Courses

• STH TT 860: Incarnation
  The body - what is it? What are its limits? How do we understand the concept in terms of the Word, the Church, Jesus of Nazareth, the brain, the environment, and ourselves? This course attempts a joyful approach to the theological category of "incarnation," broadly understood. In Christianity, incarnation refers to God's presence as "man" amongst humankind, the "limiting" of an eternal God in the finite, poignantly frail form made available by the human body. Methodologically, the course moves dialectically between scripture, theological textual sources, and mystical writings, on the one hand, and theoretical works from philosophy, cognitive science and psychoanalysis on the other.
• STH TT 862: Theology of Liberation
  Theologies of liberation originated in the mid-twentieth century and have continued in various forms and contexts on into the twenty-first century. This course examines some of the classic texts in Latin American, Asian, Hispanic, Black, Womanist, Queer, and Feminist liberation theology and aims at an understanding of their sources, methods, hermeneutic, and primary themes.
• STH TT 865: Religious Dimensions of Whitehead's Philosophy
  A detailed study of Whitehead's physical and metaphysical thought provides a framework for a formal consideration of his religious ideas. Hartshorne's transformation of Whitehead's metaphysical and religious ideas into pantheism. Philosophical ideas in process theology.
• STH TT 866: Power: Feminist and Womanist Theologies
  Power is a slippery term. Feminist and womanist theologians provide some of the sharpest theological analyses of the ways in which power functions both within and outside of religious institutions. This course explores these contributions to an understanding of power, both divine and human, and the ways in which practices and professions of religious traditions can be both death-dealing and life-giving. How does power operate on bodies, in institutions, in global markets? What is the fuel "the power" necessary for social change and transformation? Examining critical moments in 20th century movements of liberation, this course draws on theory, theology, literature, and media to give theological depth and understanding to religious claims about love, power, and justice.
• STH TT 871: Science Literacy and Scientific Boundary Questions
  This course introduces contemporary science to students with research and writing interests in the area of science, philosophy, and religion. It also treats scientific boundary questions, which are philosophical, ethical, and theological questions raised by science yet not answerable within science itself. This is more than a popular science course; it is the course to take when you are ready to go beyond popular science, and you are ready for integrative thinking that connects science, philosophy, history, ethics, and theology. The Fall semester lectures are on the biological sciences. That semester can be taken independently of the Spring semester on physics. The lectures are held on Friday mornings, 9-12. The mathematics required for the Spring lectures on physics is taught through the whole year in a separate meeting on Wednesdays, beginning early and ending at 10:30am. You should consult Dr. Wildman about your background and readiness to take this course prior to registering.
• STH TT 874: Contemporary Theological Systems
  An exploration of contemporary systematic perspectives on the Christian faith aimed at facilitating the development of the student's own ability to think theologically and to construct his or her own theological perspective in light of his or her own theological tradition and the contemporary situation.
• STH TT 889: Theologies of Sexual Identity
  A study of the conceptual, biblical, historical, scientific, and critical roots of the current issues about sexual identity, focusing on women's ordination and gay marriage as prisms to understand the feminist and gay cultural revolutions. These movements have called attention to sexual identities more generally, and the theology of sexually identity for all human beings will be developed.
• STH TT 898: Theology and Trauma
  This course aims to bring the recent studies in the interdisciplinary study of trauma to bear on the field of theology. What unique challenges does the phenomenon of trauma pose to contemporary theology? The structure of the course is three-fold: The first part of the course explores recent studies in trauma, focusing on three areas of research: 1) neurobiology of trauma, 2) clinical/therapeutic studies, and 3) literary approaches to trauma. The second part of the course examines theological engagements with issues of radical suffering. We will study the work of contemporary theologians (in the Judeo-Christian tradition) who are rethinking the following questions through the lens of radical suffering: Who is the human person? What is the significance of the cross? What is sin? What is redemption? (Examples: Wendy Farley, Miroslav Volf, Delores Williams, Jurgen Moltmann, Catherine Keller, Mark Lewis Taylor, Melissa Raphael) These authors reveal both the limitations and the possibilities of reframing questions of suffering in relationship to contemporary discussions of trauma. The third part brings together the insights from the first two and focuses on the question of what it means to witness theologically to individual, societal, and global trauma. We will look at issues and contexts such as the criminal justice system, war, poverty, and racism. In this final part, students will be working towards constructive theological engagements with issues of trauma through interaction with a variety of mediums: art, literature, spiritual practices, and film. The course is not a counseling course. It aims to provide rich theological reflection around issues of suffering, violence, and trauma, both individual and global. THIS COURSE REQUIRES PERMISSION FROM THE PROFESSOR IN ORDER TO GET REGISTERED.
• STH TT 899: Schleiermacher
  The primary aim of this course is read and understand the theology of Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, one of the most important and influential European intellectuals of the 19th century, and known variously as the Father of Romanticism, the Father of Hermeneutics, the Father of German Plato studies, the Father of Modern Protestant Theology, and the Father of Liberal Christian Theology. The course focuses on The Christian Faith (CF) but also covers some other of his writings particularly On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers (OR) and Letters to Locke (LL) and some biographical material. The secondary aim is to help students develop their own theological ideas in detailed conversation with Schleiermacher's, a purpose for which CF is particularly well suited. The class has 800-level and 900-level designations to accommodate both advanced masters and doctoral students, respectively.
• STH TT 901: Core Texts and Motifs
  An intensive year seminar, in English translation, of key primary texts and philosophical-theological-religious ideas of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Taoism. Particularly well suited to doctoral students. Advanced master's students with permission of instructor only.
• STH TT 908: Seminar: Medieval Theology
  A textual and comparative study of the knowing and naming of the one and triune God in Aquinas and Bonaventure. The focus of the course will be on method and content.
• STH TT 909: Modern Western Theology I: The Modern Period
  A comprehensive introduction to Western theology from the Enlightenment to the beginning of the twentieth century in seminar format. Significant background in theology is required. Verify prerequisites with professor.
• STH TT 913: Science and Religion
  A doctoral-level seminar exploring contemporary theoretical discussions among scientists, philosophers, and theologians.
• STH TT 921: Proseminar: Religion and Science
  This doctoral level seminar provides an advanced introduction to the core literature and issues of the interdisciplinary field of religion and science. The primary texts are Ian Barbour's Religion and Science: Historical and Contemporary Issues, John Hedley Brooke's Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives, the edited collection titled Religion and Science: History, Method, Dialogue (Mark Richardson and Wesley Wildman, eds.), and the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (Philip Clayton, ed.). The four primary areas considering during the semester are: historical relations, comparative method, disciplinary perspectives, and theoretical debates. The course is a requirement for BU PhD students in the science and religion track of Division of Religious and Theological Studies. Advanced masters students may enroll with the instructor's permission.
• STH TT 924: Theological Aesthetics
  Why is the retrieval of beauty essential in an age of terror? Grace Jantzen suggests that a displacement of beauty in western consciousness can be directly correlated with the increase of violence in post/modernity. Following Jantzen’s call for a theology of beauty, we will explore the significance of aesthetics in the current religious landscape. Using Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theological aesthetics as a lens for exploring the relationship between beauty and the divine, we will examine key works in western thought in which beauty plays a significant role (Plato, Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius, John Damascene, Bonaventure, Kierkegaard). In the second half of the course, we will survey recent discussions of aesthetics in continental philosophy, literature, and ethics as they intersect with the study of religion (using Continental Aesthetics Reader). In these latter sessions, we will focus on specialized topics: sacred space, sacred dance, sacred bodies and advertising, and sacred writing in order to see how the theory engaged in the first part of the course informs contemporary issues. What impact does this theological retrieval have on contemporary discussions of justice, trauma, conflict, and terror? What role could theological aesthetics play in a heavily visual culture? Although we will trace beauty predominantly through Christian thought, students are encouraged to pursue projects in which they explore the aesthetic dimensions of other religions.
• STH TT 925: Topics in Speculative Philosophy: Metaphysics
  Certain leading thinkers in American philosophic tradition have positively engaged the nature of religion and conceptions of God in light of late modern developments in the natural and social sciences. In different, but curiously related ways, they construe both inquiry and the practice of humane living to be of a piece, uniting science and religion. They develop philosophical theologies and cosmologies in which value is an objective element of nature. This course will examine central essays of Charles Pierce on religion, scientific method, and cosmology; writings of John Dewey on the social and natural sciences, knowledge of value, and religion; and books of Alfred North Whitehead on science, religion, and a physical cosmology with God. Relevant books of the instructor will be used to bring the study up to date.
• STH TT 928: Theology Proseminar
  The purpose of this seminar is professional formation of doctoral students in Boston University through the study of certain central approaches to theology and an introduction to program requirements, faculty and library resources, reading lists, and qualifying examinations.
• STH TT 929: Proseminar in Comparative Theology
  A study of the development of the new theological sub-discipline known as Comparative Theology (comparative here means the comparison and contrast between and among different traditions representing diverse cultural regions, both diachronic and synchronic in form and function). There will be a series of introductory remarks by the instructor (ca. two weeks). For the balance of the course, students will make class presentations based on various readings and more specialized research projects. The goal of the course will be to provide an overview of the field as well as the articulation of individual approaches and methods for constructing comparative theologies.
• STH TT 930: Modern Western Theology II: 1914 to Present
  A comprehensive introduction to theological figures and themes of the twentieth century in a seminar format. Signficant background in theology is required. Verify prerequisites with professor.
• STH TT 932: 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.

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