Seabury Course Offerings 2009 -2010
Fall Term: Beginning September 8, 2009 Ending December 15, 2009
January Term: Beginning January 11, 2010 Ending January 29, 2010
Spring Term: Beginning February 1, 2010 Ending May 12, 2010
Sept. 21-25, 2009
Implications of the Great Emergence for Congregations
As people of faith living in a time of tremendous upheaval and change, we are
challenged to make sense of the shifts around us and respond to God’s
call in new and emerging contexts. Seabury offers a unique learning opportunity
to work with Dr. Phyllis Tickle (The Great Emergence) and leaders of communities
of faith from around the country to explore in-depth how to facilitate changes
in congregations.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Phyllis Tickle, Ellen K.
Wondra and others [register
online]
Sept. 11-12, Oct. 9-10, Nov. 13-14
Praying Shapes Believing: Spiritual Practices in Christian Lives
This class offers an orientation to a variety of spiritual practices, with attention
to principles that guide their use for personal formation and cultivation
of communities. While drawing on resources from a wide range of Christian
spiritual traditions, course materials focus on historical roots of Anglican
identity along with contemporary developments in the US and worldwide. Participation
involves experiential learning.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Paula S. D.
Barker [register
online]
Oct. 16-17, Nov. 6-7, Dec. 11-12
The Anglican Ethos
Anglicanism is a style of being Christian which begins in prayer and is
then lived out in reflection and action. This course explores the ways in
which four historical periods have shaped the way Anglicans do liturgy,
theology, and ministry. Because of its centrality for liturgical and doctrinal
theology, the Early Church has always been a primary source of Anglican
identity. The unique nature of the 16th century Reformation in England has
given Anglicanism its particular way of praying and doing church governance.
The ecclesiastical controversies of the 19th century between low church
Evangelicals and high church Tractarians similarly framed our ongoing dialogue
about theology and mission. And the contemporary reality of the Anglican
Communion continues to form the shape and context of 21st century mission,
ministry, liturgy, and theological reflection.
As a core component of Seabury’s Anglican Studies program, “The Anglican
Ethos” complements other seminary courses and assumes some introductory
knowledge of scripture, theology, and history.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty:
Gary R. Hall [register
online]
Fall term, W 1-3
Practice of Ministry
Practice of Ministry provides students with the opportunity to integrate what
has been learned in the classroom with experiential learning in a ministry
setting, generally in a worshipping congregation such as a parish or mission.
This integration of practice with study will form church leaders who pray
and think theologically about their ministry. The core of the learning is based on the action-reflection model.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Instructor: Suzi Holding
[register online]
Spring term, W 1-3
Practice of Ministry/CAPSTONE
Viewed as the culmination of the Master of Divinity curriculum, the Capstone
Course serves as the locus of integrative conversations in which action
and reflection, faith and practice, are brought together in a process of
theological reflection. Replacing the Practice of Ministry reflection groups
in the Spring semester of the senior year, the Capstone Course is facilitated by the Dean in conjunction with regular and adjunct Seabury faculty.
The purpose of the course is to allow students and faculty to bring both
academic and ministry learning into clearer relationship and sharper focus.
The course will also attend to some more practical aspects (administration,
stewardship, professional development) in preparation for service in ordained
and lay ministries of the church.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Gary R.
Hall [register online]
January 11-22, 2010; 9 AM-12 PM each day for two weeks
Episcopal Church History and Polity
This course concentrates on the ways in which the transplanted Church of England
in North America was transformed by the American Revolution, the establishment
of the United States, and the general context of American religious experience,
particularly in the colonial and Federal periods. As a core component of Seabury’s Anglican Studies program, “Episcopal Church
History and Polity” complements other seminary courses and assumes some
knowledge of church history.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Rosemary Gooden and Bill Doubleday [register online]
January 11-22, 2010; 2-5:00 PM each day for two weeks
Anglican Liturgy and Music
This course is an introduction to the principles and practices of Anglican worship
with particular focus on the Episcopal Church. The course will cover the
nature of worship and the history of its evolution; contemporary liturgical
and sacramental theology and practice; and the theology and use of music
in worship. As a core component of Seabury’s Anglican Studies program, “Anglican Liturgy
and Music” complements other seminary courses and assumes some introductory
knowledge of scripture, theology, and liturgy.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Milner Seifert and Theresa DeLisio [register online]
January 25-29, 2010; Time to be determined
Economics, Sustainability, and Christian Life
With economic and environmental challenges all around us, what role do Christian
faith and theology play in defining a new economy that supports environmentally sustainable practices? How can markets
and economic policies be shaped in ways that serve all humanity and all
creation, and that build community? This course is built around two important
national conferences on these subjects. Seabury participants will take part
in the conferences via downlink and engage in onsite discussion and worship.
This course is available for academic degree credit at the DMin and MDiv/MA levels,
and for non-degree certificate credit, continuing education units, and personal enrichment. Advance registration
is required.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Ellen K. Wondra and others [register online]
Feb 19-20, March 12-13, May 7-8; Fri 1 p.m. - Sat 4:30 p.m.
Ministry Development
In the context of this course, Ministry Development assumes that all members
of the Body of Christ are called to ministry at Baptism. How then do all
the members of the Body have access to lifelong opportunities for education
and formation that affirm their various gifts for ministry, and what does that mean for the
larger context of mission and ministry?
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty: Susanne Watson Epting, Director of the North American Association
for the Diaconate (NAAD). [register online]
February 19-20, March 19-20, and April 9-10; Fri 1 p.m.-Sat 4:30 p.m
Anglican Theology and Ethics
Anglican theology and ethics are particular developments of Christian theology,
with particular emphases of method and content. To uncover these particularities, the course will focus on a specific
themes or areas (e.g., authority, the use of Scripture, the conscience, the Incarnation) where Anglicanism is distinguishable
from other Christian traditions. A primary focus of the course will be the
breadth and variety of theologies and ethics in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
“Classic” Anglican theologians and moral theologians will be studied to see
how their thought continues to influence contemporary Anglican thought and practice.
As a core component of Seabury’s Anglican Studies program, “Anglican Theology
and Ethics” complements other seminary courses and assumes some introductory
knowledge of scripture, theology, and ethics.
3 credit or CEU hrs.
Faculty:
Ellen K. Wondra [register online]
Feb 5-6, Feb 26-27, Apr 30-May 1 -- Fri 1 p.m. - Sat 4:30 p.m.
Islam for Christians
Faculty: The Rev. Dr. William Sachs [register online]
STUDENT REFLECTIONS
Judith Loftus, DMin '10
Seabury’s Doctor of Ministry program draws so many interesting students seeking to learn more about ministry, the church, and themselves, learning not only from the teachers in the program but also from each other. Currently the program has three students who are not from the Episcopal Church – an American Baptist, a Canadian Anglican from Ontario, and an Independent Catholic priest named Judith Loftus, seen in this picture sitting at the wheel of an Arizona police car. Being a police chaplain is only one of the ways in which she engages in a creative model of Christian ministry.
Judith is priest in the Independent Catholic Church of the West, part of the worldwide Independent Catholic Movement which has its roots in the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht. This inclusive, affirming and non-judgmental organization ordains males and females and is for anyone who chooses to follow the Independent Catholic path. All are unpaid volunteer worker priests. Judith is the Pastor of Holy Family Independent Catholic Church, a family-sized parish in Goodyear, Arizona whose members are mostly former Roman Catholics.
Serving Holy Family parish is Judith’s vocation and her avocation. Here she can preach, preside, baptize, and celebrate six of the seven sacraments (Holy Orders is the Bishop’s area) as an Independent Catholic priest. “I wish I could be a fulltime priest’, she says, and she has spent some time in the Episcopal Church. (Her D. Min. classmates said, “You need to be with us”.)
She had done 2 units in CPE at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona in 2005-2006. Her friend Myra was in her first unit and one day said to her, “I have the perfect program for you – the D.Min. program at Seabury. “Alright”, said Judith, “I’ll apply. I probably won’t get in, but I got accepted. Such a fluke! When something like this happens, then these are the times you really have to follow up. It is divine intervention!”
Judith does have a day job, as they say, which provides a salary and another opportunity to care for people. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, the only counselor at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. The University prepares a full range of students for medical professions – osteopathic medicine, podiatry, pharmacy, dental, physicians’ assistants, and more. Its students experience great stress, anxiety, and depression, just from the fast-paced curriculum, concerns about failure, relationships - not to mention growing debt. Judith is there to help them through their challenging experience.
She also wanted to do some volunteer work in the community, to work with people “who don’t get perks from the public.” On the web she found the International Police Chaplains Association which has a strict code of ethics and professional standards, became a member of their conference, and as required, took a 12 week training course with the Glendale Citizens’ Public Safety Academy which includes information on homicide, gangs, bombs, canines, and weapons as well driving like police officers - thus the picture you see. “I tried”, she said, “but I drove as if I were in a school zone.” While at Seabury this past summer, as a police chaplain, she did “ride along” with both Evanston and Northwestern University Police Departments. Later she met Kate Gustolise, a graduate of Seabury who has also been a police chaplain in Evanston.
Back home she takes her Seabury learning to her ministries there, planning a Mass for Peace, an ecumenical service with the ELCA community, sharing her experiences and extending her gifts with others, lay and clergy, in her community. Judith is very enthusiastic about her experience in Seabury’s D.Min. program which gives her the courage and inspiration to try new things which she would not thought of. “I think outside the box, and Seabury is bringing out my ability to act outside the box – trusting in its goodness, building on my strengths, and acknowledging my gifts.”
written by Patty Dreibelbis
Donna Ialongo, MDiv '09
The week before school resumed this fall, faculty, staff, and students met for a “Re-Orientation” session. For about seven months we had been living with the knowledge that life at Seabury would never be the same again. Beloved staff and faculty had left. A few students had moved to other seminaries. Losses had piled on losses. Being home for the summer had removed the constant reminders at Seabury of the inevitability of change, but it seemed at every turn that I encountered someone who asked, “What’s this I hear about Seabury closing?” Big sigh from me. I was weary of explaining.
So, we had our “Re-Orientation.” In our closing liturgy, we reflected with readings and meditations and music on “calling.” At the end, we were asked to write one word on brightly colored pieces of paper and then place it in the center of a table as a collage. It was to be the one word that came to us after our collective meditation on “calling.”
“Now” leapt at me.
In seminary, as we work so assiduously toward what we perceive to be the fulfillment of our calling -- our ordination -- we forget so easily that every day, every minute, we are called to minister to each other: now. We are called to live in the present, to recognize our sadness, yes, but also to recognize the joy of now. To know that we are working toward a goal, yes, but to understand that what we do with the gift of today is what really matters.
I am excited about this year. Classes are full. Professors are energized. All of us are serving in field work placements and learning more about what it means to be a priest. Our fifteen weekly liturgies are now five – five worship occasions in which we encourage each other to experiment, to push the liturgical envelope. After all, it’s not as if we are going to set any dangerous precedents!
We’re more conscious than ever of being in community. This will not be a sad year. With God’s help and the prayers of all who have come before us, we will choose optimism and the future.
Roger Walker, MDiv '09
Prior to making the decision to come to Seabury, I had been interviewing three other seminaries and felt very good about the offerings of each. However, after spending two days with faculty, staff, and students at Seabury, I knew in my heart where I would be in the Fall, 2008. I was greeted warmly but with an honesty and a transparency about the changes at Seabury. There was an expressed hope for the work that Seabury would continue to be involved in. As a transferring student, their cooperation in assisting me to meet my specific curriculum and diocesan requirements was excellent, in fact, overwhelming! I have not been disappointed with my decision.
Karen King, MDiv '10
The new life of Seabury is more caring and attentive to the individual and the corporate body of the community. Many have stepped up and taken on responsibilities that enrich the quality of life for students, staff and faculty. I am grateful for the insightful leadership of worship and programs that challenge us to think of ourselves differently. As we forge a new direction at Seabury, I am glad to be a part of this community.
