Current Students
Discipleship & Ministry
This unit provides an introduction to the study of the New Testament and explores issues raised by scholarly study of New Testament texts. It examines the Gospels and Pauline Epistles from a variety of critical perspectives. It investigates the theology of the New Testament including: the person and work of Christ, Kingdom and eschatology, the Holy Spirit, and the nature of the church in the New Testament. It examines how the New Testament can be used as a resource for exploring issues facing Christians today and promotes critical reflection on the use of the New Testament as a spiritual resource for Christian life and witness today.
This module provides an introduction to the study of the Old Testament: its literature, theology and history, and explores issues raised by scholarly study of Old Testament texts. It utilizes a critical examination of the Old Testament writings to investigate a number of theological themes within the Old Testament including: creation, journey, land, election and promise. It examines how the Old Testament can be used as a resource for exploring issues facing Christians today and promotes critical reflection on the use of the Old Testament as a spiritual resource for the student’s Christian life and witness.
This unit investigates ways in which Christian mission is understood today. It examines how God’s mission is revealed in the Old Testament, examines the contexts from which the ministry of the early church developed, investigates how Paul developed the church’s mission to the gentiles and examines ways in which the mission of the church is expressed through the Gospel narratives. It examines the values and practices that might underpin the church’s mission today and promotes critical reflection on ways in which God’s mission, and the mission of the church, might impact on the student’s Christian life and witness.
This unit provides students with a general introduction to theological study. It investigates ways in which theological study has been modelled in the past and investigates the issues facing theology at the present time. It examines various methods of theological reflection and explores ways in which the sacred texts, doctrines and liturgical traditions of the church can interact with the student’s faith story and life experience and be interpreted and used to support Christian discipleship and ministerial practice.
This unit investigates the different ways in which the Bible is communicated within the life of the church. It includes the communication of the Bible through preaching, music, art, and meditation, and hermeneutics. It explores how the Bible is used in the life of the church, and how communicating the Bible is relevant for personal discipleship, for ministry, and for mission. The unit looks to different contexts of communication, including school assemblies, services commemorating special events, and the use of radio and television. The implications of communicating the Bible for the student’s Christian life and witness are also considered.
This module relates some traditional understandings of Anglican identity and polity to contemporary global practice, through the prism of responses to the five marks of mission. It works from the experience of those participants who live and worship in situations of great cultural diversity. It describes traditional western understandings in their contemporary form, and invites reflection on mission in the twenty-first century as set out in contemporary essays and other resources that originate in those parts of the world in which the majority of Anglicans now live. It will help students to locate what Anglicanism means in their setting, and what its mission imperatives are, and so make a contribution to thoughtful contextual discipleship.
This unit critically examines the text of the chosen Gospel and investigate its context, purpose and key themes. It explores the chosen Gospel as story and investigates characters, plot and setting. It examines the chosen Gospel’s narrative Christology’ and explores how this may contribute to our understanding of the person and work of Jesus. It investigates the theology of the chosen Gospel and explores the Evangelist’s understanding of Christian discipleship and of the new community of Jesus. It will enable students to critically reflect on the chosen Gospel as a resource for Christian life and witness today.
This unit examines ways in which the Christian scriptures and creedal statements reveal the nature and purposes of God. It examines key statements about the nature of God in the Old Testament and examines the ways in which understandings of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are presented in both narrative and creedal forms in the Gospels and the Epistles. It further examines the formal creedal statements agreed at Nicaea and Chalcedon and explore how understandings about the nature and purposes of God are encountered today in worship, prayer and hymnody. This unit will help students to reflect critically on their own understanding of the nature and purposes of God as Trinity.
This unit explores the Church’s pastoral practice. It examines the theological and scriptural basis of pastoral practice and explores the various biblical models that inform it. It utilizes social science perspectives to explore the human condition and engages with personality and lifespan issues. This unit further engages with the student’s practical experience of pastoral care and the broader experience of the Christian Church in order to promote the development of appropriate aims and objectives in pastoral practice and support critical reflection on practical personal experience.
This unit critically examines the text of one of Paul’s epistles. It investigates the structure, context and intention of the letter, examines the contexts in which the text was created, explores the story that the texts tell, investigates how Paul’s history and his understanding of his mission contributes to the letter’s thinking and examines the theology that Paul constructs in response to the events in the recipient church. It further examines the issues that surround the interpretation of the letter and explores how its theology can challenge the Church’s understanding of its life and mission today. It will enable students to reflect critically on Paul’s Letter as a resource for their Christian life and witness today.
This unit examines the practice of Christian worship within a theological and biblical framework. This involves the examination of the biblical foundations of Christian worship and the ways in which worship developed in the early centuries of the Christian era. The unit also investigates ways in which worship developed within Western Christianity in broadly different theological traditions and ways in which it is practiced today. Students are required to examine the principles that inform the structure of worship and explore ways in which the physical, social and spiritual contexts affect its practice. They are required to reflect critically on their personal experience of being a member of a worshipping community and/or a worship leader.
This unit investigates the biblical and theological foundations of Christian ethics and examines the ethical imperatives associated with ‘the Kingdom of God’. It examines the nature of ethical thinking in post-modern society. It explores the church as an ethical community and examines how a distinctively Christian ethical perspective can be developed in a number of areas (e.g. economics, justice, work and money, sexuality, medical ethics, warfare and environmental issues. This unit will help students to reflect critically on their own understanding of the nature and practice of Christian ethics and the way that that impacts on their practice of discipleship and ministry.
This unit introduces students to the theological and biblical framework that informs Anglican worship. This involves the examination of the biblical foundations of Christian worship and the way in which worship developed in the early centuries of the Christian era. The unit also investigates ways in which worship developed within the Anglican tradition, examining the 1662 Prayer Book and the ways in which liturgy has developed in their own part of the Anglican Church. Students are required to examine the principles that inform the structure of worship and explore ways in which the physical, social and spiritual contexts affect its practice. They are required to reflect on their personal experience of being a member of a worshipping community and/or a worship leader.
This module looks critically at the development of modern hermeneutics. It looks in particular at the contributions of sociological and psychological theory in shaping hermeneutical perspectives, including the place of feminist theology, liberation theology, narrative criticism, reader-response criticism and the SIFT approach. The impact of criticisms on the modern understanding of the Bible, and the implications of critical and hermeneutical questions for the place of the Bible as Christian scriptures are be investigated. The module looks at different aspects of the Bible and their relevance to the student’s pastoral ministry
This module offers an introduction to the applications of theology to everyday Christian living in ways developed by pastoral theology, practical theology, and empirical theology. It is here that theological insights gained from the Bible, Christian Doctrine, and Church History engage with the social sciences that are concerned with real people living in real situations. The module explores how psychology illuminates Christian formation, how sociology illuminates Christian engagement with the world, and how churchgoing impacts Christian ethics. Course participants are encouraged to employ the tools of the social sciences to explore aspects of their own lives, the communities in which they live or work, and the churches in which they worship.
This unit makes connections between pastoral theology and ministry and: biblical studies; doctrine and church history; theology of ministry; spirituality; ethics; the practice of liturgy; apologetics; and education. It reflects on work undertaken in the local church and reflects on ministerial and formational issues with the local ordained supervisor, spiritual adviser, mentor etc. It encourages students to engage in theological reflection utilizing several of media, including a reflective journal.
This unit examines ways in which prayer is understood and practiced in the scriptures and explores elements of the Western spiritual tradition over two millennia including the contribution made by monastic orders and mendicant friars. The unit also examines those expressions of prayer and spirituality that inform the life and worship of the church today. It explores ways in which prayer and spirituality relate to personality and cultural context and encourages students to reflect critically on ways in which their own spirituality and life of prayer impact on their Christian discipleship.
This module is the first of two modules that consists of researching and writing a dissertation project in the field of theology or discipleship and ministry. The subject of the dissertation will be confirmed in consultation with a supervising tutor and supported by an examination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Typical areas of study might be: research into the theology and practice of ministry (either qualitative or quantitative); a doctrinal study; a study of contemporary ethics; a biblical study; an historical study; a pastoral study; a liturgical study.
This module is the second of two modules that consists of researching and writing a dissertation project in the field of theology or discipleship and ministry. The subject of the dissertation will be confirmed in consultation with a supervising tutor and supported by an examination of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Typical areas of study might be: research into the theology and practice of ministry (either qualitative or quantitative); a doctrinal study; a study of contemporary ethics; a biblical study; an historical study; a pastoral study; a liturgical study.
The Capstone Project is a two-module process in which students pursue independent research on a topic of their choice, engage with the scholarly debates in the relevant disciplines, and – with the guidance of a faculty supervisor – produce a substantial project that reflects a deep understanding of the topic and a practical application of the matter that can be a resource in ministry. The first module includes consultation with the Director regarding an area of interest and to identify a suitable faculty supervisor, refinement of a topic, development of a proposal and annotated bibliography. The project might focus on a topics in areas such as pastoral ministry and practice, mission, liturgy, applied theology, ethics, or faith development.
The Capstone Project is a two-module process in which students pursue independent research on a question or problem of their choice, engage with the scholarly debates in the relevant disciplines, and – with the guidance of a faculty supervisor – produce a substantial project that reflects a deep understanding of the topic and a practical application of the matter that can be a resource in ministry. The second module consists of the research and writing of the project. It can include development of materials to be used a resource for the student and others. The product could include a paper, and resources such as facilitator manual, slideshow, or video on the subject matter.
This module allows opportunity for the coordinator and students to develop a module that focused on an issue of local importance to their education and training for ministry.
This module allows opportunity for the coordinator and students to develop a module that focused on an issue of local importance to their education and training for ministry.