Course Schedule

This introductory course will examine the definition of leadership; distinguish between secular and Christian leadership, and explore the core values and ethics of Christian leadership, including biblical models to help students develop a personal, sustainable vision. Class meets on Thursday 3-6pm PST

This introductory course will explore significant developments in American Histoy from the often overlooked perspectives of ethnic minority communities. Course material will draw on the historical narratives and research of various Asian American, African American, Latinae, Native American, and immigrant voices to understand how these communities have shaped American history. Together, we will reflect critically on other ways to approach our understanding of major moments in American history, ranging from Westward expansion to World War II. TUESDAY 3p-6p

This course will focus on the ethical principles and standards used in society for the common good to promote harmony among people, institutions and the global world. The course will review some foundational ethical theories and philosophers and explore how some theories are applied to the social world. The course will also highlight social ethics in action and illustrate how ethical principles are applied in the social sphere to ensure more equity and respect. The course concludes with offering basic ethical guidance for faith-based leaders and others involved in the local church and outreach ministries.

The Bible has been used throughout the centuries to create, support, and sustain the institutions of white supremacy, racism, and slavery as well as the colonization of the world by euro-centric powers. This course will survey the history of biblical interpretation that under-girds the movements mentioned above as a means of stimulating new ways of thinking about and interpreting the Bible for a contemporary inter-cultural and inclusive society. This course will survey the history of biblical interpretation that under-girds the movements mentioned above as a means of simulating new ways of thinking about and interpreting the Bible for a contemporary inter-cultural and inclusive society.

This course serves as an introductory exploration into theology and ethics, a mandatory course for MCL students. Throughout the semester, we will delve into five distinct topics—immigration, feminicide, racism, secularization, and animal rights—examining them on both global and local scales and exploring their intersection with religion to foster theological reflection. Classes will incorporate lectures, presentations, and discussions to engage with these complex issues.
Auditors with Faculty Permission.

Understanding NUANCES of Research Project and Dissertation Writing – This course is intended to facilitate students’ writing development for project results and dissertation. The focus includes organizing the process to (a)Develop Workable Outline / TOC for each Chapter Focus, (b) Craft Introduction Chapter overview (c) Building Blocks for Chapter Development – beginning, middle, end; (d) Dissertation Framework: Footnotes / End Notes / Tables or Figures / Exhibits; (e) Focus on assessment of results/ evaluation chapter. Course includes focused writing lab timetables and peer roundtable sharing of writing segments for feedback.

This is the first of three core courses for the Doctor of Ministry program. The class will be an update on bible and theology for DMIN students. Course materials will cover postmodern biblical interpretation, contextual theology, post-colonial theory and political theology. Students will also work on developing their DMIN projects.

BST Students must have an approved internship site and mentor/supervisor to engage in supervised ministry praxis experience. This is a core two-part core course requirement for MDIV and MCL degree requirements. Pre-set sessions will meet on Mondays 4:00-6:00pm, subject to change with student group input.
Auditors Excluded.

Este curso introductorio prepara a los estudiantes para ejercer el liderazgo eclesiástico en el siglo XXI, explorando los nuevos paradigmas en la Iglesia. Diseñado para quienes cursan el Master of Divinity, busca formar líderes capaces de acompañar, fortalecer y guiar comunidades con un espíritu sinodal y de servicio. Los participantes desarrollarán habilidades para la gestión y administración de iglesias y organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Aprenderán a trabajar con juntas directivas y estructuras organizativas, gestionar presupuestos, evaluar la capacidad institucional y fomentar el liderazgo tanto en el clero como en los laicos. Asimismo, se analizará el contexto social y cultural de la comunidad latina migrante para una mejor comprensión de sus necesidades y desafíos. Además, el curso abordará temas esenciales como diversos tipos de liderazgo con un enfoque sinodal, la resolución de conflictos, la gestión emocional y la comunicación efectiva. Habilidades que son fundamentales para un adecuado ejercicio del liderazgo en la Iglesia y en la sociedad.

This course will address theories and practices for effective leadership in an intercultural context. We will consider biblical examples of leadership, the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership by Kouzes and Posner, and cultural intelligence as building blocks for developing intercultural leadership. Special attention will be paid to biblical and contemporary examples of leadership practices aimed at reconciling cultural dilemmas. Students will be encouraged to reflect on how they have been influenced by significant leaders while creating a plan for their own intercultural leadership development.

This course, Effectively Honing Leadership Skills, examines effective leadership in our contexts to identify ethical leadership competencies crucial to develop effective relations in any organizational setting, whether pastoral or roles in prison, hospital or military chaplaincy, non-profit community service, social entrepreneurship, or parachurch organizations. Use of multi-media and case studies for interactive class discussions, reflection, and engagement of secular and faith-based readings. Students identify strategies for effective transformational behavior and skills in varied contexts with inter-connections of prophetic, visionary, and contemplative roles in the organic culture of an organization By the end of the course, students can self-assess leadership characteristics in church/organizational culture and present on a contextually grounded ‘real-life’ leadership project.

This introductory preaching course is designed to enable the students to learn the theoretical and practical elements of contemporary preaching from diverse traditions. There will be lectures, weekly writings, and discussions around topics related to today’s understanding of preaching in ever-changing contexts, and students will preach three sermons for the class.

This course will examine the historical trajectory outlining the case for and demand for reparations and the role of religious institutions, the church, and voices of moral agency in its evolution. In everything, there is a season, including a due season. In the USA, we now see cities, states, institutions of higher education, and denominations publicly entertaining processes of reparatory justice.

With both a national and global lens, upon completion of the course, students will be able to think critically, construct theological meaning using Christian traditions, exhibit cross-cultural competence, and effectively communicate redemption’s call for reparations.

Through lectures, research, videos, readings and peer-to-peer learning and engagement, Masters and doctoral level students shall engage in an inquiry process exploring the following learning pillars: (1) Redemptions call to the church: what are reparations the case for and against (2) The Harm Done: Undoing Myths (3) Theological Accounting (4) Sociological Consequences (5) Income Degradation, Health Disparities, Environmental Ecosystems Injustice (6) mapping the demands of the reparation movement.

Evaluation will be based on Pre-class assignments (15%), Participation in Learning Circles (15%), Final Paper (30%), Evidence of off-line engagement with readings as assigned and reflected by class participation (30% and Self-evaluation Submission (10%)

This doctoral level course has been created specifically to establish competency in and baseline self-knowledge (indigenous genogram) as creation care specialists and foundational knowledge of the ecological disciplines broadly, and how those disciplines intersect or relate to or integrate with scripture, philosophy, history, and theology. Students will understand the broad scope of green-scholarship or ecology (science, food, energy, climate, nature) as it relates to a biblical, theological, philosophical, literary, historical worldview. They will gain understanding in the dialog between science and religion as it relates to a “theology of nature” or a “natural theology” and creation care. Students will show competency in history, art, film, and other educational formats as it relates to creation care and the environment.

Creative Church & Community, Spirituality & Resilience, Justice & Reconciliation, Border-Crossing. These are all topics that will be addressed through the lenses of Bible, Theology, Ethics, History, and Praxis as a means of introducing and preparing the online student to /for the work of theological study and reflection. In part 1 of this two-part, year-long, MTS core online introduction the student will engage key terms, concepts, and methodologies; in part 2 (spring semester) the student will make application of all of the above to a topic of their own choosing. [This is the only core course for the BST MTS=Master’s in Theological Studies]. NOTE: Students should be prepared to participate in weekly synchronous Zoom sessions to highlight key points from the recorded lectures and facilitate discussions about assignments.

ofrecerá una mirada a las mujeres que se encuentran en la Biblia, tanto en el Antiguo como Nuevo Testamento. Las clases, lecturas y reflexiones destacarán el papel importante que las mujeres tuvieron en la Biblia y su importancia para una Iglesia saludable en la actualidad.

Este curso ofrece una introducción a la teología filosófica a través del diálogo entre la fe y la razón. A lo largo del semestre, exploraremos preguntas fundamentales sobre la existencia de Dios, el problema del mal, la naturaleza de la fe, la racionalidad de las creencias religiosas y el lenguaje teológico. El curso presentará una variedad de enfoques clásicos y contemporáneos desde distintas tradiciones cristianas, fomentando un espacio de diálogo crítico, inclusivo y ecuménico. Las lecturas incluirán autores como Paul Tillich, William James, John Hick, C.S. Lewis, Alvin Plantinga y otros. No se requiere formación previa en filosofía.

This course will function similarly to a Special Reading Course (SRC) and is intended for advanced BAEQ students. Enrollment is limited to six students through pre-registration.
We will read three works by C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and one additional book chosen by each student from The Four Loves, Miracles, or The Screwtape Letters. During each session, students will participate in in-depth discussions. They will meet with the instructor once a month, having completed the readings and prepared for critical analysis and dialogue.
Este curso funcionará de manera similar a un Curso de Lectura Especial (SRC) y está dirigido a estudiantes avanzados de BAEQ. La inscripción está limitada a seis estudiantes mediante preinscripción.

This course will provide a basic introduction to the study and message of the Old Testament. The successful student will have 1) acquired a socio-cultural and theological overview of the Hebrew Bible with foci on basic content, critical issues, and exegetical and hermeneutical methodologies; as well as 2) developed a self-awareness concerning their/her/his own social location and its relationship to the reading, thinking, and doing of biblical, historical, and theological work; as well as 3) applied methods, theologies, and interpretations to contemporary social justice concerns. This course is for masters-level students. This course will be hybrid format.
Auditors with Faculty Permission.

This course is dedicated to improving your confidence and skill in critical thinking and academic writing through presentations, discussions, practice, and critique. You’ll learn the difference between uncritical and critical thinking, how to distinguish between info, data, and assertion, how to identify bias, and how to test an argument and evaluate evidence. You’ll learn how to create, support, and conclude an effective argument (thesis), cite sources, and have a chance to practice the many kinds of academic writing which will be required of you in seminary: exegesis, theological essay, exploratory research, personal reflection, and reviews.

Utilizing a womanist ethical lens, students will explore ethical and theological intersections of narrative using creative genres of literary and artistic voices that weave theoethical messages of cultural survival into spoken word, story, music lyrics, and visual art forms. Interactive use of dialogue and audio-visua resources offer a look at varied religious and societal responses to a survival ethic found in a womanist lens of faith and self-love. As interactive learning in this course, students combine reading(s) from assigned texts with their own sensory critical analysis as well as examine messaging in the works of contemporary artists – ALONG with source material of student’s selection.

We will begin with creating a Venn diagram. On one side of the diagram, we will take notice of liberation philosophy and on the other side, we will locate liberation theology. At the diagram’s center, we will locate Du Boisian (W.E.B. Du Bois) pragmatism. From this starting point, we will critique the neoliberal and neofascist political system in the United States and assert that it is representation of the global war of cultural domination of the 21st and 22nd centuries. We will also assert that the political economy is representation of global financial dominance (predatory capitalism). We will need to grasp how the democratic ideal and the ideals of justice are threatened and therefore, democracy is threatened. Still, these inform a theology of democracy.

The course emphasizes liberatory, and contemporary thought, through brief but in-depth encounters with historically pivotal or influential essays, texts, thinkers, and ideas. Students will learn to use and interpret basic theological concepts and models, using traditional vocabularies (doctrine of God, creation, theological anthropology, Christology, suffering and evil, soteriology, pneumatology, eschatology) by engaging a variety of theological texts critically and creatively. Students will be invited to participate as theologians while gaining a sense of how theology is a temporal, contextual, ongoing and imaginative endeavor, in which present articulations are flooded with, produced by, argue with, extend, contradict, and depart from inherited claims about the relations between God, Jesus/Christ, the Holy Spirit, humanity, life, and the universe(s). Course format: Lecture and discussion.

Este curso tiene como objetivo proporcionar a los estudiantes una sólida base en el método y el contenido teológico. Los temas clásicos que se abordarán incluyen: el método teológico y la hermenéutica, la doctrina de Dios, la creación, la antropología teológica, la cristología, la muerte, el sufrimiento y el mal, la soteriología, la pneumatología y la escatología. El curso establece un diálogo entre los métodos teológicos tradicionales y los enfoques contemporáneos de la teología. Los estudiantes explorarán temas desarrollados durante los períodos formativos de la teología cristiana y serán introducidos a los desarrollos y desafíos teológicos que incluyen cuestiones de economía, ecología, raza, clase, género y sexualidad, tanto del pasado como del presente. Aprenderán a vincular de manera constructiva las fuentes bíblicas, históricas y teológicas, así como a desarrollar teologías creativas y constructivas para la enseñanza y la proclamación en el contexto de sus comunidades. Se prestará especial atención a las teologías contextuales, con un énfasis particular en la teología