In-Person if the course requires attendance at a specific location and time for some or all course activities. These courses will have section codes starting in 0 or 4.
Online – Asynchronous if the course has no requirement for attendance at a specific time or location for any activities or exams. These courses will have the section code starting with 61.
Online – Synchronous if online attendance is expected at a specific time for some or all course activities, and attendance at a specific location is not expected for any activities or exams. These courses will have the section code starting with 62.
Hybrid if the course requires attendance at a specific location and time, however 33-66% of the course is delivered online. If online attendance is expected at a specific time, it will be in place of the in person attendance. These courses will have the section code starting with 31.
Some courses may offer more than one delivery method please ensure that you have the correct section code when registering via ACORN. You will not be permitted to switch delivery method after the last date to add a course for the given semester.
This seminar will introduce students to the thought of Lutheran theologian Robert Jenson, whose work is marked by a peculiar combination of scriptural depth, speculative power, and ecumenical scope. Students will explore Jenson’s major theological and philosophical influences, including his early formation in the school of Bultmann and his decisive encounter with the thought of Karl Barth. Particular attention will be paid to Jenson’s revisionary metaphysics, by which he sought to overcome the “unbaptized god” of Hellenism with the radically temporal God of the gospel. Other topics to be considered are Jenson’s views on the sacraments; his ecumenical engagements, grounded in his “evangelically catholic” understanding of the Reformation; and his late turn toward the figural and allegorical reading of Scripture. The primary text for the course will be Jenson’s two-part Systematic Theology, with occasional forays into his early writings (especially Story and Promise and Visible Words) as well as his commentaries on Ezekiel and the Song of Songs.
This course examines the effects of historical consciousness on the understanding of dogma within Roman Catholic theology in the 19th and 20th centuries between Vatican I and Vatican II. Students will study the origins of neescholasticism and its development in the 19th century, Catholic modernism and the responses to it, as well as theories of development. Readings will include: Adolf von Harnack; Alfred Leisy; George Tyrrell; Friedrich von Hugel; Karl Rahner; and others.
This course examines the effects of historical consciousness on the understanding of dogma within Roman Catholic theology in the 19th and 20th centuries between Vatican I and Vatican II. Students will study the origins of neescholasticism and its development in the 19th century, Catholic modernism and the responses to it, as well as theories of development. Readings will include: Adolf von Harnack; Alfred Leisy; George Tyrrell; Friedrich von Hugel; Karl Rahner; and others.
This is a doctoral seminar in which we read four seminal texts in the Moltmann corpus, namely Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, and The Trinity and the Kingdom of God. By the end of the seminar students will have a thorough introduction to Moltmann’s theology, its problems and possibilities, and its significance for contemporary Christian faith and life.
This course explores the doctrine of the Trinity as hermeneutic and heuristic for a
theological understanding of religious diversity. After briefly outlining various
Christian theological approaches to religious diversity/pluralism, we will examine
how various theologians have reflected on religious diversity from a Trinitarian
perspective.
This course explores the doctrine of the Trinity as hermeneutic and heuristic for a
theological understanding of religious diversity. After briefly outlining various
Christian theological approaches to religious diversity/pluralism, we will examine
how various theologians have reflected on religious diversity from a Trinitarian
perspective.
This course explores the doctrine of the Trinity as hermeneutic and heuristic for a
theological understanding of religious diversity. After briefly outlining various
Christian theological approaches to religious diversity/pluralism, we will examine
how various theologians have reflected on religious diversity from a Trinitarian
perspective.
This course will introduce students to the study of conversion in ancient Mediterranean traditions, with a particular focus on understanding conversion in early Christianity. Students will read and discuss a range of primary sources from within Judaism, including both biblical texts and those from the Second Temple era (e.g., Joseph and Aseneth), from Graeco-Roman religion and philosophy (e.g., Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, biographies of philosophers), and from the New Testament (case studies from the Gospels, Acts, and Paul). This comparative approach will allow students to set conversion in early Christianity more fully in its ancient context. It will also enable them to relate the primary sources explored to methodological issues in the study of conversion as it has developed in the social sciences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (e.g., does conversion exist in all traditions or only some? Is it essentially the same in different contexts or does conversion itself change? Is conversion primarily an individual or social phenomenon? Are converts primarily active or passive?). In addition to this inter-disciplinary dimension, the exploration of a range of New Testament case studies will raise theological questions about the nature of conversion within Christianity (e.g., are there normative elements in Christian conversion?).
This course will introduce students to the study of conversion in ancient Mediterranean traditions, with a particular focus on understanding conversion in early Christianity. Students will read and discuss a range of primary sources from within Judaism, including both biblical texts and those from the Second Temple era (e.g., Joseph and Aseneth), from Graeco-Roman religion and philosophy (e.g., Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, biographies of philosophers), and from the New Testament (case studies from the Gospels, Acts, and Paul). This comparative approach will allow students to set conversion in early Christianity more fully in its ancient context. It will also enable them to relate the primary sources explored to methodological issues in the study of conversion as it has developed in the social sciences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (e.g., does conversion exist in all traditions or only some? Is it essentially the same in different contexts or does conversion itself change? Is conversion primarily an individual or social phenomenon? Are converts primarily active or passive?). In addition to this inter-disciplinary dimension, the exploration of a range of New Testament case studies will raise theological questions about the nature of conversion within Christianity (e.g., are there normative elements in Christian conversion?).
This course is intended to deepen students' knowledge of Luke-Acts, to increase the effectiveness of the preaching of class members and to prepare them to teach others to preach faithfully and effectively from texts in Luke-Acts. The course will focus on learning and/or creating appropriate and broadly teachable methods of moving from text to sermon, as informed by materials in Luke-Acts The Gospel of Luke and its companion volume, the Acts of the Apostles constitute more than a quarter of the New Testament as a whole. These writings also have provided the source material for a proportion of the preaching of the Christian Church which cannot be accurately estimated but is certainly very large. Luke-Acts has also provided almost the entire framework from which the Church year was created. (The chief exception is Epiphany.) It therefore has a key role in the life of many Christian traditions. While it cannot be argued that the creation of the Church year was an aim of the author of Luke-Acts, consideration of the way Luke uses and arranges time may be one useful lens with which to examine this work and also to link to contemporary listeners to preaching, especially in traditions which follow the church year.
This graduate seminar will afford students the chance to read and engage deeply with Friedrich Schleiermacher’s greatest dogmatic work, The Christian Faith systematically Presented according to the Principles of the Evangelical Church (1830/1). Recognized as a foundational work of German liberal Protestantism, The Christian Faith – also known as the Glaubenslehre – emerges from the principle that all Christian doctrine is traceable to the feeling of having been redeemed by Jesus of Nazareth. By the end of the seminar, students will have read the entirety of the Glaubenslehre, as well as understood its shape, systematic infrastructure, and influence in the development of modern Protestant dogmatics. The aim of the course is for students to grow in critical appreciation for Schleiermacher not only as a formative voice in the history of Christian theology, but also as an example of how fundamental decisions in method affect one’s conceptions of Christian theology, preaching, and mission.