Environmental Ethics

ET-631-2

The Native American "Tale of Two Wolves" tells of two evenly matched wolves in a battle. One is evil, greedy, arrogant, lying, and full of fear. The other is good filled with love, hope, compassion, and integrity. The question is: which one will win? The sage's answer: the one we feed.

The study of environmental ethics can easily devolve into a spiral of pessimism, given the unprecedented challenges we face regarding the climate crisis and other ecological threats to the well-being of our planet. We are tempted to "feed the wrong wolf" and give into despair and a fatalistic resignation. Therefore, we will explore religious, philosophical, and environmental perspectives to help us understand the roots of the crises, as well as search for resources to help us "feed the good wolf." This course will equip students to work toward faith-based approaches to environmental ethics focused on justice and building community.

Peace, Justice, and Violence in Sacred Texts

IP-611

Students in this course will examine sources from the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Quran that relate to peace, justice and violence. Students will analyze sacred texts in their original socio-historical contexts, and will explore diverse ways Jewish, Christian and Muslim sources confront and interpret these texts. Students will take a case study approach to investigate how texts from all three Abrahamic traditions can and have been used to legitimate violent conflict and injustice toward others in real-life settings (e.g., empires, religious persecution, colonialism, misogyny, racism, and Anti-Semitism), as well as how they can and have been used to promote peaceful practices and just relations (peace movements, provision of care for the poor and sick by religious orders and communities, peaceable co-existence and cooperation with religious and ethnic others, liberation and justice movements).

Course fulfills the following curricular requirements:
MAIRS -The Sacred Texts as Living Documents requirement

Nonviolence in Faith-based Social Movements

IP-614

Social movements are important arenas for social change. Religion, faith and tactics of non-violence have played a significant role in many social movements. By joining together, individuals and groups have worked to transform social values or norms, establish collective identities, change laws, and chart new ways of living, learning, and being. This class will aim to further our understanding of social movements and how faith helped shape the trajectories of the movements. We will focus on how that's happened in the Americas while referring to similar movements from around the world. Topics include racial identity, nationalism, Christianity, Islam, the civil rights movement, feminist approaches, and contemporary interfaith dialogue. Course material includes primary sources and analytical perspectives. We will examine how they develop, are sustained, have changed/evolved, and (sometimes) decline. We will begin by examining theories of social movements and look at the ways in which our understanding of social movements has changed over time. We will also examine mobilization to social movements and ask why some people come to participate while others do not, as well as the tactics, goals, and successes of various social movements.

Quran Recitation/Tajweed II

AM-551

This course is designed for Muslim leaders, chaplains and anyone who is interested in learning/improving the Quranic recitation. Students will gain important knowledge on recitation of the Quran. In this course, the instructor will continue focusing on the correct pronunciation of Arabic letters and words with consistent application of tajwid rules. Once students understand and are comfortable with the application of the tajwid rules s/he can complete recitation of the entire mushaf at a better and faster pace more independently, in sha Allah.

This is the second phase of the Quran Recitation/Tajwid course. In the spring semester, we will be continuing tajwid lessons and reading Quran. The first part of the class will be teaching tajwid rules and the second part is for group tilawah - teacher reads aloud and students repeat after the teacher. There will be time for listening to the students' recitation, as well.

God in Muslim Thought

TH-622

This course surveys conceptualizations of the divine in Muslim thought and practice. The goal is to map out an intellectual history in which ideas of God provide an ordering framework, a core around which the more familiar elements of the Muslim experience take shape. It is important to emphasize that the focus in this course is on concepts of God not as objects of devotion but as subjects of inquiry. The task is two-fold: first, to show the multiplicity of normative ideas and narratives about God that are present in Muslim history; and secondly to relate changes in ideas about the divine to concrete historical conditions. Concepts of God do not just represent what people believe but also legitimate what people do, as individuals and collectivities. Ideas about the existence and knowability of the godhead, the relationship between God and nature, God and history, and God and humans are discussed. Aspects of the divine as reflected in Muslim scripture, i.e. the Quran, and canonical sources such as ?adith, are introduced early on and their intellectual and devotional implications are explored and emphasized throughout the semester.

Introduction to New Testament Greek II

LG-562

A continuation of LG-561, Introduction to New Testament Greek, Part I. Pre-requisite: LG-561 or permission of the instructor.

Readings in New Testament Greek II

LG-662

This intermediate level course is designed to enable students to read the New Testament in Greek, concentrating on grammar and vocabulary building. Students will be introduced to the wide variety of Greek styles present in the New Testament writings. Prerequisite: LG-562 Introduction to New Testament Greek, Part II or permission of the instructor.

Mental Health: A Spiritual Perspective

CH-615

This course will familiarize students with the basic concepts of mental illness to facilitate their collaboration with multidisciplinary teams (including both health and mental health professionals) serving the mental health needs of faith-based communities. The course aims to do the following: (1) to provide students with a general awareness of the cultural and religious factors particular to faith communities they will serve (2) to provide students with an introduction to specific models of care they will need to serve individuals in mental health treatment contexts and (3) to teach students to recognize mental illness and when they need to make referrals to mental health professionals.

Muslim Pastoral Theology

CH-618

This course is designed as a broad, general introduction to the field of pastoral theology. The primary goals of this course are:
(1) awareness of the major theoretical approaches in pastoral theology,
(2) knowledge of the basic research findings, concepts, and terminology in pastoral theology, and
(3) development of critical thinking skills, especially those skills relevant to the evaluation of research literature in Islam for chaplaincy.
Finally, students will be:
(4) introduced to Muslim Pastoral Theology as applied to the professional practice of chaplaincy, including research methods, theological reflection, case studies, ethics, law, life and service of institutions, care of marginal identities, and spiritual care therapies.

Resilience for Spiritual Leaders

CH-730

This course is designed for people of all spiritual/religious backgrounds who are providing spiritual and emotional support to others, leading faith communities, serving as chaplains, working on justice issues, or seeking additional self-care practices. This course about resilience teaches the participants about the characteristics of resilience, invites the participants to engage in reflective self-assessment, and provides the participants with tools and resources to enable them to develop strategies to help the people they serve in their contexts build resilience. The course includes lectures, individual reflection, independent reading, written reflection, resilience-building workshop exercises, and small-group discussion. It is only through learning to cultivate our own resilience that we can mindfully extend that invitation to others through our programs, teaching/preaching, conversations, and role modeling.

Hebrew Bible Survey

SC-522

This course will examine the content and theology expressed in the Hebrew Bible. We analyze scripture using historical-critical methodologies that consider the biblical material in light of its ancient Near Eastern context. We also investigate how the Hebrew Bible has been interpreted by different faith communities.

Women in the Qur'an

SC-556

In this course, we examine what the Quran says about "woman" and we consider both classical and contemporary exegetical approaches to Quranic interpretation. We explore Quranic portrayals of women, sex, sexuality, and gender relations and how they have been understood in diverse communities of Muslim interpretation. Furthermore, we come to understand the basis for differing interpretations of Quranic verses concerning women, gender relations, marriage and the family. This course aims to familiarize students with the key contemporary Quranic debates on woman/women and as such provides essential background to those pursuing scholarship, religious leadership, or chaplaincy.

The Blessed Book: The Interfaith Roots of an African American Biblical Imagination

SC-652

Africans and their descendants in North America developed a distinctive tradition of Bible reading that evinces a prophetic-apocalyptic imagination with an ethic of perseverance. That evidence is found in biblical texts embedded in a wide variety of prayers, songs, stories, and sermons. This course examines selected African American orature (e.g., spirituals and folklore) and literature to explore the formation of the Black Church�s biblical �canon within a canon� as the result of an extensive �interfaith� and multi-cultural conversation and negotiation among diverse African ethnicities in the slave communities of the United States. While �interfaith� refers to the full spectrum of religious world views (Smart) Africans carried to North America, special attention will be paid to the importance of African Muslims as a source of epistemological resistance to enslavers� Christianity and as agents of �local assimilation� of the Bible in the Christian religion of the enslaved and the formation of the Black Church.

Introduction to Black Theology

TH-526

This course will examine the human condition in light of God's liberating activity. Liberation theology, womanist theology, and the theologies of oppressed peoples will be explored as a method of investigating, explicating, and critiquing religious thought.

Theological Approaches to Religious Diversity

TH-611

The phenomenon of multiple religions raises complex questions. People who take religious
identity seriously may wonder: how is the very fact of religious diversity to be understood?
Specifically, how is this fact to be understood theologically? How is one to connect with
adherents of other religions, yet maintain one�s own particular identity? What has theology to
do with that? This course examines three contemporary theological approaches to religious
diversity: theology of religions, comparative theology, and scriptural reasoning. It guides an
exploration of the theoretical foundation, methodology, and practical aspects of each approach.
In the process, it introduces scholarship on theology of and engagement with religious diversity
from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Ruist points of view. This course
enables students to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and to articulate
their own theological approach to the phenomenon of religious diversity.
(Formerly offered as Theological Approaches to Religious Pluralism)

Course fulfills the following curricular requirements:
MAIRS - Islamic Studies: Religious Pluralism
MAIRS - Ministerial Studies: Beliefs and Practices