REL 8100a, Mission-Driven Innovation  Sarah Drummond and Teresa Chahine

Whereas all leaders strive toward positive results – black ink on balance sheets, erected buildings, networked information systems – mission-oriented leaders strive toward humanity’s best interests and the flourishing of all creation. In this course, students will learn about how to bring together practices of discernment, social entrepreneurship, and leadership to make a vision – a transcendent ideal – become real. Mission-oriented innovators are not just dreamers. They take seriously the scope of societal challenges both locally and globally, and the finitude of resources to meet these challenges. To effect change, they must be strategic, creative, and thoughtful. They must rely on relationships with constituents and other like-minded allies, and, when people come together, they become more than the sum of their parts.  3 Course cr
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

REL 8804a, Practical Theology Seminar  Almeda Wright

This seminar offers an orientation to the field of practical theology and an overview of methodologies for doing practical theological reflection in a variety of contexts. As a field, practical theology is both old and new. Practical theology is concerned with the practices and actions, past and present, of God, individuals, and communities. Practical theology is also concerned with reflecting on these actions with an eye toward renewed or improved practices in the future. Thus, we utilize practical theological methods to help us explore the connections between our religious traditions and convictions and the way we do ministry and/or theological reflection in engagement with the world. This course fulfills the requirement for the practical theology proseminar for the M.A.R. concentration in Practical Theology and is open to other interested students. Area IV.  3 Course cr
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

REL 8807a, Practicing Care: Intro to Pastoral Theology for a Complex World  Staff

As an introduction to pastoral theology and care, this course explores the history, theory, and methods of the care of souls tradition, concentrating on a narrative, communal-contextual model. The course invites learners into the practice of particular pastoral care skills such as listening and responding in pastoral conversations; supporting families through life transitions; “reading” and engaging cultural contexts and systems of injustice in which care takes place; and the intentional uses of the self in spiritual care. The course introduces at a basic level key theoretical frameworks including narrative, intercultural/interreligious care; family systems; and grief and trauma theory. Teaching and learning methods include lecture, discussion, case studies, role plays, theological reflection, genograms, and visits to local ministry sites. Area IV.  3 Course cr
HTBA

REL 8813a, Christian Spirituality and Practice  Staff

This course provides an overview of some of the schools of Christian spirituality and offers guidance for interpretation, practice, and reflection. Some of the questions raised include: Who are some of the major figures in the practice of Christian spirituality? How did they interpret their times through their spiritual practice (and vice versa)? If, as Ignatius of Loyola proposes, God can be found in all things, how have contemporary Christian writers on spirituality engaged the world through their spiritual practice? How does one deepen and grow a practice of Christian spirituality? And, finally: do I need to be certain about belief in order to practice Christian spirituality? (hint: No)  3 Course cr
TTh 9am-10:15am

REL 8815a, Radical Pedagogy  Almeda Wright

This course studies and employs radical pedagogy as a lens through which to explore the intersections of religious education and community transformation. In essence, the class explores the ways that education, particularly religious education, is powerful, political, transformative, and even radical. This course also pushes students to address questions about the goals of education. Many proponents of radical pedagogy embrace ideals of radical equality or democracy. To explore these issues, the class wrestles with contemporary questions about educational reform in public schools and considers what role religious education can play in addressing social justice concerns within communities. The foundational theorists and conversation partners in the course include public and religious educators, critical theorists, and community organizers. While this course directly draws upon experiences as persons of faith and experiences within religious communities, the cases and readings draw heavily on what might be called “secular” theorists and educators who focus on public educational arenas. Area IV.  3 Course cr
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

REL 8824a, Ministry and the Disinherited  Frederick Streets

There is a serious and vigorous public debate about the influence of religious values upon society. What ought to be our social responsibilities, particularly to those who are most vulnerable and in need of support, is a contested issue. The COVID-19 pandemic intensively and sharply reveals the public health crisis before us as well as some of the social and systemic inequities that structure our society and how those inequities impact the lives of people. This course has as its focus the effort to theologically reflect on, and discern from, an interdisciplinary approach to defining “the disinherited.” Students explore aspects of the Christian dimensions of social and political reform movements; the contours of faith-based social services; the influence of religious values on individual behavior; and ideas about the role of the church and government in meeting human needs. Through the interests and research of students, the course addresses topics such as poverty; health care disparities; sexual orientation; ethnic, gender, and racial discrimination; hunger; immigration; homelessness; public education; and the welfare of children. Students are expected to develop an interdisciplinary approach from perspectives found in biblical scriptures, sacred texts, theological/religious beliefs and values, social work, sociology of religion, law, psychology of religion, political science, and social welfare theories. In that setting, students contextualize a theological understanding of the disinherited and what might constitute a ministry that addresses the needs of these groups. The learning journey of the course intentionally engages students on three overlapping themes or levels: theological frameworks, personal identity/sense of vocation, and practical tools one uses in living out one’s ministry and/or sense of self in the world. Area IV and Area II.  3 Course cr
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

REL 8849a, Earth-Honoring Witness as Public Theology  Carolyn Sharp

This course considers ways to bear witness to the inherent value of Earth as a living and interconnected community that teaches profound theological and ethical truths. Through sustained reflection on preaching and other proclamatory practices understood as public theology, students explore such issues as: ways in which scripture passages testify to the intricate glories and stark vulnerabilities of creation as a site of the transforming work of the divine; the intelligence, giftedness, moral agency, and relational sophistication of other-than-human creatures; human sin as a major vector for harms that are catalyzing global ecological disaster and causing enormous suffering in creation; and grace as the divine intention not just for humanity but for all living beings, Earth, and the cosmos. Engaging contemporary homiletical theory and studying sermons from expert preachers, students develop their homiletical skills and their capacity to envision and advocate for the restoration of Earth and the flourishing of its communities. Together students listen for the Gospel in sermons focused on creation, climate justice, and interspecies kinship; explore the potential of micro-homilies to build the capacity of faith communities for ecotheological reflection and Earth-honoring praxis; and attend to poetry and memoir writing as sources of wisdom. This course meets the Preaching/Public Address distributional requirement for the M.Div. degree. Area IV. M.Div. students are expected to have taken Hebrew Bible Interpretation and New Testament Interpretation. No prerequisite applies to students in other Divinity degrees or to YSE students.  3 Course cr
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

REL 8862a, The Gospel in Lament: Preaching for a Suffering World  Carolyn Sharp

As resources for theology and ethics, the Hebrew Scriptures are unparalleled for their sustained attention to the suffering of believers and their articulation of ways in which ancient scribes responded to trauma through narratives, poetry, and other cultural forms that promoted resilience and renewed flourishing. In the New Testament, stories of miraculous healings abound, highlighting Jesus’s compassion for and responsiveness to those who suffer. This course is designed to help the preacher offer proclamation in ways that speak grace to those who suffer. Educators, activists, artists, and others in faith communities need to hear public theology that engages fruitfully with issues such as poverty and economic precarity; the suffering of other-than-human creatures and human responsibility; political repression and other forms of systemic injustice; spiritual resilience in the face of catastrophic injury, intractable pain, or terminal illness; the fragility and strength of the human spirit in community; benefits of spiritual practices for healing and tranquility; and artistic creativity and cultural memory as resources for addressing loss and trauma. Engaging theories of preaching, students design and preach sermons that explore homiletical approaches to suffering in biblical texts and contemporary contexts. None  3 Course cr
T 1:30pm-3:20pm