Course Catalogue 2024-2025

This course aims at a critical understanding of the theoretical base that informs the current practice of ministry. Theories of ministry and their practical consequences in the contemporary church are discussed.

We all leave doctoral studies as experts in our fields and walk into classrooms full of non-expert students. What now? This course addresses the relationship between subject knowledge and teaching. Topics include issues related to course design and delivery (e.g., syllabus construction, assignments, development of outcomes; objectives) as well as to broader pedagogical issues (e.g., education for [trans]formation, relationships between classroom and context, professional identity).

This course gives an overview of qualitative research methods in light of the students' respective research theology and design. It is focused on the elaboration of the DMin thesis proposal.

This course gives an overview of qualitative research methods in light of the students' respective research theology and design. It is focused on the elaboration of the DMin thesis proposal.

This course focuses on text-critical study of the Hebrew Bible, providing an introduction to the manuscript evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the Masoretic text and the Samaritan Pentateuch, as well as from other ancient sources. Issues pertaining to paleography, orthography and manuscript production are discussed, as well as processes of textual composition and development, and techniques used by ancient translators (Greek, Latin, etc.). Of particular interest is the state of the scriptural text leading to the time of canonization in the first or second century CE. Students are taught and encouraged to integrate text-critical study as a solid basis for any area of research specialization.

Explores Christian Kenosis as an expression of the unconditional love of God made known in Christ. Here the mutual relations of self-giving in the Trinity may be reflected in the lives of human persons. Of key significance is Hans Urs von Balthasar's appreciation of the paschal mystery. Also in dialogue are: Sarah Coakley, John Paul II and Thomas Merton.

1-2 Chronicles had little attention paid to it after the solidification of historical-critical biblical studies in the mid-19th century. This began to change in the 1980s with a new appreciation for the book as a literary whole. This course examines Chronicles in its context and in ours. Topics include: the context of Persian-period Judah, with comparative materials from elsewhere in the Persian Empire shedding light on the imperial context of Judah and Jerusalem; ancient media and scribal practice to understand textual production and reproduction; questions of individual and community identity formation (gender, ethnicity, class); how Chronicles has been read through the centuries, in both Jewish and Christian contexts. Collaborative and decentering frameworks will be front and centre in both course material and pedagogy.

The book of Jeremiah is the longest of the major prophets and is the source of significant New Testament quotations. Its central focus on judgment and lament is countered by only a few chapters of hope for restored fortune. Despite the book’s complexity that lends itself to sustained critical engagement, it also serves as a profound theological and pastoral resource. This course explores the book through six key questions: what is the import of the textual variance in the Jeremianic material? does the book have a discernible structure or modes of organization? what is the role of history and of the prophetic person/persona within the book? what message does the book have and how is it communicated? how has the book been received and responded to? how does the book relate to the larger canon of scripture? Each question takes up enduring critical issues and will immerse students in deep exegetical study of the text, engage them with diverse scholarship across the ages and globe, and call them to consider the message and implications of the text in our own contexts.

An examination of selected psalms, prayers, and hymns from the Dead Sea Scrolls with an eye to their appropriation of scriptural discourse. Genre issues, social function of these texts in the Qumran community, and continuity with and differences from later Jewish and Christian liturgies also explored.

This graduate seminar will afford students the chance to read and engage deeply with Friedrich Schleiermacher’s greatest dogmatic work, The Christian Faith systematically Presented according to the Principles of the Evangelical Church (1830/1). Recognized as a foundational work of German liberal Protestantism, The Christian Faith – also known as the Glaubenslehre – emerges from the principle that all Christian doctrine is traceable to the feeling of having been redeemed by Jesus of Nazareth. By the end of the seminar, students will have read the entirety of the Glaubenslehre, as well as understood its shape, systematic infrastructure, and influence in the development of modern Protestant dogmatics. The aim of the course is for students to grow in critical appreciation for Schleiermacher not only as a formative voice in the history of Christian theology, but also as an example of how fundamental decisions in method affect one’s conceptions of Christian theology, preaching, and mission.

Central ideas in the Kierkegaard corpus and their relevance to contemporary theological and philosophical concerns.

The purpose of this course is to survey the contemporary trends in the theology of faith and culture with an emphasis on mission, dialogue, interculteration, and the emergence of contextual theologies. A major portion of the course will focus on understanding the paradigm shift from a classicist notion of culture to one that has given rise to the various contextual approaches and the so-called "World Christianity(ies)." We will survey some of the various models, methods, and issues involved in this paradigm shift. The course will also highlight certain tensions arising from this context such as the local-universal church tension, the dialogue-evangelism tension, the interculturation-syncretism tension, and the question of the theology of religions.