Your task in the Spring semester is to engage Case 2 and write a Brief in preparation for your Portfolio Review at the end of the Spring semester. During the Review, faculty will engage you regarding your portfolio, focusing attention on your Brief and discussing it with you.
- The Brief should reflect the additional competency and resources, broader perspective, Pathways integration, and deeper level of reflection that are appropriate to the final year of your program. Take into consideration any relevant feedback offered during your Junior Review.
- The brief should be 12-15 pages long. It should adhere to the style and content instructions prescribed by the GST.
- Consult the Case Questions and Tips for guidance (below).
- Organize your brief as you wish, but it should accomplish the following functions (probably in this order):
- Analysis—provide brief analysis of the case, indicating and justifyingyour interpretation of the key issues. Strive to find one or a few large-scale matters under which you can group the smaller things.
- Theological proposal—argue for and construct the theologicalframework within which to address the key issues and out of which to advance your prescription. Utilizing scripture, theological categories, and historical resources, struggle to advance a single, coherent proposal.
- Prescription—on the basis of your theological proposal, makeconcrete recommendations for Bruce to implement. Show how your theological proposal norms and inspires your prescriptions. Use whatever pastoral resources and skills are available to you.
Case Questions
Your brief should try to answer the prescribed questions, as well as address any other issues you believe to be important. Do not answer the prescribed questions one after the other, as if taking an essay test! Instead, organize your brief as seems most appropriate to you, but be sure that it addresses all these questions somehow. They can help you discover productive focal points and help you stay on track.
- For purposes of your brief, put yourself in the position of David’s theologically informed consultant (a caveat: Question #6 requires you to reflect beyond that role).
- What are the relational issues involved in this case? Analyze the various interests and constraining forces that exist in the relationships in David’s situation.
- Discuss the most significant factors affecting attitudes towards wealth and consumption in North American Christianity. What is a theologically appropriate response to the diverse perspectives of such people as Nathan, Clea, Nancy, and Al?
- Scripture figures prominently in the case. Assess the players’ usage of key biblical passages. In particular, what normative significance do the Sermon on the Mount and the accounts of the early church in the opening chapters of Acts have for contemporary Christian life and community? Supply an interpretation of the passages (and any others you believe to be crucial) and an explanation of their relevance to the situation.
- How should David understand the mission of God in the world, his own role in that mission, and the place of the church in society? What integrated understandings of God, salvation, discipleship, family, church, and mission would provide a foundation for appropriate discernment and action in this situation?
- Assess Nathan’s pastoral role. Are his words, actions, and modeling appropriate? What guidance can you provide him as he continues to function as minister? How should Nathan minister best to the Trapp family at this time?
- Answer Nancy’s question pastorally, “How can we decide this thing?” What processes of reflection and discernment would you prescribe for David and his family?
Important Tips
Raise questions and provide answers
- keep consulting the prescribed questions as an aid to focusing your work
- it is important to wrestle with issues and critically weigh alternative perspectives…
- yet you must ultimately offer solutions, answers, and courses of action
- discuss your thoughts about the case with peers and others who would be good conversation partners
- it is normal to feel more capable in some areas that others; many of the larger issues you will find yourself grappling with throughout the program and well beyond
- you cannot go into great detail on everything; but explain, argue, and provide evidence for your crucial points and key moves
- The “theological proposal” section is likely to be the longest, yet be sure to treat the other parts adequately.
Be as comprehensive and integrative as possible
- address issues & use resources across the disciplines—i.e. biblical text, history, theology, and ministry—to the best of your ability
- use secondary sources appropriately (check Murphy for tips)
- in the Library, you may set aside commonly used sources (rather than checking them out); consult the Theological Librarian or his Assistant in order to determine the correct way to do this
- exhibit a grasp of the complexities of the case, but try to consolidate the issues as much as possible
- look for theological loci crucial to the case, develop their biblical and theological content, try to interrelate them so that they provide foundations for making decisions
- e.g. the nature of God and his mission in the world; the nature and purpose of the church; the significance and role of Christ; salvation; the character of discipleship and Christian living; ministry and the minister; the interrelationship of scripture, tradition, and experience in Christian discernment
- be wary of pragmatism without grounding; discipline your instincts to fit the norms of a theological vision and its principles
Prescriptions should be as concrete as possible
- be wary of idealism without implementation and embodiment; you must propose practiceable steps, not just ideas and abstract constructs or sentiments; yet your prescriptions should be clearly grounded in your theological proposal
- your prescriptions should exhibit leadership (i.e. the sort of leadership presumed by the circumstances of the case)
- make concrete prescriptions, keeping in mind the major areas for which the minister in this case would be responsible: teaching, preaching, counseling, conflict resolution, equipping leaders and others for ministry, vision-casting, etc.
- be wary of trying to prescribe too generally or broadly
- look for short-term and long-term prescriptions (e.g. what to do in the immediate crisis & how to build healthier church over time)
Writing & style
- write well (consult Murphy and other guides)
- clear thesis statement, good paragraph topic sentences
- employ summaries and transitions at section breaks
- be concise, use language economically and accurately,make sure each sentence accomplishes something important
- use headings and subheadings to aid the reader
- remember: the best writing is rewriting
- use Turabian style
- use secondary sources appropriately
- consult Murphy for tips
- include concise footnotes
- try to use sources from across the “quadrilateral”
- conclude with a Bibliography of works cited (appended to the 8–10 pages)
- you will regularly bump into your own limitations; do not gloss them, but own them, clarify them, and do not hesitate to admit gaps in your knowledge