Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary
Austin, Texas | Affiliation: PC(USA)
Faith & Public Policy
This course explores biblical and theological understandings of the nature, purpose, and problems of pastoral leadership in community affairs. Students participate in various community and legislative processes and organizations, gaining practical experience in community organizing, lobbying, advocacy work, and building community relationships. Communication for Ministries of Social Justice
This course prepares students to communicate with broad audiences about issues of social justice. Examples of this type of communication include preaching about social justice in congregations comprised of diverse socio-political standpoints, writing letters to raise funds for faith-based non-profit organizations, and presenting a position informed by religious convictions within a secular forum. Students examine the challenges to communicating about faith and social justice, and practice communication models within these various contexts. |
Environmental Ethics
This course addresses climate change, distribution and accessibility of potable water, preservation of habitat, valuing and treatment of non-human animals, endangered species, genetic engineering, environmental racism, population, conservation, and wilderness. Education for Peace & Justice
This course explores educational approaches for mobilizing congregations for the work of peace and justice. Emphasis is given to practices that engage congregations in understanding and responding faithfully to local and global sociocultural contexts. This course assumes that these practices shape the church as an outpost of God’s Kingdom but extend to the world beyond. This course gives selective attention to practices for peace-making and justice-seeking, as well as education and community organizing as they may be adapted for the work of the church |
The Church, The Public Good, and the Borderlands
This travel seminar introduces participants to the history, landscapes, people and challenges of the Texas Borderlands. It explores issues of poverty, immigration, crime, health, and environmental concerns in South Texas. It also engages participants in theological and ethical reflection about these issues, the relationship of church and state, and the role of the faith community in creating the public good. |
Church-Based Social Justice Outreach
Field education placements include urban congregational settings, such as Central Presbyterian Church of Austin, which has a strong outreach ministry to Austin’s homeless population, refugees, and immigrants. |
Policy Making
Texas Impact is an educational organization that connects members of the Texas Legislature with resources on issues of significance to members of religious traditions within the state. Seminary students placed there coordinate resources around issues addressed by the legislature, such as gender-related legislation. |
Travis County Correctional Center
Recent students have also served as chaplain at the Travis County Correctional Center. In this capacity, students provide pastoral care and counseling support to inmates awaiting trial or in post-sentence holding awaiting transfer to state prison. |
Austin Seminary’s is one of eight theological schools in the country undergoing certification to be a “green seminary.” Our campus occupies a unique plot of land in central Austin, bisected by a creek that flows into the Colorado River, making us an oasis in a growing, vibrant city. As a Seminary in the Reformed-Presbyterian tradition, we are mindful of John Calvin’s claim that the natural world is the “theater of God’s glory,” and that we, as a people of God, are stewards of creation. Austin Seminary has been steadily increasing its commitments to better steward environmental resources and raise awareness of environmental issues in the curriculum and in our communal worship. Examples of this commitment include:
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Theodore WardlawPresident, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
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Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is forever listening for the footsteps of those who are even now making their way toward our campus. When they arrive, we desire to introduce them to an ancient faith tradition which is also forever contemporary. While encountering the biblical and theological heroes of that faith tradition, these students are also encountering, and indeed becoming, their heirs in our time. Not only will they explore in the classroom the deep wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or Sojourner Truth, or Thomas Merton, or countless other prophets; they will also discover, next to a chapel transept, the memorial to Ethel Lance—a lifelong house-cleaner who was one of the nine martyrs of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston and the mother of one of our alumnae. Some will eventually receive, at graduation, the award in her name that will honor their commitment to human and civil rights. Others will receive the Max Sherman and Barbara Jordan Fellowship which acknowledges a record of scholarship, public service, and potential to integrate faith and public policy. All of these students, through the pedagogy and witness of an inspiring and diverse faculty, will be invited into lifelong engagement with theological reflection and service in a world far beyond the cloisters of academia—a world that is yearning for transformation. Through the eyes of faith and of action, that world—not just as it is, but as it someday will be—is the world we seek to change, by God’s grace and for God’s sake. |
If you're more of a DIYer, or just aren't quite ready to talk to a human yet, check out Austin's Website to learn more about their programs. There you'll find more detailed info about financial aid, program requirements, housing, etc.
Prefer the telephone?
Call (512) 404-4827 or (800) 241-1085 |
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Seminaries that Change the World is a program of The Center for Faith and Service, based out of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois.
For more information about the Center for Faith and Service and its programs, including Service Programs that Change the World, and The New Faces of Ministry Project, please visit www.faithandservice.org |