Eastern Christian Focus

Research Methods Seminar
What is it like to view Eastern Christianity from a Protestant perspective? How can this outside perspective help orthodox leaders understand the special gifts of orthodoxy as well as the misunderstandings that sometimes arise between Orthodox and Protestants? The instructor, a Protestant, will draw from his many years of living among Orthodox believers both in the United States and in Russia. The course will include attention to the sources, methods, and biological tools important for academic research and writing in a theological context.

Christian Ethics and Morality
This course seeks to explore the roots of Eastern spirituality and to study contemporary moral issues from three perspectives: 1) spirituality/morality in Patristic Tradition; 2) practicing Patristic orality in modern society; and 3) facing contemporary moral issues in ministry.

Orthodox Canonical Tradition
This class is intended to be an introduction to the Canonical Tradition of the Orthodox Church. After a brief overview of sources, the course will move on to a discussion of what Canon Law is. The course will then consider various canonical contemporaneous questions regularly encountered both within and outside the church. This course will emphasize both content and application. Special focus on the Antiochian Orthodox Church position concerning the contemporaneous problems will be elaborated. With each unit, the students are expected to acquire a high degree of familiarity of the most important applicable canonical texts. It is not enough to know canonical texts, they need to be understood, interpreted, and properly applied in ministry.  Students will be expected to properly express (both in written and oral form) canonical solutions to pastoral problems.

Homiletics
This is an advanced course in the theory and practice of preaching in the context of worship, with student input central to the seminar.

Christology and Life after Death
This course explores Eastern Christian understandings of death, resurrection, and eternal life in relation to Christ’s victory over sin and death. The course will assist students in pastoral practice related to ministry to the dying, funerals, and remembrance of the dead.

Orthodoxy and Ethnicity/National Identity
As Fr. Alexander Schmemann has noted, Orthodoxy seeks to transform whatever culture in which it finds itself. This course will explore the different ethnic and national contexts in which Orthodoxy has historically enculturated itself, as well as the special challenges that Orthodoxy faces in pluralistic Western societies in which Orthodox believers are a religious minority.

Lectionary and Orthodoxy
This course examines the Orthodox cycle of biblical readings for the church year and how these readings shape the liturgy, preaching, and commemoration of Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints. Special attention will be devoted to the church’s 12 major holidays.

Orthodox Ways of Knowing
This course explores the two types of knowledge in Orthodox Christianity: knowledge of the mind and knowledge of the heart. The course will discuss the essence of Orthodox Christian knowledge through true encounter, and the expression of such experience in the diverse human epistemological and philosophical frames of mind. The course will also highlight the importance of establishing a priority for using a specific order of epistemological questions to accurately express the encounter. The course will then highlight Orthodox methodologies and their foundational dependence on a lifestyle of a “change of mind” and the requirement of this change for a true Orthodox conversion, not just in form but also in essence.

Biblical Seminar
This seminar provides a study of basic themes and ideas that appear in both the Old and New Testaments and of the ways in which these relate to issues in church and ministry. Discussion of the relationship of these themes to the areas students are considering for their doctoral projects is a major component of the course.

Eastern Christian Proposal Seminar
This course is to assist students in designing a doctoral project in a particular area of ministry. Theoretical issues underlying the situation and a method for addressing these issues are clarified as the student develops the proposal in consultation with peers and faculty.

Eastern Christian Final Project
The program requires satisfactory completion of a doctoral project and paper, which must demonstrate the candidate’s ability to identify a problem, issue, or concern in their own ministry, integrate appropriate theological, biblical, and professional resources, and develop a method for resolution. The doctoral project/paper must reflect depth of theological insight and its positive integration with the practice of ministry. (6 credits)

The Very Rev. Dr. Michel Elias Najim is the president of Antiochian House of Studies, professor of patristics and church history at AHOS, and director of Saint Maximus the Confessor, former dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Los Angeles, Calif. Fr. Michel was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, and joined Balamand Ecclesiastical School in 1962 under the tutelage of Patriarch Ignatius IV and graduated from St. John of Damascus Institute of Theology in 1974. He obtained his M.Th. (1976), and his doctoral degree in theology (1985) from the University of Thessalonica, where he studied under Fr. John Romanides and Prof. Nikos Matsoukas, while serving as dean of the School of Theology in Balamand. After moving to the U.S. with his family, he worked with the newly converted Evangelical Orthodox at St. Athanasius Academy from 1987 to 1996. Unassuming in his demeanor, Fr. Michel is a bearer of the authentic Antiochian heritage, a deeply dedicated churchman, and a scholar. He is personally acquainted with many spiritual and ecclesiastical figures. Throughout his ministry, Fr. Michel has taught thousands of clergy including hierarchs, lay theologians, and professors.

Dr. Emmanuel Gergis is co-founder and chief executive officer of Agora University and executive vice president of the Antiochian House of Studies. Prior to his academic career, he worked for two decades as vice president of technology and chief technology officer in government and private sectors where he successfully led multi-million-dollar projects. He holds a master of arts degree in applied Orthodox theology from the University of Balamand in Lebanon. He also holds a master of letters degree in divinity from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Emmanuel completed his doctorate in systematic and historical theology from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland where he focused on Coptic epistemology, the unitary reality of Christ, and the theology of T. F. Torrance. He is an author, translator, and lecturer on contemporary Patristic topics including Orthodox systematic theology, theological anthropology, Trinitarian theology and personhood, theological realism, and Coptic Christianity.

The Rev. Dr. John P. Burgess has taught at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary since 1998. Previously he was professor and chaplain at Doane College and associate for theology in the Office of Theology and Worship, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He was awarded his B.A. from Colorado College, his M.Div. from McCormick Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Christian theology from the University of Chicago. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Burgess has served several congregations part time. He is the author of numerous books. Burgess’ professional memberships include the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Christian Ethics, and the American Theological Society. He has served his denomination as a member of the Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on Examinations and the Re-forming Ministry Initiative (Office of Theology and Worship) and as a faculty mentor for the Company of New Pastors. Burgess was a Fulbright Scholar to Russia in 2011 and again in 2018-2019, a Luce Fellow in Theology for 2011-2012, and a research fellow at the Center of Theological Inquiry in 2014-2015. These awards have supported his current research on the Russian Orthodox Church in post-communist Russia. Burgess is married and has three grown daughters, who are also his theological teachers.

The Right Rev. Archimandrite Fadi Rabbat is professor, COO, and dean of the Antiochian House of Studies. In relation with the Archdiocese, he coordinates several committees and centres. He earned his bachelor of arts in philosophy from Beit Meri Official Secondary School, studied law at Holy Spirit University - USEK - Lebanon and in France, eventually earning his Ph.D. from Pierre Couvrat Doctoral School of Poitiers University. Archimandrite Fadi later studied canonical law and earned a Ph.D. from the Institute of Canonical Law of Strasbourg University in France. He is regarded as a prominent scholar, having authored numerous articles that have been published in Arabic, French, Spanish, and English, including two of his doctoral dissertations entitled “Le Juge et la preuve dans le contentieux administratif libanais et Français” (2014) and “L'Eglise orthodoxe d'Antioche, le mariage et le mariage mixte. Histoire, réalité et perspectives” (2016). He is currently completing his dissertation in the field of Orthodox spirituality. In 2009, Archimandrite Fadi was ordained to the diaconate. From 2009 to 2011 he worked as judge of the ecclesiastical court and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Tyro and Sidon – Lebanon – and was founder and dean of the faculty of Bible sciences at the University Rafael Ayau in Guatemala. In 2018 he moved to the U.S. and became the personal assistant to Metropolitan Joseph (Zahlaoui – Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America). And since 2019, he has been serving as pastor at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, El Paso, Texas.