Thorneloe University Awarded Major Grant for National Theological Education Project
Thorneloe University has been awarded a US$30,000 grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion to lead a new two-year national initiative exploring what it means to teach theology well in times of institutional disruption and uncertainty.
The project, Teaching Life in Disruption: Northern Pedagogies and the Renewal of the Teaching Life, will bring together up to 20 theological educators from across Canada through a series of residential retreats, sustained peer-learning opportunities, public resources, podcast conversations, and a concluding public webinar.
Led from Northern Ontario, the initiative seeks to create space for theological educators from both large urban institutions and smaller regional schools — voices that are often absent from national conversations about theological education and institutional change.
The work is rooted in the particular history and context of the Laurentian University campus, where, forty years ago, the United Church of Canada offered its first apology to Indigenous peoples. That apology was received, but not accepted, by the Elders present — a distinction that continues to shape conversations around reconciliation, accountability, and institutional renewal.
Project organizers say that history informs both the structure and spirit of the initiative, which is being developed in partnership with Indigenous collaborators whose role is “constitutive rather than consultative,” alongside Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and United Church partners from Northern Ontario and across Canada.
“This project emerges from the realities many theological educators are living through,” said Rev. Jason Tripp, President and Vice-Chancellor of Thorneloe University. “Across Canada, schools and churches are navigating demographic change, financial pressure, questions of reconciliation, and deep institutional uncertainty. We believe the North has important wisdom to offer about teaching faithfully and sustainably within those realities.”
The initiative also reflects Thorneloe University’s longstanding commitment to contextual theological education grounded in relationship, ecumenical collaboration, and the lived realities of ministry in Northern communities.
The Diocese of Algoma congratulates Thorneloe University on this significant international grant award and on its leadership in shaping conversations about theological education, reconciliation, and the future of ministry in Canada.