Course List

This course must be completed before taking any other courses.  There is no charge for this course. 

This course is an overview of the history and polity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from its beginnings on the American frontier to the present day. Prerequisite: None

This course in theological ethics will focus on biomedical ethics (sometimes called bioethics). Students will be introduced to methods within bioethics as tools for making moral judgments. The course will begin by focusing on a description of bioethics and then turn to a case study that focus on 1) access to healthcare and 2) life at its beginnings. Prerequisite: None

You must have completed all work in the IB and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Scade to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

This is a four-week (1 credit) course that is a prerequisite for all other courses in the LW area (Leading the Church in Worship). Students will master basic concepts and theological issues that will provide the foundation for consequent LW courses. In this course students will learn the following: A basic understanding of ritual, symbol, and worship A broad overview of the biblical and historical foundations of Christian worship, including marking liturgical time A beginning theology of Christian worship and proclamation Issues related to leadership in worship, including structuring the liturgical year and designing a basic worship service The origins and use of lectionaries The office of daily prayer An introduction to leading public prayer An introduction to choosing music for the liturgy NOTE: This course includes two required assignments in your current congregation. One is to write and lead the opening prayer (called a “collect”) for the Sunday service midway through the course. You should begin to make arrangements for this as soon as you have registered for the course. In the other congregational assignment, you will lead the prayers of the people during the worship service immediately following the last day of the course. Note: If leading the prayers during these worship services would conflict with the schedule of your church and cannot be accommodated, please contact the instructor immediately to discuss alternatives. This course also includes an assignment that requires you to designing a worship bulletin and choose hymns for an upcoming service sometime within the next three months. Note: You are just designing the service as an exercise; it does not have to actually happen in the congregation (although that would be the ideal.) The point is to give you practice in designing a worship service and preparing a bulletin (a requirement for MDiv students as part of the competency exam). Prerequisite: None

You must have completed all work in the IP and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

 Please contact the registrar notify her of which areas you are matching up.

This is a four-week (1 credit) course that offers students an introduction to the history, theology, and leadership of Christian rites of passage and sacraments/ordinances. In this course students will become familiar with the following: Socio-religious theoretical perspectives on the function of rites of passage and worship rituals. Biblical, historical and theological foundations for sacraments/ordinances and Christian rites of passage. Detailed understanding of the major rituals of baptism, communion, weddings and funerals, including biblical, historical and theological background, as well as practical considerations. Prerequisite: LW 550 Credit: 1.0

This course must be completed before taking any other courses.  There is no charge for this course. 

This course will set each Pauline letter in its original setting, noticing how each is a pastoral and theological response to the social, spiritual, and theological questions and problems that had arisen in the church to which he writes. It will examine how he interprets the gospels in ways that address that church’s concerns and shows them how to be faithful to God and the gospel in the pluralistic society of the first century. The course also explores ways to appropriate these texts for the church today, as we think about how our spiritual and religious concerns have some analogies with theirs, and how Paul’s responses to these questions do and do not give us guidance in today’s church. Prerequisite: IS 520 Credit: 1.0

This course will provide a basic Biblical, theological, and practical introduction into the spiritual discipline of stewardship and provide best practice principles for guiding the financial and fiduciary responsibilities of the pastor as church leader. Prerequisite: None

The theme that unites this course is that different people experience, understand, and live their faith in different ways. We begin by reflecting on the nature of faith in the scripture. Then we look at faith development theories of James Fowler and John Westerhoff, which help us understand developmentally how people may experience faith at different times in their lives. We then look at some best practices in faith formation to see what we might learn about growing in faith. Prerequisite: None

You must have completed all work in the IB and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Scade to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

 Please contact the registrar notify her of which areas you are matching up.

This course must be completed before taking any other courses.  There is no charge for this course. 

The purpose of this class is to introduce you to the basic political and religious background of the New Testament, with the goal being to prepare you to do detailed study of the texts. This course intends to introduce information about the life circumstances of the time of Jesus and the early church so that you will be able to understand these texts more clearly by setting them in their own context. This will enable you to use the New Testament in legitimate and meaningful ways in your congregations and help you hear the word of God and be given a basis for faithful living. Since the Bible is the central text of the Christian tradition, a thorough knowledge of it is essential for being a good leader. Listening for the voice of God through disciplined study and examination of the text is also an important spiritual discipline that should be an important part of your ministry. Prerequisite: IS 520 Credit: 0.5

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In this course we examine a time-honored and common practice of faith formation in congregations: Bible study. We consider why congregations engage in Bible study and what conditions need to be present in order to help children, youth, and adults learn best. We also explore a variety of methods that can be used to design a Bible study, as well as strategies to help people engage the Bible in their prayer lives. Prerequisite: None

The purpose of this class is to introduce you to some of the issues that influence how we understand and use the Bible. We will explore how books became important for the faith community of the Israelites, how the Bible came together as a book, and what it means to say that the Bible is inspired. We will also explore ways to appropriate the biblical text for today so that it can be a guide for the church’s beliefs and practices. The goal of this study is to prepare you to do more detailed study of the texts and to use them in your ministry. This course intends to help you begin to understand these texts so that you may use them in legitimate and meaningful ways in your congregations and so that you and they may hear the word of God and be given a basis for faithful living Prerequisite: None

Theology is essential for effective preaching. This is the case because the heart of every sermon is and should be a claim about the nature of God. This theological claim has implications for how we live in community, with ourselves, our congregations, society and Earth itself. In this course, students will learn how to identify theological claims in a sermon and make theological claims from a biblical text that can be used for the purposes of proclamation. Prerequisite: IF 550 and LW 550 Credit: 0.5

This course introduces students to ways of studying congregational contexts using several different frames. These include the frames of culture, ecology, and resources. Students will learn, respectively, how to study the distinct ways of being together that congregations invent and practice, how to see congregations as organisms in their social and religious environment, and how to inquire into what assets or ‘capital’ congregations have and what might be accomplished with them. By learning to interpret congregations through these different frames, students will thereby learn how to imagine ways that congregations might adapt and change. Credit: 2.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives)

This course provides students with an introduction to the basic theoretical concepts and methodological tools of cultural anthropology, and emphasizes the ways in which the discipline helps us interpret how diverse populations construct and enact meaning. The tools of anthropological analysis not only help us understand the “other”, but allow us to see our own culture with fresh eyes and perhaps discover our own cultural biases and assumptions. Credit: 2.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives)

The culture around us is changing bringing new opportunities for us to teach faith. The church must find ways to be the church in these changing times. In this course we will examine three cultural shifts: digital age, the rise of the SBNR/Nones, and religious pluralism. We will conclude by reconsidering faith formation in light of these cultural shifts. Prerequisite: None

This course will teach the techniques of historical-critical exegesis. We will look at the methods that help readers of the Bible come to understand what the text meant in its original setting. It also explores the way that these results can be appropriated for the church today so that the Bible can help lead the churches beliefs and practices. Prerequisite: 3 Hours of Required IS Credits Credit: 2.0 (Offered During On-Campus Intensives)

 

Important Dates:

Draft of Sermon due  February 3

Preach on February 9 or 16.

Text options are Matthew 22: 1-14 or 2 Cor 5:16-21

F 556 – Who Do You Say That I Am: Christology This course combines two separate but closely related theological doctrines: the study of Christ (his two natures, his works, his death, his place in the Trinity) with a study of salvation, how Christ’s death brings atonement, who is saved and the nature of heaven and hell. Prerequisite: IF 550 + two additional IF credits Credit: 1.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives) IF 558 – God Save Us: Soteriology The doctrine of Soteriology (salvation) integrally depends on the doctrines of Christology, Creation, Theological Anthropology, Theology, Eschatology and Ecclesiology in order to have any meaning all. If you think about it, figuring out what it means to be saved means we have to ask these questions: “From what must we be saved?” By what mechanisms does salvation occur?” and “To what will we be saved?” The theological shortcut for these questions looks like this, “From what/through which/To what?” It is this formula that will guide our time together, as we work together on one of the most difficult questions professional theologians, and lay theologians alike wrestle with which is: “What happened on the cross?” Prerequisite: IF 550 + two additional IF credits

You must have completed all work in the IB and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IB and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Clayville and Dr. Scade to make arrangements for the exercise.

F 556 – Who Do You Say That I Am: Christology This course combines two separate but closely related theological doctrines: the study of Christ (his two natures, his works, his death, his place in the Trinity) with a study of salvation, how Christ’s death brings atonement, who is saved and the nature of heaven and hell. Prerequisite: IF 550 + two additional IF credits Credit: 1.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives) IF 558 – God Save Us: Soteriology The doctrine of Soteriology (salvation) integrally depends on the doctrines of Christology, Creation, Theological Anthropology, Theology, Eschatology and Ecclesiology in order to have any meaning all. If you think about it, figuring out what it means to be saved means we have to ask these questions: “From what must we be saved?” By what mechanisms does salvation occur?” and “To what will we be saved?” The theological shortcut for these questions looks like this, “From what/through which/To what?” It is this formula that will guide our time together, as we work together on one of the most difficult questions professional theologians, and lay theologians alike wrestle with which is: “What happened on the cross?” Prerequisite: IF 550 + two additional IF credits

You must have completed all work in the IF and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IF and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Askew and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

IP 550 – Early and Medieval Western Church This course is a general overview of the history of Christianity from third century, C.E. to the Protestant Reformation. This course includes a required assignment in your current congregation to lead/teach a lesson/discussion on a particular element/event of/in church history. This can take place in Sunday School, a small group setting, or before the whole congregation (not appropriate for Sunday morning worship). You should begin to make arrangements for this as soon as you have registered for the course. If you are unable to schedule this assignment in your congregation, you must ask the instructor before the course begins for an alternate assignment to satisfy the course requirement. Prerequisite: None Credit: 1.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives) IP 551 – From Reform to Individualistic Freedom This course is a general overview of the history of Christianity from the end of the Protestant Reformation to the early twentieth century. This course includes a required assignment in your current congregation to lead/teach a lesson/discussion on a particular element/event of/in church history. This can take place in Sunday School, a small group setting, or before the whole congregation (not appropriate for Sunday morning worship). You should begin to make arrangements for this as soon as you have registered for the course. If you are unable to schedule this assignment in your congregation, you must ask the instructor before the course begins for an alternate assignment to satisfy the course requirement. Prerequisite: None Credit: 1.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives)

You must have completed all work in the IP and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IP and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

Once you have registered you should contact Professor Breeding and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LC areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Coble to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LF areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. McFayden to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LM areas before registering for this course.

 

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Newton to make arrangements for the exercise.

You must have completed all work in the IS and LW areas before registering for this course.

 

 

Once you have registered you should contact Dr. Sumney and Dr. Schade to make arrangements for the exercise.

LC 550 – Creating a Congregational Culture of Care Creating a Congregational Culture of Care During this course, we will seek together to develop your role as a pastoral caregiver within the congregational context and to cultivate your gifts in equipping the entire congregation to be a community of care. To achieve this, we’ll investigate theories, methods and practices of pastoral care and counseling, and will explore the role of theological reflection within the contexts of congregational care. We will consider how our embedded and operative theologies impact our approach and role in care giving. We will also engage a diverse selection of scholars in theology, systems theory and organizational dynamics. All these areas will be examined through the varying lenses of gender, cultural, national, racial, ethnic, ability, class and sexual difference. Prerequisite: LC 520 Credit: 1.0 LC 552 – Diagnosis & Referral: Lost Art of Listening This course is designed to introduce students to skills for effective pastoral care giving. Students will learn the art of pastoral listening through instruction, practice and feedback, thus helping to improve interpersonal self-awareness. This course introduces the topics of pastoral assessment/diagnosis and intervention, with specific attention to learning when and how to refer a person to additional sources of care. Prerequisite: LC 520 Credit: 0.5 LC 554 – The Art of Visitation Visitation is one of many activities which fall under the larger heading of pastoral care. As such, this course builds on theories and practices covered in LC 520 Pastoral Care Modalities with the intent of aiding the student in becoming a more self-aware and effective pastoral care giver. This course will not recommend any one method for visitation, but will facilitate reflection on the various advantages and disadvantages of different options for doing visits and implementing a visitation program. It will argue for and try to facilitate deep awareness of even the small decisions and moments in this incarnational ministry. The nature and work of God. We will look at ideas about creation and providence, God’s dual nature as both immanent and transcendent, theodicy and the nature of God as Trinity. This course includes a required assignment in your current congregation to conduct and reflect on a congregational visit. You should begin to make arrangements for this as soon as you have registered for the course. If you are unable to schedule this assignment in your congregation, you must ask the instructor before the course begins for an alternate assignment to satisfy the course requirement. Prerequisite: LC 520 Credit: 0.5

LM 561 – Governance & Management Governance and Management (LM 561), along with Stewardship (LM 560) and Conflict (LM 562), forms the trio of required courses for the Leading the Church into Mission curriculum. Taken together, these courses help prepare you to provide management and leadership for congregations, especially congregations confronting change. Most U.S. congregations today are going through some kind of significant change. These courses build upon Pastoral Leadership Concepts (LM 520) which introduced basic concepts of leading a congregation through adaptive change. In LM 561, we begin by reviewing the differences between technical and adaptive change and the differences between management and leadership. Then we study some of the most effective ways that clergy and lay leaders can organize themselves to move the mission and life of their congregation into the future. In particular, we study congregational governance structure. We assess our own congregational maps in order to learn the best way to equip a congregation for a future wherein most members are engaged in doing ministry (direct hands-on work) and a smaller set are engaged in governance (the policy work of committees and boards). We study the role of boards and what makes for good governance and good board members. Then we turn our attention to the role of volunteer teams and study the best ways to recruit, manage, and equip those who carry out the ministries of congregations. Prerequisite: None Credit: 1.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives) LM 562 – Managing Congregational Conflict Conflict (LM 562), along with Administration and Property (LM 561) and Stewardship (LM 560), forms the trio of required courses for the Leading the Church into Mission curriculum. Taken together, these courses help prepare you to provide management and leadership for congregations, especially congregations confronting change. Most U.S. congregations today are going through some kind of significant change. These courses build upon Pastoral Leadership Concepts (LM 520) which introduced basic concepts of leading a congregation through cultural change. In LM 562, we learn how to lead a congregation through the conflicts that are generated when congregations confront change. By studying the relationships among conflict, loss, and grief, we learn how leaders can identify the sources of tension, develop habits and strategies for working with people caught in conflict, and use the past to shape and reshape the congregation’s future. We learn that conflicts are not all the same, and that there are different styles for managing different conflicts. Finally, we reflect on conflict theologically and liturgically. Prerequisite: None Credit: 1.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives)

 Please contact the registrar notify her of which areas you are matching up.

This course must be completed before taking any other courses.  There is no charge for this course. 

This course will cover Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings which tell the story of Israel’s Life in the Land. Traditionally viewed as Historical Books (Christianity) or Former Prophets (Judaism) these books are often understood collectively as The Deuteronomistic History by biblical scholars. The extended narrative depicts a flawed “Golden Age” during which a landless people gains control of a vast territory with the help of God. The story peaks when David and Solomon unite God’s people to control the entire “Promised Land.” At the center of the land is the Temple. By the end of the story, the people are once again landless, exiled to the land of their captors, and the Temple has been destroyed. The narrative is filled with well-known characters: Joshua and Deborah, Samson and Delilah, Saul and David, Bathsheba and Solomon, Elijah and Elisha, Ahab and Jezebel. Students will learn the importance of these narratives, both as a narrative framework for understanding the Hebrew Bible, and as foundational stories for the New Testament. Prerequisite: IS 520 Credit: 0.5

This course will introduce students to the basic forms and functions of preaching, with the goal of moving from biblical exegesis to theological public proclamation. Students will build a “homiletical toolbox” for preaching that will include the use imagery, metaphors, and creativity in crafting sermons. We will also attend to the performance of preaching, including the use of one’s body, presence, and voice in order to deliver effective, engaging, and inspiring sermons. NOTE: This course includes a required assignment to preach in your ministry site which is to be recorded and submitted following the on-campus intensives. You should begin to make arrangements for this as soon as you have registered for the course. This course will consist of several pre-class assignments and 3 full days of in-person instruction. Prerequisites: LW 550, IF 552, IS 560 Credit: 2.0 (Offered during On-Campus Intensives)

 

Important Dates:

Draft of Sermon due  February 3

Preach on February 9 or 16.

Text options are Matthew 22: 1-14 or 2 Cor 5:16-21

There is no easy answer to the question “Why?” when a child dies, or a house burns or cancer is diagnosed. As preachers, teachers and care-givers, it is our responsibility to learn when and how to respond and when and how to stay silent. In this course we will think about God’s role in suffering and in hope. We will think about ways that we can help people (including ourselves) reflect on struggle and on the cultivation of hope. We will by-pass any answers that only serve to make us, the care-givers, feel better and focus instead on the deep theological resource that can be brought to bear as we negotiate life. Prerequisite: IF 550 Credit: 1.0