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Forty-Seven Years: Past, Present and Future
A History of the Ottawa Lay School of Theology (now the Ottawa School of Theology & Spirituality)
The 2010-11 academic year marks the 47th anniversary of the Ottawa Lay School of Theology. The following is a brief description of the lay school concept, a history of the development of the OLST, and a description of its activities.
In this age of revolutionary and evolutionary change it is especially important that the laity, as well as the clergy, be adequately informed about what the Church has believed and taught throughout the ages and what the Church is teaching today. We must work out carefully the meaning of our Christian faith and life in our own situation and aid and encourage dialogue among members of different denominations. Whatever our vocation and talents may be, our Christian commitment requires the support and guidance of sound Biblical learning. The primary aim of the Ottawa Lay School of Theology is an informed and theologically alert laity.
— Neil Smith, 1988.
The "Lay School Concept":
Lay Schools of Theology were established to meet a need thought to exist in the
church of the post-war period. Most congregations had members with post-secondary
education but only the minister had any religious training. This resulted in
a wide gap between the members' education in secular matters and their education
in religion. This gap was partially addressed during the 50's and 60's by a
major expansion in Canadian post-secondary institutions, including a movement
toward the establishment of departments or schools of religion and religious
studies in Canadian universities. These institutions differed from the theological
colleges and schools in that they had for the most part no direct connections
to particular church denominations or the church leadership. The lay school
movement was a natural offshoot of what was happening in academe, but a movement
oriented toward what we would today call "continuing education".
The Ottawa Lay School of Theology has been "lay" not only in that it is designed for the education of lay persons but that lay persons have assumed the responsibility for planning and administering the school. (In church parlance, the laity are those who have not entered orders of ministry, ie the ordinary rank and file of believers.) Those who are officially ordained or called to orders of ministry within the church typically give leadership in worship and preaching, in pastoral care of those facing crises, and in general administration of the local congregation or parish. This leaves the ordained staff with little time and energy for organizing a programme of theological education for the adult laity. In this age of expanded adult education and continuous learning, it seems appropriate that lay persons should assume this responsibility — that lay persons should be responsible for their own theological education.
There is another possible advantage of lay administration of the Lay Schools: lay persons may understand what lay persons lack better than the ordained ministers do. There is tremendous pressure in contemporary culture to ignore the significance of spiritual matters and, in particular, all matters connected with faith and the more organized religion of the churches. In this context there are many issues which are not automatically resolved by reference to in-church answers. The lay person is forced to grapple with things both inside and outside the church and with things both old and new.
Aims and Objectives:
The aims and objectives of the Ottawa Lay School of Theology are as follows:
Foundations:
The OLST had its beginnings in the early 1960's when Ralph Young, the secretary
of the Board of Men of the United Church of Canada, set up a national committee
to consider the establishment of Lay Schools of Theology. The committee consisted
of: Ralph Young, Professor George Johnston of United College, McGill
University, Professor Elias Andrews of Queen's University, and a number
of lay representatives including Al Monaghan and Lawrence Read from
Ottawa. This initial endeavour resulted in the very successful launching of
Lay Schools across Canada. Within a few years, Lay Schools were established
in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton
and Vancouver.
In the early 1960's when the Lay Schools began, there were already two sources of lay education in theology in Ottawa. First, Dominion-Chalmers United Church organized each year a series of once-a-week evening sessions called the University of Religion. Outstanding lecturers were invited to give a series of talks on important theological themes. This programme had some features of the proposed Lay Schools. At the same the Department of Religion at Carleton University began offering basic extension courses that covered theological matters. The existence of these programmess initially played into the decisions around whether a Lay School should be initiated in Ottawa.
In one of the first positive steps toward the foundation of the OLST, Dominion-Chalmers United Church was approached with the proposal that both the University of Religion and Carleton's extension courses be discontinued in favour of initiating a lay school in Ottawa. The Church committee had some concerns about where the leadership of the Lay School would come from but finally agreed. Sponsorship was provided by the Ottawa Presbytery of the United Church of Canada and Presbytery representatives from Dominion-Chalmers United Church. The Ottawa Lay School of Theology was launched with Al Monaghan as President and Lawrence Read as chair of the Curriculum Committee. Both Dominion-Chalmers and Carleton dropped their programmes. While featuring denomination sponsorship, the School was entirely run by and dedicated to the laity.
The Early Years:
On a national basis, the National Lay School Committee met at least once a year
at United Church headquarters in Toronto. This committee had representatives
from all the lay schools across Canada. Al Monaghan, one of the OLST founders,
was chairman of this committee and provided it with strong and faithful leadership.
Initially, the Ottawa Lay School of Theology and the many other schools across
Canada were very successful. However, the national administration of the United
Church of Canada reorganization in the early 1970's dropped the Men's Board
and in the process the National Lay School Committee was accidentally lost
in the shuffle. The Lay Schools across Canada, with the exception of the Ottawa
Lay School of Theology, ceased to operate as the decade of the seventies drew
to a close, probably due to the lack of national coordination. The Ottawa School
continued on and thrived without the national coordination due to the faithful
work of its students and local leaders, notably Al Monahan.
Additional Sponsorship:
The Ottawa Lay School originally adopted a format recommended by the national
United Church committee. However, there were two important developments
in Ottawa which were not initially foreseen. First, and most important, the
Ottawa School developed a strong spirit of ecumenism, ie it picked up participants
from various religious denominations and faith traditions. As a reflection
of this, the OLST approached the Ottawa Diocese of the Anglican Church in the
late 1960's and invited their participation. A few years later the Presbytery
of the Presbyterian Church was similarly approached. Since the mid-1970's the
Ottawa Lay School of Theology has operated under the joint sponsorship of the
Anglican diocese and the Presbyterian and United Church presbyteries. The second
development was the need to change the programme to reflect a stable student
body.
Programme Development:
The School's programme originally consisted of two-hour sessions once a week
for ten weeks in the Fall and a similar ten weeks in the Winter. The first
hour provided a single basic course and the second hour two or three elective
courses. The courses offered an introduction to the diverse aspects of the
Christian tradition over a three-year period:
Electives were intended to offer courses on a variety of themes: further study of the basic subjects; themes concerned with the interrelation of Christianity and society; religious movements including non-Christian religions; etc.
Eventually, the Ottawa Lay School became a centre of continuing theological education for a faithful core group. For this reason, the first hour originally reserved for an introductory or basic course had to be opened up to alternative courses as the core students had all taken the courses. In time, the number of options offered in the first hour became the same as that for the second hour. The development continues into the present day.
Currently, the OLST curriculum committee develops the academic calendar using the original three-year pattern of themes as a guideline, e.g. they try to schedule courses in year one that correspond to Old and New Testament topics. Over the past few years, the School has increasingly taken advantage of the academic resources of St. Paul University to expand its course offerings. In addition, Ph.D. candidates from local universities studying in subjects relevant to the academic calendar of the OLST use the School to gain valuable teaching experience or try out their research on participants.
At the present time, the OLST is not limited to its sponsoring denominations. In fact it has developed in such a way that it now has representatives of over twenty religious denominations in its student body. Almost a quarter of the School's student body is now drawn from the Roman Catholic faith. It also brings together many people who share an interest in exploring the nature of spirituality and religion but are not affiliated with any denomination or practice in house churches. The spirit of ecumenism continues to be found in both the courses and the lecturers who present them.
Vision:
Clearly, we have entered into what has been called the "post-Christian world." This
serves as both a challenge and an opportunity for the intellectually alert laity.
It is a challenge because the laity live in a world full of secular culture that
is easily projected into their homes through the power of the electronic media.
There is a challenge in finding the way of faith in this environment. The pace
of modern change, the technological imperative, the impact of globalization,
environmental fragility and the rate of social change also challenge the laity
to put theology into action rather than leaving it to the often sterile world
of academic or intellectual discourse. The opportunity lies in the increasing
awareness amongst Canadians about world religions and faith traditions and a
growing interest in spirituality, even while Canadians are leaving denominational
religion behind. 2008/2009 the School engaged an independent body to conduct
an analysis of its work and offer suggestions as to how it might better fulfill
its mandate and appeal to a broader student base. One of the suggestions was
a name change and in 2009 it was decided to change the School's name from the
OLST to the Ottawa School of Theology & Spirituality. It is our vision that
by offering a venue for people to explore the meaning of faith in the modern
world, the Ottawa School of Theology & Spiriatuality will continue to flourish
and grow into the next century.
Past Presidens: