Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care

The Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, an intensive specialized professional degree offered through Talbot’s Institute for Spiritual Formation (ISF), is a leading program for men and women who desire training and equipping to become spiritual directors, pastors, teachers, mentors and leaders of soul-care ministries within the church.

The program is shaped around promoting growth in your inner life of faith and prayer with God in the context of a shared community, while also developing your knowledge-base in the Word, spiritual formation and soul care. It focuses specifically on ways to deepen your knowledge and openness to God and his work, as well as understanding of yourself and others in order to grow toward conformity of character and inner life in the image of Christ. In turn, it trains you to assist others in their journey of growth in Christ and his body.

In order to accomplish this, the program has a substantial emphasis on understanding the dynamics of the indwelling Holy Spirit as they interface human personality and relational dynamics. These integrative endeavors are enhanced by ISF’s diverse university-wide faculty, which draws particularly upon Rosemead School of Psychology and Talbot School of Theology, bringing a wide range of expertise and experience to bear upon the process of human spiritual growth and soul care.

• Study and Experience Spiritual Formation from a Trusted Program. Talbot’s Institute for Spiritual Formation is a trusted leader among Christian seminaries in the area of spiritual formation and soul care. Throughout your program, you’ll learn through experience and theory that growth in Christ is based upon an encounter with God and oneself in the Truth.
• Learn from Leading Faculty and Practitioners in Theology and Spiritual Formation. ISF faculty are leading scholars in the field of spiritual formation, dedicated to training pastors and leaders in understanding how spiritual transformation works in their lives and in the life of the church. ISF publishes The Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care, a leading peer-reviewed publication that serves as a forum for academic conversations on the theory and practice of Christian formation and soul care.