Online Offerings
Aware of the global and local challenges faith-based professionals face daily, the Boston University School of Theology (STH) strives to keep religious leaders well equipped for serving a broken but hopeful world. STH offers online opportunities for continuing your theological education in conversation with diverse students and world-class professors.
Current Offerings
Theology of Culture, Ethics of the Other, and Video Games
A spirituality group exploring how virtual encounters can become a means to personal fulfillment and a desire for justice. Starts on Monday, February 6th from 6:00 – 7:15pm EST.
No contemporary form of pop culture has as large a social impact as video games, an entertainment industry whose yearly revenues now top $300 billion.
In this online group, we will discuss the development of video game culture in response to marginalization and explore the ways in which the content of video games can generate theological insight and positive ethical impact. We will also play games together (Gone Home & Papers, Please) to see how ultimate concerns and ethical principles are explored in video games.
Participants are expected to obtain a copy of the instructor’s book Playing as Others: Theology and Ethical Responsibility in Video Games, available here. Meeting dates include February 6th, February 13th, February 20th, February 27th, March 6th, and March 13th, from 6:00 – 7:15pm EST/EDT. Registration is closed!
Darn It All: A Mending Spirituality Reflection Group for Helping Professionals
A spirituality group exploring physical mending work and how we can embody mending in our professional lives. Starts on Thursday, February 23rd from 6:00 – 7:15pm EST.
As helping professionals and craft enthusiasts, we see the work we do – in ourselves, our work, and our communities – as mending work. We work against the tide of consumerism and the pull to discard things (people, relationships) that no longer serve; instead, we seek to strengthen and reaffirm the value of what is and offer additional life. In practical terms, mending is a vital task, traditionally taken on in winter in particular, to make use of all that we have without unnecessary waste. This spiritual reflection group features a weekly hands-on component, teaching skills for visible and invisible mending for clothing and other textiles. Bring your tender hearts and your moth-eaten sweaters, and together we’ll refresh and renew (at least our clothing).
Each week we will have an introduction into a specific mending technique, questions to help us explore the emotional and spiritual experience of mending, and time to stitch and reflect together in community. Our hope is that in this group, embodying mending in the form of physical crafts will reveal and transform the skills and gifts we each already carry into professional contexts for bringing people together and offering new life.
Participants will receive craft materials upon registration. Meeting dates include February 23rd, March 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th, from 6:00 – 7:15pm EST/EDT. Registration is closed!
Mini-Courses
STH is offering online mini-courses addressing specific issues and empowering participants to walk away with an implementable plan or process. They include peer-learning opportunities and community support networks.
STH is partnering with the Center for Aging & Disability Education & Research (CADER) at the BU School of Social Work (SSW) to offer some additional programming for clergy on issues related to mental health awareness in an aging population.
Next Mini-Course will be offered in Summer 2023.
Past Offerings
Let us know if you would like to see any of these offered again!
Speaking of Life because of Death
Prayer Practices: Time-Honored Refreshers for your Spiritual Life
Sirviendo a Indigenas En Nuestra Comunidad (Spanish language)
Practical Hope
Reflecting with Howard Thurman
Remote Ministry to Elders during Advent
Church Mission in Uncertainty and Adversity
Leading Community Lament
Discerning Vocation in Changing Times
Asset Mapping to Develop Your Community – an ABCD Approach
Embodying the Spirit of Afrofuturism
Reflecting on the Poetry of Joy Harjo
A Spirituality of Suffering as Depicted in African-American Films
Conflict Transformation Close to Home: How to Have Hard Conversations Across Ideological Differences
Moving Upstream: Spiritual Care Plans as a Tool for Proactive Pastoral Care
Spirituality Groups
STH is gathering spirituality groups to create community around some spiritual explorations from contemporary fiction and film, to today’s wisdom figures, to traditional practices worthy of reviving.
Sustaining Spirits While Empires Crumble begins April 2023; more info soon!
Past Offerings
Let us know if you would like to see any of these offered again!
Responses to Brokenness
Prayer Reflecting on Suffering, Death, and Resurrection in Christian Visual Art
Prayer Practices: Reflecting with Mary Oliver
Prayer Practices: Time-Honored Refreshers for your Spiritual Life
Practical Hope
Reflecting with Howard Thurman
Remote Ministry to Elders during Advent
Church Mission in Uncertainty and Adversity
Leading Community Lament
Discerning Vocation in Changing Times
Asset Mapping to Develop Your Community – an ABCD Approach
Embodying the Spirit of Afrofuturism
Reflecting on the Poetry of Joy Harjo
A Spirituality of Suffering as Depicted in African-American Films
Conflict Transformation Close to Home: How to Have Hard Conversations Across Ideological Differences
Moving Upstream: Spiritual Care Plans as a Tool for Proactive Pastoral Care
Please see our FAQ page for common concerns and technical questions. If you want to suggest future topics, please email sthcooll@bu.edu.
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