Classes
This course will explore key factors involved in interpreting the work, its roots in Jewish apocalyptic traditions, the situation of the early Church at the end of the first century, and the book’s complex literary structure and graphic imagery. We’ll be particularly interested in the ways in which the book reshapes apocalyptic forms in the light of its convictions about the significance of Christ.
This course presents an opportunity to read and discuss some of Edwards’ own formulations on God as three-in-one, from early essays such as “Discourse on the Trinity” that addressed the Trinitarian Controversy of the early eighteenth century, to notebook entries and sermons considering the “offices” of the three persons and the aesthetic and relational nature of God and of sainthood, to Edwards’ participation in the pneumatological renaissance of the evangelical revival period, to unfinished “great works” such as “A History of the Work of Redemption,” to his search into world religions to glimpse the echoes of what for him was “true” religion.
The course will explore different responses to death and dying in the history of Western music: music and palliative care in the Middle Ages, settings of the traditional Requiem text by Mozart and others, protestant funeral compositions by composers such as Bach, Schütz, Purcell, and Handel, and other works that show modes of reflecting on death throughout history. The course will also look into ways in which we, in contemporary ministry, can use music in funerals and in the care for the dying.
What constitutes a life of minding the Spirit within us particularly during a time of stress? Why did the disciples of Jesus ask him to teach them to pray? What are the meaning and expectations of praying? What is the relationship between the practices of praying, meditating and mindfulness, self-care and their influence on our capacity to regulate our thinking, feelings and actions? What does it mean to be religious or spiritual and practice meditating and/or praying? This course will explore these and other questions about prayer, praying, meditation and mindfulness. Participants will also look at different ways of thinking about how prayers are composed and offered in a communal setting as well as a private practice.
This course will study the relation between faith in God and the capacities of human reason. The main topics will be the relation between faith in God and morality, religious experience, the problem of evil, the nature of faith, the traditional proofs for the existence of God, miracles and science, immortality, and religious pluralism.
This course explores preaching strategies for introverts. Finding ways to make the depth of one’s spiritual insights accessible to others will be the central task. Students will examine strategies for engaging scripture, composing sermons, and relating with listeners.
The course will involve close readings of a sample of the liturgical masterpiece from ancient Israel that we know as the Psalms. The Psalter itself is divided into five books, mirroring the structure of Torah itself, and our study will be sequenced into five parts, sampling selections from each successive book over five days.
This course combines the riches of the biblical text with some of Yale’s greatest treasures. Each day will explore the concept of wonder through academic study and lively conversation about a biblical text. We will then enrich our learning about this theme each day with guided e-visits to one of Yale’s collections, led by world-class experts. Our excursions will virtually take us to the Yale Peabody Museum (the wonder of animals), the Yale Art Gallery (the wonder of the divine/human connection), the Yale Babylonian Collection (the wonder of civilization), back to the Art Gallery (the wonder of creativity), and the Yale British Art Museum (the wonder of earth and sky).