Episcopal and Anglican Studies

This course will introduce the multiple strands of Anglican theology and spirituality as they shape the Anglican Communion today. It will discuss representative theological figures from different centuries in light of their social and political contexts and theological debates of their times. As Anglican demographics have shifted to the Global South, the course will also pay attention to theologies emerging from the Global South. This is a special offering for the academic year 2024-2025.

This course surveys the history of the development of Anglican liturgies from the Reformation to the present, with specific attention to the influence of theological and social movements on Christian worship. The central theme of the course is the formation and revisions of The Book of Common Prayer in response to social, political, and theological debates, and the link between worship and movements for social justice and evangelism. The focus is on Anglicanism in Great Britain and the United States, but parallel developments of distinct, not just colonial, African, Asian, Oceanic, and Latino expressions of Anglican liturgy are addressed throughout in lectures and in reading assignments.

Justice lies at the heart of Church's mission. How have Anglican missions responded to injustices in their mission fields? Was seeking and doing justice part of their work? Were the missionaries interested in bringing justice to the oppressed? When we speak of missions and justice, we also need to acknowledge the close relationship between the Anglican Church and their mission bodies and the British empire. How did they reconcile this fundamental moral and ethical contradiction? This course pays particular attention to the role and responses of the 'colonized Anglicans.' Within the context of colonialism, how did the native, indentured, and enslaved Anglicans, and the Anglican missionaries who were willing to learn from them, seek to redeem the face of the Anglican church and missions? How does this wisdom of/from the subjugated influence the understanding of mission and justice today for the Anglican communion worldwide? The course addresses these questions by
listening to voices on/of mission in the global Anglican church that foreground social justice and liberation of the oppressed.

Rev. Dr. Mary Foulke is co-faculty for this course.

This culminating experience provides students an opportunity to reflect on and integrate prior learning and ministerial experiences. Emphasis is placed on understanding ministerial challenges, surveying various ministerial leadership frameworks, and developing one's own ministerial leadership model. The course provides students with a variety of opportunities to engage in readings and discussion with an emphasis on making the transition from seminary into ministry with a focus on the tools and skills needed for effective leadership. In addition to leadership, other topics such as continued discernment of ministerial gifts and call are covered.

This course studies the history of same-sex-attracted and gender-variant individuals and movements within the Church of England, The Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion from the sixteenth-century to today. Topics include looking at scripture, tradition, reason, and experience from the perspective of LGBTIQ+ Episcopal and Anglican theologians and their allies, as well as through the lenses of queer theology, queer of color theory, and postcolonial thought.