ACADEMIC CATALOG - Luther Seminary

Master of Divinity DegreeLuther Seminary’s goal for the master of divinity program isthat our graduates will be prepared to serve as missional pastors in the church,leading the faithful in lives of witness and service. In addition to being persons offaith and good character who are grounded firmly in the message of the Bible andthe insights of Christian history, theology, and ethics, we want our graduates to beknown for excellence as preachers of the biblical message and leaders in worship.We want them to be able to provide effective leadership in congregations byhelping to equip members to serve God’s mission of spreading the gospel andcaring for the world. The world’s needs for mission and service have never beengreater. We believe God is calling and sending the church of Jesus Christ intoapostolic mission in a new era of Christian history, one in which the church can nolonger depend on support from the surrounding culture.Our vision is to prepare a new generation of pastors who can strengthen thelife of individual Christians and congregations even as they lead them to engage inmission in their context. We believe this requires learning both theology andleadership not only in the classroom and library but also in the contexts ofcongregations and their communities and in relation to Christians of othercommunions and members of other religions. This commitment to be bothconfessional and missional—and never one without the other—draws together thevarious courses, practices, and contextual experiences of Luther Seminary’s masterof divinity program for educating students for pastoral ministry.14LU T H E R S E M I N A RY | 2009-2011 AC A D E M I C C ATA LO G