5.04.2008

Gathering of practice-related doctoral programs
From Duke, Emory, and Vanderbilt
May 1-3, 2008

In May of 2008 Vanderbilt hosted a conference that brought together students and faculty from Duke’s Th.D. program, Emory’s Concentration in Religious Practices and Practical Theology, and Vanderbilt’s Program in Theology and Practice. Plenary conversations focused on syllabi for core courses and the role of “practice” and “practical theology” in each program. Small groups considered samples of writing from each student within the larger context of that student’s vocation.

People from each school reported learning more about their own program even as they learned about the programs from other schools. Participants followed up with individual essays and conversations with others from their home institutions that should help translate some of what they learned at the conference into concrete program developments. We had a great time – and so we hope to gather at least these three schools again in two years.

Participants included Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Randy Maddox, Laceye Waner, Jeff Conlin-Miller, Melanie Dobson Hughes and Heather Vacek (all from Duke); Elizabeth Bounds, Michael Brown, Letitia Campbell, David King, AnneMarie Mingo, and Joshua Thomas (from Emory); and Patout Burns, Nicholas Head, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Ted Smith, Brad Daugherty, Brandon McCormack, and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson (from Vanderbilt).

Thanks to the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, which funded the gathering. And special thanks to the Valparaiso Project’s Dorothy Bass and Doretta Kurzinski for wise and generous help in designing and putting on the conference.

2.26.2008

Bonnie Miller-McLemore and Ted Smith describe the origins, substance, and hopes of the program in this essay for the Christian Century.

Copyright 2008 Christian Century . Reproduced by permission from the February 26, 2008 issue of the Christian Century . Subscriptions: $49/year from P.O. Box 378, Mt. Morris, IL 61054. 1-800-208-4097

10.04.2007

Congratulations to the 2007 Fellows in Theology and Practice:


Brad Daugherty - Historical Studies

Gerald Liu - Homiletics and Liturgics

Brandon McCormack - Homiletics and Liturgics

Elizabeth Madden - Religion, Psychology, and Culture

Kelly Whitcomb - Hebrew Bible

4.20.2006

The Association of Practical Theology holds its biennial conference at Vanderbilt University.

 

     

Recent News Items

5.04.2008
Gathering of practice-related doctoral programs From Duke, Emory, and Vanderbilt
May 1-3, 2008
 
2.26.2008
Bonnie Miller-McLemore and Ted Smith describe the origins, substance, and hopes of the program.
 
 
10.04.2007
Congratulations to the 2007 Fellows in Theology and Practice

4.20.2006
The Association of Practical Theology holds its biennial conference at Vanderbilt University.
4.15.2006
Congratulations to the first cohort of Fellows in Theology and Practice
 
12.20.2004
Vanderbilt University Divinity School gets $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment; Funds will be used to produce a 'generation of mentors' for ministry students
 
   

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY. - The Association of Practical Theology (APT) will be holding its biennial meeting in conjunction with the American Academy of Religion in Nashville at Vanderbilt University, April 21-23. This conference will bring together national and international scholars from a multitude of diverse disciplines to discuss the topic of "Practical Theology and Its Sub-disciplines: Pedagogies and Its Implications." Practical theology and its role in the theological education curriculum will be addressed, as well as the relationships of the sub disciplines to each other and to practical theology.

 

       
 

4.15.2006

Congratulations to the first cohort of Fellows in Theology and Practice.

 

       
 

 

 

Congratulations to the first cohort of Fellows in Theology and Practice:

Jin Young Choi -- New Testament

Angela Cowser--Ethics and Society

Sean Hayden--Theological Studies

Katharine Lassiter--Religion, Psychology, and Culture

Asante Todd--Ethics and Society

Natalie Wigg-- Theological Studies

 

       
 

12.20.2004

Vanderbilt University Divinity School gets $10 million grant from Lilly Endowment; Funds will be used to produce a 'generation of mentors' for ministry students

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A landmark $10 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to Vanderbilt University Divinity School will be used to produce a generation of professors better prepared to teach students called to the ministry.

The grant by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment is the largest ever received by Vanderbilt University Divinity School and marks the beginning of a move by the school and the Graduate Department of Religion to address a nationwide shortage of practical theology professors and the need for young scholars in theological education to address their fields to the practice of ministry.

“Vanderbilt faculty and staff worked long and hard to formulate this path-breaking new program,” said Craig Dykstra, the Lilly Endowment vice president for religion. “They studied all the relevant literature, surveyed and interviewed scores of church leaders and practicing ministers, and reflected deeply on how to be a faculty of scholar-teachers whose work can significantly strengthen the church’s ministry.

“Through this project, Vanderbilt will play a crucial role in reshaping how future seminary professors are trained and have a powerful impact on the education of new generations of ministers.”

Vanderbilt will use the funding to create the Program in Theology and Practice, which will produce more and better teachers for theological schools.

“Graduate education in the United States is geared to the development of research knowledge and skills in isolated fields,” said James Hudnut-Beumler, dean of Vanderbilt University Divinity School and the Anne Potter Wilson Distinguished Professor of American Religious History. “While this has produced tremendous advances in scientific knowledge, there’s a need for developing scholars to think through how their knowledge will be put to use. For future theological faculty, that means thinking more about the practice of ministry.”

Ministers face a wide variety of challenges when they begin their careers. People who have little or no history with organized religion, addicts among the homeless who repeatedly seek money but don’t seek to change, the joy of teaching people to reach across generations, and congregations sharply divided over politics or modes of worship are some of the challenges that await new clergy. 

The Program in Theology and Practice is designed to do a better job preparing future professors to help clergy respond wisely to these and other unforeseen circumstances that can make or break their careers.

“The ultimate beneficiaries will be the congregations and members of religious communities whose leaders are shaped by a program that has no parallel in higher education today,” Hudnut-Beumler said.

“This is a momentous event in the history of Vanderbilt Divinity School, and also a great challenge. The Lilly Endowment is placing a lot of trust here, and we in response plan to produce a generation of mentors for the
ministry.”

Plans call for the first class in the new program to begin study in the fall of 2006. The program will add up to a year to the Ph.D. curriculum for students who participate. 

Goals for the program include attracting 50 new graduate students in teaching for the ministry and involving 25 divinity school faculty members and 20 area clergy in an innovative curriculum. Vanderbilt will partner with at least
eight seminaries in the region as part of the program.

Founded in 1937, the Lilly Endowment is a private family foundation that supports its founders’ wishes by supporting the causes of religion, community development and education.

The Vanderbilt University Divinity School is one of the original schools of Vanderbilt University, which was founded in 1873. It is one of only five university-based nondenominational divinity schools in the United States.