Course Catalogue 2023-2024

This course invites students to consider how their own spiritual formation as a person is essential to their ministry and the effective spiritual formation of those in their care. Through reflection on the spiritual and theological nature of the life of faith, students will consider what leadership in the Church will require of them, and how they will respond to this challenge as they deepen their own spiritual and vocational calling.

This course invites students to consider how their own spiritual formation as a person is essential to their ministry and the effective spiritual formation of those in their care. Through reflection on the spiritual and theological nature of the life of faith, students will consider what leadership in the Church will require of them, and how they will respond to this challenge as they deepen their own spiritual and vocational calling.

We will explore the evolution of the Anglican spiritual tradition from Jesus to today, including ways in which contemporary Anglican spirituality has been influenced by other traditions and vice-versa. Anglicanism is rooted deeply in the call to worship and serve Jesus Christ and God’s world in the context of various vocations (lay, ordained, and monastic), and the course aims to help students discern and articulate such calls. We will explore ways to integrate spiritual expression (both prayer and action) as a grounding for all forms of ministry and to learn and practice some traditional forms of prayer: lectio divina, the Jesus Prayer, centering prayer, awareness examen, Ignatian contemplation, and others. The course will encourage students to explore their own spiritual journeys and to develop a flexible and evolving Rule of Life that will ground their spiritual journeys.

This course introduces students to the expansion, proliferation, and transformation of Christian movements from 1491 to the present day. It focuses primarily on the context of the Americas to illustrate the centrality of colonialism to the last five hundred years of Christian history, and argues that Christian movements which reinforce, resist, and adapt to colonialism are the rule, not the exception. We will explore this relationship through specific historical case studies, focusing on the particularities of specific Christianities to hone our skills in historical analysis. As we learn how to study Christian history, we will also learn why these histories matter. Regularly throughout the course, we will examine how contemporary Christian communities understand the histories we learn, why they understand them in this way, and how we hold the tension between those understandings and our historical studies. This course requires no previous grounding in Christian history or theology. Prior experience with the study of history at the undergraduate or graduate level is helpful, but not a prerequisite.

This course provides a survey of Eastern Christian teaching on the Triune God that focuses both on patristic and contemporary authors read in English. The course situates doctrine within the broader array of Holy Tradition (Scripture, Fathers,Councils, Creeds, Liturgy, Iconography, Hagiography, etc.), paying attention to the historical contexts in which various teachings arose and were defined. Comparisons will be made between Eastern and Western Christian approaches to certain questions, with some attention to ecumenical repercussions. Apophatic and antinomic approaches to theology will be emphasized as well as the connection between doctrine and spirituality.

Mystery of the Triune God with its Biblical sources and Patristic development, and an examination of the development of the understanding of the Immanent Trinity, with attention paid to particular issues, e.g. Filioque, notion of 'Person'. Also stressed is the development of a Trinitarian spirituality with some attention to the mystics.

This course will describe and analyze the settings, ideas, and personalities that shaped first generation Anabaptism (1525 - 1561) within the context of late medieval and sixteenth century church and society. This includes comparisons and contrasts with Spiritualism, another stream of the Radical Reformation. The secondary thrust of this course is to study the transition of Anabaptism from a many sided revolutionary movement shaped by martyrdom into three sectarian denominations (Hutterites, Swiss Brethren, Mennonites and their sub-sets) seeking a settled existence (1561 - 1660). ÿThere is an increasing diversity of views concerning the theological and geographical range of Anabaptism. This course focuses largely on leaders and teachings that became the foundation of Anabaptism's three descendent denominations, Hutterites, Amish, and Mennonites; it confines itself to developments in Dutch and German speaking territories.

This is a survey of the development of the Anabaptist and Mennonite traditions (Amish, Mennonite, and Hutterites) by placing them in the context of the broader history of the western Christianity from the early church through Its transformation into a global movement. Through the study of history, students will understand the forces and tensions that have shaped the Mennonites and other Anabaptists as they related to the changing contexts in the world around them. Throughout the course,students will attend to the strengths and weakness of defining Anabaptist Identity through history.

Answering Jesus' question: "Who do people say I am?", course uses Old Testament expectations, New Testament data, Conciliar definitions and contemporary issues.

Answering Jesus' question: "Who do people say I am?", course uses Old Testament expectations, New Testament data, Conciliar definitions and contemporary issues.

Systematic and pastoral approach to christology and soteriology. Emphasis on New Testament christologies, later developments, contemporary interpretations. Study of the impact on christology of such issues as the continuing quest for the historical Jesus, dialogue with other religions, and in particular with Judaism, the challenge of liberation and feminist theologies, and the new cosmology.

Systematic and pastoral approach to christology and soteriology. Emphasis on New Testament christologies, later developments, contemporary interpretations. Study of the impact on christology of such issues as the continuing quest for the historical Jesus, dialogue with other religions, and in particular with Judaism, the challenge of liberation and feminist theologies, and the new cosmology.