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BTI Consortium | Last Updated November 14 - 9:00AM
PREACHING, LITURGY, & RITUAL
School
Hebrew College
RAB517
Introduction to Mishnah 2
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course is a continuation of RAB514, Introduction to Mishnah and Jewish Practice Seminar 1. It is an intensive introduction to the form and content of the Mishnah, the first code of rabbinic law. Students will gain familiarity with classical rabbinic syntax, rhetoric, ritual, theology, building a foundation for further study of rabbinic literature. In addition, this course will help students to cultivate a relationship to the Mishnah as a guide to grounding, innovating and evolving Jewish practice today.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Matthew Hass
MW
See notes
Grading Option
PF or Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
N
School
Hebrew College
LGY591
Siddur
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
Transform words of liturgy into words of prayer. We will focus our attention on the weekday Shacharit service because it offers a foundation for understanding many other Jewish tefillah liturgies and because it is the primary tefillah experience we will engage in together at Hebrew College. We will spend some time on liturgical variations for Shabbat and holidays. We will use Nusah Ashkenaz as our base text because it is the most common liturgy used in North America, though we will note some moments of liturgical variation with Nusah Sefard.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer
T
2:30 – 4:00 pm
Grading Option
PF or Audit
Credits
2
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Hartford International
WS-605-1
Rites of Passage
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
Rites of passage are the hinges of human life, allowing individuals and communities to negotiate complex transitions meaningfully in relationship to one another, to the roles and responsibilities of one’s community, to the land and creatures among whom one lives, and to the transcendent dimension of human experience. Yet as traditional cultural and religious traditions erode, many individuals, families, and communities are left without the psychic/ communal structures these rites once provided. This course will examine the importance of rites of passage in human development, the impact of their widespread loss in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood today, and the creation of new or renewed forms of such rites for healthy and resilient human-ecological flourishing.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Dahill, Lisa
T
7:00pm-8:50pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPS7312
The Music of Christ's Passion: Survey and Application
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course explores music inspired by Christ�s Passion. Historically, it traces this repertoire�s development from the liturgy to its diversity of modern expressions in concert halls, films, and popular media. Theologically, it examines the extent music can create space for God�s presence; and ministerially, this course invites questions and issues relating to music�s pastoral application. Some questions include: How might Passion music broaden and strengthen the knowledge and experience of Christ, especially through communal worship? What repertoire can educators or preachers draw upon to inspire their curriculum or animate their homilies? And how can such music help people pray?
Professor
Class Day & Time
Phillip Ganir, SJ
T
06:30PM-09:30PM
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Students will need to have or be willing to learn how to read music at the level of basic chant and the vocal score of a Bach chorale. Resources will be provided to help students learn these skills.
School
Boston University School of Theology
STHTC 845
Parish Preaching
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
The central, crucial role of preaching in a parish setting involves engagement with other congregational ministries and with the needs and resources of the larger community. This course is intended as a second level, advanced preaching course, with emphasis on the context of preaching. The course offers multiple opportunities to develop and preach sermons. Attention is given both to regular Sunday preaching and also to particular sermons for various occasions: special events, Stewardship Sunday, funerals and weddings, Advent and Lent, national observances (Fourth of July, Mothers' Day, New Year's, Thanksgiving, other), denominational requirements, and civic addresses. The interactive engagement of the preaching ministry with parish ministry as a whole is the focus of the course.�
Professor
Class Day & Time
Hill, Bob
M
8:00AM - 10:45AM
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2907
Introduction to Public Preaching
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
Carrying forth the preaching pedagogy of Rev. Peter Gomes, this course focuses on the practice of textual preaching from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. The course is taught by Rev. Daniel Smith (Senior Minister, First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC). It emphasizes exegesis, worship context, sermon content and delivery. Participants will be expected to prepare and deliver three essays and three sermons. The course is limited to 8 students. Petitions will not be reviewed until the first day of classes. All interested students should attend the first day of class at Memorial Church on Thursday, January 30, 2025. If more than 8 students show for the first class and wish to take the course, a list of admitted students will be posted later that day.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Daniel Smith
R
12:00pm - 2:30pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
LITG 5002
Liturgics
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course will explore the structures, content, theology, and ethos of the Church's liturgical life. It will also provide a brief but inclusive glimpse of the historical evolution of the liturgical rites. Furthermore, the Liturgy will be studied from pastoral, spiritual, and theological perspectives. The course seeks to provide the student with basic theological criteria for the comprehension of the whole liturgical tradition of the Church.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Philip Zymaris
TBA
TBA
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
LITG 5322
Teleturgics II: A Liturgical Prac.
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
A liturgical practicum designed primarily to help the candidate for ordination develop a liturgical ethos, style, and presence. The course offers an analysis of the structural elements of the divine services and instruction on the use of the liturgical books of the Orthodox Church. The course is especially concerned to help the student develop skills for the proper conduct and celebration of the divine services. The class allows for role-playing and analysis. Teleturgics II delas specifically with the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil and Chrysostom as well as the Pre-sanctified Liturgy. Special attention will be given to how one conducts the liturgy when a hierarch is serving. After this the class will deal with Baptism, Christmation, Marriage, Ordination, Confession, Unction, Funeral and various other blessing services.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Philip Zymaris
R
9:10 - 10:30 AM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
2.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 5002 Z1
Ecclesiastical Chant I
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
The eight tones are studied. Hymns from various services, including Vespers and the Divine Liturgy are chanted in English.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Mr. Georgios Theodoridis
W
1:40-3:20 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
1.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prereq: Byzantine Music I and II.
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 5502
Byzantine Music Chorus
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
The St. Romanos the Melodist Byzantine Choir is a vocal ensemble that performs faithful and spiritually uplifting renditions of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine sacred musical works in the traditional style created and preserved at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. The choir regularly performs in liturgical services as well as at concerts, conferences, lectures, fundraising events, state and national holiday celebrations, and school cermonies both in Boston and throughout the United States. In addition to Byzantine chant, it performs Greek folk music, poular and arts songs, as well as modern English adaptations and original settings of sacred texts. The choir meets weekly to study and rehearse the repertoire for upcoming performances.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Romanos Karanos
R
7-9 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
0.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 6301
Byzantine Music III
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course is a systematic study of the theoretical and practical aspects of the Third, Fourth and Plagal First Modes of the Psaltic Art within the context of the Anastasimatarion. By the end of the semestet students will be able to petfotm the tesuttectional hymns of the litutgical book of Octoechos ot Parakletike of the afotementioned modes in both parallage (solmization) and melos (melody).
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Romanos Karanos
TBA
TBA
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
1.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
TBA
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisite: Byzantine Music I
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 7831
Mathimata, Kratimata and Deinai
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course is a study of technically demanding psaltic works from the 13th to the 21st centuries. The repertoire includes historic compositions, such as Pseudo-Damascus� cherubic hymn and Manuel Chrysaphes� Lament for the Fall of Constantinople, as well as mathimata, kratimata, doxologies, kalophonic heirmoi, 20th-century adaptations of kratimata in triple meter, and methods of learning the �deinai theseis� (complicated melodic formulae) in the melismatic genres of the Psaltic Art.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Romanos Karanos
T
3-5 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
1.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisities: Byzantine Music I-VIII
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
PAST 7212
Preaching Practicum
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
A required practicum for those enrolled in PAST 7201 in the current/previous semester.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Luke A. Veronis
R
1-2 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
0
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Hebrew College
RAB518
Hilkhot Tefillah
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course will introduce students to primary halachic texts relating to tefillah in terms of personal practice and prayer leadership. We will study both Ashkenazi and Sephardic sources that explore the traditional obligations one has as a Jew and as a leader with regard to tefillah. What are the daily obligations? What are the required characteristics of a shaliach tzibbur? What are the rules surrounding the reading of Torah to the community? We will begin to think about all of these questions as we experiment with practice and look around our school and our local communities to see how tefillah is lived in our surrounding environment.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rabbi Allan Lehmann
R
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Grading Option
PF or Audit
Credits
2
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
N
School
Hartford International
WS-605-2
Rites of Passage
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
Rites of passage are the hinges of human life, allowing individuals and communities to negotiate complex transitions meaningfully in relationship to one another, to the roles and responsibilities of one’s community, to the land and creatures among whom one lives, and to the transcendent dimension of human experience. Yet as traditional cultural and religious traditions erode, many individuals, families, and communities are left without the psychic/ communal structures these rites once provided. This course will examine the importance of rites of passage in human development, the impact of their widespread loss in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood today, and the creation of new or renewed forms of such rites for healthy and resilient human-ecological flourishing.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Dahill, Lisa
T
7:00pm-8:50pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPS8008
Liturgical Presiding for Ordained Ministry
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
A practicum designed to prepare ordination candidates in the Roman Catholic Church for the ministry of liturgical presidency. Students will meet twice a week (once for theory and once for practice) as well as in small groups and for videotaping.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Joseph Weiss, S.J.
W
01:00PM-03:50PM
Grading Option
P/F
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Intro to Liturgy; Sacraments; Eucharistic Theology
School
Boston University School of Theology
STHTC 818
Writing for Public Worship
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
The course explores the relationship between the languages of worship/prayer and faith/belief; enables the student to develop foundations and skills for writing prayers, liturgies, and other ritual resources for public worship; and fosters theological/liturgical/pastoral evaluation of the liturgical texts and practices used by faith communities.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Westerfield Tucker, Karen
January 7-8, 10, 14-15, 17
Tuesday and Friday sessions, 9:00am-12:30pm; 1:30pm-4:30pm; Wednesday sessions 9:00am-12:00pm, 12:45pm-3:45pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
This course requires instructor's approval for all doctoral students.�
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2034
Leading Music in Ritual
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course will explore the leadership of music in the public rituals of religious, liturgical, and social movements, drawing on historical research, current practice in local communities, and students� own experience to answer questions about the role of music across religious and spiritual traditions as well as in movement-based activism. How does music inspire, connect, celebrate, and console? Where is the boundary between performance and prayer/meditation/worship? How does a song interact with its text to enhance and define the ritual space? Students will learn practical tools in leading song with their voices or musical instruments through the study of hymns, psalm chanting, and other folk and popular music traditions. The course is designed for students interested in ministerial or other ritual leadership who would like to expand their knowledge of musical literature, its current practice, and the history of music in the development and practice of religious traditions.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Chris Hossfeld
M
9:00am - 10:59am
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2922
Preaching and Worship in the Black Church Tradition
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course engages students in historical, theological, and practical study of preaching and worship in the Black Church tradition. Readings in black homiletics and practical theologies of worship introduce students to a variety of approaches for the development and delivery of sermons and for the construction and ministerial leadership of worship within black Christian church contexts. The course considers these proposals for ministry practice against the backdrop of the social, political, economic, and cultural dynamics that shape the contemporary context of black communal life in the United States. The purpose of the course is to increase students' ministerial capacity through the incorporation of theological and practical wisdom from the Black Church tradition into their own understandings and uses of ritual and rhetoric.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Theodore Hickman-Maynard
T
3:00pm - 5:59pm
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
This is a limited enrollment course. To apply, send a statement to thickmanmaynard@hds.harvard.edu with the following information: your name, degree program, year of study, school or university, previous relevant academic background, and a brief statement of your goals for the course.
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
LITG 5002 Z1
Liturgics
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course will explore the structures, content, theology, and ethos of the Church's liturgical life. It will also provide a brief but inclusive glimpse of the historical evolution of the liturgical rites. Furthermore, the Liturgy will be studied from pastoral, spiritual, and theological perspectives. The course seeks to provide the student with basic theological criteria for the comprehension of the whole liturgical tradition of the Church.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Philip Zymaris
ASYNC
ASYNC
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
LITG 5323
Teleturgics II for Antiochians
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
A liturgical practicum designed primarily to help the candidate for ordination develop a liturgical ethos, style, and presence. The course offers an analysis of the structural elements of the divine services and instruction on the use of the liturgical books of the Orthodox Church. The course is especially concerned to help the student develop skills for the proper conduct and celebration of the divine services. The class allows for role-playing and analysis.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Elie Estephan
R
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
2.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 5101
Byzantine Music I
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course is a systematic introduction to the basic theory and notation of the Psaltic Art. It will provide a solid foundation for a further study of the liturgical repertoire of the Greek Orthodox Church. Topics to be covered include the history and function of the notation, a thorough examination of key musical concepts (e.g. note, interval, scale, tempo, rhythm, genus, mode, tetrachord, etc.), and a study of the role of music in Greek Orthodox worship. By the end of the semester students will be able to sight-read and perform simple hymns written in the New Method of Analytical Notation in both parallage (solmization) and melos (melody).
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Dr. Romanos Karanos
TR
2:10-3:00 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
1.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 6022 Z1
Advanced Chant In English
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course is a study of the standard hymns ( Lord I have Cried, daily Prokeimena, God is the Lord, Great Doxology, Antiphons, Trisagion, etc.) of vespers, orthros, divine liturgy, and the sacraments for practical use. All of the hymns will be studied in English in all of the eight modes with the aid of various musical settings.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Mr. Georgios Theodoridis
W
3:30-4:50 PM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
1.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
Y
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
N
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSB 6701
Byzantine Music VII
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
This course is a systematic study of Byzantine hymns chanted during major feast days of the ecclesiastical year of the Greek Orthodox Church within the context of the Doxastarion. A great emphasis will be placed on studying the idiomela and doxastika for the feasts of Christmas, Theophany, Annunciation, Dormition of the Virgin Mary, as well as the idiomela and doxastika for the periods of Triodion and Pentecostation.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Rev. Odisseys Drossos
TBA
TBA
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
1.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
TBA
Prerequisites?
Y
Notes
Prerequisites: Byzantine Music I-V.
School
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
MUSW 5351
Voice Class
BTI Category
Semester
Preaching, Liturgy, & Ritual
SP25
Although open to all students, this semester-long course is required of all seminarians. The class aims to improve individual voices while working with a class. The fundamentals of chanting/singing will be used, which include: attitude, posture, control of breath, attacks and releases, the jaw (neck and throat), registers, resonance, enunciation, etc. It is recommended that seminarians take the course during their first year.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Ms. Brooke Wilcox
W
11-11:50 AM
Grading Option
Letter/PF/Aud
Credits
0.5
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisites?
N
Notes
N
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