Many who have served in various ministry capacities (e.g., as pastors, missionaries, lay church leaders, etc…) are intimately familiar with the potential dark realities of the ministry environment. Ministry is often fraught with many difficulties and challenges, imposing significant stress upon one’s spiritual life, marital and family relationships, and upon one’s emotional and physical well-being. …
View course details “Spiritual & Emotional Formation for Christian Leadership: Research and Practice”
The Gospel of John is one of most distinguished books in the Bible. It has unique literary and theological dimensions that we will explore together in details. The book is divided into the book of signs (John 1-12) and the book of the hour (13-21). In the book of signs we discover how the coming …
View course details “Reading the Gospel of John through Palestinian Eyes”
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 …
View course details “Learning to Think Ethically with the Christian Tradition”
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, …
View course details “Christianity & World Cultures: A History of Contextualization”
Augustine of Hippo was involved in many debates over his lifetime. He took on Manichees, Donatists, versions of Arianism, and even some aspects of the Platonism of his day. But the most famous controversy associated with this most famous theologian (excepting only the gospel writers and Paul) is the Pelagian controversy, in which Augustine tackled …
View course details “Augustine & the Problem of Pelagius”
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 …
View course details “Race, Racism & Christian Identity”
Dive into Scripture and explore its rich poetic depths. Develop comfort and insight around biblical poetry, familiarizing yourself with its conventions, common idioms, and literary devices. Deepen your confidence in drawing on biblical poetry for ministry, learning to effectively incorporate it into your preaching. Together we will explore biblical metaphor, imagery, and other forms of …
View course details “Reading & Preaching Biblical Poetry”
As members of modern nation-states shaped by globalization, we are unavoidably embedded in the complexities of racial disparities and tensions. These societal realities shape our personal lives, our relationships, and our everyday activities in countless ways that often go unrecognized and unaddressed. They also affect our capacities to live out the biblical vision of identity …
View course details “Race, Racism & Christian Identity”
“Ubuntu” is an African proverb: I am because we are; and because we are, I am. This way of seeing human identity invites us to deepen our awareness of what it means to be created and to be human. Ubuntu teaches us that we are different so that we can know our need of one …
View course details “Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me: Practising God’s Compassion”
Who are we? Why are we here? How did we get in such a mess, and what should we do about it? These questions are the perennial questions of humanity in writing, philosophy, song… And they are the questions that underlying much of the Old Testament. In the wonderful, colourful stories and teaching of the …
View course details “Being Human in God’s World: How the Old Testament Helps Us Understand Our Humanity in a Complex and Broken World”