Persistence in seminary and in ministry

A follow-up study of 672 seminary students from 14 seminaries who took the Theological School Inventory in 1962 and 574 from 10 seminaries who took it in 1973 investigated factors involved in persistence in seminary and in ministry. Among those found were definiteness of decision, interest in parish ministry, a supportive spouse, unambivalent resolution of the authority problem, good role models in father and ministers. Motivations included redemptive outreach, pastoral care, Christian insight and scholarship, the encouragement of other people and a sense of effectiveness in ministry.Dr. Cardwell is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling at Christian Theological Seminary, 1000 W. 42nd St., Indianapolis, Indiana 46208. This study was the basis for her Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, June, 1978. TSI data for the 1973 subjects were made available by Richard A. Hunt, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, and Director of Ministry Inventories, P.O. Box 8265, Dallas, Texas 75205. TSI data for the 1962 subjects were coded and made available by Edgar W. Mills. Ph.D., presently visiting Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas, San Antonio, formerly Director, Ministry Studies Board. Special credit is due the 16 seminaries who cooperated by furnishing follow-up data.     

Religious interests and the decision to persist in seminary training

Religious interest data for students who plan to remain in seminary training are examined and compared with like data for students who are either undecided or plan to leave the seminary.     

Forum on seminary teaching and formation online

This Forum explores what the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) has been learning about formation in online contexts through the Educational Models and Practices project. Deborah Gin's opening essay briefly enumerates operating assumptions, several widespread misconceptions, and emerging recommended practices. G. Brooke Lester proposes a definition of formation as transformation towards community, which is grounded in constructivist learning theory. He then reflects on the possibilities for this kind of community through online learning environments. Barbara Blodgett's contribution draws on “transactional distance theory” to analyze how a variety of pedagogical techniques (both online and face to face) can work to either exacerbate or minimize the distance between learners, which is an important contributor to formation and community. The Forum originated as panel presentations at the November 2017 Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion conferences.     

The shamanic narrative in the postmodern age

Abstract

The current effacement of a deterministic, universal, scientific narrative to explain and control reality has left in its place a play of alternative narratives. The range of these explanations starts in a philosophical discourse we call deconstruction, an epistemology of textual criticism previously restricted to literary analysis. Now the entire infrastructure inherited from classic mechanics is being called into question, including its totalizing positivistic off‐shoots in the social sciences, leaving uncertain what is real, actual, or true. In this competition of narratives, the shamanic explanation provides additional answers to these categories. It distinguishes itself from alternative versions by a drive to bridge and unify the naterial here‐and‐now and the non‐material otherworld.     

A study of drop-outs from a minor seminary

Conclusions No valid conclusions can be drawn from a short study of six seminarians.The study seems to indicate the need for a more thorough screening of candidates.The mode of reaction to sexual drives is apparently an important factor in the pursuit of a celibate career.     

Ego transcendence in postmodern perspective

Based on the author's previous specification of the conventional ego mind as the primary barrier to “realization of the ground of consciousness,” postmodern perspectives on the ego mind barrier are compared with premodern and modern approaches. Postmodernists view the ego as a socio‐linguistic construct. Modern assumptions of consistent subjectivity and a unitary self or identity are rejected, and reduction of the ego mind barrier to transcendence is seen to follow from exploration of alternative self‐concepts. This perspective is manifest in theories of “possible selves” and in the contrast between formulations such as the “saturated self vs. the “empty self.” Though forms of ego transcendence likely in postmodern cultures will differ from those in premodern cultures, many of the same functions will be served, as may be observed in such phenomena as “ecomysticism.”     

Schizophrenia and postmodern philosophy

Abstract

This essay examines the postmodern idea that the schizophrenic process can be seen as a strategy of disruption, to be directed against the stability and productive forces of modern capitalism. The modern idea that schizophrenia itself is a correctable form of mental illness is also examined, and this assumption is related to issues about power and control encountered in cultural, social and psychological studies. These issues center around the different ways that modernist and postmodernist thinkers approach schizophrenic experience. Issues pertaining to social control and its connection to the nature of personal identity are examined, as are modernist and postmodernist responses to the double bind experience. Strategies of modernist control and postmodernist disruption are compared and contrasted.