content of studies
The Academy offers two study programs:
- study program for lay people
- study program for people interested in ministerial work
The study program for lay people consists of required and optional six-month modules. The study program for ordained ministry candidates includes an extra module spread over six blocks and three years.
STUDY PROGRAM FOR LAY PEOPLE
Required modules:
- Tradition (roots, history and the current state of Unitarianism including international organizations and relations).
- Management (principles of management and cash flow, the internal regulations and bodies of the Religious Society of Czech Unitarians at all levels, administration necessary to manage the individual congregations and headquarters of the Religious Society of Czech Unitarians.
- Service (volunteer work in the congregation, preparation and leading of programs, the basics of pastoral work in a congregation.
- Theology (the relationship between spirituality and religion, the principles of open-minded faith, resources to draw from on your spiritual path, select concepts and meanings, especially in relation to Unitarianism and liberal theology).
- Education (work with individual categories of participants in the spiritual programs – from children and youth to adults, how to deal with important and critical moments in life).
- Service to society (practical outreach: charity work, social justice, taking care of the environment we live in, etc.).
- Students who wish to successfully complete the Academy must go through each of the six modules, however not necessarily all their parts.
Optional modules:
- Practical spiritual exercises (learning different types of meditation, etc.).
- Educational visits abroad (organized individually or as a group in countries with a Unitarian tradition).
By completing these modules or their parts, you can not only broaden your education but also make up for parts of required modules.
STUDY PROGRAM FOR ORDAINED MINISTRY CANDIDATES
Ordained ministry candidates must successfully fulfill all the requirements for lay students, however with a high number of credits, and complete the extra module Spiritual Service.
For now, this module is only for people interested in being ordained as a Unitarian minister and is focused on spiritual work at both the theoretical and practical level.
1) Theoretical part
The theoretical part of the extra module is divided into six thematic blocks, to, each of which comes with an educational retreat related to the educational retreat for lay people.
1. Ethos of Unitarian spirituality
2. Pastoral work
3. Spiritual meetings
4. Sermon and work with a text
5. Spiritual leading and administration of a congregation
6. Sharing the hope
Each of these parts will be concluded with a theoretical study of 3-5 standard pages, which will be defended before the committee of the board of ministers of the Religious Society of Czech Unitarians.
2) Practical part
In the practical part of the module Spiritual Service, the candidate will work as a ministerial intern for at least a year based on the conditions set by the Religious Society of Czech Unitarians. This ministerial internship is divided into six sections corresponding to the theoretical part of the module.
In each internship section, the candidate will be guided by a mentor, and both the mentor and the candidate will write up a prescribed report on completion of each internship section. These reports will be made available to the board of ministers as well.
In order to successfully complete the extra module Spiritual Service, it will be necessary to:
- Successfully defend six individual written works from the theoretical part of the studies
- Successfully complete the internship including a project concerning each of the six sections of practical parts of the module (this will also be evaluated by the committee of the board of ministers)
It is also possible to study only some of the modules at the Academy.