Methodology and Methods in Theological Studies

This seminar course is intended to provide the graduate student in theology with a broad understanding of the anthropological conditions that constrain all human thought, including religious and theological thought. It also attempts to provide an overview of the historical development of theology in the Christian tradition as an intellectual and spiritual exercise, and later, an academic enterprise. There is no intention here to discuss the specific methods employed in the various types of theology (whether biblical and narrative, political or prophetic, natural, philosophical, apophatic etc.) or of the theologies of particular Christian denominations. Rather, attention will be focused on understanding the broader methodological frameworks (methodological assumptions, commitments, theories) within which those theologies function.