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.
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 16.
SCHEDULE
OF TOPICS AND READINGS:
Note:
The readings indicated for each class date are to be read for that
class.
September
14: 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 6: Types
of Theology
Reading:
González, Christian Thought Revisited: Three Types of Theology
Assignment
due:
Bring to class: 1) 9 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.
October
27: 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.
November
17: God and
Jesus Christ
Reading:
Morse, Not Every Spirit,
pp.113-170, 198-224
Evans,
pp.53-98
Suchocki,
God-Christ-Church,
pp.49-125
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.
Also:
Bring in 9 copies of your favorite hymn about Jesus.
December 8: The Church and Eschatology
Reading:
Morse, Not Every Spirit,
pp.288-346
Evans,
pp.119-154
Suchocki,
God-Christ-Church,
pp.129-236
Assignment
due: By no later than December 3, email to professor and everyone in the class 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.
Also:
Bring in 9 copies of your favorite hymn about the Church.
January 16: Final
Paper is due
Bibliography of Recent and Important Works Relevant to Course:
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.
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.
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, University of Notre
Dame Press, 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.
Daniel
Migliore, Faith Seeking
Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology, Eerdmans,
1991.
Donald
Musser and Joseph Price, eds. A New Handbook of Christian Theology, Abingdon, 1992.
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.
