January 2025 Course Descriptions

Christian Ethics (D)
This class is designed for students enrolled on the deacon track as well anyone seeking a better foundational understanding of Christian Ethics for personal enrichment.

Required Texts            

• Bonhoeffer, Dietrich.Ethics, Trans. Reinhard Krauss and Charles West. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works - Readers Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.
  • Select essays: "The 'Ethical' and the Christian as a Topic" and "The Concrete Commandment and Divine Mandates"
• Hauerwas, Stanley. The Hauerwas Reader. ed. John Berkman and Michael Cartwright. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.
  • Select essays: "“Vision, Stories, and Character (1973, 2001)” and "Jesus and the Social Embodiment of the Peaceable Kingdom (1983)”
• Cannon, Katie Geneva. Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community, Revised and Expanded 25th Anniversary Ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2021.
  • Select Essays: “Moral Wisdom in the Black Women’s Literary Tradition (1984)” and “Unctuousness as Virtue: According to the Life of Zora Neale Hurston (1987)” 
• Lovin, Robin 2. An Introduction to Christian Ethics: Goals, Duties, and Virtues. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011.

Your Instructor 

• The Rev. Dr. Matthew J Frizzell is faculty associate and former  Dean of the Community of Christ Seminary at Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa.  He received a bachelor of arts in psychology from Graceland College, Lamoni, Iowa; a master of theological studies from Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri; and a doctorate in theology and ethics from Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois in 2010. He currently serves in denominational leadership for Community of Christ, a small global American Restoration tradition headquartered in Independence, Missouri. His academic interests are theology and economy, critical social theory, social justice and postmodern philosophies. 
  
  

Christian History I
This course examines Christianity history during the first millennium, from its origins in Palestine to the spread of the faith to Europe. Key topics include the early church, the Constantinian revolution, monasticism, Christological controversies, and the rise of Islam.
Required Texts             

• Wilken, Robert L. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. Yale University Press, 2012.

Your Instructor 

• The Rev. Dr. Sean C. Kim is the 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.

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 Pauline communities. 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 rhetorical documents endeavoring to form their addressees into an embodiment of the gospel in their particular culture. 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 and their communities.
Required Texts             

• A good academic study Bible with the NRSVue translation or new Westimnster Study Bible
• Marchal, Joseph, ed. Studying Paul's Letters: Contemporary Perspectives and Methods. Fortress, 2012.

Your Instructor 

• Dr. Arminta Fox is Assistant Professor of Religion at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD. She earned her PhD in Biblical Studies from Drew University Theological School in Madison, New Jersey in 2015. A New Testament scholar, Dr. Fox’s primary areas of research include the complex development of identity in biblical texts and early Christian history, feminist biblical scholarship, contextual hermeneutics, and material culture. Her first book, Paul Decentered: Reading 2 Corinthians with the Corinthian Women, was published by Lexington/Fortress Academic in December 2019. This work analyzes Paul's rhetoric to  argue that women played an important role in the development of the Christ community in Corinth. 

Polity  &  Canons
This course provides an overview of the governance of The Episcopal Church, including the Constitution and Canons of the Church, General Convention, the offices of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies, the regional Provinces, the respective Dioceses (including the constitution and canons of the dioceses represented in the class) 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.
Required Texts               

• Many Parts, One Body – How the Episcopal Church Works, James Dator with Jan Nunley (New York: Church Publishing, 2010)
• Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church 2022: Together with the Rules of Order Adopted by the General Convention 1789-2022
  •  free to download online.
  • NOTE: If the 2024 convention resource is published/available by time the course meets, this is the resource you should use.

Your Instructor 

• Mr. Mike Morrow is an attorney with 30 years service as a career law clerk in the U.S. District Court in Kansas.  He is a current member of the Council of Trustees in the Diocese of Kansas and previously served as Council President.  He presently serves as the intake officer.  He has been a deputy to seven general conventions, from 2003 through 2022.  At General Convention, he served on the Title IV, Constitution, and Canons committees, including the 2009 Convention which drafted the present Title IV canons.

Register for January

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!

January Overview

• Classes begin on Monday, December  16.  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  January 11-12 , 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, February  7.
  
• Grades due February 28.
  
  

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 January Courses