Open Call for FASPE Clergy & Religious Leaders Fellowship Program

FASPE is an intensive, two-week study program in professional ethics and ethical leadership. FASPE is neither a Holocaust studies course, nor a genocide prevention program. Rather, the curriculum is designed to challenge Fellows to critically examine constructs, current developments and issues that raise ethical concerns in their professions in contemporary settings in which they work.

Fellows spend two weeks in Berlin and Poland, where they visit key sites of Nazi history and participate in daily seminars led by specialized faculty. The program couples the power of place with academic rigor and many informal opportunities for creative exchange.

FASPE draws on a large pool of applicants, whose diverse backgrounds and interests enrich discussions both inside and outside the seminar room. Clergy Fellows travel with Medical and Journalism Fellows, allowing them to broaden their understanding of the role of professionals over shared meals and activities and in several interdisciplinary seminars. FASPE Fellowships are fully funded so that financial ability does not affect participation.

Topics

• FASPE Clergy & Religious Leaders Fellows examine topics such as:
  • The complicity of clergy in the execution of Nazi policies, including by failing to speak out.
  • The role of confession, apologies and reconciliation.
  • The right and responsibility of religious leaders to be ethical educators.
  • Pastoral leadership in a diverse community.
  • Religious faith, exclusivism and the temptations toward prejudice and intolerance
  • Interfaith work and dialogue.
  • Navigating multiple loyalties to institutional authorities, religious doctrine and policies, lay leaders, community needs and more.
  • End-of-life decisions and discussions (structured as an interdisciplinary session with Medical Fellows) tactics to address ethical issues.

Eligibility Criteria

• FASPE Clergy & Religious Leaders applicants must either be enrolled in graduate school preparing for work as a religious leader at the time of application or they must be working as a religious leader with a relevant graduate degree received May 2020 or after. Those applying as students may be studying at a seminary, divinity school, rabbinical school, Muslim chaplaincy program or other graduate program related to religious OR theological training.
• Applicants do not need to be ordained or planning to pursue ordination to be eligible. Applicants from all faith traditions are encouraged.
• FASPE seeks Clergy Fellows with diverse interests and backgrounds, including those pursuing careers as religious leaders of congregations, as chaplains, at universities, hospitals, prisons, corporations, in the armed services, and in other settings.
• FASPE seeks Fellows at a formative stage of their professional lives, who are open-minded and self-reflective, demonstrate leadership capabilities, and possess the potential of having influence in their fields. FASPE selects its Fellows on the basis of their academic background, personal and professional experiences, capacity for leadership, and ability to contribute to the Fellowship program and the alumni community.

For more information, visit FASPE.