Clergy Formation

Seminary educators must negotiate two often disparate expectations in the formation of an ethical professional identity among their students. The first expectation runs deep in the traditions of professional education. It emphasizes the development of expertise—especially the expertise of critical reflection. This leads seminary educators to focus attention on developing among their students capacities for the technical reading and analysis of classic sacred texts, the human situation, and the social contexts of human interaction for understanding their roles and responsibilities as preachers, teachers, caregivers, liturgists and administrators. William Sullivan, co-director of the Carnegie Foundation’s Preparation of the Professions Program, argues that this commitment to “cognitive rationality” pushed seminary and other forms of professional education “toward the near-equation of detached analytical reasoning with professional competence” and technical proficiency with professional identity. Religious communities, however, desired something more than cognitive expertise in their professional leadership. They expected seminaries to align professional knowledge and skill with religious commitment and moral integrity, emphasizing the integrity of professional practice in clergy identity. A seminary education from this perspective not only advances