Education for Ministry -- Outline of the Reading Materials

The First Year
The Old Testament

• Overview of the History of Israel
• Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures
• The Book of Genesis
• The Themes of Creation, Sin, Judgment and Redemption
• Beginning the Study of Theology, Ethics and Liturgics
• The Exodus-Sinai Event and the Establishment of the Tribal Confederacy in Canaan
• The Covenant of God with His People
• The Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, and 1 Samuel
• The Rise of the Monarchy
• The Books of 2 Samuel, 2 Kings, Deuteronomy, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah of Jerusalem, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel
• Exilic and Post-Exilic Judaism
• Second Isaiah
• Ezra-Nehemiah
• The Chronicler
• The Psalter
• The Wisdom Literature
• The Maccabean Revolt
• Judaism and the World of Jesus

The Second Year The New Testament Greek Culture The Roman Empire Judaism and the Second Temple Galilee Biblical "Criticism" and the Gospels The Gospel of Mark, Matthew and Luke The Gospel of John The Life of Jesus The Mighty Acts of Jesus The Cross of Jesus The Exaltation of Jesus The Acts of the Apostles Pauline Christianity and the Epistles The Letters of John The Revelation of John Hebrews 1 Peter and James 2 Peter and Jude Doing Theology with the New Testament

The Third Year
Church History

• The Early Church Fathers
• Gnosticism
• Montanism
• The Apologists
• Irenaeus
• Clement and Origen
• The Great Cappadocians
• Athanasius
• Tertullian to Augustine
• Nicea to Chalcedon
• Early Liturgies
• Spirituality: Monasticism, Mysticism, and Prayer
• The Medieval Church
• Aquinas and Bonaventure
• The Crusades
• The Renaissance
• Secularism, Religious Dissent
• The Reformation: Luther and Calvin
• The Catholic Reformation
• The Radical Reformation
• Anglicanism, Puritanism, Pietism
• The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
• The Industrial Revolution , John Wesley: The Methodist Church
• Nineteenth Century Anglicanism
• American Church History

Stepping Stones, written by Dr, Norman Knowles, presents four additional lessons on Church History and Theological Development in Canada. It is designed to be incorporated into the Fourth year readings. There is now a guide available for this material which is posted as a link under Tips and Tools on the Mentors page.

The Fourth Year Theolgical Choices The Emergence of Modern Religious Thought The Rise of Science Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Camus, Whitehead Modernism The Rise of Biblical Criticism Ritschl, Barth, Bultmann De-Mythologizing and Neo-Orthodoxy The Ecumenical Movement, Vatican II, God and Human Suffering New Theologies World Religions Moving into the Twenty First Century

Click on the link to see a copy of the EFM Prospectus