An examination and interpretation of the history of the black church, including the seven historic American black denominations: the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the African Methodist Episcopal Church; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Incorporated; the National Baptist Convention of America, Unincorporated; the Progressive National Baptist Convention; and the Church of God in Christ. The role of the black church in the black community will be emphasized along with the contributions to and distinctives within American Protestantism which the black church offers.

This is an introductory course on the basic outline of church history from the early church to the present, noting the influence of culture upon the church and the influence of the church upon culture. Attention will be focused upon key events, people, institutions, and ideas that affected the development of the church.

This course is designed to introduce students to the foundations of Christian ethics. The course will integrate commitments to Christian virtues, discipleship, moral/spiritual formation and Christian ethics, in order to assist students in developing competencies in ethical analysis and moral discernment.

This course introduces students to the foundations of theological education at Ashland Theological Seminary. It explains the seminary's curriculum model, provides assessment of students in personal and professional areas, and leads to the development of a personal Formation Covenant that will guide the student through the seminary experience.

Thomas W. Gilmore, DMin tgilmore@ashland.edu 216-264-4622

OFFERED ONLY FALL QUARTER! Students should plan to enroll in IT 694 within the first 36 credit hours of course work. This is a hybrid course with an introductory seminar and online class work. The majority of the coursework is 200 hours of field ministry. The student is responsible to arrange the site and mentor for their Field Study. NOTE: IT 694 is only offered Fall Quarter! All students who anticipate beginning Field Study in an academic year must enroll in the Fall Quarter. Students may enroll in the course in the fall and wait to start the actual ministry of their Field Study later in the year. The 200 hours of ministry may span more than one quarter. Theological Field Education is the intentional use of ministry experience as a transforming opportunity aimed at personal and ministry formation. This Distance Learning course will examine the purpose of experiential education, the program requirements for theological field education at this seminary. Field Study involves direct mentoring, theological reflection, and case studies. The course focuses on achieving competency, if not excellence, in the student's area of study and their context of ministry. It encourages the integration of academic learning with the practice of ministry, while under the direct supervision of a Field Mentor. Each student will need a field site where they are actively involved with ministry and an on-site Field Mentor. The student will develop basic personal and ministry competencies and complete written reports based on their ministry experience.

John Swope, PhD jswope@ashland.edu 419-289-5772

This course will examine the historical roots of hermeneutical ideologies and methodologies that have ignored and/or denied the influence of people of African descent in the Bible and upon the Bible. More basically, the course will examine the de-Africanization of the Bible, address this phenomenon by re-Africanizing the Bible and illustrate how the peculiar perspective and development of an African American hermeneutic contributes a fresh and needed insight for the Christian church as regards biblical interpretation.

William H. Myers, PhD wmmhmyers@aol.com 216-431-5468

The course provides the student with an overview of the biblical, theological, historical, and contemporary views on women in ministry and helps women articulate their call, vision, and role as leaders in their local context.