These are the degree requirements for students who matriculated in the 2017-18 school year. Requirements for other years can be found in their appropriate sections. The Master of Arts in Pastoral and Spiritual Care is a professional master's degree for students who are specializing in pastoral and spiritual care within religious communities or other organizations like hospitals, hospice, and military organizations.
The curriculum is designed to meet the needs of those preparing for the specialized vocation of pastoral and spiritual care. Students take courses in pastoral and spiritual care that implement an intercultural approach to spiritual care, integrating contextual understandings of religious truth with a social justice orientation. Clinical pastoral education provides intense group learning and supervision of the practice of pastoral and spiritual care in clinical settings.
Students also take courses in the core curriculum. Each area has a thematic focus, and courses within each area cohere in directing students and their teacher to think more critically about their assumptions and to develop theological perspectives necessary for becoming responsible pastoral and spiritual caregivers in a changing world. The personal and professional courses ground students in an understanding of their vocation, and help them integrate their personal theologies of spiritual care with public theologies using a social justice orientation.
DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Students must meet the requirements as specified in the Master’s Student Handbook (of their year of matriculation) to graduate. The MAPSC degree requires at least 80 quarter with a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or better. In addition, all required courses below (60 of the 80 credits), must be completed with a letter grade of C or better (or with a Pass, when no letter grade is offered).
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First Year Interdisciplinary Course (4 credits): This course is team-taught and limited to 25 students per section. This course will introduce students to terminology, reading of primary texts and how to write academic papers as well as expose them to the complexity and significance of theological reflection. Some examples of possible topics may be: Theodicy/Suffering and War, Food, Eating, Environmental Justice and Hospitality, etc.
Core Courses (28 Credits):
Comparative Religious Traditions (CR) (8 credits: one breadth and one depth course)
Sacred Texts/Contextual Analysis (TX) (4 credits)Social/Contextual Analysis (AN) (4 credits)
Historical Development and Expressions of Religious Traditions (HI) (4 credits)
Constructive Theology (TH) (4 credits)
Theology and Religious Practices (PR) required course: Intro to Pastoral Theology and Care (4 credits)
Pastoral and Spiritual Care Electives (16 credits)
Personal and Professional Formation (13 credits) - Required courses:
Consultation & Formation (0 credits): to be completed during the first quarter of classes at Iliff School of Theology Vocation and Orientation (2 credits)
Identity, Power, and Difference (2 credits)
Clinical Pastoral Education (8 credits): students may add another 8 (for a total of 16)
CPE Integration Praxis (1 credit)
Other Courses (19 credits)
Total for Master of Art in Pastoral and Spiritual Care: 80 credits
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This degree meets some of the requirements currently set by the Association of Professional Chaplains for two forms of certification:
- AN ASSOCIATE CERTIFIED CHAPLAIN
A person who has demonstrated professional excellence as a chaplain, meeting all eligibility requirements including a bachelor’s degree, a 48 semester-hour (72 quarter-hour) graduate theological degree from an accredited school, two units of clinical pastoral education (CPE), ordination or commissioning to function in a ministry of pastoral care, and ecclesiastical endorsement by a recognized faith group, is recommended by a Certification Committee, approved by the Commission on Certification, and ratified by the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc. Board of Directors.
- A BOARD CERTIFIED CHAPLAIN
A person who has demonstrated professional excellence as a chaplain, meeting all eligibility requirements including a Bachelor’s Degree, a 72 semester-hour (108 quarter-hour) graduate theological degree from an accredited school, four units of clinical pastoral education (CPE), ordination or commissioning to function in a ministry of pastoral care, and ecclesiastical endorsement by a recognized faith group, is recommended by a Certification Committee, approved by the Commission on Certification, and ratified by the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc. Board of Directors.
Length of Study: Students who average 40 quarter credits a year (13-14 credits each quarter of the academic year) will complete the course work for the Master of Arts in Pastoral and Spiritual Care degree in two years. Students may, however, elect to complete their course work over a longer period of time. All requirements for the degree must be completed within seven calendar years from the date of the first course taken in the program.
Student Assessment Process: To insure the breadth and depth of the educational experience, students will be required to participate in Iliff’s outcomes assessment process as they approach graduation. Students must enroll in Master's Recital (offered in multiple formats throughout the year) as a way to reflect on and provide feedback about their Iliff education. Further information is available from the Dean's Office or from the student's academic advisor.
MAPSC Degree Learning Goals:Comparative Religious Traditions (CR): demonstrate basic awareness of a range of religious traditions and an emerging capacity to engage in comparative analysis between traditions around a particular topic.
Sacred Texts (TX): demonstrate an informed understanding of sacred texts as historically-situated; utilize various methodologies for responsible interpretation of these texts to contemporary audiences.
Social/Contextual Analysis (AN): identify and critically evaluate the symbolic systems, power structures, ideologies, values, and religious meanings at play in events and interactions, institutional structures, ethical judgments, and living communities, and articulate and enact a vision for increased social justice in these contexts.
Historical Development/ Expressions of Religious Traditions (HI): demonstrate awareness of religious traditions as historically-situated movements that interacted and changed in relationship to their surrounding cultures and subcultures over time, resulting in various expressions located within and influenced by social structures and institutions, historical events, and ethnic and cultural ideologies.
Constructive Theology (TH): critically engage historical and contemporary theological expressions of religious traditions and articulate one’s own constructive theological position in relation to contemporary events and/or situations.
Theology and Religious Practices (PR): engage in analysis of contemporary religious traditions and institutions in order to assess, design, and perform meaningful leadership practices with sensitivity to contextual realities and relationships.
Personal and Professional Formation (PPF): develop strategies for spiritual formation and self-care, demonstrate an awareness of the importance of social location for self-understanding and professional presence, and enact self-aware and collaborative leadership within a specific vocational context.
MAPSC: Demonstrate a complex interdisciplinary understanding of the human person in social context, develop and demonstrate an intercultural approach to pastoral and spiritual care, and demonstrate personal and professional competencies needed by effective caregivers.
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