Description

Earlier this year, the Luce Fund for Theological Education received an inquiry from the Pacific School of Religion (PSR), seeking support for the School’s Ignite Institute, which “ develops visionary, socially responsible leaders and organizations by harnessing the wisdom of ancient, sacred teachings to guide the ethical application of disruptive innovation .” A full proposal was invited, and PSR submitted a request for a potential grant of $500,000. The submitted proposal was evaluated and discussed by members of the advisory committee for the Luce Fund for Theological Education, and a subsequent decision was made not to include PSR’s project among those to be recommended to the Luce Foundation’s board of directors as part of the 2018 Luce Fund slate. PSR’s proposal to the Luce Fund for Theological Education will be formally declined this month.
 
Members of the Luce Fund’s advisory committee raised multiple critical concerns about the PSR proposal. One advisor voiced skepticism about the speed with which the Institute was proposing to bring its work to scale, for example, while another wondered whether its certificate programs were truly innovative, or simply the desperate result of a small school “struggling to stay alive.” Yet there was also excitement about the proposal, not least because PSR did really seem to be reaching for, and seeking to establish, a “new model” of theological education. As one advisor put it:
 
The proposal has every West Coast cliché of the moment. Still, it speaks to a problem and offers a solution. Current events suggest a need for spiritual/ethical interventions among millennials in the tech sector and this seems thoughtful and well-planned. I also like that PSR is thinking about how it might create a sustainable future in tandem with theological education that speaks to the present moment.
 
After further deliberations, the Theology Program invited PSR to submit a new inquiry, and then a full proposal, for a smaller grant that might support its efforts to craft new models of theological education, particularly through the work of the Ignite Institute. The grant being recommended here is the result of that invitation. Created in 2013, the Ignite Institute has been championed by President David Vasquez-Levy since his arrival at PSR in 2015. The experimental programs recently launched by Vasquez-Levy and his colleagues have resulted from intensive strategic planning, and funds from the Luce grant would extend this deliberately strategic approach to new program development.