April 12-14, 2018 | Marriott City Center, Minneapolis, Mn
The Church and the Academy are at a Crossroads
Religious leadership is a complex enterprise. Multi-faceted by nature religious leadership engages theology and draws upon leadership theories; requires particular understandings and competencies as well as abilities to read contexts and situations; and includes personal and communal formation in addition to leading existing communities. While debates over approaches to the formation and teaching of religious leadership have taken place before the changing national and global religious landscape provides a prime opportunity for teachers, scholars, and practitioners to take another look at this topic. What enduring understandings and capacities are most critical for religious leadership today? How do theology, theory, and practice inform each other when it comes to religious leadership? What locations are most fruitful for teaching religious leadership? What approaches are most fitting for the formation of religious leaders? How might research and experiments expand the current imagination of the academy and the church? In a time when the church, pastoral leadership, and theological education are all in flux, this gathering invites scholarly and imaginative engagement around the formation and teaching of religious leadership in the 21st century.
