ATLANTA — Emory University’s Candler School of Theology will use a $10 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to launch a doctoral program in practical theology and religious practices. The program aims to improve training for the next generation of ministers and religious leaders, the school in Atlanta said in an announcement Sept. 17.
It comes shortly after the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education found that more than half the faculty currently teaching in practical fields plan to retire by 2006.
“The current supply of well-trained scholars in the ministerial or practical fields — persons equipped to teach and play leadership roles within theological schools — is inadequate,” said Russell E. Richey, dean of Candler and grant director. “These fields of study desperately need the renewal and strengthening that this project envisions.”
The program will admit eight candidates each year for five years who intend to teach such topics as preaching, pastoral care, worship, religious education, administration or evangelism.
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