Nagel Institute Receives $1.9 Million Grant

The Templeton Religion Trust has awarded the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin University a $1.9 million grant to support the next phase of a groundbreaking multiyear project titled “Forming Religious Education and Leadership toward a Global, Ecumenical, Culturally Decentered Vision of Spiritual Maturity and Flourishing.”

The project, led by David Wang from Fuller Theological Seminary, is exploring the impact of a seminary education on the spiritual, character, and virtue development of religious leaders who will one day contribute to the shaping and flourishing of communities and societies.

“His initial study showed that there is very little that is understood” about the impacts of a seminary education on potential leaders, said Damaris Parsitau, director of the Nagel Institute. “There are so many schools of theology across the world, but nobody really knew how that translates into spiritual formation, into character development, into virtue, and into creating leaders of integrity in the world.”

An initial Templeton grant collected data over three years from more than 1,200 seminary students attending 18 North American seminaries representing Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical, historically African American, Mainline Protestant, and Roman Catholic traditions.

Digging Deeper

While the data seemed comprehensive, it was landlocked to North America and could not be applied with integrity to other areas in the world, such as the Global South.

Discovering these insights fits well with the purpose of Nagel, an educational research institute within Calvin University that focuses on ways in which the study of World Christianity can change perspectives, foster knowledge, and reinvigorate Christian thought and practice. And Parsitau, who is originally from Kenya, is excited to be part of the research team looking to unearth new insights into this study.

“What do people who are not in North American theological institutions think about spiritual formation in their own continent and cultures? How do they come to spiritual formation? How is that contextualized for them?” wondered Parsitau, who has more than 25 years of experience in teaching, research, and leadership in various universities and research and policy institutions in Africa and beyond.

Adding Important Voices

Parsitau is particularly interested in hearing from women about these matters. And in the past month she spent time in Kenya both speaking with women and doing a literature review.

“You can’t study this without involving women who are the majority voices in any part of the Global South,” said Parsitau. “I want this subgrant I’m working on that’s exploring African women and spiritual formation to be able to illuminate clearly the roles of women and how they are at the heart of the African church. If you took out African women, you would have no church.”

While Parsitau is particularly passionate about the role of women, she’s excited to be part of a team that’s working to discover gaps that exist in various cultures and contexts and to identify solutions to help prepare religious leaders with the virtues needed to lead well.

Seeking Renewal

“There’s a disconnect between spiritual leaders and the realities in the Global South, so to speak. An example in Kenya is that evangelical pastors often frown upon theological education. There’s this idea that “I have a Bible, a loud voice, and a speaker, so I can go out and preach and attract a congregation,” said Parsitau. “We’ve seen that create tensions, spiritual abuse, and manipulation. So I hope that research on spiritual formation will help us understand what aspects of theological education will help close in some of those tensions and contribute to the human flourishing of Christian communities outside of North America.”

The project, which commenced on May 1, 2024, will run for about four years. Some of the expected outputs include the curation of a free online global repository of scholarly and practical resources for the purpose of Christian discipleship and the cultivation of Christian spirituality and value. The project is also envisioned to culminate in a summative global conference highlighting the work of the project and its contribution to broader academic and religious communities and to fresh advances in its field of inquiry. Other plans include the dissemination of the research findings through publications and other writings.