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

• STH TO 814: The Cultural Background of the Hebrew Bible
  Investigation of the cultural background and presuppositions of the biblical writers by interpretation of biblical texts and archeological remains and by comparison with materials from other ancient Near Eastern cultures. Implications for understanding and use of the Bible. (Cluster 1)
• STH TO 821: The Book of Psalms
  The Psalter, its development, organization, and content. The Psalms interpreted in their worship setting. Attention given to literary and devotional values of these lyrical classics of Israel. (Requires TO 704 or equivalent) (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 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 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 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)
• STH TS 806: Introduction to Mediation Theory and Practice
  This course will present theory and practice on mediation through interaction with the instructors, course readings and practical experience. The course utilizes a lecture/discussion format interwoven with role play experience to help students form a strong foundation in the practice of mediation. Students will learn theory as well as practical skills and, in the process, they will learn how to engage themselves in an appropriate way in the mediation process. In addition to classroom experience, students will complete an 8 hour practicum in the Barnstable Courts under the supervision of Cape Mediation staff (see details below). (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TS 808: Spirit and Ethics
  This course equips students with necessary skills to address this crucial question from Christian theology and ethics: How does (does not) the Spirit empower religious-ethical life that engenders social transformation of societies? Students will engage with the work of leading social ethicists, theologians, political theorists, continental philosophers, and scholars of religion who are conceptualizing, rethinking, or even resisting the notion of God's Spirit as an agent in history. We will undertake close readings and critical reflections on the creative thoughts of intellectuals influencing and shaping the discourse on Spirit in the twenty-first century. The course will enable participants to radically re-imagine pneumatology and to deploy it as a resource for liberatory praxis and creative moral deliberations necessary for critical engagements with late capitalism, democracy, pluralism, public policies, and structures of domination and oppression in their own communities. (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TS 811: Economics and Ethics
  This course is structured to provide students with the basic awareness and understanding of economic ideas, issues, and practices as they intersect with faith and ethics in all spheres of life. Economics and Ethics will enable students to better comprehend the existing economic order of being in their societies and to help them craft theologically-informed modes of resistance to social injustice and obstacles to human flourishing. It will teach students the basic concepts of economics in ways that would equip them to not only grasp the economic foundations of Christian thinking about moral decisions, but also prepare them to minister to professionals, business executives, and corporate leaders in a globalizing world. The course will also help students to respond to one of the major challenges in the marketplace: how can we develop frameworks and models to enable business executives live ethically and faithfully in the complex and pluralistic corporate world?     (Clusters 2 and 3)    
• STH TS 815: God and Money
  

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