The Bible is a vital document for the church, for theological reflection and for ministry within the church. The narratives, images, concepts and values of the Bible form and shape Christian practice and ministry (whether ‘professional’ or ‘lay’). Relating the Bible relevantly and appropriately to contemporary individual and community contexts requires a range of exegetical skills and hermeneutical sensitivities. Students studying on this module will be expected to develop not just exegetical skills, but a critical hermeneutical awareness of how the Bible can be appropriated in contemporary contexts. Students will also be expected to reflect critically on the factors that have influenced how they have approached and appropriated the Bible in a variety of contexts.

This module aims to:

• critically evaluate a range of exegetical/interpretive tools;

• develop a critical understanding of selected hermeneutical methods for responsible interpretation;

• critically explore the influences of the reader in the interpretation process, enabling students to develop as self-reflective and self-aware interpreters;

enable students to reflect critically on their own commitments to and understandings of the Bible and its interpretation.

The contemporary mission of the church is a debated topic, particularly as the paradigm referred to as “Christendom” diminishes in western Europe. This module offers students an opportunity to critically examine some of the current thinking about mission. Part of that analysis will be how the church of the 21st century might become a missional community able to demonstrate by word and deed the relevance of the Christian message in an increasingly globalized world. The focus for the module will be the church in Ireland - that will be the context for most of the students, but it can also function as a paradigm for students from other contexts.

This module aims to:

• critically reflect on the implications of a post-Christendom context for mission in Ireland;

• explore historical and sociological perspectives on socio-cultural change in the modern world;

• critically reflect on the history of mission in Ireland and reflect its relevance for the life and witness of Irish Christianity today;

• reflect critically on the future of the church and its mission;

• provide opportunities for students to reflect on strategies for the transformation of mission in their local contexts.

IBI self-identifies as an evangelical institute. Most of its students come from, and minister within, a broad evangelical constituency within Ireland. This module does not require someone to be an evangelical, but it provides a framework to explore the interaction between evangelical belief, identity and praxis in a particular cultural context. A useful approach is to see evangelicalism as a Christian spiritual-theological ethos that is global in its expression. How this ethos is expressed locally will impact personal and church praxis in multiple ways (e.g. church expression; how the gospel (evangel) is articulated in preaching, teaching and mission; networking with affinity groups; worship; hermeneutics and so on). If this is the case, then exploring evangelical identity and theology will uncover deep connections to applied theology.

This module aims to enable students to:

• engage critically with selected markers of evangelical theology and how they shape evangelical identity

• critically examine strands within Irish evangelical identity and theology

• critically analyse the relationship between the changing cultural context within Ireland for evangelical communities and implications for their praxis.

• critically assess how these theological commitments impact personal and corporate praxis

• reflect personally and critically on their own experience of evangelical theology and spirituality

Understanding theological commitments and presuppositions is an important aspect of developing an applied theology. Thinking and reflecting theologically and biblically on life, ministry and work is central to this module and gives students the opportunity to engage in critique and reflection on their own theological framework and how it interacts with professional practice.

The module aims to enable students to

• explore how biblical and theological frameworks can shape professional practice;

• reflect on how a theology of work is influenced by such frameworks;

• critically reflect on issues of world and life view;

• develop and apply their own theological framework to enhance professional practice;

• provide opportunities to critically reflect on how biblical and theological understanding is expressed in personal spirituality.

Some of the changes in society have resulted in an increasingly fractured context for many forms of Christian ministry. Christian communities that are seeking to be biblical in their expression of shared life have significant resources at their disposal to be effective communities of care. While pastoral caring may occur ‘naturally’ as part of a Christian community, it is important in any ministry context that people who are involved in providing or facilitating pastoral caring in either a local church context or in a broader sphere reflect critically and theologically on both the theory and practice of their caring. The module gives students an opportunity to do this for the context in which they are working professionally, although the focus will usually be on church-based caring. It is also important that students think about how to enable and empower others in a variety of roles in pastoral caring.

The module aims to enable students to:

• explore and evaluate biblically and theologically various models of pastoral care used in contemporary church life and their impact on practice;

• reflect on how theological perspectives/biblical models shape pastoral care;

• stimulate students to reflect critically on their practice of pastoral care;

• develop an appropriate strategy to enhance their professional practice.

The communication of the Bible is a critical aspect of Christian practice. For most Christian communities teaching/preaching the Bible continues to be a core element in acts of worship and one of the most important means of Christian education. Being able to communicate the Bible is an important element of an applied theology. The contemporary context, however, poses some major challenges to traditional understandings and practices of communication which need to be engaged. This module encourages students to self-critically engage with both the theoretical underpinning of, and the skills required for, teaching and preaching in a ministry context.

The module aims to enable students to:

• reflect critically on the use of hermeneutical, homiletic and communication theory in teaching and preaching practice;

• reflect on biblical/theological frameworks underpinning teaching and preaching;

• evaluate the nature of teaching and preaching in the student’s own culture;

• reflect critically on their own teaching and preaching practice;

• develop appropriate strategies to enhance their practice.

This module is compulsory on the MA Transformational Leadership. It is also an elective module for the MA Applied Theology

Organisational change and development in any institution, whether a church community, a community-based organisation, a voluntary group or a commercial organisation, will depend to some degree on the nature and quality of its leadership. It is important that any leader who wishes to develop and shape the context where they exercise their leadership think critically and biblically about the range of factors that influence leadership and the way it is practised. For leadership to be transformational it also needs to develop a range of self-reflective skills and attitudes. Students who study on this module will be required to construct a self-designed leadership project which will provide a context for the implementation of and reflection on transformational leadership theory and skills. The reflective report assessments are ‘incremental’ in nature and are designed to provide feed-forward formative input. The reports will be set at the beginning, middle and end of the module. The research and reflections on the project will provide participants with a learning experience of transformational leadership in practice.

The module aims to enable students to:

• critically evaluate selected biblical patterns and frameworks of leadership;

• critically analyse selected leadership models within the Irish context (or their own context);

• develop skills and attitudes for transformational leadership;

• develop the tools to critically analyse leadership practice;

• reflect critically on their own leadership practice;

• critically reflect on the implementation of transformational leadership in their context.