Philosophy and Systematic Theology

• STH TT 873: Space, Place, and Change
  This course investigates the significance of space and place for contemporary religious communities and examines how religious leaders navigate changing landscapes. Case studies of religious leadership responding to municipal developments (urban/rural development), shifting natural landscapes (climate change, natural disasters), built environment needs (building renovations or expansions), and the spatial impacts of social and political life in the US (migration, accessibility, inclusion) will be examined. Primary attention will be given to religious landscapes in the North America. Students will reflect theologically on practices of religious leadership, hospitality, justice, and the formation and location of sacred space. The course culminates with a practical research project that requires students to apply learnings to their own context.
• STH TT 884: Native American Philosophies and Theologies
  This is a course devoted to the study of key themes, concerns, epistemologies and differences in the study of published or publicly produced philosophical or theological materials by members and scholars of several different North American Indigenous nations. Critical themes include land, place, personhood, spirit, humor, community, adaptation, resistance, and language.
• 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) (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TT 910: Christian Theology
  
• STH TT 917: SEM THEOL & SOC
  INTRDSPL METHOD
• STH TT 926: Political Theology
  Recent developments across a variety of disciplines have led to deep and widespread interest in "political theology" -- a diverse range of approaches to interrogating, (re)imagining, and (de)constructing the intersection of politics, religion, and theology, present and past. Scholars have argued that dominant paradigms of sovereignty, the secular, modernity, and liberalism are themselves secularized, corrupted, or otherwise transformed versions of Jewish and Christian theology. Others contend that modern political practices and paradigms represent not the legacy of early modern secularization but the trail of an early modern reinjection of theology in political and social theory. Others still find in the practices of contemporary communities lived political theologies that subvert existing power structures and cast doubt on common conceptions of contemporary political life and possibilities. This course examines these competing developments, readings, and proposals; their interactions; and the contested histories, theories, and values that underwrite them. Considering political theology as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon and engaging a range of perspectives and figures, the course also considers relations and interactions between political theology and other approaches to questions of "religion and politics."
• 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.
• STH TT 957: Postmodern Theology
  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. (Clusters 1 and 2)
• STH TT 998: 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.