Ministry in Church and Society

• STH TC 703: Spiritual Companioning Group 1
  These small groups are designed to provide mutual support in spiritual journeying and questing, the exploration and sharing of spiritual life and practice, and of maintaining spiritual balance and integration as an intrinsic dimension of one's scholarship and vocation.
• STH TC 704: Spiritual Companioning Group 2
  These small groups are designed to provide mutual support in spiritual journeying and questing, the exploration and sharing of spiritual life and practice, and of maintaining spiritual balance and integration as an intrinsic dimension of one's scholarship and vocation.
• STH TC 715: Introduction to Preaching
  An introduction to the theology and practice of preaching within the context of Christian ministry and worship. Students develop skills necessary for preparation, composition, delivery, and critique of sermons. Required of all M.Div. students in the Pastoral Ministry track. (Cluster 3)
• STH TC 723: United Methodist Polity
  Covers the polity, structure, procedures, and ritual of the United Methodist Church along with the basic structure of and ecclesial concepts contained within its Book of Discipline. Designed to meet one of the requirements for membership in a UMC Annual Conference. (Free Elective Only)
• STH TC 801: Contextual Education 1
  Graduate Prerequisites: (STHTC703 & STHTC708) - Supervised practice of ministry in a congregational setting or community agency combined with participation in a peer reflection-learning group focused on the integration of theology and practice. MDIV CORE REQUIREMENT. Background check is required. Must have approved site before starting the class.
• STH TC 802: Contextual Education 2
  Graduate Prerequisites: (STHTC801) - Graduate Prerequisites: STH TC 801. Continues and presupposes STH TC 801 in the spring semester. MDIV CORE REQUIREMENT. Background check is required. Must have approved site before starting the class.
• STH TC 803: Contextual Education 3
  Normally continues STH TC 802 (see course description for TC 801). Can be taken for variable credit. (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TC 804: Contextual Education 4
  Normally continues STH TC 803. (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TC 806: Preaching in the Unitarian Universalist and Free Church Traditions
  This will be an introduction to the practical art of preaching in the Unitarian Universalist tradition and other free church traditions. Participants can expect to begin the process of finding their own voices in their preaching and worship leadership, all in the context of supportive peers. (cluster 3)
• STH TC 807: UMC General Conference
  The quadrennial General Conference is the chief legislative body of the United Methodist Church. This course provides students with the opportunity to examine the critical role of the General Conference in the United Methodist tradition. In addition to examining the General Conference's impact upon the historical and theological identity of United Methodism, the course explores specific doctrinal, polity, and social issues that are on the agenda of the General Conference in the semester in which the course is offered. The course allows students the option of receiving additional credit for attending part of the General Conference sessions. (Clusters 1 and 3)
• STH TC 811: Pastoral Leadership
  The aim of the course is to prepare the student, at the basic professional level, in the primary forms of pastoral leadership. On completing the course, the student should have gained professional confidence and reflective competence in these areas of pastoral leadership: conversation and visitation; preaching and teaching; stewardship and development; administration and lay preparation; conflict resolution and systems analysis; evangelism and youth\children's ministry. (Cluster 3)
• STH TC 815: Acadia Travel Seminar
  TRAVEL DATES: Monday, May 20 to Sunday, May 26 This course will explore the context of nature as a foundation for spiritual practice. Readings from a variety of faith traditions, including Celtic Christianity and Native American spirituality, will provide the theological grounding for the course. Emphasis will be placed on experiencing and developing individual and communal practices that connect persons to the Holy in and through nature. Students will be guided in experiencing nature as sacred subject rather than object; as teacher, spiritual guide, companion, and neighbor. The settings for this course will be Boston and the Alcyon Center, a spiritual life center in Seal Cove, Maine, just outside the bounds of Acadia National Park, that hosts nature-based retreat experiences (www.alcyoncenter.org) . Four Boston-based sessions will be held on Fridays prior to the travel portion of the course. These sessions will offer theoretical and theological foundations for the travel portion of the course as well as an opportunity to connect with nature in non-wilderness settings. The week after graduation, the class will travel to the Alcyon Center for several days exploring holistic approaches to grounding spiritual practices in nature. With Acadia National Park as a context, students will be led in hikes, nature walks, and other activities exploring how to facilitate such experiences as spiritual practices. Students will also be given the opportunity to reflect upon and engage in the practices and operations of the Alcyon Center, which are based in a rhythm of holy living grounded in nature. These experiences will provide insight into how spiritual traditions can impact more than just programming in such settings. Other class sessions will consider environmental stewardship and sustainability as individual and communal spiritual practices with local resource persons and Alcyon Center staff providing assistance. A follow up session will be held at STH at the beginning of June. Please note: * Each day in Acadia will involve 2-4 miles of hiking, most of which will be easy, but one or two of which could be considered moderately strenuous depending upon one's ability. We will do our best to accommodate persons with differing ability levels, but students should be prepared to undertake this level of activity. * Meals at the Alcyon Center are mostly vegetarian (some chicken and fish) with a good number of gluten-free options (though not prepared in a dedicated GF kitchen). There is ample refrigerator space for students needing to tend to food needs that fall outside these parameters.
• STH TC 816: Homiletical Options and Homiletic Analysis
  This course is an advanced homiletics seminar that in alternate years either reviews contemporary homiletic theory ("Homiletical Options") or explores practices of sermon analysis ("Homiletical Analysis"). Pre-requisite: TC715 ("Introduction to Preaching") or its equivalent. (Cluster 3)
• STH TC 817: Introduction to Christian Worship
  An introduction to the spirit and structure of Christian worship. Word, sacraments, calendar, music, and pastoral offices are analyzed and described in terms of their relevance to congregational life, spirituality, catechesis, and mission. Prerequisites: STH TF 701 and STH TF 702. (Clusters 1 and 3)
• STH TC 818: Writing for Public Worship
  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. This course requires instructor's approval for all doctoral students. (Clusters 1 and 3)
• STH TC 819: The Sacraments: Rites and Theologies
  Contemporary study of the sacraments brings together ritual studies, liturgical history, the history of dogma, and systematic reflection. This course examines the baptismal and eucharistic rites of the Church, both past and present, along with theological rationales of and commentaries on them offered by ecclesiastic writers of the patristic, medieval, Reformation, and modern periods. (Clusters 1 and 3)
• STH TC 822: Faith-Based Community Organizing for Justice and Peace
  It is estimated that 1 out of 3 people in a congregation will have some experience with intimate partner violence. It remains the leading reason women visit hospital emergency rooms. Although it is less frequent, men are also victimized. This course will examine the impact of gender based violence on families and congregations. It will give special attention to the general problem of gender based violence and to the role that theological understandings of suffering, obedience, and ownership may play in such violence. It will utilize pastoral counseling case studies (video vignettes of actual pastors) to begin to provide those in ministry with the tools they need to respond to people in their care and understand how to make appropriate referrals.
• STH TC 823: Spiritual Guidance in the Christian Tradition
  Are you seeking a "word of life"? Do you hunger to know more about the wisdom of Christian spiritual traditions? Do you feel called to grow in your ability to guide others? In this course students will explore selected writings from the Christian tradition -- both classic and contemporary. They will read the pithy sayings of the early desert abbas and ammas, the gentle counsel of Francis de Sales, the spiritual teaching of John Wesley and his mother Susanna, and the insights of the Russian pilgrim who wanted to pray without ceasing. They will analyze the various theological commitments reflected in these authors' spiritual teachings, and place them in their historical contexts. Then they will move to contemporary texts about the practice of spiritual guidance, addressing concerns such as spiritual direction of women, group spiritual direction, prayer, and cross-cultural spiritual guidance. (Cluster 3)
• STH TC 825: Prayer and Social Engagement
  The seminar will address the relationship between prayer and social engagement. Prayer and social engagement often are separated entirely, or wedded uncritically. In this course, students will seek to deepen their prayer lives while thinking critically about the social situation. They will wrestle with the multiple theological questions surrounding prayer and social engagement. Topics will be approached using selected case studies from international contexts. By delving into the cases, students will see different models for how prayer can inspire a social vision, cultivate a social conscience, respond to social crisis, ground people's dignity, and promote reconciliation. (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TC 826: The Ecumenical Movement: Streams of Engagement and Liturgical Intersection.
  Graduate Prerequisites: Permission of instructor required. - This course examines the Ecumenical Movement--a "defining fact" of Christianity in the 20th century--and its implications for the life of the churches in the 21st century. The class will treat major streams of interchurch engagement including mission, faith and order, and life and work, and will give attention to ecumenical questions regarding worship and sacraments. In addition, the course will consider contemporary models of Christian unity as well as Christian dialogue with other faith traditions. (Cluster 1 & 3)