St. Michael's College, U of TView all USMC Undergraduate, Graduate and Continuing Education programs.
In expressing our concern for the ecological crisis of the planet, the Institute seeks integrative methods for contributing to the healing of the Earth in all its life systems.
The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology (EAITE) is a collaborative teaching and research institute that offers a Certificate of Specialization in Theology and Ecology in each of the graduate programs at the Faculty of Theology of the University of St. Michael's College, part of the Toronto School of Theology at the University of Toronto. Interdisciplinary by definition, the Institute facilitates serious contact between the theological and ecological disciplines and the scientific, cosmological, and cultural paradigm shifts that are sweeping our times.
Although courses in theology and ecology had been offered at the University of St. Michael's College for several years prior to 1991, it was in that year that the faculty decided to respond to a growing need expressed by students by creating the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology. Under the direction of Professor Stephen Dunn, a member of the faculty, the Institute developed a certificate programme that permitted students to acquire a specialization in theology and ecology while they concurrently completed a graduate degree in theology at either the master or doctoral level. This opportunity was open to theology students at St. Michael's College or any of the other colleges in the Toronto School of Theology. Courses in eco-theology (including eco-feminism, eco-justice, eco-economics and eco-ethics) were developed and delivered at St. Michael's. The cross-disciplinary structure of the specialization also permitted students to complete and integrate relevant, non-theological graduate courses offered through the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto into their theological programme. This approach to theological education respected both the learning goals of the student and the academic rigor of a graduate programme.
Since the beginning of the Institute in 1991, many TST students have taken one or two courses offered by the Institute during the course of their studies because of a general interest in ecotheology. Other students have met the requirements of the Institute in order to complete a specialization in theology and ecology while concurrently fulfilling the requirements of their theological degree. Many master and doctoral level students have also made an eco-theological topic the focus of both their studies and thesis. The opportunity to complete a doctorate with an eco-theological focus has been an attractive feature for study at St. Michael’s College.
In addition to the certificate programme that permits students to explore the relationships between theology and ecology in a deeper manner, the Institute also hosts several public lectures each year, as well as the Annual Summer Lecture, which bring experts in a variety of fields into dialogue with theologians so that issues pertaining to the ecological challenges before us might be creatively explored. Past speakers have included Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Theodore Roszak, Dieter Hessel, Teri McLuhan, and Chung Hyun Kyung, to name but a few.
Professor
Stephen Dunn, C.P., a Passionist priest and professor
at St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology, was the
founder and first director of the Elliott Allen Institute
for Theology & Ecology. In the late 1970s, the Passionist’s
Holy Cross Centre for Ecology and Spirituality in Port
Burwell, Ontario, began exploring an emerging interest
in the relationship between theology and its response
to the ecological crisis. Significantly influenced by
the work of geologian Thomas Berry, Stephen Dunn and
the other members of the Centre’s staff used the
workshops, retreats and annual colloquium of the Centre
to delve into this new field. This collaborative process
initiated the momentum that prompted the Faculty of
Theology to welcome the creation of the EAITE in 1991
as part of the University of St. Michael’s College.
Dr. Dunn has now retired from active duty at the university, but remains active with the Passionist Centre for Ecology and Spirituality. Both he and the Passionist community continue to provide support and valuable advice to the EAITE.
