Concordia Theological Seminary
CURRICULUM FOR PERIPATETIC STUDY
Altogether, our seminary program contains a total of twelve different subject areas, some of which are taught in multi-semester, continuing courses or in sequences. Four courses are recommended electives. The courses are arranged into a five-year curriculum which is envisioned as the nominal program for a full-time student, and it assumes the student's ability to relocate after each year of study to the locale of his next scheduled instructor. Special arrangements and schedules for part-time students are determined on a case-by-case basis by the faculty in conjunction with the Committee on Theological Education. The five-year curriculum is presently constituted as follows:
(Note that "semester hours" of credit MAY indicate the number of class hours per week, but this may vary course by course.)
FIRST YEAR (Rev. David T. Mensing, Instructor) --
1. New Testament Greek (3 credit hours per semester)
2. Introduction to the Holy Scriptures --History, Text & Canon (2 credit hours per semester)
3. Hermeneutics and Exegesis (2 credit hours per semester)
4. New Testament Isagogics (2 credit hours per semester)
5. Dogmatics I --Prolegomena through Pneumatology (3 credit hours per semester)
6. Practicum in the Local Congregation (2 credit hours per semester)
7. Elective: Basic German --Grammar and Reading (2 credit hours per semester)
TOTAL: 16 credit hours per semester
SECOND YEAR () --
1. Dogmatics II --Anthropology through Favor Dei (3 credit hours per semester)
2. Church History I and II --Early Church through 1500 A.D. (Sequence of 4 credit hours per semester)
3. Principles of Teaching --including Catechetics (2 credit hours per semester)
4. Old Testament Isagogics (2 credit hours per semester)
5. Practicum in the Local Congregation (2 credit hours per semester)
6. Elective: Introduction to Latin --Grammar and Reading (2 credit hours per semester)
TOTAL: 15 credit hours per semester
THIRD YEAR
1. Dogmatics III --Christology through Soteriology (3 credit hours per semester)
2. Symbolics I --The Ecumenical Creeds through the Smalcald Articles (3 hours per semester)
3. Church History III --The Reformation Era (3 credit hours per semester)
4. Homiletics I --Principles of textual study, sermon construction, outlining, and delivery (3 credit hours per semester)
5. Practicum in the local congregation (2 credit hours per semester)
6. Elective: Basic Hebrew --Grammar and Reading (at a local college or university) -- (3 hours per semester?) This elective could be taken in the Fourth Year.
TOTAL: 17 credit hours per semester
FOURTH YEAR (Rev. M. L. Natterer, Instructor) --
1. Dogmatics IV --Saving Faith through Preservation (3 credit hours per semester)
2. Symbolics II --Formula of Concord (3 credit hours per semester)
3. Church History IV --Enlightenment and Pietism, the 17th thru the 19th Century (3 credit hours per semester)
4. Homiletics II --Review of Principles of Homiletics, plus writing and delivery of sermons (3 credit hours per semester)
5. Practicum in the local congregation (2 credit hours per semester)
TOTAL: 14 credit hours per semester
FIFTH YEAR TBD --
1. Dogmatics V --Means of Grace through Eschatology (3 credit hours per semester)
2. Pastoral Theology (1 credit hour per semester)
3. Liturgics and Hymnology (2 credit hours per semester)
4. Church History V --20th Century to the Present (3 credit hours per semester)
5. Comparative Symbolics (3 credit hours per semester)
6. Homiletics III --Writing and Delivering Sermons (1 credit hour per semester)
7. Practicum in the local congregation (2 credit hours per semester)
8. Elective: Keyboard Instruction and Music Theory (Private Lessons will be provided)-- (Whether credit for this is to be granted has not yet been determined.)
TOTAL: 15 credit hours per semester
A Brief Note Regarding the "Practicum" in the Local Congregation--
A "practicum" is a kind of internship in which the student is given regular opportunities for practical experience in church work under the oversight of the local pastor. In the first two years, this work may include among other activities: Sunday School teaching; reading of Scripture lessons in worship services; attending voters' meetings and committee meetings; occasionally accompanying the pastor on sick calls; the writing of prayers, simple devotions, and Christmas recitations; and routine "office work" such as the production of bulletins, duplication of Sunday School materials, posting of hymn numbers, and the maintenance of the bulletin board. After having studied principles of teaching, he may well be asked to teach a prepared lesson to a children's confirmation class, an adult class, or even the Sunday morning Bible Class. When he begins his homiletical work, his practicum will include the delivery of prepared "project" sermons from time to time until he is able to preach with greater ease on a regular basis according to the discretion of the pastor.
The practicum is assigned credit hours because it is serious academic work and should be formally evaluated by the instructor/pastor regularly, but at least at the close of each semester. The practicum is an important part of the curriculum, replacing the traditional "vicarage" year with on-going church work under as many as five pastors for the broadest possible experience and the least likelihood of becoming personally "imprinted" by the style and personal approach of only one instructor.
What the student learns during his practicum from observation and personal experience will make his fifth-year study of Pastoral Theology more meaningful, more productive, and more efficient since he will already have dealt with practical theology firsthand in the "real world" setting of real local congregations instead of merely in the theoretical setting of textbook situations.