Courses

• STH TC 807: UMC General Conference
  The quadrennial General Conference is the chief legislative body of the United Methodist Church. This course provides students with the opportunity to examine the critical role of the General Conference in the United Methodist tradition. In addition to examining the General Conference's impact upon the historical and theological identity of United Methodism, the course explores specific doctrinal, polity, and social issues that are on the agenda of the General Conference in the semester in which the course is offered. The course allows students the option of receiving additional credit for attending part of the General Conference sessions.
• STH TC 808: Sermon Studio
  This class will be conducted like a studio class in theatrical performance where students are encouraged to take risks, be creative, and get immediate and interactive feedback on their work. While the sermon is not a performance piece, we deliver sermons to a culture that demands performance quality work from professional orators. Therefore, as preachers, we must approach the sermon with diligence, earnestness, and willingness to rigorously practice the craft. The Sermon Studio is a class designed to help students of homiletics further develop and practice the art form. Each three hour class will begin with a teaching topic from the primary text, and then we will have four to five half-hour segments for students to workshop sermons and get immediate feedback on their work. The goal of the class is to have students get up and preach as frequently as possible, so that they become more comfortable and adept with the art form. The class will seek to create an environment that emphasizes creativity, regular practice, and feedback as the primary means of developing artful and effective sermons.
• STH TC 810: The Pastoral Life
  This class is intended to help seminarians entering pastoral ministry develop effective strategies that will allow them to fully enjoy the richness and beauty of their vocation.
• 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: Vocation, Work and Faith
  Who am I called to become? What am I called to do? What are my gifts and where will they be recognized and of service? These kinds of vocational questions are fundamental to our lives. The course seeks to open up reflection, study, and dialogue about vocation, work, and spirituality in religious traditions and in our own life experience. Work and vocation are often connected. Work too is a crucial religious question in contemporary society. Work exerts a powerful--and often unrecognized--influence on human beings. It can support life, develop talents, elicit creativity, and enable people to contribute to the common good. Work also can demean human beings, undermining their dignity, perpetuating unjust structures, overpowering values, and crowding out other important spheres of life. Labor issues are important concerns for faith communities and faith-based community organizations. This course explores vocation and work as theological/spiritual issues, including implications for ministry. We will explore themes such as: work as spiritual practice or challenge; labor and justice issues; discerning vocation; creativity; Sabbath; "time poverty"; and work-life balance. The course involves site visits, vocational mentoring, seminar presentations, and individual research/ministry projects.
• 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 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.

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