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BTI Consortium | Last Updated April 21, 2026 - 6:00PM
Boston College Theology Department
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO5007
Mahayana Buddhism: Thought and Practice
BTI Category
Semester
Buddhist Studies
FA26
This course explores Mahayana Buddhist thought, meditation practice, narrative, and ritual practice across Asia. We consider texts ancient and modern. After a basic introduction to Buddhism, we take up topics ranging from meditation, to compassion, nirvana, emptiness, Buddha nature, Zen, and Mahayana Buddhist ethics. Our focus is on fundamental theological questions: What are the causes of suffering? How can meditation and ethical practices illuminate sufferings causes, and put an end to them? What is the state of unconditioned awareness, freedom, and joy that lies beyond suffering? Most importantly, what does this all have to do with me? No background in Buddhism is required.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Vale, Matthew
TR
12:00-1:15PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
UGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO5358
How Israel Matters
BTI Category
Semester
Judaic Studies
FA26
Israel, both the people and the land, are central to Jewish theology as concrete manifestations of Gods covenants. This course will explore the evolving meanings of these concepts from the Bible to today, looking at themes like peoplehood, life in the land, exile from it, and (messianic) return. The second part of the course will focus specifically on the theologies of a range of modern Jewish thinkers, with the goal of helping students to understand aspects of contemporary Israel and its meaning to world Jewry.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Langer, Ruth
TR
03:00PM-04:15PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
UGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO5377
Philosophically Religious 1
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
The 19 th century witnesses major changes in the concept of religion with the rise of atheism, modern philosophy, and science. This course covers philosophical approaches to religion from theologians and philosophers both: what is faith for John Henry Newman, Sren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Schleiermacher? What is Nietzsches religion in Thus Spoke Zarathustra? What does Ralph Waldo Emerson uncover in moving outside of institutional religion? What does religion look like in Dostoevsky and Lev Shestov? The course ends with theologians in the early 20 th century who respond to the altered landscape, including the Karl Barth and the Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Kruger, Matthew C
R
02:00PM-04:20PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
UGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7029
Biotechnologies, Health, and Theological Ethics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
In dialogue with scientists, philosophers, and theological ethicists, the doctoral seminar examines current advances in developing scientific disciplines and studies their ethical challenges for health and society by relying on theological ethics. After reflecting on biotechnology in general, in its two parts the seminar focuses, first, on biotechnologies that directly affect human health by considering human genetics (genetic information, research, testing, screening, editing, therapy, pharmacogenomics, and enhancement), stem cell research, regenerative medicine, oncofertility, and neuroscience. Second, the seminar studies new biotechnologies that indirectly regard human health: synthetic biology, nanotechnology, cybertechnology, robotics, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, posthumanism, and astrobiology.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Vicini, Andrea, SJ
M
02:00PM-04:20PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7069
Decolonizing Human Rights
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
This course critically explores the histories and assumptions of human rights and the international human rights law with a view to unpacking the entanglements of human rights and international human rights law with colonial logics of domination, racialization, and misogynoir. The course will examine how racialized and colonized people have engaged human rights for emancipatory projects, how Christians have engaged, translated, and framed human rights theologically, and explore the limits of human rights and the promises of emancipation that they make.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Wambui, Nelly Wamaitha
T
01:00PM-03:30PM,
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7071
Divine and Human Action
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
This course examines theoretical perspectives on divine and human action. It is not an introductory survey of responses to these problems but an advanced consideration of their theoretical elements: divine knowledge, will, freedom, and government; its compatibility with human freedom; nature, grace, and sin as the conditions of human freedom; and general elements of a theodicy or the problem of evil in relation to divine omniscience, goodness, and omnipotence. Prior exposure to these questions (e.g., a survey course on grace, theological anthropology, or the doctrine of God) is desirable but not required.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Wilkins, Jeremy
R
04:30PM-06:50PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7291
Moral Agency
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
This course explores the topic of moral agency through texts in theological ethics treating autonomy, human rights, conscience, and sin. It also incorporates interdisciplinary literature that considers ways in which agency is impacted by social practices, structures, and cultural norms. Case studies will be incorporated to consider how concrete social questions may impact standard understandings of autonomy and agency and the influence of nonrational factors on human freedom.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Heyer, Kristin E
W
10:00AM-12:25PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7507
Theology of Religions/Comparative Theology
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA26
This seminar will focus on the various theological positions which have been developed with regard to the reality of religious pluralism as well as on the relationship between theology of religions and comparative theology. While we will focus mainly on the works of Christian theologians, we will also pay attention to analogous developments in other religious traditions.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Cornille, Catherine M
W
02:00PM-04:25PM,
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
Counts for core class for IL certificate
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7663
Virtues Ethics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
In the first half of this course, we will study the philosophical and theological roots and the contemporary developments of virtue ethics. The second half will focus on the applicability of virtue ethics to sexual ethics, medical ethics, and professional ecclesiastical and university ethics.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Keenan, James F, SJ
T
02:00PM-04:25PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7968
Theological Anthropology
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
This graduate seminar explores modern and postmodern theological approaches to the Christian doctrines of creation, imago Dei, sin, and grace. The study of each doctrine begins with a brief survey of biblical and classical understandings/controversies, followed by consideration of later developments by post-liberal, political, and contextual/liberation theologians. The impact of recent developments in the sciences, social constructivist understandings of gender, sexuality and selfhood, and perspectives from critical race theory, class, and disability may also be explored.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Ulishney, Megan Carol
M
10:00AM-12:25PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO5022
Biblical Law
BTI Category
Semester
Scripture & Biblical Studies
FA26
This course serves as an introduction to the so-called law collections of the Pentateuch in their biblical and larger ancient Near Eastern contexts. Beyond the law collections, we will consider biblical narratives which assume legal norms and their applications and, if time permits, the reception of biblical law in early Judaism and Christianity.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Cooley, Jeffrey L
M
03:00PM-05:20PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
UGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO5376
No Place Like Home? Theologies of Community, Exile, and Belonging
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
This course in comparative ecclesiology examines the concept of community, concentrating primarily on Christianity and Islam. Drawing on scripture, premodern classical texts, contemporary ecclesiology, rites of initiation, and lived practice, students explore themes of home, hospitality, exile, and what it means to belong. The course compares Christian and Muslim visions of the Church/umma, practices of inclusion and exclusion, and theological responses to migration, diaspora, and marginalization. Through close reading and comparative analysis, the course asks how religious traditions shape identities, boundaries, and possibilities for belonging in a fractured world. For graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Welle, Jason
W
10:00AM-12:25PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
UGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO5533
Antisemitism, Racism, and Christian Nationalism
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
Events over the past decade have illustrated how antisemitism, racism, and Christian nationalism are intertwined ideologies. This course will offer a historical and thematic investigation into how these three ideologies emerge within Christian contexts, the ways in which Christian theologies and institutions inform them, and modes of resistance to them. A core outcome of this class will be to recover and generate theological positions that actively counter these ideologies.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Daniel
TR
09:00AM-10:15AM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
UGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7042
Augustine's City of God
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA26
This course offers a close reading of Augustines City of God. While the immediateoccasion was the sack of Rome by Alaric (410), Augustines thought on the two cities had been germinating for several years. Partly an apology for Christianity, the book offers a sweeping survey of human history from Adam to the eschaton, as well as searching reflections on Christian existence in the present age (saeculum). He treats topics such as the nature of bodily existence, Christian participation in the political order, the value of ancient philosophy, the role of the emotions, divine providence, and the interpretation of Scripture.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Hunter, David G
M
04:30PM-06:50PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7070
Medieval Christology
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
This seminar will give careful, primary-text based attention to the developments and achievements of high medieval scholastic Christology, from Peter Lombard to Bonaventure, Aquinas, and Scotus. In particular, it will attend to such issues as the Primacy/Predestination of Christ, Exemplarism and Creation; the Metaphysics of the Incarnation; Devotion to the Humanity of Christ; Christs Consciousness; and the grace of Christ the Head.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Coolman, Boyd
T
10:00AM-12:25PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7110
Theology, Ethics, and Politics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
Participants will consider how theological claims (about Christ, Cross, and eschatology) are interpreted in relation to historical-political contexts and their ethical-political demands. We will engage World War II era German political theologians (Bonhoeffer, Metz, Moltmann, Slle), Reinhold Niebuhr, Catholic social encyclicals (e.g., Populorum progressio, Laudato Si), Latin American liberation theology (e.g., G. Gutierrez), African American theology (e.g. Katie Canon), African political theology (e.g., Emmanuel Katongole), and postcolonial feminist theology (e.g., Agnes Brazal). We will follow their specifically ethical-political dimensions; and relations among ethics, the arts, and social change (e.g., Nichole Flores, Aesthetic Solidarity: Our Lady of Guadalupe and American Democracy).
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Cahill, Lisa
T
04:30PM-06:50PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7505
Christian Manuscripts, Texts, and Exegesis
BTI Category
Semester
Church History/History of Religions
FA26
The interpretation of Christian writings from antiquity often involves the use of modern translations or critical editions, but how did these translations or editions come about? This course considers various aspects of early Christian manuscripts and issues related to the early transmission of the New Testament, along with the relevance and significance of these aspects and issues for exegesis. As the course will often be working with digital images of ancient manuscripts or modern critical editions, some knowledge of New Testament Greek is required.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Roth, Dieter T
M
04:30PM-06:50PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
Y
Notes
Greek
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7611
Hebrew Exegesis of the Dead Sea Scrolls
BTI Category
Semester
Scripture & Biblical Studies
FA26
This course begins with exegesis of the Hebrew text of the three "Rules" found in the Qumran caves and in the Cairo geniza: the Community Rule (1QS), the Rule for the Congregation (1QSa), and the Damascus Rule (CD). We will also survey passages from other sectarian texts devoted to interpretation of scripture and history, esp. the pesharim. Students with ability to read Aramaic will read selections from the Aramaic DSS that complement the Hebrew texts, and all will read the entire corpus of non-biblical mss. in English translation.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Gillihan, Yonder
R
10:00AM-12:25PM,
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
Y
Notes
Hebrew and Aramaic preferred
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO7763
Forgiveness: Theological and Philosophical Issues
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA26
This graduate course will examine theological and philosophical interpretations of forgiveness and related topics such as guilt, repentance, and accountability. We will focus on various accounts of what it means to forgive a wrongdoer, what it means to be forgiven, and how forgiveness is related to reconciliation. We will also examine whether and, if so, how forgiveness might pertain not only to interpersonal but also intrapersonal and collective wrongdoing. Special attention will be placed on the relation of forgiveness to the virtues of mercy and justice. Readings will include historical figures such as Thomas Aquinas, Joseph Butler, and Fredrich Nietzsche, contemporary philosophers Nicholas Wolterstorff, Martha Nussbaum, and Charles Griswold, and contemporary theologians Miroslav Volf, Anthony Bash, and James Alison. Course requirements: class participation, one seminar presentation, final paper. This is intended for advanced MA and PhD students.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Pope, Stephen J
W
02:00PM-04:25PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Theology Department
THEO9670
Methods in Theology
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA26
In the late 1960s, Karl Rahner asserted that theology's new partners in dialogue were the human and social sciences. Increasingly in answering new and perennial questions, contemporary theology has partnered with archaeology, sociology, cultural studies, psychology, world religions, and forms of critical theory. This course considers various methods in doing theology as well as some of theology's significant dialogue partners.
Professor
Class Day
Class Time
Ryliskyte, Ligita
W
01:00PM-03:50PM
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites Req'd?
N
Notes
N
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