As a promising direction for the future of theological education, Competency-Based Theological Education (CBTE) has been both enthusiastically and critically received. While still early in its development and recognition, several accreditors, churches, agencies, and their seminaries have begun to embrace CBTE in the hopes of a brighter future for…

Seminaries in the United States have for more than two centuries sought to equip ministerial leaders for service within the community of faith. And yet these institutions have traditionally been the focus of very little quantitative research. This lack of data is particularly noteworthy given the existential crises many seminaries currently face,…

This article argues that three dimensions of relevance can be identified for the academic study of religion as it is taught at the university: (1) Foundations; (2) General Education; and (3) Application. The analytical distinction of these dimensions also reveals that they are inextricably linked and co-dependent. This model may help to sort out…

Practices and strategies for sustaining resilient spiritual leadership are critical in this time of climate crisis. Learnings from participants in the Seminary of the Wild eco-ministry certification program offer guidance for engaging in practices of education and formation that can help people of faith meet the challenges of these times and…

This article is about the death of a graduate school for spiritual formation and theological education. I ask what the death of this school can teach us about teaching theology and religion for the sake of student transformation and more loving pedagogies. I also ask how, when an institution dies, it can die beautifully. The underlying thesis of…

Hindu sacred scriptures are a rich interweave of cosmological revelation that is embedded in melopoeia (melodic poetry) and sung in designated meters during rituals, liturgical services, festivals, and personal prayers. Revelation is conveyed through enigmatic dialogues, debates, parables, anecdotes, legends, and narratives. These occur between…

This article explored the state of the industry of graduate theological education using three key measures: accessibility, affordability, and financial sustainability. Access was analyzed with respect to educational modality (i.e., in-person, distance) and student populations (i.e., by demographic category). Affordability was investigated by…

The American College of St Maurice at Münster in Westphalia was founded in 1867 to train priests for the Catholic missions in the United States. This paper outlines the history of this short-lived educational institutions (1867-1879), with particular focus on the 68 seminarians, who attended this theological seminary for their pastoral formation,…

Theological education faces the task of forming leaders and scholars with the capacity for personal and social transformation. This effort requires a deeper understanding of habit formation as both problem and potential. Utilizing the example of how racism functions through embodied habits, this article emphasizes bodily awareness and repeated…

This article considers how the practice of "ungrading" in the homiletics classroom can function not merely as a pedagogical technique, but as a theo-ethical practice. Grounding ungrading in theological ethics in addition to critical pedagogical theory can lead us toward a pedagogical practice that builds anti-racist and decolonial spaces…

This study aimed to determine the level of self-awareness and personal responsibility among seminary students. It also investigated the correlation between self-awareness and personal responsibility. A qualitative approach was followed, whereby formators and seminarians were interviewed, to complement the main data collected by distributing…

Preachers are professional voice users (PVUs) who regularly experience high vocal demands, often leading to vocal difficulties or disorders. Research has established that this often occurs due to a lack of sufficient knowledge of the vocal mechanism and vocal hygiene in this population. Student preachers are therefore also considered to be a…

This paper addresses a surprising phenomenon in the evangelical theological classroom. Evangelical theological students often approach theology as an exclusively analytic subject, failing to use imaginative criteria in "doing theology." Specifically, they fail to use their literary imaginations or what some call narrative imagination.…

Although the goals of consensus-based decision-making (CBDM) and the academic theological classroom are quite distinct (most notably that in the classroom, there is no need to come to a group decision), both share the aim of honoring all voices and perspectives and ensuring that marginalized voices and experiences are elevated. It is an important…

Do religious educators as administrators make for better agents of change? As more religious educators come into administrative positions in theological higher education, this article probes the religious educator and change. The article begins by examining religious education and its aims. It then offers different change theories and subsequently…