Course Catalogue 2026-2027

The course is an inquiry into a range of questions concerning spatiality that arise in Christian dogmatics. Is the triune God spatial? What is meant by "omnipresence"? How do divine space and created spaces differ, and how might they be said to interact? What are the spatial dimensions of the incarnation? Students will be introduced to methodological issues concerning the use of spatial theory in theology, as well as how to best think about land and sacred places. Readings will include relevant parts of Scripture as well as theologians who addressed the topic, including Aquinas, Barth, Jenson, Gorringe, and Cavanaugh. Other resources may include authors in such ancillary fields as architecture (Richard Kieckhefer), anthropology (James C. Scott), and human geography (Yi-Fu Tuan). The course will conclude by examining concrete test cases of spatiality, e.g. Chartres Cathedral and modern storefront churches.

This seminar (a combination of lecture, discussion, and case analysis format) will introduce principles and perspectives for biomedical ethics. The course is divided into two sections. The first part of the course will examine basic themes, principles, methodologies, and professional responsibilities in healthcare ethics. Special attention will be given to Catholic Church teaching and the Catholic tradition of moral reflection more generally, comparing and contrasting it with the currently dominant secular approach to bioethics. In the second section, we will examine particular ethical issues for healthcare ethics, employing the case analysis method. We will seek to bring to bear our earlier ethics and theological explorations as well as practical wisdom in our evaluations of these cases. Students will present analysis of particular problems, and others will respond to their analysis.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

Feminist theologies critically reflect on religious traditions from the perspective of persons who identify as women. It challenges ideas and practices that devalue women and retrieves and constructs alternatives to them. The course begins with an introduction to the methods and diverse voices in feminist theologies. Increasingly, the discipline is "intersectional" in recognition of the variety of factors that impact and shape a feminist standpoint- not only of sex and gender identity, but also race, nationality, religion, ability, sexual orientation, age, and other factors. With attention to African American (womanist), Indigenous, mujerista, Asian feminist, and transgender perspectives, we will assess some of the major topics in Christian theology: Who is God? What is the human condition? What is redemption, and are Christian narratives redemptive for women? How do we know? Seeking solidarity between women's movements, this course seeks mutual learning from Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim feminist thinkers, from interreligious dialogue, and from the religious hybridity that often results from intersectional formations. In addition to the classical loci, the course turns to trends related to coloniality, orthodoxy, theopoetics, materiality, and the connectivity of the virtual world.

This class will develop further the exegetical skills of students through engagement with the Greek text of a New Testament book. By means of close reading of the text students will grow in their capacity to use Greek when interpreting the New Testament. Attention will be paid to textual criticism, translation issues, New Testament Greek syntax, and issues of historical, cultural, literary and theological context. The class will build students' ability to offer critically informed accounts of the meaning of New Testament texts in their first-century contexts, and increase students' understanding of the theological message of individual New Testament books and their contemporary implications.

This course traces the history of the interpretation of the Bible from pre-rabbinic Jewish interpretation and the New Testament to the present. We will examine major figures and major forms of biblical interpretation and also give attention to a consideration of popular and forgotten voices.

The work of Ludwig Wittgenstein has been highly influential on many of the most important theologians of the last two generations. His work has also been influential on moral philosophers and moral theologians. This course in theological ethics will examine both the work of Wittgenstein himself, and those he has influenced, on a variety of the central questions for contemporary theological ethics. Key authors to be studied include Elizabeth Anscombe, Herbert McCabe, Fergus Kerr, Rowan Williams, Cora Diamond, and Stephen Mulhall. Topics to be discussed will include questions of intention and the problem of act-description, the nature of human flourishing, questions of analogy, and the nature of theological claims in relation to the moral life.

This unit explores lgnatian mystical spirituality as a resource for the construction of religious narratives that contribute to intentional, social transformation in a post-secular context. Drawing principally on the lgnatian appropriation of monastic adaptation of rhetoric in the practice of mental prayer and the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur, the course engages contemporary social theory to address issues of racism and other forms of systematic injustice. Students develop a transdisciplinary approach to ecological, social, cultural and ecclesial reconciliation. They also develop an understanding of the evolution of a religious and cultural recognition of the autonomous rights of indigenous peoples. Elements of recognition theory and transitional justice are introduced through a discussion of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. Authors include: Marie Battiste, Judith Butler, Glen Sean Coulthard, Cynthia Crysdale, Nancy Fraser, Priscilla Hayner, Axel Honneth, Bernard Lonergan, Ronald Niezen, Paul Ricoeur, and Charles Taylor.

This unit explores lgnatian mystical spirituality as a resource for the construction of religious narratives that contribute to intentional, social transformation in a post-secular context. Drawing principally on the lgnatian appropriation of monastic adaptation of rhetoric in the practice of mental prayer and the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur, the course engages contemporary social theory to address issues of racism and other forms of systematic injustice. Students develop a transdisciplinary approach to ecological, social, cultural and ecclesial reconciliation. They also develop an understanding of the evolution of a religious and cultural recognition of the autonomous rights of indigenous peoples. Elements of recognition theory and transitional justice are introduced through a discussion of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. Authors include: Marie Battiste, Judith Butler, Glen Sean Coulthard, Cynthia Crysdale, Nancy Fraser, Priscilla Hayner, Axel Honneth, Bernard Lonergan, Ronald Niezen, Paul Ricoeur, and Charles Taylor.