University Themes for Planning
Faculty excellence
Four of our seven designated peaks of excellence are unchanged from the previous strategic plan: Interpretation of Scripture, particularly theological interpretation and the history of interpretation; Theological Ethics; Pastoral Leadership; and Wesleyan Studies. Two of the seven strengths named in the previous strategic plan have been modified to account for changes in the faculty (and in programs) that have altered their trajectory — “Racial Reconciliation” is now Afro-Christian Thought and Life in Global Context; and “Theology and Medicine” is now Theology and Health Care, especially care at the end of life. We have also added Gender, Theology, and Ministry as a new peak of excellence in order to register our growing strength in the area of gender studies. These are areas in which we will seek both to maintain and to build strength, even as we also attend to specific areas of specialization and desires for diversity in the faculty that might not fit perfectly within any of these seven designated peaks.
Creating coherence and distinctiveness in the undergraduate experience
Duke Divinity School has had limited contact with undergraduates in recent years because the Department of Religion is the primary locus for teaching undergraduates. However, fundamental to our vision of a future built upon the theme of transformative leadership is the assumption that the leaders involved will not always be ministers, and the communities transformed will not always be churches. The Divinity School thus has a significant interest in engaging the myriad future leaders who pass through Duke University as undergraduates.
The Divinity School has long been involved in teaching undergraduates through ad hoc involvement of faculty. In light of President Brodhead’s emphasis, we have begun conversations with Dean McLendon and others about ways in which Divinity faculty might contribute more directly to the teaching of undergraduates. In addition, we are exploring ways in which some of our programmatic initiatives, such as the Institute on Care at the End of Life and the Center for Reconciliation, can offer research and internship opportunities for undergraduates.
Translation of knowledge for the service of society
Our focus on transformative leadership will make this University theme a major hallmark of the Divinity School’s work over the next five to ten years. We will exercise leadership in this area in three ways and contribute to the University’s overall focus in a fourth.
- We are undertaking a major initiative to enhance this work through our Th.D. program.
- We anticipate that our Center for Reconciliation will be a significant programmatic initiative focused on translating research in a variety of disciplines across the University into strategies for helping cultivate conflict resolution, reconciliation, and healing in local communities, as well as across the world.
- Our emerging initiatives focused on leadership will bear directly on translating knowledge for the service of society.
- We anticipate playing a strong role in the development of the University’s Global Health Initiative.
Strengthening the role of the arts
Duke Divinity School’s new building gives significant prominence to the visual arts, which we highlighted in the fall of 2005 in a series of sermons and reflections on “Art as Evangelism.” We anticipate that this series will be published as a book. Our Center for Theological Writing has focused attention on the arts as written word, especially by sponsoring events featuring gifted authors who include matters of faith in their writing (e.g., the January 2006 visit of Marilynne Robinson, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for her novel Gilead). We also hope to have a concentration in our new Th.D. program on Imagining Christian Life through the Arts, but we will need to be able to make at least one additional faculty appointment before we will be ready for such a concentration.