| Beginning September 2009 |
| | No distance courses will be offered this term. |
| Beginning January 2010 |
Christianity & Ecological Crisis
ICSD 1545/2545 S10
CSTC Area IV
(Advanced PhD candidate-TBD) | Christian culture is often critized for its perceived silence concerning (and even its contribution to) the global ecological crisis. Examining the work of several Christian thinkers who have sought to address this perceived gap in Christian practice and reflection, seminar participants will be asked to consider what role a strong environmental ethic should play in Christian faith. |
Leadership: Vision and Mission
ICSD 1332/2332 S10
CSTC 1560, Area II & IV
Dr. Douglas Blomberg | This course is designed to enable students to understand, develop and encourage faithful leadership in the setting of schools committed to Christ-centred education. School leaders are a vital link in the translation of parents' hopes, dreams and priorities into the life of classrooms. The vision of Christian schooling they support and sustain is not to be simply their own, but rather the vision of the supporting school community. What are the components of an educational vision and how does it inform the educational agenda? How does a vision grow and flourish through generations of parents, teachers and students? Christian schools have developed a variety of management structures that might support a vision for Christ-centred education. This course gives the opportunity for students to examine critically these structures in the light of the central educational focus of the school, the need to nurture Christian community and to sustain a dynamic vision for Christian schooling. |
Past Courses
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| September 2008 |
Curriculum: Organizing the World for Learning
ICSD 1322/2322 F08
CSTC Area III
Doug Blomberg | Curriculum is the selection and organization of experience for pedagogical purposes. The criteria that determine what is selected and how it is organized articulate fundamental values about the nature of the world and our calling in it. This course will encourage critical evaluation of the criteria that are commonly employed and of how the curriculum can be shaped to better reflect a Christian worldview. The curriculum is conceived of not as a static collection of materials, but as a dynamic plan that directs the learning process in the context of an organically developing teaching/learning relationship. There will thus be a concern throughout with the concrete impact of various curricular perspectives on how effectively teachers teach and how well children learn |
Religion, Life and Society: Reformational Philosophy
ICSD 1715/2715 F08
Tricia Van Dyk Groenewold | An exploration of central issues in philosophy, as addressed by Herman Dooyeweerd, Dirk Vollenhoven, and the “Amsterdam School” of neoCalvinian thought. The course tests the relevance of this tradition for recent developments in Western philosophy. Special attention is given to critiques of foundationalism, metaphysics, and modernity within reformational philosophy and in other schools of thought. |
| January 2009 |
Biblical Foundations
ICSD 1215/2215 S09
CSTC Area I
Nik Ansell | This course will explore the Bible as the ongoing story of and for God and creation, paying special attention to the way in which God's story is intertwined with that of humanity and the world. In asking whether and in what way the Bible is also our story, we will attempt to identify which hermeneutical methods might help us discern its significance for present day life, including the academic enterprise. |
Wisdom & Schooling
ICSD 1324/2324 S09
CSTC Area II
Doug Blomberg | This course is only available through distance learning.
This course explores the thesis that a biblical view of wisdom provides a legitimate alternative to the theory/practice paradigm, which has dominated the practice of schooling at virtually all levels. It considers the implications of this for how we address epistemological issues and for how we conceive of learning, teaching and the curriculum. An integral epistemology is proposed, in which knowing is construed as a process of immersion, withdrawal and return. This translates into a curricular rhythm of play, problem-posing and purposeful response. |
Faithful Thinking as ‘World’ Orientation: Augustine, Aquinas, Dooyeweerd, Olthuis
ICSD 1441/2441 S09
CSTC Area IV
Robert Sweetman | This course is designed to explore the challenges and choices that face Christian thinkers in their confrontation with non-Christian philosophical thought. It examines four thinkers, one from each of the eras of western Christian experience, in their encounter with dominant philosophical figures of their world. It looks at their struggle to be both sensitive to those figures and integrally Christian in their thinking as a mirror in
which we today can examine our stuggle for Christian integrity in our scholarly work as well. |
| Spring 2008 |
Christianity & Ecological Crisis
ICSD 1545/2545 S08
CSTC Area IV
Ron Kuipers | Christian culture is often criticized for its perceived silence concerning (and even its contribution to) the global ecological crisis. Examining the work of several Christian thinkers who have sought to address this perceived gap in Christian practice and reflection, seminar participants will be asked to consider what role a strong environmental ethic should play in Christian faith. |
Leadership: Vision & Mission
ICSD 1324/2324 S08
CSTC, Area II & IV
Professor: Dr. Lee Hollaar | This course is only available through distance learning.
This course is designed to enable students to understand and develop faithful leadership in the school setting. It requires critical reflection on educational and leadership values, in the light of the central educational focus of the school and the need to nurture Christian community while sustaining a dynamic vision for Christian schooling. |
| Fall 2007 |
Worldview Foundations
ICSD 1915 F07
CSTC 1020
Area IV
Kenn Hermann | This course is only available through distance learning.
In this course we will begin to locate the reformational tradition as part of the larger reformed tradition, in its continuities and distinctiveness. We will also examine some characteristic features of this tradition, particularly those that inform our view of God’s world and our attempts to live out all aspects of our calling in all aspects of God’s world. We will examine the role of philosophy within a reformational worldview and also look at some of its larger contours in a variety of Christian organizations. |
| Spring 2007 |
Biblical Foundations
ICSD 1215/2215 S07
CSTC, Area I
Nik Ansell | This course will explore the Bible as the ongoing story of and for God and creation, paying special attention to the way in which God's story is intertwined with that of humanity and the world. In asking whether and in what way the Bible is also our story, we will attempt to identify which hermeneutical methods might help us discern its significance for present day life, including the academic enterprise. |
Wisdom & Schooling
ICSD 1324/2324 S07
CSTC, Area II
Doug Blomberg
| This course is only available through distance learning.
This course explores the thesis that a biblical view of wisdom provides a legitimate alternative to the theory/practice paradigm, which has dominated the practice of schooling at virtually all levels. It considers the implications of this for how we address epistemological issues and for how we conceive of learning, teaching and the curriculum. An integral epistemology is proposed, in which knowing is construed as a process of immersion, withdrawal and return. This translates into a curricular rhythm of play, problem-posing and purposeful response. |
| Fall 2006 |
Ways of Learning
ICSD 1323/2323 F06
CSTC, Area III
Doug Blomberg
| This course is an investigation and evaluation of current understandings of the learning process in the classroom situation, with special attention to the diversity of ways of learning and the influence of worldviews in shaping various theoretical positions and educational practices. An extended action research project enables testing of theoretical concepts in concrete contexts. |
Religion, Life and Society: Reformational Philosophy
ICSD 1215/2215 F06
Lambert Zuidervaart
| An exploration of central issues in philosophy, as addressed by Herman Dooyeweerd, Dirk Vollenhoven, and the "Amsterdam School" of neoCalvinian thought. The course tests the relevance of this tradition for recent developments in Western philosophy. Special attention is given to critiques of foundationalism, metaphysics, and modernity within reformational philosophy and in other schools of thought. |
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In keeping with ICS's commitment to education that is truly globally
accessible, ICS is working to offer an increasing number of courses in
distance mode. Distance Education provides the opportunity to structure
graduate study in a flexible manner, even when a person is working full-time.
Study preferences are individual, and students can adapt a course to suit
their own favoured approaches. The courses employ a mix of print-based
materials and online support. Check our
