Course Catalogue 2024-2025

Using the writings of Thomas Berry & theologians who work with the new cosmology, the course provides an introduction to eco-theology as well as the ways eco-theologians are articulating new understandings of theological anthropology, revelation, Christology, pneumatology, sin and salvation, and eschatology.

In this course, we engage methodologies of narrative criticism and performance criticism to study, contextualize, and embody the details of the Gospel of Mark as story, bringing its ancient meaning and oral origins alive to a modern audience. We become storytellers of scripture by learning a gospel text by heart, memorized word for word, and telling it to a live audience as an embodied practice. This approach interacts with exegetical study of the text to deepen our understanding of its message and connects to various aspects of ministry and/or vocation, with particularly robust connections to homiletics.

This seminar (a combination of lecture, discussion, and case analysis format) will introduce principles and perspectives for biomedical ethics. The course is divided into two sections. The first part of the course will examine basic themes, principles, methodologies, and professional responsibilities in healthcare ethics. Special attention will be given to Catholic Church teaching and the Catholic tradition of moral reflection more generally, comparing and contrasting it with the currently dominant secular approach to bioethics. In the second section, we will examine particular ethical issues for healthcare ethics, employing the case analysis method. We will seek to bring to bear our earlier ethics and theological explorations as well as practical wisdom in our evaluations of these cases. Students will present analysis of particular problems, and others will respond to their analysis.

One of the most controversial issues in the Christian tradition has been its attitude to violence of all kinds. In particular, Christian attitudes to war and peace have been analyzed and debated by almost all major Christian theologians throughout history. This course will look at Christian attitudes to - and the theological and ethical bases for- war, peace, and revolution. The course will begin with Scripture, continue by examining the viewpoints of figures such as Augustine, Aquinas, Vitoria, Grotius, Calvin, Luther, among others, and also examine a variety of 20th and 21st century authors on the subject. Topics to be considered will include some of the following: just war, pacifism, realism, non-violence vs. non-resistance, revolution, civil war, peace-making, nuclear war, deterrence theories, total war doctrine, humanitarian intervention, and the responsibility to protect doctrine.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is central to the identity of Christians and the church. Yet for much of the past two millennia, from the “parting of the ways” in the first and second centuries, the story of Christians and Jews has been difficult and troubled, culminating in the tragic events of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, there has been a renewed engagement between the two traditions, and with a proliferation of scholarship and deepening of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism over the last half century, a joint effort has been made by Christians and Jews to correct historical inaccuracies and prejudices and amend theological traditions that had separated Jesus and Paul from their Jewish contexts and driven a hard wedge between communities sharing faith in the one God of Israel. This course will delve into key elements of this new scholarship and rekindled dialogue, enabling students to apply these insights across their theological studies and pastoral practice.

The range is from late Patristic theology to the verge of the Enlightenment by considering the Western Church. We will begin with Ambrose (De officiis) then consider Monastic ethics according to Rules, then Scholastic ethics (Abelard and his opponents), then Canon legal ethics (Gratian and others), Penitential Manual ethics, Thomist 'pastoral' virtue ethics, Franciscan property ethics, responses to folk ethical systems (Saxon, Norse), Voluntarist ethics, Renaissance-humanist ethics (Pico della Mirandola), Early Protestant ethics to Natural Law ethics, Catholic rigorism and manualism.

Feminist theologies critically reflect on religious traditions from the perspective of persons who identify as women. It challenges ideas and practices that devalue women and retrieves and constructs alternatives to them. The course begins with an introduction to the methods and diverse voices in feminist theologies. Increasingly, the discipline is "intersectional" in recognition of the variety of factors that impact and shape a feminist standpoint- not only of sex and gender identity, but also race, nationality, religion, ability, sexual orientation, age, and other factors. With attention to African American (womanist), Indigenous, mujerista, Asian feminist, and transgender perspectives, we will assess some of the major topics in Christian theology: Who is God? What is the human condition?
What is redemption, and are Christian narratives redemptive for women? How do we know? Seeking solidarity between women's movements, this course seeks mutual learning from Jewish, Buddhist, and Muslim feminist thinkers, from interreligious dialogue, and from the religious hybridity that often results from intersectional formations. In addition to the classical loci, the course turns to trends related to coloniality, orthodoxy, theopoetics, materiality, and the connectivity of the virtual world.

Exploration of the richly diverse theologies emerging in the global South (Asia, Latin America, and Africa) and from among subaltern communities in the global North. Special attention is given to central historical events, key figures, and important themes. The focus of this course is to gain insight into the main ideas, specific methodologies, and key authors involved in the development and proliferation of these diverse currents, and their relevance for the task of theology.

An exploration of central issues in philosophy, as addressed by Herman Dooyeweerd, Dirk Vollenhoven, and the Amsterdam School of neoCalvinian thought. The course tests the relevance of this tradition for recent developments in Western philosophy. Special attention is given to critiques of foundationalism, metaphysics, and modernity within reformational philosophy and in other schools of thought.