An Intro to Preaching (Plenary)
This course aims to help students engage the discipline and practice of preaching in ways that allow them to preach the Gospel faithfully for an ever-changing and diverse public church. This course will help students to integrate their biblical exegesis work, theological studies, and unfolding sense of call to ministry towards the task of preaching. Students will engage in practices of biblical interpretation and theological studies as they explore sermon construction and delivery. Additionally, students will be invited to engage in practices of attentiveness and discernment as they seek to proclaim the good news of God's grace to a hungry and hurting world. Corequisite: ML 403 Lab
Analyzing Oppression, Strategizing Action
This course brings together analytic philosophy and the practice of advocacy for the sake of mobilizing religious communities to work toward justice. Students first deploy philosophical methods to frame, define, and analyze the institutional, economic, and psychological forces of oppression. Then they will consider and develop strategies for advocacy, faith-based political action, and community transformation, while concurrently constructing a politicallyastute, community-driven theology of social justice.
Anglican and Episcopal History
This course provides an introduction and overview to history and development of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, with particular attention given to Anglicanism as as a diverse, globalized communion.
Anglican Liturgy and Music: Theology and Practice
This course is a further exploration of the principles and practices of Anglican worship with particular focus on the Episcopal Church. The course will cover contemporary liturgical and sacramental theology and practice. It includes a practicum through which students learn how to conduct worship in the Episcopal Church.
Anglican Liturgy and Music: Development and Theology
This course is an introduction to the principles and practices of Anglican worship with particular focus on the Episcopal Church. The course will cover the nature of worship and the history of its evolution; and the theology and use of music in worship.
Anglican Spirituality and Ethos
This course will explore the nature and practice of Anglican spirituality as it is expressed in art, film and poetry. Citing examples spanning the 15th to 20th Centuries, students will experience Anglicanism's historic emphasis on Incarnation over Atonement as the basis of salvation and the Anglican tendency to talk not so much about grace as to make it visible in words, music, movement and through the visual arts. Students will experience the manner by which these examples demonstrate a theological perspective that some Christian traditions call "worldliness," but still remain profoundly mystical at the same time. By immersing participants in a variety of nonverbal media alongside assigned texts, this course aims to stimulate right-brain thinking and facilitate learning through sight and sound as well as through written word.
Anglican Theology and Ethics
In this course students learn about the distinctive history of Anglican theology and its dynamic, diverse, contemporary practice. The focus will be on engaging primary texts in their historical context, as well as making sense of such texts for today's church. We will also examine Anglican thinking about the good life, especially in its connection with worship, the sacraments, and its outworking in everyday life. Systematic Theology is a Pre-requisite for MDiv students for this course.
Anti-Racism as Interreligious Spiritual Practice
"In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist." - Angela Davis. According to NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity, anti-racism is defined as the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably. This course argues that for this active process to be meaningful and substantive - it must be rooted in a practice of critical self-reflection, spirituality and an unwavering ethic towards justice and dignity. Anti-racism as a spiritual practice thus acknowledges that our faith traditions offer rich and invaluable guidance towards how we achieve or strive towards "changing systems, organizational structures, polices and practices and attitudes". This course is inspired by CTS' ASPIRE and Walk the Talk Projects addressing the historical and present-day impact of White (Christian) Supremacy, systemic oppression and anti-black racism in American society. This course will also center the role of critical self-reflection and consciousness in deepening our individual and collective commitment to moving from awareness to action.
Approaches to Christian Education
An examination of key leaders, perspectives, and practices in Christian religious education in relationship to students' vocations and practices of educational leadership. The class explores contemporary scholarship in the field of Christian education as a ministry and academic discipline for discipleship and mission.