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BTI Consortium | Last Updated November 14 - 9:00AM
RELIGION & CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION
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
FA24
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
ASYNC
ASYN
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
ASYN
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPT8132
Theology, Race, and Critical Race Theory
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA24
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.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Benjamin Valentin
T
3:30-6:20
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
Y
Notes
Fundamental Theology, Theological Foundations in Practical Perspective, or equivalent.
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO5533-01
Antisemitism, Racism, and Christian Nationalism
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA24
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 & Time
Joslyn-Siemiatkoski
T
3-5:25p
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
UNDERGRAD/GRAD SPLIT
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO5574-02
Ethics, Religion, and International Politics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA24
An examination of the role of religion in international politics and of ethical approaches to international affairs. Special emphasis will be given to religion as a source of conflict, religious communities as transnational agents for justice, protection of human rights, and peace; the historical development and contemporary formulations of ethical norms for the use of force; and ethical and religious contributions to reconciliation and solidarity.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Owens
MW
3-4:15p
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
GRAD/UGRAD SPLIT, REQUIRED DISCUSSION: THEO5574-03 (T, 1-2p), -04 (R, 2-3p), -05 (R, 3-4p), -06 (R, 4-5p)
School
Boston University School of Theology
STHTS 805
Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA24
This course is a response to the experience of destructive conflict in the church and in the world, as well as the experience of religion as a source of conflict. More importantly, it is a response to the call to every Christian to be ministers of reconciliation and peacebuilders. The course will introduce students to the theology, theory and practice of faith-based conflict transformation, preparing students to become religious leaders equipped with fundamental tools and skills for engaging conflict and transforming conflict in a way that advances God's goal of shalom, a culture of justpeace.
Professor
Class Day & Time
James McCarty
R
6:30-9:15pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University School of Theology
STHTY 842
Pastoral Psychology of Healing
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA24
Every person, in her or his personal relationships and professional activities, is guided by a complex, often tacit, theory of healing, comprised of judgments about illness/suffering (what's wrong?); health/well-being (what's possible? what's ideal?); the trajectory from one to the other (how do we get there?); and factors that enhance as well as inhibit movement along that trajectory (what should we do?). Examining and comparing a range of theories of healing--in psychology, medicine, Christian traditions, world religions, and non-Western cultures--equips us critically to reflect upon, amend, if not reconstruct our respective theories of healing.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Chris Schlauch
M
2:30-5:15pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMPS8151
Resisting Anti-Judaism: Practices for the Church
BTI Category
Semester
Practical/Pastoral Theology
FA24
The purpose of this class is to develop practices by which the anti-Judaism endemic to Christian traditions can be recognized, resisted, and replaced. As part of a commitment to anti-oppression work, this course will begin with an examination of the development and workings of Christian anti-Judaism with connections drawn to relationships between racism and antisemitism. Attention will then turn to how church teachings require examining preaching, worship, catechesis, and pastoral ministry for manifestations of anti-Judaism and antisemitism in North American and global contexts. The course will conclude with workshopping approaches to resisting anti-Judaism in Christian contexts and public spaces.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
Y
Notes
Fundamental Theology or Theological Foundations in Practical Perspective, or similar course.
School
Boston College School of Theology & Ministry
TMST8564
Reconciliation in a World of Conflict
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA24
The twentieth century's legacy is marked by social conflict and war: more than 200 million people killed because of political repression, ethnic or religious wars. Enlisting a theological lens, this seminar examines the Christian resources and contribution to the problem of reconciliation. After examining the most important secular approaches to the problem of personal and social conflict, we will focus on the main Christian theologies of reconciliation, including the works of Robert Schreiter, Miroslav Volf, John de Gruchy, and Jon Sobrino. Their theologies will be examined through individual case studies of the Balkan region, South Africa, and El Salvador.
Professor
Class Day & Time
O. Ernesto Valiente
W
6:30-9:00
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
Y
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
Y
Notes
A course in theological foundations or fundamental theology; Department Permission Required
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO5574-01
Ethics, Religion, and International Politics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA24
An examination of the role of religion in international politics and of ethical approaches to international affairs. Special emphasis will be given to religion as a source of conflict, religious communities as transnational agents for justice, protection of human rights, and peace; the historical development and contemporary formulations of ethical norms for the use of force; and ethical and religious contributions to reconciliation and solidarity.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Owens
MW
1:30-2:45
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
GRAD/UGRAD SPLIT, REQUIRED DISCUSSION: THEO5574-03 (T, 1-2p), -04 (R, 2-3p), -05 (R, 3-4p), -06 (R, 4-5p)
School
Boston College Department of Theology
THEO7055-01
Global Politics, Political Theology, and Ethics
BTI Category
Semester
Ethics (all traditions)
FA24
This course addresses important ethical issues that arise in international politics including issues of equality, poverty, and conflict. Specific attention will be given to the work of theology both the secularized theologies of international politics and the more explicit theologies of religious actors in international politics. In considering the theologies at work and the ethical issues that arise, sustained attention will be given to the global history of colonialism and the resulting imperial and racialized relations that are constitutive of international politics today.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Wambui
W
1-3:50p
Grading Option
Letter, P/F, Audit
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Boston University School of Theology
STHTT 898
Theology and Trauma
BTI Category
Semester
Systematic Theology & Philosophy (Western)
FA24
This course aims to bring the recent studies in the interdisciplinary study of trauma to bear on the field of theology. What unique challenges does the phenomenon of trauma pose to contemporary theology? The first part of the course explores recent studies in trauma, focusing on three areas of research: 1) neurobiology of trauma, 2) clinical/therapeutic studies, and 3) literary approaches to trauma. The second part of the course examines theological engagements with issues of radical suffering. The third part brings together the insights from the first two and focuses on the question of what it means to witness theologically to individual, societal, and global trauma. We will look at issues and contexts such as the criminal justice system, war, poverty, and racism. In this final part, students will be working towards constructive theological engagements with issues of trauma through interaction with a variety of mediums: art, literature, spiritual practices, and film. The course is not a counseling course. It aims to provide rich theological reflection around issues of suffering, violence, and trauma, both individual and global.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Shelly Rambo
R
3:30-6:15pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
3
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
N
Notes
N
School
Harvard Divinity School
HDS 2362
Blacks, Jews, and Palestinians
BTI Category
Semester
Sociology/Ethnography/Research Methods
FA24
The late mystic and theologian Howard Thurman once characterized human engagement as a long and winding journey leading to the human heart, where the Augustinian interiority opens itself to the divine and the stranger. �Ultimately there is only one place of refuge on this planet for any [human] �that is in another [human�s] heart. To love is to make of one�s heart a swinging door.� Establishing a place of refuge for another is an ethical imperative, what Thurman called humankind�s �responsibility� to God and humanity. But what happens when the other, neighbor, or stranger has ancestral (or immediate) connections to the destruction, displacement, and death of your familial, cultural, or religious community? Is love possible or justifiable within this context? The course will explore both the ethics and theological grammar of prayer, piety, and �sacred songs� in post-Enlightenment Quakerism and the Abrahamic religions to imagine the possible epistemic grounds for contemplative and deliberative human interaction among groups holding competing and colliding conceptions of memory, truth, moral responsibility, and exile/freedom/ fugitivity. With an emphasis on theory and practice, the course will investigate the tension between what John Rawls called comprehensive beliefs and public reason as well as interrogate the ethics of responsibility and love.
Professor
Class Day & Time
Johnson, Terrence
M
03:00pm-04:59pm
Grading Option
Letter
Credits
4
Professor Approval Req'd?
N
Online?
N
Prerequisite?
Y
Notes
Students must have prior coursework in one of the following areas: African American Studies, Jewish Studies, or Middle East Studies.
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