Interfaith Seminaries & Education

All Paths Divinity School

All Paths Divinity School is an affordable, online, distance-learning, interfaith seminary, where you can earn your  non-denominational ordination and religious degree in only 18 months. Our world has serious challenges and many are being called to be of service and find ways to make a difference, to “be the change” we wish to see in the world. With a heart-centered approach, All Paths non-denominational degree programs are designed for forward thinkers, guiding you in studying and integrating wisdom from a wide variety of the world’s spiritual & religious traditions.

Become an ordained Interfaith Minister or Spiritual Counselor ready to engage in global ministry or continue to chaplaincy (clinical pastoral education). Our seminary students receive mentoring from experts in related fields, work towards developing their spiritual gifts, increasing their capacity to be of service to the local community and the global village. www.allpathsdivinityschool.org/

Chaplaincy Institute of Maine, USA

The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME) is an Interfaith Wisdom School that offers an intensive two-year chaplaincy program for those seeking to deepen their spiritual growth or ordination as an Interfaith Minister. ChIME was founded by Jacob Watson in 2002. After a career as a grief counselor, Jacob studied at Matthew Fox’s University of Creation Spirituality and with Rev. Gina Rose Halpern’s Chaplaincy Institute for Arts and Interfaith Ministries, he received a Doctor of Ministry degree and was ordained an Interfaith Minister.

Listening to friends and colleagues describe their spiritual paths and the need for both additional education and a spiritual community, Jacob convened a series of planning meetings for an interfaith chaplaincy school in Portland, Maine, and then in Amesbury and Newburyport, Massachusetts. In September 2002 the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine became incorporated as a non-profit educational organization and welcomed its first 10 students. The Massachusettes satellite opened in 2004.

ChIME is an open community committed to transformation of the self and planet earth through education, ordination, support, celebration and service. ChIME will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, beliefs, age, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability. ChIME is a non-profit, Interfaith seminary governed by a Board of Trustees. To learn more http://chimeofmaine.org/Home.htm

Emerson Theological Institute

Emerson Theological Institute is a division of the Positive Living Center of Central California, Inc. It is headquartered in Oakhurst, California near beautiful Yosemite National Park and is under the direction of Dr. Angelo Pizelo, its founder and director. Since its beginnings in 1992, Emerson has promoted an understanding and embodiment of the Universal Principles so that each person can pursue unlimited spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social potential.  Now, over a decade later, Emerson and its many affiliated centers located throughout the United States continue to stand for these principles embodied in its many graduates who have brought New Thought into their occupations, fields of interests and professions including teaching, art, writing, publishing, adult education, health and nutrition, business, chaplaincy and ministerial work.

Emerson’s core curriculum embraces the spiritual ideology of the presence of God in all life and the power of right thinking. It emphasizes the existence of One Life, One Mind, One Power, One Presence, in, as, and through, all Creation. All of Emerson’s courses and programs have New Thought as a foundation incorporating universal spiritual principles as found in world religions and teachings. http://www.emersoninstitute.edu/aboutemerson.htm

International Academy for Interfaith Studies, South Texas, USA and San Miguel, Mexico

The Academy provides training for those who wish to become Interfaith Ministers, to enhance knowledge about world religions and to become more effective at helping other people.  The Academy is a nonprofit corporation in the United States as well as an Civil Association in Mexico called “Academia Internacional De Las Verdades Universales”.  We offer courses in English and Spanish.

To become an Interfaith Minister with the Academy involves taking 26 modules over two years, full time.  Upon successful completion of each program, the Academy awards a Certificate of Satisfactory Completion and the student is then ordained as an Interfaith Minister. We believe there are many paths to the sacred and we ask no one to leave their faith path while sharing the process with us. To learn more http://interfaithacademy.org/

New Vision Interspiritual Seminary, New York, USA

New Vision Interspiritual Seminary (NVIS) was created from our twenty years of Interfaith Seminary leadership experience.  As we watch the world changing, we realize that what we taught in the past is not enough to deal with the global issues of this time. The world is changing at a rapid rate and there is a shift in the awareness. Future Interfaith Ministers need to be taught in a different way, something more substantial and spiritually grounding is needed. It is time to train Interfaith Ministers, as Gloria Karpinsky puts it, “to minister into the shift of consciousness that is happening on this planet right now.”

The father of Interfaith and our beloved teacher, Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman (of blessed memory) taught us “Never instead of… always in addition to.” It was his wish that we teach the basics of interfaith ministry, plus the consciousness of the Oneness of all life. What we are teaching at NVIS is how to minister from that place of Oneness, and stay grounded and steady into the Shift that is growing more apparent every day.

We offer a one or two year program in interfaith ministry leading to ordination as an Interfaith Minister. The student is then qualified to perform wedding ceremonies, baby namings/blessings and all other life-cycle ceremonies, and the ordination can open doors to chaplaincy, starting your own worship community, spiritual counseling, and much more. It also prepares you for being able to meet any person where they are, and be able to help and pray with them, and see them as they truly are. To learn more: http://newvisionseminary.org/ Our email is NVISeminary@gmail.com

One Spirit Interfaith Foundation, London, UK

One Spirit Interfaith Foundation’s line of descent goes back to 1981 when The New Seminary was founded in New York by Rabbi Joseph Gelberman with the support of religious leaders such as Swami Satchidananda, Methodist minister Rev Jon Mundy and others wishing to explore beyond the boundaries of their own faith. In 1996, Miranda Holden started The New Seminary in London and significantly adapted the US training programme to the particular culture and needs of the UK. Our name changed to The Interfaith Seminary in 2002 and we became a registered charity in 2004.  Early in 2009, a further change in organisational structure took place. The Interfaith Foundation was established as the trustee body with overall responsibility for both student teaching (The Interfaith Seminary) and the support of our ministers (the Interfaith Ministers Association).

The Interfaith Seminary trains interfaith minsters and spiritual counselors. This is a ground-breaking study programme for spiritually committed people who feel called to broaden their spirituality and their appreciation of other traditions, and to open to a life of service.  The Interfaith Seminary honours both the head and the heart as holy ground. We offer a balance between process and study, emphasising the importance of experiential as well as intellectual learning. The underlying purpose of the curriculum is to facilitate each participant’s awakening to Unity – within 0urselves, with all of humanity and all of life. The Seminary aims to support each student in their own awakening process, so that in time they may support others to do the same http://www.interfaithfoundation.org/

One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, New York, USA

As sacred consciousness evolves in a diverse yet increasingly interconnected world, One Spirit inspires passionate, caring individuals and communities to live engaged lives of authenticity, celebration, compassionate service, and integrity

In August 2002, One Spirit Interfaith Seminary was born. We embrace and teach the deep truths found at the heart of all authentic spiritual traditions; our shared wealth of spiritual practices that help us evolve and grow; and the commitment found in all traditions to common values of peace, compassion, wisdom, service, and above all, love.

Our seminary offers you an interspiritual framework to explore these rich wisdom traditions and a safe, nurturing container to deeply explore your own inner life and develop authentic spiritual community. In addition, you’ll leave here after two years as an ordained interfaith/interspiritual minister with all the necessary practical skills to perform ministerial services like baby blessings, weddings and funerals, and to support others on their journey of spiritual exploration and growth.

One Spirit’s Mission is an interspiritual institute that offers in-depth experiential education and professional training to teach & explore the common core of ancient and emerging human wisdom; train and ordain interfaith/interspiritual ministers; prepare spiritual leaders, counselors and clergy to serve diverse communities; and support and nurture individuals’ on-going spiritual development, growth and service to the world. To learn more http://onespiritinterfaith.org/

The Chaplaincy Institute, Berkeley, California, USA

Since 1999, The Chaplaincy Institute has been dedicated to educating and empowering a new breed of spiritual leaders – those who seek to inspire healing, service and transformation for people of all spiritual paths. We offer inclusive, innovative and transformative programs for those who want to fully integrate their spirituality into where they walk in the world, regardless of who they are and how they serve.

For those on the road to professional chaplaincy, The Chaplaincy Institute is an endorsed seminary. Our spiritual community, The Interfaith Congregation for Creative and Healing Ministries, calls and ordains clergy, providing them with the ecclesiastic endorsement required to meet the Education Board’s certification standards for careers in professional chaplaincy. The Interfaith Congregation For Creative &  Healing Ministries is dedicated to supporting the unique call to ministry expressed by Interfaith Studies alumni by ordaining them as Interfaith ministers to serve the spiritual needs of our religiously and culturally diverse world.

Ordained Interfaith Ministers honor and respect the religions of the world and the chosen spiritual paths of individuals. They have an underlying belief and knowledge in the connection between all religions and all peoples of the earth. It is with this belief and knowledge that Interfaith Ministers seek to promote inner healing and harmony within diverse communities. Individuals choose to ordain with our community because we honor, nurture, and celebrate their multi-religious identity and/or inter-spiritual worldview. To learn more http://www.chaplaincyinstitute.org/

The New Seminary, New York, USA

The New Seminary (TNS) was founded in 1979 and is the oldest interfaith seminary in the world. We were founded to address the abiding religious intolerance and lack of understanding or unwillingness to understand the faith and cultural traditions of others at that time. This mission is very much relevant today as it was over 30 years ago. Our founders also saw the need for an institution to provide a nurturing environment for students to not only learn about the faith traditions of the world, but also where their individual spiritual inquiry, growth and practice was paramount as well.

Since our inception, we have ordained close to 3,000 interfaith ministers from all over the United States and world. You will find our graduates working as chaplains, ministering to congregations of all faith traditions, teaching and simply effecting change and working to transform our society to a global community of tolerance. They are making a difference.

Our ministerial program and interfaith approach is designed to train professional ministers to better understand the various faith traditions of the world and to meet the spiritual needs of a globally diverse and mobile population, where groups from many cultural and faith traditions now have learn to live together free of fear, judgment and harm. It is through understanding the faith and cultural traditions of others that we learn to acknowledge our common values of compassion, love, peace, understanding and tolerance. These values are the cornerstones of community building. It is a TNS core principle that religion and faith should build community and not divide it. To learn more http://www.new-seminary.com/

Wisdom School of Graduate Studies, Ubiquity University, San Francisco, USA

Wisdom School of Graduate Studies of the Ubiquity University provides learning experiences to catalyze the enlargement of the soul and inspire resilient learning communities to thrive. Wisdom University is a graduate school dedicated to personal and professional renewal within the context of granting academic degrees. All of our courses are also open to wisdom seekers interested in deepening their learning journey in a global community setting.

Wisdom University offers full spectrum transformational programs designed to engage the multi-sensory student. These combine the best of e-learning and social networking capacities with in-person gatherings and pilgrimages. The University’s uniqueness lies in the unusual way it blends intellectual discernment, artistic expression, body movement and psychological integration, all combined in the pursuit of wisdom as a way of life.

At Wisdom University we are committed to becoming a vibrant, resilient and thriving learning community of wisdom seekers and embodied leaders. To learn more about our retreats, intensives and academic programs. For more information see: http://www.wisdomuniversity.org/