Speech Communication in Ministry, the name itself expresses who we are and why we are here:

Speech.

For almost 150 years, teachers of speech at the seminary have been assessing and meeting student’s personal speech needs. Today,through classes, tutorials, and self assessment of video recordings, students explore and develop voice and body in order that scripture might be read, sermons preached, and worship led faithfully and effectively.

Communication.

A critical engagement with performance studies, rhetoric, hermeneutics, intercultural communication, mass communication, and media arts, fosters a communication of the gospel that takes seriously diverse contexts and communities in today’s world.

in Ministry.

Communication in ministry is more than knowing what to say and how to say it. Speaking while holding a Bible, a sermon manuscript, a baby in baptism, the bread and the cup in the Lord’s Supper, or the hand of the bereaved, requires an understanding of who you are and to what purpose you have been called. In all of our courses, attention centers upon the person and the discovery of her/his vocational identity as a servant of the Word in church and world.

Courses

The introductory courses Speech Communication in Ministry I, II are offered in the Fall and Spring long terms of the Junior year. In weekly workshops, critical and empathic study of biblical and other literatures as encountered in the spoken word are explored, as well as the technical knowledge and skill in communicating through verbal, vocal, and physical gesture. Word and Act I, II, focuses on the verbal and non-verbal elements of leading worship, administration of the sacraments, and leadership in the conduct of marriage and funeral services. Other electives include courses in sermon delivery and embodiment, preaching and the media arts, communication and gender, the Holy Spirit and the practice of preaching, extemporaneous and improvisational speech, and the production of a play from the repertory of religious drama.