DI-501: Introduction to Islam for Non-Muslims Don’t know much about Islam? Join Dr. Hans Harmakaputra for an introduction to Islamic beliefs, practices, scriptures, and Muslim communities, especially in the U.S.

DI-610: Faith in the Neighborhood: Understanding and Engaging the World’s Religions in America This course, a great way to become conversant in interfaith circles, includes a “choose your own interfaith adventure.” Your guide is Dr. Lucinda Mosher, who is a veteran at guiding students through the interfaith landscape.

HI-523: The History of Christianity: Defining Moments of a Faith Dr. Brian Clark will give students a “big picture” view of the history of Christianity, from the very beginnings to the present day.

RS-672: Tackling the Issue: Retaining Young People in Faith Communities It’s a familiar complaint: “Why are there so few youths and young adults in this congregation? What can we do? Learn what’s working and what’s not with Dr. Adair Lummis.

SC-518: There’s Something About Mary Yes, there certainly is something about Mary! But which one? The Virgin Mary? Mary Magdalene? Mary of Bethany? Who are they? How are they presented in New Testament texts and other early Christian writings? What was their relationship with Jesus? Find out the answers to these questions and more with our New Testament scholar Dr. Shanell T. Smith.

SC-522: Hebrew Bible Survey Dr. Deena Grant will take you through the content and theology expressed in the Hebrew Bible, analyzing scripture using historical-critical methodologies that consider the biblical material in light of its ancient Near Eastern context and investigating how the Hebrew Bible has been interpreted by different faith communities.

TH-505: Christian Theology: The Basic Components of Christian Faith and Life Join Dr. Najib George Awad for a course that covers every basic element in Christian faith using Daniel Migliore’s book, Faith Seeking Understanding, as a framework.

Online Courses with Synchronous Sessions

Similar to standard online courses, except these courses feature regular, required Zoom meetings as a way of supplementing the asynchronous content, interaction, and activities

Meeting synchronously via Zoom every week from 6-8 PM unless otherwise noted.

Monday

LG-662: Readings in New Testament Greek II: Meets – 4-5:45 PM; also meets on Wednesday
This intermediate level course taught by the Rev. Dr. Ed Duffy is designed to enable students to read the New Testament in Greek, concentrating on grammar and vocabulary building.

SC-634: Major Themes of the Bible and the Qur’an
Academic Dean David D. Grafton will offer insights into the worldviews of the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Testament and the Qur’an through an examination of a number of common and divergent themes among the three scriptures: Monotheism, Creation, Revelation, Prophecy, Ethics, Sin and Punishment, Love, Repentance, Worship, Judgment, and Salvation.

AM-638: Essential Skills in Pastoral Counseling and Ministry
Don’t miss this opportunity to study with Bishop Dr. Benjamin Watts, who will offer pastors, lay ministers and caregivers an opportunity to learn basic counseling skills for use in pastoral settings.

Tuesday

AM-673:Building an Intentional Strategy for the (Post-Pandemic) Future (Piazza): Meets 10 AM – 12 PM for five sessions
Explore the tools needed to analyze and assess your congregation’s strengths and build an intentional strategy for ministry in the post-pandemic reality. The Rev. Dr. Michael Piazza, a nationally known congregational consultant, leads the way.

LG-562: Introduction to New Testament Greek II (Duffy): Meets – 4-5:45 PM; also meets on Thursday
The focus of this introductory course assumes no prior knowledge of the Greek language. Our Greek expert, the Rev. Dr. Ed Duffy, will teach the basic grammar and vocabulary of New Testament Greek.

RS-631: Race, Religion and Politics
All Americans, wrote Derrick Bell, are “imprisoned by the history of racial subordination.”  How have the dynamics of racialized class prejudice played out in American religious history?  Is there a way out? While paying attention to global histories and theoretical reflections, you will examine and draw lessons from case studies that highlight the problematic interweaving of race, religion and politics in the lives of human beings designated as minorities, including African-Americans, American Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. Taught by Drs. Bilal Ansari and Timur Yuskaev.

HI-571: American Religious History
Historian Dr. Andrew Gardner will offer students an introduction to the development, character, and rich diversity of religious history of the United States. The course will pay special attention to the impact religion has had on American history and inversely how religious traditions have been shaped by their encounter with American culture.

Wednesday

AM-551: Qur’ān Recitation/Tajwīd II: Meets 4-6 PM
This course is designed for Muslim leaders, chaplains and anyone who is interested in learning/improving the Qur’ānic recitation. It is a continuation of Qur’ān Recitation/Tajwīd I.

LG-662: Readings in New Testament Greek II (Duffy): Meets – 4-5:45 PM; also meets on Monday

AM-604: Theologies of Chaplaincies: Working on the Edge of Religion
This course will help chaplains clarify their roles as they represent religion on the edge of religious institutions, where Muslims counsel Christians, Jews pray with atheists, Christians learn enough Hebrew to get by. The Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper will help you figure out how to clarify the chaplain’s role.

SC-539: Hadith Methodology: History and Transmission of the Prophetic Sunna Dr. Suheil Laher will lead you through a progression of the various elements related to hadith studies such as hadith terminology, the legislative authority of the Sunna, methods of collecting and preserving hadiths, important transmitters, canonical hadith sources, hadith classification, weak hadiths, and forged hadiths. The end goal? Building a solid understanding of the role of hadith in shaping the Islamic scholarly tradition.

WS-511: Longing for God? Christian Spirituality in Theological Perspective
The primary goals of the course, taught by Dr. Najib George Awad, are for the students to learn the basic spiritual trends in Christianity, and to be able to assess every trend from a theological perspective and in light of the Christian theological tradition as a whole.

Thursday

HI-536: The Life of the Prophet Muhammad (Laher)
Dr. Suheil Laher has designed this course to critically investigate the accounts of Prophet Muhammad’s life, achievements and his relations with Jewish and Christian communities in 6^th-7^th century Arabia.

LG-562: Introduction to New Testament Greek II (Duffy): Meets – 4-5:45 PM; also meets on Tuesday

RS-627: Christian-Muslim Relations in Indonesia
Explore with Dr. Hans Harmakaputra the dynamic relations between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia, a country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

TH-622: God in Muslim Thought
This course, taught by Dr. Hossein Kamaly, surveys conceptualizations of the divine in Muslim thought and practice. The goal is to map out an intellectual history in which ideas of God provide an ordering framework, a core around which the more familiar elements of the Muslim experience take shape.