Problems and Prospects for the Measurement of Christian Seminarian Formation: Spiritual Measurement and the ‘Uncertainty Principle’

Abstract

Spiritual and ethical formation are a central responsibility of institutions of theological education, and it matters how well these institutions carry out this core task. Yet formation and the measurement of formation face an array of both theological and practical challenges. The present essay surveys these challenges and responses that have been developed to date. It culminates by identifying as an issue in need of fuller attention how the very act of measuring ethical and spiritual formation itself carries the potential of distorting the process of formation, and it sketches a path forward that involves considering how measurement itself might be positively formative.