Previous Years' Course Catalogues

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.

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 will examine how the Psalms have been read, interpreted, and proclaimed from the time of their composition through to today by various well-known, forgotten, and emerging voices, including the majority world and women voices. Attention will also be given to traditional and contemporary approaches to the study of the Psalms—such as literary forms, canonical shaping, trauma and moral injury studies, biblical theological reflection, and exegesis of representative Psalms.

What does it mean to pray the words, “Thy Kingdom Come” in the Lord’s Prayer? How does one exercise power in leadership? In an era of at-times abusive, and often failed leadership, this course opens an Old Testament theology of divine and human kingship and power. Focused on the Old Testament in its ancient and literary contexts and with attention to a New Testament telos, it explores several loci in which God’s kingship is expressed. These may include creation, covenant, worship, warfare, the monarchy, and Israel’s history. Extending God’s sovereign rule, the office of human king is explored in its various stages including inception, development, and failure. The consideration of key biblical texts works toward forming a biblical theology of God’s kingship within the Old Testament, and its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to pray the words, “Thy Kingdom Come” in the Lord’s Prayer? How does one exercise power in leadership? In an era of at-times abusive, and often failed leadership, this course opens an Old Testament theology of divine and human kingship and power. Focused on the Old Testament in its ancient and literary contexts and with attention to a New Testament telos, it explores several loci in which God’s kingship is expressed. These may include creation, covenant, worship, warfare, the monarchy, and Israel’s history. Extending God’s sovereign rule, the office of human king is explored in its various stages including inception, development, and failure. The consideration of key biblical texts works toward forming a biblical theology of God’s kingship within the Old Testament, and its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to pray the words, “Thy Kingdom Come” in the Lord’s Prayer? How does one exercise power in leadership? In an era of at-times abusive, and often failed leadership, this course opens an Old Testament theology of divine and human kingship and power. Focused on the Old Testament in its ancient and literary contexts and with attention to a New Testament telos, it explores several loci in which God’s kingship is expressed. These may include creation, covenant, worship, warfare, the monarchy, and Israel’s history. Extending God’s sovereign rule, the office of human king is explored in its various stages including inception, development, and failure. The consideration of key biblical texts works toward forming a biblical theology of God’s kingship within the Old Testament, and its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to pray the words, “Thy Kingdom Come” in the Lord’s Prayer? How does one exercise power in leadership? In an era of at-times abusive, and often failed leadership, this course opens an Old Testament theology of divine and human kingship and power. Focused on the Old Testament in its ancient and literary contexts and with attention to a New Testament telos, it explores several loci in which God’s kingship is expressed. These may include creation, covenant, worship, warfare, the monarchy, and Israel’s history. Extending God’s sovereign rule, the office of human king is explored in its various stages including inception, development, and failure. The consideration of key biblical texts works toward forming a biblical theology of God’s kingship within the Old Testament, and its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

This course interrogates the intersection of education, digital media, and evangelization in the 21st century. Using a variety of materials from theology, educational theory, organizational development, and media studies, the course explores the conceptual and communicative dynamics of multiple and changing contexts, and offers practice in using specific digital media for engaging those contexts effectively. This class is rooted in a Catholic understanding, but asserts that we live in a multi-religious context and as such evangelization must entail prophetic dialogue. Students from a variety of degree programs are welcomed, with assignments structured according to individual degree program levels.

This course interrogates the intersection of education, digital media, and evangelization in the 21st century. Using a variety of materials from theology, educational theory, organizational development, and media studies, the course explores the conceptual and communicative dynamics of multiple and changing contexts, and offers practice in using specific digital media for engaging those contexts effectively. This class is rooted in a Catholic understanding, but asserts that we live in a multi-religious context and as such evangelization must entail prophetic dialogue. Students from a variety of degree programs are welcomed, with assignments structured according to individual degree program levels.