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Deepen your theological frameworks for social justice ministry and develop practical skills for more effective community engagement. Drawing on Candler faculty and community activists, this track equips you to understand justice from a biblical perspective, reflect on personal practices, and explore the transformative role of relationships.
Sample Content
One free preview lesson from each of the four units — no registration required.
What You'll Learn
From biblical foundations to community organizing — this track builds the theological depth and practical skills to engage justice work with integrity and effectiveness.
Ground your justice work in the deep wells of biblical and theological tradition — understanding what Scripture and the church have to say about equity, liberation, and the flourishing of communities.
Justice work begins within. This unit develops the interior life of the practitioner — habits, self-awareness, and sustainable practices that keep you grounded for the long haul of community transformation.
Nothing transforms communities without trust, solidarity, and deep relational investment. This unit builds the relational intelligence needed for authentic community engagement across lines of difference.
Drawing on case studies from pastoral activists, this unit addresses how communities heal, organize, and rebuild after uprisings, systemic harm, and violence — with hope grounded in theology and practice.
Curriculum
Each unit moves from theological foundations toward concrete community practice — equipping you to understand, reflect, relate, and act for justice.
What does the Bible say about justice? What have theologians, activists, and the church throughout history contributed to our understanding? This unit grounds your justice work in the deep tradition of theological reflection.
Sustainable justice work requires interior formation. This unit invites honest reflection on your own practices, biases, and motivations — and offers frameworks for developing a personal spirituality of justice that sustains you for the long term.
Authentic community engagement is built on trust, solidarity, and relational depth. This unit explores how relationships function as the engine of community transformation — and how to cultivate the relational practices that make justice work real.
The final unit focuses on justice and community violence — exploring case studies from pastoral activists who have shaped their communities in the wake of uprisings. How do communities heal? How do faith leaders lead through the hardest moments?
Your Instructors
The Rev. Dr. Tumminio Hansen joined Candler in 2021. Previously assistant professor at Seminary of the Southwest, she has taught at Yale and Tufts and served as chaplain at Groton School. Her work integrates trauma, practical theology, and pastoral theology through a feminist, intersectional, and anti-racist lens.
Teaching at Candler since 1997, Dr. Bounds specializes in restorative justice, peacebuilding, and democratic practices. She works with participatory and practical methods both in the classroom and in community — including prison education, criminal justice initiatives, and restorative justice networks.
With over 18 years in education, business, and ministry leadership, Tamara blends pedagogy, creative arts, and theology in service to community. She co-founded an anti-racism institute and is a doctoral student in social ethics at the International Baptist Theological Studies Center via Vrije Universiteit-Amsterdam.
Jasmine "Jazzy" Johnson specializes in curating transformative spaces for learning and listening in social justice. A Northwestern graduate, she directed InterVarsity's Chicago Urban Program for six years. She holds an MDiv from Candler and is pursuing a PhD in Person, Community & Religious Life at Emory.
How It Works
Work through each lesson at your own pace — no deadlines, no schedule, no expiration date. Move as quickly or slowly as your ministry and community work allows.
Short, focused video lessons from Candler faculty and community practitioners — watch on your schedule, revisit anytime.
No required live sessions — complete coursework entirely on your own timeline, wherever you are.
No deadlines, no cohort schedule — begin whenever you're ready and progress through the material on your own timeline.
Earn 3 Continuing Education Units and a Candler Foundry certificate upon successful completion of all four units.
Start immediately at your own pace.
No application, no schedule — just enroll and learn.