February 2024 Course Descriptions
Christian History 2
This course examines Christian history from the Middle Ages in Western Europe to the present. Key topics include scholasticism, the medieval papacy, the Crusades, the Protestant Reformation, Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and Christianity in the Global South.
Required Text    
  • Mullin, Robert Bruce. A Short World History of Christianity. Revised Edition. Louisville: Westminister John Knox Press, 2014.
Your Instructor
  • The Rev. Dr. Sean C. Kim is the Associate Rector at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri. In addition to serving at the church, he teaches East Asian and world history at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg. His research focuses on the history of Protestant  Christianity in Korea. Originally from a Presbyterian and Methodist background, he was “Anglicanized” through his studies at the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry. He received his B.A. from Cornell University and M.Div., A.M., and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Diakonia I
This course is intended for those on the path toward ordination to the diaconate in order to help you to develop an understanding of the diaconate in the Church in general, and the Episcopal Church in particular.  Specifically, this course examines the history, evolution and theology of the diaconate from the time of the first-century church to the present. The class also emphasizes the roles of the deacon in the Sacraments of the Church, especially the deacon’s role in the Eucharist, as well as the call of the deacon to ministry in the world, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely.
Required Texts         
  • Plater, Ormonde.  Many Servants: an Introduction to Deacons, Rev. Ed. Cambridge: Cowley, 2004.
  • Plater, Ormonde.  Deacons in the Liturgy, 2nd Ed. New York: Church Publishing, 2009.
  • Watson-Epting. Unexpected Consequences: The Diaconate Renewed. New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2015.
Your Instructor
  • The Venerable Betsy Bennett taught philosophy at Hastings College for sixteen years, and has been an Episcopal deacon since 2004. She currently serves as Archdeacon for the Diocese of Nebraska. The focus of her diaconal ministry is religious environmental work, which includes writing the Green Sprouts blog. A 2008 GreenFaith Fellow, she has been active in several religious environmental organizations as well as the Association for Episcopal Deacons and Spiritual Directors International. Her M.A. in philosophy is from The Ohio State University.

Forms of Christian Ethics (P)
Rather than taking an issues-based approach to Christian ethics, this course will tell the story of Christian ethics, considering the ways in which people in the Church have responded to God's work in their midst through word and deed. In telling this story, there will be three primary trajectories: Scripture, historical theology, and contemporary theological ethics. These three trajectories will shape the questions of the class, some of which will sound like the following: What is the place of Christian-ethical reflection in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament? How might Kierkegaard's concept of the "teleological suspension of the ethical" in Fear and Trembling shape the way encounters those complex moments that demand ethical discernment? What has Christian ethics to do with modern city planning? As these and other questions are asked, at the forefront of deliberation will be the pursuit to understand the relation between the Word's eternal wisdom and the Word's work of making all things new.

Required Texts             
  • Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics, ed. Ilse Tödt, Heinz Eduard Tödt, Ernst Feil, and Clifford Green, trans. Reinhard Krauss, Charles West, and Douglas Scott. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works 6. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005 (Paperback, 2008).
  •  Lightsey, Pamela R., Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2015.
  • Meilaender, Gilbert and William Werpehowski, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • Wells, Samuel, and Ben Quash. Introducing Christian Ethics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2010.
Your Instructor
  • Dr. Tyler Atkinson is the former Johan E. Seelen Distinguished Professor of Religion at Bethany College, Lindsborg, KS. Dr. Atkinson holds an M.Div. from the Divinity School, Duke University and a Ph.D. in theological ethics from the University of Aberdeen. In 2015, he published Singing at the Winepress: Ecclesiastes and the Ethics of Work (Bloomsbury T&T Clark). More recently, he has published a book chapter on the rapper, 2Pac and the theology of Paul Tillich (in The Body and Ultimate Concern: Reflections on an Embodied Theology of Paul Tillich, ed. Adam Pryor and Devan Stahl), and is currently working on a book-length project on the intersection of race, religion, and culture in North Carolina Hip Hop.

Preaching 2
Building on competencies from Preaching 1, you will gain  confidence and insight into your own homiletical process as the faithful  means  by which we give voice to the lived and scriptural experience of the word of  God. Improve through hands-on  practice and by finding/internalizing a routine for sermon design that works for you. This will include being able to  articulate  and practice essential exegetical principles for homiletics.
 Required Texts    
  • Lischer, Richard. The End of Words: the Language of Reconciliation in a Culture of Violence. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005.
  • Selected essays from the Winter 2019 issue of The Anglican Theological Review (provided).
Your Instructor
  • The Very Rev. Torey Lightcap is Dean of Grace Cathedral in Topeka, Kansas. Prior to this recent appointment he served as Canon to the Ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas for five years. He is an alumnus of the Seminary of the Southwest (M.Div, ’04), Oklahoma State University (M.S., ’96), and Oklahoma Baptist University (B.A., 1994).

Social Ministry I
This course will explore the Biblical, theological, and historical foundations of social ministry in an Episcopal/Anglican context. Participants will also gain a basic understanding of  contemporary issues related to poverty in our communities such as, but not limited to, hunger, education, senior citizens, housing, mental health, refugee resettlement, and other issues which  push persons to the margins of society.
Required Texts         
  •  Christian Social Witness. Harold T. Lewis, 2001.
  • Students will also be invited to read another text on issues related to poverty in the United States and lead a discussion in class about the particular text.  A list of potential books for this project will be included with the syllabus.
Your Instructor
  • The Rev. Charles A. (Chas) Marks is Rector of St. Augustine's Church in Kansas City, MO and the Transition Missioner for the Diocese of West Missouri.  He is a graduate of Wichita State University, Saint Meinrad School of Theology, and The Bishop Kemper School for Ministry.  Prior to his ordination to the priesthood in 2015, Fr. Chas worked in social services in Kansas City, MO and Memphis, TN.  He spent 10 years managing programs that assist homeless and runaway youth in the Kansas City metropolitan area and also served on the Advisory Board of the National Safe Place Network.  Fr. Chas has presented at several national conferences on issues around homeless youth and advocacy.  He is a certified facilitator of Called to Transformation: An Asset-Based Approach to Engaging Church & Community.
BKSM welcomes you to take courses with us for personal enrichment or continuing education. Classes are richer with occasional students around the table.  We encourage you to experience this remarkable, uplifting community of learning, worship and fellowship for yourself!

February Overview
  • Classes begin on Monday, January  15.  You will receive an email and syllabus directly from your instructor. If you have  not received anything from your instructor by Tuesday, please contact us.
  • The in-person Focus Weekend meets  February 10-11 , on Saturday from 7:30 am-9:00 pm and on Sunday from 7:30am-12:15pm.
  • The detailed weekend schedule is here.
  • Classes end on Friday, March 8.
  • Grades due March 30.

Tuition & Scholarships
  • Tuition is $100 to audit a class in person or online, $240 to take a class for credit in person, which includes  overnight accommodations at Upton Hall &  meals, $165 to take a class for credit on Zoom.
  • Apply for the $100 Jim Upton lay scholarship. Scholarships also available for students on an ordination track.
  • Many hotels are available throughout Topeka. Most are 15 minutes away or less.
Register for February Courses