The APDS Doctor of Ministry degree is the next step in the ALL PATHS educational process. The All Paths way of education embraces a holistic synthesis of both head and heart, harnessing both intellectual and intuitive capacities appropriate in a real-world response to the challenges of these days. While the spiritual journey is a lifelong journey without a destination, beyond the long walk home, its relationship to the academic pathway for Doctoral candidates opens endless possibilities to explore, bringing the discovered inward change to the outside world. Sparked by Divine inspiration, honed through deep discernment and sacred listening, Doctoral candidates will spend two years immersed in rigorous study, detailed research, and deep contemplative practices as they work towards their terminal degrees.

All Paths Divinity School’s motto, “Be-ing the Change,” is woven experientially and intellectually through each course offering. Every module creates new opportunities for the student to turn inward, dive deeper into self, and discover the greatest truths of the universe contained within both mind and heart.

The APDS process of marrying the learning of the mind with the breaking open of the heart is integral to the APDS philosophy of “Be-ing the Change.”

The program offers three parallel tracks for Doctoral candidates. One track focuses on creating opportunities to explore the creation of Sacred Leadership opportunities, and another on Sacred Activism. The last track explores the rich material available in Sacred Wisdom.

Sacred Leadership Track

The Sacred Leadership track is an immersive dive into creating an interfaith/interspiritual program that requires ministerial leadership or where conscious leadership, in general, can be brought to fruition. From developing complex training programs to building a brick-and-mortar faith institution or a situation requiring an enlightened leadership approach, the potential for new types of development is limitless. Candidates will breathe life into various plans that help fellow travelers navigate their journey.

Sacred Activism Track

Rather than focusing on a ministerial leadership opportunity, Sacred Activism candidates will devote their studies and dissertation development to holistic interfaith/interspiritual solutions to complex societal and civic challenges. From homelessness to hunger, environmental obstacles to educational advancement, the boundless opportunities for spiritual engagement are plentiful.

Sacred Wisdom/Spiritual Development Track

The Sacred Wisdom track is a wide-lens approach that allows candidates to engage with what it means to live consciously in today’s world. Exploring what gives meaning and purpose to being human/divine. This track answers the call to more fully embody spiritual meaning and focused purpose in one’s life.

Program Overview

While these programs are self-paced, the workload is as comprehensive as one would expect from a Doctoral program. The first year is spent working with a Ph. D.s as a program advisor to work through the spiritual process of discernment, outlining a dissertation, then selecting and utilizing research material. Real-world examples and interviews are required for each track.

In the second year, the process of writing, testing, and evaluating the proposed dissertation begins. As the research morphs into the dissertation, the challenge increases for the candidates to ground the work in interfaith/interspiritual concepts. At the end of the writing, review, and dissertation defense, candidates will work to publish their work for the world at large.

While an interfaith/interspiritual Doctor of Ministry program may be new to the academic world, APDS worked tirelessly to ensure the program requirements match and exceed other accredited universities’ Doctor of Ministry programs. APDS’s Doctoral Program is under the purview and review of accredited Ph.D.s.. It is the vanguard of the future of spiritual education.

(See below for individual course outlines.)