About

Located in the Texas Hill Country, TMI educates students in grades 6-12 and offers a complete college-preparatory program including honors and Advanced Placement courses, as well as a competitive athletic program. Fine Arts electives, a nationally-ranked JROTC program, and extra-curricular activities allow students additional opportunities for leadership, club participation, and community service.

Academics

Dedicated faculty share their own love of learning at TMI, promoting intellectual, emotional, physical, moral, and spiritual development. Students are encouraged to pursue their academic passions by exploring accelerated courses and specialized electives. College Prep, Honors, and college-level Advanced Placement courses challenge TMI scholars to discover the scope of their abilities.

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The money donated to the TMI Annual Fund is used within the fiscal year received and supports a portion of TMI's daily operational needs. The Annual Fund helps support extra-curricular programs and opportunities that turn an excellent education into an outstanding one. Your generous tax-deductible annual gift provides direct funding to educational initiatives that tuition alone does not cover.

Religious Studies

Social & Religious Studies Department

Overview
The Religious Studies branch of the Humanities Department introduces students to the study of comparative religion and sacred texts from historical, social-scientific, philosophical, and literary perspectives. Students are taught methods for approaching these fields of study in an academic context while remaining sensitive to the convictions and practices of living communities. Our aim is to develop religious and biblical literacy so that students are prepared to respectfully engage their neighbors, colleagues, and others who are part of our diverse and pluralistic society.

Religious Studies Philosophy
Our Episcopal identity remains at the center of our pedagogy. Our chapel program provides a place for students to connect with and explore their spirituality through the lens of Episcopal liturgy and theology. Our classes are designed to present, as objectively as possible, the beliefs and practices of various religious communities because of the emphasis on hospitality and truth-telling that arise from Episcopal philosophies and theologies of education. These settings are mutually supportive.

Religious Studies

Introduction to Spirituality - Q1

This course is a quarter rotation will be an introduction to the human spiritual quest, and how people across cultures have found meaning and purpose in their lives. This course will address: How different religious people and ideas have helped humans understand spiritual meaning and purpose in life. During this exploration, students will learn about different religions, holidays, and concepts. We will also learn about spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and other mindful activities. Students will report on the ways they see religion connecting to their life and explore the three B's of spirituality- Belief, Behavior, and Belonging.
Introduction to Spirituality - Q2

This course is a quarter rotation will be an introduction to the human spiritual quest, and how people across cultures have found meaning and purpose in their lives. This course will address: How different religious people and ideas have helped humans understand spiritual meaning and purpose in life. During this exploration, students will learn about different religions, holidays, and concepts. We will also learn about spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and other mindful activities. Students will report on the ways they see religion connecting to their life and explore the three B's of spirituality- Belief, Behavior, and Belonging.
Introduction to Spirituality - Q3

This course is a quarter rotation will be an introduction to the human spiritual quest, and how people across cultures have found meaning and purpose in their lives. This course will address: How different religious people and ideas have helped humans understand spiritual meaning and purpose in life. During this exploration, students will learn about different religions, holidays, and concepts. We will also learn about spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and other mindful activities. Students will report on the ways they see religion connecting to their life and explore the three B's of spirituality- Belief, Behavior, and Belonging.
Introduction to Spirituality - Q4

This course is a quarter rotation will be an introduction to the human spiritual quest, and how people across cultures have found meaning and purpose in their lives. This course will address: How different religious people and ideas have helped humans understand spiritual meaning and purpose in life. During this exploration, students will learn about different religions, holidays, and concepts. We will also learn about spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and other mindful activities. Students will report on the ways they see religion connecting to their life and explore the three B's of spirituality- Belief, Behavior, and Belonging.
Introduction to the Biblical Story - Fall

This course provides a broad overview of the basic stories, people, history, ideas, and values found in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. It begins with an overview of the Biblical Story before Christ, including creation, the Hebrew patriarchs, the Exodus, and the history of the Jewish Kingdom and people. It continues by looking at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and how his message was carried forward by the early Christian Church. While this course teaches what is common to all Christian traditions, it also touches on how different Christian traditions emphasize different aspects of our Common Tradition, as well as noting the particular gifts of the Episcopal Church.
Introduction to the Biblical Story - Spring

This course provides a broad overview of the basic stories, people, history, ideas, and values found in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. It begins with an overview of the Biblical Story before Christ, including creation, the Hebrew patriarchs, the Exodus, and the history of the Jewish Kingdom and people. It continues by looking at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and how his message was carried forward by the early Christian Church. While this course teaches what is common to all Christian traditions, it also touches on how different Christian traditions emphasize different aspects of our Common Tradition, as well as noting the particular gifts of the Episcopal Church.
Philosophy, Religion, and Sacred Texts

hilosophy, Religion, and Sacred Texts is an introduction to some of the major religions of the world through the lens of their sacred texts. This class will train students how to read religious literature critically yet respectfully, examining them from a philosophical perspective. In other words, we are going to read samples from collections ranging from the Hindu Vedas to the Muslim Quran in the same way that people might read Plato’s Republic or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, in spite of the fact that these Greek philosophers were theistic and embraced metaphysical assumptions that differ from most modern people.

We will bracket the metaphysical claims of the text, at least in the sense that these texts are given special status as “revelatory” (i.e. their message ultimately comes from a divine and not merely human source) to ask what philosophical assumptions can be found in these texts. Those assumptions will be engaged critically and constructively in an attempt to discern whether these sacred texts can inform and shape our philosophical thinking on matters related to politics, morals, ethics, suffering, etc., without appealing to their status as divinely inspired or religious texts. Our engagement will include the act of interfacing these ancient texts with the writings of more contemporary philosophers and thinkers
Religion in Global Context - Fall

The goal of this course is to deeply explore several of the Great Religious Traditions which have shaped human cultures and nourished the lives of countless persons across centuries of history. The main religious traditions that we will cover are Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Secular traditions, as well as exploring some of the smaller religious movements. We will be guided in our study of these texts by our textbook, by hands-on class activities, presentations, discussions, and reading and interpreting sacred texts. We will examine both similarities and differences among these various religious traditions, as well as their ongoing influence in the world today. Our focus will be on gaining an accurate understanding and respectful appreciation of the basic beliefs and practices of the world’s major religions, and cultural fluency in other ways of life. This course is one semester long, and open to Upper School students in grades 9-12.
Religion in Global Context - Spring

The goal of this course is to deeply explore several of the Great Religious Traditions which have shaped human cultures and nourished the lives of countless persons across centuries of history. The main religious traditions that we will cover are Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese Religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Secular traditions, as well as exploring some of the smaller religious movements. We will be guided in our study of these texts by our textbook, by hands-on class activities, presentations, discussions, and reading and interpreting sacred texts. We will examine both similarities and differences among these various religious traditions, as well as their ongoing influence in the world today. Our focus will be on gaining an accurate understanding and respectful appreciation of the basic beliefs and practices of the world’s major religions, and cultural fluency in other ways of life. This course is one semester long, and open to Upper School students in grades 9-12.
Religion in the United States - Spring

Course Description:
Religion is contextual. How a religion is practiced, and who participates, is highly dependent upon where adherent live. As a society develops, it shapes the religions that function within it. Likewise, those religions shape the culture, ethics, politics, and values of the host society. In this course we will focus upon religion, imported and domestic, as it functions in the United States. The history of religion in the United States begins with what we call Native American/Indigenous religion and European Protestantism, but continues to diversify with the immigration of Roman Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and others whose religion originated elsewhere. It is from these more established traditions that specifically American forms derive, whether that be Episcopalianism, Mormonism, or Pentecostalism. Our study will investigate a wide-array of movements while focusing upon their protection under the First Amendment, and the challenges to that protection caused by harder to define new religious movements, such as Scientology or the Branch Davidians.
The Christian Scriptures

The goal of this course is for students to gain basic mastery of the content, message, background, heritage, influence, and challenges of the New Testament, as well as other early Christian literature. Interpretive reading and memorization of key passages will be our foundational practice. Preparatory readings are assigned for each day and the instructor will model and guide interpretive oral reading, discussion, and writing in the classroom. Reading Guides will be provided for every reading assignment to support the comprehension and interpretive practice. Presentations will provide the needed literary, historical, and theological tools required for understanding the readings, and for building the intellectual habits and skills that form the student as a learner in the future. In-class discussions will wrestle with interpretive issues in further depth, and guide us in how Biblical ideas have shaped and been shaped by our culture. This course is one semester long, and open to Upper School students in grades 9-12. Prerequisite is Hebrew Scriptures.
The Hebrew Scriptures

This course provides students with the tools that will assist them in developing a foundational knowledge of the collection of writings known as the Tanakh (for Jews) or the Old Testament (for Christians). The experience inside and outside the classroom is designed to create an awareness of the modern relevance/influence of this corpus. Students will become acquainted with the historical context that shaped these writings as well as their literary design, ideological presuppositions, and theological claims. These texts have provided instruction to Jews and Christians for how to worship, think, and behave as people committed to their belief that they have entered into a unique relationship with the one Creator God.
The Hebrew Scriptures- Spring

This course provides students with the tools that will assist them in developing a foundational knowledge of the collection of writings known as the Tanakh (for Jews) or the Old Testament (for Christians). The experience inside and outside the classroom is designed to create an awareness of the modern relevance/influence of this corpus. Students will become acquainted with the historical context that shaped these writings as well as their literary design, ideological presuppositions, and theological claims. These texts have provided instruction to Jews and Christians for how to worship, think, and behave as people committed to their belief that they have entered into a unique relationship with the one Creator God.

Department Faculty