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 Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• STH TO 827: Violence in the Hebrew Bible
  TBA (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 829: Genesis
  A study of the Book of Genesis in the context of other ancient Near Eastern creation myths and stories. The course covers the Primeval Cycle, the Abraham Cycle, the Jacob Cycle and the Joseph Narrative with special attention to their reception and relevance for contemporary religious audiences. Prerequisite: STH TO 704: Hebrew Bible I. (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 833: Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Old Testament Apocrypha & Pseudoepigrapha
  An examination of the setting, origin, purpose, and religious outlook of Second Temple Jewish writings usually labeled Old Testament Apocrypha/Pseudoepigrapha, with attention given to the continuity of the Biblical traditions and the background they provide for an understanding of first-century Judaism and the New Testament. 3 credit hours. Prerequisite: TO704. (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 835: Current Issues in Biblical Interpretation
  Examination and evaluation of several current methods and approaches. Students are encouraged to develop a generally valid and fruitful approach. Emphasis on working with specific biblical texts. (Requires TO 704 or equivalent) (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 837: In the Shadow of Empire: Syncretism and Resistance in Persian Period Judah and Egypt
  This course investigates how the Persian and Hellenistic imperial contexts influenced and shaped the development of the Hebrew Bible. Students will read the post-exilic biblical and extra-biblical texts from Judean communities in Persian period Judah and Elephantine. This seminar course will primarily explore how the ancient people engaged in acts of syncretism and resistance with the empires that ruled over them. (Requires TO 704 or equivalent.) (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 838: Biblical Interpretation from Hispanic and Latin American Perspectives
  This course provides an introduction to the contexts, assumptions, and methods of Hispanic and Latin American Biblical exegesis and its major contributions to Biblical and Religious Studies. The course's objectives are: 1. To develop an awareness of the Hispanic and Latin American approaches to the Bible, their differences and points of contact.; 2. To understand the different assumptions of the Hispanic and Latin American interpretation of the Bible; 3. To develop intercultural exegetical skills and cross-cultural sensitivity; 4. To experience and develop an understanding of the reality of US Hispanics and Latin Americans through learning about its history, economy, political, social, and religious context. Selected passages from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament will be analyzed in terms of the cultural and historical situation of Latin Americans and Hispanic peoples in the United States. (Requires TO 704 or equivalent) (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TO 841: The Book of the Twelve
  Expositional overview of the Book of the Twelve (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). The goal of the course is to promote a deeper awareness of the various trends of interpretation of the Book and of its relevance for the personal and communal life. (Requires TO 704 or equivalent) (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 844: Ancient Egyptian Magic and Religion
  A survey of the religion and magical practices of ancient Egyptians from the time of the pyramids through the Greco-Roman period (ca. 2600 BCE -- 400 CE). The course offers an insight into the ancient Egyptian gods, religious thought, and ideas through the analysis of texts, iconography, and objects used in religious / magical practices. A special focus is on the role of popular magic and religion in everyday life and in the temple. No prerequisites. Undergraduate students are welcome to register. The course also requires approximately six additional hours of class at the Museum of Fine Arts where students read/study pieces of the MFA Egyptian Collection. (cluster 1)
• STH TO 846: Middle Egyptian 1
  An introduction to the classical stage of the Egyptian script and language spoken in Ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom which became the standard hieroglyphic language until the Graeco-Roman Period. (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 847: Middle Egyptian 2
  An introduction to the classical stage of the Egyptian script and language spoken in Ancient Egypt during the Middle Kingdom which became the standard hieroglyphic language until the Graeco-Roman Period.(Cluster 1)
• STH TO 851: Akkadian 1
  Akkadian grammar, including exercises in translation and composition. (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 852: Akkadian 2
  Akkadian grammar, including exercises in translation and composition. (Credit for STH TO 851 is given only after successful completion of STH TO 852.) (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 925: The Liberated Community
  This on-line Seminar will explore the distinctiveness of the community shaped by the Exodus experience, focusing on the praxis of the liberated community and its struggle for remaining faithful to the liberating God. We will analyze also the paradigmatic character of the Exodus event for the prophetic tradition, the New Testament, and contemporary ministry. Biblical creation accounts will be explored as forms of legitimation of the liberated community.
• STH TR 802: The Sociology of Religion
  This course will introduce students to the basic ideas and methods with which sociologists have analyzed the relationship between religion and society. It will explore what it means to think about religious language, symbols, communities, and practices a social phenomenon. We will also explore the social processes at work in congregations and denominations, new religious movements and conversion, religious communal identity and ethnic conflict. (Cluster 2)
• STH TR 813: Congregations and Communities
  The increasingly global and transnational work of ministry, social activism, and non-profit service often takes place within or alongside religious congregations. Such congregations function as communities, and are in turn embedded within larger communities such as neighborhoods, ethnic groups, political blocs, and countries. The purpose of this course is to help students theorize religious "community" in a sophisticated and nuanced way, as well as introduce concepts and methods for the engaged sociological study of congregations within their international contexts. From this vantage point we will then discuss current issues of racial/ethnic diversity and inclusion, globalization, and "millennial" spirituality. (Cluster 2)
• STH TR 814: Advanced Qualitative Research
  This course is for students involved or interested in independent qualitative research, including interviews, ethnographic projects, and/or content analysis. It will function much like a workshop, providing extensive guided practice with project conceptualization and design, finding funding, meeting university ethics requirements, gaining access to communities, recruiting participants, managing and storing data, creating coding schemes and using software, integrating mixed types of data to support an argument, balancing "home" and "field," being reflexive, and exercising respect and care for both oneself and one's interlocutors. Relative attention to these issues will depend on the needs and interests of the students. It can fruitfully be taken either separately or in addition to TR 800, Ethnographic Research. (Cluster 2)
• STH TR 850: Sociology of Congregational Life
  The overarching goal of this class is to provide students with a working knowledge of group and organizational dynamics, using congregational life as a lens. Examining congregations, religious leaders, and laity through theories of group and organizational dynamics. This is a course about how congregations and congregational life is shaped - how the laity, pastoral staff, surrounding community, and organizational processes all shape congregations in specific ways. We will examine the ways in which societal factors impact congregations and congregational life. By the end of the semester, I expect students will have a working knowledge of group and organizational dynamics, as well as research methods to examine congregational conflicts from an individual, group, and societal level. (Cluster 2)
• STH TR 900: Ethnographic Research
  This seminar aims to train students in the understanding and application of ethnographic research methods. The research methods covered in this course are qualitative in nature, focusing on projects which require practitioners to go into the field and to analyze social spaces constructed, inhabited, and maintained by particular sets of social actors. The data in focus is less readily accessible via surveys, demographic analysis, and experimental designs. Course participants will, first of all, gain a broad understanding of the traditions related to ethnography, fieldwork, and qualitative research in the field of sociology. Secondly, participants will engage key debates in sociology related to the theories and methods of ethnographic work, ultimately developing research designs that most effectively fit personal projects in progress. Thirdly, participants will expand their techniques of data collection via guided field assignments and class interactions. Fourthly, participants will develop practices of research presentation that communicate findings in a compelling and insightful manner, with the aim of making findings accessible to a broader academic audience. Throughout the course, special attention will be given to the observation of how social boundaries are constructed and maintained in particular social settings.
• STH TS 803: Literature and Ethics
  Good ethical conception and practice often demand that we see things from others' points of view. Great novels, plays, poems, and films are good at helping us to reach empathic perceptions of particular people and situations by involving our intellect and emotion. Novels, tragic dramas, and others have the capacity to make readers identify with fictional characters in ways that show possibilities and potential vulnerabilities for themselves. This kind of empathic identification is important for good ethical practice in diverse and pluralistic communities. Narrative works of art are important for developing the human self- understanding critical for embodying certain religious and theological ideals. This course will explore the connections between literature (novels, plays, and short stories) and ethics: the relationship between creative imagination and moral imagination; the nature of moral attention and moral vision; the role of context-specific judging in ethical decisions. The course will help students to deepen and broaden their ethical understanding in ways that involve and give priority to context-specific moral evaluation, compassion, similar possibilities and vulnerabilities, eudaimonistic judgment, rather than abstract general principles for ethical judgment. (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TS 805: The Spirit and the Art of Conflict Transformation: Creating a Culture of JustPeace
  This course is a response to the experience of destructive conflict in the church and in the world, as well as the experience of religion as a source of conflict. More importantly, it is a response to the call to every Christian to be ministers of reconciliation and peacebuilders. The course will introduce students to the theology, theory and practice of faith-based conflict transformation, preparing students to become religious leaders equipped with fundamental tools and skills for engaging conflict and transforming conflict in a way that advances God's goal of shalom, a culture of justpeace. . (Clusters 2 and 3)

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