Course Catalogue 2025-2026

Feminist theology centers the experiences of women and others who experience oppression and marginalization in the Church and in the world; these experiences then are put into conversation with the teachings and practices of the Church, both locally and globally. For more than a half-century, Catholic feminist theologians have critiqued the gaps in Catholic systematic theologies and have argued for reinterpretations that highlight the flourishing of women. This course will explore a selection of contemporary Catholic theologians who, building on established feminist theologies, are expanding our vision of what the flourishing of marginalized peoples, especially those who identify as women, can look like in the mid-twenty-first century. Readings will concentrate on feminist theological works published in the last ten years. A robust schedule of readings and a seminar conversation about those readings will form the backbone of the course.

The course will examine the portrait of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels as it conveys three themes of justice: 1) the exercise of power, 2) economic issues, and 3) human worth. The course will place Jesus's actions and teachings in the social and political conditions of first century Galilee and Judea while also considering their relevance to contemporary events and circumstances. Special attention will be given to the parables, economic teachings, and the phenomena of healings and exorcisms as responses to the conditions of daily life and political rule in first century Palestine.

Within the Old Testament the depiction of, and context of trauma is frequent and present in different genres across the whole corpus. Traumas include those arising from warfare and/or forced migration/exile, family conflict, abuse of power, sexual violation, and adverse psychological, social and economic realities. Such depictions may be explicitly negatively evaluated, but even so raise complicated questions for those who hold these texts as Christian scripture and/or theologically, ethically, and pastorally formative. The nature of justice, the character and work of God, and the pastoral use of texts of trauma name some of these questions, particularly when these texts of trauma are read within a Christian context.

Within the Old Testament the depiction of, and context of trauma is frequent and present in different genres across the whole corpus. Traumas include those arising from warfare and/or forced migration/exile, family conflict, abuse of power, sexual violation, and adverse psychological, social and economic realities. Such depictions may be explicitly negatively evaluated, but even so raise complicated questions for those who hold these texts as Christian scripture and/or theologically, ethically, and pastorally formative. The nature of justice, the character and work of God, and the pastoral use of texts of trauma name some of these questions, particularly when these texts of trauma are read within a Christian context.

This course explores the intersection of race and theology in contemporary society, focusing on the Canadian context in particular, but will reference to other global contexts as comparative cases. Attention will be given to analyses which suggest that Christian theology and colonialism are deeply implicated in the invention of the concept of race, as well as critiques of ways in which theology has served to discourage genuine communion between peoples of difference. Although race and ethnicity, including indigenous identities, will be the focus of the course, broader attention to issues of diversity and particularity will also be explored, including ways in which people with disabilities are marginalized by churches and society. The potential for theology and churches to support anti-racism and the embrace of diversity will be explored, as well as major obstacles to these achievements.

This course explores the intersection of race and theology in contemporary society, focusing on the Canadian context in particular, but will reference to other global contexts as comparative cases. Attention will be given to analyses which suggest that Christian theology and colonialism are deeply implicated in the invention of the concept of race, as well as critiques of ways in which theology has served to discourage genuine communion between peoples of difference. Although race and ethnicity, including indigenous identities, will be the focus of the course, broader attention to issues of diversity and particularity will also be explored, including ways in which people with disabilities are marginalized by churches and society. The potential for theology and churches to support anti-racism and the embrace of diversity will be explored, as well as major obstacles to these achievements.

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.

Christians have long tended to speak about the Gospel of Mark primarily in contrast with the other canonical gospels. This tendency is already evident in the second century. Yet the Gospel of Mark has just as long stood as a text in its own right, with its own distinctive witness to the life and meaning of Jesus of Nazareth. This course aims to assist students in apprehending that distinctive witness and reflect upon its significance for contemporary discourse and practice.

In the last forty years ethical issues around the care and treatment of non-human animals has steadily grown as a concern in theology. While for much of this time it was considered at best a "marginal" issue, it is now one of the major concerns in environmental ethics. This course will examine the major figures in the development of "animal theology" in Protestant and Catholic theology. It will also look back to Christian Scripture and classical figures in the Christian tradition, and raise questions as to whether, and if so to what extent, the development of "animal theology" is either a departure from Christian tradition and/or a development within it. Issues in the course will include issues such as intensive agriculture (factory farming), the genetic modification of animals, zoos, pets, vegetarianism and veganism, and a variety of other issues that arise from human interaction with or concern for the well-being of non-human animals.

Encounters between Christian and Hindu traditions have taken many forms: the early establishment of the St. Thomas Christian community, Christian missions to India and colonization, Hindu emissaries to the West, and communal conflicts following Indian independence. In this course, students will become familiar with features of Hindu traditions, the history of this engagement, and the spiritual, theological, and ethical dimensions of current relations.

This course will examine how the Bible has been read, interpreted and proclaimed by women beginning with the period of the early church and including the writings of medieval visionaries, renaissance exegetes and continuing into the modern and post-modern periods. Women's interpretations of the Bible will be examined with a view to recovering women's readings and counter readings of biblical texts and raising relevant methodological and hermeneutical questions for modern readers.

This course will examine how the Bible has been read, interpreted and proclaimed by women beginning with the period of the early church and including the writings of medieval visionaries, renaissance exegetes and continuing into the modern and post-modern periods. Women's interpretations of the Bible will be examined with a view to recovering women's readings and counter readings of biblical texts and raising relevant methodological and hermeneutical questions for modern readers.