The Song of Songs, or “Song of Solomon,” is among the strangest books of the Bible. It is difficult to translate, hard to understand, and impossible to reconcile with moralistic styles of religious belief. The title of the course, “Locksmithing,” alludes to a famous Jewish saying that sums up both the enigma and attraction of …
View course details “Locksmithing: Unlocking the Song of Songs”
The poet Dana Gioia once asked in a book of this title, “Can Poetry Matter?” That question of course begs another question: matter in what ways? We may read poetry for any number of reasons, but this class considers how poetry nurtures, and enriches, our spiritual lives. By our close reading of poems together from …
View course details “Reading Poetry Devotionally: How Poems Nurture Our Spiritual Lives”
Don’t we just pick up the Bible and read it? What are various ways of interpreting the text and why do these methods matter? With attention to texts of the Hebrew Bible, this class offers an introductory sampling of different approaches in biblical studies, reading with feminist, disability, African, queer, and childist lenses. Course elements …
View course details “The Joy of Text: Reading the Bible with Liberating Lenses”
What is Islam? This course will provide a comprehensive introduction to understanding and engaging with Islamic tradition, practice and culture–and it will thus enable participants to offer answers to this far from straightforward question. In particular, the course will engage with Islam as a living tradition – a vibrant faith that is constantly and dynamically …
View course details “Towards Oneness and Mercy: Exploring the Foundations of Islam”
Christian Poetics is an exploration of literary aesthetics, delving into what defines the nature and quality of literature. While this is primarily a course in literary criticism, students of art, literature, and culture will delight in discovering the interplay between form and function in the works of classical and Christian thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, …
View course details “Christian Poetics”
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”
Instructor: John Boopalan, Assistant Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Canadian Mennonite University We welcome guest learners to join our students in this circle. Contact [email protected] with questions and to register.
The Gift of Time Philosophers say time is the measure of change. Humans experience time as the measure of their lives as they make their way from the cradle to the grave. In this case, time easily becomes something to dread or even hate as bodies weaken and the moments tick away. The Scriptures, though, …
View course details “2024 Common Roots Ancient Evangelical Futures”
This research seminar will explore the history and theology of modern Anglican ecumenical thought and practice. Students will engage key Anglican ecumenical texts and a wide selection of agreed statements and documented dialogues between Anglicans and other church bodies. These will include Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox (non-Chalcedonian), Pentecostal, Reformed, and Roman Catholic churches. …
View course details “Anglican Ecumenism Seminar”
The Book of Common Prayer is central to understanding the distinctives, commonalities and appeal of the Anglican Way, both historically and in contemporary mission. This course challenges students toward a deep appreciation of the living Prayer Book Tradition of North American and global Anglicanism. Pastoral, biblical, theological, liturgical, aesthetic, formational and missional coherence are all …
View course details “Worship in the Prayer Book Tradition”