Intensive spiritual formation, immersive learning, and theological reflection to develop leadership and critical skills for creating social change.
Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change (CSSC)
The Certificate of Spirituality and Social Change (CSSC) is an accredited graduate certificate program designed to offer specialized training for the work of social change-making.
CSSC curriculum focuses on leadership skills for ethical decision-making, design thinking or social change, spiritual formation and theological reflection and community organizing and activism. At PSR, we believe effective efforts for social change rely on ongoing personal transformation, rooted in spiritual formation.
The CSSC program is designed to be a one-year full-time course of study, though students have up to three years to complete the certificate.
On campus or distance learning options available.
Professionals already engaged in the work of social change and those looking to embark on a vocational path of social change.
Program Outcomes & Mission Goals
1 | Engage in theological and ethical analysis of structural inequality, systemic injustice, and institutionalized oppression | Vision (intellectual): Analyze |
2 | Cultivate information literacy to assess digital and cultural discourses | Vision (intellectual): Discern |
3 | Interrogate the role of systemic complicity, social position, and personal transformation in social change | Resilience (emotional): Engage |
4 | Explore spiritual practices (e.g. contemplative prayer, visual arts, rituals) that foster personal and social transformation | Resilience (emotional): Sustain |
5 | Craft diverse strategies for effecting progressive social change | Skill (material): Innovate |
6 | Shape a transformative leadership style that respects personal boundaries, interpersonal dynamics, and moral values | Skill (material): Implement |
The CSSC prepares students for work in social justice advocacy, community organizing, the visual and performing arts, congregational leadership and related fields.
- Complete an application for Admission – for directions refer to our ‘How to Apply’ page
- Submit transcripts from an accredited bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 GPA
- Provide three references (academic, professional and spiritual)
Prospective students who do not meet these requirements may be considered for provisional admission, provided they meet the following requirements:
- Applicants who hold an accredited bachelor’s degree without a 3.0 GPA should offer a GPA explanation on their application and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
- Applicants who do not have an accredited bachelor’s degree must demonstrate that they have equivalent education and are adequately prepared for graduate study. This can be shown through references, other educational experiences, and a strong personal statement.
Students who are admitted provisionally will be limited to 9 units during their first semester. After the completion of 9 units with a 3.0 GPA, their status will move from provisional to full student status.
All applications are reviewed by a faculty committee.
For further program details, refer to the academic catalog
The courses below represent a typical progression for this program. If you have questions or need more information, please contact email@example.com
Course Number | Name | Credits |
Spiritual Formation for Leadership
This course offers an opportunity to deepen spiritual life in personal, interpersonal, communal, and cosmic dimensions. It will focus on engaging contemplative practices from across the inter-spiritual tradition as well as study the teachings of mystics, privileging those who lived engaged in the pursuit of collective justice. Participants will have a chance to explore the nature of spiritual formation while discerning which practices, resources, and attitudes are appropriate for sustaining vitality, rootedness, and creativity in their personal life, faith, leadership, academic, and social justice work. | 3 |
One of the foundational education commitments that undergirds this course is the assertion that all knowledge is contextual. In the various settings of ministry and social transformation, context plays an important role in shaping our work, our approaches to that work, our understandings of our own role in that work, and the meaning we make of it. At its core, this course seeks to ground our theological explorations in a deeper understanding of our own social contexts, as we develop facility in translating from one context to another and engaging across difference. Focusing in particular on the case of race, this course is designed as a path for exploring and understanding the ways that race in all of its intersections operates as a social fiction and lived experience in ourselves and in the communities we serve. Making use of historical, theoretical and theological lenses, we will engage in selfexploration, deep formation, readings, dialogue, and experiences with artists and activists as we build our capacity to address issues of prejudice, power, and privilege while cultivating cultural humility and cross-cultural competency. | 3 |
Rhetorical Use of Texts
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to different methods used to interpret texts. Students will learn and develop skills of closely reading texts, analyzing historical and contemporary contexts, and thinking critically through issues. This class will introduce students a wide range of sacred and secular texts. Students will learn to apply rhetorical strategies to construct interpretations that promote inclusivity, social consciousness, social justice, and speak to the current social and political contexts. This is an introductory level course and requires no prerequisite. | 3 |
Introduction to Christian Ethics
This course introduces students to theories of ethical discernment, behavior, and formation in Christian traditions. The course prioritizes ecological wellbeing as an ethical demand of Christian living and will use case studies about human relationships with our other-than-human kindred to practice the ethical theories studied. | 3 |
Transformational leadership entails a dynamic relationship between the leader and the community of which the leader is a part. It entails developing strategies that enhance the probability of achieving shared goals and visions. Essential to transformational leadership is the inspiration that lifts one from commonplace existence to living beyond the norm. In the quest for a more just and compassionate world, transformational leadership challenges dominant systems and other forms of oppression. This course will explore various expressions of transformational leadership, including those resulting from prophetic imagination and social entrepreneurship. Any student enrolled in a degree and/or certificate program at the Graduate Theological is eligible to enroll in this course. | 3 |
Theology concerns words, wordings, the Word, or speech about the divine. In the 11th century, Anselm of Canterbury defined theology as “faith seeking understanding.” This course invites a continuation of that perennial human quest, and especially in Christian faith traditions. We will explore and learn from both the wisdom and shortcomings of those who have preceded us in trying to give meaningful and responsible expression to theological topics. We will likewise engage in contemporary forms of that same quest as we attend carefully to the contribution theological ideas can make to social change and transformation. (Lectures, small groups, short papers, and a “credo project.”) | 3 |
Design Thinking for Social Change
We live in a world of day-to-day experience that is largely of our own making; technologies, buildings, products, institutions, services, brands, and experiences all clamor for our attention. Every one of them has been created by someone with intention, by design. The question we must ask is whether it was designed well, equitably, justly, beautifully, or not. Design thinking is a framework for skilled human-centered design practice that can be applied to any kind of artifact, including organizations, ventures, services, and products intended to drive positive social change. You will be introduced to design thinking, its origins and theoretical underpinnings, and the specific discipline known as design for social impact. You will learn by collaborating on a creative challenge drawn from your own experience. You will learn to see the world through a design lens and begin to explore a theological understanding of creative praxis as integral to spiritual formation. [Auditors excluded] | 3 |