John Shelby Spong served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001. In retirement, he has been a prolific writer and speaker. After teaching a weeklong intensive course at the Pacific School of Theology, he reflected on how that school has changed to more effectively meet the demands of preparing people for ministry in the early twenty-first century. He is hopeful that this institution’s current intentions will serve its students well and may become a model for others:
The Pacific School of Theology, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, the Methodists and the Disciples of Christ traditions, however, decided that rising indifference to traditional religious activity represented a new opportunity. Their vocation, they declared in both word and deed, was to engage the world in which they found themselves living. Scholarship, therefore, would not be compromised to protect the insecurities of the faithful. Biblical studies would be encouraged to come out of the academy and be introduced to the people in the pews. If the operative church definition of God could not stand against the onslaught of scientific knowledge they would let that old definition die rather than trying to respirate it artificially. They would no longer be interested in defending the creedal formulas of the 4th century that no educated person in our age can accept. They would no longer be interested in coddling those students who still wanted to diminish women, people of color or gay and lesbian people. This school thus began to define itself publicly, to announce to would-be students exactly who they were and what their students should expect. If this was not the kind of theological education that applying students wanted then they should look elsewhere. People listened and took notice. The Pacific School of Religion still trains pastors, but pastors who want to live in, speak to and engage the religious concerns of the future, not the religious concerns of the past. So at PSR experiments with new forms of ministry appeared and things tied to an older world disappeared.
So What?
Seminaries are changing. The future of seminary education is a topic of considerable education in the mainline. It is a conversation that often overlaps with discussions of alternative paths to ministry/ordination. While I have not written about this topic as extensively as other topics related to reform in the mainline, I encourage you to ponder the possibilities and to include one or more of the following posts in your consideration:
- The Future of Seminary Education
- A Survey About my Theological Studies
- A Free Mainline Seminary Education
- Sexually Healthy Seminaries
- Seminary President Discounts Online Theological Education
- Being Prepared for Church Administration