Ethics

• STH TS 803: Literature and Ethics
  Good ethical conception and practice often demand that we see things from others' points of view. Great novels, plays, poems, and films are good at helping us to reach empathic perceptions of particular people and situations by involving our intellect and emotion. Novels, tragic dramas, and others have the capacity to make readers identify with fictional characters in ways that show possibilities and potential vulnerabilities for themselves. This kind of empathic identification is important for good ethical practice in diverse and pluralistic communities. Narrative works of art are important for developing the human self- understanding critical for embodying certain religious and theological ideals. This course will explore the connections between literature (novels, plays, and short stories) and ethics: the relationship between creative imagination and moral imagination; the nature of moral attention and moral vision; the role of context-specific judging in ethical decisions. The course will help students to deepen and broaden their ethical understanding in ways that involve and give priority to context-specific moral evaluation, compassion, similar possibilities and vulnerabilities, eudaimonistic judgment, rather than abstract general principles for ethical judgment. (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TS 805: The Spirit and Art of Conflict Transformation
  This course is an introduction to the theology, theory, and practice of conflict transformation, preparing students to become leaders equipped with fundamental tools and skills for engaging conflict and transforming conflict toward a just peace. It introduces students to conflict transformation practices such as mediation, interfaith dialogue, peacemaking circles, nonviolent direct action, compassion practices, truth and reconciliation commissions, community conferencing, etc. Designed for practitioners, students will be invited to participate in role play scenarios, dialogues, art projects, and other interactive in- and out-of-class engagements.
• STH TS 806: Introduction to Mediation Theory and Practice
  This course will present theory and practice on mediation through interaction with the instructors, course readings and practical experience. The course utilizes a lecture/discussion format interwoven with role play experience to help students form a strong foundation in the practice of mediation. Students will learn theory as well as practical skills and, in the process, they will learn how to engage themselves in an appropriate way in the mediation process. In addition to classroom experience, students will complete an 8 hour practicum in the Barnstable Courts under the supervision of Cape Mediation staff (see details below). (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TS 807: Transitional Justice and Reconciliation: Healing Collective Wounds
  The first half of this course will compare transitional justice processes in the Balkans and Rwanda. The second half of the course will compare reconciliation processes between Indigenous communities, mainline churches, and governments in Australia, Canada and the US, to address one hundred years of child removal, institutionalization and cultural genocide of Indigenous communities. The historical role of the Church as advocate, bystander or perpetrator, will be explored, and more recent forms of public apology, reparations and attempted healing between communities. Students will have an opportunity throughout the course to apply frameworks of transitional justice and reconciliation to their own contexts. (Clusters 2 and 3)
• STH TS 808: Spirit and Ethics
  This course equips students with necessary skills to address this crucial question from Christian theology and ethics: How does (does not) the Spirit empower religious-ethical life that engenders social transformation of societies' Students will engage with the work of leading social ethicists, theologians, political theorists, continental philosophers, and scholars of religion who are conceptualizing, rethinking, or even resisting the notion of God's Spirit as an agent in history. We will undertake close readings and critical reflections on the creative thoughts of intellectuals influencing and shaping the discourse on Spirit in the twenty-first century. The course will enable participants to radically re-imagine pneumatology and to deploy it as a resource for liberatory praxis and creative moral deliberations necessary for critical engagements with late capitalism, democracy, pluralism, public policies, and structures of domination and oppression in their own communities. (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TS 812: Introduction to Mediation Theory and Practice
  This course will provide hands-on skill development, combining role plays, exercises, and presentations. The course meets the statutory requirements for mediator confidentiality related to the Massachusetts General Laws and can be the first step toward certification.
• STH TS 815: LT OF MEM EX/RD
  GOD AND MONEY
• STH TS 816: Paul and Continental Philosophers
  Non-Christians and atheists have interpreted Paul's work in ways that have deepened our understanding of politics and social ethics of Christianity and even the legacy of Christian thought on radical philosophy and revolutionary thought. We will, among others, critically engage with the works of French philosophers Alain Badiou and Jean Luc-Nancy, Italian thinker Giorgio Agamben, and Slovenian radical scholar Slavoj 'i' ek, who are some of today's leading interpreters of Paul and his influence on political theology/philosophy, community, messianism, subjectivity, and social transformation. We will also study the works of scholars within the Christian tradition who are picking on some of their radical insights and bringing them into theology, social ethics, and biblical studies. All these new forms of scholarship making provocative proposals about society and political philosophy prompt a re-turn to classical readings of Christian texts in order to strengthen and broaden our knowledge of Christian thought as it applies to transformative praxis. Students will be encouraged to approach their study in this course with some particular social-political problem in mind so as to discern more readily the implications of the new interpretations of Paul's theological thought for dealing with contemporary moral issues. (Cluster 1 & 2)
• STH TS 817: African American Moral and Social Thought
  This course will concentrate on the theo-ethical perspectives of selected Black Christian (Afro-Christian) and humanist thinkers. The course seeks to expand the horizons of religion and Black Studies as it is currently understood and learn about the history and achievements of Black thinkers, clergy, and activists. We explore resources that span the areas of Black feminism and womanism, colonial studies, and critical race theory, among others, and challenges us to think outside of dominant viewpoints and orthodoxies.
• STH TS 818: Sexual Ethics
  Since the 1960s, ethical reasoning about sex in America has been narrated in terms of a sexual "revolution" or "liberation." Yet historiographies of increasing sexual freedom conceal the continued conceptual instability and normative confusion around sex as an element of human living. We will study the historical shifts and current debates around sexual identity, sexual violence, monogamy, polyamory, sex work, and pornography; consider the complex negotiation of sex with state, religion, commerce, racialization, technology, and medicine; and explore the place of sex in the stages of a human life. You will be encouraged to use the course material to clarify and refine your own ethical reasoning about sex. (Cluster 2)
• STH TS 824: Christian Ethics
  This course introduces students to the sources and methods of Christian ethics. We will consider the ways in which Christian moral thinking is shaped by the Hebrew Bible and New Testament; survey some prominent approaches to Christian ethical discernment (divine command, natural law, Christian realism, virtue ethics, as well as feminist and womanist ethics); examine the deformation of Christian subject by empire, racism, and economic exploitation; and finally, probe the promise of Christian moral vision in reimagining human response to mass incarceration, finance-dominated capitalism, disabilities, racial capitalism, migration, and environmental justice. (Cluster 1 &2)
• STH TS 830: Ethics, Philosophy, and Social Theory
  This course is designed to explore and critically discuss the role of social theory and philosophy in contemporary social ethical thought. Arguably, the leading social ethicists of our time consider theology, philosophy, and social theory as the foundational pillars of social ethics. This course will train master¿s level in the art (rigors) of weaving together modern social theories, cutting-edge philosophical thoughts, and leading systematic/constructive theologies to critically engage moral problems, institutions, and structures that thwart human flourishing in their communities. Of particular interest is the way in which social science and philosophy inform and structure social ethics.
• STH TS 833: Social Justice
  This course seeks to probe the internal debates and contemporary promise of major social movements for the marginalized and dispossessed. We will first survey Aristotelian, biblical, classical liberal, Marxist, and Rawlsian formulations of justice. We then read some foundational texts redressing injustices based on class, race, gender, sexuality, education, disability, indigeneity, and environmental placement. Finally, we examine three prominent religious voices for social justice: the Levellers, Ranters, and Diggers for radical egalitarianism; the Black social gospel for racial equality; and Catholic Worker movement for labor rights. (Cluster 1&2)
• STH TS 835: What's in a Text'
  A detailed examination of one formative text in Black religious thought to explore a thinker¿s ideas and how he or she states a theme, develops an argument, and is able to argue his or her case in a persuasive manner. Attention to consistency, reasoning, style, and rhetoric are also a part of the course. Finally, we consider the book in relation to the renewal of the church, its implication for ministry, and it¿s place in enriching scholarly debate and thought. Students may repeat the course as different texts are studied. The text we consider this time is by historian of religion Charles H. Long, Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion.
• STH TS 842: Watershed Discipleship: Practicing Place in the Boston Watershed
  Lives of faith are lived in particular places. This course explores place-based spiritual practices and theological perspectives in order both to connect you to the Boston watershed and to equip you with the skills needed to build relationships and live responsibly in other watersheds you might inhabit in the future. Through readings, case studies, discussion, site visits, writing, and short assignments, we will deepen our knowledge of the Boston bioregion and explore a range of spiritual practices to deepen human relations to the places we inhabit. By the end of this course, you will have developed a portfolio about your current watershed and toolkits for getting to know other places in the future and for deepening your own and others¿ spiritual connections to the places you inhabit.
• STH TS 845: Christian Social Ethics
  Comparative study of historical and contemporary Christian approaches to the nature, sources, methods, and concepts of ethics in diverse contexts. The course is in two parts: an historical overview of the development of Christian social ethics from biblical times to the twenty-first century; an in-depth exploration of approaches to specific contemporary social issues including war and peace, ecology, economic justice, and equality. Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TS 848: Global Pentacostalism
  The last 50 years have seen the explosion of Pentecostal-Charismatic type churches in the world, becoming not only the fastest growing segment of Christianity, but also the vanguard of the global Christian movement. This is a basic course on the theology, ethics, and history of the worldwide Pentecostal-Charismatic renewal movements. It offers a historical-descriptive approach of the movements in various countries, theological analyses of their doctrines and beliefs, a sociological investigation of their religious techniques, and an ethical study of their social actions and political spiritualities. Students will learn how Pentecostal-Charismatic movements are transforming themselves to be a major positive force for social justice in this- worldly realm. Drawing on readings from religious studies, theology, politics, sociology, and anthropology, this course seeks to transcend disciplinary boundaries to enable students to better understand Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, their recent histories, and their potentials for renewal of Christianity across denominational lines and across the Catholic- Protestant divide. Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TS 849: The Political Economy of Misery
  This course is an examination of the ways in which the intersection of various forms of oppression¿such as racism, sexism, ageism, heterosexism, and classism¿coalesce to form lifestyles of misery that produce social patterns of domination and subordination. Consideration of how conversations between Christian ethics and other disciplines help frame possible trajectories of justice and justice making.
• STH TS 857: Ethics, Spirituality & Technology
  This class concerns the ethics of emerging technologies of spiritual enhancement. There is a lot more going on than you may realize, from brain stimulation to neurofeedback-guided meditation, and from psychedelics to technodelics, and it is all complicated -- technologically, medically, economically, theologically, and especially ethically. Religious leaders, chaplains, journalists, and just about everyone needs to know about technologies of spiritual enhancement. By moving through the array of new and emerging technologies systematically, analyzing the science, practice, and ethics of each offering, we can come to grips with these profound changes in the worlds of religion and spirituality. This class is recommended for STH masters students heading into positions of religious leadership, COM students working in religion or science journalism, and anyone working in ethics seeking a basic understanding of the brave new world of consciousness hacking and enlightenment engineering, and what it means for all of us. (Cluster 1)
• STH TS 872: Metaphors of Evil
  This course is an examination of the ways in which metaphors function at the intersections of various forms of oppression in the work of selected African diaspora writers from the West. These writers will be conversation partners with Christian social ethics and theology as well as other disciplines to help frame possible trajectories of freedom and justice by using an interstructured/intersectional methodology to explore the matrix formed by social structural evil.