M.A.R.L. — Master
of Arts Degree in Religious Leadership
This
degree is especially designed to equip persons for various
lay roles in professional religious leadership or for ordained
roles where the M.Div. is not an ordination requirement.
The degree provides a broad foundation in Bible, history,
theology, ethics, and the arts of ministry while allowing
for a modest amount of focused study in a particular area
appropriate to the role in which the student will serve.
Educational
Goals of the Degree
The excellent graduate of the United Theological Seminary Master of
Arts in Religious Leadership program:
1.
has significant introductory knowledge of, and beginning
ability to appropriate for contemporary contexts, the Christian
tradition in its biblical origins and subsequent major
lines of development to its present global diversity of
expression;
2.
understands the nature and dynamics of the contexts in
which he or she, and the faith communities he or she leads,
are called to minister;
3.
knows herself or himself as a particular person with gifts
and yet limits, with global connections and yet a particular
location, with her or his own call and yet accountable
to a larger community, and has begun to develop her or
his own ministerial-theological identity and authority,
with a lifelong need for learning, and with a spiritual
life which she or he is equipped to nurture;
4.
is able to analyze and evaluate contexts and self, as
well as the resources available for ministry in those contexts;
5.
is able, out of the integration of faith traditions, contexts,
and self, to construct a theology that, with and for the
faith community of which she or he is a member, meaningfully
names God’s presence and leading in the context;
and
6.
out of that theology is able to shape a pattern of community
leadership that is adaptive, collaborative, pastoral, and
transforming as it invites the faith community of which
she or he is a member to become a more theologically astute,
pastoral , and transforming presence in its context.
Requirements
of the Degree
The
Master of Arts in Religious Leadership (M.A.R.L.) degree
at United requires 54 credit hours
of study, normally taken as 18
3-credit
courses. On a full-time basis these courses are taken over
two years at a rate of ten courses per year. The degree can
be completed on a part-time basis. All work for the degree
must be completed within five years. The specific requirements
are as follows:
1. Satisfactory
completion of 54 semester hours of credit. Of these,
48 are taken in the form of required courses and 6 are
taken in the form
of free electives.
Required
courses that must be taken within the first full-time equivalent
year of study
- IS100
– Principles of Writing and Critical Thinking in Theological
Interpretation (non-credit course; may be waived at admission
based on writing sample)
- IS151 – Theological
Interpretation: God, Community, and Transformation
- IS152 – Integration
of Ministry and Local Theologies
- CH161 – Orientation
to the Older Testament: Pentateuch and Former Prophets
- CH261 – New
Testament Texts in Context
- CH461 – Introduction
to Historical Theology
- CH462 – Introduction
to American Religious Histories
- CL670 – Introduction
to Pastoral Care
- CL440 – Foundations
of Christian Education
Required
courses taken within the second full-time equivalent year
of study
- TR105 – Constructive
Theology
- CS251-252 – Religious
Leadership, Organization, Administration, and Finance
in Context (two courses [9 credits] taken in
sequence in the same year)
- TR107 – Christian
Ethics
- IS261 – Final
M.A.R.L. Integrative Seminar
- One
of the following two courses:
CL330 – Worship
CL336 – Preaching
- One
global justice course
2. Satisfactory
completion of Unit I of vocational testing and consultation. These
consultations are provided by the North
Central Ministry Development Center adjacent to the seminary
campus. This unit is to be completed during
the first half of the student’s program.
3. Completion
of an Integrative Notebook documenting the student’s
individual work in integrating the different elements of
his or her course of study in a manner appropriate
to his or her identity and context. This notebook
or portfolio contains
a variety of materials (e.g., course papers, sermon videotapes,
reflections papers, art projects) and is the basis for
annual conversation with the student’s advisor concerning
his or her educational progress.
4. Participation
in the Spiritual Chronicle process, which supports
a student’s integration of the spiritual, academic,
and vocational dimensions of his or her seminary journey. 5. Recommendation
by the faculty, which takes into account academic,
personal, and professional readiness for ministry.
Concentrations
of the Degree:
Urban Ministry | Pastoral
Care and Counseling
Concentration
in Urban Ministry
The concentration
has the following requirements:
- Three
elective courses drawn from an approved list (available
from the dean), one of which must be a CH or TR course.
One of the electives must be taken by cross-registration
at Luther Seminary or Bethel Seminary.
- The
student’s contextual
placement in CS251-252 must be an
urban ministry site.
Concentration
in Pastoral Care and Counseling
The concentration has the following requirements:
- CS254/CL663
– Clinical Pastoral Education
- Two
elective courses in pastoral care and/or pastoral
counseling,
one of which may be a second unit of CPE
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