Transforming Theological Education

For several decades concern has been expressed about the need for greater integration and contextual significance in the curricular design of theological education. In addition there has been a growing awareness of the role theological schools should play in strengthening the missional vision and practice of local churches. Since 2008 the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon has been engaged in an ongoing experiment in the design and implementation of an integrated and contextually driven curriculum. Drawing on lessons learned from this experience, and from the wider discourse currently taking place in higher education, Transforming Theological Education provides theoretical foundations and practical principles for purposeful curriculum design, as well as tools for integrated and contextually significant learning in the classroom.

Providing foundations and practical principles for purposeful curriculum design, this edition has been expanded to provide a stronger foundation for thinking theologically - rather than just educationally - about theological education.

Transforming Service is a seminal book developed by student services professionals in theological education. This edited volume is new and innovative in that it puts the student services professional and their work with divinity students center-stage. Amid the various and serious changes afoot within the church and academy, there is a need for astute and perceptive expertise to assist professionals and institutions in transforming how to reach, serve, and sustain graduate students in theological education. This book is an offering designed to establish and sustain conversations among student services professionals in theological schools about the nature of the profession and to share wisdom within a rich community of practice that is essential to the success of theological schools. With its rich combination of useful information, reflective instruction on a host of professional leadership issues, and animated narratives on the ways different colleagues address common practices and challenges in their context, Transforming Service is a needed resource to all who engage in theological education.

About the Contributor(s): Les Ball has had over 25 years' experience in theological education as lecturer at Bible College of Queensland, Academic Dean at Malyon College and Dean of Brisbane College of Theology to 2009, with particular involvement in curriculum design and delivery. He has served as Greek Exegesis examiner and Church History moderator for Australian College of Theology, as Convener of the Committee on Standards for the South Pacific Association of Bible Colleges, and has been active in numerous academic and accreditation committees in Queensland and NSW. He is currently an honorary research consultant at The University of Queensland in Practical Theology.

The surge of theological education in the rapidly growing church of the Majority World has highlighted the inadequacy of traditional Western methods of thinking and learning to fully accomplish the task at hand. The limitations of current theological education are embodied in the formation and assessment of the master’s or doctoral dissertation; processes that follow a linear-empiricist tradition developed in the West and exported to the Majority World. Challenging Tradition: Innovation in Advanced Theological Studies highlights the need for these traditions to be reconsidered in every context throughout the world. Drs Shaw and Dharamraj, with their team of contributors, present innovations in research and documentation that demonstrate how we may better prepare theological leadership through means that are contextually relevant and locally meaningful.

This book emerges from an extensive research project into the area of transformative learning in theology in the Australian context. The project was stimulated by the recognition of the rich prior life experience of the typically older students enrolling in undergraduate theological degrees and the common claims made by various theological colleges that they provide a transformative educational experience. It set out to test these elements against the actual experience and aspirations of students, educators and stakeholders. Over 50 teaching campuses and 700 people provided input into the research by means of interviews, surveys, focus groups and documentary analysis. While located in the Australian context, the book reviews the wide global literature emerging recently in the field of transformative education as it pertains to theological education and analyses key concepts in relation to data derived from current institutional documents and individual observations. Accordingly, it educes principles governing transformative learning and identifies examples of innovative practices that facilitate such learning. The principal emphasis of the book is the crucial area of curriculum design and delivery that will take genuine cognizance of the students' prior life experience and facilitate authentic transformative learning.

God clearly intends that lives of Christians and the life of the church should differ from those of the unredeemed. The Christian and the church should be “salt and light.” Preparing spiritual leaders who have the grace, credibility, and wisdom to effect such change demands more than transmission of knowledge. Equipping for transformative ministry requires a divinely empowered and educationally intentional experience that leads to transformation in the lives of students. Ministry Education that Transforms brings together theological insight and educational research in support of practical methods that align with transformative ends. The authors’ experience with Global Associates for Transformational Education (GATE) workshops, and the impact they have had with this approach to education formation, testifies that this is not a mere call for change, but a tried and tested methodology crucial to theological education.

For several decades concern has been expressed about the need for greater integration and contextual significance in the curricular design of theological education. In addition there has been a growing awareness of the role theological schools should play in strengthening the missional vision and practice of local churches. Since 2008 the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon has been engaged in an ongoing experiment in the design and implementation of an integrated and contextually driven curriculum. Drawing on lessons learned from this experience, and from the wider discourse currently taking place in higher education, Transforming Theological Education provides theoretical foundations and practical principles for purposeful curriculum design, as well as tools for integrated and contextually significant learning in the classroom.