Courses

• STH TT 704: History of Christian Theology
  A survey of the major philosophers of the West whose thought has contributed to the development of Christian theology. One hour study section is required. This course is a prerequisite for STH TT 810 and most Theology II courses.
• STH TT 801: Introduction to Roman Catholic Theology
  An inquiry into the development, nature, and future direction of Roman Catholic theology. The primary focus is on contemporary theologians. Fundamental theological issues and doctrines such as creation, christology, and grace will be considered.
• STH TT 810: TT810 Theology II ? Contemporary Christian Theology
  Introduction to the basic themes of Christian theology geared toward the two-fold task of acquainting students with the historical development of doctrine and of encouraging them to add their own voices to the contemporary debate. Class sessions alternate between ?summary? days, when the doctrines, their histories, and the contemporary debate are introduced, and ?focus? days, when one or more important issues within each doctrine are addressed.
• STH TT 815: The Confucian Way
  An introduction to the history of the intellectual and spiritual development of the Confucian tradition from its beginnings to the modern period in China, Korea, and Japan. Special emphasis is placed on the classical and Neo-Confucian phases, as well as on contemporary Confucian-Christian dialogue.
• STH TT 816: Atheisms and Theologies
  The general aim of this course is learn about varieties of atheism-older "classic atheism," so-called "new atheism" of recent years, and theologically inspired forms of atheism-and to understand the various theological responses to atheism. Questions of particular importance are: (1) How strong are traditional and new atheistic arguments? (2) Where does or should theology stand in relation to the arguments of atheism? (3) What are the origins of modern atheism? (4) Should postmodern mystical theologies and iconoclastic anti-anthropomorphic theologies that reject a determinate divine being be considered atheistic? If so how does this sort of atheism relate to other types? The class is intended for advanced masters students and doctoral candidates interested in con-temporary theology and its conceptual roots in older theological debates. Meets with STH TT 956.
• STH TT 818: Development of Christian Thought: The Holy Spirit
  A re-examination of Spirit is essential to post-9/11 Christianity and an understanding of God’s presence and activity in our time. This course explores this claim and seeks to provide students with both a historical and constructive study of a doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Tracking the Spirit through the Christian tradition, from the biblical texts in Genesis to the present day, we will focus on the major movements in which a doctrine of the Spirit takes precedence, i.e. the Reformation, Quakerism, the Holiness movement, Pentecostalism, and African-American gospel traditions. Exploring the rich textual imagery and embodied testimonies associated with Spirit, we will explore the connections between Spirit and issues of justice, reconciliation, suffering, and healing.
• STH TT 821: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
  The topic of this seminar is theories/doctrines of deity, the holy, the sacred, the divine in western religious thought. Equal emphasis on the history of these theories and on constructive contributions to their interpretation and construal for contemporary life and thought.
• STH TT 825: John Wesley's Theology Today
  The theology of John Wesley, though projected from an historical past, is a living and dynamic force in contemporary theology. This course examines the primary doctrinal, methodological, and practical commitments of John Wesley?s theology as developed in his sermons, hymns, writings, and life-praxis. The course also explores contemporary trends in Methodism and in Wesleyan theology more generally as they attempt to respond to the present theological situation and to the future prospects of a Christian faith lived out in the twenty-first century.
• STH TT 828: Liberal Evangelical Christianity
  The general aim of this course is to learn about the history, sociology, theology, and ethics of the tension between liberals and evangelicals that has persisted among Protestant Christians within the United States, under various names, since early in the nineteenth century. The specific aim is to situate a variety of moderate possibilities within this tension. These range from mid-twentieth-century movements such Neo-Evangelicalism (represented by Billy Graham and Carl Henry, among others) and the hearty reception of famous preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, who defined himself as ?liberal evangelical?; through the revolutionary social visions of evangelicals such as Ron Sider and Tony Campolo, the cultural critique of Jim Wallis and the Sojourners Community, and the Christian pacificism of Anabaptists such as John Howard Yoder; to the green evangelicals, liberal evangelicals, evangelical liberals, progressive evangelicals, and radical moderates of today. The class is intended for master?s students interested in the liberal-evangelical tension and especially in the prospects for transcending that tension both in individual faith identities and in congregational contexts. The class should help participants become more articulate communicators and more effective leaders around issues bearing on this tension.
• STH TT 832: Paul Tillich
  Centered on one of the major theological works of the twentieth century, the Systematic Theology, this course is designed to assist students to contextualize, interpret, and analyze the thought of Paul Tillich and to assess its significance for contemporary theology.
• STH TT 833: Religion and Science
  Explores recent developments in the theoretical and cultural relations between religion and science, paying particular attention to strategies for moving beyond the limitations of the pervasive ?conflict? view. No specific background in science required. Focuses primarily, though not exclusively, on the interaction between Christian thought and the natural sciences.
• STH TT 838: Religious Thought East and West: Maimonides in Comparative Perspective
  We will investigate the works of the 12th century Judeo-Arabic philosopher Maimonides in dialogue with texts from Islamic and Christian philosophy and mysticism, Taoism, Chinese and Zen Buddhism, and the process philosophy of A.N. Whitehead. Topics may include: the nature of the Absolute, origin of time and the universe, paradox of transcendence and immanence, role of teachers, sages, and prophets, language and negative theology, reason and the path to realization.
• STH TT 839: Race and American Christianity
  This will be an intensive course taught prior to the first day of Fall 2010 courses. Students taking this intensive course will put it on their FALL PERMISSION TO REGISTER FORMS. The teaching schedule for TT839 is as follows (totaling 7 days/6 hours per day). Monday, August 23 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - Tuesday, August 24 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - Wednesday, August 25 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - Thursday, August 26 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - Friday, August 27 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - Monday, August 30 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - Tuesday, August 31 10am-1pm; 2pm-5pm - COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course explores a variety of experiences and expressions of race in American Christianity, past and present. Using both comparative and narrative modes of understanding, we will look at how race and religion have interacted across both time and space, comparing the Anglo-American and African American jeremiad traditions; tracing the racial story of American Pentecostalism from African American Los Angeles in 1906 to Latino Texas in 2006; and putting antebellum sorrow songs in conversation with both contemporary hip-hop and the praise songs of Korean American evangelical college students. Our texts will include autobiography, blogs, essays, fiction, history, journalism, movies, music, poll data, sermons, visual art, and YouTube, as well as our own experiences of visiting a racially different Christian community.
• STH TT 842: Lab Placement
  
• STH TT 845: Spirituality, Medicine & Health
  The general aim of this science-religion course is to learn about the complex entanglements among religious traditions and spirituality, medical traditions and healing modalities, and norms for physical and mental health. This will involve (i) in Part 1 of the course, gaining a basic grasp on the history of the medical traditions of China, India, the Middle East, and the West, including the metaphysical frameworks that inform those traditions; (ii) in Part 2 of the course, studying the complex controversy over spirituality and health research and attempting to decide whether and how the efficacy of healing modalities is to be evaluated; (iii) in Part 3 of the course, understanding how western biomedicine interacts with the array of medical traditions and spiritually inspired healing modalities that thrive in the West; and (iv) throughout the course, addressing philosophical, theological, and ethical questions about norms for mental and physical health and comparing metaphysical frameworks for health and healing. The class is intended for advanced masters students and doctoral candidates interested in the science-religion dialogue, and particularly in spirituality and health.
• STH TT 852: Theological Thinking for Everyday Life and Ministry
  This course aims to teach theological thinking by doing a lot of it. The class is designed to place the specific experiences of participants in conversation with each other and with the wisdom of the authors of the readings. The aim is to become more effective theological thinkers.
• STH TT 854: Classic Jewish Thought
  Basic human and religious issues as they have been understood within the classical Jewish framework of God, the people of Israel, and Torah: good and evil, creation, the relationship of human beings to God and to one another.
• STH TT 856: Preaching for the Modern World: Preaching Theological Challenges
  Consideration of the ways in which the contexts of preaching today differ from those in which the familiar formulations of theology came into being as well as the theological implications of the differences.
• STH TT 857: Postmodern Theology and Spirituality
  This course examines the impact of philosophers like Nietzsche, Foucault, Levinas, Irigaray, and Derrida on the study of theology. Rather than shutting down a religious conversation, theologians within this tradition argue that postmodern thought opens up religious questions in new ways. What does postmodernism reveal about religious confessions and practices? How does this conversation help us to understand some of the shifts in spirituality and religious practice in our contemporary world? (John Caputo, Mark C. Taylor, Catherine Keller, and Mark D. Jordan)
• STH TT 858: Theologies of Dialogue
  An examination of the major contemporary theological options proposed for the theory and practice of dialogue by the churches and theological communities.

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