Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. 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 DM 901: Transformational Leadership
  This course explores diverse perspectives and practices of religious leadership and community transformation, drawing upon recent research and literature in dialogue with participants' experiences as community leaders. Students will explore their personal leadership strengths and goals, theological perspectives and social science findings as regards leadership and transformation, and the insights of living communities. The purpose is to engage with critical issues and to construct new approaches to leadership that can contribute to thriving and society-serving communities.
• STH DM 902: Contextual Analysis and Transformational Leadership
  This course aims to provide students with theories and practices of leadership and ethics that will assist them in coming into a sense of who they are as transformational leaders and to prepare them for the multiple contexts in which they will lead. Students will have a growing sense of their public role in respect to religious and faith-based communities and to religion as it operates in a variety of contexts.
• STH DM 903: DMin Research Methods Seminar
  RESEARCH METHDS
• STH DM 904: DMin Project Colloquium
  DMIN PROJ COLLQ
• STH MR 701: Public Theology, Ministry, and Leadership
  This course introduces public theology by way of its history, importance, and complexities; its connections to ministry and public service inside and outside of religious congregations and institutions; and the attendant implications of all of this for both conceptions of leadership and requirements of leadership training. Participants will encounter influential frameworks for thinking about these issues and will be encouraged to formulate their own way of conceiving public theology, ministry, public service, and leadership in conversation with those existing frameworks. The course will engage religious and non-religious settings for ministry and public leadership, as well as ethical, religious, and both private- sector and public-sector business-management approaches to conceiving leadership in such settings. A prominent feature of the course is case studies, in which different styles of public theology, ministry, public service, and leadership are exhibited and analyzed, to hone participants' thinking about, and practical preparedness for, leadership roles in public service and ministry.
• STH MR 703: PBLC TH MN LEAD
  PBLC TH MN LEAD
• STH MR 704: Religion and Public Engagement through the Arts
  Because the arts are fundamental to religious expression and are a principal interface between religious communities and the public, this course provides competencies in a wide range of subjects needed for leadership in this field. Primary competencies include an overview of the history of Christian art and architecture in global context; engagement with several methodological frameworks for self-expression and criticism (including aesthetics, semiotics, the creative process, and theopoetics); and foundational skills in the field of arts administration.
• STH MR 706: Congregations and Communities
  The increasingly global work of ministry, social activism, and non-profit service often takes place within or alongside religious congregations. Such congregations often serve as local communities, and they are embedded within larger communities such as neighborhoods, ethnic groups, political blocs, and countries. The purpose of this course is to help students understand the significance of religious "community" and its role in society, using both sociological and theological resources. We will then focus on pressing issues within U.S. congregational life, including race, class, and gender divides; spiritual pluralism and individualism; and the polarization and decline of Christian organizations.
• STH MR 707: The New Testament in Crises: Reading Biblical Texts Amid Contemporary Global Crises
  The Bible is everywhere. The Bible enters political debates through references to biblical authority; it is present in the Museums via artistic references to religious motifs; it informs the so-called cultural wars on sexuality, abortion, reparations, migration, climate change or wealth distribution; it is read weekly by local religious communities across the Globe. Politicians, pastors, activists, artists, writers, and thinkers reach into the biblical past to think about the political, cultural, and social present and the future. The purpose of this course is to explore the ways New Testament texts pervade contemporary debates about contemporary topics, paying attention to how these debates show up in public scholarship.
• STH MR 709: The Social Gospel
  This course examines the impact of the theological movement commonly called, the social gospel. Emerging out of the historical context of the late 19th century, the social gospel played a major role in shaping numerous movements of religious-based social activism in the 20th century. In addition to reading important theological voices from this tradition, the course will enable students to examine the social gospel's ongoing influence upon 21st century religious movements. The course will also allow students to engage how the social gospel's legacy can contribute to models of religious leadership today. (Cluster 1 & 2)
• STH MR 710: Spirituality and Public Life
  This course will explore connections between spirituality and public life with the aim of deepening spiritually grounded public leadership. Taking a practical theological approach, we will ask how leaders bring their varied faiths to the public sphere, how they are shaped by public life, and how they sustain their callings in concrete, complex contexts. We aim to gain critical perspectives on the diverse expressions and uses of spirituality in contemporary public life. We will explore relationships between spirituality, mysticism, and social transformation. Delving into practices such as prayer, Sabbath, ecological activism, and pilgrimage, we aim to deepen our own spiritualities and gain understanding of others. We also will engage with spiritualities/theologies of work and family/parenting while looking at the complexities of balancing different aspects of life as public leaders. To open up these topics in diverse ways, course materials include theological writing, spiritual autobiographies of public leaders, films, selections from spiritual classics, and contemporary news articles.
• STH MR 711: Disability and Ministry in the Public Square
  This course is about developing leadership skills and practical wisdom that facilitates the welcoming and affirming of people with disabilities into the public square. Jürgen Habermas defines the public sphere as, "By 'public sphere' we mean first a domain of our social life in which such a thing as public opinion can be formed." This course looks at how that public opinion has been formed in terms of disability by examining disability from the vantage point of the three publics originally outlined by Catholic theologian David Tracy: the academy, church, and the public square. Disability in this course includes everyone covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Discussions and course work will also include hidden disabilities and embodied vulnerability that everyone experiences. This broad focus on disability establishes its relevance and connection to all of us. First, we will focus on the academy and on how to be a theologian and leader who focuses on disability. In this course, we turn our attention to the practice of doing theology as a liberatory praxis to develop an understanding of how disability operates in our culture, and to build practical wisdom and leadership skills to combat ableism. The aim of this course is to help students develop transformative proposals for the church and society. In this exploration, we will pay careful attention to the central themes of disability, namely embodiment and marginalization.
• STH MR 712: Ecological Faith and Justice
  Studies indicate that people who identify as religious tend to have less concern for the environment and engage in fewer environmentally-protective behaviors than those without religious affiliation, despite public commitments from the vast majority of the world¿s religious traditions for environmental protection, often under the description of creation care. This course provides students with an overview of the debates over whether religion is¿or could be¿good for the environment and the resources to provide religious leadership to move their communities in environmentally-beneficial directions. Specifically, this course examines the theological and ethical foundations for creation care, lessons learned from research in climate change communication, ways that faith communities can engage in pro-environmental actions, and case studies of such engagement at levels ranging from the individual congregation to international movements. This course provides students with the skills, knowledge, and resources to start, support, and grow creation care ministries and other types of faith-informed environmental programs.
• STH MR 713: Ministry and Leadership in Interfaith Contexts
  This course offers an entry point into the emerging field of Interfaith Leadership. It will provide students with an analysis of the power and potential of interfaith leadership in justice work, community building, and personal spiritual maturation. It includes the study and interpretation of historic and contemporary examples of interfaith leadership primarily in the United States, requires students to hone an articulation of their own faith-based motivations for interfaith engagement, and teaches best practices for engagement across differing belief systems. Students will engage in interfaith dialogue as part of their course work. Upon completion of the course, students will have increased their ability to engage in interfaith settings, understand how interfaith leadership differs from intra-faith leadership, and be clear on their individual points of tension in interfaith leadership settings, as well as those of their faith tradition. The course understands interfaith engagement to be inclusive of all people drawn to interfaith efforts including those who do not claim membership or affiliation with a religious tradition.
• STH MR 718: Howard Thurman: Biblical Interpreter for the Public Square
  This course explores the life and vision of Howard Thurman from the perspective of "Thurman as an interpreter." Scholars traditionally label Thurman a mystic prophet, a sage, a pastor, a preacher, and an activist, but this class studies Thurman as an interpreter of texts, contexts, and religious experiences. It takes a unique journey through Thurman's spoken and written words to examine his interpretive actions as a religious leader and reflect on our interpretation practices. Some of the questions the course will seek to answer include: (1) What is Thurman interpreting' (2) How is Thurman interpreting' (3) To what end does Thurman interpret' (4) What does Thurman's model teach us about our practices of interpretation in service to our leadership functions' (cluster 1 & cluster 2)
• STH MR 801: MARPL Contextual Education 1
  Supervised practice of ministry in a congregational setting or community agency combined with participation in a peer reflection-learning group focused on the integration of theology and practice. MDIV CORE REQUIREMENT. Background check is required. Must have approved site before starting the class.
• STH TA 715: Organ Seminar
  Intended for organ majors, but open to others, this course covers repertoire, organ building and maintenance, technique, performance practice, and keyboard skills (sight-reading, score-reading, transposition, harmonization, improvisation and continuo). This is a two semester course. MSM organ majors must enroll in both semesters. (Cluster 3)
• STH TA 721: Seminary Singers
  Open to all students who are interested in singing. Participation in one weekly rehearsal and chapel service, including any special concerts/events/tours that may come up during the semester. Please note: students who are employed by the Seminary Singers may not take the course for credit (Cluster 3)
• STH TA 801: Methods and Materials in Sacred Music (online)
  Graduate Corequisites: (STHTC801) - Students will critically engage with materials and approaches in the principal areas of present- day church musicians including: choral and vocal techniques, conducting, the organ and other instruments, alternative and contemporary worship, and professional concerns. This course will enable students to gain greater competencies needed to function at optimal levels as a music minister or director in worship, religious, pastoral and educational settings. This will be accomplished through engagement with the methods and materials of church/synagogue (sacred) music and worship. (Cluster 3)
• STH TA 808: Marsh Chapel Choir
  Audition required. Schedule includes Sunday worship in Marsh Chapel and several major concerts. (Cluster 3)