Bangor Theological Seminary

SUSTAINING AND RENEWING OF MINISTRY

Doctor of Ministry Seminar #4

Spring Semester 2000

 

Faculty facilitator: Marvin M. Ellison

159 State Street

Portland, Maine 04101

207 · 774-5212

Mellison@bts.edu

Seminar description:

"Change in a congregation [or other ministry setting] always marks a turning point, and that transformation may precipitate a crisis with perils and opportunities" (BTS Catalog 1998-2000, page 43).

This seminar has a two-fold learning agenda:

    1. Cultural crisis and moral discernment: A theological, ethical, and pastoral examination of selected conflicts in contemporary U.S. culture and how these may be constructively addressed in churches, synagogues, and other ministry contexts.

      2. The organizing question for this inquiry is, how can faith communities serve as communities of moral discernment and renewal in the midst of cultural crisis? What are the specific challenges, resources, opportunities, and risks as faith communities seek renewal in the midst of this cultural crisis?

    2. Preparation of project proposals: The design by each doctoral candidate of a proposal for a ministry project and a plan of implementation for the third year of the program.

The organizing question for this work is, what "vision of possibilities" can faith communities offer, and how can they secure resources for the sustenance and renewal of life and ministry in their particular settings?

Meeting schedule:

February 7-8, 2000; March 13-14; March 27-28; April 10-11; May 8-9; and June 5-6.

June 19-20: Project Orientation

 

 

Requirements
  1. Book review: During the semester choose one of the following readings (or a resource not listed, but of particular interest to you) to introduce into the conversation. Place a 1-2 page book review on the seminar’s listserve.

Penny Edgell Becker, Congregations in Conflict

Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith

Wayne Dosick, Living Judaism

Kelly Brown Douglas, Sexuality and the Black Church

Celia Hahn, Growing in Authority, Relinguishing Control: A New Approach to Faithful Leadership (Alban Institute).

Eleanor H. Haney, The Great Commandment: A Theology of Resistance and Transformation

Daniel Maguire and Larry Rasmussen, Ethics for a Small Planet

Carol Ochs and Kerry Olitzky, Jewish Spiritual Guidance: Finding Our Way to God

Charles Olsen, Transforming Church Boards Into Communities of Spiritual Leaders

Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective

Larry Rasmussen, Earth Community, Earth Ethics

Sylvia Thorson Smith et al., eds., Called Out With: Stories of Solidarity in Support of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Persons

Dorothee Soelle, To Work and to Love

Renita Weems, Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets

Robert Wuthnow, Crisis in the Churches

 

 

 

B. Preparation for each seminar session:

  1. After completing the assigned reading, prepare a brief, 1-2 page (typed, double-spaced) response paper. A suggested format is to provide a brief exposition of some portion of the reading and then an application of insights gained to the renewal of ministry (and, as appropriate, to your specific ministry context).
  2. Post your response paper on the seminar’s e-mail address no later than the Friday before the seminar session.
  3. Prior to the session, do two things:
    1. Read all the entries.
    2. Then select one or two of the response papers, and bring to the seminar session some written comments for the author(s), as well as questions for further reflection.
  1. At each subsequent seminar session, provide written comments and questions to one or two different members of the seminar, so that by the end of the semester, you will have given and received feedback from everyone else at least once.

C. Developing a proposal for your ministry project:

  1. March 27-28 (session #3): Be prepared to give a verbal report on ideas emerging for a ministry project, the work of your discernment team (aka "site team") to date, and anticipated benefits and obstacles related to the project.
  2. April 10-11 (session #4): Prepare a preliminary draft (8-10 pages) of your project proposal, including a description of the project, theological-ethical-biblical grounding, a plan of implementation and evaluation, and bibliography. Bring three (3) copies, one for the faculty facilitator and two for peer review.
  3. May 8-9 (session #5): Provide written comments to two of your peers on their preliminary drafts.
  4. June 5-6 (session #6): Submit your revised project proposal for review and approval by the Doctor of Ministry committee (and for further discussion at the June 19-20 project orientation).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Topics and assignments

 

I. February 7-8 Thinking theologically, thinking ethically about renewal in the midst of cultural crisis

Reading: Daniel C. Maguire, The Moral Core of Judaism and Christianity:

Reclaiming the Revolution (Fortress, 1993), especially Part One (Chapters 1-5) and Part Two, Chapter 6, 7, 8, and 10).

Walter Brueggemann, "Voices of the Night -- Against Justice," in Brueggemann, Parks, and Groome, To Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly: An Agenda for Ministers, pp. 5-28.

II. March 13-14 Maintaining the integrity of ministry as a profession

Reading: Richard Gula, Ethics in Pastoral Ministry

Resource person: Anne Underwood, Esq.

 

III. March 27-28 The Crisis in Economic Life and Changing Patterns of Philanthropy

Due today: Oral reports on project ideas and work to date of discernment teams

Reading: James Hudnut-Beumler, Generous Saints: Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money

Sermons and/or Commenary from Maimonides, John Wesley, and

Andrew Carnegie (handouts to be provided)

Resource person: Robert W. Lynn

 

IV. April 10-11 The Crisis in Family Life and Sexuality

Due today: First draft of project proposal

Reading: Marvin M. Ellison, Erotic Justice: A Liberating Ethic of Sexuality

(Westminster John Knox, 1996).

Yoel H. Kahn, "Making Love as Making Justice: Towards a New Jewish Ethic of Sexuality," in Sexuality: A Reader, ed. Karen Lebacqz and David Sinacore-Guinn (Pilgrim, 1999), pp. 581-592.

Kathy Rudy, Ch. 2 ("’Haven in a Heartless World’: The Historical Roots of Gendered Theology") and Ch.3 (Sexuality, Salvation, and the Campaign for Family Values) in Rudy, Sex and the Church: Gender, Homosexuality, and the Transformation of Christian Ethics (Beacon, 1997), pp. 15-66.

Resource persons: Jean Vermette and P.J. Mears, Transsupport

 

V. May 8-9 Critical decisions at the beginning and end of life

Due today: Written feedback on project proposals

Reading: Ronald Cole-Turner, ed., Human Cloning: Religious Responses (Westminster John Knox, 1998)

James B. Nelson, "Embryos and Ethics: Old and New Quandaries

About Life’s Beginnings," in Nelson, Body Theology (Pilgrim,

1992), pp. 145-63.

Laurie Zoloth, Chapter 8 ("Developing the Common Language: The Book of Ruth") and Conclusion ("Community and Conscience: Public Choices and Private Acts"), in Health Care and the Ethics of Encounter (University of North Carolina Press, 1999), pp. 193-245.

Resource persons: Larry Harcourt, M.D.

Candyce Powell, Maine Hospice Council

Richard Gelwick, Maine Bioethics Network

Gail Dow, Maine Hemlock Society

VI. June 5-6 Violence among intimates

Due today: Final draft of project proposal

Reading: Carol Adams, Battered Women

Naomi Graetz, Silence Is Deadly: Judaism Confronts Wifebeating (Jason Aronson, 1998), Ch. 3 ("A Prophetic Metaphor: God Is to Israel as Husband Is to Wife -- The Metaphoric Battering of Hosea’s Wife"), pp. 35-52.

Rabbi Julie Ringold Spitzer, When Love Is Not Enough: Spousal Abuse in Rabbinic and Contemporary Judaism (New York: Women of Reform Judaism, 1995 revised and expanded), pp. 25-66.

Resource person: Francine Stark, community educator, Spruce Run Domestic Violence Project, Bangor

 

 

VII. June 19-20 Project orientation (Bangor campus)