‘Talk about what matters in our shared common life.’
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August 2018 – Drew Theological School is offering a new Doctor of Ministry in Public Theology that will bring leaders passionate about social justice to Drew and Middle Church in New York City, which will serve as their learning lab for worship and visual arts.
“Religious professionals and other leaders of moral courage work daily to address systematic issues of poverty, racism, income equality and gender bias,” said Associate Dean Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre. “Public theology, then, is concerned with living Christian values beyond our church walls and developing our ability to talk about what matters in our shared common life.”
The program, which begins in spring 2019, features two lead mentors: Jacqueline Lewis, senior minister of Middle Church and John Janka, executive director of The Middle Project. Each is a dynamic and effective leader in the progressive church today.
Middle Church is an intentionally multiracial, multicultural and inclusive congregation. Drew students will see firsthand how such churches address race, class, culture, sexuality, gender, identity and intersectionality and how they thrive and grow by focusing on music and art.
In addition, the church and Middle Project sponsor an annual conference of religious progressives who are eager to find ways to “take the values we share into the public space—not just with words, but also with music and other art forms,” said Associate Professor J. Terry Todd.
Lewis and Janka, co-authors of The Pentecost Paradigm: Ten Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation, will mentor students throughout the three-year program, which also features intensive multi-day sessions on campus, online mentoring and a final project.
The new path to a DMin is among four that the Theological School offers. The others concentrate on:
- Courageous Leadership in a Changing Culture
- Pastoral Identity and Prophetic Fire
- Bible, Theology and Leadership in the Korean Context
For more on each concentration, please click here.
