All students at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, regardless of degree program, take a common set of courses referred to as the common curriculum. The faculty have spent the last two years redesigning and piloting a new common curriculum to provide an innovative, embodied, and formational learning experience for our students.
The changes include new, faculty-led reading groups and a brand new course taught by Dr. J. Derek McNeil and Dr. Dwight Friesen, “Cultural Identity and Locatedness,” which guides first-year students as they grow in their cultural identity and form the lenses through which they will engage the rest of their graduate studies.
In these changes and updates, The Seattle School is inviting students to enter the heart of the intersection where text, soul, and culture are brought together for personal and social transformation. The curriculum engages students in critical and integrative thinking across cultural and ideological spectrums in the realms of biblical studies, theology, psychology, and personal and spiritual formation.
Rooted in community and relationships, the new curriculum seeks to weave the Triune God’s redemptive story with each student’s personal narrative in pursuit of vocational and missional callings. “The common curriculum also prepares students to engage the complexities of theological, psychological, and cultural systems in pursuit of serving local and global communities,” says Dr. McNeil, Academic Dean and Senior Vice President of Academics.
Over the next academic year the faculty will continue to evaluate and refine the common curriculum to enhance the learning experiences of our students, toward the end of fulfilling our mission to train people to be competent in the study of text.soul.culture in order to serve God and neighbor through transforming relationships.