The School of TheologyLocation: Sewanee, Tennessee
The School of Theology educates women and men to serve the broad whole of The Episcopal Church in ordained and lay vocations. The School develops leaders who are learned, skilled, informed by the Word of God, and committed to the mission of Christ’s church, in the Anglican tradition of forming disciples through a common life of prayer, learning, and service. Sewanee’s seminary education and world-wide programs equip people for ministry through the gift of theological reflection in community. |
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SERVICE-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS
The School of Theology offers The Chancellor’s Scholarship to individuals (typically two) who possess and are able to articulate a clear vision for the shape and direction of a future ministry. The School of Theology looks not only to the past (and what the candidate has accomplished), but also at how unique and missional they intend their ministry to be.
EQB Fellows Program:
In 2014, The School of Theology received a grant from the Lilly Foundation to design and bring to life an intentional learning community. Out of these funds, the EQB Fellows program has been born. The goal of the program is to create and support a cohort of students who are passionate about and committed to changing the world.
For the 2015-16 school year, each EQB Fellow was awarded $25,548 in grant aid, regardless of need—$7,200 for housing ($600 per month, which includes rent, utilities, phone, and cable), $16,648 for full-time tuition and fees, and a book allowance of $1,700. Fellows who demonstrated additional need beyond $25,548 received additional funding according to our financial aid policies for assessing and funding demonstrated need.
EQB Fellows Program:
In 2014, The School of Theology received a grant from the Lilly Foundation to design and bring to life an intentional learning community. Out of these funds, the EQB Fellows program has been born. The goal of the program is to create and support a cohort of students who are passionate about and committed to changing the world.
For the 2015-16 school year, each EQB Fellow was awarded $25,548 in grant aid, regardless of need—$7,200 for housing ($600 per month, which includes rent, utilities, phone, and cable), $16,648 for full-time tuition and fees, and a book allowance of $1,700. Fellows who demonstrated additional need beyond $25,548 received additional funding according to our financial aid policies for assessing and funding demonstrated need.
ENGAGEMENT ON CAMPUS
The School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of the South has three primary student organizations that allow students to engage in various aspects of ministry while receiving support of faculty advisors:
The Missions Committee sponsors activities and events that have a positive impact on the lives of “our neighbors” both near and far. During the Christmas season, collections of toys, food and cash benefit residents in and near the town of Sewanee, TN. In addition, the committee manages a Kiva loan account to help alleviate poverty in faraway places. With a small cash commitment set aside for borrowers to make micro-loans, our students are connected in a virtual space to entrepreneurial individuals around the globe who can make a loan of as little as $25.
The Committee for Diversity and Reconciliation works to deepen education of The School of Theology community concerning the sin of discrimination on the basis of age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, and religious background. Additionally, the group works to develop and implement ways to foster welcome, inclusion and reconciliation in and beyond this community, including changes in structures and culture. Finally, the group works to propose concrete ways to widen the participation of under-represented people in this community, so that it may be a more adequate sign and instrument of God’s reign.
The Committee for Diversity and Reconciliation has initiated “a season of reconciliation” which includes education through film-showings followed by discussion, panel discussions led by students to foster sharing of life experiences and storytelling, and invited guest speakers to enlighten the community on the issues listed in The Committee’s charge.
Community Engagement Fellows encourage seminarians at the School of Theology to stay engaged in the local community by offering work-study support to students who offer exceptional contributions to the local, regional, or global communities. This program was established and is coordinated by students at the School of Theology. Seminarians involved in the Community Engagement Fellows program provide assistance to the organizations that they serve on a weekly or more frequent basis, and also create ties to these organizations that allow other students to participate on an as-needed basis. These seminarians create an impact in the lives of others as they pursue their theological training. The fellows also meet together each month to share and reflect upon their experiences, provide support and encouragement to each other, as well as to celebrate the transformations happening in their lives and in the world.
The Missions Committee sponsors activities and events that have a positive impact on the lives of “our neighbors” both near and far. During the Christmas season, collections of toys, food and cash benefit residents in and near the town of Sewanee, TN. In addition, the committee manages a Kiva loan account to help alleviate poverty in faraway places. With a small cash commitment set aside for borrowers to make micro-loans, our students are connected in a virtual space to entrepreneurial individuals around the globe who can make a loan of as little as $25.
The Committee for Diversity and Reconciliation works to deepen education of The School of Theology community concerning the sin of discrimination on the basis of age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, and religious background. Additionally, the group works to develop and implement ways to foster welcome, inclusion and reconciliation in and beyond this community, including changes in structures and culture. Finally, the group works to propose concrete ways to widen the participation of under-represented people in this community, so that it may be a more adequate sign and instrument of God’s reign.
The Committee for Diversity and Reconciliation has initiated “a season of reconciliation” which includes education through film-showings followed by discussion, panel discussions led by students to foster sharing of life experiences and storytelling, and invited guest speakers to enlighten the community on the issues listed in The Committee’s charge.
Community Engagement Fellows encourage seminarians at the School of Theology to stay engaged in the local community by offering work-study support to students who offer exceptional contributions to the local, regional, or global communities. This program was established and is coordinated by students at the School of Theology. Seminarians involved in the Community Engagement Fellows program provide assistance to the organizations that they serve on a weekly or more frequent basis, and also create ties to these organizations that allow other students to participate on an as-needed basis. These seminarians create an impact in the lives of others as they pursue their theological training. The fellows also meet together each month to share and reflect upon their experiences, provide support and encouragement to each other, as well as to celebrate the transformations happening in their lives and in the world.
FIELD EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES
The School of Theology offers a number of field-education opportunities for students wishing to deeply engage their faith with service and social justice. Examples of placements include:
As part of a robust contextual education program, the School of Theology has also invested in a number of partnerships that provide unique opportunities for students completing clinical pastoral education (CPE). This requirement may be accomplished in a range of domestic and international locations.
The Missional Engagement Initiative strives to effectively increase parishes' capacity for transformational lay leadership and mission development, and to enable parishioners to live more fully into their baptismal covenant. The program builds bridges between seminary students and the world in which they will serve in order to better facilitate the empowerment of parishes and their communities.
- Church of the Holy Trinity, a racially integrated inner city Nashville parish, offers seminarians opportunities to work closely with people who are homeless or working poor.
- All Saints Church, a blended congregation of Karen Refugees in Smyrna, and the community garden they have developed.
- St. Augustine Chapel/Magdalene House/Thistle Farms, a university chaplaincy in Nashville and international leader in developing models for social enterprises that empower women survivors of trafficking, addiction, and prostitution.
As part of a robust contextual education program, the School of Theology has also invested in a number of partnerships that provide unique opportunities for students completing clinical pastoral education (CPE). This requirement may be accomplished in a range of domestic and international locations.
The Missional Engagement Initiative strives to effectively increase parishes' capacity for transformational lay leadership and mission development, and to enable parishioners to live more fully into their baptismal covenant. The program builds bridges between seminary students and the world in which they will serve in order to better facilitate the empowerment of parishes and their communities.
ISSUE INTEGRATED ACADEMIC COURSES
- Contemporary Moral Issues
This course is required for all students pursuing the MDiv Degree.
In this course we will review the different approaches in Christian ethics to contemporary moral issues in the areas of politics, sexuality, medicine, economics, and ecology. We will begin by reviewing the distinctive forms (virtue theory, natural law, divine command, and liberation) and sources (reliance on Scripture, tradition, and reason) of Christian ethics, as well as those favored by central figures in Anglicanism. We then will consider contributions by important writers on particular issues, such as the just-war tradition, same-sex marriage, genetic manipulation, and globalization. Throughout, the emphasis will be on the ethical implications of the church's apostolic mission. - Introduction to Moral Theology
This course is required for all students pursuing the MDiv Degree.
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to questions about what it means to be a moral person in our contemporary world. In particular, we will examine what it means to be a Christian moral person—that is, what Christian faith and tradition contribute to our understanding of a moral universe. We will begin with an examination of moral formation in community. We will then discuss ethical principles as they have emerged throughout the Christian tradition. Through readings on “modernity” and “post-modernity,” we will explore how such resources can be used to assist in discerning Christian moral life today. - World Religions
This course is required for all students pursuing the MDiv Degree.
This course will provide an introduction to world religions commonly practiced in America today. The purpose will be to learn the basic history, classical texts, and living rituals of each religion. Content will be divided into three sections, one each on Judaism, Islam, and Eastern Religions, with a focus on Buddhism. Students will be expected to do primary reading from each tradition’s sacred texts, as well as supplementary, secondary material. Students will also be expected to attend a service from each tradition, with the addition of a second visit to one of the initial sites. Student evaluation will be based on fulfilling readings assignments, participation in class discussion, and field visit reports. - Transforming Congregations in Community
This course is designed to be a study of the nature and practice of power found in the Bible and Christian Theology. This course will use the Bible as its primary textbook to understand how power works in the worlds of politics, business, education, social services and religion – both in its legitimate exercise to empower people and in its illegitimate exercise to maintain the dominant establishments at the expense of people. Further, the scriptures will be examined to enable students to organize their congregations to use power relationally in order to bring about political, economic, social and spiritual transformation through their church and community. - Caring for Marginalized Populations: Pastoral Care in Context
This course garners "expert" wisdom from scholars and practitioners with distinct disciplinary perspectives who have variously considered the nature and power of human hope and the potential threats to hope faced by marginalized populations and the caregivers who seek to aid them. Young African American men will serve as a primary lens to investigate the problem of threatened hope, muteness, and invisibility. However, care for other unacknowledged groups including, but not limited to, the imprisoned, the poor, the wealthy, and the elderly will be discussed. - Environmental Ethics
The environmental challenges facing the world today are urgent and complex. A variety of approaches have been enacted or proposed to address these problems, ranging from practical efforts to organize for justice to conceptual attempts to shift how we view our world. All of these approaches have particular strengths and weaknesses, and all raise important questions. The purpose of this introductory seminar is to survey ethical to environmental problems and to examine the central moral questions such problems raise. We will cover traditional, “mainstream” environmental ethical responses as well as more recent alternatives to and criticisms of those responses. Discussion will include concrete case studies as well as theoretical foundations, and the final essay will seek to place the theories in the context of concrete environmental problems. - Climate Ethics
This seminar will examine the unprecedented ethical challenges raised by climate change. Readings will incorporate religious and non-religious ethical approaches and a variety of disciplinary lenses, including natural sciences, social sciences, and economic and policy perspectives. Students will engage these arguments through readings, discussions in class and online, and a final synthetic essay, in order to address questions of why and in what ways climate change matters morally, and how moral agents might respond. - Christian Social Ethics
Christian Social Ethics is a tradition of inquiry into how Christians ought to relate to the larger society and respond to social problems. This course will trace the development of this inquiry through the twentieth century, including texts from Walter Rauschenbusch, the Niebuhr brothers, and Roman Catholic Social Thought, and assess contemporary versions, including liberation theologies, feminist/womanist/mujerista ethics, and global ethics. Critics of this tradition, such as Stanley Hauerwas, will also be considered, and the question of a distinctively Anglican social ethic will be raised. - Sustainability as an Ethical Problem
The concept of sustainability necessarily entails the question, “What ought to be sustained?” In other words, sustainability is the site of a debate over the proper relationship of humankind to the nonhuman world. This course will examine sustainability from this perspective. It will begin by surveying the various and sometimes conflicting ways the term is used in political, ethical, environmental, and institutional contexts. Criticisms of and alternatives to dominant views of sustainability will be considered, including agrarian, environmental justice, and political ecological perspectives.
- Contextual Education II
This elective course uses the baptismal covenant to explore various biblical and theological perspectives on how to organize congregations to use power relationally in order to bring about political, economic, social and spiritual transformation using a project-based learning approach developed by Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and faith-rooted community organizing networks. This course is a continuation of MNST 521.
ALUMNI PROFILES
The Rev. Katie Bradshaw, Class of 2015
When Katie was enrolled in The School of Theology, she was invited to be a presenter at the 4th Annual New England Anglican Studies Conference at the Harvard Divinity School. The theme of the conference that year (2014) was Christianity and Capitalism. Katie’s presentation was titled, “The for profit prison industry…why theological investing matters.” A former public defender in Mississippi, Katie was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church in January 2016. She continues to receive invitations to share her presentation with church groups. Katie currently works as a Curate at St. Columb’s Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mississippi.
When Katie was enrolled in The School of Theology, she was invited to be a presenter at the 4th Annual New England Anglican Studies Conference at the Harvard Divinity School. The theme of the conference that year (2014) was Christianity and Capitalism. Katie’s presentation was titled, “The for profit prison industry…why theological investing matters.” A former public defender in Mississippi, Katie was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church in January 2016. She continues to receive invitations to share her presentation with church groups. Katie currently works as a Curate at St. Columb’s Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Rev. Colin Mathewson, Class of 2013 Colin Mathewson is currently a priest associate for mission at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego, California. A powerful, prophetic preacher, Colin was invited to preach at the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church in the summer of 2015. In his relatively short time as an ordained minister, Colin has made a significant impact on the church and the world. He serves a growing Latino congregation at St. Paul’s, and is an advocate for justice in his community. He is on the Board of Directors of Dorcas House in Tijuana, Mexico, a home for about forty children of inmates in nearby La Mesa prison. He was also recently named a Beatitudes Fellow by The Beatitudes Society. Colin was described by the Beatitudes Society as follows: “He is one of twelve faith leaders in the US recognized for being a game-changer because he is already changing faith communities with innovative ministry. He has been called a soul-changer and a world-changer because he is committed to transforming people and neighborhoods from the inside out for the sake of justice, inclusion and the common good.”
Perry Hodgkins Jones, M.A. Religion and the Environment, Class of 2016
Perry Jones works for Warka Water, a non-profit start-up that is working to bring sustainable and clean water to arid communities around the world. The organization delivers water-harvesting towers that draws moisture from the air. These towers are constructed from sustainable and local materials without scaffolding or machinery, are easily maintained by local people (unlike wells), and provide communities with up to 100 liters of water per day. These Warka Water towers are intended to become a part of the local economy, act as a meeting place, and provide a reliable and safe source of water for a village. As women and children are commonly the water-fetchers worldwide, the Warka Water tower frees them up to go to school or participate in the local economy.
Perry Jones works for Warka Water, a non-profit start-up that is working to bring sustainable and clean water to arid communities around the world. The organization delivers water-harvesting towers that draws moisture from the air. These towers are constructed from sustainable and local materials without scaffolding or machinery, are easily maintained by local people (unlike wells), and provide communities with up to 100 liters of water per day. These Warka Water towers are intended to become a part of the local economy, act as a meeting place, and provide a reliable and safe source of water for a village. As women and children are commonly the water-fetchers worldwide, the Warka Water tower frees them up to go to school or participate in the local economy.
Life in Sewanee, TN |