Claremont Announces Groundbreaking New Interfaith Chaplaincy M.A.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 4PM

Claremont Lincoln University is pleased to announce a new M.A. in Interfaith Chaplaincy beginning this Fall 2012. It is a degree like no other-where students of different religions, and no religion, learn side-by-side to care for spirit in all of its diverse forms, encountering the soul rather than just learning about it.

This groundbreaking program is designed to meet the needs of those who wish to become scholar-practitioners in chaplaincy, educated according to the highest standards and eligible to seek professional certification. Graduates of the program will be prepared to enter the burgeoning field of professional and certified chaplaincy and also, if they choose, to do doctoral level work in spiritual care.

Today’s chaplains are frequently required to engage religious diversity in person and on the job, so this program offers an education with two intertwining aspects: a lively and maturing engagement with one’s own tradition and a well-informed and caringly-embodied knowledge of religious diversity and interfaith encounter. It also emphasizes the integration of theory and practice by including a clinical education component.

The 72-unit degree offers depth and breadth of preparation: All students are required to grow deeper in their knowledge of religious tradition(s) and of the history, theory, and practice of spiritual care and chaplaincy. The breadth comes from the electives, which students can use to prepare themselves according to the expectations of their own religious tradition and/or professional certification requirements. Overall, the program seeks to offer a structure that supports vocational and intellectual exploration and development, while encouraging student initiative and responsibility.

Read more details about the program

NOTE: Students are responsible to assure that they meet the requirements for certification and/or endorsement as a chaplain in their chosen specialty and religious or faith tradition. The M.A. Degree in Interfaith Chaplaincy is designed in light of standard requirements. However, the educational requirements established by settings that certify and employ chaplains—for example, hospitals, hospices, prisons, and branches of the military—vary considerably. Similarly, the requirements set by different religious and faith traditions for endorsement as a chaplain vary considerably. Students are responsible to consult throughout their program with faculty as well as with official representatives of certifying and endorsing bodies regarding their requirements. If your religious or faith tradition requires the M.Div. degree for endorsement as a chaplain, please consult the website of Claremont School of Theology, where a concentration in interfaith chaplaincy is available in the M.Div. program.