Leadership & Theology

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.

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.