Upcoming Spring Semester 2012

Courses

The upcoming semester will feature Rev. Dr. Inese Radzins' Swedenborg's Soul and Body, The course will examine the topic of the relationship between soul and body in the writings of Swedenborg. It will begin by exploring some classical and contemporary understandings of the soul-body relationship and then proceed to close readings from various Swedenborgian texts, including "Soul-Body Interaction", and excerpts from the "Arcana", "Divine Love and Wisdom", and
"True Christian Religion". Themes to be explored include the problem of a dualistic understanding of the relationship, the notion of influx, the idea of correspondences and the possibility of a more holistic approach. This course will be offered in blended format for distance students.

Dr. Devin Zuber will teach Swedenborg in History, which will situate Swedenborg (and his influence) in history, beginning with his sources in contexts such as radical pietistism, neoplatonic Christian thought, enlightenment empirical science, and Western hermeticism, and then continue through a diverse reception that includes artistic movements in English and German Romanticism, the French symbolist writers, Transcendentalism, Spiritualism, early American pluralism, as well as the sectarian churches around the world that bear his name. We will explore how these various cultural, aesthetic, and intellectual receptions have occurred and what ideas or concepts have been appropriated

Swedenborgian Biblical Scholarship

and it's connection

to our own lives

Dean Jim Lawrence provides the first in a series of video talks about what we're up to at the Swedenborgian House of Studies

Stay Tuned ... our new video content is coming soon!

The Swedenborgian House of Studies at Pacific School of Relgion presents

a new online course with Adjunct Professor Rev. David Fekete, Ph.D

"Introduction to the Gospels (with Swedenborgian Theology in Mind)"

A 9 week online course beginning February 6, 2012 and concluding Easter Week

Featuring selected Gospel readings, instructor lecture, and online class discussion.  This course will focus especially on the person of Jesus; how he lived and taught then and how he lives and teaches us now.  As you approach Easter this year, journey deeply into the life of the Lord with Rev. Dr. David Fekete and with Swedenborgian friends near and far meeting every week wherever you are.

Cost of course: $50.00 

*Enrollment limited to 12 students*

 

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Visiting Islamic Studies Scholar at the GTU

This academic year, the GTU has welcomed Prof. Mahmoud Ayoub. Prof. Ayoub received his education at the American University of Beirut (BA, Philosophy, 1964), the University of Pennsylvania (M.A., Religious Thought, 1966), and Harvard University (Ph.D., History of Religion, 1975). From 1988 to 2008, he was a Professor and director of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia, an Adjunct Professor at the Duncan Black Macdonald Center, Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, a Research Fellow at the Middle East Center, University of Pennsylvania and the Tolson visiting professor at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley California. Mahmoud Ayoub is the author of a number of books including, Redemptive Suffering in Islam and The Qur’an and Its Interpreters and Islam: Faith and History. Today, at the request of the United States Government, Professor Ayoub is serving as an ambassador to various parts of the Middle East , lecturing on American society and institutions, Interfaith Dialogue and Islam in America. 

This this semester. Prof Ayoub will teach: Islamic Spirituality,This course is a graduate seminar in which students play an active part through discussions and presentations. Special emphasis will be placed on original texts in English translation. The course will examine Islamic spirituality from early Islam to the present, based on the following topics: Islam: Faith and Spirituality; Early Muslim History; What is Sufism?; Mysticism; Love of God and Knowledge of God; Sufi Orders: Later Developments.