Master of Social Justice Degree (MASJ)

Upon completing the MA (Social Justice) program, students will be able to:

• Act as responsible biblical interpreters critically informed by attention to the theme of justice in both testaments and in current historical, literary and theological scholarship in the field of biblical studies.
• Attend to the continuing importance of events, texts and practices of church history and contemporary cross culture studies through the lenses of oppression, liberation, and reconciliation.
• Articulate perspectives on issues and topics in the area of public theology and ethics, informed by methods such as feminist, liberationist, process, and post-colonial models attentive to the theme of justice.
• Demonstrate an ability to conduct and evaluate advanced research by producing an integrative paper in which the student engages in critical reflection on a religious and/or cultural issue, or set of issues, that has emerged in her or his course work with relevant methods and materials as articulated in the previous goals; or a project in the launch course that includes critical reflection on a religious and/or cultural issue, or set of issues, that has emerged in her or his course work with relevant methods and materials as articulated in the previous goals.

Qualified applicants for the Master of Arts (Social Justice) program must have a Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution, a 2.7 GPA in undergraduate work, and a completed application including the following items:

• Application form and $60 application fee (fee waived if the application submitted by November 1)
• Essay, described on the application form
• 3 references from the following individuals:
  • Professor
  • Professional associate
  • Lay leader in your church/faith community; or another person who has held a leadership, mentoring, and/or supervisory role in your life
• Official transcripts from any undergraduate school where you received a degree and from any graduate school where you have completed work for credit. Official transcripts are ones that have the official institution seal and are mailed directly from the institution, not by the applicant. For full admission, the undergraduate transcript must show the degree and the date received.
• Authorization for criminal background check
• FAFSA for anyone interested in taking out a student loan
• TOEFL Applicants for whom English is a second language must submit an official TOEFL score of at least 550 (paper-based) or 213 (computer-based) or 80 (internet-based)