Previous Years' Course Catalogues

The last book of the Christian biblical canon, the Book of Revelation is often talked about but less often read. It has inspired and continues to inspire a range of persons and groups, from fringe religious movements through to artistic and intellectual titans. This course will consider the Book of Revelation in its own rights, situating it within its time and place, and also consider what it might mean for Christian thought and practice in the contemporary world.

The last book of the Christian biblical canon, the Book of Revelation is often talked about but less often read. It has inspired and continues to inspire a range of persons and groups, from fringe religious movements through to artistic and intellectual titans. This course will consider the Book of Revelation in its own rights, situating it within its time and place, and also consider what it might mean for Christian thought and practice in the contemporary world.

The last book of the Christian biblical canon, the Book of Revelation is often talked about but less often read. It has inspired and continues to inspire a range of persons and groups, from fringe religious movements through to artistic and intellectual titans. This course will consider the Book of Revelation in its own rights, situating it within its time and place, and also consider what it might mean for Christian thought and practice in the contemporary world.

This course will explore the work of seminal Protestant and Catholic theologians associated with the re-shaping of 'modern' theology in the twentieth century. Our focus will be on the 'nature-grace' relationship - understood as the distinction and connection that theologians posit or discern between 'divine' and 'human' power, freedom, and desire. The famous debate between Karl Barth and Emil Brunner (Natural Theology, ET, 1948) , and the more recent discussions of Leonardo Boff (Liberating Grace, ET, 1979) and Stephen Duffy (The Graced Horizon: Nature and Grace in Modern Catholic Thought, 1992) will stimulate our contemporary reflections on the 'covenantal' nature of reality and the spirituality of existence. Participants will engage key reading s in a seminar setting.

Emphasis on the history of the iconoclastic controversy and ecumenical councils, especially for the development of Christology. Readings from Nicaea II, Theodore the Studite, John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah. Iconography and spirituality. Church visit.

Emphasis on the history of the iconoclastic controversy and ecumenical councils, especially for the development of Christology. Readings from Nicaea II, Theodore the Studite, John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah. Iconography and spirituality. Church visit. Lectures-seminar, reflection papers, major paper. Prerequisite: Three courses from the Theological or Historical departments.

Emphasis on the history of the iconoclastic controversy and ecumenical councils, especially for the development of Christology. Readings from Nicaea II, Theodore the Studite, John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah. Iconography and spirituality. Church visit.

Emphasis on the history of the iconoclastic controversy and ecumenical councils, especially for the development of Christology. Readings from Nicaea II, Theodore the Studite, John of Damascus and Theodore Abu Qurrah. Iconography and spirituality. Church visit.

Is beauty simply in the eye of the beholder or is it something more? Is it a way to God, a moral precept, or the specific locus for a unique kind of pleasure? This course examines a variety of subjective and objective views of beauty in the history of Western philosophy and theology from antiquity to the present (e.g. in the thought of Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Weil, Barth, and Balthasar). It will also consider the implications of these views of beauty for the production of the visual arts, music, and literary culture in Western religion and society.

Is beauty simply in the eye of the beholder or is it something more? Is it a way to God, a moral precept, or the specific locus for a unique kind of pleasure? This course examines a variety of subjective and objective views of beauty in the history of Western philosophy and theology from antiquity to the present (e.g. in the thought of Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Weil, Barth, and Balthasar). It will also consider the implications of these views of beauty for the production of the visual arts, music, and literary culture in Western religion and society.

For much of the Western art tradition, the concept of grace has been an Important critical concept for Its ability to capture the often elusive quality of artistic affect. Often referred to as the "je ne sals quoi" of art- that something extra that cannot be explained -grace even supplanted beauty for many wrtters (from Giorgio Vasari to Friedrich Schiller) as the highest artistic Ideal. Often missing from modem analyses of the concept, however, are its theological foundations. This seminar style course will exam the concept of grace within Its theological, philosophical, literary, and art theoretical contexts in an effort to understand both its historical significance and its potential usefulness for the philosophy of art today. We will look at a variety of texts (e.g. from Plato, Cicero, the Pseudo-Dionyslus, Dante, John Calvin, Alexander Pope, Friedrich Schiller, Martin Heldegger) as well as works of art for which grace is an important and defining aesthetic concept.