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Academic Programs
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Colleague
Seminar I
DM-710-9 Fall 2002 |
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purpose of the Colleague Seminar is to explore the reflective
practice of ministry in an atmosphere of personal and
professional sharing and to produce a set of analytical and
theological papers as background to the Ministry Project.
The goal of this seminar is to create
a learning environment in which practitioners of ministry can
gain a critical perspective on their own work by engaging a
broad array of literature on congregations and ministry in
contemporary contexts, by engaging a diverse and supportive
community of peer learners, and by systematic theological
reflection on what they discover. This Seminar is also
designed to introduce students in Hartford Seminary’s D.Min.
program to the goals and procedures of the program.
Meeting
Day, Time and Dates:
Mondays,
10:00-5:00, 9/8-10, 9/30, 10/21, 11/11, 12/9
Location: Room 206
Course
Syllabus
Class web site
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| Nancy
Ammerman
Contact
Information:
phone: (860)
509-9500
email:
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Scott
Thumma
Contact
Information:
phone: (860)
509-9571
email:
sthumma@hartsem.edu
Dr. Thumma's web page
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Assignments: The activities of the
Seminar will include reading and discussion of what we have read,
aided by brief written summary reading reports. You
will also have hands-on opportunities to learn the skills and
techniques of becoming systematic observers and analysts of the
settings in which you minister, the findings of which you will share
with each other. In these exercises you will gather
the information you will need to write each of the major summary
papers. These two major papers will allow you to focus
on key aspects of congregational life, laying the groundwork for
assessing where a ministry project ought to be directed.
The schedule that follows notes when each of these assignments
will be due.
You should purchase
For fall semester:
- Lischer, Richard. Open Secrets
- Ammerman, et al. Studying Congregations
- Williams, Melvin. Community in a Black Pentecostal Church
For spring semester:
- Carroll, Jackson. As One With Authority
- Rothauge, Arlin. "Sizing Up a Congregation"
- Hoge, Dean, et al. Money Matters
Optional, but recommended for purchase. We will read
portions of these books. Select for purchase those that interest you
most. The books will be on reserve in the library.
- Becker, Penny and Nancy Eiesland (eds.). Contemporary
American Religion
- Orsi, Robert A., editor. Gods of the City.
- Wind, James P. and James W. Lewis, eds. American
Congregations: New Perspectives in the Study of Congregations
- Wuthnow, Robert. The Crisis in the Churches: Spiritual
Malaise, Fiscal Woe
Articles and chapters from books (other than those that are
required or recommended for purchase) will be available on the
reserve shelf in the Library and may be copied at the student’s
own discretion.
| DATE |
TOPICS |
ADVANCE READING |
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS DUE |
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Session 1
Retreat
Sep 8-9 |
An Invitation to Congregational Studies – Doing
Theology in Context |
- Intro and ch. 7 of Studying Congregations.
- Richard Lischer, Open Secrets.
- James Nieman, "Attending Locally:
Theologies in Congregations"
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Session 2
Sept 30 |
Congregations in Contemporary American Context |
- R. S. Warner, "The Place of the
Congregation" in American Congregations,
vol. 2, edited by James Wind and James Lewis.
- R. S. Warner, "A Quarter Century
Distilled," ch. 1 in New Wine in Old
Wineskins.
- R. Wuthnow, Loose Connections, ch. 3
- R. Wuthnow, After Heaven, ch. 1
- Diana Eck, A New Religious America, pp.
1-17
Scott Thumma, "Religion
and the Internet" |
Exercise on collecting community data
Reading Report #1 |
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Session 3
Oct 21 |
Mapping local ecologies |
- Studying Congregations
,
ch 2
- Melvin Williams, Community in a Black
Pentecostal Church, chs. 2 & 8
- Orsi, Robert, "Introduction" in Gods
of the City.
- Eiesland, "Contending with a Giant"
in Contemporary American Religion
- Ebaugh, et al., "The Social Ecology of
Residential Patterns" JSSR 39(1):107-116
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Exercise on surveying the religious ecology
Reading Report #2
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Session 4
Nov 11 |
Making a world – the congregation’s ritual and
material culture |
- Studying Congregations
,
ch. 3
- Three congregational rituals:
Paul Wilkes, And
They Shall Be My People, pp. 55-61; Warner, New
Wine, pp. 1-10; Robert Orsi, The Madonna of 115th
St., pp. 1-13
- E. Gray and S. Thumma, "The Gospel Hour"
in Contemporary American Religion.
- Melvin Williams, Community in a Black
Pentecostal Church, chs. 5 & 7
- Colleen McDannell, Material Christianity,
ch. 2
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Reading
Report #3 |
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Session 5
Dec 17 |
Accounts – the world(s) the congregation speaks and
sees |
- David Roozen, Wm. McKinney, and Jackson Carroll, Varieties
of Religious Presence, pp. 34-36, 83-96, and ch.
7
- Penny Edgell Becker, Congregations in Conflict,
ch. 1
- Melvin Williams, Community in a Black
Pentecostal Church, ch. 6
Choose one of the following:
- N. T. Ammerman, "Being Always Ready to
Give an Answer," ch. 4 in Bible Believers.
- Douglas Hayward, "Saturday Night in
Pasadena" pp. 163-184 in GenX Religion.
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Exercise on
understanding congregational culture: Choose timeline,
interview, or focus group
Reading Report #4
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| DATE |
TOPICS |
ADVANCE READING |
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS DUE |
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Session 6
Jan 27
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The Work of the Congregation |
- N. T. Ammerman, Organizing Religious Work,
chs. 2 & 4 (in manuscript, copy to be provided)
- Ebaugh & Chafetz
Agents for Cultural
Reproduction and Structural Change: The Ironic Role of
Women in Immigrant Religious Institutions. Social
Forces 78(2): 585-613
- Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, "’Together and in
Harness,’ ch. 3 in If It Wasn’t for the Women
- Joanna Gillespie, "Church" &
"Inner life" Pp. 195-212 in "Gender
and Generations in Congregations" from
Catherine Prelinger, ed. Episcopal Women
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Major
Paper #1
Reading Report #5
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Session
7
Feb 10 |
The Resources of the Congregation |
- Studying Congregations
, ch 5
- Dean Hoge, et al., Money Matters, chs 1-2
& 4-5
- Robert Wuthnow, The Crisis in the Churches,
chs. 1-2
- Fredrick C. Harris, Something Within, ch. 6
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Reading
Report #6 |
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Session 8
Mar 10
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How
Congregations Work -- the members |
- Studying Congregations
, ch 4
- Jay Dolan, "Patterns of Leadership in the
Congregation" in American Congregations,
vol 2, ed. by James Wind and James Lewis..
- Rothauge, "Sizing up a Congregation"
- Carroll & Roof, Bridging Divided Worlds,
ch. 4
- Melvin Williams, Community in a Black
Pentecostal Church, chs. 3-4.
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Exercise on resource analysis
Reading Report #7
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Session
9
Mar 31 |
How Congregations Work -- the clergy |
- Jackson Carroll, As One With Authority, chs.
1-4
- Larry Ingram, "Notes on Pastoral Power" Journal
for the Scientific Study of Religion (1980)
19:40-48
- D’Antonio, et al., American Catholics,
chs. 7-8
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Exercise
on observing congregational process
Reading Report #8
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Session
10
Apr 28 |
Leading the Way Forward |
- Studying Congregations
, ch 6
- Robert Wuthnow, The Crisis in the Churches,
ch. 12
- Riv-Ellen Prell, "Communities of Choice and
Memory" in Jews in the Center, ed. by
Jack Wertheimer
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Brief
paper: key leadership issues in your ministry |
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June 6 |
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Major
Paper #2 |
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