Courses in the Community at The Candler Foundry are in-depth courses designed for your church or community and led by faculty at Emory’s Candler School of Theology. Participants can sign up for courses individually or organizations can become a partner and bring a course to their community. The Candler Foundry will provide the instructor, content, marketing materials, and weekly coordinating of the course.

If you are interested in summer or fall 2022 courses in your community, please fill out the form below and our Coordinator of Courses in the Community, Damellys Sacriste, will follow-up with you.

Sample Courses

This Strange and Sacred Scripture

Average Duration: 4-6 Weeks

Instructor: Dr. Ryan Bonfiglio

The Old Testament can seem strange, even disturbing, for many Christians. How do we make sense of texts that portray God as wrathful? Why does the OT contain so much violence? How do we relate to all of the strange laws and rituals? Is there a way to resolve all the contradictions?

Drawing on biblical scholarship and pastoral insights, this course offers strategies for reading and responding to the Old Testament in ways that are both faithful and constructive. Emphasis will be placed on how this sacred text, despite its oddities, can inform Christian faith and practice today.

Prophetic Ministry & Imagination

Average Duration: 6 Weeks

Instructor: Eric McDonnell

Who and what were the prophets of the Old Testament? What did their words and lives mean in the time they lived, and what do their words and lives mean today?

In this course, we take a close look at four figures from the Bible— Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jesus — and how they embodied what Walter Brueggemann refers to as "the prophetic imagination." Along the way, participants will be exposed to a large sweep of history, from early Israel down through the time of Jesus and all the way up to our own moment. Throughout we will emphasize how the prophets, who both expressed grief and spoke words of hope, can help us understand how God has acted in history, and how God is acting now.

Women in the Hebrew Bible

Average Duration: 6 Weeks

Instructor: Dr. Gale Yee

This course explores how the bible is read by different people and then situates women in their historical and geographical settings to get a sense of the laws they labored under.