On-site Training Program
At the Seminary in Toronto, Canada
Study at the Seminary
The Seminary of The Christian Community in North America offers a complete set of programs in preparation for the invitation to be consecrated into the priesthood.
Essentially, the whole training is a schooling in the arts of speaking and listening. Can the student tune the soul in such a way that it can hear the divine speaking? Can we hear this Word speaking in nature, in scripture, in the life lived in community, in our own heart?
And can the student learn to speak in deep authenticity and clarity - from the heart - what they hear there? Can we creatively reveal the Word that is at work in the world, in our lives and in prayer?
The path to developing these capacities move through the seminary’s three core programs. Their names express the development the seminary seeks to support:
“Knowing Christ”
“Walking with Christ”
“Working from Christ”
The first two programs, which are on-site, give students the opportunity to deepen their Christ-discipleship, a path that cultivates us in our truly human calling to make sacred all aspects of life through the power of wisdom and love. This is the path to the “priesthood of all believers.”
In our “Working from Christ” program, the focus is directed towards work in the world. It is a kind of “mission year” where all that has been cultivated can be put into practice.
Ultimately, a priest will be called to do three things: to proclaim the living, healing presence of Christ, to minister pastorally to the souls God sends them, and to celebrate at the altar the seven renewed sacraments. This training is a preparation for fulfilling this calling.
“Without a deeper knowledge of the human being there can be no social life, without knowledge of the human being there can be no renewal of Christianity.“
- Rudolf Steiner
Knowing Christ
This program cultivates a way of knowing that can lead to an independent experience of the truths of Christianity. It does this by through a grounding in prayer, a renewed Christology and the cultivation of spirit-knowing through the study of spiritual science (anthroposophy). Participants are welcome to participate in a three month long follow up course of independent study in in Canada or a student’s home country. This is made possible through online communications with the directors.
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Christian Spiritual Formation:
- Developing a prayer life
- Christ discipleship and life with the gospel
- Orientation to the path of esoteric schooling in anthroposophy
Bible Class:
- Basic biblical orientation
- Deeper study of the gospels of Matthew and Luke
Anthroposophy and Christianity:
- Epistemology
- Trichotomy of the Human Being
- Christianity as Mystical Fact
- Priest Course: June 1921
Speech and Eurythmy:
- Cultivating a deep sense of the living Word and the ability to reveal it.
Art:
- The art of seeing
- The world of color and line
Language:
N.T. Greek during the project trimester and Summer
Project: A core study of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke with a written paper and 30 minute oral presentation.
Walking With Christ
This program takes deeper steps on the Christian discipleship path. This includes a renewed vision of the Word at work in the world around us, developing an esoteric Christian cosmology, renewed sacramental theology and the beginnings of sermon writing. It also includes a deeper step into the spiritual disciplines of prayer, meditation and moral development. Participants are welcome to participate in a three-month-long follow up course of independent study in Canada or a student’s home country. This is made possible through online communications with the directors.
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Priestly Formation:
- Priest Course: Autumn 1921
- Working through the seven guiding images of the priestly self.
Bible:
- Gospel of St. John
- Gospel of Mark
- Apocalypse of St. John
Christian Spiritual Formation:
- Fundementals of Meditation
- Deeper practices in moral development
Anthroposophy:
- The "Michael Letters"
- Cosmology: "Esoteric Science" and/or "Inner Aspects of Evolution"
Sermon and Phenomenology
Speech and Eurythmy
Art:
- Altar Iconography
- Phenomenology/Art History
- Artistic Process/Social Process
Language:
German - Proj. Trimester and Summer
Project: An original project defined by the students connected to a need they see in the world.
Working From Christ
This is an internship program involving placement in a local congregation or other service-oriented initiative anywhere in the world. The nature of this internship, and where it takes place, is determined in conversation with the Seminary directors.
Study
Social Life
Prayer
Initiative and Service
Artistic Expression