New Cohort of D.Min. Students Beginning

Dr. Bielfeldt’s A Secular World is the first class that every new cohort of D.Min. students must take. Eight students are in the class this fall, with six comprising a new cohort.

Students read Charles Taylor’s magisterial A Secular Age with the intent of understanding why it is that it was virtually impossible not to believe in God in the sixteenth century, but it is difficult today even for those professing such belief. What has changed? Surprisingly, Taylor argues that the advance of science has very little to do with it seeming now that God is not, but that western civilization has morally rejected God. Sound interesting?

The new cohort includes three pastors from Chicago’s inner city, a husband and wife engaged in researching the relationships among spirituality, music and dementia, and a Christ School of Theology M.Div. alumnus pastoring a large church in the Des Moines area. ILT’s Christ School of Theology has admitted a new D.Min class each and every fall since the program’s beginning in 2015, and has granted already three D. Min. degrees.