Previous Years' Course Catalogues

Investigation of Mark's overarching rhetorical strategy and theological purpose: attention will be paid to questions of original life-situation, source and redaction criticism, relationship to Q, literary structure and ideological criticism.

In this course, we engage methodologies of narrative criticism and performance criticism to study, contextualize, and embody the details of the Gospel of Mark as story, bringing its ancient meaning and oral origins alive to a modern audience. We become storytellers of scripture by learning a gospel text by heart, memorized word for word, and telling it to a live audience as an embodied practice. This approach interacts with exegetical study of the text to deepen our understanding of its message and connects to various aspects of ministry and/or vocation, with particularly robust connections to homiletics.

In this course, we engage methodologies of narrative criticism and performance criticism to study, contextualize, and embody the details of the Gospel of Mark as story, bringing its ancient meaning and oral origins alive to a modern audience. We become storytellers of scripture by learning a gospel text by heart, memorized word for word, and telling it to a live audience as an embodied practice. This approach interacts with exegetical study of the text to deepen our understanding of its message and connects to various aspects of ministry and/or vocation, with particularly robust connections to homiletics.

This seminar (a combination of lecture, discussion, and case analysis format) will introduce principles and perspectives for biomedical ethics. The course is divided into two sections. The first part of the course will examine basic themes, principles, methodologies, and professional responsibilities in healthcare ethics. Special attention will be given to Catholic Church teaching and the Catholic tradition of moral reflection more generally, comparing and contrasting it with the currently dominant secular approach to bioethics. In the second section, we will examine particular ethical issues for healthcare ethics, employing the case analysis method. We will seek to bring to bear our earlier ethics and theological explorations as well as practical wisdom in our evaluations of these cases. Students will present analysis of particular problems, and others will respond to their analysis.

This seminar (a combination of lecture, discussion, and case analysis format) will introduce principles and perspectives for biomedical ethics. The course is divided into two sections. The first part of the course will examine basic themes, principles, methodologies, and professional responsibilities in healthcare ethics. Special attention will be given to Catholic Church teaching and the Catholic tradition of moral reflection more generally, comparing and contrasting it with the currently dominant secular approach to bioethics. In the second section, we will examine particular ethical issues for healthcare ethics, employing the case analysis method. We will seek to bring to bear our earlier ethics and theological explorations as well as practical wisdom in our evaluations of these cases. Students will present analysis of particular problems, and others will respond to their analysis.

This seminar (a combination of lecture, discussion, and case analysis format) will introduce principles and perspectives for biomedical ethics. The course is divided into two sections. The first part of the course will examine basic themes, principles, methodologies, and professional responsibilities in healthcare ethics. Special attention will be given to Catholic Church teaching and the Catholic tradition of moral reflection more generally, comparing and contrasting it with the currently dominant secular approach to bioethics. In the second section, we will examine particular ethical issues for healthcare ethics, employing the case analysis method. We will seek to bring to bear our earlier ethics and theological explorations as well as practical wisdom in our evaluations of these cases. Students will present analysis of particular problems, and others will respond to their analysis.

This seminar (a combination of lecture, discussion, and case analysis format) will introduce principles and perspectives for biomedical ethics. The course is divided into two sections. The first part of the course will examine basic themes, principles, methodologies, and professional responsibilities in healthcare ethics. Special attention will be given to Catholic Church teaching and the Catholic tradition of moral reflection more generally, comparing and contrasting it with the currently dominant secular approach to bioethics. In the second section, we will examine particular ethical issues for healthcare ethics, employing the case analysis method. We will seek to bring to bear our earlier ethics and theological explorations as well as practical wisdom in our evaluations of these cases. Students will present analysis of particular problems, and others will respond to their analysis.

Christians have long tended to speak about the Gospel of Mark primarily in contrast with the other canonical gospels. This tendency is already evident in the second century. Yet the Gospel of Mark has just as long stood as a text in its own right, with its own distinctive witness to the life and meaning of Jesus of Nazareth. This course aims to assist students in apprehending that distinctive witness and reflect upon its significance for contemporary discourse and practice.

In the last forty years ethical issues around the care and treatment of non-human animals has steadily grown as a concern in theology. While for much of this time it was considered at best a "marginal" issue, it is now one of the major concerns in environmental ethics. This course will examine the major figures in the development of "animal theology" in Protestant and Catholic theology. It will also look back to Christian Scripture and classical figures in the Christian tradition, and raise questions as to whether, and if so to what extent, the development of "animal theology" is either a departure from Christian tradition and/or a development within it. Issues in the course will include issues such as intensive agriculture (factory farming), the genetic modification of animals, zoos, pets, vegetarianism and veganism, and a variety of other issues that arise from human interaction with or concern for the well-being of non-human animals.

In the last forty years ethical issues around the care and treatment of non-human animals has steadily grown as a concern in theology. While for much of this time it was considered at best a "marginal" issue, it is now one of the major concerns in environmental ethics. This course will examine the major figures in the development of "animal theology" in Protestant and Catholic theology. It will also look back to Christian Scripture and classical figures in the Christian tradition, and raise questions as to whether, and if so to what extent, the development of "animal theology" is either a departure from Christian tradition and/or a development within it. Issues in the course will include issues such as intensive agriculture (factory farming), the genetic modification of animals, zoos, pets, vegetarianism and veganism, and a variety of other issues that arise from human interaction with or concern for the well-being of non-human animals.

This course will examine how the Bible has been read, interpreted and proclaimed by women beginning with the period of the early church and including the writings of medieval visionaries, renaissance exegetes and continuing into the modern and post-modern periods. Women's interpretations of the Bible will be examined with a view to recovering women's readings and counter readings of biblical texts and raising relevant methodological and hermeneutical questions for modern readers.

This course will examine how the Bible has been read, interpreted and proclaimed by women beginning with the period of the early church and including the writings of medieval visionaries, renaissance exegetes and continuing into the modern and post-modern periods. Women's interpretations of the Bible will be examined with a view to recovering women's readings and counter readings of biblical texts and raising relevant methodological and hermeneutical questions for modern readers.