Emmanuel College — University of Toronto : 2007 Seminar
Participant Information
Institution Name: Emmanuel College — University of Toronto
Address:
75 Queen’s Park Crescent
Toronto, ON M5S 1K7
Phone: 416-585-4541
Key Contacts:
Phyllis D. Airhart - Associate Professor of the History of Christianity
Michael Bourgeois - Associate Professor of Theology
William Scott Kervin - Associate Professor of Public Worship, INATE Network Coordinator
Address:
75 Queen’s Park Crescent
Toronto, ON M5S 1K7
Phone: 416-585-4541
Key Contacts:
Phyllis D. Airhart - Associate Professor of the History of Christianity
Michael Bourgeois - Associate Professor of Theology
William Scott Kervin - Associate Professor of Public Worship, INATE Network Coordinator
Marilyn J. Legge - Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
Paul Scott Wilson - Director of Advanced Degree Studies and Professor of Homiletics
S. Peter Wyatt - Principal and Associate Professor of Theology
Description of Institution
As a college of The United Church of Canada, Emmanuel is committed to faith in the triune God. It seeks to renew this faith in its daily worship, to interpret it in its courses, to live it within the community of faculty, staff and students, and to witness it within the university, the church, and the world.
As its primary mission, Emmanuel College prepares women and men for ordered and other ministries within the church. As such, we hope to be a spiritual community that encourages growth and maturity in the Christian life. We seek to foster theological understanding and skills in Christian education, music, pastoral care, preaching and worship in ways that will serve the life and mission of The United Church of Canada as well as other denominations. We understand this mission to encompass issues of globalization as well as the local context. Field Education is essential to our task; students under experienced supervision further integrate Biblical, historical, pastoral and theological learning in the crucible of the practice of ministry. We recognize that the search for God’s truth in Christ cannot be pursued apart from practical engagement in Christ’s mission.
Fundamental to this sense of purpose is the study of the Bible, which (in the Reformation Sense of Sola Scriptura) stands alone as the primary witness of God’s creating, reconciling, redemptive activity in the world. We study the Old and New Testaments in faith, as Christian scripture, seeking by the discernment of the Holy Spirit, to hear a living Word for our time and place. As a university community of free inquiry, we also reaffirm the goal stated long ago by our forbears in Victoria University: “perfect honesty in the investigation of truth and perfect candour in its statement. . . .” Historical and literary-critical methods of inquiry into the Bible, and study of the history of interpretation are affirmed and rigorously pursued. Moreover, the Bible is foundational to all the theological disciplines.
We cherish the heritage we have received and our ongoing associations with others. We acknowledge with gratitude our roots in the faith and hope of Israel, and seek a continuing relationship with the Jewish community. We seek to honour the catholic tradition of the church, to honour what the Spirit has achieved in our forbears, especially Reformed and Methodist. We engage afresh in ongoing theological thought within and for our own varied Canadian context, and explore currents in contemporary theology as part of a global and ecumenical church. Thus, we participate fully in the Toronto School of Theology, welcoming the fruitful interchange that is possible through the sharing of conviction and experience, in worship, planning and study. We also acknowledge with gratitude the work of God in the spiritual traditions of the whole world and seek improved relations with other religious communities everywhere.
As a scholarly community committed to God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we pursue a Christian ethical understanding of warfare, ecological destruction, poverty and oppression, racism, sexism, and other forms of unjust discrimination. We strive to serve the liberating Reign of God, seeking in the Spirit, God’s justice, peace and wholeness for all humanity and all creation. Further, as the theological faculty of Victoria University within the University of Toronto, we maintain a conversation with the disciplines of the humanities and the natural and social sciences. Thus, we hope to be open to all people and to all truth.
It is part of our task to provide, in association with the University of Toronto and the other TST colleges, an excellent library, adequate for theological studies to the doctoral level. The library serves as a resource, not only for current students, but also for alumni/ae and the wider community. The scholarly publications and public presentations of our faculty members are ways in which we offer theological leadership to the whole church.
In summary, the mission of Emmanuel College is:
1. To offer preparation for ordered and other ministries in The United Church of Canada and other denominational traditions;
2. To provide a biblically founded, contextual and academically responsible theological education at both basic and advanced degree levels, and continuing education for alumni/ae and others;
3. To give theological leadership within The United Church of Canada, especially through research and publication; and
4. To participate with others in the wider university community in the human search for truth.
As a college of The United Church of Canada, Emmanuel is committed to faith in the triune God. It seeks to renew this faith in its daily worship, to interpret it in its courses, to live it within the community of faculty, staff and students, and to witness it within the university, the church, and the world.
As its primary mission, Emmanuel College prepares women and men for ordered and other ministries within the church. As such, we hope to be a spiritual community that encourages growth and maturity in the Christian life. We seek to foster theological understanding and skills in Christian education, music, pastoral care, preaching and worship in ways that will serve the life and mission of The United Church of Canada as well as other denominations. We understand this mission to encompass issues of globalization as well as the local context. Field Education is essential to our task; students under experienced supervision further integrate Biblical, historical, pastoral and theological learning in the crucible of the practice of ministry. We recognize that the search for God’s truth in Christ cannot be pursued apart from practical engagement in Christ’s mission.
Fundamental to this sense of purpose is the study of the Bible, which (in the Reformation Sense of Sola Scriptura) stands alone as the primary witness of God’s creating, reconciling, redemptive activity in the world. We study the Old and New Testaments in faith, as Christian scripture, seeking by the discernment of the Holy Spirit, to hear a living Word for our time and place. As a university community of free inquiry, we also reaffirm the goal stated long ago by our forbears in Victoria University: “perfect honesty in the investigation of truth and perfect candour in its statement. . . .” Historical and literary-critical methods of inquiry into the Bible, and study of the history of interpretation are affirmed and rigorously pursued. Moreover, the Bible is foundational to all the theological disciplines.
We cherish the heritage we have received and our ongoing associations with others. We acknowledge with gratitude our roots in the faith and hope of Israel, and seek a continuing relationship with the Jewish community. We seek to honour the catholic tradition of the church, to honour what the Spirit has achieved in our forbears, especially Reformed and Methodist. We engage afresh in ongoing theological thought within and for our own varied Canadian context, and explore currents in contemporary theology as part of a global and ecumenical church. Thus, we participate fully in the Toronto School of Theology, welcoming the fruitful interchange that is possible through the sharing of conviction and experience, in worship, planning and study. We also acknowledge with gratitude the work of God in the spiritual traditions of the whole world and seek improved relations with other religious communities everywhere.
As a scholarly community committed to God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we pursue a Christian ethical understanding of warfare, ecological destruction, poverty and oppression, racism, sexism, and other forms of unjust discrimination. We strive to serve the liberating Reign of God, seeking in the Spirit, God’s justice, peace and wholeness for all humanity and all creation. Further, as the theological faculty of Victoria University within the University of Toronto, we maintain a conversation with the disciplines of the humanities and the natural and social sciences. Thus, we hope to be open to all people and to all truth.
It is part of our task to provide, in association with the University of Toronto and the other TST colleges, an excellent library, adequate for theological studies to the doctoral level. The library serves as a resource, not only for current students, but also for alumni/ae and the wider community. The scholarly publications and public presentations of our faculty members are ways in which we offer theological leadership to the whole church.
In summary, the mission of Emmanuel College is:
1. To offer preparation for ordered and other ministries in The United Church of Canada and other denominational traditions;
2. To provide a biblically founded, contextual and academically responsible theological education at both basic and advanced degree levels, and continuing education for alumni/ae and others;
3. To give theological leadership within The United Church of Canada, especially through research and publication; and
4. To participate with others in the wider university community in the human search for truth.