University of London Divinity Leaflet 2021

The Future of Religious Studies in India, 2020

The Department of Religious Studies offers undergraduates from across Northwestern the opportunity to study religions as historical and cultural phenomena. This includes the scholarly exploration of religious traditions, histories, cultures, beliefs, practices, sacred texts, sacred stories, and material productions from around the world in their institutional as well as noninstitutional ("on the ground") forms. The department's approach is fundamentally multidisciplinary, drawing from a variety of fields and critical perspectives: anthropology, history, philosophy, ethics, sociology, and literary and cultural studies, among others. The wide variety of undergraduate courses range from large introductory classes to advanced seminars, and there are also independent studies and a senior thesis program for qualified students. The courses cover aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, African American and Native American religions, new religious movements, and religion and culture in America. Several courses are structured comparatively or thematically and address religious ideas and phenomena across cultures and contexts. The department offers a major and minor in religious studies and a minor in Catholic studies.

Deals comprehensively on the above topic positing the deficiencies in the areas of curricula, syllabi, pedagogy and evaluation especially theological education.

Journal of Adult Theological Education, 2013

This article examines the new 'Common Awards' partnership between the Church of England and Durham University, and asks what the University and the Church have to gain from one another in the area of theological education. I argue that the University can help extend the range of critical conversations in which the Church engages, and help form some of the intellectual virtues required in those who pursue this reflection. In return, the Church can help the University recognise its nature as a school of intellectual virtue, its need for insistent and pervasive discussion of the good that it does in the world, and its need to resist the pressures that threaten to thin its life down to technocratic rationality. I also argue that, for both the church's purposes and the university's purposes, the learning pursued in this partnership needs to be understood as deeply engaged with the life and practice of the church-as taking off from attentive description of that practice, and as returning to the refinement, extension and transformation of that practice, however long might be the journeys of abstraction and reflection that take place in between.

British Journal of Religious Education, 2014

Paper presentation for the 2015 Curriculum Review of Davuilevu Theological College

2012

The Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) requires a graduate theological degree from an accredited seminary or the equivalent for qualification as a Board Certified Chaplain. This study infers the applied standard for equivalency from the publications of APC and from the theological masters program requirements of accredited seminaries. The courses credited toward the first Master of Divinity in Pagan Pastoral Counseling from Cherry Hill Seminary are shown to parallel those of degrees from two accredited seminaries, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary and Tyndale Seminary, when religion-specific requirements for Bible and Christian history studies are replaced by Pagan studies and personal spiritual formation is based on the stated mission values of Cherry Hill Seminary rather than the teachings of Jesus. Further analysis, given similar accommodation, suggests that the Cherry Hill Seminary curriculum in Pagan Pastoral Counseling could satisfy the accreditation requirements of the Association of Theological Schools.

Forthcoming in Festschrift in honor of Dr. Matthew Thomas, 2018

Theological education is a kind of religious education, but it is more advanced and clerical (i.e., pertaining to the clergy’s work) in nature. Thus, while Sunday School education and religious education are part of Christian education, theological education is that which is formally offered at seminaries and Bible colleges. A certification in theological studies is considered a pre-qualification for the ministry of doctrinal teaching. Of course, a certificate alone does not qualify a minister. Also, it is possible for one to be theologically skilled without having undergone any formal theological training or having a certificate issued by an institution, provided that individual has been educated in a non-formal or informal way.