Course Schedule

This course provides a survey of the Old Testament, focusing on the texts in their historical and literary contexts. Students will learn to read the texts from various perspectives and evaluate the notion of the literature as sacred texts both for ancient readers as well as contemporary faith communities. Evaluation will be based on participation in interactive discussions, content quizzes, written assignments and examinations. This course meets in a blended format.

This 7 week (september 11-Oct 23) course will focus on biblical exegesis (interpretation) as a preliminary step toward creating the sermon.

An Introduction to New Testament Studies. Part II will be taught in spring semester.

This course provides a survey of and Introduction to Christian Theology

World Christianity represents the normative Christianity. Christianity emerged and developed in multicultural settings, and since then, it has continuously transcended boundaries, molding, and being molded by these cultures and traditions in which it was received until it became the world religion that we know today. The course delves into the extensive history of Christianity as a world religion, beginning from the early church era to it’s contemporary manifestations, with an underlying perspective that may surprise many – it has never been an innocent religion.

This 7 week (Oct 31-Dec 12) course will be taught by one of the premier preachers in the Bay Area.

In Pastoral Care, students acquire the skills to exercise active listening, empathy, and compassion with special attention to the needs of the Latino culture. This class offers a holistic understanding of our relationship with others. It includes a review of theological positions regarding pastoral care.

The class will read Greek texts from different parts of the New Testament and the Septuagint (LXX) to facilitate reading comprehension of Koine Greek. Pertinent intermediate level Greek grammar will be discussed as needed. Selection of the passages represents a pedagogy of exposure to diverse authors in the NT and the LXX with a reasonable amount of continuity within a session. Format: lecture and class exercise, Evaluation method: quizzes, midterm and final exam. Intended audience: MDiv, MA/MATS, PhD

This course examines Christian Ethics from antiquity to the modern era and the emergence of social ethics in the 19th century through the present day. Consideration of The Good and doing good, justice and social justice are central themes in the Christian Church and contemporary world. We will focus on these topics as we consider religious beliefs, tradition, values, virtue, individual freedom and responsibility. We will ask and explore how faith is informed and expressed by these themes in our contemporary world.

To be(come) Culturally Responsive requires mentors and partners. Each student in the newly revised Competency Based Doctor of Ministry program will journey alongside a thematic cohort with several DMin students and three mentors. A student’s mentor team of 3 can be geographically centered or spread across the globe. The remote realities that have become the new normal in our world create possibilities for communication and gatherings from anyplace at any time. Year 1 of Berkeley School of Theology’s Culturally Responsive Competency Based DMin will address several themes. Each student will select one of these themes to emphasize and build his/her mentor team accordingly.

For BST DMin student only, upon completion of coursework until completion of dissertation.

Requires at least 20 hours per week. Participate in ministry to persons, and in individual group reflection upon that ministry. Theoretical material from theology, the behavioral sciences, and pastoral care. Integrates theological understanding and knowledge of behavioral science into pastoral functioning. Taken at a center approved by the Assoc. for CPE under the supervision of an ACPE accredited supervisor who reports progress to student’s Field Education Director and writes evaluations to be placed in the student’s permanent file. [Faculty Consent required]

Supervised ministry in approved placements for MDiv and MCL students. Format: Lecture, discussion, small groups, onsite internship. Assignments: a learning covenant, reflection papers, timely completion of evaluation forms. BST students in first semester of field education, Students must have made arrangements for an approved placement. Auditors excluded.

First semester of a required course for entering BST seminarians – open to other GTU students. Students will learn skills of academic writing, critical analysis, and articulation of objectives. Writing samples and instructor feedback integrate theory and praxis.

This course will help students maximize the use of technology in their ministry. Students will critically assess where their ministry is in the digital world, strengthen the technological tools they are using already, and then discover new tools for ministry. This course examines the place of technology in ministry. Students will have hands-on learning experience on various methods to use technology and how it can contribute to the effectiveness for ministry.

This course will address theories and practices for effective leadership in an inter-cultural context. We will consider biblical examples of leadership, the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership by Kouzes and Posner, along with cultural intelligence as building blocks towards developing intercultural leadership. Special attention will be paid to biblical and contemporary examples of leadership practices that are 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 is an introduction to a theological understanding and practice of innovation in the context of ministry either inside or outside of the local church. We will engage with the frameworks of human centered design, entrepreneurship and agile management as a way to guide us into our Creator’s call to be creative, innovative and redemptive in our vocation. We want to encourage our faith communities to respond meaningfully to an ever-changing world – whether it be through creating something new, renewing something old, transforming something broken or all of the above!

The Leading Diversity-Oriented Ministries Certificate is a year long program that prepares church planters, pastoral leaders, ministry leaders, and higher education professionals for leadership roles in diversity-oriented organizations. The goal of the program is to provide leaders with the necessary awareness, knowledge, skills, and experience to provide effective intercultural leadership. All participants must commit to a 12 month educational program with monthly 3-4 hour sessions. All participants will receive 3 academic units for fall 2023 and 3 academic units for spring 2024 semesters.

Este curso de nivel doctoral examina de manera profunda cómo la iglesia puede enfrentar el desafío de la juventud en riesgo y contribuir a la prevención del encarcelamiento de las generaciones más jóvenes. A través de un enfoque interdisciplinario, los estudiantes explorarán estrategias teológicas, psicológicas y socioculturales para brindar apoyo y guía a los jóvenes en riesgo de involucrarse en actividades delictivas. Los estudiantes analizarán las causas subyacentes de la vulnerabilidad juvenil y evaluarán las mejores prácticas en la prevención y la intervención temprana. Se discutirán enfoques de mentoría, programas comunitarios y colaboración con agencias externas para desarrollar un marco integral de apoyo.

This course will meet four times in the fall 2023 semester, once a month at 2 pm —Dates: 9/19; 10/17; 11/14; 12/12

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, presentations, and weekly writings and discussions around topics related to today’s diverse contexts and students will preach three sermons for the class.

We will define rhetoric and how the art form informs homiletics and strategies in sacred, secular, and public square settings. For this course, we will limit our focus to sermons delivered by Gardner C. Taylor in various settings. We will read and view some of his sermons, respond, and react to his pulpit work and consider the rhetorical context(s). Group discussion will enhance our understanding of topic and written papers will be utilized to evaluate our academic proficiency. Class will be hybrid, Monday nights from 5:10 to 8:00 pm. Auditors welcome.

This advanced seminar, designed for advanced Masters and Doctoral students, will deal with various theories around the New Homiletic and related preaching theories which have been discussed for the past four decades. Successful students will have a good grasp of trends in preaching theories that are being dealt with among mainline North American scholars. Students will make presentations, write book reviews and research papers, and take a part in discussion around a selected author or topic each week. A prerequisite: an introductory or basic preaching course.

This course is a doctoral seminar on contemporary preaching theories. Starting with the historical and cultural background of the New Homiletic, a revolution in homiletic which began in the 1960s in North America, this course surveys theological, cultural, and practical issues around the New Homiletic and their related theories in today’s world. Students will make presentations, write research papers, and preach sermons; they will also take a part in class discussion around selected authors or topics each week. A prerequisite: an introductory or basic preaching course.

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]

Course Description: En este curso se estudian los elementos básicos para elaborar un ensayo teológico como un ejercicio académico. El curso se compone de talleres semanales y comienza con conceptos básicos sobre la elaboración de ensayos académicos. Cada semana se presentará una nueva herramienta la cual se incluirá en el tema y argumento inicial construido por el estudiante al comienzo del semestre. Este curso va dirigido a estudiantes de teología, en particular a aquellos que se preparan para una maestría en dicha disciplina sea en inglés o español. Este curso tiene como objetivo principal proporcionar al estudiante las herramientas y fundamentos básicos que le permitirá redactar exitosamente un ensayo académico, en particular en el ámbito teológico. Se espera que los estudiantes tengan todas las tareas y lecturas preparadas antes de cada clase y entreguen un ensayo de 5-7 paginas con al menos 5 notas al pie y una bibliografía al final del semestre

En este curso se realizará un breve análisis de la historia de la música desde sus primeros registros en el Antiguo y Nuevo testamento, y desde el siglo I hasta nuestros días. Dichos elementos servirán de fundamento para profundizar entre la relación existente entre música y comunicación de la fe y entre experiencia estética y experiencia religiosa.

El objetivo principal se concentrara generar un espacio de reflexión en torno al uso actual de la música en diálogo abierto con la tradición cristiana y como un aporte positivo en el testimonio de la iglesia en el mundo y como un medio de crecimiento y desarrollo de la fe.

Este curso enseñara los fundamentos educativos bíblicos, teológicos, filosóficos, sociológicos, psicológicos de los fundamentos curriculares de la formación cristiana. Los distintos acercamientos a la formación y educación cristiana se pondrán en dialogo con las expresiones evangélicas de la conversión, salvación, santificación, bautismo en el Espíritu Santo y con la formación dentro del cuerpo de Cristo. La naturaleza de la instrucción religiosa será considerada. También los modelos bíblicos e históricos de discipulado y liderazgo serán explorados y comparados con modelos contemporáneos y modelos educativos seculares. This course will be Hybrid format

Bíblico, este curso se enfoca en la persona y la obra redentora de Cristo, la persona, el testimonio del Espíritu, la identidad y los propósitos de la Iglesia.

l provide a basic introduction to the study and message of the Hebrew Bible. 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.

Womanist thought and praxis informs theological and ethical intersections of identity and lived experiences for practical application to ministry and self-care. What are religious and societal responses to a jutsice lens centering a survival ethic of resiliency and anti-oppression? Use of interactive dialogue, readings, and audio-visual materials help students to analyze the messaging and methodoligical approaches in multiple genres including literary, arts, religion, and popular culture. Moodle/Voice Thread used to create interactive presentations with classmates and faculty. Course meets Tuesdays 6:30-9:30pm for in-person class (hybrid option w/ professor permission. Masters and Doctoral students welcome).

The Christian Spiritual Formation course facilitates believers’ journey towards a profound relationship with God, guiding their transformation into Christ’s likeness. By fostering a God-centric perspective, students will unearth their true selves and undergo holistic transformation. Through diverse spiritual practices, they will deepen their connection with God, enhance self-awareness, and learn to serve and love their neighbors. This comprehensive approach empowers them to embody Christ in their daily life, within their communities, and in the broader world. This course will be taught in Korean.

Preparing seminarians for work in religious communities hungry for leadership and action on their values requires rethinking what theology is and what significance it has in today’s context of most pressing issues. Rather than a theology primarily focused on internal reflection and personal redemption, clergy in American communities need to expand their training to include a “public theology” that includes a more meaningful engagement of institutional and societal redemption. An integration of this broader, more inclusive theological orientation with skills of contemporary public engagement and community organizing can not only reexamine many traditional religious assumptions but also empower this new perspective for action.

This course is Online Asynchronous.