Four Points about Sancta Sophia Seminary

As Sancta Sophia Seminary was being constructed several points seemed very important in how we would shape the curriculum and determine student proficiency. I felt particularly impressed to state these points from the beginning. They remain significant in the operation of our school and we would want them to be known. We hope to see these ideals flourish among those who understand the significance of an education gleaned from spiritual wisdom teachings. If indeed each one has gifts, this seems to be the likely model to bring them forward to be shared with others.

Four points seemed vitally important:
 
(1)   To require students to demonstrate proficiency in a completed subject rather than take a pen and paper test. The principle is that each is to exhibit mastery of the material by demonstration.  We agreed the best way for one to know a subject is to teach it to someone else!
 
(2)   We believed it was necessary to allow for individual differences by requiring individualized work from each student, with a basic minimum in each area. This philosophy would take into consideration the knowledge a student needed in each course, but allows for special interest and excellence to emerge, as well as to give consideration for the learning style of the student in any given course.
 
(3)   We would permit each student to move through the program as rapidly or as slowly as s/he desires, with a basic requirement for enrollment time for each level: practitioner, teacher and minister certification. This allows adaptability for the lifestyle and social/work/home responsibilities of each student within a flexible structure.
 
(4)   Of the four requirements, perhaps the most important was that each student would be required to fulfill the Spirit of the Law, as well as the Letter of the Law, in all course work. While the seminary program is indeed an academic one, the purpose and major emphasis was to be upon the spiritual development of the student as s/he moves through the program. A seminarian is not automatically certified or ordained just because the academic course work is completed.

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