What role should the news play in the life of a disciple of Christ? This may seem like a contemporary concern, one made acute by political polarization, social media, and ubiquitous screens. And indeed we are living through a time when technological and cultural forces are causing drastic upheavals in the news industry. This course …
View course details “Reading the Times: Christian Responses to the News of the Day”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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 …
View course details “The Gospel, Discipleship, & Cultural Engagement”

This course will examine the nature of Paul’s spirituality—the transformative, lived experience of participating in Christ by the power of God’s Spirit—as it applies to believing communities, individual believers, and ministers in Paul’s own day and in the life of the contemporary church. The class will combine close reading of selected passages and themes with …
View course details “The Spirituality of Paul”

This course will examine women’s lives in the New Testament and the wider Greco-Roman world (including Second Temple Judaism) by studying the biblical text, literary sources, and archaeological evidence. This course extends the discussion into the second through fifth centuries of the early Church, addressing women’s participation in the intellectual, liturgical, ascetic, and monastic arenas. …
View course details “Women in the New Testament & Early Church”

This class surveys the history of the Bible in the United States from the War for Independence through the Civil War. It is a case study designed to sharpen awareness of how intellectual assumptions, cultural conventions, engrained interests, and spiritual motives shaped the understanding and application of Scripture. Special emphases are how Scripture was enlisted …
View course details “The Bible, Slavery, & the American Civil War”