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 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.
Apocalyptic Literature and Revelation
This course seeks to study the Book of Revelation from four perspectives: antecedents (the meaning and use of 'apocalyptic' in the ancient world), models (Jewish and Hellenistic apocalyptic works), exegesis (the study of individual texts), and biblical theology (the study of themes in the Book of Revelation).Prerequisites NT 5251, NT 6251, or concurrent enrollment.
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.
Being Well
The purpose of this spiritual formation course is to explore the interrelationships between spirituality and health from a personal faith perspective. The multiple dimensions of Christian well being will be considered, focusing on the individual with consideration given to spirituality and the health of families, congregations and communities.
Bible and Immigration
This course will explore the parameters of United States immigration and refugee law and study biblical concepts of welcoming the stranger, defining membership in a community, and exile. By comparing and contrasting the laws of the nation state with biblical understandings of hospitality, students will examine global migration, border control, sanctuary cities and congregations.
Biblical Greek II
This course is a continuation of RHS 405 Biblical Greek I. The first half of classes will cover Lessons 25–32 in Croy, focusing on the relative pronouns, conditional sentences, and -μι verbs. In the second half, students will translate select gospel stories (both canonical and non-canonical), paying special attention to the ranges of meanings of biblical terms and the syntax of Koine Greek. Offering a set of analytic tools and interpretive methods to read the Greek New Testament, this course will help students better understand the literary and historical contexts of the NT and its theological forces. In turn, it will facilitate students’ critical and constructive engagement with the Bible in their ministerial settings.