Prepares students for ordained or lay ministry, related vocations, and further academic study
Master of Divinity (MDiv)
At PSR, we understand the call to serve the people of God in diverse and unique ways and the divergent paths that have led you to answer such a call. You may be a progressive evangelical looking for an academic home to pursue your MDiv; or someone with no current religious affiliation, but a great passion to serve others. Perhaps you’re an LGBTQ+ Christian wanting to understand the inherent pluralism of Christianity that makes room for you. Or, you desire to understand how the context of American Christianity impacts your personal identity. PSR’s innovative and creative path—the stackable MDiv—provides spiritual formation and answers for church leaders, as well as leaders in spiritually grounded non-profit organizations.
The MDiv at PSR has three stacks, organized in ascending steps toward the MDiv degree. Students receive a credential at the end of each academic year, ensuring that each year of study leads to a tangible outcome:
- At the end of your first year of study in the program, you will be awarded a Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change (CSSC). The focus of the CSSC provides a cohort experience through foundational and required courses, while emphasizing ongoing personal change and social transformation.
- At the end of the second year, you will complete the Master of Arts in Social Transformation (MAST) which takes seriously the contexts of religious, theological, spiritual and intellectual diversity. These courses are oriented towards theological and practical formation, equipping students to think critically about socio-political dynamics to reflect constructively on the role played by religion and theological traditions in movements for social change.
- In the third year, you will complete the final requirements for a MDiv with the possibility of concentrating in chaplaincy or congregational ministry.
We encourage students to pursue an understanding of their own faith tradition in light of global, ecumenical, and interdisciplinary concerns, institutions, and movements represented at PSR and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU). Students who complete the PSR MDiv achieve the following program learning outcomes. They will be able to:
- Articulate an understanding of texts and traditions, apply them to particular situations, and critically engage with those texts and traditions:
- Theologically ground ministerial and vocational arts, including preaching, worship leadership, pastoral care, and community organizing.
- Communicate the theological and/or philosophical and/or aesthetic traditions of one’s own religious community or communities.
- Engage in creating new theological discourses.
- Articulate the relationship of a theological and/or religious text to its context of origin and use and understand a spectrum of approaches for interpreting sacred texts today.
- Recognize all knowledge as contextual:
- Articulate the importance and significance of the various factors that shape one’s own context.
- Demonstrate an awareness of another’s context, especially across differences with respect to race, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, class, culture, nationality, and religious affiliation, etc.
- Imagine how to translate across and among various contexts.
- Avoid inappropriate boundary crossing and misappropriation.
- Articulate the connection between spiritual practice(s) and the development of a leadership style:
- Demonstrate personal integrity and character based on spiritual values.
- Practice a spirituality that engages the wider society.
- Develop a spiritual rootedness to sustain world-changing work.
- Effectively link spirituality and leadership in a community of accountability.
- Engage life and work with cultural humility and respect for cross cultural differences.
- Form effective partnerships with various organizations and individuals:
- Work effectively with people of different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences.
- Incorporate insights from non-academic contexts.
- Integrate the various intellectual disciplines, fields, topics, and themes of theological education in the practices of ministry and public leadership in a variety of contexts:
- Articulate a theologically grounded position on social justice issues.
- Organize community efforts toward achieving social change.
- Develop a definition of social transformation in critical, constructive, theological, and historical modes.
For further program details, refer to the academic catalog
