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Current Courses | STEP | Gateway | Preaching Institute | Distance Learning | Projected Courses | Register Online Now
"Islamic Monotheism and the Trinity" A lecture by Dr. Jon Hoover. Watch a video of this lecture
Spring 2009
Women and Men in the Bible and Church 

This course covers biblical and historical perspectives on the roles and relationships of men and women within Jewish and Christian communities of faith. The study culminates in considering the implications of these biblical and historical factors for the life, work and worship of the contemporary church.
Instructors: Mark and Kathy Wenger
Credits: 3 SH
Dates: Weekly on Tuesdays, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Jan. 20, 27; Feb. 3, 10, 17, 24; Mar. 3, 10, 24, 31; Apr. 14,
21, 28; May 5
Cost: For credit – $1032; For non-credit – $195
Location: Lancaster, Pa.
Systematic Theology 1
Systematic theology attempts to articulate in a coherent way
the church’s claims regarding the truth of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. In order to do that, a close examination of the
contexts, tasks, sources, norms and methods of theology will
take place. Students will be asked to attempt an answer to the
question, “How do we do theology in an Anabaptist setting?”
The class will also engage classic and contemporary teachings
about the Triune God and the wondrous creation of a
glorious Creator.
Instructors: Brinton Rutherford
Credits: 3 SH
Dates: Weekly on Thursday evenings, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.
Jan. 22, 29; Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26; Mar. 5, 12, 26; Apr. 2, 16, 23,
30; May 7
Cost: For credit – $1032; For non-credit – $195
Location: Lancaster, Pa.
The Good News, Culture and Anabaptism
What are appropriate and hopeful paths for engagement with
culture that speak and embody the Good News? The course
will consider formation of Anabaptist responses and possibilities
within an increasingly diverse and techno-savvy US American landscape. Conversations will explore an array of
semi-assimilated and countercultural response, the possibilities
of exile and what it might mean to be salt and light while
addressing critical questions that incarnate communal and
personal faith.
Instructors: Steve Kriss
Credits: 3 SH
Dates: Weekly on Mondays, 6-9 p.m.
Jan 26,
Feb 2, 9, 16, 23,
March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30,
April 6, (20 - snow day), 27,
May 4, 11
Cost: For credit – $1032; For non-credit – $195
Location: Biblical Seminary, Hatfield, Pa.
Church Planting: Laying Foundations
This course will examine the subject of church planting,
setting this practice in a biblical, theological and historical
framework, and exploring various dimensions of the task of
church planters in contemporary western culture. Attention
will be given to the reasons why new churches are planted and
to the criticisms made of this practice. Different models of
church planting will be presented and critically assessed. The
course will also examine the characteristics of effective church
planters and issues raised by church planting, including questions
raised by emerging churches.
Instructors: Stuart Murray
Credits: 1 SH
Dates: Thursday, March 26, 6 - 9 p.m.
Friday, March 27, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 28; 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Cost: For credit – $344; For non-credit – $195
Location: TBA
Register Online Now!
Gateway Course
Spring Gateway Course: Bible Survey and Anabaptist Hermeneutics (3 SH undergraduate)
- Instructors: Marion Bontrager and Mark Wenger
- Dates: March 13-14, May 15-16, June 12-13, 2009
Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. - Location: Frazer Mennonite Church, 57 Maple Linden Ln, Frazer, PA 19355 (610) 644-3397
- Cost: Undergraduate credit for three (3) semester hours- $1,032 , Non-credit cost- $195 (Textbooks not included)
For many years at Hesston College Marion Bontrager has brought the scriptures to life for students by teaching the Bible as one big story of God's salvation. This Gateway class is an adaptation of Bontrager's signature course, "Biblical Literature". It will address questions such as: How does the Bible fit together?
What is the relationship between the Old Testament and New Testament? What makes the Bible authoritative for Christian faith and practice? Mark Wenger will assist by focusing on methods of interpretation, particularly Anabaptist biblical interpretation.
This course will help students to:
- Articulate the essential components and tools of methodical study of the biblical literature.
- Identify the turning points and major themes of the Bible.
- Explain the relation of the Bible to the people of God in their historical context, then & now.
- Specify the location and nature of various genres in the Bible and principles for interpreting each.
- Speak knowledgably about the unity and diversity of the Bible, especially the relation between testaments.
- Identify various hermeneutical approaches to the Bible and their effect on interpretation
- Compare one’s own hermeneutical bias and approach in comparison with others.
Church members, pastors, youth, Sunday School teachers and any who think learning is fun are encouraged to register.
EMS Distance Learning
Tuition: Course tuition Distance Learning is $432 per credit hour.
Spring 2009 Courses
Anabaptism Today: Yoder and Hauerwas
John Howard Yoder articulated a compelling vision, attracting many around the globe to “the politics of Jesus.” Yoder demonstrated that the Anabaptist movement was fundamentally a new way of viewing Christian faith and life—including the centrality of Jesus, a re-imagining of church and world and a commitment to love both enemies and neighbors. This course focuses on the contemporary challenges of Anabaptism as mediated through Yoder and his most influential convert— Stanley Hauerwas.
- Professor: Mark T. Nation
- Cost: $1296
- Credit Hours: 3
- Jan 5- April 24
Mennonite Faith and Polity
This course examines two aspects of Mennonite reality. First, what has it said and what is it saying about what it believes concerning the Christian faith; and second, how it structures itself in the light of those beliefs to carry out its ministry in the world
- Professor: George R. Brunk III
- Cost: $864
- Credit Hours: 2
- Jan 5- April 24
The Church in Mission
The ministries of Jesus, Paul, and the early church in the context of the Roman Empire will provide the foundation for considering wholistic, effective and authentic mission of the church in our globalized and unstable world. During this course, mission themes from Anabaptist theology and ecclesiology, as well as insights from cultural studies and history, will be considered and discussed by the participants who are learning from the local church and their own experiences in mission from a variety of locations around the world. Where appropriate, students will be given research assignments related to their context and complimentary to their ministries. This informed, vigorous, cross-cultural conversation is designed to give participants insight, skills, and motivation for participating in God’s mission through the church in the world with confidence and humility.
- Professor: Linford Stutzman
- Cost: $1296
- Credit Hours: 3
- Jan 5- April 24
Summer 2009 Courses
Prayer in the Christian Tradition
This course gives attention to personal and corporate prayer in the believing community from Old Testament times to the present. Lectures, readings, experience of prayer and discussions take into consideration how history, culture, theology, worship tradition and life experience influence the believer's response to God.
- Professor: Wendy J Miller
- Cost: $1296
- Credit Hours: 3
- May 5- Aug 11
The Christian Movement in the Mediterranean
From its peasant beginnings in Palestine in about A.D. 25, the fledgling Christian Movement exploded throughout the major port cities of the Roman Empire. By the end of the first century, approximately 10% of the inhabitants of the Empire were Christian, threatening the very fabric of Roman culture and political institutions. This a fascinating story, filled with implications for Christians seeking to be effective and faithful in mission in the global empire at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Using the latest scholarship and field research, this course will seek to understand this first-century phenomenon that changed the course of history, and relate these insights to the experience and insights from Christians living and witnessing in globalization today. This is a course offered to some participants completely on-line (the Global group), and others who desire to, and are accepted to participate in the Mediterranean seminar, (the Mediterranean group) as a combination of on-line and on-location learning. (Plans include time in Pisidon Antioch, Perge, Antalya, Myra, Syrian Antioch, and Cyprus, traveling by land and sea.) The two groups will learn with and from each other throughout the course.
- Professor: Linford Stutzman
- Cost: $1296
- Credit Hours: 3
- May 5- Aug 11

