This course will be offered in conjunction with the Duffy lectures on Global Christianity which will be delivered in 2023 by the famous Indian theologian, Felix Wilfred. In addition to focusing on the particular characteristics and challenges of Christianity in India, it will also reflect on what Hindu-Christian comparative theology may offer Christian theology more broadly.

The purpose of this course is to develop strategies by which the anti-Judaism endemic to Christian traditions can be recognized and undone. This course will begin with an examination of the development and workings of Christian anti-Judaism. Attention will then turn to how such anti-Judaism has entered into Christian life and practice, especially within the context of teaching, preaching, and worship. The course will conclude with developing new approaches to resisting anti-Judaism in Christian contexts and public spaces.

This course will explore the history of medieval Christian Hebraism and its consequences for the perception of the Jewish other. Starting with Jerome, Christian scholars have seen the Hebrew Bible, rather than the Septuagint, as the authoritative version of the Old Testament. In the course of medieval history, this led Christian scholars to seek contact with Jews and Jewish sources, to better understand this text. In various ways, these encounters shaped Christians perceptions of Jews, both in negative and positive ways. The course will survey the work of patristic and medieval authors such as Jerome, Bede, Andrew of Saint Victor, Nicholas of Lyra, Paul of Burgos, and Matthias Doering.

Over the course of our lives, many people suffer from serious acute or chronic illnesses, traumas, and disabilities. We all mourn the losses of loved ones. We all, at some point, confront dying, death and grief. Despite their certainty, many approach these life events with anxiety, fear, and avoidance. This course will address human sickness, trauma, disability, and the processes of dying and grieving from psychosocial, theological, clinical-pastoral, liturgical, and experiential perspectives. Building on current studies, research, and dynamics related to the care of persons who are sick, disabled, traumatized, and dying, this course will enhance the knowledge and skills needed to intervene and respond effectively to the spiritual and emotional needs of people who may look to a compassionate caregiver for guidance, comfort, and healing in times of crisis and loss. This course is intended for a diverse group of caregivers—pastoral counselors, healthcare, prison, and school chaplains, lay and ordained ministers, and other health care professionals—who provide assistance and care both in institutional settings and within families and communities.

A social construction at its core, the modern idea of race has been given power through the years. Accruing strength and mostly negative use over time it has cut across the private sphere and become a portentous social idea in the form of systemic racism, institutionalized within government, laws, medical science, religion, culture, and society. This course explores the historical foundations of race and racism, and ranges over different manifestations of institutional racism in the spheres of criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power, education, and religious and congregational life. It also looks into recent movements for racial justice in thought and practice, and considers ways in which theological ideas and church practices can be refocused to contribute to racial justice within the academy, ecclesial communities, and the larger landscape of society.

The study of death and dying is a complex, multidimensional, and evolving field. This course draws on contemporary theory and research to explore death and dying from multiple perspectives, including religious, theological, pastoral, and psychological. Topics include societal attitudes toward death; facing one's own death; cultural features of death and dying; end-of-life issues; children and death; funerals and the use of ritual in ministry to the dying; pastoral sensitivities and skills for ministering to the dying; and pressing contemporary concerns, such as death in the workplace, institutional death, violent death, and death in global perspective.

This course explores how aesthetics and imagination shape expectations and hopes we have for our communities. The class begins with an exploration of “theopoetics,” which affirms that how we express experiences of the divine shapes what we think the divine is. Content builds from there to the role of imagination in religious reflection more broadly. Readings are profoundly interdisciplinary, with scholarship from philosophical and sociological treatments of imagination, psychology, theology, and literary criticism. Some customization of work is possible and students will be able to deepen their focus in directions of their choosing by selecting texts that speak to them.

This module explores the consequences and lessons of COVID-19 that are still unfolding among us. Operating primarily from the perspectives of pastoral care and organization health, the class will look at some of the ways in which the pandemic -- and pandemic response -- has highlighted structural social inequality and the importance of community in responding to crises. Attention will be given to innovations and challenges related to the faithful use of technology, new ways of building community, and how to discuss social issues related to health and science informed by care for the common good.

The dynamics of human living, including experiences of God, are multidimensional: intrapersonal, interpersonal, group, structural, cultural, and global. Given these interrelated interior and exterior dynamics, what are the sources, mediums, aims, and risks of care? This course responds to this question using the literatures of spirituality studies, peace studies, practical theology, and pastoral care.

Ethnographic and historical introduction to the Indian subcontinent with a focus on the impact of religion on cultural practices and social institutions.

What is happiness? How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, fulfilling life? Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Epicurean, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary studies on happiness and mindfulness

This course introduces and explores multicultural and pluralistic approaches to providing care within spiritual communities. The Multicultural Orientation Framework and dual-factor approach will be discussed and explored. Integrative, culturally responsive perspectives will be applied to promoting growth and flourishing.