The End of Theological Education: An Analysis of the Contribution of Portfolio Learning to Formation in Ministry within a University Context

Abstract

Abstract This article reflects upon five pieces of student work submitted for examination within the pastoral portfolio of the BTh degree of Cambridge University. The purpose of presenting and reflecting upon this work is to stimulate conversation about the use of portfolio in theological education and ministerial formation. The students' work arises from church contexts, placements in prison and in hospital, and from their own lives. They variously discuss the role of prophecy in church leadership; the interpretation of pastoral conversations; the role of prison visitors; the experience of chronic fatigue syndrome and pastoral responses to begging on the streets. The analysis of their work raises questions about the aims of theological education; the formational processes and the learning and assessment activities which are intended to meet those aims; the processes by which theological education is evaluated, and, in the current higher education climate in the UK, the possibilities and dangers for theological education of becoming separated from the academy.