Applied Theological Studies
Applied Theological Studies nurture and develop the skills
and tools of leadership in ministry and service, using an experience/reflection
model of learning. Both formal courses and participation in the life of the
community are directed to the goal of holistic education. Courses and seminars
in pastoral care, communication, teaching, and administration are offered.
Supervised Ministry provides a context in which students function as pastors,
care-givers, chaplains, educators, administrators, among other leadership
positions. Skills and information are acquired for use in the present and the
future, for ministry among one's peers and in the world at large, and for
leadership in meetings and churches.
ATST 110 Perspectives in Christian Religious Education
This course provides a study of the historical
background and philosophical development of Christian religious education with
particular emphasis on those educators, movements, and philosophies that have
directly impacted contemporary religious education. One of the goals of this
course is the student's development of a detailed personal philosophy of
religious education.
3 semester hours
ATST 117 Introduction to Church Administration
This course provides a theoretical foundation for
administration in a local church or meeting. Recognizing that church leadership
is primarily an act of worship, the emphasis is on integrating spirituality and
creativity into administrative tasks such as conducting meetings,
decision-making, recruiting volunteers, developing leaders, and dealing with
finances.
3 semester hours
ATST 119 & 119AC Introduction to Pastoral Care
This course is an experiential and critical
exploration of pastoral care. Care-giving in a faith community or by its
representatives is a practical theological activity, drawing on religious
tradition, social sciences, and theology. This class focuses on the integration
of person, faith, belief, method, and practice. Skills of relating and caring
are addressed in the context of social and personal dynamics.
3 semester hours
ATST 120 & 120EA Introduction to Preaching
This course assists students in acquiring the basic
knowledge and skills for effective biblical preaching. Attention is given to biblical exegesis in
the preparation of sermons, and students are instructed and given opportunity
to apply homiletical theory and skills toward the development of their own
preaching voice.
3 semester hours
ATST 121 Aspects of Writing as Christian ministry
This course introduces the concept of writing as a
public ministry. Students look at writing through Christian history, study the
Friends tradition of publishing as ministry, and examine types of public
ministry using writing - such as publication, in therapy and/or recovery
groups, at writing clubs in local congregations, and more. This class works on
basic writing skills and the idea of writing to express.
3
semester hours
ATST 150 & 150EA Pastoral Spirituality
This course emphasizes the personal side of
pastoring, including the importance of caring for one's physical, emotional,
mental, social, and spiritual health. Students will become familiar with the
joys and pitfalls of being part of a pastoral family and begin to develop a
personal philosophy of pastoral ministry.
3 semester hours
ATST 221 Writing the Story
This course introduces students to, and gives them
practice in, the basic techniques used to write good stories, whether fiction
or non-fiction. Among other topics, it will cover point of view, the use of
sensuous detail, the development of character and dramatic oppositions, the
uses of melodrama, the creation of specific emotional effects, the use of
complications, and the function of theme. It will show students how to find
their own story ideas or germs and develop them into full stories, and how to
work effectively with spiritual and religious content. In addition to
assignments for each class, each student will complete a short story of about
2500 words.
3 semester hours
ATST 224 Moral and Faith Development
The work of persons such as Erik Erikson, Lawrence
Kohlberg, Robert Kegan, Carol Gilligan and James Fowler will be studied to
provide a basis for understanding developmental theory. Critical to the course
will be an examination of the pedagogical implications of this work for Religious
Education and Peace Education.
3 semester hours
ATST 230 Creative Use of Anger in Ministry
This seminar will examine the universal human
feeling of anger in its formation, varieties of expression, and results of
expression/repression. The positive and negative uses of anger in pastoral care
and other kinds of ministry will then be the focus. Theory, practice, and case
studies will be combined.
3 semester hours
ATST 231 The Church's Mission in a World Community
This course focuses on how the church understands
and undertakes its mission in the world. Historical and contemporary models
will be examined with careful attention given to problems relating to the
conversion experience, cross-cultural ministry, religious pluralism, and church
growth.
3 semester hours
ATST 242 Clinical Pastoral Education
Students can participate in an approved Clinical
Pastoral Education program and earn three semester hours. Clinical Pastoral
Education programs are conducted under close supervision in hospitals, mental
hospitals, prisons, and other settings around the country. Most summer programs
are 10 or 11 weeks in length; nine-month programs are part-time. (See CPE, page
26)
3 semester hours
ATST 244 Ministry Among Unprogrammed Friends
This course is intended to provide the opportunity
for a full discussion of the way Friends who do not call pastors understand the
vocation to ministry. This naturally involves an examination of official
practice in yearly meetings wholly or partly composed of unprogrammed meetings,
and an examination of the wide range of activities that can be called
"ministry," from the spoken word to personal service of various kinds.
Essential to the course will be the endeavor to identify and describe the forms
of ministry to which Friends feel themselves called, as an aid to both personal
and corporate discernment among Friends.
3 semester hours
ATST 250 & 250EA The Work of the Pastor
This course emphasizes the day-to-day ministry of
pastoring. Primary foci are: the candidating process, visitation ministry,
weddings and pre-marital counseling, and funerals and grief care. Discussions
of principles, as well as opportunities for practice, are integral to this
course.
3 semester hours
ATST 252 Educational Ministries
Learning opportunities that occur outside Sunday
morning worship are essential to the health and vitality of local
congregations. Social changes and learning differences lend a measure of
difficulty to creating these opportunities. This course, with a high degree of practicality,
presents models and strategies for developing effective educational ministries
within a variety of settings in local meetings or churches.
3
semester hours
ATST 255 Congregational Models
This course exposes students to some of the models
that have been developed to help understand congregational systems. It will
also give students experience in congregational analysis. Students will spend
the entire semester studying a single congregation, using various tools of
analysis; or they may use a single tool to study multiple congregations.
3 semester hours
ATST 260 The Friends Pastor
What makes pastoral Friends different from other
Christian churches? This course will examine the way some Friends, while
adopting the pastoral system, have attempted to maintain a distinctively Quaker
style of worship, outreach, administration, leadership and pastoral care. The
role of the Friends pastor will be considered in light of historical precedents
and contemporary paradoxes.
3 semester hours
ATST 261 The Pastor and Religious Education
What is the pastor's role in the educational work of
the church? History, educational
philosophy, and contemporary settings will be considered en route to helping
students identify what part they, as pastoral ministers, will play in the
nurture of their congregations through religious education.
3 semester hours
ATST 341 Directed Readings in Denominational Polity
Students other than Quaker may develop a directed
reading course under the guidance of an approved supervisor from their
denominational tradition or a regular member of the ESR faculty.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
ATST 320 Theology and Preaching
What is the role of theology in preaching? Is it possible to "do" theology in the
pulpit without turning the worship experience into a dull, formal lecture? This course will engage students in
reflection on theological issues from a homiletical perspective. It will also give students opportunities to
preach sermons that are biblically based, theologically focused, and creatively
developed.
3 semesters hours
Prerequisite: ATST/M 120
ATST 328 & 328EA Emergency Pastoral Care
This course examines life events and precipitating
factors that lead persons and families into crisis. Guidelines for identifying
signs, causes, and stages of crises are addressed. Students will formulate a
framework for the role of the faith community in response to tragic events.
Theological questions elicited by crises, the process of referral, and various
types of emergencies are also explored.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 331 Writing as Public Ministry
This course is designed for students who want to
explore what it means to write for publication as ministry. Students will
explore and develop an understanding of the various kinds of writing which can
be powerful means of ministry. They will also study and experiment with
technique as they further develop their own creative processes and artistic
techniques.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST121
ATST 332 Writing for Ministry Seminar
This course is designed for writers who want to
attempt major writing projects. Preparing such a project for the reading public
is the intent of this seminar, so all facets of writing for publication will be
explored (writing, editing and revising, market research, preparing queries and
book proposals). This course will also address such things as the writer's
responsibility to take seriously the clarification of his or her own beliefs in
his or her writing, the role of revelation in writing as ministry, and how the
writer's experiences of the sacred can serve as inspiration for writing as ministry.
It is expected that there will be a good deal of one-on-one work between the
students and the instructor. Direction for the course is determined in part by
student interests and needs as they work toward publication of their writing project.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 331
ATST 333 Human Sexuality in Ministry
This seminar will examine the variety of ways in
which sexuality is a dimension of any relationship and the specific ways in
which sexuality is an issue in ministry. The effects of sex roles, cultural
conditioning and gender will also be explored as the parameters within which
ministry occurs. The topics to be covered may include the following: conflicting
values; sex education in the church; and current social issues related to
sexuality. Opportunity will be provided to reflect on one's own sexual history
and personal reactions to the material, with the aim of developing/solidifying
a personal sexual ethic that would inform one's ministry.
3
semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 338 Group Pastoral Care
This course will look at the nature of groups within
the church or meeting, the nature of leadership in groups, and the process that
groups tend to use. Assisting groups to function in a healthy way for the
purposes for which they are intended will be a focus. The pastoral care that
occurs in any group setting, in addition to the role of support and growth
groups within the faith community, will also be examined.
3
semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 339 & 339EA Discerment of Calls and Gifts for
Ministry
This course engages students in reflecting on how
God has been and is now present in their lives, calling and preparing each for
ministry that makes use of their gifts to serve God and God's world. Students
consider issues of vocation and ministry, and explore different facets of their
giftedness and challenges. Through class work and other experiences of discernment
they learn practices for individuals and communities who seek to discern God's
leading. This course is a prerequisite for Supervised Ministry.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: SPST 101/101EA
ATST 348 & 348EA Pastoral Care with Family Systems
This class will explore the theoretical bases of
systems theory and how this perspective has evolved into family therapy. Major
family systems models will be examined with attention to their relationship to
practical theology and their use by pastors and faith communities. Contextual issues beyond the family
structure, including cultural factors and particular conditions like
addictions, will be a particular focus of the discussion.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 349 Pastoral Care in Marrige
Marriage is examined theologically and as a context
of pastoral care. Issues within marriage, including communication, sexuality,
commitment, intimacy, children, and affairs, are explored using a variety of
perspectives. Special attention is given to pastoral care before marriage and
after divorce. Each class participant will interview a couple.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 368 Pastoral Care with the Dying and Their Families
This course will involve an examination of the grief
process and the way in which pastoral care can be provided during times of
bereavement. Additional topics that may be included are the following: the importance of death; education for the
community; the place of the community of faith in providing care; the role of the
funeral or memorial service; the effect of a death on the family; and students'
awareness of their own mortality. Students will focus on a project reflecting
their own interest.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 378 Cross-cultural Pastoral Care
How can the pastoral caregiver become culturally and
cross-culturally competent? This seminar attempts to work with this question by
examining the role of culture in shaping the person of the caregiver and of the
care-receiver, the nature and expectations of the relationship formed, as well
as in shaping a person's view of God. The role of the pastoral care-provider as
being between cultures will be examined. A cross-cultural experience and a
project of the student's choosing are components of the course.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 119/119EA
ATST 380 & 380EA Supervised Ministry
Each participant in this academic-year- long program
and concurrent seminar is engaged in a ministry internship appropriate to that
student's gifts and calling. Arrangements for supervised ministry
sites/projects, and for weekly reflection with a supervisor, are made during
the second semester of the previous year.
Prerequisites: faculty approval of the student's readiness for
Supervised Ministry, and at least 27 semester hours earned, including the
following courses: SPST 101/101EA, ATST 339/339EA, BIST 101/101EA, B 102/102AC,
THST 101/101EA/T101, one introductory Church History course (H 101/101AC, H
102/102AC, or HCST 103/103EA), and two courses in the student's emphasis.
ATST 390 & 390EA Comprehensive Seminar
This seminar is part of the evaluation process in
the student's achievement of a degree and is to be taken in the spring semester
before the degree is to be granted. It enables the student to have an experience
in integrating learning from all areas of the curriculum around a given
problem. The seminar also serves to strengthen a student in areas of weakness.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 380/380EA (may be taken concurrently)
ATST 391 Writing for Publication
This course assumes students have good basic writing
skills whether or not they have been published prior to this class. Our
objective is to move toward publication of a major writing project (at least
100 pages) and by the end of the semester to complete a first draft of a
manuscript for publication. Since this is a seminary course, the kinds of
projects which will fit best within a broad understanding of "religious
writing" include the following: 1) collections of essays on theological,
biblical or spiritual themes that fit well together; 2) devotional meditations
that can be used for public or private worship and may have a variety of forms;
3) persuasive books addressing issues of peace and social justice or other
significant concerns; 4) creative Bible studies; 5) autobiographical stories
with which others can identify; 6) parables or fictional pieces for adults,
youth, or children.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 121 & ATST 331
ATST 393 Topics in Writing
This advanced seminar focuses on some topic or issue
related to writing for ministry. Some examples in the past have been "Home,
Where One Starts: Place, Work, Voice" and Writing the Memoir". Different topics
are considered in subsequent offerings; therefore this seminar may be taken for
credit more than once.
3 semester hours
Prerequisite: ATST 121
ATST 400 Independent Study
Students who have demonstrated appropriate academic
or professional abilities may engage in a specialized study project under the
supervision of a faculty member. Independent Study forms are available from the
office of Academic Services and at sas.earlham.edu.
3
semester hours
