Course Descriptions
stm summer institute
Course Descriptions
June 17 – August 2, 2013
Summer Online Course
TM 511.01 Jesus the Christ: Who Do You Say I Am?
Summer (2 credits)
Barbara Radtke
Participants will survey Christological writings from the New Testament to the present with attention to key moments in theological understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Special attention will be given to contemporary Christologies. Participants have the opportunity to explore the ministry of Jesus, the meaning of the cross and resurrection, and the universality of Christ as savior. By the end of the course participants will be able to articulate their Christological framework, its roots in Scripture and Tradition, and how it affects their pastoral perspective.
Session One
June 24 – July 5, 2013 (no classes Thursday July 4th)
8:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
TM 816.01 Sharing Faith and the New Evangelism
Summer (2 credits)
Thomas Groome
This course will propose the foundations for a participatory and empowering approach to religious education and pastoral ministry. Such foundations include the theological anthropology, ecclesiology, soteriology and eschatology that should undergird religious education and ministry. Through shared reflection on praxis and on course readings, participants will be invited to appropriate and make decisions about their own approaches to the ministry of "sharing faith."
TM 540.01 Introduction to the New Testament
Summer (2 credits)
Christopher Matthews
A historical and theological introduction to the New Testament, its various genres, and the methods of its interpretation against the background of early Christian literature.
TM 680.01 Theology for Mission and Ministry: Fifty Years After Vatican II
Summer (2 credits)
Rev. Richard Lennan
The prominence of “ministry” as an issue in the contemporary Catholic Church is an outcome of the Second Vatican Council, even though ministry was not a focus of the council itself. This course will examine how ministry became a significant question for the contemporary church, its relationship to the teaching of the council, and the variety of topics that swirl around any discussion of mission in the church. A primary concern of the course will be to explore ministry in relation to the mission that all members of the church share, a mission to live the gospel in their time and place.
TM 767.01 Ministry in a Culturally Diverse Church: Perspectives
Summer (2 credits)
Hosffman Ospino
Catholicism in the United States is presently shaped by rich cultural traditions that demand creative approaches to ministry in the midst of diversity. Nearly 45% of all Catholics in the country are Hispanic, 40% Euro-American, 4% Asian-American, 3.7% African-American, among others. Students in this course explore key questions and discuss ministerial strategies that will help them develop cultural competencies for effective ministry today. The course builds on the U.S. Latino/a Catholic experience as a case study while addressing core issues in ministry that affect everyone in the Church. Ecumenical and international perspectives are welcomed into this conversation.
TM 644.01 Theological Foundations in Practical Perspective
Summer (2 credits)
Nancy Pineda-Madrid
This course serves as an introduction to Christian theology, its foundational issues and enduring questions. The course will give each student the opportunity to consider how theological discourse reflects and enriches the faith experience of Christian believers, and to consider some of the diverse ways in which the experience of Christian faith has been understood. It will briefly survey several enduring theological themes (i.e., God and Trinity, Creation, Theological Anthropology, Christology, Church, etc.). It will attend to the methodological choices made by theologians in their constructive endeavors. The course explores these concepts from a pastoral perspective.
TM 790.01 Spirituality and the Christian Life
Summer (2 credits)
Philip Sheldrake
This course explores approaches to the spirituality and practice of the Christian life in four contrasting traditions from different contexts: Early desert monasticism, Julian of Norwich’s "practical mysticism", Ignatian spirituality and Gustavo Gutierrez' social spirituality. The course examines the key themes, spiritual practices and underlying theologies of the four spiritualities, and how they may be reinterpreted and applied in the 21st century global Church. Themes include the personal and ecclesial dimensions of discipleship; our relationship with God; human identity and spiritual development; asceticism and embodiment; contemplation and action; prayer and social transformation; ministry and mission; discernment and practical wisdom.
July 1 – July 19, 2013
2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
TM700.01 Adult Believers in a Postmodern Context for the New Evangelization
Summer (3 credits)
Jane Regan
What are the dynamics that make adults ready and able to live effectively as people of faith in our contemporary postmodern context? What does it mean to be a believer in such a context and how are adults supported in the maturity of faith? Theology, psychology, and education theory all have a contribution to make in addressing these questions. Focused consideration is given to contemporary theories in adult development and adult learning. Attention is given to the implications of this for the parish/congregation, but broader applications are also considered.
Session Two
July 8 – July 19, 2013
8:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
TM 826.01 Introduction to the Old Testament
Summer (2 credits)
Corrine Carvalho
This course is a literary, historical, and theological introduction to the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible), which will introduce the major genre of this ancient collection (history, law, poetry, prophecy, wisdom literature, apocalyptic and novellas). There will be short in-class assessments of daily reading, two take-home exams, and one paper. Given the brevity of the course meetings, and the vast amount of material, students are asked to read beforehand the biblical books mentioned above, as well as the relevant sections of the textbooks prior to the first class meeting.
TM 480.01 The Church in the World
Summer (2 credits)
Rev. Michael Himes
The course provides an introductory survey of issues in the field of ecclesiology through a reading of classic texts in the field. The careful reading and discussion of these texts is central to the course. We begin with texts, which, while not themselves specifically ecclesiological, became loci communes once the field developed. We then turn to the study of ecclesiology proper, that is, ecclesiology as a field within systematic or doctrinal theology.
TM 936.01 Spirituality and Sexuality
Summer (2 credits)
John McDargh
This course explores, through theological and psychological texts, literature, poetry and film, the intricate interconnection between the ways in which human persons are oriented toward a relationship to the dimension of the transcendent and the Holy (spirituality), and the reality of our creation as embodied, desiring beings who seek fulfillment and connection through a wide variety of interpersonal relationships (sexuality). More simply, we shall consider in a way both contemplative and critical these two related questions: "How does the experience of sexuality at its depth open on to the dimension of Spirit?" and "How is our spiritual life necessarily and inextricably bound up with our lived experience as passionate, sexual persons?" The course is not strictly speaking a course in Christian sexual ethics, though the question of what constitutes the 'good' of human sexual expression is essential and unavoidable. It is a course in theological anthropology that takes seriously the actual, empirical experience of human sexuality in all its diversity and complexity.
TM 676.01 God and the Crucified People
Summer (2 credits)
Jon Sobrino, S.J. and James Nickoloff
This course will raise up some of the central themes in the life work and liberation theology of Fr. Jon Sobrino, SJ. The cross of Jesus is the ultimate symbol of God’s solidarity with the poor and suffering people of our world. Christians and the Christian community must live in similar solidarity and function as a sacrament of God’s reign of justice for all.
TM 853.01 Post-Master’s Certificate in Spiritual Formation: Arts & Group Models/Direct
Summer (2 credits) Years 1, 2 & 3: Morning and Afternoon Sessions
Colleen Griffith and Guest Faculty
The purpose of this program is to enable pastoral leaders to become spiritual mentors for individual persons and Christian communities of faith. The program of studies consists of daily morning sessions that focus on the theoretical foundations of spirituality work and afternoon sessions devoted to the practical art of spiritual guidance.
Evening Course:
July 8 – July 12, 2013 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
TM 686.01 The New Evangelization
Summer (1 credit)
Allan Figueroa Deck, S.J.
Since the Second Vatican Council the concepts of evangelization and the new evangelization, which are closely linked, constitute a framework for understanding the Church’s contemporary identity and mission. This course explores the background, reception, development and pastoral implementation of this vision particularly in the context of the global Church and the rising diversity, pluralism and secularity of the postmodern world. Basic documents of the magisterium such as Evangelii Nuntiandi, Redemptoris Missio, and Catechesi Tradendae together with documents of the 2012 Synod on the New Evangelization and of the U.S., Latin American, African and Asian bishops will provide a basis for this exploration.
Evening Course:
July 15 – 19, 2013 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
TM 687.01 Religious Life: Vocation in and for the People of God
Summer (1 credit)
Sandra Schneiders, I.H.M.
This course will explore the contribution of Catholic ministerial Religious Life to the Church's mission to the world as proposed by Vatican II. The framework will an understanding of Religious Life as a prophetic life form in the Church and the lens through which we will explore mission and ministry will be the vows of evangelical poverty and prophetic obedience as the dynamics of community life and mission.
Session Three
July 22 – August 2, 2013
8:45 a.m – 11:45 a.m
TM 738.01 Pastoral Care and Counseling
Summer (2 credits)
Brita Gill-Austern
This course is an introduction to the field of pastoral care and counseling with a particular emphasis on the fundamental human activity of meaning making as it occurs throughout the life cycle and in the context of human narratives. The focus will be on the role of the pastoral caregiver and the congregation in providing care through the developmental transitions of life, with attention also given to times of crisis. The course will provide psychological and theological models of meaning making and understandings of human wholeness and maturity using narrative and brief pastoral counseling approaches.
TM 496.01 Moral Dimension of the Christian Life
Summer (2 credits)
Kenneth Himes, O.F.M.
This course provides a foundational and systematic overview of the basic components of Catholic moral theology. The content of the course is an exposition and analysis of topics traditionally treated under the heading of fundamental moral theology: moral character, moral freedom and its limits, the relationship of spirituality and morality, sin and conversion, conscience, the use of scripture in moral reasoning, natural law, the teaching authority of the church in moral matters, the development of moral norms, discernment and moral decision-making.
TM 604.01 Evangelizing a New Generation: Ministry with Youth and Young Adults
Summer (2 credits)
Theresa O’Keefe
When religious belief and practice are so unfamiliar with many young adults and youth, questions of how to reach and speak to that population become more pressing. This course aims to explore social and developmental elements critical to the effective practice of ministry for and with youth and young adults. Together the class explores the contexts of the ministry (ecclesial and social) with youth and young adults, conceives discipleship as a goal of ministry with these populations, and suggests mentoring communities as a ministerial framework with youth and young adults constructed appropriately within different settings.
TM 647.01 Sacraments for the Life of the World
Summer (2 credits)
Catherine Vincie, R.S.H.M.
Following a brief review of the catholic principle of sacramentality and liturgical anamnesis, the course will consider each of the seven sacraments as witness and proclamation of God’s saving work for us in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Spirit. As liturgy is the work of God and the work of the Church, we will also consider the sacraments as the Church’s act of keeping memory of God’s saving work in Christ and explore the implications for Christian life for those who celebrate the sacraments.
Evening Course:
July 22 – August 2, 2013 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
TM 620.01 Keys to the Council: Vatican II and the Church Today
Summer (2 credits)
Richard Gaillardetz
The Second Vatican Council was arguably the most significant ecclesial event for Roman Catholicism in the last four centuries. Although Vatican II has become a staple of contemporary church lingo, few who invoke it (including many bishops and theologians!) seem to have really grasped what happened at that council and what its consequences are for the life of the church today. This course will study the Second Vatican Council as both a seminal ecclesial event and as a source for a revitalized vision of the church for the third millennium. Special attention will be given to the council’s four constitutions.