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 TM 863: African Christianity: Narratives, Beliefs, and Practices
  This course examines the history of Christianity in Africa, with focus on the 19th-21st centuries. It pays particular attention to themes in African theology, gender and social action, environmentalism, Pentecostal spiritualities, African missions, and church/state relations-- including issues of colonialism and democratization. A highlight of the course will be a conference on African Christian Biography with leading scholars, in late October.
• STH TM 909: Mission and Outreach: Foundations for Transformation
  Online Course: This course surveys the biblical, historical, theological, and contextual foundations of transformational Christian mission, and introduces contemporary missional issues and practices. Participants will analyze the mission potential of their ministry site and community. The final project of the course is the development of a leadership plan for mission and outreach.
• STH TM 910: Seminar in World Christianity and Mission History
  A seminar in the history of Christian missions, from the early church to the present. Issues of historiography, method, and the emergence of non-western church history. Required course for doctoral students in mission studies.
• STH TM 930: History of Missiology
  Seminar on the classic Protestant mission theorists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Required for doctoral students in mission studies.
• STH TM 931: Readings in Contemporary Missiology
  Readings and discussions of important works in missiology from the 1960's to the present. This course begins where TM 930 ends. Required for doctoral students in mission studies
• STH TM 935: Asian Christianity
  This course explores the dynamism, co-option, stagnation and renewal of East Asian Christianity throughout its history--from the 7th century to the 21st. Special attention is given to Christianity's complex interaction with the religious, political, and social realities of Japan, China, and Korea. Students are introduced to important Christian leaders and movements across the centuries, and they investigate the implications of East Asian Christianity's recent expansion both at home and abroad.
• STH TM 963: African Christianity
  Seminar exploring African Christian theologies and cultural issues, with special emphasis on Southern Africa. The course covers such themes as the nature of God, the problem of evil, environmentalism, gender, and indigenous churches. Also offered as STH TM 863 for masters students.
• STH TN 703: New Testament Methods/ Histories: Hermeneutical Approaches and the New Testament
  This course provides an overview of the New Testament’s literary content, historical and cultural contexts, and the development of the New Testament canon. It examines major interpretive theories and methods. The primary objective is to equip students with the terminology, theoretical frameworks, and methodologies necessary to analyze New Testament texts within their ancient contexts and to articulate their hermeneutical approaches in dialogue with influential theories in the history of biblical interpretation.
• STH TN 721: New Testament Introduction
  Content of the New Testament writing in its historical setting and special attention to its relevance today.
• STH TN 723: New Testament Greek 1
  Introduction to the grammar and vocabulary of the Greek New Testament. For students with no training in Greek.
• STH TN 724: New Testament Greek 2
  Graduate Prerequisites: (STHTN 723) - Continues and presupposes STHTN 723.
• STH TN 803: Jesus in the Gospels
  A theological and exegetical study; attention to literary and religio-historical problems.
• STH TN 805: Pauline Studies
  Paul's life, letters, and thoughts are considered historically and in their bearing upon Christian theology.
• STH TN 806: The Gospel of John
  The purpose of this study of the Fourth Gospel is to acquaint the student with this work from the later New Testament period in a way that provides understanding of and the capacity for criticism of the text involved (in addition to some non-canonical Johannine literature, e.g., the Gnostic Apocryphon of John). Appreciation for both the unity and the diversity within the Johannine literature should increase during this study.
• STH TN 807: Women in the New Testament
  This course explores women’s lives, leadership, and portrayals in the New Testament and early Christian literature, considering both named and unnamed figures across diverse social statuses and environments. Students analyze how women appear in assemblies, households, and patronage networks in the first-century Mediterranean world, drawing on historical, literary, social-scientific, and archaeological approaches to New Testament texts alongside early Christian and Greco-Roman sources. The course engages womanist, feminist, Latina/mujerista, Asian, and other interpretive perspectives, and examines how gender-aware readings of the New Testament developed in relation to the nineteenth-century women’s suffrage movement and continue to shape ongoing efforts for dignity and justice.
• STH TN 808: From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of Christianity
  Introduces the texts of the New Testament and other early Christian writings: first, to place Jesus of Nazareth in the religious and social context of Second Temple Judaism and the Roman empire; and second, to explain the origins and growth of Christian beliefs, practices, and social formations up to the second century. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I, Critical Thinking.
  BU Hub Learn More

  • Critical Thinking
  • Historical Consciousness
  • Social Inquiry I
• STH TN 813: Methods and Exegesis in Paul's Letters
  Introduction to Paul's Letters with special attention to traditional themes (Law, Grace, Justification, etc) and contemporary contextual approaches (Feminist, Postcolonial, and Queer Studies).
• STH TN 816: Greek Reading 1
  This course builds on Greek language skills by engaging in close readings and translations of New Testament and other Greek literature.
• STH TN 820: Methods and Exegesis: The Gospel of Mark
  English exegesis of the gospel according to Mark. MDiv and MTS students must complete their Sacred Texts & Interpretation New Testament core requirement before registering for this course.
• STH TN 828: Sex and the New Testament
  Sex and the New Testament