BerkeleyatYALE Spring 2015 • Vol. 6, No. 2 The Senior Canterbury Pilgrimage The Dean’s Letter Planning for Berkeley’s Exceptional Future Dear Alumni and Friends, Recent crises in Episcopal seminary education pects for colleges and universities in general, have caught much attention; but the really diffi- including the likelihood of drastic change for cult issues for theological education today may be some institutions and closures of others. The more deep-seated than passing conflicts between list of issues should be remarkably familiar to deans, faculty members, or trustees. seminary educators. They included: Conflict is often a symptom, rather than the • Ensuring that universities are providing the root of a problem. Underneath strained relation- skills, tools, and experiences that employers ships and competing strategies lies the harsh real- actually want and need. ity of declining seminary enrollments and rising • Working to overcome the impact of rising costs, and differing views about how to work costs on students and on their post-educa- together in addressing them. tional choices. Softening demand for theological education • Considering how the whole “eco-system” of reflects not only the shifting sands of religious higher education needs to change. affiliation in the U.S. and beyond, but also doubts about the continued relevance of seminary educa- Barber and his colleagues argue that the tion, even for aspiring clergy. In remarks given to emergence of cheaper online degrees, and of the the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) like those of Open Yale, will not only attract Survival is not enough; and to work merely for survival some students away from traditional university courses but force degree granting institutions in or to adapt just to exist would be pointless…. My own general to be more accountable for their costs commitment to Berkeley and its supporters is not about and quality. They imagine an “avalanche” of change—but not a complete obliteration of tra- our survival, but about our flourishing. ditional forms of learning. In fact not even the most alarmist or super- last year, the presiding bishop commented favor- ficial commentator on higher education imag- ably on the rise of local non-accredited training ines that all universities as we currently know programs, and went so far as to say that: them will close because they are expensive, or “The average Episcopal congregation, with 60 that distance learning schemes with intern- to 70 members attending weekly worship, cannot ships attached will suddenly replace all liberal afford the traditional model of full-stipend paid arts colleges just because the former are cheaper leadership, a building, and a sufficient program and practically-focused. Residential full-time to support its members in their daily baptismal programs will, however, have to be clearer that ministry. Nor can seminary graduates with edu- the quality of their offerings is justified by the cational debt afford to work in most of them.” outcomes they produce. This stark analysis is probably right, but the Similarly, the changes afoot in the seminary wrong conclusions might be drawn from it. If world do not entail a simple jump from one we consider wider changes in higher education universal model to another. Rather we are on and how the challenges to seminaries fit within the brink of a changed “eco-system,” as Barber these, we can get a better perspective. puts it, of theological education too. Some sem- A 2013 report from British education policy inaries may not actually survive, given lower expert Sir Michael Barber, An Avalanche is Com- demand. Others will survive but change, some ing, suggested some of the key issues and pros- of them drastically, as they adapt to changing 2 | Berkeley Divinity School at YALE patterns of demand. sciously and effectively in this new “eco-system.” Readers of this essay may want to hear this Our discussion focused on the three basic pro- basic and explicit affirmation, however: Berkeley cesses of how we recruit the students who should at Yale will, indeed, survive. We have outstand- be at Berkeley and Yale, how we form them while ing programs, strong demand, and institutional here, and how we support them after graduation. strength and sustainability. We will continue these conversations at the upcoming meeting in Eastertide. It is already clear, Berkeley at Yale will form leaders who will build signif- though, that Berkeley and YDS must, as much or more than ever, seek a highly capable, diverse stu- icant Christian communities. This is our commitment. dent body, centered on the Gospel. We need to offer them an outstanding experience of immer- Survival however is not enough; and to work sion in Christian tradition, in critical thinking, in merely for survival or to adapt just to exist would prayer and worship, and in service of human need be pointless, and probably not even succeed. My and advocacy for justice. And we need to support own commitment to Berkeley and its supporters is them after they graduate, not seeing our mission not about our survival, but about our flourishing. as completed with a diploma, but as an ongoing And to flourish we need to consider where the partnership, adding to their degree experience remarkable, intense, and, yes, expensive option with possibilities for further education. that Berkeley at Yale constitutes fits into the needs Some of what we need for flourishing is of a changing Church and the new “eco-system” clear; other parts of it will emerge in time to of theological education. While more parishes come. Much of what we already do is outstand- may indeed seek leadership from part-time and ing; other ways we must grow and change are non-stipendiary clergy, many others—not least still to become clear. To achieve all these things larger parishes, as well as schools, colleges, and we need to build up our resources; we need in other institutions—will seek pastors and teachers particular to increase significantly the amount of whose formation will best be undertaken in full- financial aid we make available to students, both time study and residential community. to recruit those whom we most want to bring Many students will also seek the exceptional here, and also to allow them to make vocational educational experience of a place like Berkeley and decisions after graduation based on the Spirit’s Yale to equip them for forms of ministry and lead- stirrings, and not just on accumulated debt. ership we have not even imagined yet, but which We are already reasonably placed to survive, require development of the perennial strengths of but we are not here to survive; we are here to critical thinking, an immersion in Scripture and form the leaders, educators, and visionaries who tradition, and not only acquisition of skills and will help to reimagine the Church. We have tools that will quickly become redundant. the resources to survive; we do not yet have In these familiar and so far undreamed-of the resources to do all that we must to educate ways alike, Berkeley at Yale will form leaders who transformative leaders. I thank you for what you will build significant Christian communities. This have already given us to help us survive; I now “This is the book that I wish is our commitment. The formational value of the ask you to be partners with us, in prayer and in I had written, but Andrew full-time residential experience and the opportu- financial support, as we work to make Berkeley McGowan has done it so nities it offers, not merely for academic learning, and its students flourish. much better. Easily accessible to a nonspecialist reader, but for community life and for shared prayer, are The learning “eco-system” is indeed chang- it nevertheless contains still the best single way we know to achieve this. ing. Berkeley at Yale will be (even) more excep- the fruit of the most up-to- That it is not the only way to train clergy should tional in future; but far from being less relevant, date academic scholarship. Anyone wanting a reliable and no longer be contested. In fact that helps clarify its work will be even more vital to a changed and comprehensive introduction that what we are doing at Berkeley has a particu- changing Church, and a world that still needs to the practices of the early lar, noteworthy place in this changing reality. the Gospel. Christians must start here.” At a recent meeting, the Board of Trustees of Yours faithfully, —Paul Bradshaw, emeritus professor of liturgy, Berkeley began to think in earnest about renewing University of Notre Dame our own strategy, and to place ourselves more con- Spring 2015 | 3 Going Big, Going Beyond The 2015 Wesley-Royce Leadership Colloquium hile Dean McGowan didn’t exactly tell students to nity leaders keenly aware of opportunities and challenges faced by “Go big or go home” in his installation sermon, he churches, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. W did suggest that “in the end, we are God’s Big Idea.” Guest speakers in the 2015 Wesley-Royce Program—overcom- Dean McGowan’s claim that intellectual exploration and the pur- ing the horrors of this winter’s weather—have hailed from regions suit of justice and truth arise from an intimate human connection well beyond the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle. Presenters in this with our Creator echoes enduring themes in Christian theol- ten-week series have shared wisdom gleaned from years of leader- ogy. In surrendering ourselves to be formed and transformed ship and service and have presented strategies for fostering sustain- as people of faith who follow Christ “into the regions beyond,” able, creative ministry.