Course Catalogue 2024-2025

What do zombies and the Bible have in common? They both have to do with the end of the world, of course! We will compare zombies in today’s popular culture with apocalyptic texts in the Bible (and some not in the Bible) in their ancient contexts. The goal of the course is to recognize the apocalyptic worldview behind various texts in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity and the continuing influence of that worldview to the present day, especially as it manifests in zombie imagery. Through this recognition we will wrestle with apocalyptic and zombie-related themes that are relevant today. By exploring imagery, genre, form, function and context (in all the gory details), we will discover common threads related to symbol, human identity, death, fear, hope and meaning-making.

Inspiring and profound are terms often attributed to the theology of von Balthasar. Benedict XVI said of his work, "His theological reflection maintains intact, to this day, a profound timeliness and leads many to penetrate ever more into the profundity of the mystery of faith". This course begins an exploration of his work. There is consideration of the Trilogy: Herrlichkeit, Theo-Drama and Theo-Logic; the influence of Ignatius Loyola and Adrienne von Speyr; and the place of Mary. Not a course for the faint-hearted, von Balthasar's work is at times dense and complex but the rewards are beyond price.

The concept of Mission is prominent and ever-present in the contemporary church, but there remains considerable confusion surrounding the theology and practice of Christian witness. Painful awareness of the legacy of colonialism leaves many mainline churches uncomfortable with the concept of mission, for fear of ‘imposing’ their worldview on others. The course examines contemporary models and movements of mission – from “planting,” “Fresh Expressions,” and “Liquid Church,” to “social outreach” and “faith-based community organizing.” Attention will be given to theologies of mission, missional literature, and to particular local mission projects in their ecclesial contexts. Students will be equipped to formulate their own theology of mission and to become familiar with distinct practical models of mission. These discussions will all be with a view to working to understand and shape the future course of the church.

The concept of Mission is prominent and ever-present in the contemporary church, but there remains considerable confusion surrounding the theology and practice of Christian witness. Painful awareness of the legacy of colonialism leaves many mainline churches uncomfortable with the concept of mission, for fear of ‘imposing’ their worldview on others. The course examines contemporary models and movements of mission – from “planting,” “Fresh Expressions,” and “Liquid Church,” to “social outreach” and “faith-based community organizing.” Attention will be given to theologies of mission, missional literature, and to particular local mission projects in their ecclesial contexts. Students will be equipped to formulate their own theology of mission and to become familiar with distinct practical models of mission. These discussions will all be with a view to working to understand and shape the future course of the church.

This course will engage the questions of interreligious dialogue and comparative theology on the theology on the theological issues of redemption and salvation by comparing the work of some key Christian thinkers with themes in Buddhism. We will also engage comparative questions such as desire, imitation, prayer, mediation and responses to suffering and violence. 

The course is an inquiry into a range of questions concerning spatiality that arise in Christian dogmatics. Is the triune God spatial? What is meant by “omnipresence”? How do divine space and created spaces differ, and how might they be said to interact? What are the spatial dimensions of the incarnation? Students will be introduced to methodological issues concerning the use of spatial theory in theology, as well as how to best think about land and sacred places. Readings will include relevant parts of Scripture as well as theologians who addressed the topic, including Aquinas, Barth, Jenson, Gorringe, and Cavanaugh. Other resources may include authors in such ancillary fields as architecture (Richard Kieckhefer), anthropology (James C. Scott), and human geography (Yi-Fu Tuan). The course will conclude by examining concrete test cases of spatiality, e.g. Chartres Cathedral and modern storefront churches.

The Acts of the Apostles is our main source of information about the first Christian decades. It covers the movement's initial efforts to regroup following the death of Jesus, as well as its earliest expansion into the Mediterranean world beyond Judea. In this course, we will read through the Acts and reflect upon both what it tells us about Christian origins and also its continuing relevance for contemporary Christianity.

This course studies the contemporary ecumenical and interreligious movements from a Roman Catholic perspective. It offers an historical and theological overview of the issues that divide Christians as well as the bonds that unite them. It also explores relations with other religious traditions. The course is in English and held in Rome at the " Centro Pro Unione" . Students will travel to Rome, participate fully in the lectures, seminars, workshops and excursions organized by the Centro's faculty.

Drawing on the distinction between "mondalisation" (transnational cultural pluralism) and "globalisation" (global monocultural hegemony), this course explores the roles of religion and faith in constructing meaning and addressing systemic injustice. While focused through illustrative discussion of regional theologies in Asia and Africa and world-wide indigenous movements, the course also engages interreligious dialogue to heighten awareness of encounter and social reconciliation. The discussion of indigeneity addresses the experience of residential schools in Canada. Interrelations among religion, migration, and racialization of peoples are identified. Authors addressed include Elias Kifon Bongmba, David J. Bosch, Jose Casanova, Edmund Chia, Glenn Sean Coulthard, Robin Dunbar, Pope Francis, Sam George, Jehu Hanciles, Stan Chu llo, Rosella Kinoshameg, Paul V. Kollman, Leo D. Lefebure, Bernard Lonergan, Anselm Min, V. Y. Mudimbe, John Milloy, Richard Neibuhr, Ronald Niezen, ldara Otu, Raimon Panikkar, Peter Phan, Paul Ricoeur, Paul Robson, Robert J. Schreiter, Heather Walton, and David E. Wilhite.

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).

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).

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.