Do Black Lives Matter to God? A Theological Exploration of Evil, Suffering, Resistance, and Divine Accountability

With Naomi Washington-Leapheart This retreat asks the question: If God is benevolent, just, and powerful, how can (does) evil persist in the lives of Black people living in the United States? In this retreat that will include both you and students from Rev. Naomi’s Villanova religious studies class by the same name, we will explore …
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Integral Ecology and Theologies of Solidarity Course Registration

The climate crisis is an unavoidable pastoral concern in the church today. As the effects of anthropogenic climate change continue to increase in the coming years, increasingly the pastoral work of the ‘cure of souls’ is directly impacted by the intersecting crises of the climate crisis. This class will proceed in two parts. In the …
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Reckoning with Power: Why the Church Fails When It’s on the Wrong Side of Power; Book Club with David Fitch

Whenever the church has aligned itself with worldly, coercive power, it ends up on the wrong side of important justice issues. But when the church cooperates with God’s power through his presence among the least powerful, its witness for Jesus transforms the world and the church into a better place. Join us for a 4-week …
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Race, Racism & Christian Identity

Living in modern nation-states, intensified by globalization, our personal lives and relationships and everyday activities are unavoidably embedded in the complex realities of societal racial disparities and tensions, but in ways often unrecognized and unaddressed. How should we engage Christianly with the historical, political, economic, and cultural factors that condition and either restrict or expand …
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Christianity & World Cultures: A History of Contextualization

Taking each of the five continents in turn, this course looks at the significant missional achievements of their Christian pioneers (both cross-cultural missionaries and local communities of believers) to embody Christian faith and practice in their cultural contexts. The course focuses on each continent’s unique cultural embodiments (such as texts, liturgies, visual arts, architecture, institutions, …
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Learning to Think Ethically with the Christian Tradition

To some extent the history of Christian ethics the history of interpretation of biblical ethical teaching. An increasingly ‘moral’ reading of Scripture emerged with the privileging of the plain (or double literal) sense during the late medieval period. As one considers the bible was looked to in Franciscan moral theology in particular then one becomes …
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The Gospel, Discipleship, & Cultural Engagement

Today’s moral and social challenges are complex, and our social discourse is often contentious. Explore how artifacts (such as hip-hop and architecture) enriches our understanding of God’s grace, culture and human flourishing, and in turn, shapes our responses to these challenges. Learn about the narrative arc of Scripture that encompasses not only our personal salvation …
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