Previous Years' Course Catalogues

This seminar examines that philosophical approach to the history of philosophy that travels under the name of genealogy. It does so in terms of close readings of selected texts of the tradition's two major figures: Friederich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault against the backdrop of a number of ancient and medieval examples of protreptic rhetoric. It thereby attests the thesis that contemporary genealogy is the latest manifestation of the protreptic tradition in the history of philosophy, i.e., a deliberative rhetoric designed to exhort recipients to turn (convertere) from harm to health, from falsehood to truth, from the base to the noble.

This seminar examines the ancient and medieval discipline of rhetoric and its practitioners’ claim that it represented a properly philosophical discourse. It does so in terms of a selection of texts drawn from the works of Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Abelard and Heloise. In the process, it explores the relationship between affectivity and discursive validity with a view to the effect such a focus has on our understanding of Greek and Latin philosophy, patristic and medieval theology and their intertwined history.

This seminar examines that philosophical approach to the history of philosophy that travels under the name of genealogy. It does so in terms of close readings of selected texts of the tradition's two major figures: Friederich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault against the backdrop of a number of ancient and medieval examples of protreptic rhetoric. It thereby attests the thesis that contemporary genealogy is the latest manifestation of the protreptic tradition in the history of philosophy, i.e., a deliberative rhetoric designed to exhort recipients to turn (convertere) from harm to health, from falsehood to truth, from the base to the noble.

This seminar examines the ancient and medieval discipline of rhetoric and its practitioners’ claim that it represented a properly philosophical discourse. It does so in terms of a selection of texts drawn from the works of Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Abelard and Heloise. In the process, it explores the relationship between affectivity and discursive validity with a view to the effect such a focus has on our understanding of Greek and Latin philosophy, patristic and medieval theology and their intertwined history.

Throughout Christian history Paul’s letters have been crucial texts for those attempting to answer the question ‘What is the gospel’? This class explores the Pauline interpretation of sixteenth century Protestant Reformers, whose work forms one of the most influential episodes in that history of reception. It considers the impact upon them of earlier interpreters, and the content of their own Pauline interpretation. It also considers their influence upon subsequent eras as those who contributed to the development of new traditions of Pauline interpretation. In order for students to undertake this exploration in a methodologically sophisticated manner, the course also examines reception theory and its potential contribution to New Testament interpretation. Students will assess what use we should make today of resources drawn from previous interpretations, especially those of the Reformers, in our own attempts to interpret Pauline theology. Many recent interpreters understand their positions as standing in direct opposition to trajectories of interpretation established by the Reformers. Does this render Reformation interpretations redundant or are contemporary interpreters neglecting an important resource?

Critically explores the theology and spirituality of Dorothee Soelle, with special attention on the themes of creation-liberation theology, suffering, God, feminist concerns, embodied spirituality, and mysticism. Seminar discussion, lecture, short presentations, major essay.

This course explores critically the theology and spirituality of Dorothee Soelle, with special attention on the themes of creation-liberation theology, suffering, theodicy, God, feminist concerns, and religious experience.

This course explores critically the theology and spirituality of Dorothee Soelle, with special attention on the themes of creation-liberation theology, suffering, theodicy, God, feminist concerns, and religious experience.

Critically explores the theology and spirituality of Dorothee Soelle, with special attention on the themes of creation-liberation theology, suffering, God, feminist concerns, embodied spirituality, and mysticism. Seminar discussion, lecture, short presentations, major essay.

This course will make the case that religion must be understood as shaping how we experience the world and not simply as a distinct kind of experience (e.g., religious experience v. artistic experience v. ethical experience). In doing so, the course will bring together work in religious studies, phenomenology of religion, phenomenological philosophy, secularism studies, and Continental philosophy of religion to show that religion is both constituted within historical and material conditions and is partly constitutive of those conditions. In that way, what it offers is not simply a materialist account of religion, but an account of material spirituality in which religion can be located and contextualized. Please note that the course will not assume prior familiarity with phenomenology.

The Septuagint functioned as the Scriptures of the early Christian church and were considered to have at least equal authority to the Hebrew Scriptures. The primary focus of this course is the analysis of Paul's citations of Septuagintal texts and how Paul employs the Septuagint in his own scriptural reasoning. This course will also discuss the linguistic relationship between the Septuagint and its source (Hebrew) text, and apply the 'interlinear paradigm' for translating it.

The Septuagint functioned as the Scriptures of the early Christian church and were considered to have at least equal authority to the Hebrew Scriptures. The primary focus of this course is the analysis of Paul's citations of Septuagintal texts and how Paul employs the Septuagint in his own scriptural reasoning. This course will also discuss the linguistic relationship between the Septuagint and its source (Hebrew) text, and apply the 'interlinear paradigm' for translating it.