Course Catalog – St. Macrina Institute

3 Lessons

Spirituality

DOM

All courses include projects that require planning of catechesis and practicing homiletics. Every course contains preaching or teaching practice components.

Spirituality

This is the foundations seminar. It deals with the great teachers of the ascetic life, in historical sequence. The students read primary texts that deal with the scriptural imagery and the description of the human constitution and challenges to the human being from the passions and from the demonic. Students will gain a greater knowledge of the traditional ways the human struggles to conform to divine grace and likeness. Primary texts are emphasized over modern synthesis. This is a foundations seminar: the concerns of the authors we read are 1) inspired and holy guidance; 2) basic human psychology in both the ancient more modern sense; 3) an essential linkage in the process of every individual’s appropriation of liturgical and scriptural life of the Orthodox Church, an interpretation by an “art of living;” 4) the beginning of a whole cycle of discipleship and formation in the faith for ministry. For these reasons it is foundational.

Old Testament

This course is also foundational, in terms of teaching the imagery that is central to the chosen people as they are set apart by God, and as they come to understand the will of God and learn to be conformed to him through covenant, through sacrifice and through seeing and drawing near to the holy things of heaven and to the Holy One who reveals himself to them. The Old Testament is also seen as the Scriptures that are opened by the Christ for the Church, before there is a written “New Testament.” An understanding of the relevance of Old Testament thought to the teachings of the New Covenant and the sense of continuity between the God who reveals himself through the Law and the God-man Crucified and raised from the dead, will be emphasized throughout the course. While on the one hand engaging critical historical and other modern methodologies, the students are also encouraged to see the Scriptures as alive in the Liturgy and in the interpretation of the Church fathers. The class deals with issues of genre, community tensions, ancient Near Eastern context and literature as it impacts the Scriptures. as a deepened sense of the Tradition both before and after the canonization of the text.

New Testament

Explains the different emphases of the New Testament writers, how they take up the difficulties of interpretation of Christ from the basis of Second Temple Jewish beliefs and groups, and how they interact with a growing conversion from the Gentiles. Importance will be placed on understanding how Our Lord interacts with beliefs and practices of the Second Temple: Sabbath, purity, etc.; as well to show how these beliefs are reconfigured through his revelation of himself, and the establishment of the perfection of holiness through the eucharist, the Cross and Resurrection, baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the ongoing work of the apostles and the Church. This course deals with historical criticism and other modern critical methods, while remaining grounded in the sense of the ongoing truth of the Church’s experience of Christ. The course will identify and address some very adversarial views of the New Testament and traditional Christian beliefs.

Church History & Patristics

Addresses the main doctrinal concepts about God, Trinity, Church, Priesthood and ministries, Christology as they are worked out historically in the important ecclesial events and writers. As a historical narrative, the course covers the struggle both in and out of times of controversy to work out the articulations of central tenets of the faith as necessary creedal and conciliar affirmations. The course will also cover more modern Orthodox history and the challenges encountered both from without and within the Church over the last thousand years. This is both a course which will emphasize historical narrative and analysis, as well as the primary theological texts of the fathers.

Dogmatic Theology

Serves as summarization of previous work, and a philosophical and apologetic review of the images and ideas of previous classes, as arranged in a more encyclopedic way, by subject matter. Consciousness of interplay of historical factors will be kept in mind so as to remember and be able to address historical contexts from previous classes. Emphasis will be placed on how to catechize through deeper understanding and explanation of the creed and other important dogmatic texts.

Sacraments, Liturgy, & Catechesis

Covers the sacraments, or holy Mysteries: their meaning, their scriptural connections and historical shaping in our practice, with some comparison to parallel developments elsewhere in Christianity. How to catechize others and participate more fully ourselves in the sacramental life of the Church will be a focus. Emphasis will be made on the connection of the heavenly liturgy, especially as reflected on through mystical experience and Scriptural norms, and the earthly practices which have undergone some change over time.

Ethics, Canons, Pastoral Practice & Liturgical And Catechetical Practice

Involves two parts. The first part is a seminar on the development of an understanding of ethics and the basic norms, canons, of the ethical life and participation in the liturgical life of the Church. A basic study of ethics as seen in the Scriptures and the New Testament, followed by a sense of the patristic norms as seen in the Canons, leads finally to a meditation on how this works in the life of the parish and the particular roles the students may have now or in the future within the community. Particular emphasis is on the way that conflicts arise or peace is found in the parish. This last subsection is conducted in a session with the Dean or a previous Dean of the local Deanery. The second half is a practicum in serving as a deacon, or a practicum in catechetical methods and work.