Leadership & Theology

Abstract

This graduate course unit focuses on the foundational elements of Christian leadership and details the distinction between leadership functions required for success in a religious, non-profit ministry vis-à-vis a commercial, for-profit business.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit students will be able to:

• articulate an integrated knowledge of the historical, biblical and theological frameworks that shape a Christian leadership approach
• explain in detail the leadership functions required for success in a religious, non-profit ministry as distinct from a commercial, for-profit business
• critically analyse the relationship between specialised leadership qualities and an organisation’s non-commercial, world-changing mission
• analyse scholarly literature to reflect on their own personal strengths and identify opportunities for personal growth as a Christian leader within a specific context, and
• apply knowledge of a Christian leadership framework to provide practical recommendations for the effective governance, management or ministry operations of their own organisation.

Assumed Knowledge 

N/A

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least seven hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Ken Avenell

Teaching methods

Online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This unit builds on the skills and knowledge developed in T8106 and P8155 to cultivate in students a specialised understanding of the intersections between leadership, mission, identity and community. Students analyse how it is that these areas are related to the knowledge and skills they have developed previously to explore themes of church and mission; mission and theology; leading faith communities; and mission and identity.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• demonstrate coherent knowledge and understanding of the intersections between leadership and mission theology, and the manner in which a theological vision can underpin, inform, transform, and enliven models of leadership
• demonstrate an understanding of the scriptural basis underpinning contemporary mission theology, and how this has evolved since Vatican II in both Catholic and Protestant Churches.
• demonstrate the capacity to recognise the uniqueness of leadership in the religious context, and to utilise creativity in identifying and solving problems related to leadership in such contexts, and
• demonstrate the capacity to communicate complex ideas related to the intersections between leadership and mission theology in various contexts.

Assumed Knowledge 

Not applicable

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Ken Avenell

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

In this unit, students will study, at an advanced level, contemporary theories of leadership and their intersections with the discipline of theology. Students will analyse a number of professional and religious contexts for leadership, and will develop their skills in selecting and applying appropriate models of leadership in these contexts.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this course unit, students will be able to:

• utilise the methodological strategies germane to studies of leadership and theology to analyse the context for leadership in the 21stcentury in a number of professional and religious contexts
• demonstrate an advanced understanding of, and capacity to critically evaluate, the work of a number of significant thinkers within 21st century leadership theory, and
• identify complex issues and problems associated with leadership in religious contexts in the 21st century and synthesise their skills and knowledge in theology and leadership to propose creative responses to these

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155 & M8161

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Rev Dr Charles Waddell

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Unit overview and content

In this unit, students will study in depth the current context for religious leadership, with a particular focus on pluralism. Students will utilise various analytic skills to engage with a number of historical ways of knowing within cultures, including classicist perspectives, modern perspectives, and post-modern perspectives. Students will be introduced to the theological concept of inculturation and the new challenges this poses in religious leadership. Drawing from this knowledge, students will explore what leadership looks like in the current context in a number of areas.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of religious and cultural pluralism, its impact on how people make sense of their lives, and the way it shapes the current context of religious leadership
• utilise the modern understandings of culture to construct models of culture, to use these models to critically analyse and assess the major elements of local cultures and the dynamics of cultural change, and then draw out the implications of these understandings for the practice of effective leadership of religious organisations
• articulate the major sources of pluralism in religious organisations, and the challenges and opportunities that pluralism provides in developing creative and innovative interventions to attain mission goals, and
• demonstrate an understanding of secularisation in the formation of institutional culture and identity, and its significance in managing faith-based organisations.

Assumed Knowledge 

P9264 and M8161

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Angelo Belmonte

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

In this unit, students will draw on current scholarship in the areas of leadership and theology to develop their skills in reflecting on, and critically analysing, the intersections between self-leadership and leadership of others. Students will study the inner life of leaders, the self in relationship with God, self, and others, leading in faith-based learning communities, spiritualties of leadership, aspects of leadership formation. The unit provides opportunities for personal reflection and for praxis in own professional contexts as well as to strengthen skills in ethical decision-making related to leadership.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit, students will be able to:

• understand the personal discipline involved in effective leadership and the motivation that underpins the exercise of this discipline
• demonstrate a capacity to articulate, defend, and critically evaluate an original spirituality of leadership related to their own leadership context
• demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which leaders understand and address the human context in which leadership is exercised, and
• articulate an advanced understanding of the intersections between the areas of justice in ministry, dialogue and relationship, relationship to the created world, reconciliation, justice and peace and moral vision and religious leadership.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155, M8161 and T8106

Study hours    

11 hours per week for 11 week session, comprised of

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least four hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Ken Avenell

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Abstract

This graduate unit develops the student’s knowledge and understanding of social justice issues from a Christian perspective. It provides opportunities for personal development and critical insight into appropriate approaches to addressing issues of societal injustice within a Christian leadership context.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this unit students will be able to:

• analyse the Christian understanding of the nature of social justice
• explain the biblical, historical and philosophical foundations of a Christian response to social justice issues
• critically engage with ancient and modern literature on the theme of social justice
• critique a contemporary Christian response to a social justice issue from the perspective of insights gained from the unit, and
• apply perspectives from the unit to a social issue of relevance to the student within a leadership context.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155 and M8161

Study hours

11 hours per week for 11 week session, comprised of

• At least 4 hours per week of reading.
• At least 6 hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Mr Paul Wilson

Teaching methods

Online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

In this unit, students engage in an in-depth study of the concept of worldview and how it aligns with the study of hermeneutics, that is, the manner in which people and communities make sense of their experience. Students will utilise this methodology to analyse private and public worldviews, including the worldview of Australian culture. Finally, students will study how it is that faith intersects with culture, and how leaders within faith communities can respond.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• understand and critically evaluate various perspectives on worldview in both its private and communal dimensions, and the importance of private and public worldviews in shaping institutional cultures
• critically analyse the cultural influences re-shaping the worldviews of faith and culture, and study their impact on the process of individual and group meaning-making and resultant conceptions of religious mission
• understand the dynamics that bring about changes in historical consciousness and large-scale cultural transitions; chart the nature of cultural and religious transitions presently underway; and explore the implications of these transitions for leading religious organisations in the present liminal era, and
• demonstrate an advanced understanding of the hermeneutical and symbolic roles of the Christian leader as explorer, guide, and meaning-maker when leading in a liminal age.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155 and M8161

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Ken Avenell

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This Advanced graduate course unit provides an opportunity for students to integrate what they have previously learned in the major area of study, in other course units that formed part of the degree, and in their life experiences beyond the formal course of study.  Its integrative nature incorporates reflection (on what they have learned), introspection (on where their understanding is currently) and projection (where the study may lead). It thus enables students to demonstrate a broad mastery of learning across the curriculum, to consider its application in future life situations, and to plan further learning experiences designed to complement and extend their current levels of understanding. It normally introduces little new content although it may introduce new methodologies and techniques.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• identify and analyse the core disciplinary assumptions and principles of the range of units in their course Major
• assess the degree of alignment of these assumptions and principles with those of course units beyond their course Major
• formulate a statement of wholistic integration of their core learning across the curriculum
• establish a personal plan for the integration of their studies beyond the period of study, and
• design an approach for leading a specific group of people into the implementation of the major learnings from their studies.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155, M8161 & P9264

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least four hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Ken Avenell

Teaching methods

One-to-one supervision.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This unit provides an in depth study of the formational responsibilities of those who lead in Christian ministries.  Focussing on the meaning, content and processes of formation, and also on the formational responsibilities of a leader, it examines insights drawn from the Christian faith tradition. Context, community and the needs of the leader, as well as issues concerning adult spirituality in Christian faith settings, are also addressed. In addition, the unit explores the notion of contemporary Christian mission and the implications of this for formation. It outlines the contours of a new approach to formation.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• develop the capacity for reflective practice in order to assist students to be able to accept responsibility for, and engage in, aspects of their own formation with the support of others in the Christian community
• clarify the connection between individual formation and the faith community and its tradition
• explore the formation requirements for the student as both minister and leader in the contemporary context
• enable development of a model of formation appropriate to the setting in which the student is leader, and
• develop and enhance the capacity to articulate a personal theology of formation, based soundly in both scripture and the student’s faith tradition.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155, M8161 & P9264

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

Dr Sandra Harvey

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Unit overview and content

This unit focuses on the principles, theories and concepts of Lasallian values and spirituality through the Together For Mission residential program. It engages with those who work on behalf of youth, especially vulnerable young people, in yourtown and Lasallian schools. Further, this foundational unit enhances a student’s capacity to work effectively in the context of contemporary youth within their sociological and cultural context. Students’ learning experiences are praxis based and include formative learning activities and critical assessment tasks, building towards a community of practice across the Lasallian works.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• critically analyse current research into the experience and needs of youth, with a particular emphasis on the poor
• discuss critically the foundational concepts and practices of Lasallian spirituality
• develop ongoing strategies for the integration of Lasallian spirituality and values in contemporary environments, and
• communicate to diverse audiences an in-depth understanding of Lasallian values, spirituality, and ministry.

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least one hour per week for online lectures.
• At least three hours per week of reading.
• At least six hours per week of directed study, including optional and assessable online activities.

Lecturer

John Cantwell

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.

Curriculum Objectives

This graduate course unit provides students with demonstrated initiative and creativity an opportunity to focus at an advanced level in a particular area of Leadership, under the tutelage and guidance of a specialist in the field. The unit is designed to refine the skills of independent study by allowing the student to define their own study, and to set their own goals by means of an extended guided reading program.

Learning Outcomes

At the completion of this unit of study, students will be able to:

• develop a focused topic for independent scholarly investigation
• conduct independent research, under supervision, in terms of locating, utilising and referencing a wide range of appropriate primary and secondary sources
• analyse and evaluate with critical empathy a range of disparate scholarly positions
• defend an independent perspective on the topic of the investigation, and
• produce a cogent set of researched findings in an extended piece of academic writing.

Assumed Knowledge 

P8155, M8161 & P9264, or for Governance and Canon Law students: P8160 & P8169

Study hours

10 hours per week for 12 week session, comprised of:

• At least 10 hour per week of directed study, including reading, research, consultation with tutor and writing up of assessment tasks.

Coordinator

Dr Ken Avenell

Teaching methods

Online lectures; online activities; guided reading; scaffolded assessments; feedback on assessments.

Indicative Assessment

At the Institute we use a range of assessment tasks, including essays, research papers, online posts, critical reflections, projects and praxis exercises. Within a unit of study each set of assessment tasks is designed as an integral part of your learning experience. These tasks vary across units and programs. All assessment tasks are aligned to the Australian Qualifications Framework level appropriate for graduate awards.