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Professors Claire Wolftech and Bryan P. Stone. Photo by Vernon Doucette |
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Thanks to a new $2 million grant from the Lilly Endowment, the School of Theology will create the Center for Practical Theology to facilitate communication and working partnerships between theologians and practicing pastors on issues ranging from curriculum development to the spiritual needs of poor and minority communities around the country.
The center will be an umbrella organization that facilitates networking and learning opportunities for faculty, students, pastors, and congregational leaders. An advisory board will be funded by the grant, as well as a full-time administrator who will run the center and facilitate the merger of previously existing programs into the organization. “The board will be, in a sense, the image of partnership, half faculty and half pastoral partners, as currently envisioned,” says Associate Professor Claire Wolfteich, who oversees the grant with Professor Bryan P. Stone. “Built into the very structure is the kind of collaboration and dialogue that we’re seeking to promote.” The advisory board will help the center form partnerships in various faith communities and guide research, as well as publicize its work.
The five-year grant will support the establishment of programs and also strengthen existing programs, among them Sustaining Urban Pastoral Excellence (SUPE), African-American Religious Research and Education, Congregational Research and Development, and Spiritual Foundation and Church Life.
SUPE, funded by an earlier Lilly Endowment grant, seeks to enrich urban spiritual life by creating relationships between urban faith communities and STH faculty and students. The program includes retreats and relationship-building events for the pastors, their congregations, and STH educators, as well as compensated pastoral leave with mentorship by STH faculty.
The African-American Religious Research and Education Program focuses on the African-American religious tradition, offering research fellowships for those interested in black church studies. Seminars and workshops on cross-cultural topics will build ties between STH faculty and African-American religious scholars and leaders.
The Lilly Endowment has contributed more than $7 million to BU over the last decade. Much of that funding has been to STH, including more than $4 million within the past two years. That has been a great asset to expanding educational resources as well as external recognition, Wolfteich says. Thanks to the grants, STH can “create bridges and dialogue among a number of different constituencies and partners.”
—Nathaniel Beyer
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