DESCRIPTION:

This doctoral seminar, open only to a very limited number of master's level students by permission of the instructor, is designed to introduce students to the competing methodologies in theology of culture based on the critical study of key recent texts. The approach will be historical and comparative, that is, different competing traditions will be examined and compared within their historical context. Issues considered will be biblical and theological or philosophical principles for contextualization and the role of culture in shaping our theological reflection and our discipleship.

Ministry is now carried on in a world with a growing awareness of culture and ethnic identity. Commitment to these realities often takes on a kind of idolatry that threatens to distort a person's understanding of reality, and accordingly their interpretation of Christianity. Christians need to understand both the positive and negative roles that culture plays in helping the believer understand and interpret Scripture and embody its truth in theological reflection and in church life.

Classes will meet weekly for a three-hour session, and will be conducted in a seminar format.

Bediako, Kwame. Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of Non-Western Religion. Orbis, 1995.

Friesen, Duane K. Artists, Citizens, Philosophers: Seeking the Peace of the City: An Anabaptist Theology of Culture. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2000.

Kuyper, Abraham. Lectures on Calvinism. (1945) [Lib. Cong. info:
Heslam, Peter S. Creating a Christian Worldview : Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans/Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1998.]

Niebuhr, H. Richard. Christ and Culture. New York: Harper, 1951.

Rauschenbusch, Walter. A Theology for the Social Gospel. Introduction by Donald W. Shriver, Jr. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997 (orig. 1914).

Schleiermacher, Freidrich. On Religion. (1993 [1800]). [Lib. Cong. info:
On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers. Trans. John Oman; foreword by Jack Forstman. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994.

Tanner, Kathryn. Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997.

Tillich, Paul. A Theology of Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959 (1959)

Grading will be based primarily on a major paper which will be first presented in class and, on the basis of discussion in class, rewritten before submission. Participation in class discussion will be a secondary factor in the final grade.

For master's level students, permission of the instructor.

Elective.

No.