Current Course Offerings

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to different methods used to interpret texts. Students will learn and develop skills of closely reading texts, analyzing historical and contemporary contexts, and thinking critically through issues. This class will introduce students a wide range of sacred and secular texts. Students will learn to apply rhetorical strategies to construct interpretations that promote inclusivity, social consciousness, social justice, and speak to the current social and political contexts. This is an introductory level course and requires no prerequisite.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to preaching through various artistic mediums. Students will read and analyze selected biblical texts in their historical, social, and political contexts and use different artistic mediums to construct interpretations of these particular texts. The use of art will help students construct interpretations from different perspectives and different social locations leading to a deeper reflection and addressing ethical and moral issues relevant to our contemporary context. Various artistic forms will be engaged such as movement, drama, poetry, music, song, painting, etc. Preaching using artistic mediums achieves an analogous effect in retelling narratives and bringing to the surface the silent and invisible voices that have often been ignored in our written analysis of the texts. This course will seek to expand the genre of text to include other artistic mediums as texts that attempt to decenter the written word where the rules of interpretation are not predetermined for the audience.

This course introduces students to theories of ethical discernment, behavior, and formation in Christian traditions. The course prioritizes ecological wellbeing as an ethical demand of Christian living and will use case studies about human relationships with our other-than-human kindred to practice the ethical theories studied.

The final component of the Certificate of Sexuality and Religion (CSR) program (pre-stackable curriculum), the CSR Final Project is designed by the student with the approval of their CSR advisor/coordinator. Students sign up for CSR 3001 when the semester they are completing this project. The general topic of the project is established when you enter the CSR program and is used to direct your course of study throughout the program. The project should include both research and community application components. Students are recommended to consult with at least two CSR-related faculty (either regular or adjunct) concerning their final projects

This course provides a cohort pedagogy for DMin students to participate regularly throughout the term in a continuous online platform where they share what they are learning and experiencing in their other coursework and in their research, and where they engage the learning journeys and evolving projects of their doctoral colleagues. Regular interactions every month are guided by the rubric provided for the course.

Specialized field study arranged in consultation and with approval of the Community Engaged Learning faculty.

Class includes weekly synchronous sessions and 15 hours per week on-site field internship. Weekly sessions include full-group plenary sessions and small-group cohort discussion. Completion of fall and spring Concurrent Field Education courses are REQUIRED to receive a grade. Completion of both fall and spring semester meets PSR MDiv Congregational Track field education requirement.

Ministry to persons in pastoral care setting, participation in weekly individual and group reflection upon that ministry with supervisor, study of theoretical material from theology, behavioral sciences, and pastoral care. Integrates theological understanding and knowledge of behavioral science into pastoral functioning. Programs must provide at least one unit of CPE in order to receive any academic credit. CPE programs can be 4 months, 9 months, full-time summer intensives, or one-year full-time residential.

Fieldwork arranged in consultation and with the approval of the Director of Community Engaged Learning. To enroll, students must have had a consultation with CEL faculty about a planned project with broad sector or area of interest focus and confirmed mentor active in that field. Participants collaborate with each other, the faculty instructor, and their mentors to draft learning objectives and establish criteria for assessing the outcomes of their field work DNA immersion experiences.
MAST and MDiv students only, required for students in stackable curriculum.

The course is an excursion into various forms of organizational leadership in church and community. It includes prerequisites for leadership, defining leadership, and embodying leadership. The course lifts up the importance of the self and what leaders bring to leadership. It explores how people become leaders and the dynamics between leaders and the communities (organizations) they serve. Context is critical as well as theology or worldview. The course seeks to engage the soul of students. Why are they involved in leadership? What resolve attends to their visions, hopes, and paths? The course offers insights and strategies for an effective change of systems, structures, and self. It also holds forth alternative ways of organizing and being. Students will be introduced to ways of analyzing and implementing social change/transformation. Class pedagogy includes lectures, classroom discussions, small group discussions, and guest speakers from diverse social locations and ministry contexts who model leadership incarnating social change. An essential question is how do we create beloved community, a world that embraces all and works for all.

This course offers an overview and survey of past and present models of spiritual leadership and pastoral care as practiced by LGBTQ spiritual/religious leaders and caregivers. Several key figures, texts, and movements will be considered and analyzed with a view to understanding and interpreting their impact on contemporary debates. Seminar format; final collaborative creative project; and two (2) in-class presentations are required.

This course offers an historical overview and survey of attitudes toward homoeroticism and homosexuality in ancient, medieval, and modern Christianity in the West and in present-day American Christianities. Several key figures, texts and movements will be considered and analyzed with a view toward understanding and interpreting their impact on contemporary debates. Seminar format; research paper and two (2) in-class presentations are required.

United Methodist History, Doctrine, and Polity II is the second United Methodist Studies course and is intended to provide a broad overview of the theology, history, and governance structures of The United Methodist Church and its predecessor bodies. This course, in particular, focuses on the theological perspectives of the Methodist Movements that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which later came to be embodied in the Articles of Religion and the doctrinal standards of a multi-national denomination. This course is designed to fulfill one half of the credits required for United Methodist students seeking ordination in The United Methodist Church. The course will incorporate a mixture of lectures and small group discussions, and students will be evaluated through short papers, a presentation, and a notebook project.

For many faith communities, worship forms the heart of communal life. It is a place where participants learn the behaviors, rhythms, and patterns of discipleship that they hope to embody as faith-filled people of the world. Worship also marks times of transition in the life of individuals and communities. From birth to death, communities ritualized these liminal spaces that are rife with meaning and sacredness. In this course, we will examine the ways in which pastoral liturgies (e.g. dedictions, weddings, healing rites, funerals, etc.) and sacraments both shape and are shaped by culture, history, theology, language, and practice. Students will integrate their learning by practicing leading these rituals that make up a worship-full life.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the collection of writings that we come to call the New Testament. In this course, students will become familiar with the historical context, culture, and politics that led to the production of this text. In addition to the traditional historical critical approach to the text, students will be introduced to other methods such as feminist, queer, postmodern, and postcolonial readings that will help us deconstruct these texts and reconstruct interpretations that are socially, ethically, and politically relevant to the world we live in.

This course asks key questions about the work of spiritual care and caring—what is care and what does it means for leaders to care for individuals and organizations. We will explore the character of care, models of caring, and strategies and skills for offering care in particular contexts. This course presumes that effective leaders and flourishing mission-oriented organizations require tangible skills for providing care. Students will be invited to trace the unique needs embedded in particular dynamics and patterns of contemporary cultures through different contexts of care: personal, communal, systemic, and cosmic. This course is suitable for those who are preparing for congregational leadership and those in private, public, and not-for-profit service.

One of the foundational education commitments that undergirds this course is the assertion that all knowledge is contextual. In the various settings of ministry and social transformation, context plays an important role in shaping our work, our approaches to that work, our understandings of our own role in that work, and the meaning we make of it. At its core, this course seeks to ground our theological explorations in a deeper understanding of our own social contexts, as we develop facility in translating from one context to another and engaging across difference. Focusing in particular on the case of race, this course is designed as a path for exploring and understanding the ways that race in all of its intersections operates as a social fiction and lived experience in ourselves and in the communities we serve. Making use of historical, theoretical and theological lenses, we will engage in selfexploration, deep formation, readings, dialogue, and experiences with artists and activists as we build our capacity to address issues of prejudice, power, and privilege while cultivating cultural humility and cross-cultural competency.

This course offers an opportunity to deepen spiritual life in personal, interpersonal, communal, and cosmic dimensions. It will focus on engaging contemplative practices from across the inter-spiritual tradition as well as study the teachings of mystics, privileging those who lived engaged in the pursuit of collective justice. Participants will have a chance to explore the nature of spiritual formation while discerning which practices, resources, and attitudes are appropriate for sustaining vitality, rootedness, and creativity in their personal life, faith, leadership, academic, and social justice work.