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Institutional Learning Outcomes

By the End of Their Studies, Students at PSR Are Able To:

  1. Demonstrate critical and creative engagement with texts, traditions, social systems and political structures;
  2. Articulate the unique contributions theological and ethical traditions and practices can make to the work of social change making and justice seeking;
  3. Demonstrate knowledge of theological thinkers and schools of thought;
  4. Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating skills and resources for communicating and bringing about transformation;
  5. Show evidence of engaged spiritualities that are rooted in and shape tradition, promote ethical leadership styles and the ability to relate interpersonally with respect and humility;
  6. Demonstrate the ability to partner and collaborate not only with own’s own sphere of engagement, but also across cultures and religious traditions, to address systemic oppressions and work to the common good;
  7. Develop and critically engage self-knowledge/social location/personal experience.

Year 1 (Option 1): Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change (CSSC)

CSSC Program Outcomes

Embody an understanding of various spiritual formation practices (meditation, contemplative prayer, liturgical worship, table fellowship, sacred dance, visual arts) that inform and sustain the work of social transformation.
Possess markers of information literacy, the ability to assess and organize information accessed through digital media.
Articulate the significance of personal transformation for the work of social change-making by recognizing one’s collusion with institutional systems of oppressive power; analyzing the multiple social locations one occupies and their varying degrees of privilege; acknowledging one’s contributions to unjust social and cultural systems; and addressing the ongoing need to seek forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation.
Engage in cultural and political analysis both theologically and ethically, especially for insights into structural inequality, systemic injustice, and institutionalized oppression.
Recruit and prepare faith communities to engage in collaborative partnerships with programs and organizations devoted to systemic social change for the common good.
Evaluate and appropriate diverse change-making strategies drawn from the worlds of social innovation, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots community organizing; and identify the active or potential role of spiritual formation in those strategies.
Develop skills for transformative leadership suitable for building coalitions committed to the work of social and economic justice by attending carefully to issues involving professional boundaries, institutional power, and social ethics.

Institutional Outcomes

Critically engage texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures in physical and digital environments.
Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating the skills and resources necessary for creating and communicating transformation in physical and digital environments.
Show evidence of an engaged spirituality rooted in marginalized, emerging, and established traditions that shape communities promotes ethical leadership styles, and cultivate the skills necessary to lead effectively in physical and digital environments with respect and humility.
Demonstrate the ability to deconstruct religious cultures, traditions, and environments and then reconstruct them into forms of knowledge that attend to how digital and physical contexts affect systemic oppression and the common good.
Articulate the unique contributions theological traditions and ethical practices make to the work of social change-making and justice-seeking in physical and digital environments.
Construct broad theological knowledge into an understanding of research as iterative inquiry and knowledge as the product of appropriate digital and physical research methodologies.
Critically engage self-awareness, social location, personal experience, and habits of creating and consuming digital information.
Demonstrate the ability to collaborate within one’s sphere of engagement and across cultures, religious traditions, and digital environments to address systemic oppression and work for the common good.

Year 1 (Option 2): Certificate of Sexuality and Religion (CSR)

CSR Program Outcomes

Demonstrate the ability to engage critically and creatively with texts, religious traditions, spiritual disciplines, social systems, and political structures to hone one’s expertise in issues of religion, sexuality, and gender, both within faith traditions and the broader society.

Give evidence for the development – and employment of –  effective praxes of social change-making and justice-seeking by applying contextually-based approaches to ministry and leadership to foster change at the intersections of religion, sexuality, and gender in faith communities, advocacy groups, and legislative bodies.

Demonstrate the ability to work intersectionally by forming partnerships with others in a variety of ministry and social change-making settings; by showing an awareness of the knowledge of various theological and spiritual thinkers and schools of thought rooted in contexts other one’s own; by working effectively with communities and individuals in online, remote, or digital environments; by working effectively in inter-faith contexts, across lines of culture, and/or in partnership with social change organizations to address systemic oppression and to work for the common good.

Communicate effectively a sense of shared direction and purpose for faith communities and/or social change organizations through the competent and responsible utilization of appropriate media for in-person, hybrid, and fully online environments.

Draw upon (in appropriate and culturally-sensitive ways) engaged spiritualities to lead, educate, and collaborate with others around issues relating to religion, sexuality, and gender.

Give evidence of the ability to work effectively with others in ways that (1) demonstrate a respect for – and understanding of – their religious/spiritual, racial/ethnic, and cultural traditions; and (2) that are rooted in a personal spirituality grounded in self-reflection, humility, and an openness to learn from others.

Demonstrate “Information Literacy” – both in one’s certificate coursework and in the CSR Final Project – that is rooted in an understanding that “(a) Authority Is Constructed and Contextual; (b) Information Creation is a Process; (c) Information Has Value; (d) Research is a form of Inquiry; (e) Scholarship is a form of Conversation; and (f) Searching for Information is a form of Strategic Exploration.” (The American Association of School Librarians and The Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning: pp.1-3.)

Institutional Outcomes

Critically engage texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures in physical and digital environments.
Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating the skills and resources necessary for creating and communicating transformation in physical and digital environments.
Show evidence of an engaged spirituality rooted in marginalized, emerging, and established traditions that shape communities promotes ethical leadership styles, and cultivate the skills necessary to lead effectively in physical and digital environments with respect and humility.
Demonstrate the ability to deconstruct religious cultures, traditions, and environments and then reconstruct them into forms of knowledge that attend to how digital and physical contexts affect systemic oppression and the common good.
Articulate the unique contributions theological traditions and ethical practices make to the work of social change-making and justice-seeking in physical and digital environments.
Construct broad theological knowledge into an understanding of research as iterative inquiry and knowledge as the product of appropriate digital and physical research methodologies.
Critically engage self-awareness, social location, personal experience, and habits of creating and consuming digital information.
Demonstrate the ability to collaborate within one’s sphere of engagement and across cultures, religious traditions, and digital environments to address systemic oppression and work for the common good.

Year 2: Master of Arts in Social Transformation (MAST)

MAST Program Outcomes

Engage in cultural and political analyses, both theologically and ethically, for insights into structural inequality, systemic injustice, and institutionalized oppression.

Evaluate how the digital world creates, sustains, and fosters social inequality, even as it claims to democratize societies, cultures, and politics.

Understand, as both contributor and critic, complex physical and digital information distribution systems.

Assist faith communities in collaborative partnerships with programs and organizations devoted to systemic social change for the common good.

Articulate the unique contributions theological and ethical traditions can make to the work of social change-making in areas such as economic justice, organizational development, and ecological sustainability.

Evaluate and employ diverse, interdisciplinary strategies for change-making drawn from the worlds of social innovation, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots community organizing.

Foster communities marked by cross-cultural humility and devoted to collaborative problem-solving for transforming systems of oppressive power.

Institutional Outcomes

Critically engage texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures in physical and digital environments.
Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating the skills and resources necessary for creating and communicating transformation in physical and digital environments.
Show evidence of an engaged spirituality rooted in marginalized, emerging, and established traditions that shape communities promotes ethical leadership styles, and cultivate the skills necessary to lead effectively in physical and digital environments with respect and humility.
Demonstrate the ability to deconstruct religious cultures, traditions, and environments and then reconstruct them into forms of knowledge that attend to how digital and physical contexts affect systemic oppression and the common good.
Articulate the unique contributions theological traditions and ethical practices make to the work of social change-making and justice-seeking in physical and digital environments.
Construct broad theological knowledge into an understanding of research as iterative inquiry and knowledge as the product of appropriate digital and physical research methodologies.
Critically engage self-awareness, social location, personal experience, and habits of creating and consuming digital information.
Demonstrate the ability to collaborate within one’s sphere of engagement and across cultures, religious traditions, and digital environments to address systemic oppression and work for the common good.

Year 3: Master of Divinity (MDiv)

MDiv Program Outcomes

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 original context and use a spectrum of approaches for interpreting sacred texts today;
  • Articulate an understanding of the constructed and contextual nature of information.

Recognize all knowledge as contextual:

  • Articulate the significance of the various factors that shape one’s context;
  • Understand the markers of authority recognized by disciplines, professions, and other communities of knowledge and practice;
  • Debate the ways privilege influences the perception of authority;
  • Demonstrate an awareness of the inequities perpetuated by the growing influence of AI and information technology;
  • Demonstrate an awareness of other contexts, especially across differences with respect to race, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, class, culture, nationality, 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;
  • Develop a spiritual leadership style to fit with contemporary hybrid models of worship and community gathering;
  • Practice appropriate spiritual practices that engage 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, including the reality of different time zones.

Form effective partnerships with various organizations and individuals

  • Work effectively with people of different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences;
  • Incorporate insights from nonacademic contexts;
  • Evaluate the information produced by organizations and individuals to create alliances and solidarities in the digital world and to counter the effects of fake news, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia.

Integrate various intellectual disciplines, fields, topics, and themes of theological education in the practices of ministry and public leadership in a variety of contexts, including the digital world:

  • Articulate a theologically grounded position on social justice issues;
  • Articulate a theologically grounded position on the creation and circulation of information;
  • Organize community efforts toward achieving social change and use the means at one’s disposal, including digital means;
  • Develop a definition of social transformation in critical, constructive, theological, and historical modes relevant to the digital and physical worlds people occupy.

Understand that information creation, including religious and theological claims, is a process that unfolds in physical and digital worlds:

  • Distinguish between format and method of access, understanding that these are separate entities;
  • Recognize that similar content may be presented in different formats, which may affect the interpretation of the content;
  • Contribute to scholarly and public conversations by becoming a creator and critic of distributed information;
  • Describe the way systems of information distribution privilege some perspectives and present barriers to others.

Cultivate best practices for personal growth, service, and financial health

  • Develop an understanding of organizations and the limits of resources to service oneself;
  • Develop sustaining habits of resilience and flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances;
  • Be open to being formed for the needs of others;
  • Acquire knowledge of and learn habits and practices of living within one’s means while meeting personal financial responsibility.

Institutional Outcomes

Critically engage texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures in physical and digital environments.
Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating the skills and resources necessary for creating and communicating transformation in physical and digital environments.
Show evidence of an engaged spirituality rooted in marginalized, emerging, and established traditions that shape communities promotes ethical leadership styles, and cultivate the skills necessary to lead effectively in physical and digital environments with respect and humility.
Demonstrate the ability to deconstruct religious cultures, traditions, and environments and then reconstruct them into forms of knowledge that attend to how digital and physical contexts affect systemic oppression and the common good.
Articulate the unique contributions theological traditions and ethical practices make to the work of social change-making and justice-seeking in physical and digital environments.
Construct broad theological knowledge into an understanding of research as iterative inquiry and knowledge as the product of appropriate digital and physical research methodologies.
Critically engage self-awareness, social location, personal experience, and habits of creating and consuming digital information.
Demonstrate the ability to collaborate within one’s sphere of engagement and across cultures, religious traditions, and digital environments to address systemic oppression and work for the common good.

Master of Theological Studies (MTS)

MTS Program Outcomes

Demonstrate a clear understanding of the basic differences among all of the four theological disciplines: biblical studies, ethics, history, and theology.

Understand at least three different schools of thought/criticism within each of the above disciplines.

Refer to, evaluate, and use relevant resources from each of the above disciplines critically, consistently, and responsibly.

Integrate and synthesize information and make connections across two or more theological disciplines to address a special topic, issue, or question logically, clearly, and in ways that show not only understanding – but also respect for – each discipline’s own integrity.

Demonstrate awareness of a variety of contexts consistently.

Explain and illustrate critically and carefully how contexts under consideration are different and what importance those differences make in understanding and/or dealing with a text, a situation, and/or an issue.

Institutional Outcomes

Critically engage texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures in physical and digital environments.
Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating the skills and resources necessary for creating and communicating transformation in physical and digital environments.
Show evidence of an engaged spirituality rooted in marginalized, emerging, and established traditions that shape communities promotes ethical leadership styles, and cultivate the skills necessary to lead effectively in physical and digital environments with respect and humility.
Demonstrate the ability to deconstruct religious cultures, traditions, and environments and then reconstruct them into forms of knowledge that attend to how digital and physical contexts affect systemic oppression and the common good.
Articulate the unique contributions theological traditions and ethical practices make to the work of social change-making and justice-seeking in physical and digital environments.
Construct broad theological knowledge into an understanding of research as iterative inquiry and knowledge as the product of appropriate digital and physical research methodologies.
Critically engage self-awareness, social location, personal experience, and habits of creating and consuming digital information.
Demonstrate the ability to collaborate within one’s sphere of engagement and across cultures, religious traditions, and digital environments to address systemic oppression and work for the common good.

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

DMin Program Outcomes

Demonstrate critical and constructive engagement with texts, traditions, social systems, and/or political structures.

Apply contextually based approaches to praxis methods and the development of self-reflective  leadership  skills that are  effective  in  the  student’s particular professional context.  The student can present some evidence or analysis of justice work in that context as a result of the project.

Demonstrate  partnership  with  people in other  ministry  settings,  such  as:  the knowledge of theological thinkers and schools of  thought  from  contexts  other  than their  own;  work  done  ecumenically or in an inter-faith  relationship;  work done across lines of  culture;  and/or in work reflecting on and analyzing socially liberating dimensions of the new praxis creation and contribution.

Communicate a sense of direction for a faith community or for the community of engagement in the praxis and analysis, using appropriate media.

Produce and communicate new knowledge about the identified area of professional practice of, focusing on a specific issue or area of praxis.

Give evidence of a self-reflective and engaged spirituality that can critically involve personal experience as informed by a heightened sense of social location.  These outcomes are demonstrated through a clearly articulated project that locates the student in their own social context and supplies concrete expressions of their spirituality foundations and professional applications.  

Integrate new understanding, competencies, and productions into a theoretically coherent analysis of a specific professional praxis issue as evinced in well-formulated descriptions of new advances conceived and achieved and the actions required to manifest them in practice.

Institutional Outcomes

Critically engage texts, traditions, social systems, and political structures in physical and digital environments.
Apply contextually based approaches to social issues, appropriating the skills and resources necessary for creating and communicating transformation in physical and digital environments.
Show evidence of an engaged spirituality rooted in marginalized, emerging, and established traditions that shape communities promotes ethical leadership styles, and cultivate the skills necessary to lead effectively in physical and digital environments with respect and humility.
Demonstrate the ability to deconstruct religious cultures, traditions, and environments and then reconstruct them into forms of knowledge that attend to how digital and physical contexts affect systemic oppression and the common good.
Articulate the unique contributions theological traditions and ethical practices make to the work of social change-making and justice-seeking in physical and digital environments.
Construct broad theological knowledge into an understanding of research as iterative inquiry and knowledge as the product of appropriate digital and physical research methodologies.
Critically engage self-awareness, social location, personal experience, and habits of creating and consuming digital information.
Demonstrate the ability to collaborate within one’s sphere of engagement and across cultures, religious traditions, and digital environments to address systemic oppression and work for the common good.