Seminaries slow to adopt sexuality studies

CHICAGO — At the Chicago Theological Seminary, Professor Laurel Schneider challenges her students bluntly: “Sex and sexuality is of course a very significant part of our experience,” she said. “And I put the question up here, is sex divine?” The Chicago seminary is one of the few clergy-training institutes where human sexuality, in all its […]

(RNS2-APR07) Kate Ott surveyed 36 seminaries for the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing and found that most do not offer classes in human sexuality, even though it's a topic that clergy often confront in counseling. For use with RNS-SEMINARY-SEX, transmitted April 7, 2009. RNS/RENW photo.

(RNS2-APR07) Kate Ott surveyed 36 seminaries for the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing and found that most do not offer classes in human sexuality, even though it’s a topic that clergy often confront in counseling. For use with RNS-SEMINARY-SEX, transmitted April 7, 2009. RNS/RENW photo.

(RNS2-APR07) Kate Ott surveyed 36 seminaries for the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing and found that most do not offer classes in human sexuality, even though it's a topic that clergy often confront in counseling. For use with RNS-SEMINARY-SEX, transmitted April 7, 2009. RNS/RENW photo.

(RNS2-APR07) Kate Ott surveyed 36 seminaries for the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing and found that most do not offer classes in human sexuality, even though it’s a topic that clergy often confront in counseling. For use with RNS-SEMINARY-SEX, transmitted April 7, 2009. RNS/RENW photo.

CHICAGO — At the Chicago Theological Seminary, Professor Laurel Schneider challenges her students bluntly: “Sex and sexuality is of course a very significant part of our experience,” she said.


“And I put the question up here, is sex divine?”

The Chicago seminary is one of the few clergy-training institutes where human sexuality, in all its facets, is openly discussed. The Connecticut-based Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing recently studied 36 seminaries across denominational lines and found an “overwhelming need” to better educate and prepare future religious leaders in the area of human sexuality.

The survey found that fewer than 10 percent of U.S. seminaries require a semester-length class in sexuality before graduation. In addition, three-quarters of seminaries lack classes on lesbian/gay studies even though they do offer a full range of women’s studies.

“When seminaries don’t offer these courses, they’re still talking about the issue. They’re just talking about it from silence and from a negative perspective,” Kate Ott, the institute’s associate director, told the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

“And seminary students understand that. They hear both messages loud and clear. And we would just prefer that they get a positive open message rather than a silenced or dismissive message.”

Pastors say issues such as teen sexual activity and marital infidelity are among the most common topics on which congregation members seek guidance. What’s more, growing acceptance of homosexuality, and church fights over gay marriage or gay ordination have pushed the human sexuality debate to the fore.

Yet, few seminaries offer courses in sexuality, and fewer still require these courses.

“It’s a challenge,” said Alice Hunt, president of Chicago Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. “It’s controversial. It makes people feel uncomfortable. It makes people feel insecure. So it’s just taking time for schools to come on board in addressing these issues.”


Some clergy have criticized the Institute’s report, saying that seminaries can’t teach everything, and students are not there primarily to obtain “how to” skills but to study biblical texts, to reflect and to pray.

Hunt said she could understand that reasoning.

“You have to then change your whole curriculum,” she said. “If you want to incorporate issues of human sexuality and race and gender, you have to examine everything you’re teaching in your educational context. And that’s a lot of hard work.”

Because of the lack of seminary courses on sexuality, however, students are often expected to learn on the job.

The Rev. Lillian Daniel, senior pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Glen Ellyn, Ill., recalled one of the few classes at her divinity school where sex was discussed.

“The teacher goes, `Never, ever, ever — with anyone in the congregation.’ We all thought, did we miss the verb? What is it — go skiing, go dancing? I mean, he couldn’t even bring himself to say the word, and that was the extent of the conversation.”

And “the word” was?

“Sleep with,” she said.

Daniel said seminaries often discuss gender rights, sexual harassment and how pastors should maintain proper boundaries with their congregation members. But she says they rarely train students to deal with the complex, intimate questions that parishioners are likely to bring with them. As part of a Sunday afternoon series on sexuality, Daniel’s congregation has been examining a variety of issues connected with marriage.


“I’m all in favor of referring people to folks with more expertise if they’ve got the sort of issues that are on-going,” Daniel said. “But a lot of times, people come in to see a pastor because they want to tell something one time. Or they just want a reality check, or they just want some kind of comfort or someone to listen to them. Sometimes it’s almost in the area of a confession. So in those cases, we may be their only stop.”

The Chicago seminary received a high rating in the Religious Institute study, but even it does not require students to study human sexuality. Hunt said the seminary wants its graduates to be able to minister to the whole person.

That means “understanding what your tradition says about human sexuality” and “being healthy yourself — understanding what the religious texts say, being aware of counseling issues, knowing how human development happens with sexuality, being aware of social constraints, and the fear that people face for not being able to fully express who they are. All of those are crucial in becoming a mature minister,” Hunt said.

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