Courses

Religion asks foundational questions about human existence and identity. Who am I? What can I know about God, and does God’s existence give my life greater meaning and purpose? How should I regard my neighbor and the stranger? What are my responsibilities in this world? This course addresses these and other questions through the lens of the Old Testament. Students will develop skills of interpretation in order to gain insight into its literature, history, and beliefs. Students will learn to interpret the Old Testament contextually and respectfully, articulating the relevance of its theology, ethics, and spirituality for the twenty-first century.

Religion asks foundational questions about human existence and identity. Who am I? What can I know about God, and does God’s existence give my life greater meaning and purpose? Who is Jesus and how has his death and resurrection redefined conceptions of human identity? This course addresses these and other questions through the lens of the New Testament. Students will develop skills of interpretation in order to gain insight into its literature, history, and beliefs. Students will learn to interpret the New Testament contextually and respectfully, articulating the relevance of its theology, ethics, and spirituality for the twenty-first century.

An analytical and critical study of the phenomena, the conceptual patterns, and the sacred texts of some of the major Western religions. Each religion is studied as a total perspective for life, which is embodied in interpersonal and communal life, in cult, and in ideology. This course provides a general introduction to the study of world religions as well as an historical and structural survey of Judaism, Islam, Christianity and new religions in the West. The subject matter is approached from an emic anthropological standpoint—that is, the history, belief and practice of each religious group will be examined in detail, as if the student was living within that religious context.

An analytical and critical study of the phenomena, the conceptual patterns, and the sacred texts of some of the major Eastern religions. Each religion is studied as a total perspective for life, which is embodied in interpersonal and communal life, in cult, and in ideology. This course provides a general introduction to the study of world religions as well as an historical and structural survey of Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Sikhism. The subject matter is approached from an emic anthropological standpoint—that is, the history, belief and practice of each religious group will be examined in detail, as if the student was living within that religious context.

This course introduces basic concepts in missiology. Foundational notions from Old Testament and New Testament theology of missions are explored. As well, this course considers the rise and development of the missionary movement from apostolic times to the present. Issues arising from applied anthropology as it relates to cross-cultural communication are also developed. Special emphasis is given to discussion of important trends and select strategies in contemporary world mission.

A supervised short-term missions/cross-cultural internship/practicum.

A study of the history of contextualization from biblical to modern times, exploring significant models and paradigms of prominent thinkers and evaluating these adaptations and innovations. Also, the social and spiritual dynamics of culture change are examined, with a view to analyzing those processes which help to make the Gospel relevant in the constantly changing world in which we live.

This course seeks to extend the study of theology to the manner in which non-Western communities of Christians endeavour to shape their world by their faith. Special emphasis is given to examining Christology and Soteriology from a cross-cultural perspective and to the manner by which both Western and non-Western traditions may interact to enrich hermeneutics, missiology, and biblical and systematic theology.

Current missiological themes are studied such as: Missio Dei, Salvation Today, social justice and mission, meaning of evangelism and evangelization, contextualization, liberation themes, missions as inculturation, missions as an ecumenical expression, mobilizing the laity for missions, missions as a theology, and missions as an eschatological hope. The course also examines shifting missiological paradigms within the Conciliar Movement and Evangelical responses.