Master of Divinity in Congregational Ministry with Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change (CSSC)

This course offers an opportunity to deepen spiritual life in personal, interpersonal, communal, and cosmic dimensions. It will focus on engaging contemplative practices from across the inter-spiritual tradition as well as study the teachings of mystics, privileging those who lived engaged in the pursuit of collective justice. Participants will have a chance to explore the nature of spiritual formation while discerning which practices, resources, and attitudes are appropriate for sustaining vitality, rootedness, and creativity in their personal life, faith, leadership, academic, and social justice work.

One of the foundational education commitments that undergirds this course is the assertion that all knowledge is contextual. In the various settings of ministry and social transformation, context plays an important role in shaping our work, our approaches to that work, our understandings of our own role in that work, and the meaning we make of it. At its core, this course seeks to ground our theological explorations in a deeper understanding of our own social contexts, as we develop facility in translating from one context to another and engaging across difference. Focusing in particular on the case of race, this course is designed as a path for exploring and understanding the ways that race in all of its intersections operates as a social fiction and lived experience in ourselves and in the communities we serve. Making use of historical, theoretical and theological lenses, we will engage in selfexploration, deep formation, readings, dialogue, and experiences with artists and activists as we build our capacity to address issues of prejudice, power, and privilege while cultivating cultural humility and cross-cultural competency.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to different methods used to interpret texts. Students will learn and develop skills of closely reading texts, analyzing historical and contemporary contexts, and thinking critically through issues. This class will introduce students a wide range of sacred and secular texts. Students will learn to apply rhetorical strategies to construct interpretations that promote inclusivity, social consciousness, social justice, and speak to the current social and political contexts. This is an introductory level course and requires no prerequisite.

This course introduces students to theories of ethical discernment, behavior, and formation in Christian traditions. The course prioritizes ecological wellbeing as an ethical demand of Christian living and will use case studies about human relationships with our other-than-human kindred to practice the ethical theories studied.

We live in a world of day-to-day experience that is largely of our own making; technologies, buildings, products, institutions, services, brands, and experiences all clamor for our attention. Every one of them has been created by someone with intention, by design. The question we must ask is whether it was designed well, equitably, justly, beautifully, or not. Design thinking is a framework for skilled human-centered design practice that can be applied to any kind of artifact, including organizations, ventures, services, and products intended to drive positive social change. You will be introduced to design thinking, its origins and theoretical underpinnings, and the specific discipline known as design for social impact. You will learn by collaborating on a creative challenge drawn from your own experience. You will learn to see the world through a design lens and begin to explore a theological understanding of creative praxis as integral to spiritual formation. [Auditors excluded]

Transformational leadership entails a dynamic relationship between the leader and the community of which the leader is a part. It entails developing strategies that enhance the probability of achieving shared goals and visions. Essential to transformational leadership is the inspiration that lifts one from commonplace existence to living beyond the norm. In the quest for a more just and compassionate world, transformational leadership challenges dominant systems and other forms of oppression. This course will explore various expressions of transformational leadership, including those resulting from prophetic imagination and social entrepreneurship. Any student enrolled in a degree and/or certificate program at the Graduate Theological is eligible to enroll in this course.

Theology concerns words, wordings, the Word, or speech about the divine. In the 11th century, Anselm of Canterbury defined theology as “faith seeking understanding.” This course invites a continuation of that perennial human quest, and especially in Christian faith traditions. We will explore and learn from both the wisdom and shortcomings of those who have preceded us in trying to give meaningful and responsible expression to theological topics. We will likewise engage in contemporary forms of that same quest as we attend carefully to the contribution theological ideas can make to social change and transformation. (Lectures, small groups, short papers, and a “credo project.”)

The third and last in a series, this course is designed to teach the art and skill of empathy, especially in the context of those on the margins. As an intensive, the aim will be to establish quickly a practicing community; attendance, preparation, and generous listening, and reflective sharing are crucial to this process. Empathy for others flows from vulnerability, self-awareness, and intimate familiarity with the entire spectrum of emotion; students will therefore cultivate the important habit of self-writing, or journaling, to develop these capacities. Other assignments include reading presentations, personal and group reflections, and, borrowing a term from Howard Thurman, a “centering down” opening ritual. Finally, students will have the opportunity to practice compassion for those who bring you discomfort, those “others” who inhabit our lives, via a case study.

PS1462 is a one credit hour introductory class taken in a one semester sequence with PS1461 and PS1463 which are also one credit hour classes. This course will invite students to think about the importance of communication in the varied tasks of their ministries and vocations. Heightened emphasis will be given to the art of preaching and the varied theologies and practices that arise in differing cultural contexts and communities. Discussion on preaching will focus on connecting individual situations to meta narratives, with particular attention to biblical exegesis, interpretation, sermon form, orality, the person of the preacher, and the sermon’s embodiment. Students will familiarize themselves with the theories regarding the use of narrative in spoken word.
PSR requires three hours of outside work for each hour spent in the classroom. Students will spend time outside of class watching videos, listening to podcasts, reading assigned articles and critically reflecting on them orally and in writing. Students will create a sermon in a format/mode that is best suited to communicate the student’s message and that can be used beyond the classroom in a setting of the student’s choosing—a congregation, public event, or virtual public forum.

Throughout history, humans have utilized rituals to negotiate the complexities of life transitions, to explore the deeper, spiritual aspects of living, and symbolize and story their experiences. This course explores the dynamics of what ritual is and what ritual does by engaging participants in both developing ritual design skills and in understanding the roles that ritual can play in a variety of spiritual leadership contexts. Together we will ask, how do we engage communities in activities that carry values and deep-en meaning? How do we create practices that embody beliefs and form people for particular ways of being in the world? What role do embodied spiritual practices play in people’s spiritual lives and in the work of social transformation and how do we employ them?

This course asks key questions about the work of spiritual care and caring—what is care and what does it means for leaders to care for individuals and organizations. We will explore the character of care, models of caring, and strategies and skills for offering care in particular contexts. This course presumes that effective leaders and flourishing mission-oriented organizations require tangible skills for providing care. Students will be invited to trace the unique needs embedded in particular dynamics and patterns of contemporary cultures through different contexts of care: personal, communal, systemic, and cosmic. This course is suitable for those who are preparing for congregational leadership and those in private, public, and not-for-profit service.

This course gives an overview of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, with a focus on societal and religious transformations detailed in the texts, and is designed primarily for 2nd-year students in the stackable curriculum. Social justice issues in the ancient world of the Hebrew Bible will be discussed along with their modern applications. The geographic focus of the lectures will focus on the southern Levant (Holy Land) in its Middle Eastern contexts, the temporal range will be approximately 1200-400 BCE. Themes will be stressed that echo PSR core values, with a special focus on leadership in its biblical forms, critical thinking, contexts (both ancient and modern), race/ethnicity, sexuality, and gender. Evaluation will be based on class participation in discussion and several written assignments.

This hybrid course provides an introductory overview of Christian history with a focus on the diversity of ways in which Christians have worked to effect social change for the common good in times of societal, economic, political, environmental, and religious change – from the first century of the Common Era to the present. Class format includes lectures and small-group activities and discussions based on the reading and interpretation of primary and secondary texts.

Written requirements: six essays; two take home written essays; and a Final Project designed in consultation with the Instructor. This course satisfies the basic history requirement for PSR’s degree programs. Intended primarily for MDiv and MAST students, this course is also suitable for CSSC, CSR, MTS, and DMin students.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the collection of writings that we come to call the New Testament. In this course, students will become familiar with the historical context, culture, and politics that led to the production of this text. In addition to the traditional historical critical approach to the text, students will be introduced to other methods such as feminist, queer, postmodern, and postcolonial readings that will help us deconstruct these texts and reconstruct interpretations that are socially, ethically, and politically relevant to the world we live in.

Class includes weekly synchronous sessions and 15 hours per week on-site field internship. Weekly sessions include full-group plenary sessions and small-group cohort discussion. Completion of fall (FE-1005) and spring (FE-1006) Concurrent Field Education courses in the same academic year are REQUIRED to receive a grade. Completion of both fall and spring semester meets PSR MDiv Congregational Track field education requirement.

Continuation of FE-1005, Concurrent Field Study 1. Class includes weekly synchronous sessions and 15 hours per week on-site field internship. Weekly sessions include full-group plenary sessions and small-group cohort discussion. Completion of fall (FE-1005) and spring (FE-1006) Concurrent Field Education courses in the same academic year are REQUIRED to receive a grade. Completion of both fall and spring semester meets PSR MDiv Congregational Track field education requirement.

The purpose of this hybrid—concurrent format—course is to help students explore the challenges and opportunities that may arise in teaching biblical texts in contemporary settings. In this course, students will learn and explore the creative, innovative, and important ways to teach biblical studies in their respective contexts. The exercises designed by students in this class will help foster an environment of biblical literacy and also help students to develop strategies that can help students communicate historical, cultural, and political issues of the ancient text in contemporary contexts. This course will engage disciplines from biblical studies and religious education in order to promote better teaching and understanding of biblical texts that encourage a more inclusive, ethical, and moral interpretation of texts.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Scriptures
[Faculty Consent required, Auditors with faculty permission]

This course aims to ground the practice of pastoral care in the empowerment and liberation of marginalized bodies and communities. Grounded in postcolonial, intersectional, and interreligious approaches to pastoral care, this course asks that students reflect on pastoral theology, pastoral care practices, and various case studies that center experiences of marginalization, including issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, and migration. Each week, the instructors will give a brief reflection on the required readings and group discussions on the readings will follow. Students will be evaluated through class participation, assigned projects, and a class presentation relating to the final project. The course assumes students have completed an introduction to pastoral care course and aims to deepen their imagination of pastoral care sensibilities and possibilities in a variety of contexts.

If you are seeking ordination with a denomination that requires polity, use this elective for a denominationally appropriate Polity Course; otherwise, you will take an elective in Practice of Ministry

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to preaching through various artistic mediums. Students will read and analyze selected biblical texts in their historical, social, and political contexts and use different artistic mediums to construct interpretations of these particular texts. The use of art will help students construct interpretations from different perspectives and different social locations leading to a deeper reflection and addressing ethical and moral issues relevant to our contemporary context. Various artistic forms will be engaged such as movement, drama, poetry, music, song, painting, etc. Preaching using artistic mediums achieves an analogous effect in retelling narratives and bringing to the surface the silent and invisible voices that have often been ignored in our written analysis of the texts. This course will seek to expand the genre of text to include other artistic mediums as texts that attempt to decenter the written word where the rules of interpretation are not predetermined for the audience.

For many faith communities, worship forms the heart of communal life. It is a place where participants learn the behaviors, rhythms, and patterns of discipleship that they hope to embody as faith-filled people of the world. Worship also marks times of transition in the life of individuals and communities. From birth to death, communities ritualized these liminal spaces that are rife with meaning and sacredness. In this course, we will examine the ways in which pastoral liturgies (e.g. dedications, weddings, healing rites, funerals, etc.) and sacraments both shape and are shaped by culture, history, theology, language, and practice. Students will integrate their learning by practicing leading these rituals that make up a worship-full life.

This course is a hands-on experiential learning journey designed to encourage, empower, and equip participants for congregational ministry and organizational leadership through the lens of social entrepreneurship. For congregational ministry, the course examines aspects of church administration. For organizational leadership, the course examines small non-profit management techniques. This course is intended for both emerging and established leaders and will help them to design, plan, and implement social business models as they advance their congregational and/or organizational mission and vision. The course has aspects of a startup incubator/accelerator, equipping students with the tools and frameworks to enable the adaptive strategic planning necessary for leading ventures. It follows the Design Thinking course, amplifies the social justice venture that students have talked about in that course, and brings in elements of the Field Praxis course. The final project of this course will contribute to the SAIL capstone to fulfill the requirements for the MAST degree. For United Methodist students, this course fulfills the requirements for the Evangelism course.