January 2018 Course Descriptions
BKSM welcomes you to take courses for personal enrichment or continuing education. We encourage you to experience the remarkable environment of learning, worship and fellowship that makes BKSM such a special place to be.
January courses begin officially on December 11, when instructors send out the syllabus to students. The focus weekend takes place January 13-14, and final assignments are due February 9 (if you take the class for credit).
While the weekend begins with breakfast at 7:30 for students on ordination and lay license tracks, course instruction does not begin until 1:00 p.m., which gives you the flexibility of driving to Topeka on Saturday morning, rather than on Friday evening. If you are taking a class for personal enrichment or continuing education, you are welcome to spend the night at Upton Hall on Friday night, and join us for breakfast and morning prayer on Saturday morning. While the 8:45 colloquium session is a closed group for students on an ordination track, you are encouraged to join us at 10:15 for our praxis session, which addresses some practical area of ministry.
If you would like to audit a course, the tuition is $100. If you would like to take the class for credit, the tuition is $180. The cost (whether you audit or take for credit) includes meals and overnight accommodations at Upton Hall on Friday and Saturday night (on a space-available basis). If you wish to take the class for credit, we encourage you to enroll by December 10. However, if you wish to audit the class, you may register at any time prior to the focus weekend.
Get started by completing the course registration form. If you have specific questions, contact the Very Rev. Dr. Don Compier, BKSM dean, at bksmdean2@gmail.com or (816) 217-4053.
Anglican Ethics
In this class, students explore distinctive Anglican approaches to moral questions by studying the traditions of Anglican ethics and their contemporary relevance in the practical life of today’s church.
Book List
The Very Rev. Dr. Don H. Compier (Ph.D. in theology, Emory University) is Dean of the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry. He also serves as Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas and presides at the Spanish service at St. Paul’s in Kansas City, Kansas. Previously, Compier taught Master’s and Ph.D. courses in theology, philosophy, and modern church history at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. He has also offered classes at Saint Paul School of Theology and Eden Theological Seminary. He led the graduate program in religion at Graceland University from 2002 until 2014, developing an innovative online curriculum. He is currently researching the history of Eucharistic thought in Anglicanism.
Christian History I
This course explores Christian history from the end of the New Testament period (about A.D. 150) to AD 1000. We see Christianity as a small religion among many in the Roman Empire, then as that empire's official faith, and then as a growing movement continually encountering pagan cultures in the Mediterranean world and northern Europe, changing those cultures and being changed by them. Information on Eastern Christianity will help us understand Western Christianity. The course involves short lectures that leave plenty of room for discussion.
Reading List
Christian Ethics (D)
This class is designed for students enrolled on the deacon track as well anyone seeking a better understanding of Christian Ethics for personal enrichment. 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.
Reading List
Polity & Canons
This course provides an overview of the governance of The Episcopal Church, including the Constitution and Canons of the Church, General Convention (and its Committees, Commissions, Agencies and Boards – “CCAB”), the offices of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies, the nine regional Provinces, the respective Dioceses and the individual congregations. In addition we will look at the governance (or lack thereof) of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the place of The Episcopal Church within that Communion.
Reading List
Pauline Epistles
This class is an introduction to Paul’s letters for those who have had little or no exposure to the academic study of Paul. It will attempt to help students understand Paul’s letters vis-à-vis the socio-historical and political contexts of the first century. In addition, it will demonstrate how these letters function as missional documents endeavoring to form their addresses into an embodiment of the gospel in their particular culture. To do this, the face-to-face classroom time will focus on one or two of Paul’s letters with a side glance at a few passages from other letters to illustrate certain points. The goal of the course is to provide the student with a rudimentary understanding of, and tools with which to engage in a responsible theological interpretation of Paul’s letters.
Reading List
In this class, students explore distinctive Anglican approaches to moral questions by studying the traditions of Anglican ethics and their contemporary relevance in the practical life of today’s church.
Book List
- Anglican Theological Review 94:2 (articles by Greenman and Sedgwick) and 94:4 (articles by Smith, Dackson, and Gibson, and responses by Sedgwick, Davis, and Wondra). Available for free download at www.anglicantheologicalreview.org. Use the “read” button and then go to “browse previous issues.”
- Sedgwick, Timothy. The Christian Moral Life: Practices of Piety. Eerdmans, 1999.
The Very Rev. Dr. Don H. Compier (Ph.D. in theology, Emory University) is Dean of the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry. He also serves as Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas and presides at the Spanish service at St. Paul’s in Kansas City, Kansas. Previously, Compier taught Master’s and Ph.D. courses in theology, philosophy, and modern church history at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. He has also offered classes at Saint Paul School of Theology and Eden Theological Seminary. He led the graduate program in religion at Graceland University from 2002 until 2014, developing an innovative online curriculum. He is currently researching the history of Eucharistic thought in Anglicanism.
Christian History I
This course explores Christian history from the end of the New Testament period (about A.D. 150) to AD 1000. We see Christianity as a small religion among many in the Roman Empire, then as that empire's official faith, and then as a growing movement continually encountering pagan cultures in the Mediterranean world and northern Europe, changing those cultures and being changed by them. Information on Eastern Christianity will help us understand Western Christianity. The course involves short lectures that leave plenty of room for discussion.
Reading List
- Wilken, Robert L. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianty. Yale University Press, 2012.
- The Very Rev. Dr. George Wiley taught religion at Baker University for 35 years and has been serving the Diocese of Kansas as canon pastor since 2014. He holds a Ph.D. in historical theology from Emory University. As a teacher, he is known for engaging with students and creating an inviting classroom atmosphere
Christian Ethics (D)
This class is designed for students enrolled on the deacon track as well anyone seeking a better understanding of Christian Ethics for personal enrichment. 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.
Reading List
- Brock, Brian. Captive to Christ, Open to the World: On Doing Christian Ethics in Public. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2014.
- Wells, Samuel and Quash, Ben. Introduction to Christian Ethics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2010.
- Wells, Samuel, editor. Christian Ethics: An Introductory Reader. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2010.
- 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).
- Dr. Tyler Atkinson is Assistant 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. His doctoral thesis, Singing at the Winepress: Ecclesiastes and the Ethics of Work, has recently been published by Bloomsbury T&T Clark (2015).
Polity & Canons
This course provides an overview of the governance of The Episcopal Church, including the Constitution and Canons of the Church, General Convention (and its Committees, Commissions, Agencies and Boards – “CCAB”), the offices of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies, the nine regional Provinces, the respective Dioceses and the individual congregations. In addition we will look at the governance (or lack thereof) of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the place of The Episcopal Church within that Communion.
Reading List
- Many Parts, One Body – How the Episcopal Church Works, James Dator with Jan Nunley (New York: Church Publishing, 2010)
- Other readings will be available from the Internet and disseminated with syllabus
- Mr. Larry Bingham practices law with the firm of Seigfreid Bingham in Kansas City, MO. and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School (1965). He has maintained an active lay ministry for over 40 years. He served as a Deputy to The Episcopal Church General Convention (1992-2012) and as a Mentor in Education for Ministry (EfM). In parish governance ministry, Bingham has served on the parish Vestry and as Senior Warden. In diocesan governance ministry, he has served on the Diocesan Council, as Diocesan Treasurer, and as Chair of the Bishop Search Committee.
Pauline Epistles
This class is an introduction to Paul’s letters for those who have had little or no exposure to the academic study of Paul. It will attempt to help students understand Paul’s letters vis-à-vis the socio-historical and political contexts of the first century. In addition, it will demonstrate how these letters function as missional documents endeavoring to form their addresses into an embodiment of the gospel in their particular culture. To do this, the face-to-face classroom time will focus on one or two of Paul’s letters with a side glance at a few passages from other letters to illustrate certain points. The goal of the course is to provide the student with a rudimentary understanding of, and tools with which to engage in a responsible theological interpretation of Paul’s letters.
Reading List
- Gorman, Michael J. Reading Paul. Cascade, 2008 (usually cheaper at the Wipf & Stock website than anywhere else).
- Longenecker, Bruce. The Lost Letters of Pergamum. Baker, 2003.
- Dr. Andy Johnson graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University in 1982 with a B.S. in Accounting and Business Administration. He subsequently received an M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary (1989) in Kansas City and a Ph.D. from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota (1994), focusing in New Testament Studies with a specialty in the Pauline epistles. He has taught at Nazarene Theological Seminary since Fall 2002. Johnson is the author of 1 & 2 Thessalonians in the Between Two Horizons commentary series (Eerdmans, 2016), Holiness and the Missio Dei (Cascade, 2016) and numerous scholarly and popular articles. He is also co-editor of Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament (Eerdmans, 2007), an associate editor of the Wesley Study Bible (Abingdon), and part of the translation team of the Common English Bible (2011).