Forming Lifelong Learner-Practitioners: Theological Literacy Across the Ecology

This chapter argues that the future of theological education—as delivered through core academic programs and continuing education alike—depends on reimagining theological literacy as the cultivation of lifelong, adaptive capability with the pastoral cycle. Drawing on Acadia Divinity College’s Pathways for Tomorrow grant work, it contends that curricula and courses must involve more than acquisition of static disciplinary content and skill competencies, if students are to speak prophetically into a cultural moment marked by distortion of Christian witness and urgent public need. Heutagogy, or self-determined learning, offers a constructive alternative, forming learner-practitioners who can critically reflect and respond creatively amid rapidly shifting ministry landscapes. Through learning portfolios, Indigenous Appreciative Inquiry, and generative AI, the chapter challenges educators to resist complacency, embrace individualized and context-responsive learning, and equip leaders capable of shaping beloved communities in a world where theological illiteracy carries real social cost.