Theological Formation program Course Descriptions
Year One (Fall Term): Old Testament
The Rev. Dr. Barbara Willock, Instructor
In order to understand what happened with Jesus, and what it means for you, us, and the world, you have to spend a lot of time with the Old Testament. This course allows the student to do just this. The student reads much of the Old Testament, and learns how to grasp what is being read. There is the opportunity to explore in more depth a particular theme that becomes central to the Christian faith. Here is a chance to engage the Bible with purpose, discipline, and with fellow learners.
Year Two (Fall Term): Tradition (Church History I)
The Rev. Dr. Peter Van Horne, Instructor
What are the essentials of the Christian faith? How were they identified, developed, and articulated? What do the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds mean? These are the questions this course considers in depth and with a sense of how we answer them for today. The tradition of the Church is what is handed on from believer to believer, form local church to local church, as Christians gather to make new Christians and to celebrate their common life in communion. Come and learn what the first few centuries of the Church’s life give us as we renew our own sense of Christian identity and mission.
Year Three (Fall Term): Theology I
The Rev. Dan Handschy, Instructor
Text Books: J. J. Mueller, SJ, et al., Theological Foundations: Concepts and Methods for Understanding Christian Faith (Winona, MN: St. Mary’s Press, 2007).
Mark A. McIntosh, Divine Teaching: An introduction to Christian Theology (Oxford, Malden, MA and Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Publishing, 2008).
Additional reading: the motivated student may wish to read John D. Zizioulas, Being as Communion: studies in personhood and the Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985)
The student will learn a model of theological reflection that she can apply to any text or event as a way of appropriating the revelation of God, and the human response to it. This model will form the background to all the content of the course. The student will use this reflection model for several short papers during the course. Course content will cover the major types and subdivisions of Christian Theology, including Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology, Christology, Ecclesiology. We will also explore several of the major doctrines of the Christian Church, including the Trinity, Salvation, Atonement and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. The student will be given the opportunity to articulate her own appropriation of some of the doctrinal themes covered in the course, and reflect on their reality in her own life.
Year One (Spring Term): New Testament
Dr. Ron Crown, Instructor
This class examines the world of the New Testament, Jesus and the Gospels, and Acts and the Epistles.
Year Two (Spring Term): Tradition (Church History II)
The Rev. Dr. Peter Van Horne, Instructor
Church History II examines the history of the Christian Church from the Reformation to the present day, along with the history of the Episcopal Church from its origins in colonial America to today.
Year Three (Spring Term): Sacramental Theology
Instructor TBA
John Macquarrie, the noted Anglican theologian of the late 20th century, wrote, “The Church has been guilty of the trivialization of the Sacraments.” The Episcopal School for Ministry in the winter-spring term beginning in December examines the sacramental life of the Church with the hope of avoiding such trivialization in the future. We explore Baptism and the Eucharist and how the Church is a living sacrament reaching out into the darkness of the world as the Light of Christ. Those sacramental rites, confirmation, matrimony, reconciliation, unction and holy orders, which strengthen and support us, are considered as means of our transformation.
Year One (Summer Term): Preaching
The Rev. Dr. Barbara Willock, Instructor
One of the chief responsibilities of ministry is teaching the church its story and then helping the church keep that story straight. Nowhere is this more visible than in the act of preaching. Thus, satisfactory completion of the School’s courses of Old and New Testament ~ or equivalent study of the Bible ~ are requirements for the preaching course. Because preaching combines a number of disciplines ~ exegesis, creative writing, oral communication ~ the focus of the course is practical. Two sermons are prepared and delivered by each student and positive feedback is given by the other students and faculty. During the preparation of each sermon, the instructor is available for consultation and support. Participation in the class by those who have not had the Old and New Testament courses as taught by the school is allowed by prior approval of the Dean and Instructor.
Year Two (Summer Term): Christian Spirituality
The Rev. Beverly Van Horne, Instructor
Christian Spirituality explores the intimate relationship God has established with us and the variety of responses disciples have made to God’s love over the years. From the meaning of the word—Spirituality—the breath of life, the prayer of Israel, and the Church; from the Psalms of the Hebrew Scriptures to the Desert Mothers and Fathers, we will immerse ourselves in The Practice of Prayer and Search for a Christian Spirituality for the 21st century.
Year Three (Summer Term): Liturgics
The Rev. Dan Handschy, Instructor
This course will explore several facets of liturgical leadership in a congregation. Students will gain confidence in liturgical planning, liturgical leadership and an understanding of the theology of liturgy. We will approach liturgy as a complex system of communication. We will explore how liturgy conveys its messages, what it communicates, and how to read various liturgical practices. Students will learn how to pray the liturgy for themselves, and how the liturgy shapes and forms a community’s prayer life. Practically, students will learn how to put together a customary for a community, and the importance of doing so. The course will take account of the liturgical renewal movement of the twentieth century, and the new liturgical materials (Enriching Our Worship) approved for use in the Episcopal Church. As Eucharist constitutes the principal liturgy of the Episcopal Church, the course will focus on the Eucharist, but we will also look at Holy Baptism, and the pastoral services (Marriage, Reconciliation, Unction, Burial, etc.). In all of these services, we will pay attention to how these services both express and shape the corporate life of a congregation.
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