Course Catalogue 2025-2026

Introduction to modern historical criticism of the Old Testament, with special attention given to the formation of scripture from ancient traditions and its implications for history of Jewish and Christian interpretation.

This course is Part One of a two-part introductory survey. It aims to acquaint students with issues that scholars have found significant in New Testament interpretation, including textual criticism and the world of the New Testament, with special focus on the canonical Gospels - the most well-known stories of Jesus. It also aims to help students understand the relevance of this kind of study for their ministry.

This course is Part One of a two-part introductory survey. It aims to acquaint students with issues that scholars have found significant in New Testament interpretation, including textual criticism and the world of the New Testament, with special focus on the canonical Gospels - the most well-known stories of Jesus. It also aims to help students understand the relevance of this kind of study for their ministry.

This course is an introduction to the Quran and will familiarize students with the hallmarks of both traditional Muslim and western scholarships. It will cover topics such as the collection of the Quran, abrogation, mysterious letters and the Quranic sciences. Students will become acquainted with some of the main classical and modern commentaries and will learn to identify poetic figures and organizational techniques that structure the Qur'anic text. Knowledge of Arabic, though useful, is not required.

Interfaith dialogue has many avenues, of which reading each other's sacred texts is one of the most conducive to building understanding. The scriptures of Islam, Judaism and Christianity are particularly suited to this venture, because of the shared narratives, which demonstrate both commonalities and profound differences. This course focuses on narratives shared between the Bible and the Quran and how major Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars have approached the relationship between the texts across the ages. The course examines scholars such as Tabari (d. 923), Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), Abraham Geiger (d. 1874), W. St. Clair Tisdall (d.1929), Angelika Neuwirth and others. Students will learn the difference between author- and reader-oriented approaches, influence theory and intertextuality, and how different presuppositions can impact how the texts and their relationship are read. Students will also have the opportunity to engage in scripture-based interfaith dialogue and to experience first-hand how some of the established and developing approaches are practiced.

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.

An examination of selected psalms, prayers, and hymns from the Dead Sea Scrolls with an eye to their appropriation of scriptural discourse. Genre issues, social function of these texts in the Qumran community, and continuity with and differences from later Jewish and Christian liturgies also explored.

Interfaith dialogue has many avenues, of which reading each other's sacred texts is one of the most conducive to building understanding. The scriptures of Islam, Judaism and Christianity are particularly suited to this venture, because of the shared narratives, which demonstrate both commonalities and profound differences. This course focuses on narratives shared between the Bible and the Quran and how major Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars have approached the relationship between the texts across the ages. The course examines scholars such as Tabari (d. 923), Ibn Kathir (d. 1373), Abraham Geiger (d. 1874), W. St. Clair Tisdall (d.1929), Angelika Neuwirth and others. Students will learn the difference between author- and reader-oriented approaches, influence theory and intertextuality, and how different presuppositions can impact how the texts and their relationship are read. Students will also have the opportunity to engage in scripture-based interfaith dialogue and to experience first-hand how some of the established and developing approaches are practiced.

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.

Contextual Education seeks to equip students with the theological acumen, pastoral instincts, and personal/spiritual dispositions that are required for cultivating a sense of call in the flux of 21st century religious life. Questions of gifts, growing edges and discernment of call are inevitably part of this reflective process. Contextual Education intends both to reflect on and to re-imagine modes of religious practice that can contribute to the healing of each other and creation.

This seminar studies the life of the Prophet Muhammad as it is presented in the earliest biographical and historical Muslim accounts. It introduces the sira and Hadith literatures, in addition to classical and modern critical methods used to determine their authenticity and historical reliability. Topics include the first revelations, emigration from Mecca, the Constitution of Medina, and succession to Muhammad's leadership. Students will learn about Muslim concepts of prophethood, the significance of the prophet in the ethical-legal and mystical traditions, and women in Hadith scholarship. They will study the life of Muhammad and relate it to his spiritual as well as temporal experience to explore modern-day concerns. This course is cross-listed and counts as a "Bible" course, as well as a history course, at Emmanuel College.

This seminar studies the life of the Prophet Muhammad as it is presented in the earliest biographical and historical Muslim accounts. It introduces the sira and Hadith literatures, in addition to classical and modern critical methods used to determine their authenticity and historical reliability. Topics include the first revelations, emigration from Mecca, the Constitution of Medina, and succession to Muhammad's leadership. Students will learn about Muslim concepts of prophethood, the significance of the prophet in the ethical-legal and mystical traditions, and women in Hadith scholarship. They will study the life of Muhammad and relate it to his spiritual as well as temporal experience to explore modern-day concerns. This course is cross-listed and counts as a "Bible" course, as well as a history course, at Emmanuel College.