GTUS Courses (2011-2012)

Fall 2011

SCUPE S-H 307: Eco-Justice: A Vision for a Sustainable City

The church has a significant role in developing a holistic vision for a sustainable city as an outworking of the concept of shalom, a just peace.  The course will evaluate the three components of sustainable community development: the three E’s of economics, environment and equity (or social justice).  Participants will explore the course topic via readings, panel discussions and site visits.  Students will have the option of developing a project or ministry proposal that explores a key issue such as energy policy, food production, environmental justice or pollution, and how these challenges relate to the central course themes.  Central to the course is the question, “What does it mean to be a sustainable urban community?”

Credit : 3 semester hours

Faculty : Dr. Clinton Stockwell; Pam and Lan Richert, Eco Justice Collaborative

Course Schedule: October 14-15, 21-22 , 28-29 (Fridays 1-9 p.m., Saturdays 9am-5pm)

 

SCUPE S-H 303: Public Issues in Urban Ministry

We will learn public theology by doing theology. Doing theology begins by identifying the theological issues that underlie urban culture, economy, politics and society.  The class will practice a process of theological reflection rooted in an interaction of biblical insight, as it relates to Christology, principalities and powers and social justice. Exercising prophetic imagination and using the city of Chicago as a learning laboratory the class will explore what it means to pursue and advance substantive Christian moral values in the midst of systemic injustice and secular society.

Credit: 3 semester hours

Faculty : Dr. David Frenchak       

Course Schedule: Nov. 4-5, 11-12, 18-19 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)

RSS Religion in Society Studies

 

Winter/ Spring 2012

SCUPE M 305: Dimensions and Dynamics of Urban Ministry

Organized as a sequence of city-wide experiential learning opportunities, the course introduces students to congregations and faith-based organizations that bring good news through prophetic ministry. Students have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with urban ministry leaders who offer vision, courage and hope. Course methodology includes contextual experience, theological reflection, social analysis and dialogue with significant church leaders and the instructor.

Credit : 3 semester hours

Faculty: Dr. Yvonne Delk   

Course Schedule: January 2-6, 9-13, Mondays to Fridays (9am-5pm)

MS I. Nature and Practice of Ministry

SCUPE S-H 304 Urban Peacemaking in a Culture of Violence

This course on Urban Non-violence pursues and deepens the themes opened up by SCUPE’s Congress on Urban Ministry in March 2011. It will address peacemaking in its “full spectrum,” which is to say from direct action and intervention to restorative justice and conflict resolution. Certain skills, such as active listening, circle process, and non-violent practice will be introduced. The pedagogy of this course will involve an interplay between the biblical witness of gospel non-violence, narrative theology, and the experience of practitioners and students.

Credit: 3 semester hours

Faculty: Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann

Course Schedule: January 9-14, Monday – Saturday (9am – 5pm)

 

SCUPE B-Th 302: Urban Principalities and the Spirit of the City

Drawing from the ground-breaking theological work of Wink and Stringfellow on the biblical language of “principalities and powers”, this course examines the profound spiritual realities foundational to understanding and transforming the social, economic and political structures of our urban world.

Credit : 3 semester hours

Faculty : Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann

Course Schedule: Feb 3-4, 10-11, 17-18 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)

TS III. Topics in Theology (Cross list MS I, RSS)

 

SCUPE M 304: Christology and Culture

Employing a narrative hermeneutic, this course explores Christology from a global, cultural and liberation perspective – and its significance for urban ministry. The course cultivates an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of cultural images and models used to elaborate the meaning of Jesus throughout history.

Through theological and historical analysis, students engage in an in-depth study of the meaning of Christ’s life-death-resurrection for his contemporaries, the early church and specifically for this present time in history

Credit: 3 semester hours.

Faculty: Dr. Jim Perkinson

Course Schedule: March 9-10, 16-17, 23-24 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)

TS III. Topics in Theology (Cross list: NT III)

 

SCUPE M 306: The Art of Prophetic Preaching in the Urban Context

Freedom to preach in the spirit of the prophets requires preaching with the mind, body and spirit. Prophetic preaching in the city is an invitation to enter into the redemptive story of the gospel as it is evidenced in our urban world and requires not only a biblical and theological framework but also prophetic imagination, evidenced in a kind of playful energy that has the potential to both delight and shock the listener out of stuck thinking and stuck places while, at the same time, kindling and strengthening hope. We will apply the language and homiletic tools and resources of the arts, theater, and popular culture, to describe both the social context of urban life and the preached word.

Credit: 3 semester hours

Faculty: Dr. David Frenchak and Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III       

Course Schedule : April 13-14, 20-21, 27-28 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm) MS V. Preaching and Communication

 

SCUPE S-H 305: Restoring Urban Communities

Field-based in one of the nationally renowned Christian community development organizations, this course introduces the principles and practices of congregational-based community development. It examines the relationship between biblical faith and community development practice through site visits to exceptional Chicago development models, and identifies the leadership competencies, organizing principles, skills and resources necessary for an asset-based approach to sustainable community building.

Credit: 3 semester hours.

Faculty: Dr. Mary Nelson         

Course Schedule : May 4-5, 11-12, 18-19 (Fridays 1-9pm; Saturdays 9am-5pm)

RSS Religion and Society Studies

 

SCUPE Supervised Ministry Practicum

Required for students actively engaged in a ministry internship, the practicum focuses on personal formation for ministry by integrating work in the ministry setting with SCUPE's academic curriculum. Using a case study approach, it provides a forum for faith sharing, personal self-awareness of gifts and skills for ministry, theological reflection on experience, and peer group reflection on actual ministry in response to the Gospel. It is also the course vehicle for SCUPE's full-time internship field education/ministry credit. Credit varies by seminary.

Credit : Varies by seminary.

Faculty: Dr. Garnett Foster

Schedule: TBA

Summer 2012

 

SCUPE M 302: Cross Cultural Ministry Intensive

The world has come to the city. Using the city as a global classroom, this two-week intensive provides students with a practical theology for ministry in a multicultural context, engages biblical study of the early church's struggle with cultural barriers, encourages respect and appreciation of world-views and value systems different from one's own, offers anti-racism training, builds skills in movement and communication across cultural divides, and exposes students directly to a wide variety of ministries in diverse cultural settings.

Credit: 3 semester hours.

Faculty: Rev. Cynthia Milsap           

Course Schedule : June 4-8, 11-15 Mondays to Fridays (9am-5pm)

MS I Nature and Practice of Ministry

 

SCUPE Supervised Ministry Practicum     

Required for students actively engaged in a summer ministry internship, the practicum focuses on personal formation for ministry by integrating work in the ministry setting with SCUPE’s summer academic curriculum. Using a case study approach, it provides a forum for faith sharing, personal self-awareness of gifts and skills for ministry, theological reflection on experience, and peer group reflection on actual ministry in response to the Gospel. It is also the course vehicle for SCUPE's full-time summer internship field education/ministry credit.

Credit : Varies by seminary.

Faculty: Dr. Garnett Foster

Schedule : TBA   

 

To register for any of the above courses, please contact Dody Finch, Registrar at the SCUPE office, (312) 726-1200, dody@scupe.com.