February 2025 classes - Bishop Kemper School for Ministry

February 2025 Course Descriptions

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.
The Venerable Monte Giddings began his instructional career in his hometown of McPherson, Kansas after graduating in Language Arts Education from KU. He still considers the best entry on his resume is that he was hired by his past principal and school superintendent after thy saw him grow up in a small town. After teaching six years there, he joined the business community as an underwriter and subsequently as a broker for Insurance/Risk Management services. His desire to continue in education pivoted to teaching other insurance professionals studying for tests to gain a professional designation in the insurance industry. In that capacity, he has taught over 150 classes in 45 states for a program that required each student to evaluate the instructor on a scale of one to ten after each class. Rev. Giddings just retired as Archdeacon in Kansas after 15 years of service. He as been on the BKSM board of directors for 10 years, including two years as chairman of that board. He serves as a deacon at St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in Mission, Kansas.

Forms of Christian Ethics (P)
Throughout Christian history, Christian ethics has come in many forms, rooted in different historical circumstances, cultural milieus, and theological traditions. With the goal of appreciating and applying this diversity, this course starts by exploring the forms of Christian ethics through the classic philosophical distinction between goals, duties, and virtues. In addition, the course helps students wrestle with the relationship between Christian ethics and other tools for engaging the human condition—philosophy, the natural sciences (including medicine), and the social sciences (sociology, psychology, politics, economics). Students will consider the question: To what degree is Christian ethics independent of these other forms of knowledge; and to what degree can Christian ethics be integrated with them? As this question is engaged, students will encounter how different Christian perspectives have described the sources, activities, and purposes of Christian ethics.

Required Texts

Lovin, Robin. An Introduction to Christian Ethics. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011.
Samuel Wells. Christian Ethics: An Introductory Reader. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
Additional readings to be distributed by the instructor.

Your Instructor

The Rev. Dr. David Cox is the Rector at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Mission, Kansas. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 1, 2012, in the Diocese of West Missouri. Prior to his current position, Cox taught sociology, religion, and ethics at the junior college level for five years. Cox earned his Ph.D. in Religion and Ethics from Vanderbilt University in 2007. Cox’s research and teaching interests include both theological and social ethics, with a special interest in the work of H. Richard Niebuhr and ethicists influenced by him.

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 Reverend Deacon Shane Schneider serves in the Diocese of Western Kansas at Grace Episcopal Church in Hutchinson and as Deacon-in-Charge at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in McPherson. A graduate of Kansas State University, he holds an M.A. in Sociology from Arizona State University and an M.P.S. in Social Entrepreneurship from Fort Hays State University. An alumnus of The Bishop Kemper School for Ministry, he received diaconal ordination in 2022. For more than a decade, Dn. Shane has worked in communications and marketing for Saint Francis Ministries, an Episcopal child and family services nonprofit based in Salina, Kansas. He also serves as an adjunct online sociology instructor for Fort Hays State University and sits on the Province VII Anti-Racism Committee..

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 8=9 , 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.