Current Courses

Spring Schedule 2010	January		February				March					April
Course Title Week Of:	18	25	1	8	15	22	1	8	15	22	29	5	12	19
Research and Writing in Pagan Studies
Sacred Nourishment
Group Dynamics I, Forming
Group Dynamics II, Storming
Genograms

All PCELL and Master's level classes

Foundations PCELL Master's Registration open for Master's students on December 14, all others December 17

2010 Spring Semester

Foundations

Tuition rates as of August, 2009:

Master’s classes $125 per credit hour

PCELL classes $ 65 per unit hour

Foundations classes $ 75 plus $25 registration fee per term for non-matriculated students

Costs are subject to change at any time, but students will be charged only for costs listed online at the time of registration for each term. Important note: Legacy students (those who are already admitted as of Spring 2009) will receive a special rate for Master's classes, in appreciation for their loyalty to Cherry Hill Seminary in its formative years.

Students may drop courses with no academic penalty if a request is made in writing (by email) by midnight of the Drop/Add date listed in the online calendar. Tuition for courses dropped by the Drop/Add date will be refunded at 85%, less the merchant's fee charged by any processing agent. Refunds may be applied to the next term's tuition, if requested. Courses dropped after the Drop/Add date will not be refunded.

Research and Writing in Pagan Studies

This course provides an introduction to academic research within the emerging interdisciplinary field of Pagan Studies. Approaching research as a way of finding resources to answer questions, students will learn tools for conducting that research and how to present that research in writing. Students will also gain an introduction to Pagan Studies and to questions confronting that field. Individually and in groups, students will work throughout the semester on a major research project ending a final major paper. Monday to Sunday, beginning March 15 - April 11, Instructor: Grant Potts, Ph.D.

Course number: FN491 1 Unit

Required Texts:
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. William, The Craft of Research Third Edition. University Of Chicago Press, 2008.

Jenny Blain, Douglas Ezzy, Graham Harvey, editors, Researching Paganisms. Alta Mira, 2004.

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Sacred Nourishment

What we eat ties us to our planet, our environment and our communities. The industrial food chain distances us from all of these things and plays havoc with our mental and physical well-being. Eating low on the industrial food chain connects us with spirit, creates community, and heals and nourishes both our bodies, and the Earth. This class will describes the industrial food chain, healthy models of food production, and how these interact with the foods consumed by our ancestors and traditional peoples. Forum discussion, chat Wed 7:30-8:30, , March 1- March 29 Selina Rifkin, M.S.

Course number: FT422 1 Unit

Required Texts:
Prentice, Jessica, Full Moon Feast, Chelsea Green; annotated edition (April 1, 2006) ISBN: 1933392002

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Group Dynamics 1: Forming

Finding, selecting and orienting members. This module looks at how people find groups and how groups select members. The class will cover such topics as group dynamics overview (stages and functions); finding people, screening for appropriateness for the Path and the group, orientation and dedication. There are no required texts and no scheduled chats: readings will be posted in the classroom. The class week runs from Monday to Sunday, February 15 - March 14, Instructor: Judy Harrow, M.S.

Course number: FP461 1 Unit

Group Dynamics 2: Storming

Managing conflict within a group. This module examines how groups establish their internal "pecking orders" and interpersonal power relationships. Cover such topics as conflict: blessing and bane, stakeholders, power, legitmation, and facilitation. There are no required texts and no scheduled chats: readings will be posted in the classroom. The class week runs from Monday to Sunday, March 22 - April 19, Instructor: Judy Harrow, M.S.

Course number: FP462 1 Unit

Genograms

Genograms are a professional, useful way to describe relationships. As pagans, we consider the individual, the group and our world, which can be very complex. The genogram allows us to assess how interactions occur in any context, what influences are present at any given time, and alert us to patterns in physical, mental, emotional and spiritual ways. When we are called on to provide care, even in immediately stress filled and urgent situation, this way of organizing the information can help us ask ethical and appropriate questions of ourselves and others, and provide guidelines for action. Office hours TBA, February 22 - March 21, Instructor: Cynthia Collins, M.S., M.Div.

Course number: FP431 1 Unit

Required Text:
McGoldrick, Monica et. al.Genograms: Assessment and Intervention, New York: Norton, 1999 ISBN: 0393702839.

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Pagan Continuing Education for Life-Long Learning

No PCELL offered for Spring 2010

Master's Programs

Ethics and Boundaries for Pagan Ministry

When we engage in professional Pagan ministry, we are not only practitioners of our craft, we are representatives of our religion. We are held radically responsible for our actions and their consequences by our deities, our communities, our world, and our selves. We live and work in a society where actions we take as Pagans are viewed through the lens of a different set of assumptions than our own. We are scrutinized very carefully by those who are gatekeepers, who have a primary responsibility to protect and serve their constituencies. This course will examine ethics and boundaries relating to self, to clan/tribe, to society and to our world from Pagan perspectives. We will examine the dynamic tension between the expectations, requirements, ethics and boundaries offered by non-Pagans with each of our individual codes of ethics and articulation of boundaries. This course is a core requirement. No live class chat, office hours: TBA, Instructors: Cynthia Collins, M. Div. M.S., and Patrick McCollum, BA

Ethics and Boundaries is a pre-requisite for attending a summer intensive.

Course number: C 5002 3 Credits

Required Texts:

Myers, Brendan, The Other Side of Virtue,Washington, USA: O Books, 2008. ISBN: 1846941156

Newman, Susan, The Book of No: 250 Ways to Say It--And Mean It and Stop People-pleasing Forever.New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2006. ISBN: 0071460780
Orr, Emma Restall, Living With Honor: A Pagan Ethics,Washington, USA: O Books, 2007. ISBN: 184694094X

Strongly recommended (especially for any student who wishes to pursue professional certification in any helping profession, e.g. counselor, chaplaincy):

Corey, G.; Corey, M. & Callanan, P., Issues and Ethics for the Helping Professions,7th Edition. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 2007 ISBN: 0534614434

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Introduction to Pagan The-logy

Theology—the study of Deity —calls us to make connections between reason and experience, between history and contemporary life, between our own traditions and practices and those of others. It is something we do—a practice by which we grow in deep understanding of our relationships with the divine and others, not a matter of mere theory. In this class, we will explore and refine our personal thea/ologies through encounters with significant voices in Paganism, the Western occult tradition, and earth-centered post-Christianity, as well as develop expertise with theological terminology. Students will leave prepared, as Pagan ministers, to engage in informed and intelligent theological discussions with clergy from other religious traditions. Class chat: Mondays, 9pm EST, Instructor: Christine Hoff-Kraemer, Ph.D.

Course number: T5000/N5431 Cross listed courses will have specific aspects of student work tailored to the Department where credit will be given.

Required Texts:

A book familiar to the student that shaped her/his theological thought (to be chosen after semester begins)

Choose ONE of the following to buy and read in its entirety; the others will be excerpted on the course website

Christ, Carol P., She Who Changes: Re-imagining the Divine in the World, Palgrave, 2004. ISBN: 1403966699 .

York, Micheal, Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion,NYU Press, 2005. ISBN: 0814797083

Wise, Constance, Hidden Circles in the Web: Feminist Wicca, Occult Knowledge, and Process Thought, W.W. Norton & Co. Inc. 1988.

Paper Jordan, Deities Are Many: A Polytheistic Theology, State U of NY Press, 2005. ISBN: 0791463885 .

Greer, John Michael, A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism, ADF Publishing, 2005. ISBN: 0976568101

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Introduction to Ancient Philosophy

Philosophy, as an academic discipline, may be defined as systematic intellectual curiosity about everything – and at the same time systematic intellectual criticism of everything. In the Western tradition, it began in the pagan world of ancient Greece. At first, philosophy was just one more competing world-view among others. But it quickly distinguished itself as a distinct and powerful thing: a way of exploring and understanding the world, a way of life, and a way to both develop and also to criticise ideas. We’ll start by looking briefly at what religion was like at the time, and why philosophy suddenly became so prominent and influential, as both an alternative to religion, and also as another form of religion (albeit an unusual one since philosophers didn’t have to worship anyone and were highly critical of mythological explanations of the world). From there we’ll proceed to some of the most important philosophical texts of the period. We’ll look at some of the pre-Socratic philosophers, then we’ll take a detailed look at Plato and the Platonic tradition, Aristotle and the ‘naturalistic’ tradition, and also Stoicism. If there’s time, we’ll also look at the how these schools of thought influenced Western civilization’s first practical attempt at pagan reconstructionism: the Italian Renaissance! Chat: Tuesday 8-9 pm, Instructor: Brendan Myers, Ph.D.

Course number: T5141K 3 Credits

Required Texts:

Plato. (Hugh Tredennick, trans.) The Last Days of Socrates,New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN: 0140449280

Plato, (GMA Grube, trans.) Plato: RepublicHackett Publishing Company, 1992. ISBN: 0872201368

Aristotle, ( J. A. K. Thomson, trans.) The Nicomachean Ethics, Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 0140449493

Cicero (Michael Grant, trans.) On the Good life, Penguin Classics, 1971. ISBN: 0140442448

Aurelius, Marcus, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Antonius, Forgotten Books, 2007. ISBN: 1605063568.

Pico Della Miranola, Giovanni, Oration on the Dignity of Man, Gateway Editions, 1956. ISBN: 0895267136

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Understanding the Ritual Experience

Pagans attend, observe, think about, read about, and write about a lot of rituals. Thus, an examination of ritual and the ritual experience provides a more in-depth understanding of Pagan religion and spirituality. To our benefit, a robust field of discourse, open to the particular insights of ritual practitioners, exists in the academic fields of ritual studies and liturgical studies. This course will introduce students to that field. We will look at some of the key ideas about ritual, exploring writing by scholars in the social sciences, humanities, and theology. Although we will always be asking how we can relate our material to the Pagan context, much of our reading will be looking at ritual as a human experience, and we will be comparing our own understandings of ritual with those out of the Catholic tradition, African traditions, and the Confucian tradition. Students will leave the class with a substantial encounter with contemporary thought about ritual, having been challenged to use that thought in examining their own tradition to compare their own understandings of ritual experience with those of other religious traditions. Wednesdays 9:00-10:00 pm EST Instructor: Grant Potts Ph.D.

Course number: T5301/M5201 Cross listed courses will have specific aspects of student work tailored to the Department where credit will be given.

Required Texts:

Mitchell, Nathan D., Meeting Mystery: Liturgy, Worship, Sacraments, Orbis Books, 2007. ISBN 978-1570756740

Fingarette, Herbert, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred, Waveland Press, 1998. ISBN 978-1577660101

Grimes, Ronald, Deeply into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage, University of California Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0520236752

Seligman, Adam B., Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity, Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0195336016

Some, Malidoma Patrice, Ritual: Power, Healing and Community, Penguine, 1997. ISBN: 978-0140195583

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Introduction to Heathen Ethics

Most Pagans are familiar with the ethics that are associated with the majority of neo-pagan traditions. However, those who follow the Northern European paths of heathenism and Asatru have ethics that differ, sometimes quite drastically, with other traditional neo-pagan paths. This course will introduce students to the ethical decision making process typical of people on a Northern Path. We'll discuss the virtues that they follow, their ethics, and the sociological questions that this particular path raises. Questions regarding gender identity, race, tribalism, and community will all be discussed within the context of a northern European belief structure. We'll compare the ethics of those on this path with the ethics of other traditions to expand our understanding of ourselves and our relationship to our community. Thursdays 8:00-9:00 pm EST Instructor: Scott Mohnkern, J.D.

Course number: T5661J 3 Credits

Required Texts:

Winterbourne, Anthony, When the Norns Have Spoken: Time and Fate in Germanic Paganism, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2004. (Available online, and print version on Borders) ISBN: 0838640486

Mohnkern, Scott, Ancient Values for a Modern Age Available January 2010

Puryear, Mark, The Nature of Asatru: An Overview of the Ideals and Philosophy of the Indigenous Religion of Northern Europe, iUniverse, 2006.(Available on Amazon)

Waggoner, Ben, "A Heathen's Guide to Global Warming," Idunna, Issue 72, available in electronic format on http://www.lulu.com

Paxson, Diana, "Working Within: Heathen Spirituality in a Prison Setting," The Troth, 2007. (Available in electronic format on http://www.lulu.com)

Snyder, Steffanie, Voices of Modern American Asatru Women, Steffanie Snyder, 2009. (Available in electronic format on http://www.lulu.com)

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Dreams and Spiritual Mentoring

Dreams have played an important role in Pagan traditions historically, as a reliable means of direct communication with the Gods, ancestors, and nature spirits, for healing, prophecy, and intercession. Our use of dreams today is heavily influenced by Jung and other modern thinkers, as well as traditional and shamanic ideas about dreams. This course highlights some of the ways human cultures have viewed and interpreted their dreams, and used them in a ritual or sacred context. The class treats dreams as a modern source of divination and spiritual direction. Using current Pagan sources, their own dream material, and an interactive class dream group, students will develop a framework for using dreams in spiritual mentoring, and identify approaches to dreams that make the most sense for contemporary Pagans. Students will be expected to participate in regular discussion forums, as well as submit periodic reflective writing. Tuesdays 7:00 - 8:00 pm EST Chat sessions will be every other week, with downloadable .mp3 lectures on the weeks that there is no chat. Instructor: Anne HIll, D. Min.

Course number: N5561 3 Credits

Required Texts:

Bulkeley, Kelly, Dreaming in the World’s Religions: A Comparative History,NYU Press, 2008, ISBN-10: 0814799574

Krippner, Stanley, et al., Extraordinary Dreams and How To Work With Them, State University of New York, 2002, ISBN-10: 0791452581

Van de Castle, Robert, Our Dreaming Mind Ballentine Books, 1995, ISBN-10: 0345396669

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Introduction to Kabbalah

Every religious tradition has a mystical path that is taken by a small number of believers seeking greater knowledge and sense of the Divine than is offered by the mainstream of that tradition. Kabbalah (kah-ba-LAH or kab-BA-lah) is the mystical path of Judaism. Its roots are in Torah and Talmud, and its primary texts were written in the Middle Ages. This course will explore Kabbalah’s basic ideas, its place in Jewish belief and practice, and its uses and misuses in today’s world.
PREREQUISITE: CHS course ‘Foundations of Jewish Thought’ or consent of instructor. Wednesdays 7:00 - 8:00 pm EST Instructor: Rabbi Hillel Katzir, J.D.

Course number: N5751 3 Credits

Required Texts:

Frankiel, Tamar, The Gift of Kabbalah, Discovering the Secrets of Heaven, Renewing Your Life on Earth, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2003. ISBN: 1580231411

Kushner, Rabbi Lawerence, Kabbalah: A Love Story, Broadway Books, 2007. ISBN: 0767924134

Kushner, Rabbi Lawerence, The Way Into Jewish Mystical Tradition Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004. ISBN: 1580232000

Matt, Daniel C., God & the Big Bang, Discovering Harmony Between Science & Spirituality, Jewish Lights Publishing, 1998. ISBN: 1879045893

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Survey of Psychological Assessment

This course will survey psychological assessments , such as tests, measurement, and research as they apply to a counseling setting in general and a pastoral counseling setting in particular. Students will learn the possibilities and limitations of various testing instruments, and will gain an understanding of academic research findings derived from those instruments. They will then explore the application of these tools for their Pagan constituencies.
Wednesdays 7:00 - 8:00 pm EST Instructor: David Oringderff, Ph.D.

Course number: P5832 3 Credits

Required Texts:

Hood, A. & Johnson, R., Assessment in Counseling, Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association, 2006, ISBN: 155620261X

Pruyser, P, The Minister as Diagnostician, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976, ISBN: 0664241239

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Social, Religious/Spiritual and Cultural Diversity in Counseling and Advocacy

This is a course to raise the awareness of students about diversity issues that they will likely encounter in the roles as counselor or advocate. It is a theoretical and skills development course designed to strengthen multicultural awareness regarding race, ethnicity, gender, social class, societal subgroups, and physical/mental abilities. The course will examine the impact of various cultural factors on personality, value systems, access to services, spirituality, in order to understand societal changes , trends, norms, mores and differing lifestyles and the influence of culture and social change on family relationships, gender equity, individual adjustment and the ability to advocate for self in secular and interfaith venues. The course will examine the students’ own attitudes, belief systems, behaviors, social and cultural assumptions and biases with the goal of developing cultural competence. Particular focus will be made on the impact for Pagan Clergy, Counselors and their communities, particularly given the nature of Pagans as a diverse population. Mondays 8:00 - 9:00 pm EST Instructor: Diane Edgecomb, J.D., and Counseling Faculty

Course number: A6241/P6241 Cross listed courses will have specific aspects of student work tailored to the Department where credit will be given.

Required Texts:

Lee, Courtland C., Multicultural Issues in Counseling: New Approaches to Diversity, 3rd edition. American Counseling Association Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 1556201893

Sanders, Pete, First Steps in Counseling, PCCS Books, 2002-08, ISBN: 1898059519

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Resource Development - Online Pagan Youth Religious Education

This course is designed to respond to a need identified by pagan youth for a religious education course. During this course students will engage in the process of identifying the need, engaging in research and development , marketing , and development of a distance education resource for high school students wishing to gain knowledge about paganism and within a comparative interreligious context as well as to potentially acquire high school credit for their participation in religious education.
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This course will serve as a prerequisite for the field placement course which will implement the program and curriculum which the students develop in the Fall 2010 programming. Wednesdays 9:00 - 10:00 pm EST Instructor: Diane M Edgecomb, J.D. , Thomas F. Harrington, Ed. M., M.A., M.S. Ed. and Anne Hill, D.Min., (consulting)

Course number: A5441/M5441 Cross listed courses will have specific aspects of student work tailored to the Department where credit will be given.

Required Texts:

Bender, Tisha, Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning, 2nd edition. San Francisco: Wiley and Sons, 2007. ISBN: 0787988251

Palloff, Rena and Pratt, Keith, Building Online Learning Communities, 3rd edition. American Counseling Association Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 1556201893

Palloff, Rena and Pratt, Keith, Collaborating Online, San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2005. ISBN: 0787976148

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Contact: P.O. Box 5405, Columbia, SC 29250-5405, 888.503.4131, or by email. Copyright Cherry Hill Seminary 2008