New CDSP Continuing Ed Courses Include NT Greek, Sacramental Theology, Arguing with God

Church Divinity School of the Pacific
Posted Dec 9, 2021

Looking to deepen your faith, grow your knowledge, or add to your ministry toolkit? CALL@CDSP has short online courses for you!

The Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership at Church Divinity School of the Pacific offers affordable online learning opportunities throughout the year. Each class is designed so that you can participate at your own pace and at your own time.

Each course is seven weeks, each week a separate lesson. Continuing Education Units are offered at the rate of 2 CEUs per course. Students from across The Episcopal Church and beyond join experienced online instructors in creating a classroom environment of respect and mutual learning. Courses are open to anyone, lay or ordained, of any denomination or none.

To help continuing education and local formation students structure their programs, CDSP also offers a Continuing Education Certificate in Anglican Foundations.  These courses are offered regularly to enable the student to complete the program in a timely fashion.

Arguing with God with Rev. Daniel London

This course will explore the tradition of Arguing with God within the Bible, the Jewish tradition, the Christian tradition and beyond. In the class, which will include both lecture and discussion, students will consider the tradition’s potential as a resource for pastoral care and spiritual growth. Students will also be invited to prayerfully engage with literary expressions of the Arguing with God tradition and consider the ways that the tradition both permits and limits boldness in prayer. Students will gain an introductory knowledge of Judaism while also learning how to dismantle anti-Jewish readings of Christian texts.

Sacramental Theology with the Rev. Dr. Melissa Hartley

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.

New Testament Greek for Ministry with Bob Kramish

Have you ever wanted to understand the original meaning of a New Testament text without having to take an academic course in Greek? Using Greek exegetical tools to prepare for sermons and adult education classes in a user-friendly way (for both you and your audience) can enrich your preaching and teaching. This course will introduce you to the basic tools, such as dictionaries and interlinear bibles, as well as other online resources. You’ll learn the Greek alphabet, and enough about basic Greek grammar to enable you to discover some interesting features behind the meaning of the ancient text, and thus enhance your sermon preparation and scripture study.

Introduction to the Pentateuch with the Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp

The Pentateuch is a survey course in which students examine the first five books of the canon of the Hebrew Bible. Students will attend to the patriarchs and matriarchs, the earliest covenants, the exodus traditions, laws, codes, and rituals of the agrarian society represented in the biblical world of the Pentateuch. Students will explore a) the socio-historical context out of which the biblical text most probably emerged, b) select methods and tools of biblical scholarship, and c) the engagement of modern users with the biblical text.

Facing Choices:  Ethics in the Anglican Tradition with The Rev. Dr. Austin Leininger

Ethics in the Anglican tradition draws on a rich history of discourse as we strive to engage with our faith, living it out in an imperfect world and Church. Whether we are struggling to justify sacramental liturgy and church hierarchy in the face of Puritan attack, or determining church policy on inclusion of women and LGBTQIA+ people, Anglicans have drawn on a wide array of ethical approaches ranging from teleological virtue ethics to relational theory (both pre-feminist and contemporary). Ethical dilemmas continue to challenge lay and ordained leaders across the wide diversity of our church—frequently in our own parishes, where each of us engages our faith to face the challenges that surround us. In this course we’ll explore how thinkers as diverse as Plato (ancient Greece) and Marcella Althaus Reid (contemporary social justice and postcolonial liberation theorist) have helped people of faith make hard choices and live faithfully with the results. We’ll spend some time conversing with history (ancient Greece, Bible, Reformation), then dive into some of our “best” Anglican dilemmas both old and new as we explore the application of our rich tradition to real life issues in the church at home and around the world.

Introduction to New Testament Interpretation with Dr. Peter Claver Ajer

The course introduces the New Testament from a historical, literary, and theological perspective. It focuses on the distinct nature of each of the Synoptic Gospels, the authorship, the key themes, issues the authors addressed, the theological teachings they offered, and their relevance for ministry today.

Images of Diakonia: Interpreting the Sacred in Church and the World with Deacon Phina Borgeson

Diaconal ministry has at its heart connecting Christian scripture and tradition with the needs, hopes and concerns of the world. Using a framework of five key images, students will strengthen awareness of the sacred in the Church and the wider community, invigorate their practice of diakonia, and gain confidence in engaging others to do the same.

Church History: Wisdom for Mission with Dr. Brad Peterson

This course will explore the history of Christianity by focusing on snapshots of it in different times and places, by attending to its diversity over time, by encountering contrasting historical figures in its history, by asking what “salvation” meant and what “mission” consisted of in each of these times and places, and by pondering how these historical forms of Christianity may inform our faith and praxis, love of God and love of neighbor today.

If you have questions about these courses or participating in CALL, please contact Bob Kramish at 510-204-0702 or call@cdsp.edu.

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About Church Divinity School of the Pacific

The only Episcopal seminary on the West Coast, CDSP forms leaders called to find new ways to create Christian communities and share God’s love. Through our partnership with Trinity Church Wall Street and an ongoing dialog with bishops and grassroots leaders, we have focused our degree programs on Christian mission, discipleship, and evangelism and on core leadership skills of contextual awareness, critical reflection, and public conversation; established a popular low-residency degree option for students balancing family obligations or professional responsibilities, and established partnerships that allow us to create distance learning curricula for individual dioceses.


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