The D.Min. in Transformative Leadership offers experienced clergy and lay practitioners an opportunity to develop their leadership in concert with the historical values and traditions of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, as those values and traditions set forth visions for the future. In integrative and interdisciplinary courses, leaders have the opportunity to strengthen their biblical and theological grounding for their leadership; to reflect on their leadership with reference to solidarity with persons who are poor, oppressed and marginalized; and to explore critical social issues that are the contemporary versions of the historical social and religious movements of Rochester and Western New York: evangelical revival, abolition of slavery and racism, and women’s suffrage and equality.
Degree Requirements
The Doctor of Ministry requires the satisfactory completion of nine courses. Of the nine courses, three are required (INT 701, 702, 703). Students are required to take two of the additional courses offered (INT 704, 705, 706, 707, 708). The other four courses to be completed are electives, one of which is fulfilled by the actual writing of the thesis.
Each student will be assigned a faculty advisor upon admission to the program. By the beginning of the student’s fifth course, the student must identify and confirm a faculty mentor, who will direct the student’s remaining course work and thesis writing.
Limited Residency
Courses are taught in an intensive format during the first two weeks of January and June. This schedule allows students to enroll in up to four courses each year. Courses include three elements: 1) readings and responses, completed before the course is taught; 2) residency; 3) a final course project. To facilitate the work that needs to be done before classes begin, students receive syllabi and all required reading lists. Students can expect to receive these materials no later than November 1 for the January residency and April 1 for the June residency.
Requirements for the Doctor of Ministry degree can usually be met within 36 months of enrollment. Students may complete program requirements over a longer time provided all requirements are met within six years of first enrollment.
Academic Performance
No grade of less than “B” shall count for credit toward the D.Min. degree.“B-“ is not an acceptable grade for the D.Min program. Students receiving a “B-“ are automatically placed on academic probation. Students who receive two grades lower than “B” are automatically terminated from the program.
Directed Studies
Students may take two courses as directed or independent study for the D.Min. degree if warranted by their program or circumstances. Directed or independent study may be taken only after the completion of at least three courses.
Required Courses:
INT 701 Discerning the Context for Ministry in the Early 21st Century
The context of Christian ministry in the early 21st century will be discerned with regard to cultural, political, social and religious dynamics, as well as the interrelatedness of class, gender and race. We will engage issues such as the nature of ministry and of the church and its mission in the world, as well as the changing faces and forms of Christianity in the U.S. and around the globe.
INT 702 Practicing Transformative Leadership in the CRCDS Tradition
The purpose of this seminar is to explore the question, “what is Transformative leadership?” in light of the CRCDS tradition. The goal is to identify qualities of Transformative leadership historically associated with the school and to identify qualities of Transformative leaders as they relate to their communities today. By the end of the course, students will have developed a nuanced understanding of “Transformative leadership” using biblical, theological, historical, and operational understanding in their work.
INT 703 The Prophetic Tradition in Biblical Leadership
This course examines the prophetic traditions of Israel in the New Testament and its continuance in the contemporary world. What is prophetic tradition? What are its elements? How have they been expressed in the Old and New Testaments? How are they alive and vibrant in the modern world? What does the prophetic tradition mean for the character of ministry? The course seeks to 1) gain an understanding of the prophetic tradition in ancient Israel, its various forms and its varied roles so that the seminar member can identify its ongoing vitality and changes over time, 2) assess the role of “prophesy” in the New Testament church, its various roles and its relationship to the prophetic traditions of Israel so that the student can compare the nature of prophesy and prophets in the Old and New Testaments and identify changes in the tradition and explore why they occurred, and 3) inquire where the prophetic tradition is alive in the church today, what forms it has taken, where it is to be found, on whose behalf it is exercised, and why it has assumed the forms it has, so that students can evaluate the ongoing importance of prophetic ministry for church in the world.
Elective Courses
INT 704 The Global Economy: Theological & Biblical Perspectives on Wealth and Poverty
Today’s global economy operates with economic assumptions and values that differ from and conflict with Biblical and theological understandings of economy. This conflict often leads congregations and denominations into preaching a theological message of caring for the poor, marginalized, dispossessed, while engaging in practices that are said to create poverty, marginalizations and dispossession. After exploring various theological interpretations of the present form of globalization and engaging in Bible study, we will focus on concrete issues around which the conflict in world views leads individual Christians and the church into areas of ambiguity and concern. We will then discuss individual and corporate strategies for practices that help us close the gap between what we preach and what we practice.
INT 705 Gender Analysis for Transformative Leadership
The psychology of women, the advent of men’s studies, the politics of homophobia, new pastoral understandings of women and men, issues of sexual abuse and harassment, an emerging appreciation of gender myths and the escalation of violence, new appreciations of different styles of knowing have all transformed pastoral care and pastoral theology. We will examine the voices and challenges. This course will enable students to: 1) become acquainted with some of the most influential literature in the area of gender studies as it impacts pastoral theology; 2) reflect on how pastoral care and pastoral theology have been transformed by awareness of gender issues; 3) reflect critically on how issues on gender enter/will enter into your exercise of pastoral ministry and transformative leadership.
INT 706 Doing Racial Justice: Theological and Strategic Resources
This course is designed to help students to develop their ability to discover resources for combating the problem of racism. Students are expected to engage in reading, research, discussion, self-examination and prayer. Assignments are designed to reveal hidden perspectives, agendas, and knowledges. The practices of systems and organizations shall be examined to better understand how racism functions as a mega system, religion, social morality, and political fact in the modern world. The goal of this course is to discover the extent to which racism reigns in the lives of the participants, and how it can systematically be dethroned.
INT 707 Theological Practices of Political Advocacy, Community Organizing and Systems Analysis
As more and more ministers are responding to the call to public witness and public service, this course helps students:
- “exegete” the context in which their ministry takes place;
- articulate theological images, themes, traditions to support public and community ministries
- identify appropriate, effective, prophetic strategies for change.
The course will include field visits and sessions with community and political activists and officials, as well as careful attention to theological reflection.
INT 708 Ministerial Leadership for the 21st Century
(Course under development)