Marvin Lee Anderson

Courses and Workshops Facilitated by Marvin L. Anderson, Ph.D.

All of the following available courses and workshops are based on or inspired by my teaching career over the past twenty years. This includes Master of Divinity and related courses in theological education offered at a dozen theological colleges and seminaries in Canada and the United States.

Fyi, you can view Marvin’s youtube in promoting his course, “Growing Down: Re-storying Our Roots in the World,” for the summer program of Ruach Ha’Aretz affiliated with Yerusha and the Jewish Renewal movement (2019):

Prior to teaching full-time in the Chair of Town and Country Ministries at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri (2002-2005), I offered a regular M. Div. (Master of Divinity) course, Doing Ministry in Rural Communities, at Emmanuel College, Knox College and the Toronto School of Theology (1989-2000). I offered comparable courses at the Rural Ministry Program at Queen’s Theological College in Kingston, Ontario (1999-2002). In addition, my M. Div. course, Theology of the Land, has been offered at four different theological programs in Canada and the United States.

More recently, I offered a course for the STM (Master in Sacred Theology) program in Rural Ministry and Community Development for the CiRCLe M (Centre for Rural Community Leadership and Ministry), in partnership with St. Andrew’s College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary in the Saskatoon Theological Union (2009). This course, Revitalizing Rural Ministries: From Survival to Sustainability, is based on my online congregational resource, Alive and Kicking: Revitalizing Rural Ministries, which can be downloaded at:
https://ruralchurchnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/alive-and-kicking1.pdf

I have designed and facilitated workshops on various aspects of ministry and leadership development in tandem with my teaching career and consulting work in congregational renewal and community development. Since 2008, I have been teaching as a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto in the Department of History as well as for the Department and Centre for the Study of Religion. I am currently serving as a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at Victoria University, University of Toronto.

The courses and workshops listed on the following pages also reflect my current research, writing projects, and professional and academic publications to date. For a detailed summary of the courses, workshops, presentations, public lectures, and interdisciplinary areas of research my insatiable curiosity has taken me, please refer to my curriculum vitae and link for Publications.

Inquiries to teaching or facilitating any one or more of the following courses or workshops can be directed to Dr. Anderson at marvin@ruraljustified.com. Based on your request, any of these course or workshop offerings or public presentations can be adapted to your specific educational and programmatic needs. My fees and travel expenses are negotiated accordingly.

Thank you.

On the Practice of Congregational Ministry and Leadership Development

1) ALIVE AND KICKING: REVITALIZING RURAL MINISTRIES

2) THRIVE WHERE YOU ARE: THE ECOLOGY OF TOWN AND COUNTRY CONGREGATIONS

3) RURAL ROUTES: SUSTAINABILITY VS. GLOBALIZATION

4) LOSS IS MORE: LAMENT AS THE DOOR TO SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

5) RESOLVING CHURCH CONFLICT: HEALING GENERATIONAL AND CONGREGATIONAL RIFTS

6) REWEAVING OUR TAPESTRY: REVIEWING OUR LIVES AND LEGACIES

7) WHETTING OUR SPIRITUAL APPETITE: GROWING CONGREGATIONS BY FEEDING THEM

On the Historical Practice and Theology of Christian Spirituality

1) ALL ARE CALLED: RECLAIMING THE HISTORIC MINISTRY OF THE LAITY

2) THE BURNING FIRE OF HOLY DESIRE: THE MYSTICISM OF MEISTER ECKHART AND MARGUERITE PORETE

3) THE TRIUMPH OF VERNACULAR THEOLOGY AND THE “COMMON MAN”:
THE MYSTICISM OF ANDREAS KARLSTADT AND THOMAS MÜNTZER

4) CHRIS(T)-CROSSING CULTURAL BOUNDARIES: RELIGIOUS TOLERATION AMONG CHRISTIANS, JEWS, AND MUSLIMS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE

On the Spiritual Practice and Theology of Healing Creation

1) RE-MYTHOLOGIZING THE WORLD: AGRARIAN, ECOFEMINIST AND HISTORICAL NARRATIVES

2) THEOLOGY OF THE LAND: ABORIGINAL, BIBLICAL, AND CHRISTIAN NARRATIVES

3) REFRAMING RELIGIOUS AND ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS:
THE GREENING OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS