Goals and Purposes of theological education

I begin again after an absence. The theme I will develop in this next segment is "Goals, aims, and purposes in theological education." The basic question we will be trying to answer in this section is "Towards what end are we educating men and women who enter theological institutions?"

To start us off, I want to share a story found in Robert Mager's book Preparing Instructional Objectives: A Critical Tool in the Development of Effective Instruction (pv-vi)

Once upon a time a Sea Horse gathered up his seven silver coins and cantered out to find his fortune. Before he had traveled very far he met an Eel, who said,

“Psst. Hey, bud. Where ya' goin’?”

“I’m going out to find my fortune,” replied the Sea Horse, proudly.

“You're in luck,” said the Eel. “For four silver coins you can have this speedy flipper, and then you'll be able to get there a lot faster.”

“Gee, that's swell,” said the Sea Horse and paid the money, put on the flipper, and slithered off at twice the speed. Soon he came upon a Sponge, who said,

“Psst. Hey, bud. Where ya' goin'?”

“I’m going out to find my fortune,” replied the Sea Horse.

“You're in luck,” said the Sponge. “For a small fee I will let you have this jet-propelled scooter so that you will be able to travel a lot faster.”

So the Sea Horse bought the scooter with his remaining money and went zooming through the sea five times as fast.

Soon he came upon a Shark, who said, “Psst. Hey, bud. Where ya' goin’?”

“I’m going to find my fortune,” replied the Sea Horse.

“You’re in luck. If you take this short cut,” said the Shark, pointing to his open mouth, “you’ll save yourself a lot of time.”

“Gee, thanks,” said the Sea Horse. He zoomed off into the interior of the Shark and was never heard from again.

The moral of this fable is...??? (click on the video below to find out):


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Now while Mager's message is that instructional objectives are vital, other educators have likewise emphasized the necessity of being clear about your educational objectives.

In their book Classroom Assessment Techniques, Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross write:

Goals are ends we work toward, destinations we set out for, results we strive to achieve. But goals are far more than terminal points. They are also reference points that we use to measure our progress and to determine whether we are headed in the right direction. Without clear goals, we cannot readily assess the effectiveness of our efforts or realize when we are off course, how far off we are, and how to get back on the right track. For these reasons, assessment efforts of all kinds typically begin with goal-setting or goal clarifying exercises. (p13)

What are goals, aims, and purposes of Christian education and theological education? That is the question we will try to answer with the help of some existing literature I will highlight over the month of July.