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BTI Consortium | Last Updated April 11, 2023 - 5:00PM
INTERRELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP
CERTIFICATE (PRE-APPROVED COURSES)
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPS7182
Pastoral Care in/with Communities of Faith: Creating Networks of Care
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA23
Life is in inherently relational, multidimensional, interconnected, and located within larger systems and structures � i.e. communities. Thus, our practices of pastoral care and counseling must likewise attend to the multidimensional and systemic nature of relationality. This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore personal, pastoral, and communal processes of creating networks of care in communities of faith and para-church organizations. Both pastoral and lay leaders will learn how to engage and utilize systems theory, conflict theory, therapeutic skills and processes, and theological and spiritual resources to navigate conflict, foster dialogue, and build constructive solutions and possibilities in community as part of an overarching practice of pastoral care. Particular attention will be given to one’s self-in-relationship and the capacity to remain a non-anxious, non-reactive constructive presence.
Professor
Class Day & Time
William Roozeboom
ASYN
ASYN
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPT8138
Impasse and Spiritual Transormation
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA23
This course gathers multi-disciplinary resources for spiritual responses to intractable conflicts. It develops a working social theory definition of identity and traces dynamics of transformation in The Dark Night by John of the Cross. Next, it examines Constance Fitzgerald�s concept of impasse and its implications for socio-political life. Finally, it reflects on wisdom, hope, and imagination in light of the foregoing challenges.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Heather M. DuBois
T
3:30-5:30
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
Y
Notes
One year of graduate level theology
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO7507
Theology of Religions/Comparative Theology
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA23
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 & Time
Catherine M Cornille
T
10:00-12:25
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University Graduate Program in Religion
GRS RN766
Tolerance
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (All Traditions)
FA23
Explores the religious roots of tolerance as an alternative to secular, more liberal foundations for pluralism. Grapples with the challenge of tolerance to the revealed religions and the ways different societies have met or failed to meet this challenge. Presents multiple case-studies and contemporary connections, explores relevance to students own experiences.��
Professor
Class Day & Time
Adam Seligman
TR
11:00-12:15
Grading Option
Audit; Letter; P/F
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
DOCTORAL
School
Boston University School of Theology
STH TC859
Interfaith Leadership
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA23
A-TERM: This course offers an entry point into the emerging field of Interfaith Leadership. It will provide students with an analysis of the power and potential of interfaith leadership in justice work, community building, and personal spiritual maturation. It includes the study and interpretation of historic and contemporary examples of interfaith leadership, requires students hone an articulation of their own faith-based motivations for interfaith engagement, and teaches best practices for engagement across differing belief systems. Students will engage in interfaith dialogue as part of their course work. Upon completion of the course, students will have increased their ability to engage in interfaith settings, understand how interfaith leadership differs from intra- faith leadership, and be clear on their individual points of tension in interfaith leadership settings, as well as those of their denomination or faith tradition. The course welcomes people of all faiths from atheism to theism and does not require a specific affiliation.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Wendy Von Courter
A TERM
9:00-4:00
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University School of Theology
STH TC850
Identity, Preaching, and Leadership in a Postcolonial Context
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
FA23
This course provides distinctive postcolonial lenses through which students will explore and examine how persons and communities practice intercultural preaching (alternatively, public speech) and leadership in relation to identities: culture, race, gender/sex, religious traditions, and religious communities. Through investigating various historical sociocultural religious traditions and religious leaders in terms of postcolonialism, class, race and sex/gender, students will critically reflect on challenging conditions of power and authority and engage with the complexities of leadership and preaching. Building on these studies and reflections, students will gain a keen sense of understanding different leadership and preaching practices interculturally, and develop their own approaches for their varied contexts and identities.
Professor
Class Day & Time
David Jacobsen and Hee An Choi
W
8:00-10:45
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPS7277
Trauma Healing and Prevention
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA23
Traumatization occurs at the interrelated social, psychic, and physiological boundaries of life and death. This course offers an introduction to trauma healing and prevention for contexts of pastoral and spiritual care. It surveys approaches to trauma developed in peacebuilding, public health, and psychology, as well as the emerging subfield of trauma theology. The final research paper is a vocational case study.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Heather M. DuBois
R
3:30-5:30
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO5437
Jewish/Christians Reading Bible
BTI Category
Semester
Interreligious Learning
FA23
This course compares how core themes in the scriptures of Israel have been received, interpreted, and disputed in their classical texts by both the Jewish and Christian communities. It will juxtapose these received readings with contemporary interpretative methods informed by the modern turn to Jewish-Christian understanding. Themes explored include creation, election, covenant, and commandment. This co-taught course will be an intentional exercise in interreligious dialogue.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Ruth Langer and Daniel Joslyn-Siematkoski
R
4:30-6:50
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University Graduate Program in Religion
GRS RN638
Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
BTI Category
Semester
Judaic Studies; Islamic Studies
FA23
A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Diana Lobel
TR
2:00-3:15
Grading Option
Audit; Letter; P/F
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
DOCTORAL
School
Boston University School of Theology
STH TA815
World Religions in Boston
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA23
A-TERM: In an increasingly pluralistic society it is essential to have some understanding of the beliefs and worship patterns of other religions and to be able to engage in dialogue with them. This course utilizes the Pluralism Project at Harvard to explore new forms of interfaith engagement. Seven weekly lectures introduce the issues surrounding interfaith work and a basic understanding of the tenets and practices of five major religions. Site visits (to Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish worship services) offer first- hand experiences and the opportunity for discussion and interaction with religious leaders and lay people.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Andrew Shenton
A TERM
2:00-9:00
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University School of Theology
STH TC870
Women/femmes and New Models of Leadership
BTI Category
Semester
Leadership Formation & Ministry Skills
FA23
A-TERM: This course aims to deconstruct and demystify "leadership", encourage active participation in discovering individual and communal leadership styles, and expand how we approach leadership through the lens of women/femmes.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hee An Choi
A TERM
9:00-3:15
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University School of Theology
STH TS875
Comparative Religious Ethics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (All Traditions)
FA23
Comparative religious ethics, as a burgeoning academic field, strives to pursue moral wisdom across religious boundaries. In this course, we first juxtapose the ethical teaching of Christianity with another tradition to probe some perennial moral questions: ultimate end, exemplary virtue, social hierarchy, sexuality and marriage, war and peace, as well as political liberation. We then examine some contemporary issues comparatively in feminist, environmental, and postcolonial ethics. Finally, we study the moral significance of religious traditions as "spiritual exercises" (in the senses given by St. Ignatius and Pierre Hadot). There, we explore how bodily practices such as yogic movements, breathing exercises, Benedictine liturgical prayers, meditation of the cosmos, and contemplation of divine love might have far-reaching ethical consequences.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Peng Yin
R
3:30-6:15
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
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