Common Worship in Theological Education

Description: What is the place of corporate worship in theological education? Certainly it is not unexpected to have ministry students attending seminary chapel but what are the expectations for the students who attend chapel? Is it to form their liturgical sensibilities into conformity with a particular worship tradition or style? Or is it to provide a safe place to try things that one would be reluctant to experiment with in congregational worship? Although common worship for ministry students is almost a given in all theological schools there are few common understandings about it goals and purposes. Common Worship in Theological Education is the first book to address the theological pedagogical and political issues involved in the planning and execution of seminary chapel. It offers voices from across the theological and ecumenical spectrum about chapel as well as involving multiple disciplines in the conversation. This volume provides the first comprehensive survey of the worship issues at stake in seminary education today. The essays in this collection provide the foundation for a productive conversation within a seminary faculty or among colleagues within a theological discipline. This volume makes the case that the chapel ought to have a seat at the table when the education mission of a theological school is being discussed. So pull up a chair and prepare for a fascinating conversation. Endorsements: Theological schools in North America are most often also worshiping communities that gather to sing and pray to hear the scriptures proclaimed to eat and drink at the Lords table. The essays in this volume are a welcome contribution to serious reflection about the practice of worship in seminary chapels and its import for theological education and formation. Let this be the starting point for a wide-ranging and much-needed conversation. --Thomas H. Schattauer Professor of Liturgics and Dean of the Chapel Wartburg Theological Seminary Finally a book for those who know the influence of common worship in theological curricula and a book to help conversations begin about the function and purpose of chapel in our schools. The essays from diverse contexts of theological education provoke questions. Yet each essay demonstrates the power of chapel to form our communities and the need for schools to attend to common worship as a way of learning and knowing alongside other curricular goals. --Jennifer L. Lord Associate Professor of Homiletics Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary This book is a needed and welcomed addition to the conversation about the practices in theological education. The contributors all practical theologians bring their individual pedagogical strengths and particular academic interests to this collective work which examines the multiple dimensions of the seminary chapel experience and its formative effects on ministers-in-training. --Barbara Day Miller Assistant Dean of Worship and Music Candler School of Theology About the Contributor(s): Todd E. Johnson is the Brehm Chair of Worship Theology and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary where he directs the PhD program in Christian Worship. Siobhán Garrigan is Associate Professor of Liturgical Studies and Associate Dean for Chapel at Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music where she has directed the daily ecumenical worship program since 2002.