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Summer Term Programme 2010
 

 

Certificate Programme: credit bearing courses from the University of Cambridge

St Albans Centre for Christian Studies is a local centre for the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education. The Certificate Programme in Theological Studies comprises three core modules and a variety of optional modules. The certificate is awarded when students have successfully completed the core modules and two additional modules. Core modules 1 and 2 are normally taken together over one academic year (The St Albans Certificate in Theology), but it is possible to take module 2 before taking module 1 and to take either module as a 'stand alone' course. No prior experience or study is required. The programme is a level 1 university course (i.e. equivalent to the first year at undergraduate level). Students on certificate programme course are required to complete a written assignment for each module. For full details of the Certificate programme this term please follow this link: St Albans Certificate in Theology

 

Saturday Study Days

Study days aim to open up areas of interest and provide a basic introduction to a topic which might be studied more deeply on other courses or by private reading. Designed for busy people the days are intended to be comprehensive and clear. Each day includes a break for morning coffee (provided) and for lunch (please make your own provision).

The Bible... in a day
Saturday 24 April 2010

This study day is aimed at people looking for a way into a deeper knowledge of the Christian Bible. The day will offer a basic overview and framework into which to fit existing knowledge, and a foundation on which further reading or study can be based. Sessions will cover both the Old Testament (with Dr Kevin Walton), the texts which Christians share with Judaism, and the New Testament (with Dr Dennis Stamps). Both tutors are specialists in their field and bring to the day a wealth of personal knowledge and experience. If you have been looking for a way to understand and approach the less familiar parts of the Bible, this  day is for you!

Tutor: Revd Dr Dennis Stamps and Revd Dr Kevin Walton
Venue: The Chapter House Crypt, St Albans Cathedral
Date: Saturday 24 April 2010
Time: 10.30 am to 3.30 pm
Cost: £18 (including morning coffee & biscuits)

There will be a lunch break, please bring a packed lunch or take lunch in the Cafe at the Abbey.

 

Creative Writing Quiet Day
Saturday 8 May 2010

Creative writing can be a vehicle for prayer and a means of developing a relationship with God. It can take many forms, from writing a diary or journal to poetry. It might be a way forward for you in your spiritual life: one you may not have considered before, or one you may have tried and given up.

It may be that you have never written much more than a shopping list or a note to the milkman, but writing could still be an opening to God that will surprise you! We can easily let our past educational experience lead us to believe that we can’t write, but this could be to lose a God-given gift. On the other hand, you may write frequently, keep a diary, write long letters to friends or even fiction or poetry, but have never considered writing as a way of prayer. Whatever your experience, this day event could inspire you. It requires no previous experience, although those with experience are welcome too.

The workshop aims to provide a means of encouragement and motivation. It gives an opportunity to make a start, restart or develop this aspect of your spiritual life.

The workshop will be led by Revd Paul Booth, an Anglican priest, spiritual director and group facilitator, with considerable experience in this area.

Tutor: Revd Paul Booth, the Annunciation Trust
Venue: The Chapter House Crypt, St Albans Cathedral
Date: Saturday 8 May 2010
Time: 10.00 am to 3.30 pm
Cost: £18 (including morning coffee & biscuits)

There will be a lunch break, please bring a packed lunch or take lunch in the Cafe at the Abbey.

 

El Siglo de Oro: Christian art in the golden age of Spain
Saturday 22 May 2010

In the late sixteenth century, and on into the seventeenth, the great flowering of Spanish culture known as  el siglo de oro, the golden century, produced a series of major artists, many of whom produced passionately devout and spiritually intense works on Christian themes. This study day will introduce the work of El Greco, and the painters working under the influence of Velázquez: in particular, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Juan Valdés Leal. These artists produced some of the most striking works of baroque art, and in their religious compositions blended profound mysticism with a realism which is at times disturbing.

Tutor: Iain Lane, Administrator StACCS
Venue: The Chapter House Crypt, St Albans Cathedral
Date: Saturday 22 May 2010
Time: 10.30 am to 3.30 pm
Cost: £18 (including morning coffee & biscuits)

There will be a lunch break, please bring a packed lunch or take lunch in the Cafe at the Abbey.

 

Short courses

Many people find evening classes difficult to attend: the hectic pace of modern life makes it difficult to get to ten consecutive Tuesday evenings, and after a long day at work energy levels can be low. However, a short course of two or three evening sessions is often more accessible, so each term we offer a small number of short courses on a variety of themes.

T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets
Tuesdays 20 & 27 April 2010

This poem, often quoted in devotional writings and sermons, is one of the deepest and richest works of the twentieth century. Resonant with echoes of many earlier texts and events in Eliot’s life, Four Quartets, whose main subject is religious experience, repays quiet contemplation. These two lectures are step by step guides to the poem, opening the way for further exploration. Participants will benefit from bringing a copy of the poem with them to the two evenings.

Tutor: Dr Dave Dickinson, Director StACCS
Venue: The Chapter House, St Albans Cathedral
Date: Tuesdays 20 & 27 April 2010
Time: 8.00 pm
Cost: £16

 

St Luke, storyteller and theologian
Tuesdays 11, 18 & 25 May 2010

Many churches this year are focusing in their Sunday services on readings from the Gospel according to Luke. Following up on the lecture in January introducing this gospel given by Dr Jeffrey John, we offer this term a short course exploring the gospel in more depth. The course explores the style and artistry of the narrative and the underlying theology, enriching our understanding of familiar readings, and helping the text come to life.

Tutor: Dr Dennis Stamps
Venue: The Chapter House, St Albans Cathedral
Date: Tuesdays 20 & 27 April 2010
Time: 8.00 pm
Cost: £24

 

A history of religious nonconformity in Hertfordshire
Tuesdays 1, 8, 15 & 22 June 2010

Jonathan Rodell is an enthusiastic teacher with a great depth of knowledge in his field at both local and national level. In this course he will share his enthusiasm for the history of nonconformity, looking at Lollardy, the first Protestants and Separatists; the Civil Wars and their aftermath, early Independents, Baptists and Quakers, the Great Ejectment and English Presbyterianism; the Evangelical Revival and the growth of Methodism, Unitarianism and the revival of older Dissent; and finally the more recent history of the Free Churches, their political impact and causes of numerical decline. In each session the national developments will be explored through their expression in Hertfordshire, linking in to the local story behind many of today’s churches and chapels.

Tutor: Dr Jonathan Rodell
Venue: The Chapter House, St Albans Cathedral
Date: Tuesdays 1, 8, 15 & 22 June 2010
Time: 8.00 pm
Cost: £32

 

Summer Term 2010 Programme and booking form
 
 
 
 
 
 


Summer Term 2010 Programme and Booking Form
 
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