Process Imagining

Introduction to Philosophy

• This course aims to provide an examination of issues relating to knowledge, reality, and morality. Issues examined include: Can we know anything? How can we know? Is morality merely a personal opinion? Does God exist? Questions come from the main branches of philosophy such as Logic, ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of religion

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

• The aim of the course is to introduce you to a number of scholars and topics in ancient and medieval philosophy. Along the way, we will uncover the beginnings of greek philosophy, and see how early discussions about permanence and change, being and becoming, form into questions on human nature and theology in the middle ages. We will cover topics on the Soul, the existence of God, what are some of the causes in the world, what is the notion of good, and what is evil. The word “philosophy” is from the Greek word “φιλοσοφία”—“the love of wisdom.” The hope is that you develop a taste for thinking carefully, questioning things that have always seemed obvious to you, and for imagining different worlds.

Introduction to Theological Education

• This required course is an introduction to theological education as well as the academic resources provided to aid in your formation and ministerial identity. Since this is an online, asynchronous course, you will be required to do the readings and respond to forum discussions online, with opportunities to meet online several times throughout the semester. In the forum discussions, the class will discuss practical issues of workload, finance, time management, and curricular structure will be examined. The class will also discuss the role of critical thinking throughout the seminary experience, followed by research, writing and citations development.

Practice of Prophetic Ministry

• The Practice of Prophetic Ministry is a required course that all MDiv students take in the fall semester of the year they are graduating. Participants are expected to have completed most, if not all, required courses before registering for Practice of Prophetic Ministry. The purpose of the course is to stimulate fuller theological reflection concerning the prophetic practice of ministry to prepare you to write your Credo next spring. In this course, we are integrating theological learning and ministerial practice in a prophetic vocational context. We will draw upon the three fields of study which make up the NYTS curriculum (biblical studies, Christian thought and tradition, the arts of ministry). Located at the crossroads of disciplines and identities, the class will provide an opportunity to explore together what practical prophecy and prophetic practice mean today.

Rethinking Theological Imagination

• This seminar will look at the theological imagination, here defined as the space and force by which images and concepts of God are formed or understood. We will look at the axial shifts of thought which affect the Theological imagination in its medieval, modern and contemporary stages. We will discuss some of the components of Process thought and how it challenges or rethinks the theological imagination for our current time.

Eco-Theology

• Eco-theology is a radical rethinking of theology, not only describing the God/human relationship but the God/world relationship. It moves from otherness to a world of intertwining, of evolving relationships, and sustainability. This course will provide a foundation in eco-theology (within Process Thought and Christian Theology) as a way of rethinking theological commitments in light of our current ecological crisis that requires a concrete lived response.

Introduction to Theology (Systematic Theology)

• Theology means God-talk. But how can we talk about God? How can we talk about an event (God) that is experienced, but that experience is felt and understood intuitively and phenomenologically, and only afterwards intellectually? In that experience, how do we begin to reflect upon the world around us, specifically in the current events that make one wonder “where is God?” In the pursuit of seeking a response, we also seek to understand the ultimate mystery which we call God, as well as God’s interaction in the world, and our call to walk with the divine. By engaging various readings in cultural, contextual, and philosophical fields, this course will “seek understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum) of these questions by exploring the variety of Christian understandings of God, God’s relation to the world, Christ, the Spirit, Trinity, creation, the intercultural and interreligious contexts of the church, and the quest for God’s kingdom-to-come. The class encourages students to address these topics in relation to contemporary intellectual, cultural, ethical, social, and political issues, as well as its application to practical and ministerial situations.

Queer Theologies

• This is an introductory course that explores the aims and methods of queer theology. “Queer” theology transgresses and subverts dominant constructions of sexuality and gender identity, reinterpreting and reconstructing expressions of Christian thought and practice that forces one to rethink understandings of human life, community, and the divine. We will explore “queer approaches” to theology, especially where notions of identity (esp. gender and sex, but also race, ethnicity, class, ability) are concerned. We will also look at arguments, as well as look beyond, concerning the inclusion of sexual minorities into Christian communities. In this course, we will learn to engage in “queering” Christian theology and biblical interpretation to inquire about the benefits and usefulness of queer theory as a tool for constructive theological projects and Christian practices.

World Religions in the City: An Exploration in Diversity

• This course introduces the study and diversity of religion. It explores the major world religious traditions that are found throughout the life of the City: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Baha’i. The course is interdisciplinary in that it includes material from historical, literary, philosophical, and theological insights into the world’s religions. In a city where we are becoming increasingly aware of the cultural diversity and richness, exploring the religious life and consciousness of a people is one way of gaining access to that diversity. Some questions we will explore in each tradition: How do people in each tradition articulate the central symbols, tenets, and practices of their faith in the context of the questions and challenges of the modern world? How do people in each tradition think about their own faith in the light of the diversity of other religious traditions? Is religious diversity and difference a problem? What is the spectrum of religious perspectives within each tradition?

Multifaith Critical Interpretation Seminar

• The Multifaith Critical Interpretation objectives of this seminar are:
  • to develop a critical hermeneutic of texts and contexts in a multifaith world, that is, in a world of difference, assessed through class discussion and online postings for the initial gatherings of the course
  • to develop a fuller hermeneutical understanding of the manner in which personal experience, social location, and ideological commitments come together in transformational manner for the construction of knowledge, as assessed through the Hermeneutical Self-Inventory, both in writing and in class discussion
  • to develop a fuller capacity to engage in interdisciplinary research and learning involving both texts and contexts in a multifaith world, as assessed through the development of Research Questions related to Scriptural Interpretation and the completion of the final major research paper.

Religious Pluralism, Truth and the Pluralist Imagination

• Religious Diversity is an actual fact and can also be a problem. It is an actual fact because of what we experience in the complex reality of our world; it is a problem because of the interaction between religions; but more importantly, because of the interactions, and thus implications within religions. The discussion of the manyness of religions lead to questions of the validity of religious truth: is it inclusive or exclusive? Who holds the ultimate truth? But a more important question is involved: is religious diversity welcomed? If so, is it to be accepted as an aspect of reality, or as an ideal that we move towards? This class will investigate diverse ways of describing and discussing the plurality and unity of religions by viewing it through the Pluralist Imagination, which maintains the position of relativity and plurality of truths. We will also look at the paths of salvation/liberation, how the unity of religions can be conceptualized through a world theology.

Redefining the Human Self: A Theological Anthropology

• For many Westerners, the definition of what it means to be human has passed through theological, rational, and scientific frameworks. For Aristotle it meant having an appropriate end or goal — and to belong to a polis where “man” could truly speak and become. For Augustine, to be human is to have a consciousness, and be aware of one’s whole in relation to the self (interiority) and others (exteriority). However, what was not apparent, or even considered, were the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race. As a result, the definitions of what it means to be human really considered only some humans at the center of the universe, disparaging ‘the woman,’ ‘the subaltern,’ and ‘the non-European.’ This independent study will explore, critique, and seek to redefine what it means to be human by moving from a universal/particular worldview model to a singular/multiplicitous model by beginning from the intersections of gender, sexuality, and race. We will also incorporate a post-liberationist and archetypal spirituality to further define a theological anthropology.

Introduction to Catholic Theology

• This course is an introduction to Catholic Theology. It will focus on the theological developments and controversies that have shaped the Christian thought from the fourth to twenty-first centuries, including: the essence and persons of the Trinity, the person and natures of Jesus Christ, theological anthropology, soteriology, the Eucharist, differences between Catholics and Protestants and the Catholic response to ecumenism, pluralism and relativism.