Undergraduate Course Offerings

A survey and methods course which prepares students for deeper study at the 200 and 300 level. This course introduces the student to the theme of Global Citizenship within the academic study of Christianity. Course methods emphasize both individual and collaborative learning.

Section A

• Instructor: Massimi, Jonathan
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Day: Monday
• In person

Section B

• Instructor: Kirby, Joseph
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Day: Wednesday
• In person

Section BR (Brantford Campus)

• Instructor: Robinson, Jason
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Day: Wednesday
• In person

This course reflects on the connection of public life with religious faith and practice and explores issues such as church-state relations, significant "public" theologians, Christian participation in democracy, etc.

• Instructor: Milloy, John
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Day: Wednesday
• In person

This foundational course focuses on the questions: Who am I? and What is my purpose? Students will examine their values and sources of meaning-making, and consider how to live in a world of transition. These will be explored within the context of the student’s individual, local, and global realities.

Section A

• Instructor: Donaldson, Hilary
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Day: Wednesday
• In person

Section B

• Instructor: Ludolph, Rebekah
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Day: Tuesday
• In person

This course is designed for those contemplating professional careers in mental health, community service, the developmental services, spiritual care, counselling and/or ministry. A basic understanding of spiritual care and counselling theories and skills will be presented. Special emphasis on one’s use of self, professional relationships, spiritual companionship and the spiritual formation of the professional, will be considered.

• Instructor: Juma, Florence
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Day: Thursday
• In person

This course is an arts-based experiential studio course, designed to introduce students to a range of contemplative and meditative arts- based practices for personal development and self-care. Students will be introduced to the professional mental health fields of expressive therapies, focusing on art therapy. The history and scope of arts-based practice for mental health, scholarship, research, and community development, will be covered.

Section A

• Instructor: Homeniuk, Amber
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Day: Friday
• In person

Section B

• Instructor: Mellinger, Catherine
• Hours: 0900-1150
• Day: Friday
• In person

This course will introduce the student to contemporary steams of Jewish religious practice, focusing on various expressions of the four main branches of Orthodoxy, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist.

• Instructor: Maoz, Daniel
• Hours: 0900-1150
• Day: Wednesday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

This course aims to introduce a general understanding of wellness and mental health within an Islamic theological, spiritual, and faith tradition framework. In this course, the students will be oriented to Islam's (Sunni and Shia) main faith traditions and they will explore Islam's essential healing practices (healing body, mind, and soul). The course will provide faith-based practical wellness tools on common mental health challenges from authentic Sunni and Shia sources by combining them with some of the Western psychological modalities, such as Emotional Intelligence, Behavioral, and Narrative Approaches. The students will benefit from guest speakers and utilize weekly group discussions to deeper and better understanding of the challenges and opportunities that modern life brings to their mental health.

• Instructor: Sezen, Engin
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Day: Tuesday
• In person

In this course, students will develop a basic theoretical understanding of intersectionality. They will then use this theoretical framework to discuss religious identity within intersectionality, purposefully including intersections that many prefer to ignore. They will also consider the intersection of and the impact of faith in ability/disability, racialization, and decolonial frameworks. Special attention will be paid to the recognition that we all have intersectional experiences that can add to systemic privilege and compound oppression, and that these experiences shift based on religious context.

• Instructor: Acero Ferrer, Héctor
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Day: Thursday
• Online - Synchronous

How does our brain change when we meditate, are in social relationships, in counselling, or in prayer? This course will introduce students to the spiritual and biological dimensions of what it means to be human and explore how the brain changes with interpersonal/social interactions and in counselling. It will also question whether the mind can be reduced to brain.

• Instructor: Argyle, Heidi
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Day: Monday
• In person

This course examines a series of films exploring their theological themes, presuppositions and rhetoric. Students will learn to interpret film theologically and consider the utility of film for theological discourse as global citizens.

• Instructor: Coman, Sherry
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Day: Monday
• In person

In this course, students will sing with Inshallah, Martin Luther University College’s singing community. In the classroom and through readings, students will reflect together on a singing practice where spirituality accompanies global song, story, and community engagement toward the flourishing of humanity and the well-being of creation.

• Instructor: Ludolph, Debbie Lou
• Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays
  
  • Tuesday (1700-1820)
  • Thursday (1430-1550)
• In person
  • Tuesday classes take place offsite, near Luther. Further information will be shared by the course instructor.

This course examines one of the most prominent themes of Islamic theology: Jesus's place and role in this faith tradition. The course will allow students to explore how the Qur'an and Hadith sources speak about Jesus. This course also will provide an overview of the role and place of Jesus in the Abrahamic Faith tradition.

• Instructor: Sezen, Selda
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Day: Thursday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

What is spirituality? How is it different from religion? What does it mean to be spiritual but not religious? What does it mean to be spiritual and religious? What does"meaning" mean when used in relation not to words but to our lives? Is this "lived meaning" something we construct or something we find? Or both? How might it relate to spirituality and religion? And how might all of this relate to happiness? In this course, we'll read some sacred writings from various different traditions. Then, in dialogue with these sacred writings, we'll each try to find own way through this thicket of questions.

• Instructor: Kirby, Joseph
• Hours: 0900-1150
• Day: Wednesday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

Integrating spirituality, social justice and identity, the course is designed to inspire and encourage students to engage in academic curiosity and inquiry from their particular contexts, to explore the role spirituality and gender and sexual identity plays in social justice in Canada and around the world.

• Instructor: Coman, Sherry
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Day: Thursday
• In person

This course is an introduction to the diverse expressions of Christianity focusing on the themes of discipleship, spiritual practice, vocation, discernment, and social responsibility in a global context, considering the concept and activity of global citizenship. This course will include a service-learning component.

Section A

• Instructor: Li, Wing Yin
• Hours: 0900-1150
• Days: Friday
• In person

Section B

• Instructor: Li, Wing Yin
• Hours: 0200-1550
• Days: Friday
• In person

This course explores how the Christianity cooperates with other religious faiths for the common good of the Globe. 

Section A

• Instructor: Coman, Sherry
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Days: Monday
• In person

Section B (Brantford Campus)

• Instructor: Robinson, Jason
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Monday
• In person

This course is a survey of biblical content and contemporary methods for interpreting sacred texts.

• Instructor: Kirby, Joseph
• Online - Asynchronous 

This course will explore the discipline of Christian social ethics, teach skills in social analysis and give students a chance to test their skills in actual community situations. The course will include a service-learning component.

• Instructor: Lahtinen, Hilla
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Days: Thursday
• In person

This foundational course focuses on the questions: Who am I? and What is my purpose? Students will examine their values and sources of meaning-making, and consider how to live in a world of transition. These will be explored within the context of the student’s individual, local, and global realities.

• Instructor: Juma, Fanis
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Thursday
• In person

Current political discourse in Canada is often characterized by anger and frustration. Recognizing both the multifaith and secular nature of our society, this course explores the important role that faith can play in addressing our nation’s political challenges.

• Instructor: Milloy, John
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Days: Wednesday
• In person

This course is designed for those contemplating professional careers in mental health, community service, the developmental services, spiritual care, counselling and/or ministry. A basic understanding of spiritual care and counselling theories and skills will be presented. Special emphasis on one’s use of self, professional relationships, spiritual companionship and the spiritual formation of the professional, will be considered.

• Instructor: Lahtinen, Hilla
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Days: Tuesday
• In person

Restorative Contemplative Arts combines the disciplines of contemplative arts, expressive arts, and restorative practices within a framework of self-compassion and communal restoration. Students will engage in a wide range of expressive mediums (music, art, poetry) and supporting mindfulness practices to develop compassion. This course will also focus on restorative practices to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities.

Details to be confirmed.

This course provides an overview of couple, marital and family relationships from a broad, interdisciplinary and inclusive perspective. Couple and family relationships will be explored from psychological, sociological, anthropological and cultural contexts over the course of the life-span and will consider the diversity, beliefs, and values of couples and families and how these impact well-being.

• Instructor: Cantelon, Nicole
• Hours: 0900-1150
• Days: Thursday
• In person

Based on the Earth Charter, this course asks students the following question: “How does my spiritual practice and/or my faith tradition affect the relationships I have with my fellow beings and with our planet?” This course privileges “eco-consciousness” which considers a planetary view of mental health; it will explore models and methods that go beyond traditional mental health frameworks to redefine mental health within the changing environmental and ecological contexts.

• Instructor: Philip, Joy
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Days: Monday
• In person

This course critically examines topics related to disability and ability through both secular and faith-based lenses. Through experiential learning students develop relationships with people living with disabilities in the community and examine how lived experience and theory intersect.

• Instructor: Huinink, Chantal
• Hours: 0900-1150
• Days: Monday
• In person

This course will consider the nature of spirituality and its relationship with creativity and the arts. Students will have the opportunity to explore several of the arts as spiritual practice, such as music, movement, photography, poetry, film, and visual art. Through these expressive arts, scholarly articles, and guest presenters, students will explore spirituality, expressed and shaped by the arts, as a creative and meaningful way of being in the world.

• Instructor: Donaldson, Hilary
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Wednesday
• In person

This course surveys notions of culture in relationship to youth, exploring how contemporary developments in understandings of belonging, citizenship and identity inform this discourse.

• Instructor: Acero Ferrer, Héctor
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Days: Wednesday
• Online - Synchronous

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

This course approaches mindfulness as an attention training practice that is transformative. Substantive research has established the effectiveness of mindfulness as a therapy in reducing personal suffering. Mindfulness as a spirituality also promises to eliminate the causes of suffering. Being grounded in the present, mindfulness integrates practitioner’s past to transform their present and future. The course primarily addresses suffering at intrapersonal level and explores the transformative effects of mindfulness at the interpersonal and transpersonal levels. Drawing on its roots in Buddhism, this course investigates the spiritual and therapeutic dimensions of mindfulness and provides practical exercises such as mindful breathing and non-reactive responses to sense stimuli so that everyday life is more enjoyable.

• Instructor: Barua, Mitra
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Days: Thursday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

Course description coming soon.

• Instructor: Goldman, Moshe
• Hours: 1300-1650
• Days: Wednesday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

This course will develop character studies of messianic identities, false and true according to rabbinic tradition. We begin with a study of key terminology as well as setting clear limits on the investigation that includes addressing only Jewish claimants throughout history, identification of false and true ascriptions to who is and who is not anointed by G-d (the definition of Messiah) based on rabbinic thought, Jewish tradition, and sacred Jewish literature (e.g. Tanakh, Talmud, Midrash). In a chronological manner beginning with the Hebrew Scriptures and concluding with most recent claims of Russian-American Orthodox rabbi, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) who is believed by some in the Chabad movement as Judaism's promised Moshiach.

• Instructor: Maoz, Daniel
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Tuesday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

This course explores the topic of Artificial Intelligence: What is "intelligence"? What does it mean for an intelligence to be "artificial&"? What is humanity? What does the development of AI mean for the future of humanity, socially, politically, even spiritually? Are we now experiencing the beginning of a momentous transformation in the human condition, or even (as some have argued) the condition of the universe itself? And if so, how can we guide this transformation in directions that would promote the interconnected flourishing of life?

• Instructor: Kirby, Joseph
• Hours: 1600-1850
• Days: Wednesday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

This course will explore the representation of women in the New Testament from a historical
and literary perspective. Through a close reading of the primary sources, we will examine the
real women involved in the early Jesus movement and analyze how concepts of gender played
out in the literature created during the development of Christianity. By putting these texts
within their historical context, students will be able to go beyond the stereotypes of women in
Christianity to see how real women participated in the early years of the tradition, and how
issues of gender in Christianity were impacted by ancient Jewish and Roman culture. No
previous background in the New Testament is required or assumed.

• Instructor: Barkman, Heather
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Days: Thursday
• Online - Synchronous

This course explores emerging topics of study in the area of public ethics and spirituality. The rights and roles of Muslim women have long been source of social, religious, and political debates in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. In this class, we will discuss the theological and religious attitudes in the light of contemporary applications in Islamic and Western world in an effort to appreciate what does being a woman mean today.

• Instructor: Sezen, Selda
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Days: Thursday
• In person

This course will explore major themes in mental health and counselling, and connect them to Jewish issues. We will explore how mental health issues, including grief, relationships, identity, depression, trauma, addiction and anxiety, are addressed in Jewish traditions and contemporary culture. Course materials will include texts and videos about mental health and counselling, as well Jewish scholarship and media. By the end of the course, students should have a functional understanding of some basic contemporary mental health frameworks, and be able to discuss them from the perspective of everyday Jewish experiences. This course will also draw on feminist, decolonizing, queer and antiracist perspectives to understand both mental health and Jewish themes.

• Instructor: Arshinoff, Rena
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Days: Tuesday
• In person

This course explores the roots and branches of mysticism in the Abrahamic faiths through stories, lives, writings and experiences.

• Instructor: Benjamins, Jacob
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Monday
• In person

This course explores basic principles of Jewish ethics through interaction with analysis of contemporary Jewish thought by a foremost thinker in the field (Telushkin), as situated in the life and writings of Bob Dylan.

• Instructor: Maoz, Daniel
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Wednesday
• In person

Special Topics Course (not offered every year)

Today, interfaith/intercultural dialogue is imperative. The current diverse situation requires dialogue among cultures and societies to resolve conflicts of power and worldview. This course explores various aspects of interfaith and cultural relations in contemporary Canadian context, with some emphasis on Abrahamic traditions. This course offers an introduction to religion, faith, and cultural diversity, and it will offer a unique opportunity for students to engage with these diverse contexts in real communities in Kitchener and Waterloo.

• Instructor: Sezen, Engin
• Hours: 1900-2150
• Days: Thursday
• In person

Community engagement with children and young people in research and professional praxis involves considerations for their participation and protection. This course examines ethical and relational practices in child and youth care by incorporating a child rights conceptual framework which respects children’s agency, autonomy and best-interests.

• Instructor: Ciotti, Sarah
• Hours: 1300-1550
• Days: Tuesday
• In person