So what are the goals of theological education?

At the recent ATA Seminar for Academic Deans in May 2006 at the YMCA, Dr Paul Mohan Raj presented a paper entitled “Integrated approach to curriculum: Incorporating ATA distinctives.”

While the focus of the paper was on the need to have an integrated approach to theological education, Dr Mohan Raj spoke and wrote about three areas of formation which comprise ATA distinctives: Academic formation, ministerial formation and personal formation.

Each is important, curriculum at all levels must cover all these areas, and the three areas of formation are promoted through assessment (academic), mentoring (personal) and internship (ministerial).

In some senses, the categories used by ATA reflect the traditional major areas of development and growth that is common to educational institutions

Several years ago, Dr Allan Harkness, Dean of Asia Graduate School of Theology, the graduate arm of ATA published a paper entitled “De-schooling the theological seminary: An appropriate paradigm for effective ministerial formation.”

Allan wrote:

Seminary education is graduate level education that makes contributions to church leadership development by promoting “an appropriate blend of qualities which enable leaders to minister effectively.” These qualities include “the cognitive acquisition of appropriate knowledge, competence in required ministerial skills, and personal character development” (Harkness 2001, 142).

Harkness, Allan G. 2001. De-schooling the theological seminary: An appropriate paradigm for effective ministerial formation. Teaching Theology and Religion 4, no. 3: 108-116.

Actually, to be frank, I do not think that this way of categorizing the areas of formation we need to give attention to is particularly unique nor imaginative

I remember a faculty meeting years ago in the mid- 90s where our dean did an exercise to explore the spiralling development of KSA components, the training of head, hands, heart dimensions of our training.


Then in one of my TEDS PhD classes on organizational development, an American colleague teaching at Beeson Divinity School produced this diagram for theological education.


When I was in Hungary for the European Leadership Forum in 2003, the president of a Ukrainian seminary shared excitedly with our group his understanding of the areas of development he envisioned for his students. I guess he was real excited, but I was getting a little bored because I keep hearing the same things being said about the goals of theological education every where I go: Intellectual formation, personal formation, ministerial formation!


(To be continued...)

From exploring goals of CE to exploring goals of TE

I want to move from this short survey of what educators are saying about the goals of education for the church to what educators and theologians are saying about the goals of theological education. I think it is important to look at more general goals for members of the church first before we look at the more specific goals for development of leaders of the church because the well-being of the body of Christ is what we exist for.

I mentioned earlier hearing Dr Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in his address on the topic "Kingdom Partnerships: Serving Together in God's World." One of the points made by Dr Mouw that has stuck in my mind is the conversation he related which he had with a member of the Lilly Foundation. This person commented that seminaries which came to foundations asking for money really need to be asking themselves three questions:

1. What is God doing in the world?

2. What does the church need to do to align itself with what God is doing in the world?

3. What does the theological institution need to do to help the church align itself with what God is doing in the world?

I think the point of asking this set of questions is so that theological schools don’t develop an agenda of their own without being aware of God’s agenda for the church of Jesus Christ. The possibility of parallel agendas has been etched into my memory deeply by the encounter with a Church of England curate in the UK who in the course of a conversation on faith and commitment in Jesus Christ, replied to me, "Me Christian? No, I'm just clergy!" So, be mindful, be conscious, be sure of that agenda before we define our agenda within the seminary.

That having been said, what does the literature say about the goals, the aims, the purposes of theological education?
(To be continued...)

What Christian Scholars have written about goals for CE (cont'd again)

(continued from 3 July entry)

Christian Education Journal has an issue where you can find three articles on the necessity of "Critical Thinking" as a goal of CE. The article titles and their abstract appear in the snapshot I took of the webpage featuring Vol 15, Issue 1, Fall 1994.


I enjoyed reading Stephen Snyder's article "More Than Content" where it introduces categories which cognitive psychologists use for describing the different types of knowledge. There is content knowledge, there is procedural knowledge, there is metacognition, ie thinking about thinking.

I think in this day and age where the reach of globalization and the endemicity of pluralism are irrevocable realities we have to live with, naming critical thinking/ability to think about thinking as a goal of Christian education is crucial...or is it?

To be continued....

What Christian Scholars have written about goals for CE (cont'd)

(Continued from 1st July entry)

Moving on, in his book Hear, my Son: Teaching and Learning in Proverbs 1–9, Daniel Estes explores educational goals found in Proverbs 1 – 9. Given the nature of the Book of Proverbs, we find that the educational context of Proverbs transcends the idea of an isolated religious community unconcerned about the affairs of everyday life. Instead, the educational context of Proverbs embraces more broadly the totality of life. Estes writes about the goals of education found in Proverbs 1 – 9:

Proverbs 1-9 contains a wealth of information regarding the goals of education in this portion of the biblical wisdom corpus. There are numerous explicit statements indicating the outcomes that the teacher desires to produce in the learner. In addition, the frequent indicators help to define the goals of education envisioned in Proverbs 1–9. (p63)

So what are the goals of education envisioned in Proverbs 1–9? Estes states six of them:
1. Commitment
2. Character
3. Competence
4. Protection
5. Prosperity
6. Knowledge of God

Actually, the idea of education for a larger context than just the bounds of a religious community living under some sort of a sacred canopy is explored by a significant present day Christian philosopher named Nicholas Wolterstorff. Wolterstorff is Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, and Fellow of Berkeley College, at Yale University. In his book Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning, Wolterstorff writes:

Christian education cannot teach only for development; it must also teach for healing and reconciling. Christian education must be education that teaches for justice and peace while exhibiting justice and peace. (258)

We work for shalom. And that work takes the form both of working to develop creation’s potentials and of working to heal the dysfunctions in our relationships. (262)

The task of Christian education has two dimensions: The task of development and the task of healing. We need them both. And the task of healing must be energized by lament. Indeed, so must the task of development. (264)

-Nicholas Wolterstorff. 2002. Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning.

Note the two dimensions of development and healing that he tries to incorporate in his vision of Christian education. In some ways, the analogy of the medical enterprise helps us to understand what he means by these two dimensions. We strive for shalom or wholeness by investing in primary health care, in preventive medicine, in front end work which allow for development and flourishing. At the same time, we strive for shalom or wholeness by investing in ER services, in damage control, in back end work. In an ideal situation, we need only concern ourselves with preventive and formative work, but in the real world, both development and formation, on the one hand, and fire fighting work, on the other hand, are important educational tasks of the church.

It is thus no surprise that in their book Teaching for Reconciliation, Ronald Habermas and Klaus Issler write about advancing comprehensive reconciliation (33-46) and developing a reconciliation model of Christian maturity (47-57). Habermas and Issler draw their inspiration from Wolterstorff, and for them, the goal of teaching is to promote reconciliation between (i) the individual and God, (ii) the individual and self, (iii) the individual and others, and (iv) the individual and creation (36)

The scope of education suggested by Habermas and Issler is thus broad, comprehensive, and encompasses all of life - from the individual level to the global level.

To be continued...

What Christian Scholars have written about goals for CE

Before I look at the more specific goals which have been discussed in the literature for theological education, I want to look at some of the more general goals which Christian writers with their different sets of lenses have written for Christian education.

So here I wish to present you with a sample of goals of teaching and learning in the context of the Church and the Christian community.

Michael Lawson, Dept Chair and Senior Prof in CE at DTS writes about teaching for maturity in four areas: maturity in relationships, maturity in morality, maturity in theology, and maturity in service.

Thus he writes:

If the goal of Christian education were only the acquisition of correct content, then Christians should spend a great deal of time making sure they have the right answer. In the New Testament, instruction in content serves the higher goal of love.

The end product of Christian education is a mature life. Mature Christians evidence love and sound judgment by living within the principles and commands laid out by God through the apostles. Over time,s each Christian should move toward maturity. Maturity evidences itself in stable theology, sound moral judgment, healthy relationships, and sacrificial service.
(Lawson 2001 “Education in the Epistles” in Evangelical Dictionary of Christian Education, ed. Michael Anthony. Baker Academic. p228.)

Another important Christian educator I want to draw from is Robert Pazmino

Bob Pazmino is Valeria Stone Professor of CE at Andover Newton Theological School and he writes about teaching for the development of values which equip for the five tasks of the church. The five tasks and their corresponding values are reflected in the diagram below:

Pazmino, Robert W. 1997. Foundational Issues in Christian Education. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. P45

The idea of developing values which correspond to the five tasks of the church is again surfaced in his book Basics of Teaching for Christians where he writes about teaching and evaluating the development of values which are the goals of Christian education. The difference is that he has modified some of the corresponding values, as seen below:

To be continued...