Intercultural Preaching: Rethinking Preaching Conference 2022

The Centre for Religion and Its Contexts at Emmanuel College and Shining Waters Regional Council (The United Church of Canada) are pleased to host the second “Rethinking Preaching’ Conference with this year’s theme, “Intercultural Preaching.” The challenge of intercultural preaching in the midst of social crises defined by racism, colonialism, and ecological crisis has gripped …
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Black Gospel Music–Not for credit

This course studies the black gospel tradition, focusing on the genre’s distinctive combination of sound and belief. Music, movement, and conviction, the three expressions gospel holds together, will be explored through three interpretive lenses: exemplary performers, pivotal periods, and formal processes. This week’s work will bring material and approaches from the fields of musicology, music …
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Hacking Christian Ethics: Spiritual Resources for Living in a Digital World–Not for credit

In this course, we will bring theological and scriptural understandings into conversation with the current digital technological shifts.  In response to the new technologies, we will practice ethical discernment for our everyday digital lives and examine approaches grounded in forgiveness, integrity, diversity, and social and ecological justice.  We will center the question: what does God …
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Art in a Time of Crisis

Discover the vital role of the arts in times of precarity, examining artistic practices born amidst crises. Awaken yourself to the prophetic witness of the arts, asking why so many people turn to the arts during times of struggle. Together we’ll explore the lives and work of artists such as Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, the …
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Digital Storytelling for Church Communications Professionals

When church leaders and congregations engage in the practice of crafting a mission statement or narrative vision for their churches, oftentimes the people tasked with actually communicating that vision aren’t included in the development process nor are they church members or present for most church activities. As such, church digital communications tend to be heavy …
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Theologies and Practices of Music in Christian Worship

Music often has a central place in Christian worship, whether in the form of guitar by the campfire, pipe organ and choir, rhythmic drumming, acapella congregational singing, gentle piano accompaniment, chant, or amplified band, among many other possibilities. This course explores a diversity of expressions of music in worship from theological, historical, and practical perspectives. …
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Faith in the Future Talks

This event is brought to you by the TryTank Experimental Lab in the department of Lifelong Learning at Virginia Theological Seminary What is the church of the future? Will church—as we know it—even exist? Author and noted futurist Bob Johansen, a distinguished fellow with the Institute for the Future, will join a small audience from around the church to …
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