Religious Others in (Christian) Seminaries: Three Approaches and Conundrums

• Main Author: Joung Chul Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
• Series: Religions
• Subjects: theological education with religious other; monoreligious model; multireligious model; interreligious model; conundrums
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/11/595

The number of students from other religious traditions is increasing in Christian seminaries in the United States. However, seminaries have different motivations, visions, and rationales that determine whether and how they accept these students. The purpose of this article is to examine how seminaries approach this matter and what issues follow. The author suggests that the revised framework of Van der Ven and Ziebertz&#8217;s models of religious education (the <i>monoreligious</i>, <i>multireligious</i>, and <i>interreligious</i> models) can be particularly helpful in theorizing the current context of seminaries that are becoming multireligious. This article then explores the challenges that each model encounters and finds that those challenges, or conundrums, are closely related to the tensions between values such as openness, educational justice, and institutional identity.