Foundational Courses

INTD 500 / The Gospel Mission

This course will be taught jointly by all faculty over two quarters at the beginning of the M.Div. curriculum. It is intended to engage students in learning and reflection about the central issues that permeate the entire curriculum, that is, mission and leadership in our contemporary American context. Class sessions will be designed to introduce the entire faculty but not necessarily their particular fields. Two to four faculty will be present in the classroom at any given session, with one taking the lead in designing that session. Practitioners will also be invited to make presentations from their own cultural and ministerial situations.

Old Testament

BIBL 500 / Old Testament I

Intended as a broad survey, OT I will cover the Law and Former Prophets (using Hebrew Bible designations). Selections for biblical reading will be taken from the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) and from the narrative material found in Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. Students will be exposed to what's behind the text – the history and context of the storytelling, writing, and writers. Students will learn the broad contours of the history of the Israelites. They will consider the text itself as the story that Israel tells about its relationship with God. Students will examine broadly the question of interpretation of texts. They will consider traditional Christian and Jewish approaches to scripture, the contexts in which those approaches were generated and the lenses or filters which shaped them. Some care will be taken to look at contemporary hermeneutics with an eye toward diverse interpretations rising from different cultural or feminist contexts.

BIBL 501 / Old Testament II

This course will cover the content and interpretation of the Latter Prophets and the Writings. It will be necessary to overview briefly the history of Israel from about the 8th Century B.C.E. forward since this is important to the interpretation of many of the prophetic books. Students will be required to become familiar with the basic contents of the Latter Prophets and Writings. Lectures and readings will address the history of interpretation of different books.

BIBL 521 / Elementary Hebrew I

The goal of this course will be to enable students to approach the Hebrew Bible in its own language with some basic confidence and competence. It will include introduction to the elements of grammar and syntax and a short overview of the history and growth of the language. Prerequisite: Introduction to Biblical Languages and Exegesis.

BIBL 522 / Elementary Hebrew II

A sequel to Elementary Hebrew I designed to develop one’s ability to handle the original text, through review of grammar and vocabulary and translation of assigned portions.

01-602S / Studies in Prophecy: 8th Century

The course will study the Israelite prophets within the history of their times and will consider their proclamations against the social, religious, and moral errors of their age, as well as the theological implications for, and influence on, later times. The prophets to be considered will vary from year to year. Prerequisite: One 500 level Old Testament course or its equivalent.

01-603S / Minor Prophets

Common knowledge of the prophets among church-goers is almost always limited to large passages from the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. This course is designed to explore the twelve minor prophets whose words are less familiar but no less powerful than those of the more prolific writers. Theological themes, literary devices, and historical back-ground will be emphasized during the course. The reading focus will be the primary text with secondary texts used for information and background.

01-605S / Post-Exilic Prophecy

Among the more momentous chapters of the Israelite story, the exile stands as a pivotal event. It was a period that called for careful evaluation and judicious planning. In its aftermath, during return and restoration, new voices were heard: voices that called, cajoled, impelled the people to strive toward renewed goals in faith and practice.

01-606S / Studies in Israelite Wisdom and Hymnody: The Psalms of Israel

This introduction to the Psalms will have a dual focus. There will be an examination of the Psalm categories, their possible settings and uses, and of the Old Testament traditions seen in the Psalms. There will also be a consideration of the use of the Psalms in public worship and private devotions.

01-607S / Wisdom Literature: Job

An overview of the genre and its types in the ancient Near East will be given. The core of the course will involve a careful reading of the book of Job; the theological intentions which undergird the text will be examined and the implications for the early and contemporary audiences will be explored.

01-608S / Studies in the Hebrew writing: The Wisdom Literature

Designed as a general introduction to Wisdom literature, this course will explore several different types of the genre as it encounters the concept of wisdom in both the Hebrew Bible and the apocrypha. While no one book will be the focus, the course will use Job, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, and the other so-called Wisdom books to uncover the themes, the theology, and the ongoing influence of these sacred texts.

01-610S / Studies in the Pentateuch: Exodus

The formation of Israel as the covenanted people of God comprises the major content of the book. Of particular interest is the nature of God and the emergent role of the human moral agent in the unfolding of this salvific event as the role model for subsequent leadership. In addition to the above, appropriate attention will be given to the concepts of covenant, commitment, law and ritual.

01-611S / Studies in the Pentateuch: Deuteronomy

Some have called it "the constitution of Israel," others a model sermon. Its peculiar blend of law and narrative describes Israel as it ought to be from the perspective of one of the Bible’s most enduring and significant theological "schools."

BIBL 612 / Studies in the Pentateuch: Genesis

In its pages we find some of the best known biblical stories and characters: creation and fall and flood, improbable parents and offspring. Precisely because its content is so popular, Genesis is the more challenging. Stories of rags to riches and back again undergird a pattern of faith that is both contemporary and ancient.

01-620S / Studies in Prophecy: The Exile

Compared by some interpreters to the Holocaust, the Babylonian Exile was the watershed event of Israelite history. Land, progeny, temple and priesthood were no more; the tension between the old reliable divine promises and the present reality of broken words forced an identity crisis in the faith community. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and II Isaiah discern patterns in chaos and signal new creation and new exodus.

01-621S / Studies in the Prophets: Isaiah

Isaiah is the prophet most quoted in the Gospels. In this focused study, students will become familiar with the background and message of Isaiah. They will also have the chance to explore the impact Isaiah had on the development of both Jewish and Christian faith communities. Approach will vary, but there will be a large component of small group discussion.

New Testament

BIBL 550 / New Testament I

This course will cultivate students' sense of the relation of the gospels and Acts to the Christian theological interpretive tradition. Assignments will emphasize readings from the Bible along with some secondary literature. Students will also acquaint themselves with and practice allegorical interpretation, interpretation through non-academic cultural expressions (film, art, literature, music), interpretations through the church's history, embodied interpretations, and so on. Students who complete the course requirements should be able to identify salient features of the Gospels and Acts and appreciate the differences among the four canonical gospels, while respecting their common message. They should be acquainted with the leading terms and topics of the scholarly literature on the New Testament.

BIBL 555 / New Testament II: Epistles and Revelation

This course will lead students into appreciation of the visions of Paul, John the Revealer, Paul's heirs, James, and John the Elder, in order to read their epistles with critical sympathy. The assignments will emphasize readings from the Bible along with some secondary literature. Students will also acquaint themselves with and practice allegorical interpretation, interpretation through non-academic cultural expressions (film, art, literature, music), interpretations through the church's history, embodied interpretations, and so on. Students who complete the course requirements should be able to identify salient features of Pauline theology, of the theologies of the later Pauline corpus, of the Revelation to John, and the catholic epistles. They should be able to articulate the gospel each of these sources proclaims, while they also respect their common message. They should be acquainted with the leading terms and topics of the scholarly literature on the New Testament.

BIBL 531 Elementary Greek I

An introduction to the grammar, vocabulary and translation of the Greek language as it is employed in the New Testament and early Christian texts. Prerequisite: Introduction to Biblical Languages and Exegesis.

BIBL 532 Elementary Greek II

A sequel to Elementary Greek I designed to develop one’s ability to handle the original text through review of grammar and vocabulary and translation of assigned portions.

02-601S / The Gospel According to Luke

Interpretation of the Third Gospel in its historical context. Major emphasis will include form criticism, study of Luke in relation to the other gospels, and recent analyses of Lucan theology. Discussion sections for both Greek and English texts.

02-603S / The Fourth Gospel

The study of the Gospel of John in the context of its historical environment.

02-611S / The Gospel According to Mark

Interpretation of the English text of "The Earliest Gospel" in its historical context. Lecture and discussion.

02-612S / Selected Pauline Epistles

Lecture and discussion of the meaning of I Thessalonians, Galatians, I and II Corinthians and Philippians in their original setting.

02-614S / The Gospel According to Matthew

A study of Matthew in its original setting with particular attention to wisdom, Christology, the relation of this gospel to church orders and the emergent literature of so-called Jewish Christianity. The basic methods of gospel study will be put into practice in regular section discussions.

Church History

HIST 500 / History of Christian Life and Thought I: The Early Church (1st through 7th centuries)

This course will provide incoming students with an introduction to the formative early centuries of Christianity. In addition, the course will help students develop skill in critical reading of texts, analytical thought, and effective expository writing. Students will be helped to understand the developments and controversies that shaped the years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, through Gregory the Great and the emergence of Celtic Christianity. Students will learn to identify salient features of pre-Christian cultures (Judaic, Hellenistic, and Celtic); they will study the shape of Christian life under a hostile empire and in the apparently more accommodating circumstances of the Constantinian peace of the church; they will encounter the prehistory of the liturgy and its evolution into the worship life of the early medieval church; they will meet saints and heretics, and discover that virtually all of them sought the truth about God for the sake of the church; they will wrestle with the nuanced controversies of the conciliar years, consider the nature of doctrine and the implications of its development, and learn to distinguish good ideas that fit an orthodox understanding of God and Christ from those that do not.

HIST 501 / History of Christian Life and Thought II: Medieval Christendom and the Age of Reform (8th through mid-17th centuries)

This course will enable students to become acquainted with major theological, institutional, political, economic, cultural, and spiritual developments in the millennium from the seventh through the seventeenth centuries. Through crusades, trade routes, and the age of exploration, contacts are made among cultures that were previously unknown to each other. Relationships among Christians, Jews, and Muslims become volatile in this period, providing incidents for analysis that are relevant to current struggles. Similarly, cultural tensions between Eastern and Western Christianity erupt into schism. By the end of this period, the church has suffered multiple fractures and is carving up the world.

HIST 502 / History of Christian Life and Thought III: Modern Christianity and its Challengers (mid-17th through 20th centuries)

Beginning with the Enlightenment and the revolutions of the eighteenth century, this course identifies the assumptions of modernity that emerge in Europe and the Americas, challenges to these assumptions that are raised within the Euro-American context, and the effects of Euro-American attempts to impose them in other cultures around the world. What are the consequences for Christianity of rationalism and Romanticism; colonialism and indigenous struggles for independence; Marx, Darwin, and Freud; ecumenism, feminism, and racial consciousness; world wars and weapons of mass destruction; mass transportation and communication technologies? Students who have completed this course should be able to show how specific forms of contemporary Christianity are related to the contexts in which they have taken root, and where their theological positions fit in the spectrum of options that have developed in Roman Catholic and Protestant theology in the twentieth century. Similarly, they should be able to describe the nature of the Anglican Communion, how Anglican identity is expressed in theology and practice in at least two different cultures, and the parameters of Anglican ecumenical engagement with at least two other Christian groups.

03-521S / Emergence of Anglicanism

An exploration of the beginnings of Anglicanism as both a series of events and a broader spiritual movement. The course will follow the development of Anglicanism from the English Reformation through the late eighteenth century, when it became a global communion. Along the way, the course focuses on notions of tolerance in the era of restoration, the variety of traditions developing within and dissenting from the established English church in the Age of Reason, and the recurring themes of evangelism and mission as the church entered the modern era.

03-522S / The Growth of the Anglican Communion

A seminar study of the global expansion of the Anglican communion during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The course will explore missionary outreach and the establishment and growth of Anglican Churches in selected cultural contexts around the world.

HIST 605/ The Episcopal Church in American Society (ECUSA)

This course will examine major themes and issues in the historical development of the Episcopal Church in the United States from its founding in the eighteenth century to the present. The course will focus on one major theme for each historical era and examine the broader American religious and cultural context in which this aspect of the history of the Episcopal Church takes place. We will explore, for example, the high church-low church debate of the antebellum period within the broader context of antebellum cultural religious life and thought. The course also provides an opportunity for students to learn about the Episcopal Church's relationship to the larger culture by examining such issues as: the Episcopal Church and Emancipation; the Episcopal Church and Civil Rights; the Episcopal Church and "the next Christendom."

03-616S / Richard Hooker

A study of the pre-eminent theologian of the sixteenth-century Church of England with attention both to the situation of the church in Elizabethan England and to the contemporary significance of Hooker for the ecumenical Christian community.

HIST 668 / Mission in the Anglican Communion

A biblical, historical, and theological study of the Christian mission with attention to (1) Anglican missionary movements and (2) the challenge to the Christian mission in a multicultural society. The primary focus of the course will be the theological grounding of mission in the doctrine of God.

Religion and the Arts

04-540S / Historic English Churches

English churches hold special interest both as repositories of a rich history and as sources of lasting influence. The history of religious culture from the early Middle Ages to the present has left discernible traces in these buildings. This course will examine the development of English church architecture against a broad background of religious and cultural history. We will explore what the surviving evidence in the church reveals about the liturgical and devotional lives of clergy and laity.

04-550S / Religion in Literature

An examination of the way much literature carries either in its text or subtext the essential beliefs of Christianity. Authors studied include Donne, Herbert, Eliot, Greene, West, O’Connor, Murdoch, and Spark. Some discussion of ways to use literary materials in sermons.

ARTS 590 / Women Saints in Christian Art

This course will explore the lives of the saints to be included in the Seabury chapel art project. Students will consider the significance of each woman historically and for the church and the Seabury community today, how they have been depicted in Christian art, and how they might be depicted today.

03/04-623S Classics of Christian Communication: Joyce's Ulysses

Joyce's 20th century epic will be read as a reconfiguring of Western Christian culture and the announcement of teh post-Christian era. This vividly imagined and profoundly ironic work gives new epistomological power to the body, sexuality, and family relations and suggests the categories which contemporary theology must take seriously. May be taken for credit in theology, moral theology, church and modern culture or religion and literature.

04-621S / Churches and the Church

This course examines the history of church architecture within the broader context of local and general church history. The first unit traces the development of church building from the early centuries of Christianity through the Middle Ages. The second examines late Gothic churches thematically, in connection with liturgy and parish life. The third resumes the chronological overview, from the Reformation through the twentieth century. Visits to Chicago-area churches will be integral to the course.

Theology

THEO 510 / Systematic Theology

An historical and systematic study of basic Christian doctrine as it has been understood within the Anglican tradition. The Trinitarian structure of the Apostles’ Creed will provide the foundation for the development of a pastoral and homiletical methodology. Required for M. Div. students in the junior year.

BIBL 671 / Biblical Theology

The work of church leadership engages biblical theology at every turn: birth, life, death, worship, marriage, suffering, institutional administration, and many other dimensions of church life constitute a domain within which we live out a vocation as biblicaal theologians. This class will consider leading topics of biblical theology in the context of church life through readings, discussions and case studies.

05-603S / Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and Grace

This course, through lectures and seminars, will investigate the biblical foundation for the development of the doctrines of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Spirit in the Christian tradition. We shall examine how the recovery of those doctrines is essential for the Church today, in such areas as vocation, spirituality, and evangelism.

THEO 641 / Authority in Anglican Theology

Orthodoxy, broadly and theologically considered, is a key question in any approach to the topic of authority. This course will consider the question of orthodoxy at four moments in the history of the Anglican church. At each point we will look carefully at arguments on both sides of given questions and explore their claims to orthodoxy. This will offer four examples to test the thesis that the category of "persuasion" might best describe the way authority functions for Anglicans. We will examine the creedal controversy from Nicea to Constantinople, the Oxford Movement, the Radical Orthodoxy Movement and the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops vote to consent to the consecration of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop co-adjutor of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

05-610S / Anglican Identity

Beginning with the question of what is distinctive about Anglican identity, the course will explore this question by a close reading and assessment of selected Anglican thinkers such as Hooker, Taylor, Butler, Wesley, Maurice, Kirk, Temple, and non-English "Anglicans."

05-615S Development of Doctrine

An overview of the development of Christian thought from the first through the nineteenth centuries, with emphasis on selected issues: faith and reason; Christ and salvation. Students will work with major historical texts that have shaped theological tradition and will inquire into the meaning of doctrine and its development. Required for M.Div. candidates in the junior year.

05-616S / Atheists and Apologists

A study of the rise of modern atheism, from the early Enlightenment to the present. Students will read primary texts by authors of great significance, those who raise questions about the existence of God and/or belief in God as well as those who offer an intellectual defense of Christian faith. Authors studied will vary from time to time and may include Camus, Descartes, Dostoevsky, Graham Greene, Hegel, Hume, Marx, Toni Morrison, Iris Murdoch, Newman, Nietzsche, Flannery O’Connor, Pascal, and Sartre.

05-620S / Reformation Theologies

Based on a sustained reading of Calvin’s theological system and of representative texts from other reformation movements, the class will explore the developments in key areas of Christian doctrine during the late medieval and Reformation periods.

05-621S Recent Trinitarian Thought

An examination of the contemporary renaissance of Trinitarian theology. The course begins with a survey of the biblical and patristic roots of doctrine and then examines recent contributions from a variety of perspectives. Significant attention will be paid to implications for ethics, worship, and spirituality. Authors to be studied, which will vary from time to time, may include Boff, Gunton, Johnson, Jungel, Kasper, LaCugna, Lash, Milbank, Moltmann, Rahner, and Zizioulas.

05-627S / Reading is Believing

An exploration of the meaning of the Apostles’ Creed through literature and film. Each week students will read a novel or see a film in preparation for a thoroughgoing discussion of its theological implications. The goal of the course will be to enliven the language of the Creed by placing it within various contemporary contexts. Authors to be studied will vary, and may include novelists such as Dickens, Duncan, Greene, Kingsolver, Morrison, Murdoch, and O’Connor, as well as film makers such as Godard, Scorcese, and Tornatore.

THEO 670 / Classics of Mystical Theology

A seminar exploring diverse traditions of Christian mystical theology through careful reading of classic texts. Theologians to be considered will vary from year to year.

05-632S / The Incarnation and Contemporary Questions

The doctrine of the Incarnation has long been central in the Anglican understanding of Christian belief and practice. This course will examine both the historical importance of the doctrine in Anglicanism and its significance for the new questions arising in the Christian community. Depending upon the interests of the class, we shall examine the contemporary importance of the doctrine of Anglicanism in one or more of the following areas: (1) the recovery of the doctrine of the Trinity, (2) the development of political theology, (3) sacramental theology and contemporary spirituality, (4) ecumenical ecclesiology, and (5) questions of gender and sexuality.

05-640S / Anglican Theology Since the Oxford Movement

A study of significant developments in Anglican theology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with special attention to theology in the United States and elsewhere in the Anglican Communion. In addition to the usual doctrinal developments, attention will be given to political theology and ecumenical theology.

05-645S / Ecclesiology and Ecumenism

An exploration of the ecumenical dialogues in which the Episcopal Church is involved. The course will focus on the ecclesiological issues that emerge in the efforts to achieve ecumenical agreement.

THEO 655 / The Cappadocians and Friends

This course will study the great fourth century Eastern Church fathers: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. Gregory of Nyssa, along with the works of some of their contemporaries, such as St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom.

Spirituality

SPFM 501 / Spirituality for Ministry

An introduction to types of spirituality and spiritual disciplines, resources for personal and professional formation, and the role of spirituality in the practical life of the Church. Required for M. Div. candidates in the junior year.

SPFM 610 / Spiritual Direction

Exploration of issues and methods in spiritual direction through readings in current literature, guest speakers, practical exercises, and discussion.

06-680S / Classics of English Spirituality

A seminar on selected major figures of English spirituality from the Middle Ages to the present. Possibilities include Julian of Norwich, Walter Hilton, Lancelot Andrewes, George Herbert, William Law, John and Charles Wesley, Evelyn Underhill, and C.S. Lewis, among others.

Ethics and Moral Theology

THEO 550 / Christian Ethics I

This course offers a biblical, historical, and systematic investigation of the shape of the Christian moral life. We will ask: What kinds of formative processes are at work in contemporary culture? What kinds of people are we called to be, and how are we called to act? How are our lives shaped by scripture and tradition, and by theory and practice (and how should they be)? How does this formation give rise to an ethics, such that we might respond in "Christ-shaped" ways to the circumstances of everyday life (whether dramatic or mundane)? This course will is structured with attention to the central role of the worshiping community in the ethical formation of Christians, and how such formation compares with and contrasts to that of the wider culture.

THEO 551 / Christian Ethics II

This course continues our investigation into the shape of the Christian moral life. It has three major components: (1) it continues the outline of the history of Christian ethics, focusing especially on the modern era; (2) It provides a thorough grounding in the methods of "virtue ethics," as well as introducing some alternative approaches; (3) it encourages students to work with particular issues of current concern, which may be drawn from inquiries into economics, criminal justice, ecology, medicine, sexuality, and/or the media. The course continues to focus on the central role of the gathered worshiping community in the ethical formation of Christians, and to attend to how such formation compares with and contrasts to that of the wider culture.

08-612S / Ethics and Human Sexuality

This seminar will consider changing understandings of the nature of human sexuality through historical, contemporary, theological, and ethical studies.

08-620S / Narrative and the Virtues

Theological ethics is under-going considerable change, in part because of a recognition that human beings are not autonomous ethical actors but are formed communally, in particular virtues, by particular narratives. This course explores the "virtue" tradition (and its recent revival), from Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas; it also examines the renewed interest in the categories of narrative and story. It explores the use of these approaches in Christian ethics, focusing on the work of Stanley Hauerwas, James McClendon, John Howard Yoder, and others.

08-640S / The Christian Life

This course seeks to enable students to give an account of the Christian life, beginning with the experience of faith as reconciliation and moving to the deepening of faith in life and worship. Particular dimensions of the moral life will be addressed, such as covenants, hospitality, love and justice, work and vocation. Prerequisites: a basic course in theology and a first-level course in ethics.

Liturgics

MLIT 501 / Liturgy I

This course will enable students to understand how Christian worship "works" as a form of ritual and to articulate the meaning of liturgy and its central place in Christian life. We will examine the nature of ritual and dimensions of Christian liturgy, including symbol, space, action/ body language, and texts. Through this exploration students will develop tools for liturgical planning. Attention will be given to the significance of cultural context, including both historical and contemporary contexts.

MLIT 502 / Liturgy II

The focus of this course is the theology and historical development of principal forms of liturgy: daily prayer, eucharist, initiation and calendar. Rather than a comprehensive historical survey, each form is examined separately in the course. Students will develop skills in liturgical analysis, building upon work done in Liturgy 1. Particular attention is given to the development and meaning of the rites in the western churches, and to the contemporary ecumenical convergence articulated in Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry and the Revised Common Lectionary. While some attention is given to distinctively Anglican understandings, Anglican liturgical and sacramental theology and practices are not studied in detail.

MLIT 622 / Anglican Worship

A study of the Anglican prayer book tradition and distinctive features of Anglican worship from its origins in the Reformation to the present. Particular attention will be given to the structure and theology of the rites of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and earlier prayer books of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

MLIT 601 / Practicum in Liturgical Celebration

A practicum in planning and presiding at worship in the Episcopal Church, including baptism and eucharist as well as pastoral offices. Strongly recommended for seniors in the M.Div. program and other final-year students preparing for ordination.

09-608S / The Liturgical Year

Exploration of the origins and development of Christian feasts and the liturgical calendar, and their meaning and practice in the Church today.

MLIT 611 / Christian Initiation

A study of the historical development and theological content of the rites of baptism and confirmation. Students will read a number of historical texts, including liturgies, catechetical homilies, and theological commentaries. Particular attention will be given to the shape of the rites in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (and other contemporary rites), the relation of these rites to earlier patterns, and the place of baptism and confirmation in Christian life today.

MLIT 630 / Liturgical Inculturation

In a resolution adopted by the 1998 Lambeth Conference, the bishops of the Anglican Communion urged “the church everywhere to work at expressing the unchanging Gospel of Christ in words, actions, names, customs, liturgies, which communicate relevantly in each contemporary society,” an endeavor that scholars describe as “inculturation.” This course will begin by exploring the theological and historical foundations for inculturation of the liturgy. We will then consider how liturgy is inculturated in particular contexts, including the contemporary United States. Other contexts to be studied will be determined by participants in the course.

09-619S / Sacramental Theology of the Reformation

A seminar study of the sacramental teaching and liturgical texts of major Reformation traditions and Roman Catholicism as these traditions took shape during the sixteenth century. Students will read a number of historical texts from the Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican, and Roman Catholic traditions.

Religion in the United States

05-670S / Theology in America

An exploration of the theological foundations of principal movements in American religious history through investigation of historical texts.

10-601S / Religion, American Society and Culture

Through historical and contemporary readings, this course seeks to enable understanding of the Christian faith in terms of how it has been shaped by the history and cultures of the American peoples and, in turn, how Christian faith has shaped and challenged the experience and understandings of the American peoples. The broader purpose of such work is to address the question of American identity—and in that light to develop constructive understandings of the Christian faith and the mission of the Church.

10-602S / Civil Religion in the U.S.

During this course, students will examine the structures and parameters of American Civil Religion and discuss the responses to its presence within and influence upon American society. This will be done through the study of the speeches, articles, addresses, sermons and essays of Benjamin Franklin, Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X, Lucretia Mott, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. A part of the class evaluation will include opportunities for students to compare and contrast these historical figures and their different understandings of the role of Church and state, their visions of a transformed society, their positions on race and gender, and their appropriations of other aspects of religion in the public sector.

Church Music

MLIT 500 / Liturgical Music I: Introduction to Liturgical Music

This course will introduce students to the use of music in the worship services of the Episcopal Church, and of the seminary in particular. Students will receive particular attention and tutoring if they have had previously little or no experience with musical notation/the written staff/the keyboard, or who may be unsure in their singing. Having learned to sing and read music easily, the class will begin to build hymn and service music repertoire at levels comfortable for each student. Exploring the resources of The Hymnal 1982 and of more recently authorized musical publications of the Episcopal Church, students will become familiar with hymn texts and their scriptural, theological and metrical indices; various styles of chanting currently in use; the several psalters and other sources of service music available for liturgy. Students will begin to develop skills for the integration of music in the planning of liturgies. (0.5 unit; credit/no credit; required of M.Div. students).

MLIT 510 / Liturgical Music II: The Ministration of Liturgical Music

This course traces the historical development of music used in Christian liturgical worship, examining important elements in the liturgical heritage of the historic Churches of the East and West. The impact of nearly forty years of Liturgical Renewal has been to change the face and soul of the church's worship patterns, including its music. These latter days have added the impetus of including strong elements of cultural inclusivity and contemporary language in the liturgical mix. Knowledge of this material is fundamental for church leaders wanting to design worship services which are musically attractive, balanced, and appropriate to the wide range of situations in current Anglican liturgical use. Class discussions will concern pastoral and administrative issues which bear on the current use and practice of music in the Episcopal Church, including the administration of parish music programs, clergy-organist relations, matters of aesthetics and artistic taste, volunteerism and professionalism, and instruments and their use. (1 unit; letter grade; required of M.Div. students).

MLIT 505 / The Use of the Voice in the Conduct of Public Worship (0.5 unit)

This course enables students to develop skill in public reading; learn to officiate at Evensong and celebrate the Sung Eucharist; sing collects, dialogues, prefaces, litanies, the Gospel and other lections, and the Exultet. Individual coaching based on students’ interests and needs is combined with group presentation and critique. Limited to twelve students each quarter.

MLIT 680 / Colloquium in Sacred Music (1/3 unit per quarter)

A weekly discussion of some aspect of the Church’s music, its theology and practice, centered around the presentation of papers by students and faculty. The Colloquium is a part of the Cooperative Program in Sacred Music, in conjunction with Northwestern University and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Christian Ministries

MNST 500 / Pastoral Care and Congregations

This course is designed to introduce students to the history, literature and theory and practice of pastoral care and congregational leadership in various North American cultures. Students will examine a theological method that considers human experience in the context of scripture, the Christian tradition and particular church communities and cultures. Through congregational studies, students learn how to assess family systems within a cultural context and provide broader meaning to group dynamics. In this respect, pastoral care is learned as a multifaceted practice that is extended to the individual, family/household, parish community and the wider society or culture. A major component of this course will explore ministry to the ill and bereaved in the study of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). This exploration provides the necessary background for students preparing to do the required basic unit of CPE following their first year of study.

MNST 601 / Church, Ministry, and Culture

This course is intended to give students interpretive approaches to understanding congregational life not as a "thing" or an "organization" but as a way of life of a community (at least potentially, a community informed by spiritual meanings and actions) and to understand leadership as a relationship of communication, trust, conflict work, and, for the church, as an energizing and creative tension between the Reign of God and the actual way of life. The course provides hands-on experience of a variety of congregations and their leaders, students visiting congregational sites in teams. Upon return, students are responsible, in teams, for interpreting and critically reflecting on the congregations and leadership patterns of the congregation they visited.

12-505S / Ministry Skills Workshops

Each student will participate in workshops selected from a series offered over the course of their residency at Seabury-Western. The workshops will be conducted by seasoned practitioners drawn from varied external sources. They are designed to build knowledge and skills in areas such as clergy wellness, racism and cultural variation, conflict management, cultivating lay ministry, grief and death, and ministry to various age groups.

12-511S / Ministry to the Addicted Person (0.5 unit)

This course is designed to familiarize students with the special problems confronted in parish ministry with abusers of alcohol and other drugs and with those affected by the abusers’ behavior. Confrontation and other techniques for facilitating recovery will be considered together with the liabilities and limitations of treatment.

12-512S / Introduction to Pastoral Care

The course will expose prospective parish priests to the theory and practice of pastoral care. Emphasis will be placed on the development of pastoral skills, as well as theological, cross-cultural, and psychological models of interpretation.

12-540S / Christianity and Ministry in a Multi-Cultural Society

This course will seek to provide an arena for the exploration of the critical challenges which are brought by a multi-cultural secular social order against the traditional Christian approaches to theology, spirituality and evangelism. Each session will include a topic paper emerging from the British experience. Group members will be invited to reflect from their own experience on the issues as presented and they will be encouraged to propose ways in which appropriate forms of dialogue, mission and ministry may be developed at a congregational level to engage with such challenges in a constructive manner.

12-608S / Women in Ministry

This course will meet once a week for an extended period of time to discuss major issues confronting women. Special attention will be given to questions of identity and priesthood focusing on the experience and consciousness of women. Readings from feminist literature will be combined with some discussions with women from outside the seminary.

12-609S / Perspectives on Marriage and Family Systems

The goal of this course will be to develop a working knowledge of the major conceptual tools for under-standing marriage and family relationships. The theoretical frameworks of dynamic and systems perspectives—including structural, strategic, developmental and transactional models—will be reviewed. Students will be expected to demonstrate a grasp of basic theory and an ability to utilize theory to analyze the functional and dysfunctional aspects of a family system.

12-612S / Group Dynamics

Based on the Tavistock model, this course will investigate the relevant psychological dimensions of groups within the parish context. Major concepts to be considered are group tasks, boundaries, norms and roles, and the exercise of power, authority and leadership. The objective of the course is to enhance one’s ability to work effectively in church institutions with emphasis on the parish.

MNST 625 / Interfaith Action in the World

This course is designed to build the skills and knowledge-base for facilitating interfaith dialogue and building strong interfaith action partnerships by beginning with youth. Through core readings in scriptures, theologies, and social action movements of different religions, students will learn to foster and lead a continuous process of service, reflection, and social action with youth from different faith traditions. Students will engage in field research in Chicago and learn from case studies of groups that are helping connect youth with deep religious concerns for peace, justice, and the good society through education and embodied social action. The course is open to all ACTS seminary students, Northwestern students, and lay and ordained religious professionals interested in doing interfaith work with youth.

MNST 641 / Models of Young Adult Ministry

This course offers a unique understanding of young adult religious engagement. Five distinct models of young adult ministry will be explored, looking at how they are developed, structured and led, as well as the theological, spiritual, and psychological impact that each type of ministry has on young adults. The course includes team field-study, cultural analysis, and "evangelistic ethnography" in the neighborhoods and suburbs of Chicago. Students will learn mission principles and pitfalls as they apply to work with young adults, and will practice developing ministry objectives from the "primary texts" of people's lives.

MNST 605 / Sex, Money, and Real Estate: Canon Law and Church Polity (0.5 unit or 1 unit)

This course will include an overview on the structure and contents of the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church, as well as an examination of the relationships and intersections between the national constitution and canons and those of local dioceses. Students will study the historical sources of canon law and the interaction between canon law and secular law in the U.S. The course also examines how canon law regulates and determines several specific areas of daily clergy and parish life: worship, ordination, deployment, clergy discipline and presentment, marriage and divorce, parish governance and management of real and personal property. In addition, the course will focus on points of secular law which have significant impact on the life of the church and its clergy, including laws concerning employment, clergy malpractice, privileged communications, sexual misconduct and general liability issues.

MNST 610 / Advanced Studies in Leadership

In this course we will study a wide variety of specific leaders: women and men, elected leaders, innovators, radicals, business leaders, reformers, and specific religious leaders. Classic theories of leadership by Weber, Machievelli, and others will be tested against examples. The effect of followers will also be examined.

MNST 621 / Sexuality and Pastoral Care

This course is designed to provide a critical analysis of various pastoral care approaches to sexual identity, gender issues, marriage and family, sexual relationships and sexual expression. It will devote special attention to both the historical Christian attitudes toward sex and current church teachings, policies and documents about sexual identity and practice. Moreover, the course will explore the diversity of sexual morality as reflected in Christian denominations and groups, including Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, Integrity, the Promise Keepers, Presbyterian, Church of God in Christ and the Episcopal Church. Topics that will be considered include patriarchy and feminist theology, clergy sexual abuse and recent Anglican/Episcopal discussions regarding the ordination of women, both heterosexual and lesbian, and gay men.

MNST 623 / Senior Seminar (0.5 unit)

A seminar for graduating students, during which participants will prepare and discuss presentations on some of the following topics: clergy finances and taxes; peer/colleague relationships after ordination; bishops and vestries; diocesan politics; friends/discretion; personal support after ordination; continuing education; needs/differences for men and women in the clergy; résumés and job interviews; parish administration: rescuer or overseer?; roles: pastor, priest, prophet, king; time management; lay leadership; personal time.

MNST 604 / The Christian Formation of Children

This course will chronicle the development of children’s formation in the past twenty years from an educational model based on public elementary schools to a formational model rooted in liturgical spirituality. The basic principles of Maria Montessori and their application to children’s faith development will be outlined, and opportunities will be provided for firsthand experimentation with the primary adaptations of this approach: the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play, Worship and Young Children, and Saving Wisdom.

14-610S / Educational Basics

An introduction to the principles and methods of developing and sustaining Christian educational programs in the parish. We will deal with such issues as developmental stages, "teachable moments" in the life of the parish, and training Church School teachers.

14-615S / Theory and Practice of Bi-Cultural Ministries

This course will focus on development of skills (practice) and knowledge (theory) in multicultural perspectives, dynamics and ideals of personality and culture that inform delivery of pastoral care, counseling, and Christian education. The course explores analysis of core cultural value systems as tools for effective understanding (empathy), entry (presence and listening), and transformation (change and prophecy) in one’s and another’s culture.

MNST 610 / Practice of Ministry

Practice of Ministry is made up of ten weeks of full-time experience in selected parishes. During this period of full-time work, students will meet regularly with a faculty team and site supervisors for action/reflection sessions. Required for M. Div. candidates in their senior year.

15-601(602,603)S Elective Practice of Ministry

With the approval of the Christian Ministries faculty, students may choose to do up to three units of elective Practice of Ministry under either of the following conditions: 1) in addition to the regularly required Senior Practice of Ministry, or 2) in place of the regularly required Senior Practice of Ministry when the student falls under any of the categories in which she or he is exempt from this requirement.

15-610S / Clinical Pastoral Education (3 units)

One basic unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) on a full-time basis is required of all candidates for the M. Div. degree and L.Th. diploma. As a student chaplain working under close supervision, the individual is challenged to bring the elements of faith, character and commitment to the actual situation of ministry. Usually taken in the summer between junior and middler years.

Theological Bibliography and Research

RSCH 502 / Theological Bibliography (0.5 unit)

An introduction to reference works for the theological disciplines. Emphasis will be placed on evaluating this material. Attention will also be given to subject headings in theological libraries and to resources for research using computer technology. Recommended for first-year students.

RSCH 662 / Research Methods Seminar (0.5 unit)

An orientation to methods of research and management of research projects for M.T.S. students.

Preaching

PRCH 501 / Preparing to Preach

An introduction to the concept of kerygma, or the church’s proclamation, and a pursuit of a preaching message authentic to the contemporary church and the individual preacher. Emphasis is placed on the formation of the preacher rather than on the sermon as product. Reading and discussion alternates with the regular preparation and delivery of brief homilies in a non-competitive environment. Required for M. Div. candidates in the middler year.

PRCH 602 / Practice in Preaching

Six sermons are prepared and delivered over the quarter, with the emphasis placed on the development of a preaching voice unique to each individual yet consonant with the overall preaching message of the church. Students are encouraged to discover their passion and preach from it on a consistent basis. Includes workshops on exegesis for preaching, pastoral preaching, and preaching without a manuscript. Required for M. Div. candidates in the middler or senior year.

PRCH 610 / Advanced Issues in Preaching

Many preachers were taught to offer didactic lectures on the meaning of scripture. As the church recovers its missional orientation, how does preaching change? This course will look at both the what of missional preaching and the how; what is the content of the gospel preached by a church recovering from 1700 years of empire, and how is that gospel best conveyed? Participants will be challenged to revisit their own theological stances and express new insights through practical exercises and opportunities to preach to one another.