CALL Courses: Spring 2024

What We Believe: Theology in the Anglican Tradition Registration for this class is now closed

It has become rather commonplace to suppose that Anglican Christians care mostly about liturgy and not very much about theology. That’s not true! Anglican traditions exhibit a rich and diverse history of theological reflection. Anglicans have always insisted that that how Christians think and talk about God makes a critical difference in what Christians believe. As the product of a living tradition, Anglican theology is in constant and evolving dialogue with the diverse contexts in which it takes shape. In this course we will explore our theological roots in the Anglican tradition and will engage the tradition from the perspectives we bring to the conversation as we explore some of the major figures in Anglican theology like Richard Hooker, F. D.Maurice and William Temple. We will wrestle together with how we approach creation, incarnation, the Church’s sacraments and some of the contemporary issues that have concerned Anglicans, both in our own setting and around the world. And we will explore together how and why theology matters.

Instructor: A native of Virginia, John Kater served as assistant minister and later as rector at Christ Episcopal Church, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and also taught for ten years as a visiting professor at Vassar College. From 1984 to 1990 he served as education officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Panama and priest-in-charge of Iglesia San Francisco de Asís in Panama City. He joined the faculty of CDSP in 1990. Since “official” retirement in 2007, he teaches at Ming Hua Theological College in Hong Kong in the spring term.

The Prophets

This course is a survey course of prophets in Ancient Israel and the texts of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Studying the language of the prophetic corpus, we will explore the historical, social, and political contexts of the writings and their meanings for the intended audience and readers today. By the end of the semester, students will be able to:

1. Define what it means to be called a prophet.
2. Identify and understand who the former and pre-exilic prophets are, what they did in their various contexts, and how they functioned.
3. Explain the focus of the messages of the prophets,
4. Explore the relevance of the prophetic writings for the reader today.

Instructor: Dr. Kamilah Hall Sharp is assistant professor of Hebrew Bible and public ministry at Chicago Theological Seminary and holds a doctorate in Biblical Interpretation-Hebrew Bible from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University; her scholarship focuses on the intersection of race, gender, and class with the biblical text and contemporary culture. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics from Florida A&M University, a Master of Divinity from Memphis Theological Seminary, and a Juris Doctor from Indiana University-Bloomington. Kamilah is a co-author of The Gathering, A Womanist Church: Origins, Stories, Sermons, and Litanies. She was ordained as a minister in the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) and currently serves as co-pastor of The Gathering, A Womanist Church in Dallas.

Changing Church: Missional Practices and/for Beloved Community

What does it mean to lead during a time of religious, sociocultural, and environmental upheaval? What can churches do differently to better reflect and nurture gospel values and God’s dream of a just, reconciled, Spirit-filled world? This course in missional leadership will ask these and related questions. We will explore concepts and experience practices of congregational development, evangelism and outreach, and equity and racial reconciliation. The course is structured, in part, according to the broad themes of the Episcopal Church’s curriculum Becoming Beloved Community … Where You Are. It will require instructor and participants alike to bring open minds and brave hearts as we attempt to tell the truth about the history and present of Christ’s church as we each claim our roles in shaping its future.

Instructor: Kyle Oliver is an Episcopal priest and educational media producer and researcher interested in community-building and meaning-making practices in innovative faith- and faith-adjacent communities. His dissertation documentary, Becoming Tapestry, chronicles and develops such practices with the co-directors, mentors, and young people of a West Coast foster youth mentoring ministry. Kyle is director of communications and adjunct instructor in Christian formation at CDSP; a visiting scholar at the Digital Futures Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University; and an adjunct instructor in digital media studies at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Preaching the Prophets

This course explores the pertinence of the message of the prophets of ancient Israel for contemporary issues through reading, exegesis, and preaching. We will read significant parts of prophetic literature, asking how literary, historical, and theological lenses provide ways to see, preach, and teach its messages. We will also learn from classic preachers (e.g. John Donne) who interpreted and proclaimed the prophets, relating them to both the New Testament and their contemporary societies.

Instructor: Donn Morgan is Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Always a student and teacher of the Bible, he also held administrative positions at CDSP (academic dean, president). He has been deeply involved in theological education in The Episcopal Church and the Graduate Theological Union, as well as teaching in Asia and England. His books include Fighting with the Bible, Manifesto for Learning, Talking with the Bible and The Oxford Handbook of the Writings of the Hebrew Bible (editor).

The Diaconal Hermeneutic

As we live into the fourth wave of the current renewal of the Sacred Order of Deacons in The Episcopal Church, we are gaining greater clarity about the distinctive nature of the “full and equal order,” and we are increasingly able and willing to invite the gift of prophetic servant leadership. At the heart of the deacon’s vocation and charism is a way of seeing the world and the church that informs prayer and action. Drawing on the concept and discipline of hermeneutics this online course will explore the components of a diaconal hermeneutic and how it shapes ministry and the deacon’s ordination charge, “to interpret to the church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world.”

The course is suitable for the ongoing learning of deacons in ministry, persons aspiring to the diaconate or who are in formation. It will also be informative for members of congregational vocations committees and members of Commission on Ministry.

Instructor: Rod Dugliss is a former Dean of the School for Deacons in the Diocese of California. He has served as a missionary in Japan, has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level at several institutions, and endured a sojourn in the corporate world. Rod has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Duke University.

Attitudes of Care: Ecotheology in Practice

Journey from lament to hope, exploring different dispositions—such as awe, curiosity, and offering—toward the more than human creation and our current ecological crisis. Each week a key reading will support an activity focused on participants’ places and contexts. Together readings and experience will provide rich material for forum conversations. Those engaged with creation care ministries in their communities, or planning them with their congregations, will find opportunities for deepening reflection and articulating the Christian reasons for concern and action.

Instructor: Deacon Phina Borgeson brings to her work with CALL more than forty years experience teaching, facilitating, and mentoring in ministry education and formation. She thrives on encouraging deacons, those preparing to be deacons, and other members of the baptized to make connections among their daily lives, cultural and civic contexts, and faith traditions. She lives in Sonoma County, California, where her community ministry focus is on policy and practices for just and resilient food systems.

Sacramental Theology

This course will explore sacramental theology through the lens of the Episcopal Church and, specifically, how the sacraments are encountered through the liturgies of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The majority of the course will focus on the sacraments of baptism and eucharist, but the other sacramental rites will be examined. By the end of this course, students will have gained a general knowledge of the sacraments and the theology that defines them.

Instructor: The Rev. Dr. Melissa Hartley is the Senior Associate University Chaplain at The University of the South, in Sewanee, Tennessee, where she coordinates worship for All Saints’ Chapel and leads the Catechumenate process. She teaches in the Doctor of Ministry and ACTS (Alternative Clergy Training in Sewanee) programs at the School of Theology. Melissa is an Episcopal priest from the Diocese of Atlanta and has served parishes in Georgia, New York, and New Jersey. She holds the following degrees: B.A., University of the South; M.Div., S.T.M., General Theological Seminary; Ph.D. (Liturgical Studies), Drew University.

Church History: Reformation Roots to Episcopal Church

This survey course will examine the English Reformation of the sixteenth century though the birth and development of Anglicanism leading up to the founding of the Episcopal Church and its history to the present day. These developments will be studied within the context of Western Christin history. The course will survey the more generally acknowledged sources and major issues of the Reformation era and Anglican-Episcopal history, and include generally acknowledged figures, as well as those outside the traditional canon, such as communities of color and women.  

A purpose of this course is to give students a working knowledge of the history and major theological issues of the Reformation era, and an appreciation of both the highlights and the challenges of our North American Anglican/Episcopal heritage.  This course is appropriate for those interested in a basic survey or refresher course. In addition to required reading, students will obtain suggestions for further study.  

Instructor: (The Rev. Dr.) Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook, EdD, PhD, is the former dean and now professor of practical theology and Christian histories where she teaches courses in spirituality, history, religious education, and practical theology. She is also professor emerita of Anglican Studies at Bloy House, the Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles. Kujawa-Holbrook is also the former dean of Episcopal Divinity School (Cambridge, Massachusetts) where she held the Suzanne Radley chair in feminist pastoral theology and church history. The author of numerous books and articles, she is the editor-in-chief of the academic journal, Anglican and Episcopal History, and a priest of the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Practical Preaching in the Digital Age

This is a hands-on preaching and digital ministry course for new preachers. Learn to preach from the ground up comfortable in the pulpit and online. This will NOT be manuscript preaching! We will practice a conversational, video-friendly, note-free sharing of Good News.

Preachers will learn to:

• Use the ‘Triangle Preaching Process’ – Scripture, situation, self.
• Create and upload video sermons – even when you preach in-person.
• Develop sermon study resources – and why you shouldn’t preach your exegesis!
• Give constructive feedback to others – and how this makes us better preachers.

The goal of this course is growing in comfort and skill as the preacher you are called to be.

Instructor: The Rev. Cathie Caimano (‘Fr. Cathie’) is an Episcopal priest of over 20 years and the CEO (‘Chief Evangelism Officer’) of Free Range Priest, empowering clergy and congregations to reimagine ministry in the digital age. She’s also the founder of Bring Church to People, an online community for ministers ‘doing’ and being church in new ways. She lives with her husband and adorable Great Dane near Charlotte, NC, and gets all her best ideas while running. She’s been teaching preaching at CALL for six years – and so grateful for the experience.