Course Catalogue 2025-2026

Theology in the 21st Century has long realized the need to overcome the false dichotomy between theology and spirituality. The Christian theologian of our times is called to be a mystic Karl Rahner asserted. Where better to study the craft of the spiritual theologian than in the dialogue with four of the most significant figures from Carmel. The course explores some of the key theological themes running through the lives and work of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux and Edith Stein. We also consider the singular contributions each made to the spiritual and theological tradition we have inherited and the challenges their lives and work pose for us today. Course is cross-listed as theological and pastoral.

This course explores the identity and mission of the Holy Spirit through listening to the witness of the Scriptures and the early church, and through critical engagement with contemporary conversations about the Spirit. The first half of the course addresses Biblical foundations and patristic developments, with a particular focus on the Spirt in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity. The second half explores a number of contemporary issues in pneumatology. Topics to be covered include: the

This pass/fail course offered to seminarians in their last semester at St. Augustine provides opportunities to investigate preaching from a Catholic perspective, discuss questions on homiletics, read key documents from the Church on preaching, preach, give feedback to fellow preachers, and reflect on the feedback received in class.

The first part of the seminar will explore Trinitarian foundations of music and liturgy, in and since Vatican II, focusing on the imagery of Word and Breath, the priesthood of Christ, and the ecclesiology of communion. The second part will develop and apply this understanding to diverse musical experience and ministry (the singing assembly, cantors, choirs, the organ and other instruments, priest and deacon as music ministers, composers and hymn writers). This seminar is theological and liturgical in focus: experience of music in church is more valuable than technical musical skills (musical skills are useful and welcome but not essential).

In this course we will study the theological, social, and economic components of Old Testament ethics and explore a variety of themes related to contemporary issues, including the problem of war, violence, and moral injury; economics and the poor; medical ethics; slavery, racism, and apartheid; law and the legal system; ecology, nature, and the earth.

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 seminar explores the historical, doctrinal, philosophical and mystical aspects of Islamic liturgical texts, namely supplications and devotions. Special emphasis will be placed on readings from The Psalms of Islam as known as Psalms of the Family of the Prophet (Zabūr Āl Muḥammad/Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya) and various devotional elegies.  Sections include comparisons to the Biblical Psalms, the Syriac prayer tradition and Hebrew prayers in the Jewish tradition. We will also explore the often-controversial role of pilgrimage and its perceived efficacy in Islamic traditions with a special focus on visitation of graves of saints while comparing similar practices in Christian traditions to understand the role that such practices occupy in both traditions. This will introduce key Islamic texts while engaging with Christian and Jewish approaches to prayer.

This course is an advanced practicum in preaching and worship. It is intended to provide opportunities for practicing liturgical leadership and preaching within the class setting. Students will explore best practices for planning and preparing sermons and worship services, with an emphasis on collaboration. Students will craft holistic worship services with attention to Sacraments, technology, universal design, denominational resources, and topics such as reconciliation, multicultural worship, funerals, weddings, and intergenerational worship.

This course is aimed at clergy and congregational administrators who deal with matters concerning buildings and property. Offering anthropological, theological, and legal/canonical/policy frameworks, participants will reflect on the properties for which they are responsible, exploring foundational issues in the management of these resources, and considering what is required to maintain them. How can buildings and property, including those ancillary to the congregation’s primary worshipping space, become more effective places of mission, imagination and hope for both those who administer them and all those who populate them or see them as neighbourhood places? What are the practicalities involved? We will draw on the work of Richard Giles, Sam Wells, Lindsay Jones and others, as well as the experiences of judicatory administrators and seasoned parish clergy. While the focus will be on Anglican polity and processes, much of the course material (e.g legal requirements, theological and anthropological frames) would be transferable to situations in other denominations. We will consider how contexts such as urban and rural affect the administration of buildings and property.

This course is aimed at clergy and congregational administrators who deal with matters concerning buildings and property. Offering anthropological, theological, and legal/canonical/policy frameworks, participants will reflect on the properties for which they are responsible, exploring foundational issues in the management of these resources, and considering what is required to maintain them. How can buildings and property, including those ancillary to the congregation’s primary worshipping space, become more effective places of mission, imagination and hope for both those who administer them and all those who populate them or see them as neighbourhood places? What are the practicalities involved? We will draw on the work of Richard Giles, Sam Wells, Lindsay Jones and others, as well as the experiences of judicatory administrators and seasoned parish clergy. While the focus will be on Anglican polity and processes, much of the course material (e.g legal requirements, theological and anthropological frames) would be transferable to situations in other denominations. We will consider how contexts such as urban and rural affect the administration of buildings and property.

This seminar will introduce students to the origins of notions of holiness, spiritual charisma and sainthood in Islamic thought. Central figures that will be considered are the Prophet Muhammad, ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, and a selection of figures whose lives have given shape to Islamic spiritual tradition and specifically Sufism. Lectures include focused discussion on the person of Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the historical role she has played in the shaping of Islamic tradition along with her spiritual likeness, Mary (Maryam), the mother of Jesus. We will also explore some comparative examples of Christian saints and mystics as an exercise in comparative biographies and the theology or beliefs that underlie them.

In 2020 Wilda Gaffney published a further volume in their series A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church. Drawing on their work as a Black biblical scholar, priest and translator, as embodied in the volume, A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church Year A, as a critical lens, we will examine the larger questions surrounding lectionaries. What is the purpose of a lectionary? How are lectionaries created or come into being? What is the relationship of lectionaries to power? Whose perspectives do lectionaries and translations include or exclude? What are the differences between lectionaries and translations created by groups or committees and those created by individuals? How do patterns of public reading of scripture respond to context? How responsibly do lectionaries use the scriptures? When lectionaries avoid using some parts of scripture what are the reasons, and what might be lost? In doing so, among other lectionaries, we will examine: the traditional Jewish pattern of reading the Torah in an annual cycle with Haftarahs from the prophets, patterns of the lectionaries of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, traditional Orthodox patterns and cycles of scriptural reading, and the Revised Common Lectionary (an ecumenical lectionary in wide use in differing forms among Protestants and Catholics in North America).