Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. 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 TH 812: The Church in Late Antiquity
  The development of the Christian Church, its institutions, theology, and social and political roles, from Constantine to Charlemagne, in the context of the transformations of late antique culture and society, East and West. Students are strongly encouraged to take STHTH 701, STHTH715, or their equivalent, before registering for this course.
• STH TH 815: History of Mystical Theology and Modernity
  History of Mystical Theology and Modernity is an advance examination of the modern intellectual history of mystical theology. The course introduces students to the modern trajectory of mystical theology through the works of eight theologians who have left a permanent imprint on the subject: St Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), St John of the Cross (1542-1591), Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717), Elizabeth Ashbridge (1713-1755), Simone Weil (1909-1943), Howard Thurman (1899-1981), Thomas Merton (1915-1968), and Raimon Panikkar (1918-2010). Employing a historical theological approach, students will scrutinize how modernity's major themes - i.e., political, and technological progress, human emancipation, reason, and secularization - informed the mystical thought of the figures under consideration. The course will trace at least one major transformation of mystical theology in the modern period: the transition from the 'monastic paradigm' (Sheldrake, 2009) to 'lay supremacy' (Roldán-Figueroa, 2021). Students will become familiar with historiographic approaches such as the history of reading, literary cultures, and the circulation of ideas, which transcend the traditional practice of intellectual history.
• STH TH 819: American Theological Liberalism
  American Theological Liberalism provides an overview into the historical and theological development of liberal theology in the United States. Through reading a variety of primary and secondary sources, the course is designed to provide students an historical and theological overview into the development of liberalism and assess the ongoing significance of theological liberalism in church and society today. (Cluster 1)
• STH TH 820: Spirituality in Historical Perspective
  An introduction to the historical study of Western Christian spiritual practices. The course exposes students to the historical-critical study of spiritual practices through careful examination of selected narratives of Western Christian spirituality, primary texts, and participatory observation. Participants will learn to analyze spiritual practices--such as reading, fasting, and prayer--by the twofold process of "abstracting/isolating" practices and "reading/interpreting" them in their historical context. While emphasis will be placed on the synchronic interpretation of practices, due attention will also be given to their development over time. Readings will include selected articles representative of current methodology in the field. Participants will gain a better understanding of continuity and change of spiritual practices in Western Christian traditions. Students are strongly encouraged to take STHTH 701, STHTH715, or their equivalent, before registering for this course.
• STH TH 821: History and Doctrine of United Methodism
  An exploration of Methodist origins, the Wesleys, the rise of Methodism in England, and the distinctive doctrines of Wesleyan theology. There is a particular focus on the development of the various United Methodist traditions in America and their impact on society. The course is designed to meet one of the requirements for membership in a UMC Annual Conference. (Free Elective Only)
• STH TH 825: The Medieval Church
  Social, personal, institutional, and theological aspects of Christianity in the West from the ninth century to the fourteenth. Topics include monasticism, the papacy, crusades, sacramental life, women's religious life, scholasticism and the universities, mysticism, preaching, and heresy. Students are strongly encouraged to take STHTH 701, STHTH715, or their equivalent, before registering for this course.
• STH TH 826: The Reformations
  Survey of social, personal, institutional, and theological aspects of reform and renewal in the late medieval and early modern periods, including Nominalism, Conciliarism, the papacy, Luther, the German and Swiss Reformations, Anabaptism and radical reformers, Calvin, the French Reformation, the English Reformation, Catholic Reform, Ignatius and Theresa, and the Council of Trent. Students are strongly encouraged to take STHTH 701, STHTH715, or their equivalent, before registering for this course.
• STH TH 827: American Church History
  The development of American Christianity as a social, intellectual, institutional, and cultural movement. The course includes visits to churches in Boston. Students are strongly encouraged to take STHTH 701, STHTH715, or their equivalent, before registering for this course.
• STH TH 834: History Bible Interpretation
  HIST BIB INTRPT
• STH TH 847: Global Christianity
  The course is an overview of the changing status of global Christianity in the 20th and 21st centuries. It covers the whole world with lectures comparing the global context of 1910 and 2010, including each of the major Christian traditions. Each tradition (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodoxy, etc.) will be covered in-class by a scholar self-identifying with that tradition. The course takes a regional approach to analyze specific and local changes in Christianity and their connection to the global movement. This course additionally focuses on the history of Christian mission in relation to global Christianity and encourages students to self-theologize concerning their role and place within the world Christian movement. (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TH 848: World Christianity
  Historical development of world Christianity. Emphasis on social, cultural, spiritual, and political issues in African, Asian and Latin American Christianity in the nineteenth through twenty-first centuries. Students are strongly encouraged to take STHTH 701, STHTH715, or their equivalent, before registering for this course.
• STH TH 853: Christianity in Colonial Latin America
  Christianity in Colonial Latin America is a graduate-level survey course that introduces students to the historical trajectory of Christianity in Latin America from the arrival of Christopher Columbus (1492) to the period of the Latin American wars of independence (1791-1821). Attention is given to the encounter with pre-Colombian religions as well as the transactional adaptation of core Christian theological, institutional, and ascetical traditions. Accordingly, special consideration will be given to theological discourses of the other, the adaptation of ecclesiastical institutions such as the episcopacy, and missionary practices. Reading selections include primary source material as well as secondary scholarly literature. Students will have the opportunity to acquire both a general appreciation for the historical trajectory of Christianity during the colonial period as well as an in depth understanding of selected topics intended for independent research. (Cluster 1)
• STH TH 859: The Social Gospel in American Religion
  This course examines the impact of the social gospel movement on American religious history. Focused primarily upon historical and theological developments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the social gospel's emphasis on what contemporaries called "social salvation" had a major impact upon wider developments in Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism. The course will explore important leaders and movements associated with the social gospel, as well as examine how this tradition influenced a range of religious-based social movements that extend into the 21st century. Please note that this course cannot be used to satisfy the Church History II requirement for School of Theology masters-level students. (Cluster 1)
• STH TH 860: Female Medieval Mystics
  FEM MEDV MYSTIC
• STH TH 893: Ecclesiastical Latin
  This course seeks to equip students to work with Biblical, patristic, medieval and Renaissance Latin texts in various forms. The course presupposes some basic familiarity with Classical Latin (at least through introductory self-study). After a quick review of Latin morphology and grammar, the course explores the development of Latin by Christian authors, including Latin translations of the Bible, the western church fathers, medieval monasticism, liturgy and hymns, sermons, scholastic theology, Renaissance humanism, and post-Reformation Latin texts. The course includes work in systems of abbreviation typical of medieval Latin manuscripts and early modern printed editions, some limited work in reading different medieval and early modern hands (paleography), and consideration of the pre- modern book as an object (codicology). Participants are encouraged to identify texts of their own interest to workshop together with the group. (Cluster 1)
• STH TH 902: Christianity Beyond Early Modern Europe
  The course is dedicated to an in depth study of the reach of Christianity in the early modern period (c. 1450-c.1650). Our narrative follows the path of early modern Catholicism from fifteenth-century Europe, through the ascent of the Portuguese and Spanish seaborne empires, and examines the role of the missionary religious orders in the processes of Christianization and inculturation.
• STH TH 915: Radical Christian Spiritualities (DMin)
  'Radical Christian Spiritualities' offers an in-depth discussion of a variety of forms of radical Christian spirituality. It takes a historical approach to the study of eight modern expressions of radical Christian spirituality and relates them to the notion of transformative leadership. The aim of the course is to equip students with methodological tools for the historical examination and appropriation of spiritual practices. Its narrative parallels the diachronic development of global Christianity from the sixteenth to the opening decades of the twenty-first century
• STH TH 920: History of American Theological Liberalism
  American Theological Liberalism is a doctoral-level seminar that provides an overview into the historical and theological development of liberal theology in the United States. Through reading a variety of primary and secondary sources, the course is designed to provide students an historical and theological overview into the development of liberalism and assess the ongoing significance of theological liberalism in church and society today.
• STH TH 927: Early Modern Piety
  The literature and practice of Christian devotion between the Reformation and Pietism, in national and confessional contexts within Early Modern society. Catechisms, hymnals and prayerbooks in production, distribution, and use. Special attention to the relation between theology and forms of devotion, public and domestic piety, and to the devotional roles of women and children.
• STH TJ 910: Proseminar in Practical Theology
  This doctoral seminar for practical theology majors introduces the primary changes that are under way in practical theology as a discipline, reviews the methodologies upon which these changes are based, and examines the implications of these changes.