Course Explorer

This course introduces students to a range of practices of contemplative prayer, centering in a broadly ecological context: both Earth itself as our shared creaturely home and the particular places where students live.

This course is designed for Muslim leaders and chaplains and anyone who is interested in learning and improving their Quranic recitation.

This course is designed for Muslim leaders, chaplains and anyone who is interested in learning/improving the Qur’ānic recitation.

This course aids in the chaplain’s role definition as a person representing religion and God on the edges of religious institutions.

Combining the substance of an introduction with the intimacy of a workshop, this course will explore theological and rhetorical foundations for preaching and provide practical experience in delivery and critique.

This course will offer pastors, lay ministers and caregivers an opportunity to learn basic counseling skills for use in pastoral settings.

This course focuses on contemporary and past Muslim homiletics.

This course will examine traditional and contemporary approaches to spiritual care for ministry to the incarcerated that are rooted in one’s faith or source of meaning-making.

The havoc wrought by COVID-19 has foregrounded the need for robust resources and strategies for interreligious understanding and collaboration in situations where loss is multireligious—or the response to it should be.

This one week intensive is designed to explore new tools available to us and the most effective ways to leverage the changes that have been forced upon us.

This course will seek to better understand the dynamics that awareness of death gives us.

The purpose of this series of class sessions is to explore the tools needed to analyze and assess your congregation’s strengths and build an intentional strategy for ministry in the post-pandemic reality.

In this course we will explore an often hidden history that resulted in a significant attitudinal shift in Americans in less than half a century.

Perhaps more than any other institution, religious congregations have resisted the revolution that technology has brought to communication, community, business, and finances.

The course will provide a structure for how to set up counseling sessions, effectively interact and establish a therapeutic relationship through an empathic interactional style, establish appropriate boundaries, screen and identify mental illness, offer basic interventions and refer people to the appropriate mental health professional.

This course is focused on the study of psychological trauma.

This course introduces you to the central tools and concepts within the disciplines of sociology and psychology that provide insights into the spiritual care work of chaplains across a variety of settings.

This course employs a wide range of instructional methods to enable students as spiritual caregivers (chaplains or ministers) to gain insight into how residents of America’s multireligious communities engage in deliberative reflection on matters of ultimate concern, what answers they might give to “worldview questions,” what sacred sources they use to do so, and how they utilize those sources for caregiving.

This course is an introduction to university/higher education chaplaincy as well as an opportunity to deep one’s understanding of the work and the field, with attention to effective methods, best practices, traditions and innovations in higher education chaplaincy. 

As the gateway to the MAC curriculum, this course is a comprehensive, systematic introduction to professional chaplaincy /spiritual caregiving; orientation to (or, in the case of advanced students, opportunity for reflection on) the role of the chaplain and methods suitable to the contexts in which chaplains characteristically serve (including schools, colleges, universities, prisons, health care facilities, fire and police departments, seaports, airports, the military, and mass casualty situations); and facilitates attainment of the “Common Qualifications and Competencies” and the “Standards of Practice” advocated by the Association of Professional Chaplains.

The core course “Religious and Cultural Contemporary Ethics” facilitates understanding of various ethical theories appropriate to professional context, spiritual and emotional dimensions of human development, organizational behavior, group dynamics, and political/social drivers like race, ethnicity, or gender.

This course will familiarize students with the basic concepts of mental illness to facilitate their collaboration with multidisciplinary teams (including both health and mental health professionals) serving the mental health needs of faith-based communities.

This intensive course explores the fundamentals of Islamic legal, theological and spiritual theory and methods, with an emphasis on technical skill, self evaluation, and pastoral care practice.

Death is a constant presence in human life. The chaplain’s role, whatever the context, will inevitably include care of the ill and the dying, their families, and those who are grieving loss.

This course explores the role of chaplains and other religious leaders in populist ritual.

Professional education for interfaith spiritual care giving and religious leadership.

This is an advanced hands-on training and supervision designed to further equip chaplains to provide counseling to individuals, couples, and families, with special attention to Muslim clients.

This course is designed for people of all spiritual/religious backgrounds who are providing spiritual and emotional support to others, leading faith communities, serving as chaplains, working on justice issues, or seeking additional self-care practices.

This course is an introduction for non-Muslims to Islamic beliefs, practices, scriptures, and Muslim communities, especially in the US.

This course surveys the development of Shiʿi Islam against the backdrop of major events and developments, views on succession after the Prophet, the formation of the caliphate, and the key Shiꜥī notion of Imamate.

In this course we will explore how humankind finds meaning in life during times of uncertainty by examining the writings of famous thinkers, theologians and literary figures, and examine how suffering and struggle force the faithful to stretch their imagination to bring about powerful and prophetic movements for change.

Guided by your professor—and informed by reading, viewing, or listening to a range of materials and engaging in various activities made available through a Canvas website—you will be encouraged to develop collegial relationships—indeed, a sense of community and friendship across religious, cultural, social, and gender lines—as you explore in depth the principles, models, and methods of dialogue in a pluralistic world, then are helped to put these into practice in a context of diversity.

The gateway course to the MA in Interreligious Studies and a required course for the MA in Peacebuilding curriculum, Introduction to Interreligious Studies is an intersectional, integrative course that promotes deep understanding of worldviews different from one’s own.

Students are introduced to concepts, vocabulary, and practices of various religions to a degree sufficient for participation in intelligent interfaith conversation — plus techniques and resources for fruitful interfaith collaboration.

The first seminar course explores the social and contextual challenges within American religious life across the nation. Through readings, guest presentations, and (virtual) field trips, you’ll explore the overarching challenges facing local congregations and then discover creative, out-of-the-box realistic solutions to address these challenges. Following each of these explorations and experiences, you’ll reflect theologically on the relevance and salience of these approaches as well as other possible solutions, from the perspective of your personal beliefs and specific tradition’s theological framework.

In your second seminar, you’ll explore the reflective practice of ministry in an atmosphere of personal and professional sharing, eventually producing a set of analytical and theological papers as background for the Ministry Project. The goal is to ground the practice of ministry in an understanding of its contextual and organizational realities and their theological significance. You’ll be introduced to various field research tools and learn to reflect theologically and strategically on the insights gathered through their use.

You’ll develop engaging tools and skills to expand your ability to think contextually, imagine contextually, and evaluate contextually as core elements of religious leadership and excellence. The course involves differentiated instruction for individual students and will proceed toward the mastery of an action-reflection way of thinking and acting. Action-reflection places you in a habitual place of thought about your actions that gives the "why" as much attention as the "how." You’ll leave knowing the practice of action-reflection, as well as on the road to becoming a “doctor” of ministry.

You’ll produce your Ministry Project Proposal in the fourth semester of the two-year Colleague Seminar series. You’ll prepare and share a literature review in the anticipated substantive area of your project and explore the basics of action research design to select appropriate methods by which they might engage stakeholders and evaluate and assess the success of their project actions, as well as explore the theological foundations of your project venture. By the end of the Seminar, you’ll present and defend your project proposal.

What does doing Ph.D. level scholarship look like? What does it involve? What types of research skills and techniques are required for doctoral-level academic study, and particularly, the study of religion in general and Interreligious relations in specific? This course will answer such questions, and more!

What is it like to present and defend an academic paper? What are the roles of the facilitator? how does writing a book review or assessing academic essays look like? How do professional scholars pursue their research presentation? How do I write and present my doctoral thesis proposal? This seminar will attend to such inquiries, and will continue to provide students with opportunities for collegial interaction by inviting them to witness professional scholars attending to paper-reading, book reviewing, essay’s assessing and proposal writing tasks before them in the seminar’s sessions

In this course we will survey models of our common life that have prevailed in western Christianity in the modern period, reflect on the religious symbols, stories, practices and habits by which we make sense of what is going on in public life, and consider what possibilities exist for fostering a civil society.

This course covers a broad range of topics reflecting some of the most relevant issues in scholarly and popular discourse.

This course will provide a critical overview of the history and practice of Islamic law.

This course provides the opportunity to step back to see the bigger picture of Islamic rules and regulations, the universal principles or higher objectives (maqasid) underlying them, and the complex interplay of reason, revelation, ethics and utility within this coherent system.

For Muslims committed to living Islam as a way of life, contemporary society offers many challenges. A commitment to the common good exists in tension with the need to protect individual rights. The desire to uphold family values may conflict with the need to defend pluralism and civil liberties. In a world threatened with violence from many sources, self-defense and security take on new meaning. In this class, we will examine these tensions and the Islamic principles that can help Muslims live ethically and with integrity in American society.

The content and setting of field education will vary according to the needs of the students. Normally, students will be expected to work 8 hours a week for 30 weeks for a total of 240 hours in an Islamic institution or organization.

This highly interactive course is brimming with fascinating and varied content. It is designed to give students a “big picture” view of the history of Christianity, from the very beginnings to the present day.

In this course we will encounter Christians in their global diversity, seeing their faces, hearing their voices, and exploring the ways in which they practice their faith.

This course introduces students to the life of Muhammad ﷺ, the prophet-founder of Islam, and his depiction in both Muslim and non-Muslim sources.

This seminar explores historical formations of religiously-defined identities in the history of Islam.

This course will use an historical approach to uncover the identities of early Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities, their views of the Patriarch, and how such identities have guided and impacted inter-communal relations in specific contexts, including medieval Egypt and Spain, and modern Germany and Israel/Palestine.

This course is designed to offer students an introduction to the development, character, and rich diversity of religious history of the United States.

People of all faith traditions within the United States have a right to practice their religious tradition free from government interference or endorsement. But what is the extend of these rights and what are their limitations?

This course will survey the history of Christian-Muslim relations, giving attention to how contemporary events shape our memories of past events and identities.

This course explores historical formations of major Muslim beliefs, practices, and traditions in the context of socio-political institutions.

This course offers an in-depth introduction to modern Muslim histories from the 16th to the 21st centuries.

This course offers a thematic and historical exploration of Muslim communities, institutions and discourses in North America and Western Europe.

Spanning the period from the late 18th to the early 21st century, this course examines how Muslims have grappled with such quintessential themes of American life as race, freedom, justice, and politics.

The focus of this introductory course, which assumes no prior knowledge of the Greek language, is on the basic grammar and vocabulary of New Testament Greek.

The focus of this introductory course, which assumes no prior knowledge of the Greek language, is on the basic grammar and vocabulary of New Testament Greek.

This intermediate level course is designed to enable students to read the New Testament in Greek, concentrating on grammar and vocabulary building.

This intermediate level course is designed to enable students to read the New Testament in Greek, concentrating on grammar and vocabulary building.

This course will provide students the opportunity to read passages in their original language from the Cappadocians (Gregory of Nazianzus).

This course will have three distinct parts: Orientation, Introduction to Peacebuilding, and Capstone Preparation, all designed to set students up for success in their year at Hartford International University.

This class will train each student to be a mediating presence in interpersonal and community conflicts.

This course will support students in critically examining the concept of trauma and the way it plays out in our brains, bodies, behavior, relationships and the systems we engage with.

This course is to prepare and maintain students in their placements optimizing their learning with debriefing and assessment tools using critical reflection.

The course will explore peacebuilding skills through the lens of neuroscience, dialogue, restorative justice, and trauma-informed principles.

Students in this course will examine sources from the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Quran that relate to peace, justice and violence.

We will hone perspectives and practices for leading adaptive change and for engaging in nonviolent processes for change in contemporary issues.

This course uses the framework of “otherness” and “belonging” to explore how othering becomes structured and embedded within religious communities.

This course is to prepare and maintain students in their placements optimizing their learning with debriefing and assessment tools using critical reflection.

As part of the MAIRS curriculum, this course facilitates an understanding of the scope of America’s religious diversity: the nature of its current complexity and factors contributing to its emergence; the mutually influencing interactions between religious communities (their convictions, practices, and structures); and the American contextual trends, such as immigration, political issues, and social drivers like race, ethnicity, or gender.

The course is designed for leaders who wish to better understand the dynamics of congregations.

This course will explore the dynamics of innovative and entrepreneurial leadership in businesses and then translate those learnings into insights for religious leadership.

This course will explore the phenomenon, discuss the social, psychological and spiritual research on the nonaffiliated and how they are similar and different from Atheists, Agnostics and the “spiritual but not religious.”

This course is intended to introduce students to the concepts, major trends, and critical issues associated with this reality from religious perspectives.

This course 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.

Interfaith and Civic Engagement examines the often-overlooked political dynamics of interreligious work.

This course introduces the global feminist/LGBTQIA movement and explores developments, approaches, and topics of feminist theology in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and non-monotheistic traditions.

This course will explore the dynamics of religious adaptation and innovative as seen in a large national study of congregations entitled Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations.

"Why are there so few youth and young adults now in this congregation? What can we do?”

Yes, there certainly is something about Mary! But which one? The Virgin Mary? Mary Magdalene? Mary of Bethany? Who are they?

This course will examine the content and theology expressed in the Hebrew Bible.

In this course we will study the five books that comprise this narrative through a variety of lenses.

This course introduces students to the Qur'an, and the hadith (words and actions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad himself).

This course invites students to intimately engage the text of the New Testament, while becoming familiar with critical issues surrounding its composition, authorship, and reception.

This course provides a historical study of the development of Shiʿi Islam against the backdrop of key events such the succession crisis and Occultation (Ghayba), and the formation of Shiʿi states such as the Buwayhids, Safavids, Qajars and Modern Iran.

This course will analyze the basic foundations of hadith studies (ʿulūm al-ḥadīth) which are essential to a well-grounded understanding of this important field of Islamic Studies.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the earliest surviving accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. This course will provide a detailed examination of these texts, paying special attention to the distinctive portrait of Jesus that each gospel presents.

In this course, we examine what the Qur’an says about “woman” and we consider both classical and contemporary exegetical approaches to Quranic interpretation.

This course is an introduction to the Fourth Gospel: content, historical context, and reception history.

This class will examine the nature and form of Jesus’ parables and their various interpretations determined by the contexts of the “historical Jesus,” Gospel narratives, political and social agendas, and homiletic interests.

In this course, we will seek beyond the broad characterizations that are so often made about a “theology of Paul” – to delve into his specific words, at specific times, on specific topics in the thirteen epistles that are normally ascribed to his pen.

Join us for guided tour of the historical development of the Hebrew, Christian, and Islamic scriptures.

In this course we will study prophecy in the Hebrew Bible.

In this course we explore biblical texts about women.

This course offers a comprehensive survey of all the major dogmatic elements in the Christian confessions and theological discourses: the doctrine of revelation, the doctrine of God/Trinity, Christology, soteriology, Christian anthropology, pneumatology, hamartiology, ecclesiology, eschatology, etc.

Explores how faith communities move from the text to practices with the use of structured beliefs and traditions, approaches and doctrines.

This course will examine the human condition in light of God’s liberating activity.

This course explores the content and structure of Islamic belief, as elaborated by Muslim classical thinkers (7th-15th centuries), in relation to a selection of representative texts.

This course provides a broad overview of Buddhist history, teachings, texts, and practices; surveys Buddhist diversity in the United States; and offers Buddhist resources useful to chaplains of any faith.

Theology—often defined as “faith seeking understanding”—is always informed by context: the particularities of the setting in which such understanding is sought. This course foregrounds situatedness as it facilitates exploration of multiple perspectives on Christianity’s core doctrines and its traditions of belief and practice.

This course explores and introduces major contemporary theological approaches to religious pluralism: theology of religions, comparative theology, and scriptural reasoning.

This asynchronous-online course facilitates an investigation of a range of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist theologies of religious manyness.

Islam and Christianity understand Jesus as an essential figure in connection to God's revelation to humanity, although each religious tradition has its particular view that makes them unique.

This course is a historical exploration of selected Prophetic biographical literature.

This course surveys conceptualizations of the divine in Muslim thought and practice.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of geographically and thematically organized case studies that address Muslim theological approaches to politics in the 20th and 21st centuries.

This course endeavors to introduce the broad traditions of spirituality from different historical eras in Christian history; from Antiquity, to Medieval time, through to Renaissance/Reformation and then to Modern time.

A year-long six credit course in leadership and applied spirituality rooted in women’s experience and from a feminist perspective that meets monthly from September through May.

A year-long six credit course in leadership and applied spirituality rooted in women’s experience and from a feminist perspective that meets monthly from September through May and requires a separate admissions process.

This course invites students into experiential immersion in the sacred wild as a central dimension of human spiritual and/or religious life.

Rites of passage are the hinges of human life, allowing individuals and communities to negotiate complex transitions meaningfully in relationship to one another, to the roles and responsibilities of one’s community, to the land and creatures among whom one lives, and to the transcendent dimension of human experience.

This newly designed course will focus on the potentially transformative wisdom embedded within personal experience, while exploring cosmological, mystical, and multicultural elements central to an emerging planetary spirituality.

Justice and compassion are cornerstones of the spiritual life and the foundations of social transformation.   As spiritual values, these are understood in the context of covenants of mutuality, inclusion and egalitarianism that foster right ordering of relationships.

This course offers those in leadership positions the opportunity to cultivate their inner lives:  to take time apart for spiritual deepening, for building transformational leadership skills and considering practical application of what leadership arising from a core of spiritual groundedness might look like.

This course is a study of the major writings of Howard Thurman, the mystic, prophet, poet, philosopher and theologian, who promotes the idea that out of religious faith emerges social responsibility.

This course explores the growth of the Islamic spiritual tradition from the earliest days of Islam to the modern period.

How do we live in a world of chaos, where everything is in flux, and still remain rooted in that which is everlasting?