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Academic Programs
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D.Min.
Colleague Seminar II
(DM-720)
Fall
2004 |
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The
purpose of the Colleague Seminar is to explore the reflective
practice of ministry in an atmosphere of personal and
professional sharing and to produce a set of analytical and
theological papers as background to the Ministry Project. The
goal of the 2nd year Colleague Seminar is to
develop a clearer theological consciousness about ministry and
to deepen understanding in the arts of ministerial leadership
and practice. Required of second-year D.Min. students.
Successful completion of Colleague Seminar I is a
prerequisite for this course.
Meeting
Day, Time and Dates:
D.Min. Schedule -- Mondays
from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 20, October 11, November 1
and 29 and December 13
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Kelton
Cobb
Professor of Theology and Ethics
Contact
Information:
phone: (860)
509-9500
email: |
Course
Syllabus
Class web site
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PURPOSE
OF COURSE: In
pursuing further the training in congregational studies that began
in the first year Colleague Seminar, we will explore ways of
reflecting theologically on your congregation, or your pastoral
setting, and your practice of ministry within it. This will involve examining both classic and constructive
approaches to theology. It
will also involve paying close attention to personal experience and
to the broader cultural environment as sources of theological
insight. The
culmination of this fall semester course will be a paper in which
the students will work out a theology for ministry that genuinely
reflects the manner in which they practice it.
AIMS OF COURSE:
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to
consider the practical effectiveness of embedded theologies
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to
examine several current voices in Christian theology that both
recover and question traditions
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to
become reacquainted with the method and elastic qualities of
systematic theology
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to
gain new familiarity with the themes of God, Jesus Christ,
Church, and Eschatology
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to
assist the student in ascertaining and articulating the theology
with which he/she does ministry
COURSE TEXTS:
James
H. Evans, Jr., We Have Been
Believers: An African-American Systematic Theology
Justo
González, Christian Thought
Revisited: Three Types of Theology
Charles
Marsh, God’s Long Summer:
Stories of Faith and Civil Rights
Christopher
Morse, Not Every Spirit: A
Dogmatics of Christian Disbelief
Marjorie
Suchocki, God-Christ-Church
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
The
final grade for this course will be on a Pass-Fail system.
The grade is based primarily on the final paper, but also on
consistently thoughtful work on the shorter class assignments and
readings. Students are
expected to participate in class in ways that show careful, thorough
preparation and a conscious effort to learn with and from others.
Attendance at all sessions is one measure of this.
Contributions to online discussions is another.
The
final paper will be on “A Theology for Practicing Ministry,” or,
more specifically, “My Ministry as I Make Sense of It with the Aid
of Theological Motif X.” Details
about this will be provided later.
The final paper is due January 14
COURSE
WEBSITE:
To
get into the class site, you will need to log in using your user
name and password, which is the same as last year.
The Blackboard login page can be found at http://coursesites.blackboard.com/
To
enter the class site, connect to the Internet, open your browser,
and surf to the login page at the above web address (url).
You should see a page with a large Bb and “Welcome to
Blackboard.com.” Additionally
you will see a button entitled “login.”
Click that button. [note:
you do not need to create an account—this has already been done]
This will bring up a screen that asks you to enter your user
name and password. Enter
your user name and password and click “login.”
IF all goes well, this should bring up a page entitled “My
Blackboard,” where you will see a link to the course “D.Min.
Colleague Seminar II” under “My Courses.”
Clicking on this link should take you into the course site.
SCHEDULE
OF TOPICS AND READINGS:
Note:
The readings indicated for each class date are to be read for that
class.
September
19: Embedded Theologies and the Moral Life
Reading:
Marsh, God’s Long
Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights
Assignment
due: Write
five theological profiles, ½ page each, describing the concept
of God found in each of the five figures presented in God’s
Long Summer.
October 11: Types
of Theology
Reading:
González, Christian Thought Revisited: Three Types of Theology
Assignment
due: Bring
to class: 1) 10 copies of your denomination’s central “creedal
statement,” or its functional equivalent.
Write a 1 page analysis of it in terms of Gonzalez’s 3
types of theology.
Post
on course website by 9/283 the two “Theological Worlds”
you scored highest in, and the one you scored lowest in.
Post
on course website by 10/5 one question raised by the González
book. Enter electronic
discussion with questions posted.
November 1: Theological
Method
Reading:
Morse, Not Every Spirit,
pp.1-112
Evans,
We Have Been Believers,
pp.1-52
Suchocki,
God-Christ-Church, pp.1-48
Assignment
due:
Write a 2 page account itemizing what resources (in general
terms, e.g., scripture, prayer, newspaper, friends, etc.) you draw
on to prepare one of your better sermons, and, in
light of this, identify which of the methods of the 3 authors
you are most at home with, and explain why.
Post on course website by 10/28.
- Post on course website by 10/19 one question raised by
our 10/6 Colleague group discussions. Enter electronic discussion with questions posted.
November
29: God and
Jesus Christ
Reading:
Morse, Not Every Spirit,
pp.113-170, 198-224
Evans,
We Have Been Believers,
pp.53-98
Suchocki,
God-Christ-Church,
pp.49-125, 227-236
Assignment
due: In 3
pages, outline the lesson plan for a three session adult Sunday
School class on either the
doctrine of God or Jesus
Christ. The content and
tone of the lesson plan should stretch a bridge between this
session’s readings and the capabilities of your parishioners.
- Post on course website by 11/23 one question raised by
the Suchocki book. Enter
electronic discussion with questions posted.
Also:
Bring in 5 copies of your favorite hymn about Jesus.
December
13: The Church and Eschatology
Reading:
Morse, Not Every Spirit,
pp.288-346
Evans,
We Have Been Believers,
pp.119-154
Suchocki,
God-Christ-Church,
pp.129-224
Assignment
due: By no later than December 8, post on the course website a 1 page
outline of your final paper, identifying the key theological motif
(e.g. God, creation, sin, christology, ecclesiology, eschatology,
etc.) which you will be using to clarify what guides you in your
practice of ministry, & indicating your particular angle on this
motif. Attach to it a
1/2-page working bibliography. Each student will then be asked to respond to another
student’s outline.
- Post on course website by 12/7 one question raised by
the Morse book. Enter
electronic discussion with questions posted.
Also:
Bring in 5 copies of your favorite hymn about the Church.
January 14: Final
Paper is due
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF RECENT AND IMPORTANT WORKS RELEVANT TO COURSE:
C.
FitzSimons Allison, The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of
Christian Orthodoxy, Morehouse, 1994
Karl Barth, Credo, Scribner’s,
1962.
Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline,
Harper, 1959.
Marcus
Borg, The God We Never Knew,
Harper, 1997.
Sharon
Peebles Burch, Collective
Absolute Presuppositions: Tectonic Plates for Churches, Peter
Lang, 1999.
John
Calvin, Calvin’s Institutes: A
New Compend, ed. by Hught T. Kerr, W/JKP, 1989.
Denise Carmody, Christian Feminist
Theology, Beacon, 1995.
Ellen Charry, By the Renewing of Your
Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine, Oxford, 1997.
John B.Cobb, Jr., Becoming a Thinking
Christian, Abingdon, 1993.
James
Cone, God of the Oppressed,
Harper, 1975.
Noel Erskine, Decolonizing Theology:
A Caribbean Perspective, Africa World Press, 1998.
Robert
Evans and Thomas Parker, Christian
Theology: A Case Study Approach, Harper, 1976.
Gabriel Fackre, The Christian Story: A
Narrative Interpretation of Basic Christian Doctrine, vol. 1, 3rd
edition, Eerdmans, 1996.
B.A. Gerrish, Saving and Secular
Faith: An Invitation to Systematic Theology,
Fortress, 1999.
W.
Clark Gilpin, A Preface to
Theology
Justo
González, Mañana: Christian
Theology from a Hispanic Perspective, Abingdon, 1990.
Douglas
John Hall, The Cross in Our Context, Fortress, 2003.
Peter
Hodgson, Christian Faith: A
Brief Introduction, W/JKP, 2001.
Peter
Hodgson and Robert King, Christian
Theology: An Introduction to Its Traditions and Tasks, Fortress,
1982.
Peter
Hodgson and Robert King, Readings
in Christian Theology, Fortress, 1985.
Elizabeth
Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery
of God in Feminist Theological Discourse, Crossroad, 1993.
Luke
Timothy Johnson, The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It
Matters,Doubleday, 2003
W.
Paul Jones, Theological Worlds:
Understanding the Alternative Rhythms of Christian Belief,
Abingdon, 1989
Catherine
Mowry LaCugna, ed., Freeing
Theology: The Essentials of Theology in Feminist Perspective,
Harper, 1993.
Nicholas
Lash, Believing Three Ways in
One God: A Reading of the Apostles’ Creed, U. Notre Dame, 1992.
Jung
Young Lee, Marginality: The Key
to Multicultural Theology, Fortress, 1995.
John Leith, Creeds of the Churches,
W/JKP, 1982.
Ann Loades, ed., Feminist Theology:
A Reader, W/JKP, 1990.
John MacQuarrie, Principles of
Christian Theology, Scribner’s, 1977.
Sara
Maitland, A Big-Enough God: A
Feminist’s Search for a Joyful Theology, Riverhead Books, 1995.
Alister
E. McGrath, Theology: The Basics, Blackwell, 2004.
Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking
Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, Eerdmans,
1991.
Donald
Musser & Joseph Price, eds. A New Handbook of Christian Theology, Abingdon, 1992, 2003(revised).
Ted
Peters, God—The World’s
Future: Systematic Theology for a Postmodern Era, Fortress, 2000.
Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian
Faith: Introduction to
the Idea of Christianity, Crossroad, 1976.
J.
Deotis Roberts, Liberation and
Reconciliation: A Black Theology, Westminster, 1971.
Susan
Ross, Extravagant Affections: A
Feminist Sacramental Theology, Continuum, 1998.
Rosemary
R. Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk,
Beacon, 1983.
Roger
Shinn and Daniel Day Williams, We
Believe: An Interpretation of the United Church Statement of Faith,
United Church Press, 1966.
Jon
Sobrino and Ignacio Ellacuría, eds., Systematic
Theology: Perspectives from Liberation Theology, Orbis, 1996.
Dorothy Sölle, Thinking about God: An
Introduction to Theology, Trinity, 1990.
Howard
Stone and James Duke, How to
Think Theologically, Fortress, 1996.
Marjorie
Hewitt Suchocki, God-Christ-Church:
A Practical Guide to Process Theology, Crossroad, 1993.
Kathryn
Tanner, Jesus, Humanity and the
Trinity: A Brief Systematic Theology, Fortress, 2001.
Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology
(vols.1-3), University of Chicago, 1951.
Keith
Ward, Christianity: A Short Introduction, Oneworld, 2000.
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