Mars Hill Graduate School (MHGS) is a Christian graduate school offering masters degrees in Counseling Psychology, Divinity, and Christian Studies, located in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. MHGS first offered classes in 1997, as a branch campus of Western Seminary, a Conservative Baptist institution. In 2002, MHGS officially made the transition to being an independent institution.
MHGS is not affiliated with a specific denomination, but draws from many branches of Christian tradition. The school has no affiliation to Mars Hill Church, a well known Seattle megachurch.
MHGS has made special note of the intersection of Postmodernity with both theology and psychology. Its mission is stated as follows: "The mission of Mars Hill Graduate School is to train people to be competent in the study of text, soul, and culture in order to experience God through transforming relationships." MHGS aims to be "preparing students to enter into the world able to demonstrate a growing capacity to form and maintain maturing relationships with God and others."
MHGS is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS). [1]
Contents |
Influential to the school's theological roots have been theologian Stanley Grenz who taught at the school for several years, and popular author Brian McLaren, who has both taught and served on the board, as well as other thinkers associated with the Emerging church.
Mars Hill Graduate School's Counseling Psychology curriculum draws largely from a psychodynamic modality that utilizes an existential approach along with attachment theory and object relations. Please be aware that if you wish to pursue higher educational levels, the courses will most likely not transfer to normal academic institutions. Be aware that they did not follow the 2002 American Psychological Association Code of Ethics 3.01, 7.04, 7.05a and 7.05b during my experience of being a student. There was also no institutional protection for sexual minorities, although this may have changed in the subsequent years.
Notable Current Professors include Dan Allender, and notable Former Professors include Stanley Grenz.
In 2008, the school settled a harassment and employment discrimination case filed by its first female faculty member for $300,000. Heather Parkinson-Webb sued the school after her contract was not renewed for the 2005-2006 school year. She claimed in the suit that the school retaliated against her after filing for divorce from her husband Kirk, who is also one of the school's founding faculty. The court also required the school to continue to provide diversity and anti-discrimination training for all its employees for at least three more years.[1]
   | Mars Hill Graduate School - HOME | Mars Hill Graduate School |
| | Belltown Messenger - Belltown Messenger - Documenting Downtown Seattle |
| | Mars Hill Graduate School to pay $300,000 judgment - Mars Hill Graduate School to pay $300,000 judgment |
| | Seattle Post - Articles Of Faith: Seminary takes interaction beyond the pulpit |
|
|
Wikis
Map
Search