Course Catalogue 2026-2027

This course introduces Humanistic Buddhism as a modern Buddhist movement that integrates classical Buddhist wisdom with contemporary ethical, social, and cultural concerns. Drawing on Mahayana Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist traditions, especially Chan Buddhism, and informed by comparative philosophy and theology, the course examines how Buddhist concepts such as compassion, nonduality, emptiness, and moral cultivation are rearticulated for lived practice in the modern world. Particular attention is given to the thought and practice of Humanistic Buddhism as articulated by contemporary figures, including Hsing Yun, and its engagement with education, social responsibility, interreligious dialogue, and global ethics. Students will critically explore how Buddhist thought functions not only as doctrine, but as a transformative framework for personal formation and social engagement.

This course focuses on personal contemplative prayer as essential for our relationship with God and the soil out of which healthy and effective ministry grows. The course covers Biblical teaching on prayer; the contemplative tradition arising from the early desert fathers and mothers; spirituality, theology and psychology of prayer; and various Christian traditions of prayer including lectio divina, Ignatian prayer, other forms of scripture prayer, centering prayer, Christian meditation, and the awareness examen. The course concludes with suggestions for planting and growing a prayer-based parish ministry. The course is offered at the SSJD convent in North York.

This course explores the relationship between religion, health, healing, and community well-being through a decolonial lens. Students examine how Indigenous, African, and Abrahamic traditions understand health not simply as a medical or biological condition, but as an expression of cosmology, relationality, land-based practice, and spiritual continuity. Drawing on public health frameworks, Indigenous health models, place-based epistemologies, and decolonial critique, the course investigates how colonialism in the Americas and Africa reshaped spiritual and medical landscapes—marginalizing traditional healing practices, severing communities from land and ceremony, and creating enduring health inequities. Through the methodological thread of storying, students analyze how communities narrate illness, suffering, resilience, and healing; how religion functions as a social determinant of health; and how the colonial vs. communal gaze shapes health-seeking behaviour, public policy, and collective flourishing. The course equips students to envision what healing and community flourishing looks like beyond empire-building aspirations—rooted in cosmology, community, and the interconnectedness of all life.

This course explores the relationship between religion, health, healing, and community well-being through a decolonial lens. Students examine how Indigenous, African, and Abrahamic traditions understand health not simply as a medical or biological condition, but as an expression of cosmology, relationality, land-based practice, and spiritual continuity. Drawing on public health frameworks, Indigenous health models, place-based epistemologies, and decolonial critique, the course investigates how colonialism in the Americas and Africa reshaped spiritual and medical landscapes—marginalizing traditional healing practices, severing communities from land and ceremony, and creating enduring health inequities. Through the methodological thread of storying, students analyze how communities narrate illness, suffering, resilience, and healing; how religion functions as a social determinant of health; and how the colonial vs. communal gaze shapes health-seeking behaviour, public policy, and collective flourishing. The course equips students to envision what healing and community flourishing looks like beyond empire-building aspirations—rooted in cosmology, community, and the interconnectedness of all life.

Explores historical sources of division among Christian churches, origins of the modern ecumenical movement, the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to Christian unity, growing agreement in sacramental life. Special attention to implications for catechesis and pastoral care of inter-church families.

Explores historical sources of division among Christian churches, origins of the modern ecumenical movement, the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to Christian unity, growing agreement in sacramental life. Special attention to implications for catechesis and pastoral care of inter-church families.

Explores historical sources of division among Christian churches, origins of the modern ecumenical movement, the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to Christian unity, growing agreement in sacramental life. Special attention to implications for catechesis and pastoral care of inter-church families.

Explores historical sources of division among Christian churches, origins of the modern ecumenical movement, the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to Christian unity, growing agreement in sacramental life. Special attention to implications for catechesis and pastoral care of inter-church families.

Explores historical sources of division among Christian churches, origins of the modern ecumenical movement, the commitment of the Roman Catholic Church to Christian unity, growing agreement in sacramental life. Special attention to implications for catechesis and pastoral care of inter-church families.

This course explores the complex role of Christianity (and religion more broadly) in cases of genocide and extreme violence in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through a series of case studies we will discuss broader themes such as the role of church institutions, religion and war, religious buildings as sites of violence, religious identity and nationalism, spiritual resistance, solidarity and rescue, reconciliation, Christianity's role in coming to terms with past atrocities. Topics may vary but could include: aboriginal peoples in the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand (19th and 20th centuries); the Herero-Nama Genocide in German Southwest Africa (1900s); the Armenian Genocide (1910s); the Holocaust (1940s); Cambodia (1970s); Guatemala (1980s); Rwanda (1990s); and the former Yugoslavia (1990s). We will study the subject matter with an interdisciplinary approach, primarily using the tools of the historian, but also considering those of theology, ~chology, and the sociology of religion. This course deals with some of the most powerful, painful, and controversial aspects of human life. Please be prepared to encounter disturbing and sometimes graphic material in the readings and films. We should probably also all expect to be challenged, surprised, and sometimes distressed by what is said in discussions. In crafting the course, I have tried to be sensitive, respectful, and inclusive without turning away from difficult realities in the past and present. I ask you to do the same in the way you engage the subject matter and one another.

This course introduces Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354- 430) as an influential philosopher and theologian as well as a North African pastor in the Roman Empire. We will trace Augustine's life from birth to youth, then from his education, 'conversion' to ordination as bishop, then his later days till death, with the relevant historical and social contexts introduced along the way. In addition, this course will cover the basics of his philosophy/theology on freedom and grace, salvation and predestination, ecclesiology and liturgy, and, perhaps the most important of all, trinity, and how Augustine develops his theology in polemic responses to the Manicheans, Donatists and Pelagians.

This course introduces Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354- 430) as an influential philosopher and theologian as well as a North African pastor in the Roman Empire. We will trace Augustine's life from birth to youth, then from his education, 'conversion' to ordination as bishop, then his later days till death, with the relevant historical and social contexts introduced along the way. In addition, this course will cover the basics of his philosophy/theology on freedom and grace, salvation and predestination, ecclesiology and liturgy, and, perhaps the most important of all, trinity, and how Augustine develops his theology in polemic responses to the Manicheans, Donatists and Pelagians.