Doctor's degree Ministry - Interdenominational Theological Center

Doctor's degree Ministry from Interdenominational Theological Center is a Campus Ph.D Religious Studies degree that prepares you for a Liberal Arts career. The Doctor of Ministry degree program is offered to qualified men and women currently engaged in ministry, through the Atlanta Theological Association, which is composed of The ITC, Candler School of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary, Erskine Theological Seminary, and the Georgia Association for Pastoral Care. Objectives of the Program Nature and Purpose 1. The Doctor of Ministry program is designed to continue the education of persons for their ministry in the church and in related institutional settings. 2. It is intended to provide an advanced, yet flexible, education for those whose vocation as servants of people and servants of Jesus Christ implies their further disciplined reflection upon and possibly their further specialization within their own ministry . Basis of the D.Min. Program 1. The program rests on a base of general theological preparation, and moves toward an area of concentration that permits the student to explore the conjunction of theory, experience, and professional intentions in ministry. 2. A distinctive feature of the D.Min. degree is the doctoral project, which focuses that exploration upon an aspect of the future professional work of the student. 3. As a doctoral degree , the D.Min. differs from the Ph.D. and the Th.D. in its professional character and in its design to prepare persons for ministries other than for research and teaching in institutions of higher education. Integration of Ministry The two major aims of the program are: to achieve an integrated understanding of ministry from biblical, historical, theological, social, and personal perspectives; and to focus academic and experiential learning around those tasks of ministry significant to the ongoing ministry of the student. Complexity of the D.Min. Program The D.Min. objectives are complex because they touch several levels of an educational process concerned not only with disciplines but also with persons and institutions. Governing all goals, however, is the aim that the program directly strengthen a student's own ministry of service. All other purposes lose their significance unless that intention is understood and honored. The program features undergird the basic D.Min. aim: to strengthen the ministry of its students. Special basic features of the program may help fulfill that objective. The program is a continuing education program, and its students already have extensive experience in ministry. They are expected to deepen that experience, and are selected with this potential in mind. As an ecumenical program, the D.Min. course ranges throughout the household of God. Essential to living in that household is the servanthood Christ gave his followers. The D.Min. is a missional program. Witnessing to Christ in word and act forms the most exacting proof that theological education has taken place. The program is called a Doctor of Ministry course because it intends that its graduates will be, literally, "teachers of ministry." It presumes that the bearer of this degree will so understand the personal stake in ministry that its essence will be learned by those whom the minister serves. Operational Goals The program has two complementary goals, each addressing the same realities, and the two are to be thoroughly integrated. Neither precedes the other nor is considered mere preparation for the other. Both are integral to ministry of service. Inactivity within any major realm of either goal would be regarded as foreshortening of what should be expected of a "teacher of ministry ." 1.The first goal concerns understanding. a. Understanding of the human person: oneself (who I am, how I came to be, who I intend to be); others (who they are, how they came to be so, who they intend to be); and alternative theological, psychological, and sociological theories of personhood. b. Understanding of human society: historical and sociological understanding of contemporary society; the role of religion in that history and in that society; the relation of the Christian movements in history; and major sources of change, strain, and crisis in contemporary society, as perceived through: social-scientific analysis; theological-ethical analysis; and the integration of these and their meaning for the mission of the church. c. Undertanding of human cultural symbol systems: major historical options for meaning in human societies; the general history of ideas and history of religion; and major world-meaning systems in modern culture. the Christian perspective: biblical and historical theology; contemporary systematic theology; and constructive theology-the student's personal and corporate theological affirmations, as understood in the context of other options listed above. 2. The corresponding goal toward which the Doctor of Ministry program works is the development of skills for ministry . Once again the student is concerned with persons, human society, and cultural symbols. Only from this aspect is the emphasis upon care rather than understanding. a. Skills for articulating the gospel: by preaching, teaching, liturgy, or symbolic action; by facilitating the dialogue between basic contemporary ideas or meaning, as they appear to various persons for whom the minister has responsibility This requires both the detection and articulation of these options, as well as the enabling of their holders to formulate their own theological affirmations and convictional structure. b. Skills for effecting social change and for ministry through social structures: identifying the areas or issues of ministry that should be action priorities in given contexts, both in the church and in society at large; facilitating the development of lifestyles of churches appropriate to mission; and forming and maintaining social organizations that fulfill the needs of human beings. c. Skills for the care of persons/communicating to other persons: their value to God and to other people; their sources of security as persons; their deficiencies calling for change; and their resources for effecting change. View more details on Interdenominational Theological Center . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Religious Studies courses.