Introduction

Much more goes into a seminary curriculum than you will find in the catalog. Like a play, it is brought to life in the performance, a performance that involves everyone on the campus, and quite a few off it, staff, students, faculty, board, alumni, etc. This page leads to some brief observations by faculty describing our curriculum. You won't find more course information but simple answers to the question "what is it like being a student here?" We share, therefore, in thumbnail fashion, some of our priorities, something of the ethos we create, and some of our aspirations for students, for their learning and formation.

The Theological Disciplines

Preparation for Christian ministry involves a deep immersion within the disciplines of the Christian life. These are to transform the way we pray, the way we think, and the way we interact with the people and institutions in the world around us. Our educational programs at Southwest are centered on the specific disciplines of Christian theology:

• a creative approach to the Bible, attending to both its unity and diversity;
• a careful study of the making and remaking of Christianity through the centuries, with attention given to Christian missionary expansion and ecumenical efforts;
• an innovative passage through systematic theology, weaving together texts and ideas from the classical through the postmodern into a faithful language for God and creation;
• a rich and detailed account of the moral life of Christians, exploring how we are to live within the biblical and theological story that identifies us as God's creatures;
• an inquiry into the Christian's role within the changing landscape of contemporary society, especially in the context of the American Southwest;
• a performative engagement with Anglican liturgy and its sources, built on the assumption that our songs and common prayers form us as a body, and in turn allow that body to participate in the life of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
• a study of the work of ministry itself, through both action and reflection, a study that crafts for us a space within the Christian story to locate the story of our own vocation to serve Christ in the world.

Contemporary Culture

Since the 1960's especially, American culture has changed with such rapidity that we are hard-pressed to name where we are: post-modern? post-Western? post-Christian?, even "approaching the post-human"? A greater religious diversity has entered our experience, including new ways of believing, new ideas of the sacred, and new expressions of human hope and fear in the arts. We live in a time of migrations, of the movement of peoples within the Americas, Africa, and Asia, and from East to West in Europe. Our demography is changing, over the next 40 years, for instance, the Latino population in the US is expected to triple. Technology permeates our lives to an unprecedented degree, changing our sensibilities, our relationships, our belonging in the non-human world, and our experience of individuality. With all this, it is not surprising that people report a widespread feeling of dislocation, of being "out of control."

At Southwest, we understand that education cannot limit its concerns to the present: what students learn now must serve the learning they shall go on to do throughout their ministries. Our programs prepare students to read the changing "signs of the times," as those bear down on their ministries and their particular field of study. Students discover here the challenges and rewards of thinking and conversing across the cultures that make up US culture. Neither uncritical enthusiasm nor bleak despair do justice to the complexity, promise, and difficulty of our world. The Gospel demands a more nimble response, alive to grace and tragedy, open-eyed to good and evil. Serving and representing God's love requires faithful, courageous, and informed cultural engagement - and this is at the core of education at Southwest.

Spirituality, Ministry, Formation, and Leadership

Students at Southwest learn together through engagement with the living Christian tradition. This engagement is more than "heady," it is grounded in a common spirituality that strengthens our love of God, and is expressed in shared worship and prayer, in a devotional encounter with scripture, in times of celebration and festivity, in opportunities for art and music, and in experiences of pastoral care, counseling, teaching, and preaching. Our mission is formation for faithful, wise, courageous, learned ministry and Christian leadership.

Experiential Learning

Part of our vocation is to allow ourselves to be shaped and formed by God's grace at work in communities of faith. This in turn asks something of students, faculty, and staff at SSW: that we be willing to engage in learning through the practice of ministry and reflection upon it. Southwest is committed to this experiential learning as an important, creative, and challenging aspect of theological education.

At Southwest, students engage in experiential learning through field education placements in parishes or community organizations, clinical pastoral education and short-term immersions, and practica in counseling, all of which provide them with a framework for integrating their academic work, the practice of ministry, and their personal and vocational identities. This practice of ministry, done intentionally, with the guidance of trained supervisors and mentors, brings together the exercise of ministry with reflection upon this practice, as well as on its theological and contextual dimensions. Furthermore, this attention to reflection and integration is aimed at preparing students to be leaders and ministers who understand the importance of lifelong learning and have the tools to continue to grow in understanding and competence.

Team-teaching and Collaborative Learning

Here at Southwest, we are committed to the value of collaborative learning and teaching. Our curriculum is designed to institute a vigorous program of life-long learning; and our courses are taught by professors who are themselves committed to such continuous formation. In this spirit, Southwest's teaching faculty often use interdisciplinary methods to approach the core subjects of theological inquiry. Several courses are team-taught, and all include an important element of discussion, modeling the Christian understanding of teaching and learning as an activity undertaken by the entire community.