Course Catalogue 2023-2024

Introduction to Old Testament literature and history, with emphasis on application within the church.

Introduction to Old Testament literature and history, with emphasis on application within the church.

This introductory course explores Christianity's formation and transformation from the post-apostolic era to the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" in the East and the Carolingian revival and Treaty of Verdun in the West in the year 843. Along the way, we will explore how Christians described their religious experience, practiced their faith, articulated and argued about their beliefs, and structured their ecclesial communities. We will learn about Christianity's changing relationship to political power; its engagement with other religions and cultures; the lifestyles, theological mindsets, and models of community proposed and debated by Christian leaders; the political and theological challenges associated with the movement's early marginalization, eventual expansion, encounter with Islam in the East and the "barbarians" in the West; and the formation of "Christian Europe."

The Spiritual Internship Year, in response to the challenges of contemporary pastoral ministry, provides an intense formational experience in which the sciences foundational for Christian life and ministry are appropriated via: classroom instruction (philosophy, catechesis, scripture, and theology), extensive reading of classic spiritual authors and the Documents of Vatican II, Ignatian spiritual direction [Annotation 19], retreat experiences, field placement, formation in communal living and instruction in essay writing skills.

This course offers an opportunity to explore the history of the Christian Church from its origins in Judaism, its social and sacramental development, including the work of Christian apologists, the convening of councils, confronting heresies, the rise of monasticism and the growth of Christianity beyond the confines of the empire through to the East-West Schism of 1054. It will examine the conflicts, individuals, social movements, and theologies that shaped Christianity during this formative period. A special emphasis is placed on the use of primary sources, which will aid students to better understand the historical realities of the period being studied and learn how primary sources may be used in historical research.

From the subapostolic age to the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" in the East and the Carolingian revival and Treaty of Verdun in the West. Geographical expansion of the church; the relation of Christian faith to cultural settings and other religions; the development of doctrinal and ethical positions; forms of Christian life and worship; the rise of Islam.

From the subapostolic age to the "Triumph of Orthodoxy" in the East and the Carolingian revival and Treaty of Verdun in the West. Geographical expansion of the church; the relation of Christian faith to cultural settings and other religions; the development of doctrinal and ethical positions; forms of Christian life and worship; the rise of Islam.

This course will study the literary genres, the history of composition, and the canonization of the Old Testament texts. The course will examine various hermeneutical approaches to the Old Testament. The course will examine various hermeneutical approaches to the Old Testament, focusing on their implications for Christian theological interpretation. It will introduce some methods of teaching the Old Testament in various settings.

Why should anyone training for lay or ordained ministry in today’s Church care about history or what historians do? Is there even such a thing as historical “reality”? If there is, what makes historians think they can ever discover any part of it? And what can the past possibly contribute to the new theological and pastoral problems of the present? In this course, we will grapple with these questions as they relate to the earliest centuries of Christian history, from the time of the apostles down to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It was during this period that the Church(es) worked out the patterns of belief, governance, worship, ministry, and mission that Christians of all subsequent centuries have variously appealed to as binding norms of “orthodoxy” or rejected as corruptions of the primitive Gospel. As we learn about some of the most influential events, persons, and ideas of this period, we will interrogate the materials and methods used by historians to reconstruct the past, asking why historians have often disagreed about the supposedly “objective” facts of what “actually happened.” We will explore how new questions and pressures led pre-modern and modern historians to offer radically different interpretations of the significance of early Christian history, and we will test some of the claims about the Christian past that have been used to justify choices in our own time. Students will receive an introductory training in the responsible use of primary sources and secondary literature that will equip them both to continue with more specialized coursework in history and to begin drawing on historical knowledge to enhance their own practical ministries.

Why should anyone training for lay or ordained ministry in today’s Church care about history or what historians do? Is there even such a thing as historical “reality”? If there is, what makes historians think they can ever discover any part of it? And what can the past possibly contribute to the new theological and pastoral problems of the present? In this course, we will grapple with these questions as they relate to the earliest centuries of Christian history, from the time of the apostles down to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It was during this period that the Church(es) worked out the patterns of belief, governance, worship, ministry, and mission that Christians of all subsequent centuries have variously appealed to as binding norms of “orthodoxy” or rejected as corruptions of the primitive Gospel. As we learn about some of the most influential events, persons, and ideas of this period, we will interrogate the materials and methods used by historians to reconstruct the past, asking why historians have often disagreed about the supposedly “objective” facts of what “actually happened.” We will explore how new questions and pressures led pre-modern and modern historians to offer radically different interpretations of the significance of early Christian history, and we will test some of the claims about the Christian past that have been used to justify choices in our own time. Students will receive an introductory training in the responsible use of primary sources and secondary literature that will equip them both to continue with more specialized coursework in history and to begin drawing on historical knowledge to enhance their own practical ministries.

Why should anyone training for lay or ordained ministry in today’s Church care about history or what historians do? Is there even such a thing as historical “reality”? If there is, what makes historians think they can ever discover any part of it? And what can the past possibly contribute to the new theological and pastoral problems of the present? In this course, we will grapple with these questions as they relate to the earliest centuries of Christian history, from the time of the apostles down to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It was during this period that the Church(es) worked out the patterns of belief, governance, worship, ministry, and mission that Christians of all subsequent centuries have variously appealed to as binding norms of “orthodoxy” or rejected as corruptions of the primitive Gospel. As we learn about some of the most influential events, persons, and ideas of this period, we will interrogate the materials and methods used by historians to reconstruct the past, asking why historians have often disagreed about the supposedly “objective” facts of what “actually happened.” We will explore how new questions and pressures led pre-modern and modern historians to offer radically different interpretations of the significance of early Christian history, and we will test some of the claims about the Christian past that have been used to justify choices in our own time. Students will receive an introductory training in the responsible use of primary sources and secondary literature that will equip them both to continue with more specialized coursework in history and to begin drawing on historical knowledge to enhance their own practical ministries.

Why should anyone training for lay or ordained ministry in today’s Church care about history or what historians do? Is there even such a thing as historical “reality”? If there is, what makes historians think they can ever discover any part of it? And what can the past possibly contribute to the new theological and pastoral problems of the present? In this course, we will grapple with these questions as they relate to the earliest centuries of Christian history, from the time of the apostles down to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It was during this period that the Church(es) worked out the patterns of belief, governance, worship, ministry, and mission that Christians of all subsequent centuries have variously appealed to as binding norms of “orthodoxy” or rejected as corruptions of the primitive Gospel. As we learn about some of the most influential events, persons, and ideas of this period, we will interrogate the materials and methods used by historians to reconstruct the past, asking why historians have often disagreed about the supposedly “objective” facts of what “actually happened.” We will explore how new questions and pressures led pre-modern and modern historians to offer radically different interpretations of the significance of early Christian history, and we will test some of the claims about the Christian past that have been used to justify choices in our own time. Students will receive an introductory training in the responsible use of primary sources and secondary literature that will equip them both to continue with more specialized coursework in history and to begin drawing on historical knowledge to enhance their own practical ministries.