Tyndale master’s program specializes in Indigenous studies
TORONTO, ON—Two post-secondary institutions have partnered together to offer a master's degree that will help Native North Americans in the area of theological education.
Tyndale University College and Seminary and the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies (NAIITS) will offer a Master of Theological Studies-Indigenous Studies degree starting this coming June. The degree is designed by indigenous academics.
Gary V. Nelson, president and vice chancellor of Tyndale, says he believes there is a need for such a degree.
"NAIITS's desire is to pinpoint young leaders within the Aboriginal First Nations framework and to…pour their lives into them and help form them into the next generation of leaders," Nelson says. "It will be predominantly taught by Aboriginal First Nations people, so they recruit, they mentor [and] they walk with the students."
"What we'd like to see come out of it is … [the] formation of the next generation of young Aboriginal leaders thinking theologically within their own culture and context," he adds.
Nelson says that in the past, the tendency has been for white Canadians of European descent to impose their own frameworks on Aboriginal education. The new degree will give Aboriginal First Nations a chance to develop their own framework.
"They understand the needs, they understand the contexts, so it's not being run through a Western European, white filter," Nelson says.
The 18 required courses in the degree program will be offered in a variety of formats: intensive summer classes, online hybrid formation and wrap-around courses relating to an annual symposium.
"Tyndale and NAIITS have designed the program to be delivered in a very flexible format so it can accommodate some of the unique situations and needs of Native North American and other indigenous people," Terry LeBlanc, NAIITS co-founder and chair, said in a news release.
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