Year 3
Reflective Practice 3: Ministry and Vision (10 credits)
Core Swedenborgian Courses
Linking Swedenborg with World Religions (10 credits)
This course has been designed to give an overview of the major world faiths and also of some others which are either less widespread or less well-known. The sessions are grouped around particular themes. The themes chosen cover different levels, moving from the historical through the psychological and philosophical to the more practical, including social and cultural elements.
There is less of an emphasis initially on religious or spiritual practice and more on the understanding behind different traditions. This is partly because of wanting to make a link with the thoughts of Swedenborg and partly because of endeavouring to focus on where there may be common ground across the board. Students will therefore have more opportunities to concentrate on the observance and rituals of different traditions as the course progresses.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 22 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 48 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
The Sacraments (10 credits)
This course deals with subject matter which lies at the heart of Christian life and belief – the two sacraments of baptism and holy supper. Alongside studies which will help us develop our own understanding of these subjects, we shall also draw from our personal experience to relate abstract theory and philosophy to the pilgrimage in which men and women are engaged.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 22 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 48 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Optional Biblical Courses
John's Gospel (10 credits)
Of the four Gospels, John is the ‘odd man out’. All along people have been intrigued by its distinguishing features. It is much more theological and philosophical in its presentation of the Christian Gospel. It is taken to be the last of the Gospels to be written and all the evidence is there that the author was not interested in doing what the other three Gospel writers had done well, but to clarify that Jesus Christ was God come into the world.
The course seeks to provide a balance between the anecdotal, the academic, research and meditative approaches. In each session, the student is encouraged to undertake items of research into different aspects of the spiritual significance of the Gospel, using both Swedenborgian and non-Swedenborgian sources to broaden their insights.
This course can be studied in either year two or year three.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 22 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 48 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Acts and Epistles (10 credits)
Through the course of this module we will be gaining insight into a part of the Bible which has great importance to the Christian world. The aims generally of this module are to help students see the value of the book of Acts and the various epistles within a Christian context.
There will be opportunities throughout this module to compare and contrast what you know of revelation given through the Writings of Swedenborg with information gained from the course books. It will be left to you to then evaluate how your new understanding of Acts and the various epistles will be of benefit to you, perhaps in an ecumenical environment. An important aim of the course is to help students deepen their awareness of the Old Testament from a Swedenborgian perspective. It is up to them to use Swedenborg’s books and Swedenborgian research tools to achieve this.
This course can be studied in either year two or year three.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 22 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 48 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Further Study: Apocalyptic and Book of Revelation (10 credits)
This new course, currently being written, will provide an optional opportunity to study in greater depth the Book of Revelation from a Swedenborgian perspective and it is offered to anyone who has completed the core course delivered in year two.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 22 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 48 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Optional Swedenborgian Courses
Divine in Intimate Relationships (20 credits)
Physical attraction may be the start of deeper feelings, but if a couple relies only on the sexual aspect of their relationship, the initial thrill will soon wear off and the partnership will founder.
Swedenborg’s notion of conjugial love is that a lasting intimacy is not just a physical, external union but is also an internal union where there is a merging of minds as well as bodies.
According to this view, a monogamous couple will continue to grow closer to each other and their love will deepen with spiritual growth, if they are facing together the problems of life whilst open to the presence of the Divine.
This course looks at the spiritual sexual relationship and its opposite arising from disorderly conduct. Topics explored include the spiritual origin of human sexuality, harmony and disharmony in relationships, same sex partnerships, promiscuity, and extramarital affairs.
Sessions: 16
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 44 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 96 hours
Independent study time: 60 hours
Spiritual growth in suffering (10 Credits)
This course focuses on knowledge and understanding of personal challenges and problems in adulthood. It includes such topics as problematic personal relationships, psychological dissociation and inner conflict, and existential issues. It asks to what extent the psycho-spiritual ideas found in Swedenborg’s books provide a deeper perspective than current psychological theory.
An intermediate award (10 credit course) is roughly 100 hours of study.
As guidance on the tutorial route, this is broken down as follows:
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 20 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 50 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
Unless you choose the tutorial route, this will be self directed.
Swedenborg and Ethics (20 credits)
How can Swedenborg contribute to a 21st century debate on ethics? His knowledge of the workings of heaven, based on inner experience, gave him spiritual insights into better ways of addressing moral dilemmas. Based on these insights, he was able to lay down a set of moral standards that were appropriate for all people in all ages.
This course begins by dealing with an understanding of morality in Swedenborgian terms, and then addresses various ethical “hot potatoes”, not to give black and white solutions but to get the student thinking about the issues from different perspectives. Issues like abortion and euthanasia are obvious topics. Others such as work, and wealth and money are less so.
Sessions: 16
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 44 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 96 hours
Independent study time: 60 hours
Survey of Christian Doctrines (10 credits)
This module provides a deeper grasp of the way Christianity developed, and is still developing. This development has shaped our history, in the course of which, there were many debates and battles over the way in which Christianity should be understood. Some ideas were accepted by the Church authorities as correct, or orthodox while others were rejected and sometimes ruthlessly suppressed. However, anyone at any time now can ask the same questions and re-open the debate. This was not always so easy in the past when people could be silenced. Today, many people are accepting theological and philosophical ideas which seem to them reasonable without realising that these ideas are Gnostic, a movement which was declared heretical and was apparently successfully wiped out in the 13th century.
Sessions: 8
Guided Study Hours with Tutor: 22 hours
Engagement with distance learning materials: 48 hours
Independent study time: 30 hours
