Sophia Theological Seminary

Living and learning in harmony with creation and with one another.

Sophia is a community of inclusion, of freedom, of safety, of belonging.

Sophia is a community of

Inclusion

All are created in the image of God—without exception. Each life bears an imprint of the divine in an endless diversity. At Sophia, your uniqueness is a gift to be celebrated in a community ready to receive that gift and be transformed by it.

God created humankind in God’s image… Genesis 1:27

Freedom

God who freely creates created humankind with freedom. At Sophia, you are free—to express yourself, to think creatively and critically, to speak openly and honestly. Free from pressure to conform, you are free to explore and question, tearing down those traditions and systems that hold us captive.

For freedom Christ has set us free…    Galatians 5:1

Safety

To love as God loves is to hold the well-being of our neighbor as closely as we hold our own. At Sophia, your well-being will be closely held, as together we take up the charge to embody a community of welcome, of hospitality, of security, of peace.

Love your neighbor as yourself…        
Leviticus 19:18

 

Belonging

As bearers of God’s image, we belong to one another—our neighbor, our community, our earth, its inhabitants, all creation. At Sophia, as we learn together alongside each other, you will become a vital part of a body that transforms you and is transformed by you.

There are many members, yet one body…    
1 Corinthians 12:20


Sophia is a community created out of…

an understanding of ministry as

Transformational

Sophia Theological Seminary desires to partner with students who are called and committed to Christian ministry, students who expect their seminary experience to challenge and to change them. STS understands God to be at work in the world, transforming it, and understands this time together as a community of learning to be an experience that transforms the community as a whole and each of its members – students, faculty, staff, and partners. Thus transformed, we may, in turn, be agents of God’s transformational work in the world. STS aspires to graduate ministers who are deep-thinking, hard-working, world-changing disciples of Jesus.

a theological education that is

Affordable

The primary system of financial support for Sophia Theological Seminary is the work of Sophia Farms. Rather than contributing financially through a tuition structure, students, alongside teaching members of STS, commit themselves to working up to ten hours per week in Farm-related labor. The produce of the Farm then provides the operating budget of the Seminary. This integration of endeavors recognizes God’s first commandment to care for creation and provides a rhythm of life and learning, while creating community and serving as a resource for God’s work in the world.

a mode of teaching that is

Integrated

The mode of teaching at STS is in direct response to present realities in which most seminary curricula are segregated by discipline, relying upon student efforts to make crucial connections, and in which the church and the academy struggle with a false understanding that a boundary exists between the “academic” and the “practical.” All teaching at STS happens in seminars that are integrated across discipline and across any perceived barrier between the “academy” and the “church.” 

an intent to forge partnerships that are

Collaborative

Sophia Theological Seminary is committed to partnership as a way of being God’s people and doing God’s work in the world and seeks to partner with organizations, churches, groups, and individuals who share this commitment. As articulated in our Core Values, STS understands partnership to be cross-denominational, ecumenical, and interfaith.

a financial model that is

Sustainable

The separate establishment of the Seminary and the Farm creates a financial structure and system whereby each institution is free-standing but also integrated, as the work of one enables the work of the other. In this model, the Seminary’s and the Farm’s operating expenses are financed through the proceeds of the Farm. This structure has two important features: first, it offers a measure of protection to funds invested in the Farm and, second, donations can be used, in larger measure, to enable and expand the community’s programs and initiatives.

Our Students

Sophia Theological Seminary offers a 27-month Master of Divinity degree. The year-round academic calendar runs from June to May, and students are accepted into year cohorts of 12-15 students. Sophia’s curriculum is built around two primary concepts: (1) complete integration, across disciplines and across artificial categories of “academic” and “applied” and (2) seminars sustained around a single “theme” for the semester.

We are an inclusive community where learning is collaborative and where we labor together within and beyond the Seminary in service to God’s creation and God’s people.

Sophia invites applicants to its Master of Divinity program who hear the call of God’s Spirit and have intellectual abilities, emotional capacities, and spiritual disciplines necessary to be Christ-like leaders in ministry. Sophia is selective in its admissions standards. Due to the seminar- and research-based curriculum of the Seminary, prospective students must be self-motivated, and capable of guided and independent research.

Our Core Values

As an embodied community of learners committed to God as revealed in Jesus Christ, the Seminary assents to a set of core values, including:

  • Life together in community will be marked by daily rhythms of study, worship, fellowship, and work.
  • Being a community of inclusive welcome is foundational to the life, work, and self-understanding of the Seminary.
  • Theological education is to be a holistic endeavor, undertaken with rigor, built upon a curriculum that is integrated across disciplines and that moves freely between “church” and “academy”.
  • The community will exercise wise stewardship of capital resources, natural resources, and people.
  • The community claims its heritage as little “b” baptist, understanding this heritage as historical, transcending specific denominational confines, and equally commits itself to ecumenical and interfaith work, locally and globally.

What Sophia Means to Us

With four adult children, I enjoy an increased level of involvement with music (piano, trombone, banjo), literature, and gardening, all of which I consider key to my mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. These interests parallel my commitment to the values held by the Sophia community. Convinced that a minister’s primary tool in ministry is the minister’s personhood, I find transformative Sophia’s vision of an integrated theological curriculum taught in the context of life in community, connected with God’s creation, responsible to the surrounding world, and attentive to the rhythms of work, rest, and worship.
The concept of a seminary in a farm setting is just the kind of new venture where I can unite my interests in farming and theological education. Sophia offers a completely fresh approach to a learning laboratory in a theological setting. This approach discards the old image of institution and puts students squarely where they need to be: outside where God created it all.
I consider myself deeply privileged to be involved during these early days of the formation of Sophia Theological Seminary and Sophia Farms and I am honored to serve as the chair of the Seminary board. The concepts of integration and collaboration have been a significant part of the imaginings of Sophia’s leadership, as we strive to weave these concepts into the foundation, the structures, and the practices of Sophia. I am inspired by these ideas taking the shape of a community where being ministers of Jesus Christ in and to this world is to be lived and learned.
I am excited to be a part of the frontiers that will be explored at Sophia. I was raised on a farm and immersed in the creative processes that God designed to nourish us, and my subsequent academic study of science and theology was guided by that most basic of foundations. The work of the Church and agriculture in our current time face unique challenges in a culture that is increasingly disconnected from both. I am convinced, however, that the solutions are not new, but grounded in ancient truths that may be awakened by a fresh breath of the Spirit.
In a time of rapid change in theological education, Sophia Theological Seminary seeks to ground ministerial formation in a number of core areas which are, to me, vital: a focus on the transformational nature of studying, working, and worshipping in community; an intentional emphasis on being a community of inclusive welcome; the integrated nature of the curricula that connects academics to church and world; and an emphasis on sustainability, both as a community (in relationship with Sophia Farms) and as a way of life. I could not be more excited to be part of this journey.
Sophia represents what I hope is the beginning of a shift in how seminary is done. Beyond just the challenging curriculum and practical aspects of ministry, Sophia provides a place for students to be fully immersed in their learning, relationships, community, spirituality, and personal and professional development. It is a place I believe will foster growth, inspiration, and passion in the students and the faculty. Sophia is the seminary experience I wish had been available to me, and so I am excited to be a part of its beginning.
From my diverse experiences and opportunities in both ministry and the business world, I am excited about the transformational model of Sophia Theological Seminary and how it can speak into the future of faith formation and education. Sophia’s guiding focus of holistic life within a self-sustainable model has been a resonating mantra for me for much of my life.

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“The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” – James 3:17-18

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Sophia Theological Seminary is a religious institution exempt from state regulation and oversight in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

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