Courses

• STH TC 811: Pastoral Leadership
  The aim of the course is to prepare the student, at the basic professional level, in the primary forms of pastoral leadership. On completing the course, the student should have gained professional confidence and reflective competence in these areas of pastoral leadership: conversation and visitation; preaching and teaching; stewardship and development; administration and lay preparation; conflict resolution and systems analysis; evangelism and youth\children's ministry.
• STH TC 813: Spirituality and Ministry in Multicultural Contexts
  This course examines Christian spirituality as it is related to ministry in multicultural contexts. Drawing upon different contexts in which church ministry is engaged, the course explores how spirituality is situated and developed in those contexts. The course also focuses on how to practice "contemplative ministry" in congregational settings.
• STH TC 814: The Jazz of Preaching: How to Preach with Great Freedom and Joy
  An exploration of preaching preparation and performance in dialogue with the jazz hallmarks of improvisation, call and response, swing, and other central elements of jazz. Special emphasis will be placed on cultivating preaching imagination, creativity, and joy. Course includes in-class preaching.
• STH TC 816: Homiletical Options and Homiletic Analysis
  This course is an advanced homiletics seminar that in alternate years either reviews contemporary homiletic theory ("Homiletical Options") or explores practices of sermon analysis ("Homiletical Analysis"). Pre-requisite: TC715 ("Introduction to Preaching") or its equivalent.
• STH TC 817: Introduction to Christian Worship
  An introduction to the spirit and structure of Christian worship. Word, sacraments, calendar, music, and pastoral offices are analyzed and described in terms of their relevance to congregational life, spirituality, catechesis, and mission.
• STH TC 819: The Sacraments: Rites and Theologies
  Contemporary study of the sacraments brings together ritual studies, liturgical history, the history of dogma, and systematic reflection. This course examines the baptismal and eucharistic rites of the Church, both past and present, along with theological rationales of and commentaries on them offered by ecclesiastic writers of the patristic, medieval, Reformation, and modern periods.
• STH TC 821: The Gospel and Empire
  This course explores the relationship between Christianity and empire both historically and theologically. While the broader context for the course is the mutual shaping of empire and Christianity as the Christian movement has spread throughout the world, Cuba will provide a case study for reflecting on how this shaping has taken place on that island in relation to particular imperial influences.
• STH TC 823: Spiritual Guidance in the Christian Tradition
  Are you seeking a "word of life"? Do you hunger to know more about the wisdom of Christian spiritual traditions? Do you feel called to grow in your ability to guide others? In this course students will explore selected writings from the Christian tradition -- both classic and contemporary. They will read the pithy sayings of the early desert abbas and ammas, the gentle counsel of Francis de Sales, the spiritual teaching of John Wesley and his mother Susanna, and the insights of the Russian pilgrim who wanted to pray without ceasing. They will analyze the various theological commitments reflected in these authors' spiritual teachings, and place them in their historical contexts. Then they will move to contemporary texts about the practice of spiritual guidance, addressing concerns such as spiritual direction of women, group spiritual direction, prayer, and cross-cultural spiritual guidance.
• STH TC 825: Prayer and Social Engagement
  The seminar will address the relationship between prayer and social engagement. Prayer and social engagement often are separated entirely, or wedded uncritically. In this course, students will seek to deepen their prayer lives while thinking critically about the social situation. They will wrestle with the multiple theological questions surrounding prayer and social engagement. Topics will be approached using selected case studies from international contexts. By delving into the cases, students will see different models for how prayer can inspire a social vision, cultivate a social conscience, respond to social crisis, ground people's dignity, and promote reconciliation.
• STH TC 828: Women's Theologies and Ministry
  This course will examine the reality of women in ministry, critically evaluating how women's identities and roles have been structured in Christian contexts. It will also carefully analyze how these identities and roles can be re-evaluated and how women's ministry can be envisioned in this modern ministerial context. Drawing on different women's theological perspectives and identities, the course will focus mainly on women and ministry in the areas of biblical studies, worship, preaching, and pastoral care and counseling.
• STH TC 829: Spiritual Autobiographies
  In the course, students will explore classic and contemporary spiritual autobiographies. These autobiographies reveal the diverse paths of religious seekers, the crises and epiphanies that became focal points of meaning and revelation. Students will learn about the practices of faith that sustained and challenged religious people from Augustine to Teresa of Avila to Tolstoy. Through close, empathetic, and critical examination of the texts, students will reflect on their own spiritual journeys and identities. They also will engage first-hand in the crafting of spiritual autobiography, and students will have the opportunity to work intensively in small groups throughout the writing and sharing process. Throughout the course, students will explore potential uses of spiritual autobiography as pathways of discernment and growth in congregational and retreat settings, small faith groups, spiritual formation and companionship.
• STH TC 833: Sung Faith
  From the beginning, the Church has sung its faith. In this course the doctrine of the Trinity is the focus of an examination of "lyrical theology." Hymn texts constitute the primary documents; secondary texts by writers from the patristic period to the present guide reflection and analysis. The goals of the course are: (1) to increase the appreciation for hymn texts as theological statements; (2) to gain a deeper knowledge of the mystery of the triunity of God; and (3) to promote a greater awareness of the doctrine of the Trinity as crucial to the faith of the Church and central its life.
• STH TC 835: Evangelism and Contemporary Cultures
  This course explores the practice of bearing faithful, visible, and embodied witness to God's commonwealth in contemporary contexts and cultures. The course covers the biblical, historical, and theological foundations of evangelism, its practice within congregational life, and contextual strategies.
• STH TC 836: Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Church and Society
  This course examines the relation between race, gender, and ethnicity from the perspective of different multicultural identities and theological understandings, evaluating how religious structures have constructed these relations and challenged these dynamics. Analyzing various church contexts and social constructions, we will aim to re-evaluate diverse theoretical and experimental discussions among different ethnic groups in a global context as well as in the American context. This course introduces students to of the multiple dynamics present between race, gender, and ethnicity in various church contexts such as White/African American/Asian/Asian American/Hispanic/other immigrant churches and multicultural congregations. It investigates how church life and ministry interact with sociopolitical and cultural structures and how these processes impact people's everyday lives. The course analyzes the issues of race, gender/sex, body, age, and class in the North American context seeking also to understand colonial and post-colonial structures within American society and beyond.
• STH TC 837: Work and Faith
  Have you ever wondered how your work life fits into your spiritual journey? Do you want to explore the various ways that people experience work and struggle with its meaning? This course provides a forum to explore these questions and their implications for ministry today. We approach the topic from a variety of angles, including historical, sociological, literary, and theological texts; interviews; case studies; and site visits. We will explore themes such as: work as spiritual practice or challenge, work as vocation, creativity, prayer and work, fragmentation, use of time, and discernment. We will also explore how cultural forces and economic structures influence the contemporary person's spirituality. The course includes specific attention to family and work, and to men and women's various experiences. Students will reflect on the churches' ministry with working people and will strategize about creative means of spiritual guidance. All will participate in a class project to sponsor a retreat for working people.
• 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.
• STH TC 842: Urban Ministry
  An introduction to the specialized ministry to persons and churches in urban areas. Special emphasis on evangelism in a multicultural environment.
• STH TC 845: Parish Preaching
  The central, crucial role of preaching in a parish setting involves engagement with other congregational ministries and with the needs and resources of the larger community. This course is intended as a second level, advanced preaching course, with emphasis on the context of preaching. The course offers multiple opportunities to develop and preach sermons. Attention is given both to regular Sunday preaching and also to particular sermons for various occasions: special events, Stewardship Sunday, funerals and weddings, Advent and Lent, national observances (Fourth of July, Mothers' Day, New Year's, Thanksgiving, other), denominational requirements, and civic addresses. The interactive engagement of the preaching ministry with parish ministry as a whole is the focus of the course.
• 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.
• 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.

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