Background: Assessment of students for ministerial practice is traditionally performed through assignments and oral examinations, which often only concentrate on the knowledge component and outcomes of the programme. Assessing students in this way lead to a view of religious practitioners as people who are not really in touch with their…

This study examined constructive controversy in theological education, an application area yet unstudied. It investigated (a) the feasibility of controversy for grappling with theological/ethical issues, (b) whether complex thinking was enhanced, (c) whether social interaction was positive, and (d) advantages/disadvantages for use in…

Emilie Townes begins by describing her childhood growing up as a Black middle class girl headed toward womanhood in the South in the late 1950s, 60's and early 70s. Townes writes that growing up during that time filled her with a host of experiences and memories that continue to shape her today. She writes that she learned about racism from the…

Recent literature indicates that ministers' families face not only the normative developmental stressors of other families, but an additional set of stressors created by the interface between the family and the church systems. Based upon the Double ABCX model of family stress, particular ministers' families will vary in their ability to adapt to…

Clergymen have been facing new challenges and stresses resulting from greater numbers of women entering seminaries and positions of religious leadership. In this study, 54 Roman Catholic priests and 50 brothers were given the specially devised Religion and Stress Questionnaire to explore their sensitivity towards some of the gender issues…

A critical analysis of the quadrennial ministry studies within Methodism over the years is presented. The 1944 and 1948 ministry studies were sociological and demographic. A 1952 study was the first try by the Methodist Church to work on definitions and theological understanding of the ministry. In 1960, there was a study of ministry and a…

The purpose of this paper is to link several sets of ideas in personality theory to each other and to Christian theology; link several sets of ideas in personality theory and cultural anthropology to each other and to Christian theology; and demonstrate that various social phenomena are not the domain of any particular social or behavioral science…

The development of humanistic psychology has stimulated research that supports the importance of life esteem, or the way people view meaning and purpose in their lives. The Life Esteem survey is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure the four components of life esteem (framework, perspective, commitment, quality) and to assess the…

The state of ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church is of greater quality than its critics claim, and the state of United Methodist theological education is of greater quality than its critics claim. The following factors support this position: (1) the morale of the vast majority of United Methodist clergy is good; (2) the ministerial…

The development of continuing education for ministry shows a need for more growth and change in seminary training to meet the fundamental needs of the clergy and the laity. Recent changes since 1960 have resulted in three developments: (1) the need for continuing education for ministry has been recognized; (2) the increasing number in the variety…

This study attempted to examined how well seminary training prepares ministers for their role. A questionnaire-survey was developed and completed by 400 senior pastors of mainline denominational churches in California. Close-ended items were analyzed statistically and responses to open-ended questions were evaluated and categorized. Findings…

The investigation analyzed survey results from 18 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and about 500 faculty and staff of accredited Protestant and Roman Catholic theological seminaries. The two research hypotheses were: (1) there is a relationship between leadership match and internal measures of organizational effectiveness as represented by the…

The Bethel Theological Seminary (St. Paul, Minnesota) sought to analyze the viability of the curriculum for ministers and persons in related occupations, and to consider an outcomes-based approach to curriculum restructuring. A model was developed to assess the effectiveness of seminary curricula in light of the realities of ministry among…

The yearning for spirituality and social responsibility in HRD illuminates the need for reflective practice in professional education to be transformed by multiple sources of information and praxis questions. Theological reflection, a form of reflective practice, is contextualized by praxis questions, spirituality, and social analysis. An…

To meet the needs of undergraduate seminarians attending St. John's University in New York who are required to take speech communication courses and to appeal also to nonseminarian undergraduates, a Religious Communication minor was proposed. The minor consists of 18 credits in speech. In addition to arranging currently offered courses into a…