| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Major in Reconciliation Studies | ||
| RES 201 | Introduction to Reconciliation Studies | 3 |
| RES 305 | Conflict Resolution and Mediation Skills | 3 |
| RES 230Z | Justice and Reconciliation | 4 |
| RES 340Z | Principles and Methods of Intercultural Leadership | 4 |
| RES 350G | Racial Reconciliation | 3 |
| RES 499 | Senior Seminar in Reconciliation Studies | 4 |
| Choose one of the following identity, systems, & reconciliation courses: | 3-4 | |
| Sleep, Surrender, and Sabbath | ||
| Biblical Theology of Reconciliation | ||
| A Biblical Theology of Poverty | ||
| Introduction to Gender Studies | ||
| Social Psychology 2 | ||
| Modern Middle East | ||
| Christian Theology in Africa, Asia, and Latin America | ||
| Choose one of the following race and reconciliation courses: | 3 | |
| Issues in Biblical Studies | ||
| Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Our Multicultural World | ||
| European American Experiences, Whiteness, and Reconciliation | ||
| Choose one of the following arts and reconciliation courses: | 3 | |
| Hip-Hop, The Spoken Word, and Reconciliation | ||
| The Power of Story and Reconciliation | ||
| Choose from off-campus program options such as: 1 | 14-16 | |
| ISA Veritas Christian Study Abroad: Valparaiso and Vinadel Mar Chile (fall, spring) | ||
| Middle East Studies Program of the CCCU (fall, spring - 16 credits) | ||
| Northern Ireland Term at Ulster University (fall, spring - 14-16 credits) | ||
| SIT Study Abroad Australia: Sustainability and Environmental Action (fall, spring - 16 credits) | ||
| SIT Study Abroad Vietnam: Culture, Social Change, & Development (fall, spring - 16 credits) | ||
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Major | 44-47 | |
| General Education | 46-47 | |
| Electives | 29-31 | |
| Total Credits | 122 | |
| 1 | Students may choose a semester length off-campus program from a range of sites abroad and in the United States. The program must be approved by the Program Director of Reconciliation Studies. Majors complete an internship during their off-campus programs. |
| 2 | PSY 100 is a prerequisite for this course. |
Courses whose number is followed by a letter fulfill a General Education requirement.
Students may not declare a B.A. in Reconciliation Studies and a Minor in Reconciliation Studies.
RES 201 • Introduction to Reconciliation Studies 3 Credits
Overview of theory and literature in the field, contributing factors leading to the need for reconciliation, and paradigms for reconciliation praxis. Biblically-based principles and processes for moving toward societal reconciliation. Cultural and religious diversity, conflict resolution, spiritual disciplines, social and economic justice issues, and related subjects are covered.
Offered: Fall or Spring.
RES 207U • Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Our Multicultural World 3 Credits
Compares and contrasts the lives and messages of Fannie Lou Hamer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Considers how their teachings and practices address various forms of inequity within the context of African-American culture and religion, the cultural diversity of the United States, and the rest of the world.
Prerequisites: GES 130 (may be taken concurrently) or GES 244 (may be taken concurrently). Offered: Fall, Spring.
RES 215L • European American Experiences, Whiteness, and Reconciliation 3 Credits
Explores how family history and upbringing influence understanding of whiteness. Since ideological constructions of whiteness are linked to various injustices confronting people of color, students will wrestle with how to adopt practices within the spirit of reconciliation that break down walls of division for the greater good.
Prerequisites: (GES 130; GES 160 (may be taken concurrently)) or GES 244; Sophomore standing. Offered: Fall.
RES 220A • Hip-Hop, The Spoken Word, and Reconciliation 3 Credits
Engages Hip-Hop and the spoken word as our modern-day Psalms: raw, uncompromising, challenging, confrontational, and confessional. Explores how a conversation among Hip-Hop, the spoken word, and biblical stories cultivate a relationship with God as transparent as the Psalms and Jesus' own relationship with God and those He encountered.
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. Offered: Spring.
RES 230Z • Justice and Reconciliation 4 Credits
How does Jesus engage the relationship between trauma, justice, and reconciliation? What contemplative practices can re-energize efforts to tackle inequity? Learning from Twin Cities leaders, churches, and community educators intent on co-creating systems and services that honor the marginalized, complements biblical interpretations of justice, scholarly analysis, and memoirs addressing injustice.
Offered: Interim.
RES 305 • Conflict Resolution and Mediation Skills 3 Credits
Provides practical peacemaking and reconciliation skills relevant to helping Christians resolve conflict in a healthy, balanced way. Focus on using experiential learning to develop negotiation and mediation skills.
Prerequisites: RES 201. Offered: Fall, Spring.
RES 320 • The Power of Story and Reconciliation 3 Credits
Explores complex stories that can nurture cultural humility and empathy. Includes readings of creative and biblical narratives with emphasis on listening deeply to others' experiences. Confronts a world divided by difference and explores how stories can foster understanding between peoples.
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. Offered: Fall.
RES 340Z • Principles and Methods of Intercultural Leadership 4 Credits
Grounded in a cross-cultural experience, focuses on practical principles and methods for intercultural visioning, administration, training, and communication for cross-cultural work. Emphasizes developing intercultural competencies needed for collaborative and mutually beneficial outcomes in diverse environments (e.g., mission or ministry; profit and not-for-profit; governmental or agency work).
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing or Consent of the instructor. Offered: Spring.
RES 350G • Racial Reconciliation 3 Credits
Racial divisions, systemic biases embedded in US structures, and violations of human dignity confronted by the disinherited emphasize the need for racial reconciliation. This course recognizes how African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinx, Native Americans, and European Americans create perspectives, develop knowledge, and initiate practices that can enhance an understanding of how to realize racial reconciliation.
Prerequisites: (GES 130; GES 160; L-course and U-course) or (GES 244 and U-course). Offered: Fall or Spring.
RES 481 • Internship in Reconciliation Studies 3-4 Credits
Practical learning experience to apply understanding and skills of reconciliation studies in a real-world setting.
Prerequisites: RES 201; Major in reconciliation studies; Junior or senior standing. Offered: Occasionally.
RES 499 • Senior Seminar in Reconciliation Studies 4 Credits
Prepares students to use the lenses of Christ-centered biblical “reconciliation” theology, critical thinking, multicultural perspectives, social-change analysis, and conflict resolution skills for leadership in the work of reconciliation in society. Students study theoretical underpinnings of reconciliation studies and leadership models of reconciliation practice.
Prerequisites: RES 201 and Senior standing. Offered: Fall.
Overview
The Ministry Scholars program is Bethel University's bachelors to master's degree program that reduces cost and time-to-completion by streamlining undergraduate and graduate education. Graduates receive a bachelor's degree from Bethel University's College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and a master's from Bethel Seminary. This program is well suited for a variety of majors who want to become equipped to lead churches, parachurch organizations, and other ministries. It is also a good fit for ministry-minded students who want to pursue bi-vocational ministry or work outside of professional ministry. Students learn from successful ministry leaders and experts in Biblical and Theological Studies, Spiritual and Personal Formation, and Transformational Leadership. This program offers supplemental training resources, developmental activities, and discipleship opportunities to prepare ministry-minded students for effective ministry leadership. Students also gain valuable field experience in local churches and ministry settings.
The objectives of the program are that graduates will demonstrate age-appropriate growth and ultimately ministry leadership preparedness in the following domains:
- Spiritual life: Students will grow spiritually, deepening their love for, commitment to, and dependence on God, and develop an instinct to trust in God and to connect intimately with God.
- Discernment of call: They will clarify and reaffirm their sense of calling to vocational ministry and what that looks like in a changing world.
- Emotional maturity: They will become emotionally mature adults, possessing the ability to sense and manage emotions, to see others’ perspectives, to sympathize and empathize, to follow and lead as appropriate and to foster healthy relationships.
- Cultural competence: They will become culturally aware, gaining a perspective that all cultures possess strengths and vulnerabilities, an ability to work across cultural lines and an appreciation that diverse teams are stronger teams.
- Bible knowledge: They will gain a clear understanding of the Bible’s content and a deep and abiding passion for the truth of the Gospel.
- Spiritual wisdom: They will grow in wisdom, possessing a capacity to apply the Bible so that others are inspired by their teaching and preaching to live out biblical truth and experience human flourishing.
- Intellectual virtues: They will develop virtues such as critical thinking, respect for data, intellectual humility, and thirst for learning, combined with the skill to interpret and teach the Bible accurately.
- Leadership capacity: They will learn to follow leaders and to lead followers—enlisting people, building teams, leading change and achieving results.
- Godly character: They will become virtuous people—individuals who love others, speak truth, live humbly, sacrifice their own interests, live justly, express joy and show compassion.
What is Bethel looking for in a Ministry Scholar?
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Ability to maintain a minimum of 3.0 GPA (cumulative college grade point average or unweighted high school GPA if the student has less than one year of college experience) throughout the duration of the Ministry Scholars program while enrolled at CAS and Seminary.
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Ability to provide a pastoral and ministry leader reference that speaks to the student’s character and call to ministry.
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Commitment to prioritizing activities, discipleship opportunities, and retreats offered to Ministry Scholars, designed to enable the individual to develop a strong sense of community.