The curriculum should help students develop habits of . . .
• Corporate and personal prayer
• Reading and interpreting texts — biblical, theological, liturgical and musical
• Leadership in the chapel, the classroom, and the life of the community
• Listening and observing, for discerning the soul of a community and its members

The curriculum should help students develop a familiarity with. .
• The Bible’s canonical story
• Systematic, doctrinal, pastoral and missional theology
• Liturgical resources of the Episcopal Church, including BCP, lectionary, and music
• The history, present, and future of the Church, with a focus on its Anglican expression
• Congregational dynamics and the challenges facing the contemporary Church
• Contemporary world cultures, with a focus on the American context, and the ways in which Christianity interacts with cultures

The curriculum should help students develop skills of . .
• Clear and persuasive writing and speaking
• Leadership that enables connection to the God revealed in Jesus Christ, in corporate worship and small groups
• Leadership that recognizes and empowers gifts in others
• Leadership that fosters
• Christian formation and pastoral care in a community
• Leadership that enables a community to articulate and enact an inspiring and theologically coherent vision
• of God’s mission in the world
• Leadership that understands the dynamics of change and employs effective tactics of innovation and adaptation

A Narrative Description of the Gospel Mission Curriculum
The General Approach: an assigned core, plus open electives.

The first half of the M.Div. program consists of a solid core of courses, which are taken together by almost all students who are here for a regular 3-year program. This is followed (during the second half of the 3-year program) with a relatively open system, allowing students significant input concerning the final shape of their overall program. For students in the ordination track in a church of the Anglican communion, at least two of the electives must have a specifically Anglican focus.

Not every goal of the curriculum can be met by the core courses. As students near the end of their core requirements, they will find that they have developed certain habits, familiarities, and skills — but that others have not yet been addressed. Moreover, because students bring to seminary a variety of backgrounds, and because they are headed toward a variety of ministries, they differ markedly from one another as to what they have developed and what they have yet to develop. Thus, during their Middler year, students need to begin to make the transition from the solid set of core requirements into a much more open, self-designed curriculum, suited to their particular backgrounds, interests, and needs.

The Developmental Self-Assessment process beginning in the spring of the junior year, is designed to help students plan their electives.

Major Features of the Core Requirements
1. All M.Div. students take a two-course sequence of courses, team-taught by the entire faculty, entitled Gospel Mission. This course seeks to engage students in learning and reflection about the central issues that permeate the entire curriculum, that is, mission and leadership, particularly in our contemporary American post-Christendom context.

2. A strong knowledge of the Bible is of great importance, and is foundational for much of the rest of the work that students undertake at seminary. The curriculum requires students to take a sequence of four courses in Bible in their first five terms at Seabury: two Old Testament and two New Testament courses. No additional courses are required, but electives are offered regularly. Biblical languages are encouraged but not required; Greek and Hebrew are offered at Seabury in alternate years.

3. A general knowledge of the broad sweep of the history of Christianity is also foundational for much of what students do in other fields. The curriculum requires students to take a three-course sequence in Christian Life and Thought, spread over their first two years at seminary (first, third, and fifth terms). No additional courses are required, but electives are offered regularly.

4. Theology and Ethics are taught in a three-course sequence, spread across the first two years (in the third, fourth, and fifth terms). No additional courses in Theology and Ethics are required, but electives are offered regularly.

5. The principal Christian Ministries courses are “Pastoral Care and Congregations” and “Church, Ministry, and Culture.” In addition, students ordinarily enroll in a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program in the summer between the junior and middler years and spend the winter of the senior year in an intensive field education placement.

6. An introduction to liturgics is taught in two 1⁄2-unit courses, taken in the Michaelmas and Epiphany terms of the Junior year. No further courses in Liturgics are required, but electives are offered.

7. There are two required courses in Music. The first course, in the initial quarter at Seabury, is more of an “orientation” to liturgical music, with attention to essential elements of theory and practice. Much of the study of the theoretical and historical aspects of liturgical music takes place in the second course, after students have more background in Church history, liturgics, and theology. The second course is one full unit, taken in the spring of the middler year.

8. The Spirituality for Ministry course introduces students to the academic discipline of Spirituality and to particular spiritual disciplines. Students also take at least one course (1/3 unit) of “Spiritual Formation in Small Groups.” However, these courses are not the only curricular elements to bear upon a student’s spiritual formation.

9. Two required preaching courses are a part of the core curriculum. These are taken in the fall and spring of the middler year.

10. The only specific course requirements beyond the core are that students in the ordination track in a church of the Anglican communion are required to take at least two courses with a focus in Anglicanism. Courses in liturgy, history, theology, spirituality and other fields are offered, on a regular basis, as a means of fulfilling this requirement.

Spiritual Formation
Spiritual formation is integral to the M.Div. curriculum. This formation occurs not only in the required courses in “Spirituality for Ministry” and “Spiritual Formation in Small Groups,” but in other ways as well: our corporate worship life, retreats, spiritual direction,
and work with outreach ministries. While these latter are not part of the official degree requirements, they are particularly important for students who are in the ordination
process.

Worship. The principal purpose of the worship conducted at Seabury is to praise and serve the triune God. In this way we participate in the vocation common to all Christian communities. The round of worship conducted in our chapel is our liturgy: the corporate
work of the people of God. Within the all-encompassing vocation of praise and service, the community at Seabury has a more specific focus: the academic preparation and spiritual formation of persons preparing for ordained and lay ministry within the Episcopal Church. Thus, we worship together as an academic community of faculty, staff, and students. In doing so, we affirm that the work of praising and serving God is the foundation for our studies and for our corporate life in its entirety.

The particular focus of our community on preparation for ministry brings certain secondary functions of our worship into prominence. These include the following:
• In worship, our busy and fragmented lives can stop for a moment so we may recollect what we are about and find our lives, individually and corporately, recentered in God.
• In our worship, our vocational commitments can deepen as we cultivate the habits and spiritual dispositions necessary for faithful service.
• In our worship, we may be enabled by God to bear one another’s burdens and to uphold one another even in our differences as we pray for each other and for the world.
• In our worship, opportunities can be provided for students to plan, participate in, and grow to appreciate services representing the diverse liturgical traditions that contribute
• to contemporary Anglicanism.

Students and faculty have a covenant to participate regularly in the seminary’s worship: being present for worship at least once each day during the school terms; attending the Tuesday community Eucharist; and participating in the Triduum services (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil). In addition, students in the ordination process receive training and practice in all liturgical ministries open to lay persons and all aspects of the planning, preparation and evaluation of worship.

Retreats. Students participate in at least one retreat each year. Retreats are typicallyorganized each year for each of the M.Div. classes (juniors, middlers, and seniors. Additional retreat opportunities are available.

Spiritual Direction. Students become familiar with spiritual direction by meeting with a personal spiritual director at least three times during a quarter, for at least three consecutive quarters.

Service/outreach ministries. Students participate in off-the-block outreach ministries and/or work for peace and justice.
In order to facilitate the fulfillment of these last three elements, the seminary maintains upto-date lists of spiritual directors, outreach ministries, retreats (beyond those sponsored by the seminary), and similar opportunities. Students for whom these requirements present an undue financial burden may apply to the Dean for partial funding.

Anti-Racism Training. As part of their process of spiritual formation, students are expected to participate in a program of anti-racism training by the end of their second year of studies. Students may fulfill this expectation through participation in local programs announced by the seminary or through programs offered by dioceses in connection with the mandate of General Convention 2004 for anti-racism training for all candidates for ordination. They should discuss with their advisors their plans for fulfilling this expectation and their learnings from the anti-racism training experience.

All elements of Spiritual Formation are understood through the category of covenant. Our principal accountability for this covenant is to one another. A student’s pattern of attention to these matters is discussed with the advisor may also be discussed with other students. The canonical evaluation, in accord with the form developed by the House of Bishops, includes comment upon the student’s “faith in God as revealed in Jesus Christ,nourished and expressed by participation in the seminary’s liturgical life” and “the capacity
to lead a congregation in worship,” as well as “an intentional pattern of personal spiritual discipline and a commitment to promote peace and justice among all people.”

Course Requirements

Academic Requirements

1. The total number of required units is 35 and the residency requirement is 9 quarters.

2. Students must take the following core courses. Substitutions for these courses, and decisions about waivers by exam, must be approved by the faculty:

• Gospel Mission: 2- course sequence, team-taught by all faculty.
• Bible: 2-course OT sequence, followed by 2-course NT sequence.
• History/Historical Theology: 3-course sequence in the History of Christian Life and Thought.
• Theology & Ethics: 2- course sequence in Ethics; 1 core course in Systematics.
• Spirituality: 1 full-unit course (Spirituality for Ministry) in the first year, plus at least one section of Spiritual Formation in Small Groups (1/3 unit).
• Preaching: 2-course sequence.
• Liturgy: 1 unit (split across two quarters) in the first year.
• Music: 2 courses, Liturgical Music 1 (.5 unit) and Liturgical Music 2 (1 unit).
• Ministries: one course in “Pastoral Care and Congregations,” one course in “Church, Ministry, and Culture” (“Plunge”; 2 units credit); CPE (3 units); and “Practice of Ministry” (field education) (3 units).

3. Students in the ordination track in a church of the Anglican Communion must take at least two courses with a specific focus in Anglicanism. Courses that fulfill this requirement are: Anglican Worship, England in the Age of Reform, Anglican Identity, Mission in the Anglican Communion, ECUSA, Sex Money and Real Estate: Canon Law and Polity.