Course Catalogue 2023-2024

The course on congregational song has no prerequisites related to musical ability, keyboard skills, or to hymnic background. Attendance at lectures for the exploration of current song resources (Voices United, More Voices, and a hymn book of the student's choice) forms part of the evaluation process.

The Toronto School of Theology Choir is an ecumenical choir based at Emmanuel College whose members sing at TST chapel services and other community events at the University of Toronto and in the broader community. Through the choir, members are introduced to a wide variety of church music repertoire from various Christian traditions from around the world. Members also advance their singing and ensemble skills in a group through weekly rehearsals where they learn about vocal production and ensemble singing. TST Choir is open to all members of the University of Toronto: students, faculty and staff.

This orientation to several dimensions of Christian ethics - language, sources, norms, methods and concerns - aims to foster ethical awareness for dealing with moral challenges in personal, social, and church/religious life. To practice Canadian ethical reflection, these dimensions are introduced with reference to several concrete social issues and the public vocation of Christian ethics.

In this course we will look at a variety of biblical episodes and stories from both the Old and New Testaments and how they have been seen, imagined, and interpreted by artists and musicians over the centuries. We will explore how these works of art spoke to and about the period in which they were created, how they open up new dimensions of understanding the scriptures for us, and the relationship between convention and imagination in interpreting the scriptures. In two sessions we will look in particular at Bach€™s St John Passion, and in relation to it the differing ways the Passion of Jesus Christ has been depicted over the centuries.

This course will facilitate an understanding of the Gospel of Mark with reference to five, overarching themes: 1) the text's implied socio-cultural context; 2) narrative structure; 3) the distanciation of the reader from the text; 3) its implied symbolic (structural) world; 4)the intended (and unintended) effects of the text upon the reader; and 5) changes in the reader's self-understanding.

The primary goal of this course is to help us think critically and sensitively about Christian values, norms, and commitments in ways that preserve a Christian orientation while taking into account the non-Christian and pluralistic context of modern society. Such thinking will involve a dialectical process where universal principles, values, and norms will be examined with reference to the particular experiences and realities that constrain human action and interaction. The aim is not to structure a strict formalistic ethical framework but rather to canvall various ethical methodologies, religious and secular, as resources for ethical thinking and praxis.

The primary goal of this course is to help us think critically and sensitively about Christian values, norms, and commitments in ways that preserve a Christian orientation while taking into account the non-Christian and pluralistic context of modern society. Such thinking will involve a dialectical process where universal principles, values, and norms will be examined with reference to the particular experiences and realities that constrain human action and interaction. The aim is not to structure a strict formalistic ethical framework but rather to canvall various ethical methodologies, religious and secular, as resources for ethical thinking and praxis.

This course examines various theories of ethics throughout Christian history and the practical ethical issues that Christians face in today's changing society, which include ethics of life, ethics for the earth, and ethics of just peace. The course consists of two parts: 1) the theoretical foundations for Christian ethical thinking, and 2) various practical ethical issues for today.

An approved field placement with appropriate supervision and theological reflection seminar.

An approved field placement with appropriate supervision and theological reflection seminar.

This is a 250 hour ministry placement in a supervised ministry setting chosen by the student in consultation with the Director of Theological Field Education. Supervised ministry provides divinity candidates with the opportunity to gain professional competence, build a framework for raising practical theological issues, acquire a comprehensive and realistic view of the church and its ministries, and develop a ministerial identity.

This is a 250 hour ministry placement in a supervised ministry setting chosen by the student in consultation with the Director of Theological Field Education. Supervised ministry provides divinity candidates with the opportunity to gain professional competence, build a framework for raising practical theological issues, acquire a comprehensive and realistic view of the church and its ministries, and develop a ministerial identity.