Previous Years' Course Catalogues

This course will engage students in preaching in relation to race and racism. Perspectives from critical race and postcolonial theories will be studied. Students will develop strategies for anti-racist preaching in relation to scriptural interpretation, contextual analysis and community engagement.

This course will engage students in preaching in relation to race and racism. Perspectives from critical race and postcolonial theories will be studied. Students will develop strategies for anti-racist preaching in relation to scriptural interpretation, contextual analysis and community engagement.

This course is designed to help students understand the "backstory" to the Bible - the history, geography, culture and practices that made up the normal everyday world of the ancient Israelites and their neighbours, but which are utterly foreign to us. Through this course, students will develop a better understanding of the physical and conceptual context of the Old and New Testaments that will help offer a foundation for understanding and interpreting the Bible.

This course is designed to help students understand the "backstory" to the Bible - the history, geography, culture and practices that made up the normal everyday world of the ancient Israelites and their neighbours, but which are utterly foreign to us. Through this course, students will develop a better understanding of the physical and conceptual context of the Old and New Testaments that will help offer a foundation for understanding and interpreting the Bible.

This course is designed to help students understand the "backstory" to the Bible - the history, geography, culture and practices that made up the normal everyday world of the ancient Israelites and their neighbours, but which are utterly foreign to us. Through this course, students will develop a better understanding of the physical and conceptual context of the Old and New Testaments that will help offer a foundation for understanding and interpreting the Bible.

This course centers the experiences of children and adolescents in theological reflection on what it means to be a human person. This serves to reframe the often unreflected-upon assumption of middle-age as a norm in theological anthropology. It also introduces an “already and not yet” quality into these theological reflections, affirming that children and adolescents are already fully human and beloved of God, while recognizing that they are not yet fully grown. The course will explore some of the traditional categories of theological anthropology (such as freedom, grace, sin, and the imago Dei) in order to understand how these categories are experienced by children and adolescents and how these experiences can inform a more capacious theological perspective on all of humanity.

Prophetic and ethical approaches to preaching assume that there is a need for positive social change in communities. This course explores how the preaching of the church contributes to social change within the church and beyond. Through an emphasis on contextualization of the word, and critical engagement with a variety of homiletic proposals, this course seeks to build a robust understanding of the gospel in context and the ways that good news is heard and received in various locations. Topics include decolonial preaching, Eco theology, liberation preaching, black preaching, feminist preaching. The goal is to craft and deliver sermons that engage deeply with the biblical text and can respond to social phenomenon and crises in contextual and gospel-centered ways.

This seminar explores the historical, doctrinal, philosophical and mystical aspects of Islamic liturgical texts, namely supplications and devotions. Special emphasis will be placed on readings from The Psalms of Islam as known as Psalms of the Family of the Prophet (Zabūr Āl Muḥammad/Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya) and various devotional elegies.  Sections include comparisons to the Biblical Psalms, the Syriac prayer tradition and Hebrew prayers in the Jewish tradition. We will also explore the often-controversial role of pilgrimage and its perceived efficacy in Islamic traditions with a special focus on visitation of graves of saints while comparing similar practices in Christian traditions to understand the role that such practices occupy in both traditions. This will introduce key Islamic texts while engaging with Christian and Jewish approaches to prayer.

The course provides an exploration of how Christianity has understood the relationship among God, creation, humanity and spirituality, and how that understanding has contributed to the ecological challenges we currently face as well as can contribute to a helpful response. The course begins with an overview of our understanding of spirituality and creation during the patristic, medieval and reformation periods, then shifts to contemporary understandings drawing from current discussions of Christology, creation-centred spirituality, eco-feminism, deep ecology, and the healing of nature and the healing of self.

The course provides an exploration of how Christianity has understood the relationship among God, creation, humanity and spirituality, and how that understanding has contributed to the ecological challenges we currently face as well as can contribute to a helpful response. The course begins with an overview of our understanding of spirituality and creation during the patristic, medieval and reformation periods, then shifts to contemporary understandings drawing from current discussions of Christology, creation-centred spirituality, eco-feminism, deep ecology, and the healing of nature and the healing of self.

The course provides an exploration of how Christianity has understood the relationship among God, creation, humanity and spirituality, and how that understanding has contributed to the ecological challenges we currently face as well as can contribute to a helpful response. The course begins with an overview of our understanding of spirituality and creation during the patristic, medieval and reformation periods, then shifts to contemporary understandings drawing from current discussions of Christology, creation-centred spirituality, eco-feminism, deep ecology, and the healing of nature and the healing of self.

This course is an advanced preaching practicum that will build on the basics of preaching and take the conversation about preaching to a new depth. The course will help students deepen their understanding of the relationship between preaching and the Bible; preaching and theology; and preaching and the listeners. Using a workbook for preachers and engaging with current and topical essays in the forefront of preaching issues today, students will engage in thoughtful dialogue with some of the leading homileticians in North America and with one another. Significant attention will be given to the practical aspects of preaching such as voice, delivery, and oral/aural communication. Students will also strengthen their skills in evaluating sermons that they preach and hear and become more familiar with the resources for responsible and faithful preaching for the church today.