Summer 2025 Course Bundle:
Pathways for Tomorrow: Introductory Theological Studies & Structures of Faith: The Holy Sepulchre Church over Time
Pathways for Tomorrow: Introductory Theological Studies
July 1 - 22 (Tue. 8:00 pm ET)
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As the prophet Moses encountered God in the burning bush, he had to be told the ground on which he was standing was holy. In worship, the constellation of spaces, icons, and movements surround us, but, like Moses, our perception of it all requires guidance. Many early eastern Christian homilies use vivid descriptions of the temple, its iconography, and the celebration taking place therein, providing guidance for worshippers’ perception. In this course we will explore how we perceive this array of sensory symbols, applying this understanding to homiletic case studies, each of which emphasizes a facet of liturgical exegesis.
By the end of this course, students will be to:
understand the use of vivid description in patristic homilies
analyze meaning in sacred architecture: its arrangement, decor, and iconography
identify and explore interpretation of sacred art and architecture in patristic homilies
examine ways patristic homilies guide physical and spiritual perception
Structures of Faith: The Holy Sepulchre Church over Time
August 5 - 26 (Tue. 8:00 pm ET)
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Today the Holy Sepulchre Church, or the Church of the Resurrection, is the heart of Christian Jerusalem. For centuries, it was the heart of the Christian world. The hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who visit the city annually, still look on it as their ultimate pilgrimage goal. To those who know how to "read" the layers of its stones, the church's structures offer a visible history of how the Church, living in the intersection between time and eternity, has expressed its faith in widely differing political situations.Each of the 4 course sessions will introduce one aspect of that visible history.
The course aims to introduce listeners to the development of the Holy Sepulchre Church's complex of structures, from the time of Jesus to the most recent excavations. The hope is that in so doing, we will challenge ourselves to consider seriously how physical, timebound reality and the intangible, eternal realities of faith interact in mutually revelatory ways.
Register Now!
Pathways for Tomorrow: Introductory Theological Studies
Course Information
Professor
Rev. Fr. Lucas Lynn Christensen
The Rev. Fr. Lucas Lynn Christensen (Ph.D. Candidate, University of Notre Dame) is Assistant Director of St. Vladimir’s Compelling Preaching Project. He has published on sacrificial theology in the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil as well as the influence of North African church architecture on St. Maximos’s Mystagogy. Fr. Lucas serves as research fellow on the interdisciplinary project, “Assessing the Impact of Sacred Art on Individual Experience, Memory, and Spiritual Understanding,” undertaken by the University of Notre Dame’s Departments of Art History, Theology, and Psychology. He earned his M.Div. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 2016.
Course Description
Live sessions: Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. EST (July 1 - 22)
Access: June 24-August 31
Course cost: $200
This is a non-credit and non-transferable course. This online course includes 4 live discussion sessions with the professor (Q&A), 4 pre-recorded lectures, 4 presentation slides based on the lectures, and optional reading material, as well as the recorded live discussion sessions. The live discussion will take place via Zoom every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. ET (July 1 - 22). You will have access to all the course material from June 24-August 31.
Discussion Sessions: ~ 45 minutes each, including introduction, asynchronous material review by the professor, and Q&A (you will be able to submit your questions to the professor before each Zoom live discussion session).
Important: After registration, please note that the course will be available from June 24-August 31; during this time you will have access to all the lectures, slides, and reading material, as well as the recordings of the live sessions after they are completed. You will need the username and password that you created to log into the course.
There will be no refunds after June 23, 2024.
This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from and work with the dynamic faculty of St Vladimir’s Seminary.
Structures of Faith: The Holy Sepulchre Church over Time
Course Information
Professor
Roberta R. Ervine, Professor of Armenian Christian Studies
Roberta Ervine was blessed to be a long-time disciple of the late Abp. Norayr Bogharian, curator of manuscripts for the Armenian Monastery of St. James in Jerusalem, and of Bp. Guregh Kapikian, Overseer of the Status Quo in the Holy Places. She taught in Jerusalem’s Holy Translators School and lectured at other Jerusalem institutions, before joining the faculty at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, in Armonk, NY.
Her primary research interests are in the history of Jerusalem’s Armenian community, and medieval Armenian patristics. She holds a doctorate from Columbia University New York, where she studied under the late Nina Garsoian.
Course Description
Live sessions: Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. EST (August 5-26)
Access: July 29 - September 30
Course cost: $200
This is a non-credit and non-transferable course. This online course includes 4 live discussion sessions with the professor (Q&A), 4 pre-recorded lectures, 4 presentation slides based on the lectures, and optional reading material, as well as the recorded live discussion sessions. The live discussion will take place via Zoom every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. ET (August 5-26). You will have access to all the course material from July 29 - September 30.
Discussion Sessions: ~ 45 minutes each, including introduction, asynchronous material review by the professor, and Q&A (you will be able to submit your questions to the professor before each Zoom live discussion session).
Important: After registration, please note that the course will be available from July 29 - September 30; during this time you will have access to all the lectures, slides, and reading material, as well as the recordings of the live sessions after they are completed. You will need the username and password that you created to log into the course.
There will be no refunds after July 28, 2025.
This is a wonderful opportunity to hear from and work with the dynamic faculty of St Vladimir’s Seminary.
Registration Is Now Open!
Pathways for Tomorrow: Introductory Theological Studies
Week 1: Perceiving with the whole person: Embodied and spiritual perception in worship
July 1 · 8–8:45 p.m. (ET)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Week 2: The meaning of sacred space: Paul the Silentiary’s Ekphrasis on Hagia Sophia and the cosmic temple
July 8 · 8–8:45 p.m. (ET)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Week 3: The location of sacred ritual: St. Anastasios of Sinai’s Homily on the Transfiguration and the mosaics of Sinai
July 15 · 8–8:45 p.m. (EDT)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Week 4: The frame of sacred art: St. Anastasios of Sinai’s Homily on the Transfiguration and the mosaics of Sinai
July 22 · 8–8:45 p.m. (ET)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Pathways for Tomorrow: Introductory Theological Studies
Week 1: Tracing the origins: from Christ to Constantine
August 5 · 8–8:45 p.m. (ET)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Week 2: Hunting for Constantine: Outside the Holy Sepulchre Church
August 12 · 8–8:45 p.m. (ET)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Week 3: Following the Trail of Stone: Inside the Holy Sepulchre Church
August 19 · 8–8:45 p.m. (EDT)
Readings are assigned upon registration.
Week 4: Structuring faith: the choreography of prayer at the Holy Sepulchre Church
August 26 · 8–8:45 p.m. (ET)
Readings are assigned upon registration.