Introduction
As we plan within the Divinity School as well as across Duke University, it is imperative that we attend to the broader ends of education as they are embodied in both intellectual excellence and moral character. Even as the Divinity School is enriched by the academic and cultural resources of Duke University, we also enrich the academic and spiritual ethos of a university whose mission is to foster Eruditio et Religio. With this mission in mind, it is the aim of the Divinity School to heed the Gospel’s summons to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This transformative renewal is a defining characteristic of discipleship, which is another way of naming the broader ends of education as they are conceived within the Divinity School.
By definition, discipleship requires leadership, and over the next decade a particular kind of leadership will be necessary if the Divinity School is to advance both its own mission and the mission of the University. For the purposes of this strategic plan, we have identified this leadership as “transformative.” Such a designation is in keeping with our previous strategic plan, Transforming Ministry, in which we emphasized the transformative character of our work as a professional school that trains people who have identified ministry as a vocation. In this plan, we shift the emphasis from ministry as such to the leadership that is an integral component of the transformative character of ministry.
Vitally faithful, highly effective Christian congregations make a transformative difference in their communities, and we are convinced that effective pastoral leadership strengthens such congregations. Over time, profound synergies develop between effective pastors and vital congregations, creating ever stronger contexts in which pastors, congregations, and wider communities flourish. We are equally convinced that ineffective pastoral leadership weakens congregations and stunts the transformative potential that congregations hold for the health of wider communities.
We believe that supporting and sustaining transformative leadership is crucial, whether we are focused on congregations or on other institutions. Over the next ten years, Duke Divinity School is poised to exercise significant influence in equipping leaders of religious institutions, as well as religious leaders of nonreligious institutions, with important theological insight and skills for their vocations. In this regard, we seek to be an active participant in fulfilling Duke University’s overall goal, articulated in the charge to the 2005–06 planning steering committee: “to be among the small number of institutions that define what is best in American higher education. Certainly Duke can learn from other institutions, but we must also set our own sights and help set the standards for others. This is what leadership means.”