Course units you may study elsewhere
Other units (see linked list below) which may be taken by ICSPF students
Students may choose units from other Recognised Teaching Institutions of the Melbourne College of Divinity to complement prior learning. For example, the student with a good background in theology but little grounding in development through the life cycle will be encouraged to select units to broaden his or her understanding of these disciplines. Conversely, the student who comes to the course with a good background in psychological and spiritual development but with little theology, will be encouraged to select units that broaden his or her theological understanding.
THE ENGLISH SPIRITUAL TRADITION (DS203)
Austin Cooper: OMI Catholic Theological College
This unit will be mainly concerned with the English writers of the 14th Century: Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, Walter Hilton and the Cloud of Unknowing. Some attention will also be given to later writers such as Austin Baker, Thomas More, John Fisher, Richard Challoner and John Chapman.
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CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY SEMINAR (DS401/402)
Austin Cooper: OMI
Catholic Theological College
This seminar is available to students who have completed two levels of Christian Spirituality. There will be regular sessions in which students will be guided in personal research on a topic of their own choice, which has been approved by the lecturer and the Chair of Field D.
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ISSUES IN AUSTRALIAN SPIRITUALITY (DS223.15/323 .15)
Tim McCowan:
Churches of Christ Theological College
This unit will explore contemporary issues affecting the development of spirituality in Australia, integrating these with theological concerns. Topics will include: the landscape; Indigenous influences; the immigrant experience; ANZAC and memory; art and the imagination; changing workplace; cyberspace; tensions between spirituality and institutional religion; secularism, media and the sacred; issues of racism, intercultural and interfaith relations.
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COUNSELLING: Theory and practice (DT3506)
Peter Cantwell: OFM
Yarra Theological Union
Through theory and practice to develop in the student counselling skills and awareness of the attitudes which form the basis of a good helping relationship. The unit content will balance the theory of counselling with the gradual acquisition of counselling skills. The student will be learning on three levels simultaneously. 1) The theory of counselling; 2) Awareness of the self of the counsellor; 3) Acquiring of the skills of the counselling process through practice in small groups.
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ADVANCED PRACTICUM IN COUNSELLING I (DT3508)
Mary Scarfe:
Yarra Theological Union
This course aims to deepen students’ practical, clinical skills in counselling, to develop students’ knowledge and theory bases, and to develop students’ self-awareness and understanding as an instrument of counselling. This unit will involve the doing of counselling: in front of the class and where possible in a clinical setting.
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ADVANCED PRACTICUM IN COUNSELLING II (DT3509)
Mary Scarfe:
Yarra Theological Union
Students in this unit are required to be working in a regular helping situation in order to have material available on which to base their learnings.
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PASTORAL CARE & HELPING SKILLS (DP307.30)
Alan Niven: Churches of Christ Theological College
The unit will cover aspects of counselling theory and practice that will enable the student to develop skills appropriate to the pastoral context. The theory of counseling and concurrent skills practice will be blended in two 12 week sequences designed to enable students to develop competence in the practical art of helping. Lectures and a verbatim and workshop approach will be complemented by tasks that invite students to engage in theological reflection upon their role and their pastoral style. Upon successful completion of this unit students should be able to:
1. Describe and critically engage a number of counselling theories.
2. Draw upon personal experience, helping skills development and theological reflection in order to articulate and implement the sequential steps of a model of pastoral helping.
3. Identify and describe the limits of their pastoral work as they develop referral skills and an awareness of personal issues that may influence, positively or negatively, the helping process.
4. Demonstrate the skills necessary for enabling the other person to identify preferred behaviours and then begin the process of change.
5. Describe and implement the essentials of safe, ethical pastoral practice.
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FAITHFULNESS, CONVERSION AND THE SEARCH FOR THE TRANSCENDENT (DE310.15)
Maryanne Confoy: RSC
United Faculty of Theology
This unit proposes an integrated approach to adult development and spirituality through the examination of maturational theory as propounded by Fowler, Kegan, Selman and other developmentalists. It addresses the issue of conversion and the search for the Transcendent in personal and communal faith contexts. Changing images of God, approaches to prayer, worldview and understanding of authority are considered. Educational and ministerial implications for contemporary faith communities will be explored, especially through reference to literature, film and the arts. Participants are invited to bring some of their “personal classics” in the creative arts to this unit.
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EDUCATING AND MINISTERING THROUGH LIFE PASSAGES (DE330.15)
Maryanne Confoy: RSC
United Faculty of Theology
The aim of this unit is to present a view of adult spiritual development which integrates psychological and theological understandings on Christian maturational processes. It will offer insights on the masculine and feminine aspects of growth through early, middle and late adulthood. Changing spiritual emphasis in each stage will be discussed. The unit proposes pastoral and educational styles and approaches that are appropriate for the different needs and capacities of people moving through the major life phases, and transitional periods. Through engagement with both classical and aesthetic sources, the unit invites participants to reflect on aspects of their own spiritual development and on ways of being more responsive to the changing needs and circumstances of those to whom they minister. Participants are encouraged to work with some of their own “spiritual classics” during the unit.
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A THEOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT (DS311.30)
Tim McCowan:
Churches of Christ Theological College
This unit will explore the phenomenology and theology of spiritual development from a range of perspectives, with particular focus on:
- The relationship of spirituality to theology
- Issues of definition of spirituality and the interpretation of spiritual experience
- Alternative models of spiritual development and their theological implications from various religious traditions and disciplines.
Back to page links menu THE PERSON: INDIVIDUALITY AND RELATIONSHIP (DT2504)
Mary Scarfe:
Yarra Theological Union
This course aims to provide a theoretical framework and theological praxis to enable students to think about the growth and development of the human person individually, in relationship and within systems, and to explore how healthy growth can be facilitated and obstructed. The unit includes theoretical approaches to individual and relational development; family and marital issues; critical phases of development in the process towards individual and social maturity; how personal and relational problems can arise when the usual maturational process is obstructed.
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THE DYNAMISM OF STORY: towards a theology of transforming narrative (PDS440.15)
Maryanne Confoy: RSC
United Faculty of Theology
Story-telling, both fictional and non-fictional, myths, journaling and other narrative forms have enabled human beings to make some sense of their search for meaning in both the order and chaos of the human condition. This course, through interdisciplinary analysis of human narratives examines the transforming power of stories and their contribution to our understanding of God’s saving acts in God’s plan for creation.
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CHRISTOLOGY: issues and perspectives (CT302.15)
Frank Rees:
Whitley Theological College
This unit is designed to provide an initial survey of the main areas of christological thinking, including biblical themes, early historical formulations and some issues in contemporary Christology. Topics covered include: (i) current Christological thinking; (ii) New Testament Christologies; (iii) historical perspectives.
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CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY I (DS111)
Austin Cooper: OMI Catholic Theological College
The unit is intended to acquaint the student with some significant examples of Christian literature from the beginnings of the Christian movement to the Middle Ages. The focus will be upon the study of these significant texts in their theological and cultural setting. Students will be required to experience some contemporary expressions of aspects of this subject, eg a Liturgy of Eastern Christians.
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CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY II (DS112)
Austin Cooper: OMI
Catholic Theological College
The unit follows on from the equivalent first semester unit and is intended to acquaint the student with some significant examples of Christian literature from the later Middle Ages to the present. The focus will be upon the study of these significant texts in their theological and cultural setting. The students will be required to experience some contemporary expressions or aspects of this subject, eg. a visit to a monastic foundation.
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GRACE IN OUR TIME: God's gift and the human good (CS4035)
Kathleen Williams: RSM
Yarra Theological Union
This course aims to develop a critical appropriation of the notion of grace in relationship to human transformation and to the totality of the human good, and to promote an understanding of grace as divine self-gift to human persons and to human history.
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INTERPRETING THE NEW TESTAMENT (BN101.15)
Keith Dyer, Merill Kitchen: Whitley Theological College
This course provides an introductory unit in New Testament studies and introduces the student to the contents of the New Testament: the types of literature, their particular interpretive demands, their place in the development of the church, their theological outlook, the historical and social world of the New Testament era and gives the student familiarity with various interpretive approaches to the New Testament. This unit is ideal for the spiritual direction student with little background in Sacred Scripture.
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