Academics

The School of Theology is first and foremost a residential graduate school with a rigorous academic focus. Students of the Advanced Degrees Program will develop tools to engage more fruitfully in their cultural and ministerial contexts with theological acumen, critical thinking, and effective leadership.

The Doctor of Ministry program is designed to enable participants to attain excellence in the practice of ministry. The program provides persons actively engaged in professional ministry the opportunity to develop further the attitudes, skills, and knowledge essential to their ministry. The program stresses the relationship between the practice of ministry and Biblical, historical, and theological knowledge. The D.Min is a terminal degree and is not intended to prepare persons for college or university teaching.  

Our program challenges students to engage in intensive intellectual pursuits for three weeks on campus every summer. Courses are either lectures, with as many as twenty students in the classroom, or seminars that provide more intimate discussions between students and faculty. Both arrangements offer students the opportunity for highly interactive and shared learning. Our students learn not only from professors but also from peers and fellow clergy sitting alongside them and our graduates emerge from the program with increased personal and spiritual maturity and a deeper sense of their vocational calling.

 

Students in all degree programs will take classes together during the summer residency. In the course of four summer residencies, in addition to other electives, the following courses will be offered:

• Mapping Liturgical Structures (LIT)
• The Incarnation of Worship: The Church, Its Worship, and Cultures (LIT)
• The Prayer Book in its North American Context (LIT)
• Liturgical Renewal Movements in Anglicanism (LIT)
• Word and Method: Homiletical Frameworks in Historical Perspective (HOM)
• The Orality of the Word (HOM)
• Advanced Liturgical Preaching (HOM)
• Preaching Biblical Theology (HOM)
• The 39 Articles: Past, Present, Future (THEO)
• Contemporary Anglican Theologians (THEO)
• The Church in Society (MNST)
• Theology and Practice in Church Revitalization (MNST)
• Practical Theology Seminar (MNST)
• Pedagogies for Ministry (MNST)

Students in the D.Min. and S.T.M. programs will complete eight courses, or 24 credit hours, usually over the course of four summers. Six additional hours must be completed in the form of a project, which will be defended orally. The student, working with the director of the Advanced Degrees Program, will develop a program of study designed to accomplish their educational objectives. It is imperative that the program has integrity and coherence and not be simply the accumulation of credit hours. Courses are designed to develop professional skills and to relate Biblical, historical, and theological materials to the practice of ministry.

Concentrations in Liturgy or Preaching

Available for both the D.Min. and the Certificate of Advanced Theological Studies, the liturgy and preaching course concentrations build on Sewanee’s unique strengths in liturgical and homiletical studies and are offered in response to a growing need for post–Master’s of Divinity study, instruction, and critical practice in both liturgy and preaching. D.Min students desiring a concentration in liturgy or preaching should enroll in four courses in LIT or HOM, respectively. Eligible courses are designated in their course description; in certain cases, a relevant course in another discipline, without the designation, may be substituted with permission of the director of the Advanced Degrees Program. Students must also write a thesis or complete a project in liturgy or homiletics. Students in the certificate program will complete two courses in the respective area, or half the coursework.

Project (click here to view sample projects)

Students in the D.Min. and S.T.M. programs will be required to complete a substantial project for six credit hours. The project should have a ministerial focus and opportunities for reflection on professional development for the integration of academic learning experiences, one’s own professional situation, and for moving forward in one’s understanding and practice of ministry. Some possible methodological approaches are:
Action/reflection model—a presentation of the results growing out of some direct engagement within a context of ministry.
Program model—a description of a program (educational, liturgical, homiletical, pastoral, etc.) designed by the student for their work, with assessment of results.
Thesis or essay—a study of some topic related to the integration of one’s academic work and professional focus.
The ministry project should demonstrate the candidate’s ability to identify a specific theological topic in ministry, organize an effective research model, use appropriate resources, and evaluate the results. The project should reflect the candidate’s depth of theological insight in relation to ministry.
A student must submit a project thesis proposal to the director of the Advanced Degrees Program, who will submit it to the Advanced Degrees Program Committee for review. Most Advanced Degree students choose to complete their coursework before beginning their thesis work, but a student may choose to spend a summer in residence during which, for example, instead of the usual two classes, they might take one class and prepare their project thesis proposal. They may also choose to participate in the residency while only working on their thesis.

Learning Outcomes

1.  The student demonstrates evidence of critical thinking and advanced theological integration in theological disciplines appropriate to ministry.

2. The student’s final project enhances ministry skills or the practice of ministry, and has enhanced their own personal and spiritual maturity.