DESCRIPTION:

The course is an introduction to some of those topics of Christian theology which are related particularly to the work of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. It will treat the person and work of God the Holy Spirit, the calling of Israel and the Church, the sacraments, and eschatology, including the return of Christ in glory, the end of the present order, death, resurrection, and judgement.

The course will present an engagement with aspects of Christian theology which bear closely on the worship and life of the church.

The class will meet daily for four-hour sessions for two weeks. The material will be introduced in lectures and explored through discussion.

There is no set textbook. Bibliographies will be found at the end of each of the recommended chapters from the Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine. The following books are recommended to be read in preparation for the first class meeting:

The New Testament books: Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians; The Revelation of John.

Boff, Leonardo. Church: Charism and Power? SCM, 1985.

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Book III, ch. 25 and Book IV, chs. 1 and 14.

Jenson, Robert W., "The Church and the Sacraments"; Fergusson, David, "Eschatology"; and Wainwright, Geoffrey, "The Holy Spirit," in Gunton, Colin E., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Some books among the many that are available are as follows:

Badcock, Gary. Light of Truth and Fire of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit. Eerdmans, 1997.

Bavinck, Herman. The Last Things: Hope for this World and the Next. Baker, 1996.

Carr, Wesley. "Towards a Contemporary Theology of the Holy Spirit." Scottish Journal of Theology 28 (1975), 501-516.

Doyle, Robert C. Eschatology and the Shape of Christian Belief. Paternoster Press, 1999.

Dulles, Avery. Models of the Church. Doubleday, 1991.

Farrow, Douglas. Ascension and Ecclesia: On the Significance of the Doctrine of the Ascension for Ecclesiology and Christian Cosmology. Eerdmans, 1999.

Owen, John. "The True Nature of a Gospel Church." esp. chs. 1-3, Works, vol. 16, pp. 11-42.

Volf, Miroslav. After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity. Eerdmans, 1998.

Watson, Francis. Agape, Eros and Gender. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Zizioulas, John. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church. Darton, Longman & Todd, 1985.

In addition to the required readings, students will submit either two fifteen-page research papers to be submitted by August 17 and September 7 , or a single thirty-page paper integrating different aspects of the course and due on the second of the above dates.

Meets M.Div. core requirement in Systematic Theology "C" (STC).