The Master of Worldview Studies (MWS) is an academic program with an action focus. Designed for those who want to enhance their understanding of how to serve Christ in their professional lives and other areas of socio-cultural engagement, it fosters a personal and communal "philosophy of life" rather than academic, philosophical understanding. The wisdom it seeks is revealed in Jesus Christ, Scripture and our daily experience of God's voice in the created world. While this is a way of seeing, it is more fundamentally a way of being, permeating the whole of life.

There are three concentrations available within the MWS program: Education, Art, Religion, and Theology, and Social Justice. Each concentration can be taken either full or part-time on campus or via distance education.

Participants will begin by identifying an action-oriented project which they will pursue throughout the duration of the program and which will determine the focus and direction of their courses. A core curriculum of four courses will provide coherence and breadth and will also help significantly to build community among Junior Members. Four additional elective courses are required to complete the degree. Two of these electives may be taken through either ICS or another approved institution, such as the Toronto School of Theology. Additionally, a major research paper/project may fill the requirements of two elective courses.

The MWS and ICS's Mission:

ICS intends to be a self-consciously Christian environment where hard and honest questions are welcome. It supports inquiry that takes underlying religious convictions into account, working from within the reformational tradition, and presuming that academic work should be an integral expression of the deepest intellectual and religious impulses. Within this perspective, the MWS also embodies other priorities: a commitment to cultural engagement and social justice, international accessibility through distance studies, and a direct engagement by on-campus Junior Members with the Institute's urban setting, drawing not only on the city's scholarly resources, but on its many cultural, professional, charitable, financial and other institutions (for the city, and all it contains, is part of God's creation).