SUMMER SCHOOL
MAY 18 – AUGUST 9, 2025
ACADEMICS / SSU SUMMER SCHOOL
What better way to spend a summer than to nurture your mind and soul?
The SSU Summer School is here to spark your prophetic imagination, upscale your education, and promote critical and creative consciousness in a world of conflict and violence. These curated courses are open to anyone regardless of whether or not you’re already a student at SSU. Take one or take them all, and gain credit and a Certificate of Completion, or just audit one or more courses for your own personal enrichment.
All courses are fully accredited university courses and are a chance to experience what it is like to study at SSU. And any new students can apply any summer courses to a certificate or master's program if you decide to continue your studies with us (some restrictions apply).
TUITION AND FEES:
COST FOR CREDIT:
$1,185 CAD (3 credit hours) (APPROX. $825 USD)
$600 CAD (1.5 credit hours) (APPROX. $420 USD)
COST FOR AUDIT (NEW STUDENTS):
$600 CAD (3 credit hours) (APPROX. $420 USD)
$300 CAD (1.5 credit hours) (APPROX. $210 USD)
COST FOR AUDIT (CURRENT SSU PROGRAM STUDENTS AND ALUMNI):
$200 CAD (3 credit hours) (APPROX. $140 USD)
$100 CAD (1.5 credit hours) (APPROX. $70 USD)
STUDENT FEES: $50 CAD per course to a maximum of $200.
How does it work?
Since all SSU Summer School courses are open to the public regardless of whether or not you're a current student at SSU, interested prospective students can simply register for the course(s) they want to take, and an SSU staff member will be in touch with you with further instructions.
The SSU Summer School offers five courses, and you are welcome to take one, all five, or anything in between. Courses are all online and are a combination of recorded lectures and live Zoom sessions. For course titles, professors, and dates, see "Courses at a Glance" to the right.
And to get started, register by clicking the button below.
Courses at a glance.
MIN 5790: MULTIFAITH CHAPLAINCY & SPIRITUAL CARE
3 credit hours
Professor: Dr. Peter Fitch / Dr. Bradley Jersak
THEO/CUL 5580: OUT OF THE EMBERS: FAITH AFTER THE GREAT DECONSTRUCTION
1.5 credit hours
Professor: Dr. Bradley Jersak
THEO/CUL 5560: THE VERY GOOD GOSPEL: GOD'S VISION OF SHALOM
3 credit hours
Professor: Lisa Sharon Harper, PhD (ABD)
PJST/THEO 5880: ZIONISM, THE CHURCH'S COLONIAL LEGACY, & THE PALESTINIAN CALL
3 credit hours
Professor: Dr. Mark Braverman
THEO/PJST 5367: MIMETIC THEORY & ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEOLOGY
3 credit hours
Professor: Dr. Andre Rabe
LIT/SF 5453: DANTE AND THE COMMEDIA: SOUL FORMATION & THE PEACEMAKER
3 credit hours
Professor: Dr. Ron Dart
SSU Summer Courses
MAY 18 – AUGUST 9, 2025
HOVER OVER THE COURSES BELOW FOR MORE INFO AND THE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS.
Multifaith Chaplaincy & Spiritual Care
MIN 5790
DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
3 credit hours
Through (1) online recorded lectures and live Zoom conferences, (2) reading and written reflection, along with (3) engagement with their teachers and cohort, students will gain understanding and skills for multifaith chaplaincy and the art of inclusive spiritual care across traditions. The goal is to prepare spiritual care givers who are sensitive to and welcoming of the Other.
DATES: MAY 18 – AUG. 9, 2025
Out of the Embers: Faith after the Great Deconstruction
THEO/CUL 5580
PROFESSOR: DR. BRADLEY JERSAK
1.5 credit hours
In this 6-week course, Bradley Jersak highlights key themes in his book, Out of the Embers, to explore the necessity, perils, and possibilities of "the Great Deconstruction" ― how it has the potential to either sabotage our faith or infuse it with life.
DATES: JUNE 29 – AUGUST 9, 2025
The Very Good Gospel: God’s Vision of Shalom
THEO/CUL 5560
3 credit hours
This course will explore what we can do to bring shalom to our nations, our communities, and our souls. Lisa Sharon Harper will teach from her groundbreaking book, The Very Good Gospel, offering decolonizing explorations of biblical texts, guiding students on a journey of profound understanding. In the context of powers seemingly hell-bent on crushing the image of God, how can we continue to sow “very goodness” into the world?
DATES: MAY 18 – AUGUST 9, 2025
Zionism, the Church's Colonial Legacy, and the Palestinian Call
PJST/THEO 5880
3 credit hours
With Palestine as the entry point, we will focus on the church's struggle to reclaim the core of the gospel given its historical entanglement with colonialism and Empire. We will train a critical theory lens on Christian Zionism in light of the philojudaic revisionism that theologians and church leaders have undertaken in the post-holocaust era. We will enter deeply into the kairos theology of the South African church struggle and the flowering of Palestinian kairos theology, and understand the weapon-ization of antisemitism in the context of Christian nationalism through the lenses of scripture, public theology & church history
DATES: MAY 18 – AUGUST 9, 2025
Mimetic Theory and Theological Anthropology
THEO/PJST 5367
3 credit hours
This course explores René Girard’s mimetic theory and its theological implications. Desire, violence, and conversion are key theological concepts given new meaning through this anthropological perspective. You’ll also gain new insights into the origins and development of ritual, religion, and culture and see how the human story finds a crescendo in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
DATES: MAY 18 – AUGUST 9, 2025
3 credit hours
Dante & the Commedia: Soul Formation and the Peacemaker
LIT/SF 5453
The Commedia by Dante is considered as one of the classical epic texts of soul formation (the journey from the Inferno, Purgatorio to Paradisio, the unfolding vision of formation). Dante was also a judicious peacemaker who understood, all too well, the nature of polarization and how to overcome such a way of seeing and being. This course will focus primarily on the Commedia but will draw from other published books by Dante that highlight how he threaded together the epic vision of the faith journey, soul formation and the growth of the dovish peacemaker.
DATES: MAY 18 – AUGUST 9, 2025
Summer School FAQs
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