This module exposes students to John’s Gospel as a distinct eye-witness tradition of the historical Jesus, and the book’s profound role in shaping the early church. Students will explore the “beloved apostle’s” unique perspective on the life of Christ, the glory of the Cross and his experience of the risen Lord. Special focus will be given to major themes and recurring symbols throughout the Gospel, showing how the Jesus of John’s Gospel addressed the immediate needs of early believers and speaks to pressing challenges in the 21st century church.

Many Christian churches today identify themselves as Protestant, but what does that mean? How does the Protestant Reformation of the 15th century inform how Christians worship and believe today? In this module, students will explore the lives, practices, and doctrines of the major Protestant Reformers in their political, social, economic, and intellectual contexts. A special emphasis will be given to the missiological and pastoral implications and motivations of their thought, showing how their doctrine arose out of a desire to care for the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of Christians and a desire to see the body of Christ grow in knowledge and love of God. Students will learn about the mainstream (magisterial) Reformation, focusing on Luther, Calvin, and the English Reformation. The course will also consider several Roman Catholic and Anabaptist responses, as well as the reception of these Reformers and their ideas in later centuries.

In this module, students will reflect on the value of reading the Bible in relation to other texts which help to illuminate our biblical interpretation. In addition to learning about the principles and processes which underpin intertextuality as a form of literary analysis, students will apply this learning to reading biblical texts in relation to other ‘close’ texts from their historical, literary, and canonical contexts, as well as exploring the interpretive value of reading texts alongside more ‘distant’ works, such as later Christian literature or modern political, social, and psychological studies

We are alive at a time when the dominant narrative assumes that the way to peace is only through war, that retribution trumps reconciliation, and politics is mainly about keeping the markets happy. It is time for a new way of looking at things. This module investigates key thinkers and practitioners of peace and reconciliation who have been challenging these mainstream assumptions. It then explores ways in which the politics of Jesus can be recovered as a resource for a new politics of love. The aim of the module is to catalyse new perspectives and create what Oxford professor of theology Graham Ward calls “political disciples”. It’s exciting stuff!

This module introduces students to a critical and theological study of carefully selected Old Testament texts (Ruth, 1 Samuel 1-2 and 25, and Esther) that feature female characters. Students will engage in an in-depth textual analysis of each of these case studies with a focus on the literary ingenuity and theological ramifications therein. Particular attention will be paid to prominent female characters—the complexity of their roles, the difficult questions raised as to female agency and depiction, and the possibility of a reading that dignifies all of humanity in God’s image. In addition to a close analysis of each of these texts with an eye to issues of gender, this module will also provide a broader critical engagement with the literary strategies of Old Testament as a whole, including intertextual connections, structural cues, and plot and character development. Alongside coursework and class discussion, students will engage with recent scholarly literature on these key narratives as well as on biblical poetics and feminist interpretation.

We are, in large part, mysteries to ourselves. We do not know what we are. Even the word “human,” beyond designating a species, needs definition. Christians make this all the more difficult by claiming that one human, Jesus of Nazareth, was the Word and Christ of God. So, Christians have sought clarity on the question: what are we? To address that question, this module introduces students to ‘theological anthropology,’ talk about what it means to be human before God. Working from the present backward, we will follow the centuries-long development of Christian theological anthropology from the modern Charismatic/Pentecostal tradition to the first chapter of the Bible. All the way, we will seek to answer the question, “What does it mean to be truly human?”