Course Catalogue 2026-2027

What can theology bring to a consideration of authority, mediation and asymmetrical relationships in the Church in the light of the abuse crisis? This is a question that runs throughout the course. In this area the focus has been on protocols and policies: legal, canonical, procedural, psychological, financial, sociological and cultural all factors that must be considered. The forgotten dimension, however, is the theology that informs our response as churches to this crisis. Within the Christian faith tradition there are theological resources that can be re-appropriated so as to bring life-giving insights. In order to access these, it is important that we acknowledge that abuse is not just wrong or sinful (of course it is) but that it profoundly wounds both those who are abused and the body of Christ. At its heart it is a profanation of the very person of Christ. It is Jesus himself who asserts this reality “whatever you do to the least … you do to me.” (Matt 25:40).

This course explores the fundamental theory, assumptions and practices of narrative therapy, a form of therapy developed in New Zealand and Australia in connection with indigenous people. Using a combination of free online material from the Dulwich Centre in Australia and class meetings during the regular semester, it explores the role of the therapist and the practice of therapy in utilizing narrative therapy techniques to address not only individual and family distress but also community and political structures of oppression. Narrative therapy explores with clients and communities how the structures of oppression can be used for healing, and works with communities to empower them in their own healing.

In this course, students will examine the writings of Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), an eleventh-century Italian thinker who became a monk, prior, archbishop and ultimately a leading theologian of his day. Scholars often treat Anselm as the first scholastic theologian, which to some degree is true. In this course, however, we will seek to understand Anselm the theologian as a constituent of the eleventh century, and of eleventh-century Anglo-Norman monasticism in particular.The focus of the seminars will be mainly on a close reading of theCur Deus homo, a text that Anselm completed by 1098, after he had become archbishop in 1093. We will therefore explore two major contexts: (1) the world of eleventh-century monasticism of Normandy and (2) the world of the archiepiscopacy of Canterbury at the end of this same century. We will seek the read this text in light of the broad tradition of pre-modern treatments of Soteriology andthe Incarnation, but also within the two more immediate contexts.

In this course, students will examine the writings of Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), an eleventh-century Italian thinker who became a monk, prior, archbishop and ultimately a leading theologian of his day. Scholars often treat Anselm as the first scholastic theologian, which to some degree is true. In this course, however, we will seek to understand Anselm the theologian as a constituent of the eleventh century, and of eleventh-century Anglo-Norman monasticism in particular.The focus of the seminars will be mainly on a close reading of theCur Deus homo, a text that Anselm completed by 1098, after he had become archbishop in 1093. We will therefore explore two major contexts: (1) the world of eleventh-century monasticism of Normandy and (2) the world of the archiepiscopacy of Canterbury at the end of this same century. We will seek the read this text in light of the broad tradition of pre-modern treatments of Soteriology andthe Incarnation, but also within the two more immediate contexts.

Using the writings of Thomas Berry & theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.

Using the writings of Thomas Berry; theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.

Using the writings of Thomas Berry; theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.

Using the writings of Thomas Berry; theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology. Adult learning methods. 

Using the writings of Thomas Berry; theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.

Using the writings of Thomas Berry; theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.

This course explores these two movements in eco-theology. The course engages Catholic (magisterial, liberationist and feminist); Protestant; and Eastern Orthodox traditions, as well as several attempts to reconstruct Christian theology all together. Attention will further be given to the new cosmology or epic of evolution that is rooted in the important work of Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme. Yet because climate change disproportionally affects communities in the global South and marginilized communities in the North, the course attends specifically to theologies and perspectives that come from outside the (mainstream) North-Atlantic context. Throughout the course issues of race, gender and class are foregrounded, most notably by listening to eco-feminist/eco-womanist/mujerista eco-theologies.

Using the writings of Thomas Berry; theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.