Principals of two top seminaries—one Anglican, the other Lutheran—say that complete communion between the Anglican Church of Canada and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has had a rather muted result on theological schooling. Nonetheless they also see options for nearer ties at a time when this area is encountering main upheaval.
Stephen Andrews, principal of Wycliffe Higher education (and former bishop of the diocese of Algoma), and the Rev. Kristine Lund, principal-dean of Martin Luther University School, say that much more than 20 years just after the Waterloo Declaration, the partnership concerning the Anglican and Lutheran churches has had small result on either of their schools.
“I have not seen so significantly of [the Lutheran influence] at Wycliffe University in any immediate way… and I really don’t hear substantially from Anglican bishops possibly about the Lutheran ingredient to our education,” Andrews suggests.
“My impact would be similar,” Lund states. “I think [full communion has] experienced a pretty confined affect on theological education for Lutherans, at least out east.” The primary interaction with Anglicans for M. Div learners at Luther, Lund suggests, is not in the classroom, but by means of contextual placements and internships which at times choose location in Anglican or joint Anglican-Lutheran parishes.
Both of those principals be aware, however, that the effect of entire communion can seem extremely unique at theological faculties in various sections of the region. The diploma of cooperation involving Anglican and Lutheran theological universities usually is dependent on geographic proximity and the relative presence of Anglicans and Lutherans in a neighborhood.
In Saskatoon, for illustration, the School of Emmanuel and St. Chad shares a setting up with the Lutheran Seminary, main to a larger trade of college students among the two educational institutions. By comparison, there is no Lutheran seminary in Toronto or Anglican seminary in Waterloo.
Andrews estimates that two to 4 Lutheran college students could possibly enrol at Wycliffe College each and every calendar year. In the meantime, there are no Anglican pupils at Luther. In component, this discrepancy is thanks to the better variety of Anglican educational facilities throughout Canada and prospective Lutheran learners being closer to them.
Lund thinks the restricted affect of whole communion at Luther is partly due to “theological education and learning in its complete expression [being] in important upheaval. Preparing of pastors or clergymen for congregational ministry is not the similar as it was 10 several years ago or even five many years ago.”
In the confront of dwindling interest in the M. Div. degree, Luther not too long ago undertook what Lund describes as “a important assessment of our M. Div. system to discern: how do we put together candidates for a church [where] we don’t even know what it will be like in 5 yrs?”
Lund and Andrews say there has been a shift in scholar fascination away from congregational ministry towards other types of company, these as supporting the homeless, resettling refugees, chaplaincy or serving as spiritual care providers in hospitals.
“We have people who may perhaps want to perform in the not-for-gain sector who want a theological basis people today who simply want to deepen their know-how of the Christian religion, in what ever vocation they’ve been pursuing,” Andrews says. He details to Luther’s pastoral counselling plan as an case in point of possibilities to congregational ministry.
“When I discuss with undergraduate students all around in this article, they are hunting for producing meaning,” Lund claims. “They’re on the lookout to make sense of this planet that is so unpredictable and so polarized. Racism, fairness, the ecosystem, the erosion of democracy—these are unbelievably crucial troubles to younger individuals.” On individuals troubles, she claims, theological educational facilities have “something to bring to the table.”