The theologically trained organizer
The most exciting horizons in theological education lie at its intersection with community organizing.
(Century illustration | Source image: Mario Purisic on Unsplash)
In The End of Theological Education, Ted Smith starts by telling the story of a group of Lane Seminary students who came to be known as the Lane Rebels. In 1834, the students at the Cincinnati school met for nine straight nights and debated whether they should support the immediate emancipation of enslaved Black people. They also debated the question of “colonization,” the movement to deport free Black Americans to Africa. The students sided with immediate abolitionism and against colonization—and they took multiple actions to pressure prominent minister Lyman Beecher, Lane’s president at the time, and the school’s board to do the same. The Lane Rebels’ actions are a testament to the deep connection between the classroom and power.
In short, Smith begins his book on theological education with a story about community organizing.
This should not surprise us. Theological education as a process of formation and transformation has never been restricted to the brick-and-mortar version of what many understand now as educational training for the ministerial profession, even though this is the predominant model found in today’s seminaries and divinity schools. Smith acknowledges this, while also helping readers recognize the powerful influence this professional model has on what we imagine ministry to look like for the congregation, the judicatory, right on up to the denomination. Getting an MDiv has long signaled gaining competence as a professional minister.
