Courses

• 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 854: Classic Jewish Thought
  This course investigates basic human and religious issues as they have been understood in the classical Jewish tradition: creation and revelation, good and evil, the nature of suffering, the relationship between God and human beings, and the relationships of human beings to one another. We will explore these issues through investigation of sources from the Bible, midrashic literature, Talmud, and Jewish philosophy. Special attention to the role of Torah and its interpretation in Jewish life and thought. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 855: The Theology of Christian Mysticism
  This course explores theological, philosophical, and experiential aspects of late medieval Christian mystical thought in the Dionysian tradition. It does so through an in-depth study of the writings of fifteenth century German mystic Nicholas of Cusa. In addition to closely analyzing primary texts that convey quintessential Cusan theological notions (such as the "coincidence of opposites" and God as "Not-Other"), students will investigate the writings of important predecessors who influenced his thought, and will consider, too, trends in the contemporary study of Cusa's mystical theology. (Requires TF 701/TF 702 as prerequisite.)
• 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 857: Postmodern Theology and Spirituality
  While postmodern thought is often accused of being relativistic and even nihilistic, contemporary theologians have depended on insights from postmodern thinkers to construct theologies that address injustice and advocate for change. This course aims to examine the philosophical and theological critiques of modernity, with an eye towards the constructive possibilities emerging from thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Judith Butler. The course examines theological proposals that draw on postmodern thought to re-conceptualize divinity in the midst of central challenges of our time: the value of life, alterity/difference, historical trauma, and the future. It aims to provide students with a better understanding of postmodern theories with an eye to their theological significance.
• 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 861: Varieties of Religious Naturalisms
  The aim of this seminar is to learn about varieties of religious naturalism and how they have been, and can be, incorporated into philosophical and theological reflection. The seminar will read a variety of works in contemporary religious naturalism, from twentieth-century classics to current contributions, and from theoretical analyses of the meaning of naturalism to surveys attempting to map out the territory of plausible viewpoints. We will also track the close relationship between religious naturalism and both ecologically-rooted forms of spirituality and nature-centered forms of mysticism. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 862: Theologies 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 866: Feminist and Womanist Theologies
  As one of the core courses in the theology sequence at BU School of Theology, this course introduces students to feminist and womanist approaches to the study of theology. It aims to provide students with a grounding in the major ideas and methodologies of feminist and womanist theologians. The first part of the course focuses on questions of method and provides students with grounding in the early history and development of feminist and womanist theologies. The second part focuses on important theoretical engagements that mark significant reassessments of notions of the body, sexuality, agency, and subjectivity within theological work. The third part highlights new trajectories and positions students' work within the ongoing conversation of feminist and womanist discourse. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• 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 mathematics required for the Spring lectures on physics is taught through the whole year in a separate meeting. You should consult the instructor about your background and readiness to take this course prior to registering.
• STH TT 872: 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. TT872 lectures are on physics. TT871, on the biological sciences, can be taken independently of TT872 on physics. The mathematics required for the TT872 lectures on physics is taught through the whole year in a separate meeting. You should consult the instructor about your background and readiness to take TT871 or TT872 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 890: Topics in Speculative Philosophy: The Axiology of Thinking
  A detailed study of the thesis that valuation structures thinking in imagination, interpretation, theorizing, and the pursuit of responsibility. Principal texts are the instructor's Reconstruction of Thinking, Recovery of the Measure, and Normative Cultures. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 895: Rise of Neo-Confucianism
  This course is an analysis of the rise of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty and its continued development in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties in China as well as its transmission to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The synthesis of Zhu Xi's daoxue 道學 [Chu Hsi] (1130-1200) will serve as a major case study of the development and influence of Neo-Confucian philosophy. The course will also pursue the modern developments of New Confucianism in East Asia and the West with the examples of New Confucianism and Boston Confucianism. One of the interesting features in the modern period has been the revival of Confucian-Christian dialogue. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• 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 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. 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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• 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 Lucke (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. (Requires TF 701/702 or equivalent)
• STH TT 900: The Theological Imagination
  Within the arena of constructive theology, theologians are increasingly describing their theological projects in terms of analyzing and reshaping "imaginaries." The course traces the emergence of this 'turn to the imaginary' within modernity and postmodernity and examines what's at stake theologically in this turn. This seminar involves: 1) exploring the concept of 'the imaginary,' identifying philosophical, sociological and literary influences; 2) articulating what's at stake for theology; and 3) constructing theological visions that can expand the study and practices of Christian traditions. The first part situates the rise of the concept of the imaginary within the context of modern theology. Here, we will examine the varying reasons for theological appeals to the imagination, asking what's at stake for each and will examine the portrait that each presents of theology's relationship to modernity. We will be engaging questions of the nature and task of theology, theological method, immanence/transcendence, and religious language. The second part will focus on critiques of the western (Christian) imaginary. In this part, we take a decidedly postmodern turn and explore the appeals to the imaginary from various thinkers who are trying to reshape the imaginary otherwise. The third part will focus on the form of theology and explore the implications of our study for the re-forming of theological discourse.
• STH TT 901: Core Texts and Motifs: Western Traditions
  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.

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