Seminary Formation: Recent History-Current Circumstances-New Directions

The past thirty years have witnessed tremendous societal and ecclesial changes that continue to inform ministry education in the 21st century. In , Katarina Schuth, OSF, examines the many aspects of theologate-level schools including their structures and missions, organization and leadership, student enrollment, backgrounds of both seminarians and lay students, and the evolution and development of degree programs, including human and spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. also helpfully includes substantial commentaries on Schuth’s research by Ronald Rolheiser, Thomas Walters, Leon M. Hutton, Barbara Reid, and Peter Vaccari. An exploration of the changes in seminaries and schools of theology, with statistical analysis, from 1985 to the present, anticipates the challenges ahead and considers new directions for the future.