Courses

• STH TC 856: Preaching to the Modern World: Preaching Theological Challenges
  Consideration of the ways in which the contexts of preaching today differ from those in which the familiar formulations of theology came into being as well as the theological implications of the differences.
• STH TC 857: Spiritual Resources and Disciplines
  An introduction to Christian spiritual practices and traditions. The course explores topics such as prayer, lectio divina, discernment, spiritual guidance, justice, and hospitality, with attention to the importance of spiritual practice as the ground of ministry in diverse contexts. Students will develop their own Rule of Life as part of the work of the course.
• 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.
• STH TC 862: The Liturgical Year
  The historical development of a Christian calendar of both weekly and annual cycles. Descriptions of related liturgical and catechetical customs and contemporary calendar revision.
• 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.
• STH TC 867: The Gospel 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.
• STH TC 868: Worship in the Wesleyan Tradition
  A study of the historical, theological, liturgical, and sociocultural influences which have shaped the worship patterns of the major American denominations claiming a Wesleyan heritage.
• STH TC 869: Prophetic Preaching and Social Ethics
  This course wrestles with the moral quandaries that church leaders and preachers often face in contemporary issues or conflicts. Topics will include: economic and class conflicts; racial, gender and sexual orientation conflicts; questions of violence and resistance; and ecological/environmental issues. Pre-requisite TC715 Intro to Preaching or its equivalent.
• STH TC 871: Spiritual Foundations for Peace Building
  Through reading and reflection on biographies and autobiographies of national and international peace-builders, students will look at how the cultural contexts and spiritual practices of the peace-builder influenced their peace-building work. The focus will be on peace-builders beginning in the 20th century with Ghandi, King, Chavez, Day, Deming, and others. Students will also explore their own contexts and how those contexts impact their perspectives on both spiritual formation and confliction transformation. NON-STANDARD COURSE SCHEDULE (Meets once a month) Sept. 9-10, Oct. 7-8, Nov. 4-5,Dec. 2-3. In each case, the Thurs. hours would be 1-5 and 6-9 p.m., and Friday would be 9 a.m.-noon.
• STH TC 872: Animals and Healing
  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).
• STH TC 873: Leadership for Healthy Congregations
  
• STH TC 874: Mlk in Context
  
• STH TC 875: Qualitative Research Methods
  
• STH TC 877: Wor Korean Cont
  
• STH TC 878: Sabbath: Theory and Practice
  Team taught by a Jewish rabbi and a Christian practical theologian, this course invites students to delve into Jewish and Christian traditions on Sabbath, an important spiritual practice with many layers of theological meaning. We will explore classic texts on Sabbath, including texts from the Bible, the Talmud, and the Mishnah,as well as historical and contemporary Christian writing on the Sabbath or the Lord's Day. Topics to include discussion of motifs of "maaseh breisheet" (creation) and "yetziat mitzrayim" (exodus), blessing and sanctifying, cessation of work, preparation for Sabbath, Sabbath consciousness, and imitatio dei. We also will explore Christian theologies of the Lord's Day, including the meaning of Sabbath in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. This is a course in spirituality and practical theology. We will be studying and engaging in the practice of Sabbath keeping as we closely read classic and contemporary texts, and in this way exploring what the practice of Sabbath embodies and enacts theologically. We also will focus attention on questions of Sabbath keeping and spiritual formation, relationships between Sabbath keeping and pastoral excellence, and implications of Sabbath for social justice. THIS CLASS WILL MEET ON 5 FRIDAYS: January 21, 10am-Noon (Introduction to the Course); February 4, 10am-Noon, 1:30pm-9pm; February 11, 10am-Noon, 1:30pm-9pm; March 4, 10am-Noon, 1:30pm-9pm; and March 25, 10am-Noon, 1:30pm-9pm.
• STH TC 890: New Church Development
  The planting and birthing of new congregations requires careful planning, innovative leadership, organizational savvy, a strong spiritual base, and endless creativity. This course is a study in the theology and practice of starting new congregations and covers such topics as contextual worship, organizational development, finance and facilities, exegeting a community, and creative community outreach. Coursework includes specific congregational development research projects.
• STH TC 902: Ministry in Multicultural Contexts
  Christian ministers increasingly find themselves in contexts where cultural pluralism is the rule rather than the exception. This course will focus on the challenges and opportunities created for theology, communication, worship, ministry, evangelism, and prophetic witness in a multicultural context.
• STH TC 903: Homiltheory/Ana
  
• STH TC 905: The Study of Congregations
  A course in the field of congregational studies. Critical application and study of methods used to understand local churches and their worship programs. The case-study method will be used.
• STH TC 912: Classics of Christian Spirituality
  The course serves as an introduction to advanced study of Christian spirituality through in-depth reading of selected classics in the tradition of Christian spirituality and analysis of secondary literature in the discipline. The course will expose students to significant works in the tradition and will train them to read such texts with theological, historical-contextual, and practical theological perspectives. Primary texts will rotate each time the course is taught. Critical issues raised will include: relationship between spirituality and theology, relationship between spirituality and ecclesiology, spiritual practices, the human sciences and the study of spirituality, apophatic and cataphatic spiritual paths, and contemporary pastoral appropriations of classic texts. The course is required for all ThD minors in spirituality, DMin students completing plans of study in spirituality, and STM students with a specialization in Spirituality. Masters students admitted with permission of instructor.

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