Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

  • STH TC 838: Church Renewal
    In every era, Christians must rethink what it means to be the church in light of the Christian witness and given the unique challenges and opportunities of our particular situation. This course explores (1) what it means to be the church as an embodied witness to the reign of God in our present culture and (2) the various strategies and resources upon which Christian leaders might draw in guiding congregations through processes of formation, change, and revitalization. (Cluster 3)
  • STH TC 839: Suffering and Healing
    This course will examine the understanding of human suffering in personal and communal space and explore the possibilities of healing in church and ministry. Through a range of readings, films, case studies, and a church or non-profit organization site visit, students will critically reflect on various conditions of human suffering including sickness, joblessness, homelessness, racial prejudices, immigration issues and others. The course will employ interdisciplinary study methods, from pastoral/practical theology to cultural studies. Building from these experiences and reflections, students will work to develop practical ministries that aim to restore and heal individuals and communities. (Clusters 2 and 3)
  • STH TC 840: Paradigms of Racism, the Ignorance They Hide, and the Harm They Sustain
    Racism is ugly, painful, and seemingly inimical to understanding much less constructive intervention. When it comes to race, people often yell at, talk past, or simply avoid each other. Experiencing frustration, rage, and despair, some fear and may conclude that racism is intractable, even insoluble, while others "know" that racism does not exist. This course offers hope, exploring how groups of people form and defend competing systems of truth (that is, "paradigms") that hide ignorance and sustain harm. By discussing eight "paradigms" of racism and attendant forms of ignorance, we seek to enlarge our understanding as a basis for concrete practical steps that could be taken by different people in different sites. (Cluster 2 or 3)
  • STH TC 844: Classics in Christian Spirituality
    This course serves as an introduction to the study of Christian spirituality through in-depth reading of selected classics in Christian spirituality as well as secondary source scholarship in the discipline. We will delve into texts by early monastics and visionary medieval mystics; look anew at Protestant hymns and poetry; go deeper into Ignatian discernment; and engage the spiritualities of Latin American liberation theologians and African American women. This interdisciplinary seminar opens up reflection on spirituality and theology; spirituality and history; spirituality, gender, race, and ethnicity; spirituality, poetics, and autobiography; spirituality and ministry; and spiritual practice. Students are encouraged to integrate the material with an eye toward their own spiritual lives and vocations. The course will integrate music, art, and poetry to offer a fuller engagement with spiritual classics. . (Clusters 1 or 3)
  • STH TC 847: Faith and Film
    This course uses the medium of film as an avenue for reflection upon the meaning and truth of the central doctrines of the Christian church as expressed in the historic Apostle's Creed. The course uses a broad cross-section of film genres to open up new and creative windows for understanding and communicating the Christian faith in contemporary culture and also assists the student in thinking critically about film from a Christian theological perspective. (Clusters 1 or 2)
  • STH TC 849: Narrative Sermons
    In this course, students will learn approaches to preaching narratively. By the end of the course, students will also begin to integrate their homiletical practice with their own emerging narrative theology of preaching. (Cluster 1 & Cluster 3)
  • STH TC 850: Identity, Preaching, and Leadership in Postcolonial Contexts
    This course provides distinctive postcolonial lenses through which students will explore and examine how persons and communities practice intercultural preaching (alternatively, public speech) and leadership in relation to identities: culture, race, gender/sex, religious traditions, and religious communities. Through investigating various historical sociocultural religious traditions and religious leaders in terms of postcolonialism, class, race and sex/gender, students will critically reflect on challenging conditions of power and authority and engage with the complexities of leadership and preaching. Building on these studies and reflections, students will gain a keen sense of understanding different leadership and preaching practices interculturally, and develop their own approaches for their varied contexts and identities. (Clusters 2 or 3)
  • STH TC 851: Preaching and Worship in the African-American Traditions
    This course engages students in historical, theological, and practical study of preaching and worship in the Black Church tradition. Readings in black homiletics and practical theologies of worship introduce students to a variety of approaches for the development and delivery of sermons and for the construction and ministerial leadership of worship within black Christian church contexts. Lectures survey theories of the emergence and development of the Black Church tradition in the United States and the social, political, economic, and cultural contexts that shape contemporary ministerial praxis in black churches. Site visits, guest lectures by practitioners, and examination of audio-visual media will augment the readings and lectures in order to enrich students' appreciation and understanding of the practical nuances of preaching and worship within the diverse experiences of black Christian faith communities. The purpose of the course is to increase students' ministerial capacity through the incorporation of theological and practical wisdom from the Black Church tradition into their own practices of preaching and worship design. (Cluster 2 & 3)
  • STH TC 852: Preaching Practicum: Gospel of Mark
    This course is a preaching practicum devoted to a specific book of the Bible. Students will do close readings of Biblical texts using literary-critical and rhetorical-critical tools and an explicit hermeneutical and contextual stance by preaching multiple in-class sermons during the term. (Cluster 1 & 3)
  • STH TC 857: Anglican Formation
    An integrative weekly session incorporating worship, spiritual practice, and group reflection on significant texts within the Anglican spiritual and theological tradition. Students will take turns leading the Daily Office and guiding group conversations. This course aims at grounding students in the Anglican spiritual tradition and helping them to develop their own practices of prayer, worship, and spiritual leadership. It is especially recommended for Anglican/Episcopal students but is open to all regardless of religious tradition. (Cluster 1 & 3)
  • STH TC 858: Dismantling White Privilege
    This course will explore issues of racial justice through various lenses: history of "whiteness" and white privilege; evidence of racism throughout the history of the United States as well as currently; biblical and theological grounding; understanding of differences between personal prejudice, multiculturalism, and institutional systems of racism; consideration of ways of dismantling white privilege and power in those personal, institutional, and organizational contexts. While the course will focus primarily on the United States and white privilege and power expressed against African-Americans, Latinos, Asian, and Native Americans, other national & global cultural expressions will also be included and explored. (Clusters 2 and 3)
  • STH TC 861: Theologies of Church Music
    The Church, throughout its history, has sought to clarify its relationship to culture. In particular, is the Church to accommodate its worship to culture or avoid adoption of cultural forms? The relationship of culture and worship will be explored in this course from the angle of the historical Church's use of music. How have the Church's theologians defined the role of music in the Church? What are the most appropriate musical forms for use in the Church? These issues will be examined with an eye to discussing and evaluating contemporary Christian musical expressions. (Clusters 1 and 3)
  • STH TC 862: Critical Pedagogy and Liberative Learning
    TBD (Cluster 2 & 3)
  • STH TC 863: Reading and Writing Rites of Passage
    An examination of historical, theological, and pastoral aspects of the occasional offices that address life's passages and crises: birth, adolescence, Christian marriage, sickness and death, and Christian burial. An ecumenical and international approach will be taken in studying both historic and contemporary rites. (Clusters 2 and 3)
  • STH TC 865: Disability and Theology
    This workshop serves as an introduction to disability as it relates to the study of theology and the practices of ministry. The purpose of this workshop is to expose students to people with disabilities through narratives, film clips and a panel discussion to help students think through the theological issues disability raises while developing potential responses to future encounters with people with disabilities. To this end the workshop will first explore the question: "What is disability?" as it has been defined from historic, social and medical perspectives. The workshop will explore disability through a theological lens exploring concepts, such as, creation, theological anthropology, and theodicy while attempting to answer critical theological questions related to disability. The workshop extends the reflection on disability and theology into the practices of ministry. This will involve reflection upon the meaning of welcoming and inclusion, worship and preaching when examined through the lens of disability. Clusters 2 and 3)
  • STH TC 867: Theology and Popular Culture
    This course places the Christian gospel into dialogue with a variety of expressions of North American popular culture (film, television, art, music, entertainment, sports, etc.) in an effort to understand the complex relationship between the two. The course takes up at with this dialogue against the wider background of the study of religion and popular culture and by exploring the nature of self and transcendence, morality and the spiritual quest as those are constructed and configured within popular culture. The course asks to what extent contemporary expressions of Christian worship, preaching, Ministry, evangelism, and spirituality might better engage popular culture and to what extent these expressions already reflected the values, patterns, and practices of popular culture. (Clusters 1 and 2)
  • STH TC 869: Prophetic Preaching, Pastoral Ministry, and Social Change
    This course is designed to help students wrestle with several central issues around prophetic preaching in contemporary Christian churches: the relationships of prophetic preaching to the gospel, to the Bible, to the social-political context, and to pastoral ministry generally. Since the course is designed to be a seminar, students will be expected to wrestle with these issues not only in class but also through a sermon and a public message. By the end of the course, students should be able to develop their own vision for prophetic preaching in a way that integrates the above concerns by moving from a specific Biblical text to a sermon as well as a public message in light of a situation. Pre-requisite TC715 Intro to Preaching or its equivalent. (Clusters 2 and 3)
  • STH TC 870: Women/femmes and leadership
    This course aims to deconstruct and demystify "leadership", encourage active participation in discovering individual and communal leadership styles, and expand how we approach leadership through the lens of women/femmes. (cluster 2 & 3)
  • STH TC 872: Healing Relationships with Animals
    Explores various dimensions of divine/human/animal interactions, but with a focus upon healing relationships. The course ranges across the areas of theology, spirituality, liturgy, pastoral care, history, psychology, mind/body medicine (stress reduction), and public policy. While Christian theologies of creation and stewardship/ecology are central, the approaches of other religions and their practices will also be examined for purposes of comparison (and perhaps dialogue). (Clusters 2 and 3)
  • STH TC 899: Practicing Justice
    This course explores the nature of social justice and its place within the mission of the church by: a) surveying the varied conceptions, contexts, and practical contours of justice in contemporary societies; and b) investigating key theological and religio-critical perspectives on the historical, biblical, and theological foundations of social justice as a constitutive attribute of Christian community and Christian ministry. Upon this examination, the church's pursuit of social justice emerges as a multifaceted practice that disturbs traditional distinctions between the prophetic and priestly dimensions of the church's identity. Through careful attention to the required texts, as well as the conduct of student research and constructive reflection, course participants are encouraged to rediscover the practice of seeking justice as an art of ministry -- as a dance through which prophetic and priestly activities engage one another as partners. (MDiv Practicing Faith Section) (Clusters 2 and 3)