Evening School for Winter 2004

Our Evening School program, offered Monday through Thursday after working hours, gives those busy during the day a chance to integrate their faith with daily life. You’ll be challenged to think more about what you’re doing in your workplace, home and church; have the opportunity to upgrade your education; or even work towards a Master’s degree.

SEMINAR: SPIRITUALITY AND WORK - JOURNEY INWARD, JOURNEY UPWARD

Mondays
SPIR 755 : 3 graduate credit hours only, no audit
Maximum enrollment: 12

R. Paul Stevens
David J. Brown Family Professor of Marketplace Theology and Leadership.
BA, BD (McMaster University), DMin (Fuller)

SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY C

Mondays
THEO 607: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours

Hans Boersma
Assistant Professor of Religious and Worldview Studies,
Trinity Western University; Sessional Lecturer, Theology,
Regent College. BA (University of Lethbridge),
MDiv (Theological College of the Canadian Reformed
Churches), MTh, ThD (University of Utrecht)

Effective ministry requires a solid theological foundation, consisting of both an informed understanding of Christian doctrine and the ability to view life through the lenses of Christian commitment. By exploring three major foci of systematic theology – the doctrines of the Holy Spirit (pneumatology), the church (ecclesiology) and last things (eschatology) – in the light of Scripture, the theological heritage of the church and the contemporary context, this course seeks to develop your expertise as a theologically informed Christian for the sake of your life and ministry.

THE MUSICAL WORSHIPPER

Mondays
APPL 506: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours
Recommended: Some singing and musical ability will
be an asset but is not required.
Auditors are expected to participate in class activities
and do course reading.

Donna Dinsmore
Music and Worship Coordinator, Regent College.
BME (Bob Jones University), MME (University of Illinois), MCS (Regent College)

This course is designed to prepare church musicians and worship leaders for the musical, spiritual and theological challenges facing them in their particular situations. Students will be exploring historical perspectives as well as examining the role of their personal and community experiences in shaping them as worshippers. Careful attention will be paid to the process of thinking well about music and worship. This process will be modeled by the instructor and experienced by the student during class activities and outside assignments. Students will also be experiencing the process of listening to and making music. Class activities will include music-making/listening, small group discussion, lecture and class discussion. Because of the interactive nature of the course, attendance each week is required.

PASTORAL CARE

Tuesdays
APPL 546: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours

Mark Davies
Professor, Marriage and Family Ministries, Carey
Theological College. BA (Guelph), MDiv (North American
Baptist Divinity School), PhD (University of Alberta )

The course will survey the broad theological, psychological and practical foundations critical to the task of pastoral care. From a strongly articulated theological understanding of pastoral care, the course will provide the student with skill to practically apply their learning in real life settings. General care, crisis care, marriage, death/bereavement will be the main issues the course focuses on. The course is designed specifically for those who are entering into full-time pastoral ministry.

BOOK STUDY: THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Tuesdays
BIBL 651: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours
Recommended Prerequisites: BIBL 502, 503, and
LANG 500 or 550/551

Bob Derrenbacker
Assistant Professor, New Testament. BA (Wheaton), MATS
(Gordon-Conwell), PhD (St. Michael’s College, Toronto)

This course will analyze the text of Matthew’s Gospel, focusing on its historical background, structure, theology, social world, composition, relationship to the other Gospels, as well as its presentation of a life of Jesus. The aim of this course is to provide students with a thorough analysis of Matthew’s Gospel as well as an exposure to contemporary Matthean scholarship through required readings, classroom lectures and activities, and written assignments.

BOOKS, CHILDREN & GOD

Tuesday
INDS 576: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours
Limited Enrollment: 20 credit / 10 audit students
NOTE: Audit students must complete all reading and
assignments.

Mary Ruth Wilkinson
Sessional Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Studies, Regent College.
BA (Wheaton), MA (University of Illinois)

By “. . . burying ourselves in volumes of literature” for children, we will better “Hold fast to dreams”, “. . . sail off to where the wild things are” and “foster our own compassion and humaneness.” These four quoted phrases come from widely different cultural backgrounds. Yet, as we read—permeate ourselves with—good “children’s” books, these phrases will become touchstones for the response of all children in any culture to the beauty, the power, and the glory of word. We will also sharpen our understanding of what makes word live as literature and why and how word in story—nursery rhymes, picture books, folk tales, fantasy and fiction classics—is a heritage that we must not only hold for ourselves, but also pass on to our children in order that we and they may respond more fully and richly to each other, to Creation—and to God.

URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY AND MISSION

Wednesdays
APPL 604: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours

Charles Ringma
Professor, Missions and Evangelism.
BD (Reformed Theological College, Australia), BA,
MLitSt, PhD (University of Queensland)

This course is a combination of lectures, theological reflection, fieldwork and the conceptualization of appropriate ministry responses. The course examines contemporary rapid urbanization; develops a theology of the city and urban ministry; provides the student with basic research skills; provides sources for theological reflection on the problems and opportunities for mission that urbanization has created; and finally, assists the student in developing appropriate ministry strategies.

BOOK STUDY: AMOS

Wedmesdays
BIBL 643: 2 or 3 graduate credit hours or 2 audit hours
Limited Enrollment: 25 students
Recommended Prerequisites: BIBL 501, 503
Location: First class will meet in Regent College Chapel

Dave Diewart
Sessional Lecturer, Biblical Languages, Regent College.
BA (University of British Columbia), MCS (Regent College),
MA, PhD (University of Toronto)

The prophetic voices within the biblical witness offer a discomforting mixture of both critique and hope. Informed by the vision of YHWH’s creation and covenant with his people, the prophets announced divine judgment/justice against those who undermined human life, and a bold vision of a new world in which life would flourish. Within the corpus of biblical prophetic literature, the book of Amos is an important work. The first of the so-called “writing prophets,” Amos contains many themes which surface again and again in the utterances of the other Hebrew prophets. One objective of this course will be to explore the structure and content of this book, paying close attention to the forms of the various oracles, probing their poetic composition, and unpacking their disturbing message. Rather than engage this text from the comfort of a college classroom, however, we will meet together in the heart of Vancouver's most poverty stricken area, the Downtown Eastside, in order to allow this particular context to inform our reading of the text. This will provide a rich and challenging setting for hearing Amos, and for wrestling with the implications of embodying the prophetic vision in a broken and desperate world.

THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION

Wednesdays
INDS 501: 2 or 3 graduate credit hours or 2 audit hours
Limited Enrollment

Loren Wilkinson
Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies & Philosophy.
BA (Wheaton), MA (Johns Hopkins),
MA (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School), PhD (Syracuse)

Our intention in this class is to deepen our understanding of the relationship between the Christian Gospel and the human imagination: that is, all of those ways of expression and communication which depend primarily on images. “Images” do not refer only to the visual, but to any meaningful appeal to the senses. So another name for the course might be “Christian aesthetics.” We are concerned not only with “the arts,” but also with the life of the senses generally, and how it relates to our life in Christ. The opposite of “aesthetic” is not “rational” or “logical”: it is rather “an-aesthetic.” And we are often guilty of making our faith both anaesthetic and antiseptic: uncomfortable with the body, with the senses, and with all of those works which address our humanity through the senses. Any Christian who lives in and through a body is encouraged to take the course.

HISTORY OF MISSIONS

Wednesdays
HIST 665: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours

Ian Rennie
Sessional Lecturer, Church History, Regent College.
BA (University of Manitoba), MA, PhD (Toronto),
DipTheo (Knox College, Toronto)

The purpose of this course is to examine different approaches which Christian missionaries have used in cross-cultural work. Its aim is to look at the factors influencing the development of Christian mission spirituality, vision, theory and practice.

INTRODUCTORY GREEK II (SECTION C)

Thursdays
LANG 551: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours
Prerequisites: LANG 550
Limited Enrollment: 35 students

Brad Eastman
Sessional Lecturer, Biblical Languages, Regent College.
MDiv (Edmonton Baptist Seminary)
ThM (Regent College) PhD (McMaster University)

The main purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to the basic elements of Greek grammar and vocabulary. To aid us in this task we will be using as our textbook, William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek: Grammar (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003) [Second Edition only]. In addition, you will need to purchase the accompanying “Workbook” – 2nd ed.– which provides the much needed exercises and assignments. The student will be required to memorize thoroughly the vocabulary and paradigms in each chapter and learn the grammatical constructions as they are presented: this will form a basic prerequisite for reading and interpreting the Greek New Testament, which is our ultimate objective.

MEDIEVAL SPIRITUALITY

Thursdays
SPIR 515: 3 credit hours or 3 audit hours

Neil Mancor
Assistant Minister, St. Johns Shaughnessy,
Sessional Lecturer, Spiritual Theology, Regent College.
BA (University of British Columbia), MA,
PhD (Reading), DipMin (Oxford)

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were a period of great diversification and innovation in the Christian culture of the medieval West. New forms of monasticism appeared which exercised a decisive influence upon spirituality of the Church, an influence that can still be felt today. The twelfth-century Cistercians and thirteenth-century Franciscan & Dominican movements caught and expressed widespread desires for reform and re-invigoration of monastic culture. Those who were involved in these movements have left behind important writings that explore spirituality as they saw and practised it. There are significant works available to us that were composed both by men and women.
In this course we will sample the writings of monastic men and women, from the Cistercians and Mendicant orders. “Core samples” will be taken from the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Bonaventure and Hildegard of Bingen. The object of the course is to acquaint students with the main themes of Christian spirituality in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, through a comparative reading of writings selected from these three very different sources. The selection of reading will be representative rather than comprehensive, but it will help guide the students into the spirituality of the age, allowing them to read the texts both within their original contexts, and to make personal applications today.

PASTORAL ETHICS

Thursdays
THEO 630: 3 graduate credit hours or 3 audit hours

Ross Hastings
Senior Pastor, Peace Portal Alliance, Sessional Lecturer,
Theology, Regent College. BSc (University of Witwatersrand,
South Africa), MCS (Regent College),
PhD (Queen’s University, Ontario),
PhD candidate (University of St. Andrews)

The book of Hebrews defines mature Christians as those “who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Ethical living is an inescapable requisite for “ministry with integrity” in any context. In this course, we develop a familiarity with the discipline of ethical inquiry as grounded in the Decalogue, and we explore the Christian moral ideal as well as Christian principles of judgment and action, especially as they relate to ministering as Christians in the contemporary world. While the course is designed primarily with a view toward what we often refer to as the “professional” Christian ministry, the principles explored are applicable to Christians in all vocational contexts.