Institute for Spirituality and Social Justice

Current Course Offerings

Summer 2026 Courses

THEO 657: Women Mystics

Taught by Dr. Gillian Ahlgren

Summer I (May 18-June 26, 2026)

Fully online with set meetings: May 19: 7-8:30 PM EDT; May 26: 7-8:30 PM EDT; June 6: 10-11:30 AM EDT; June 16: 7-8:30 PM EDT.

The course is a study of the influence of religious women throughout the history of Christianity through a reading of women's mystical treatises. 

THEO 551: Faith & Justice

Taught by Dr. Adam Clark

Summer I (May 18-June 26, 2026)

Fully online with set meetings: May 20, 27; June 3, 10, 17, 24; 6:30-9:00 PM EDT

This graduate seminar examines the dynamic relationship between religious faith and social justice through the lens of Ignatian spirituality and the prophetic traditions of Christianity. Students engage primary texts (e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Howard Thurman) alongside case studies and critical reflection practices to discern how spiritual vision and social action converge. Representative topics include Ignatian discernment (“finding God in all things”), the Beloved Community and the civil rights movement, critiques of consumerism and empire, theologies of nonviolence and solidarity, and leadership for the common good. 

THEO 634: Recovery and Growth Post Trauma

Taught by Dr. Ashley Theuring

Summer II (June 29-August 7)

Fully online with set meetings: June 29; July 6, 13, 20, 27; 6:30-9:00 PM EDT 

By attending to the ways that a person’s sense of meaning, integrity, and trust can be violated through trauma and by understanding basic spiritual practices that empower people in the healing process, this course helps educators, professionals and caregivers who come into contact with traumatized people. This course provides a holistic overview with emphasis on the spiritual and pastoral needs of traumatized people and makes accessible spiritual and theological resources to support the healing process. Given the multitude of types of trauma, the frequency of occasions for experiencing trauma over the course of a human lifetime, and the likelihood of encountering traumatized people in a variety of professions, including but not limited to pastoral care and ministry, it is important to have a theologically, spiritually and socially-informed understanding of the phenomenon of trauma in order to respond adequately, sensitively, and effectively to traumatized people.

 

Spring 2026 Courses

THEO 624: Theological Imagination 

Taught by Dr. Martin Madar on Thursdays, 6:00-8:30

Theology is both a process and a product. This course will focus on the former without neglecting the latter. The course is an introduction to theology seen as a creative process of constructing new interpretations of religious tradition in critical engagement with the contemporary situation, aiming at renewing the tradition. Students will read diverse works of constructive theology and analyze them in terms of the foundational theological and hermeneutical categories pertaining to the notion of “imagination.”

THEO 631: Theo-Ethics of Ministry

Taught by Dr. Marcus Mescher on Mondays, 6:00-8:30 PM

This course explores the foundational sources and methods for a theological and ethical analysis of pastoral ministry. It examines the power that pastoral ministers wield, the gifts and risks of the deep bonds of trust forged between ministers and faith community members, and how to discern prudent boundaries in the face of finite time and resources.

THEO 513: Women and Gender in the Hebrew Bible

Taught by Dr. Christine Thomas on Tuesdays, 6:00-8:30 PM

This class will engage a wide selection of scholarship on women and gender in the Hebrew Bible through in-depth study of selected biblical texts concerning female figures. We will consider these biblical women through a prism of approaches, each one yielding a unique vantage point on the text. While engaging multiple approaches to the study of women and gender, students will develop their own analytical skills as readers of biblical texts.

 

Fall 2025 Courses

THEO 555: Christian History: Turning Points

Taught by Dr. Walker Gollar on Thursdays, 6:00-8:30 PM

This course explores some of the key turning points in Christian History from the death of Jesus to modern times. While discussing select historical moments, the course also illustrates how all religious history might be approached. The course moreover challenges participants to consider their theology and their place amidst the issues raised in the past.

THEO 548: Bioethics

Taught by Dr. James Helmer on Tuesdays, 6:00-8:30 PM

This course begins with reflection on moral methodology, then moves to specific questions such as reproductive technology, genetics, physician-patient relationship, end-of-life issues, and the many justice questions related to health care systems.

THEO 542: Hindu Traditions and Women

Taught by Dr. Nick Tackes on Mondays, 6:00-8:30 PM

This course introduces students to Hindu traditions through the perspective of women’s religious lives. Through consideration of life cycle rituals, devotional poetry and song, religious iconography and myth, and a variety of votive and devotional practices, students will become familiar with prominent contemporary Hindu devotional traditions. Our case material will principally consider these features of religious life in the context of Hindu women. The construction of the Hindu woman as a figure with particular responsibilities, aspirations, and possibilities will encourage students to grapple with the role of religion as a liberatory or constraining dimension of life.