Read. Think. Write.
The School of Theology is first and foremost a residential graduate school with a rigorous academic focus. Lectures and seminars are important, but it’s the way that one engages with one’s coursework that really counts. We expect seminarians to read, to think, and to write while here.
Course format
Some of our classes are lecture style, and so there'll be 30 people in a room with a professor. But that being said, you can expect them to be fairly intimate and interactive. The faculty will invite questions and encourage you to respond to what you're hearing in the lecture. Then there are the seminar courses: in some ways, these are the most fun because there will be a handful of students gathered around a table with a professor. Having read several documents that are primary sources, or maybe having read an important book in a discipline, the group will wrestle with that text, debating with each other to emerge with a greater understanding than if they were reading by themselves.
It is our hope that people read, think, and write while at the School of Theology. But we hope that they read, think, and write with each other while they're here, and it's that collective work that is really important to what we do.
The Cohort Model
The School of Theology brings together bright minds and a wide range of views from across the Episcopal Church, and the wider Anglican Communion, for deep theological conversation and reflection. Moving through the curriculum— Bible, history, theology, spirituality, ethics, liturgics, and homiletics—with the same cohort, or class, of students, creates an environment where deep listening, vulnerable sharing, careful discourse, and personal and spiritual growth can all flourish.
The College of Arts and sciences
Along with the Seminary, The University of the South includes the College of Arts and Sciences which has an enrollment of more than 1,700 undergraduate students. Opportunities to participate with the College are plentiful and a unique advantage for an Episcopal Seminary. Seminary students lead Bible study groups for college students, play intramural sports, participate in the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra, serve in the University's All Saints' Chapel, and engage in Catechumenate classes year-round. Some students serve as resident chaplains, living in the residence halls and providing pastoral care to the undergraduate community. Even select courses in the College are on offer to seminary students!
