional Opportunities
The DMin prepares students for advanced leadership within their professional context, to launch new ventures, and to have a measurable impact on issues they care about.
Admission Requirements
- Complete an application for Admission – for directions refer to our ‘How to Apply’ page
- Submit transcripts from an accredited Masters of Divinity degree with a 3.0 GPA
- Provide three references (academic, professional and spiritual)
- Show record of significant ministry experience (CV/resume & admissions interview)
Students without an accredited Master of Divinity degree may be admitted provided they are able to demonstrate the following:
- The ability to thoughtfully interpret scripture and the theological tradition of one’s ministry context
- The capacity to understand and adapt one’s ministry to the cultural context
- A basic self-understanding of one’s ministerial identity and vocational calling
- A readiness to engage in ongoing personal and spiritual formation for one’s ministry
- An accredited master’s degree (or its educational equivalent) in an area related to one’s ministry setting or vocational calling
- Significant ministerial experience that enables the applicant to engage as a ministry peer with other students in this advanced professional doctorate
The requirements above are evaluated through our online application, personal statement, and interview with the director of the DMin program. Supplemental materials may be requested as needed.
For further program details, refer to the Academic Catalog.
DMin Dissertations
2024
Vincent Arishvara, “Living Christian Spirituality by Means of Making Art: Inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh’s Life and Art”
Rona Matlow, “Saving Trans Lives: A Holy Obligation”
Geoffrey Smartt, “Trails of Trauma: A Gospel Response to Prison Ministry and the Challenge of Recidivism”
Elizabeth English, “All in the Family: Evolving Diversity of Catholic Denominations”
Erin Edwards, “Marginal Voices, Redemptive Practices: Reimagining the Church”
Andrew Finch, “Do Black Lives Really Matter in the United Methodist Church?”
Lee King, “Blending Biblical Truths with Behavioral Health Practices”
Tera Landers, “Nature’s Rhythms Reflected in Our Spirits: A Seasonal Liturgical Cycle in Unitarian Universalism”
Robert Lee, “The Impact of Theology on Two United States Presidencies”
Sarah TevisTownes, “Disorganized Religion: Digital Ministry as Decolonial Praxis”
Miche Van Essen, “Resonant Leadership and the Case for a Hybrid MDiv/MBA”
Brian Wise, “Roots, Rock, Reggae, Zion: The Story of I, Teach, and Rastafari”
Siona Falevai, “Tonga Traditional Dancing and Music: An Addition to the Future of the Tongan Church Life”
2023
- Patrisha Gill, Wade in the Water: A Theology of Radical Resistance in the Negro Spirituals
- Arielle C. Huettner, A New Role of Spirituality and Pastoral Counseling in Youth Suicide Prevention
- Elena Larssen, The Pandemic Pivot: Lessons We Learned that Will Lead Us Forward
- Elizabeth Smith Leavitt, Worship on the Threshold: Ministry with and for Religious Nones
- Safue Logo Ulufaleilupe, The Next Generation of the Samoan Church
2022
- David Brown, Kairos and Attention Epistemology: Socioeconomics, Neuroscience, and Spirituality
- Darnell L. Ishmel, Salvo the Subterranean: Black Political Theology as Catalyst for Outreach, Missions, and Ministry to the Most Marginalized Men
- Lauren Jones Mayfield, Reclaiming Dignity, Accepting Love Finding Freedom: Highland Baptist Church (Louisville, KY) Discovering a Path Toward Reparations
- Evelyn Irene Vigil, Spiritual Care with Medical Aid in Dying: Theological, Ethical, and Pastoral Considerations
2021
- Martin Todd Allen, The Ecotheological Network
- Monica Joy Cross, Radically Inclusive Hospitality in Transitional Care Programs
- Fepuari K. Logoleo, Le Atua Tautai E Laulau Sasa’a Lona Faiva: Theology of Blessing
- Simi Eselu Lagai Mauga, Tofā Felafoa’i: Pastoral Care and Counseling in the Samoan Context
- Ebrahim Shabudin, Leading with Conviction and Virtue – Introspect The Leader Within Us
- Rev. Megan Lee Osborn Snell, Mental Health and Christianity
2020
- Ryan Campbell, Trying to Catch a Cloud and Pin It Down: Reframing Pediatric Spiritual Care Assessment in a Clinical Setting
- John Offor, Mmeko Omenala na Uka: Inculturation of Postcolonial Igbo Liturgy
2019
- Daniel Schlorff, #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and Other Consequences of Toxic Masculinity: Activating the Archetypal Powers of a Mature Masculine
- Robin Tanner, Chattel Theology: Liberating Protestant American Ecclesiology from Chattel Slavery and Free-Market Capitalism
- Bilal Ansari, Shepherding as Islamic Pastoral Theology: Case Studies in American Muslim Chaplaincy
- Robert J. McGrath, Issues of Pastoral Compensation: Doing Good While Making Do
- Don Morrow, Resurrection People in a Crucifixion Economy: Proclaiming Biblical Economic Justice in the Shadow of the Walmart Empire
- Marcia Ledford, Christian Progressive Political Theology: An Example of Acting on the Word in Immigration Reform
2018
- Julia Dowd, Gathering the Graces: Women, the Spiritual Exercises, and Jesuit Education
2017
- Makoto Kondo, The New Possibility of Mission in Japan
- Shannon Spencer, The Asheville Poverty Project
- Roger Jones, From a Culture of Conflict to a Renewal of Covenant: A History of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento
2016
- Andy Burnette, Unitarian Universalism and the Working Class: Widening the Welcome
- Fred Grewe, The Soul’s Legacy: Discerning Your Life’s Meaning and Passing It on to Your Loved Ones
- George R. Martzen, A Place for the Stranger: Worship as the Spiritual Practice of Hospitality
- Megan Rohrer, Solo Gratia: An Analysis of the Faith and Faith Experience of Central City Pastors and LGBTQ+ Homeless and Hungry Individuals Living in San Francisco
- Roland Stringfellow, Liberating Religious Liberty