All classes are scheduled to meet Monday through Friday at the designated times, unless otherwise specified. Most courses require reading prior to the start of class. Each professor has the prerogative to exclude a student from class for failure to meet this requirement. Additional reading may be assigned during the course. The standard guide for written papers in the Advanced Degrees Program is Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7th ed., University of Chicago Press, 2007, which reflects the citation of The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.

An Introduction to Ancient Eastern Christianity
Stang, Charles M. [3 hours]

In this course we look closely at early, eastern varieties of Christianity. The history of early Christianity is usually told from the perspective of Greek and Latin-speaking communities, but we will focus our attention instead on the wealth of literature that survives from Christian communities who lived in areas as diverse as Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and China, who largely spoke and wrote in a dialect of Aramaic called ‘Syriac,’ and who have survived as a minority religion from the earliest centuries until today.

To read before the course begins:

Samuel Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. 1: Beginnings to 1500

Primary sources will include:

Gospel of Thomas
Acts of Thomas
Bardaisan, The Book of the Laws of the Countries
Aphrahat, Demonstrations [selections]
Ephrem, Hymns on Paradise
Jacob of Serug
Leontius of Neapolis, Life of Symeon the Holy Fool,
Life of Symeon Stylites
The Acts of Mar Mari the Apostle
Persian Martyr Acts [selections]
Barhadbeshabba, The Cause of the Foundation of the Schools
Timothy I, The Debate on the Christian Faith Isaac of Nineveh, The Second Part [selections]
The ‘Nestorian’ or jingjiao stele

 

The Historical Jesus
Holloway, Paul [3 hours]

Thoughtful Christians and intellectuals in general have long been aware that the Bible offers various theological interpretations of Jesus, which in turn raises the question of how Jesus might be viewed when interpreted through the lens of historical reasoning.  This course will attempt to answer this question and through it the related question of how the earliest interpretations of Jesus themselves were constructed. 

To be read before the course begins:
Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (Fortress Press, 1985)
The Historical Figure of Jesus (Penguin, 1993)

Further Bibliography
Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ (2nd ed; Yale, 2000)
Raïsänen, The Rise of Christian Beliefs (Fortress, 2010)
Vermes, The Changing Faces of Jesus (Penguin, 2000)
White, Scripting Jesus (Harper, 2010)

 

Preaching in the Liturgical Tradition
The Rev. Dr. William Brosend and Rev. Dr. Benjamin King [3 hours]

This course will explore the distinctive historical, theological, and homiletical features of preaching within Anglican and other liturgical traditions.

Special attention will be paid to key figures and moments in the history of preaching, to the development of the student's own theology of preaching in her or his own tradition, and to the contemporary practice of preaching within those traditions. Students will present sermons in class as a part of their graded work.

To be read before the course begins:

Ellen F. Davis, Wondrous Depth: Preaching the Old Testament
Rowan Williams, Ray of Darkness

 

Caring for Marginalized Populations: Pastoral Care in Context
The Rev. Dr. Gregory C. Ellison II [3 hours]

This course garners "expert" wisdom from scholars and practitioners with distinct disciplinary perspectives who have variously considered the nature and power of human hope and the potential threats to hope faced by marginalized populations and the caregivers who seek to aid them.  Young African American men will serve as a primary lens to investigate the problem of threatened hope, muteness, and invisibility.  However, care for other unacknowledged groups including, but not limited to, the imprisoned, the poor, the wealthy, and the elderly will be discussed.

To be read before the course begins:

Nathan McCall, Them
Donald Capps, Agents of Hope: A Pastoral Psychology
Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited

 

Types of Anglican Theology
The Rev. Dr. Mark Chapman [3 hours]

This course presents an overview of Anglican theology by addressing official Anglican formularies, liturgies and statements as these relate to different aspects of ecclesiology and theology and across different periods. Rather than a straightforwardly chronological approach, we will discuss the theology and theological implications of ‘official’ and semi-official documents and liturgies of the Church of England, The Episcopal Church, The Anglican Communion, as well as other national and regional churches. We begin with doctrinal statements of the English Reformation and briefly at how these have been understood in non-English Churches, before moving to liturgy, ecclesiology and current issues in Anglicanism. The historical context of each set of texts will be explored by supplementary reading and classroom notes.

To read before the course begins:

*Mark Chapman, Anglican Theology (T & T Clark, 2012) (or more briefly, Mark Chapman, Anglicanism: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2006).
Samuel Wells, What Anglicans Believe: An Introduction (Morehouse Publishing, 2011)