Course Catalogue 2026-2027

The history of interpreting the parables can be divided into several periods. Early interpretations tended to read the parables as allegorical moralisms. From roughly 1900 to the 1960s, the dominant approach understood the parables primarily as apocalyptic symbols. Contemporary scholarship often treats the parables as narrative-theological devices, emphasizing metaphor, ambiguity, and theological meaning, and focusing on what the parable does to the hearer and how it challenges prevailing assumptions. This course, however, shifts attention away from abstract theological or purely narrative readings toward the material, social, political, religious, and economic realities reflected in the stories told by Jesus between 27 and 30 CE. When read in light of these realities, the parables are interpreted as realistic narratives rather than as symbolic or purely theological constructions. The authenticity of the parables, as we have them in their literary contexts, is not assumed, and the parables are read as atypical stories of social transformation told by a Galilean social prophet. Interpreted from this perspective, the parables are not earthly stories with heavenly meanings, but earthly stories with heavy meanings. The parables Jesus told are not stories about God, but stories about God's kingdom.

The purpose of this course is to survey the contemporary trends in the theology of faith and culture with an emphasis on mission, dialogue, interculteration, and the emergence of contextual theologies. A major portion of the course will focus on understanding the paradigm shift from a classicist notion of culture to one that has given rise to the various contextual approaches and the so-called "World Christianity(ies)." We will survey some of the various models, methods, and issues involved in this paradigm shift. The course will also highlight certain tensions arising from this context such as the local-universal church tension, the dialogue-evangelism tension, the interculturation-syncretism tension, and the question of the theology of religions.

This seminar will focus on the writings of Augustine, Aquinas, and Kant that have been and continue to be seminal texts for the contemporary discipline of moral theology/theological ethics. The goal will be to understand their conceptions of human happiness, the nature of morality, the means (actions, virtues, sin, law, grace, friendship) by which one pursues happiness or lives morally. We will also attend to their understanding of the individual and political society. While we will focus on primary sources, students will also be introduced to key interpretations of Augustine, Aquinas, and Kant by contemporary moral theologians.

An examination of the idea of self in Hinduism and Islam through representative contemporary thinkers Rabindranath Tagore and Muhammad Iqbal respectively. How is self understood? What is its relation to the ideas of person and personal identity? What are the philosophical and theological presuppositions of the idea of self? Answers are supplemented by classical and other contemporary writings of the religious tradition in question, thereby accessing the worldview associated with that tradition.

This course will introduce central theoretical concepts in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and their importance in effective clinical work. An underlying premise of the course is that therapeutic action occurs within the relationship between therapist and patient, two individuals who struggle together to reclaim and deepen their shared humanity. While theory is essential to the task of providing responsible clinical care, it is understood that it always follows deeply attentive, empathic observation, not only of the patient, but of the psychodynamic processes that occur between the therapist and patient. Theory helps to "hold" and "contain" the therapist as she enters the unique, often strange and at times disturbing inner world of the person who seeks her help. Theory must always be held lightly while it is actively operative in the mind of the therapist as he navigates his way through the world that emerges within the analytic setting. A solid grounding in psychodynamic theory helps the therapist maintain a calm receptivity to the patient in the midst of unknowing, which most often characterizes the immediacy of clinical work. It also helps the therapist cultivate and sustain a reflective use of herself that establishes a safe and supportive professional framework that holds and protects both parties in the clinical dyad.

This course examines the ways in which Pauline Christians and their successors in the cities of the Empire formed communities for the support and nurture of their faith and way of life. It will examine the models they adopted for communities, the ways in which they defined their ethos and set the limits of community, the ways in which outsiders viewed the emerging churches, and the internal challenges they faced.

Stewart Clegg has suggested that 'the forgetting' of power may yet be the 'fate of our time'. His caution signals how the more difficult it becomes to locate the source and nature of power amidst the complexity of social and political life, the harder it is to discern power, presence, employ it effectively, or resist it when necessary. This course addresses a 'forgetting' of power in Christian theology. Although various approaches to contemporary political theology imply differing conceptions of the workings of power, seldom is the concept itself the focus of direct analysis. Without a fully developed concept of power, efforts to advance a coherent political theology, or to resolve problems in ecclesiology more generally, leave many questions unaddressed and numerous tensions obscured. In addition to analyzing both the limitations and untapped resources regarding the concept of power within the Christian tradition, the course will also engage wider debates over the nature of power by making the concept of 'powerlessnes' a significant topic for discussion. For as contemporary scholars investigate the nature of power as both an oppressive and productive force, the Christian tradition, wrestling with the significance of being without power, and its reflections on whether this is always an inherently negative situation, promises to offer a unique contribution to debates over the nature of power.

Stewart Clegg has suggested that 'the forgetting' of power may yet be the 'fate of our time'. His caution signals how the more difficult it becomes to locate the source and nature of power amidst the complexity of social and political life, the harder it is to discern power, presence, employ it effectively, or resist it when necessary. This course addresses a 'forgetting' of power in Christian theology. Although various approaches to contemporary political theology imply differing conceptions of the workings of power, seldom is the concept itself the focus of direct analysis. Without a fully developed concept of power, efforts to advance a coherent political theology, or to resolve problems in ecclesiology more generally, leave many questions unaddressed and numerous tensions obscured. In addition to analyzing both the limitations and untapped resources regarding the concept of power within the Christian tradition, the course will also engage wider debates over the nature of power by making the concept of 'powerlessnes' a significant topic for discussion. For as contemporary scholars investigate the nature of power as both an oppressive and productive force, the Christian tradition, wrestling with the significance of being without power, and its reflections on whether this is always an inherently negative situation, promises to offer a unique contribution to debates over the nature of power.

Stewart Clegg has suggested that 'the forgetting' of power may yet be the 'fate of our time'. His caution signals how the more difficult it becomes to locate the source and nature of power amidst the complexity of social and political life, the harder it is to discern power, presence, employ it effectively, or resist it when necessary. This course addresses a 'forgetting' of power in Christian theology. Although various approaches to contemporary political theology imply differing conceptions of the workings of power, seldom is the concept itself the focus of direct analysis. Without a fully developed concept of power, efforts to advance a coherent political theology, or to resolve problems in ecclesiology more generally, leave many questions unaddressed and numerous tensions obscured. In addition to analyzing both the limitations and untapped resources regarding the concept of power within the Christian tradition, the course will also engage wider debates over the nature of power by making the concept of 'powerlessnes' a significant topic for discussion. For as contemporary scholars investigate the nature of power as both an oppressive and productive force, the Christian tradition, wrestling with the significance of being without power, and its reflections on whether this is always an inherently negative situation, promises to offer a unique contribution to debates over the nature of power.

The New Testament texts speak not only of Christ's saving work on behalf of the world but also of those who believe in him becoming one with him. That the texts speak in this way led to union with Christ becoming a central theme in the soteriology of various Christian traditions and, in turn, to those traditions interpreting differently from each other the texts responsible for the prominence of the theme. This course explores union with Christ in the New Testament through (i) detailed exegetical study of selected New Testament texts that offer different but overlapping ways of conceptualizing union with Christ (e.g., the body of Christ, the Temple, the sacraments), (ii) critical engagement with the appropriation of union with Christ in Christian theology (e.g., in the patristic era, in Orthodox theology, in Lutheran and Reformed theology), and (iii) critical engagement with union with Christ in recent New Testament scholarship (e.g., the work of Grant Macaskill). Attention will also be paid to the implications of union with Christ for Christian life and ethics. Students will form their own conclusions about the nature and significance of union with Christ in the New Testament.

Challenges of religious pluralism to Christianity appearing from outside Christianity, and responses to it. How do other world religious traditions think about Christianity or religions for that matter? What are the theoretical problems of religious pluralism and the response to them from within Christianity?

In both the Christian theological tradition and in historical-critical scholarship Paul was often interpreted as the apostle of grace. In the late twentieth-century this pattern was disrupted by the recognition in New Perspective scholarship that, far from being distinctive to Paul, an emphasis on grace was characteristic of Second Temple Judaism. More recently, John Barclay's influential volume Paul and the Gift (2015) has reasserted in new ways the significance of grace in Paul’s theology. In the context of these debates, this course explores grace in Paul through (i) an exploration of grace in the Greco-Roman world and more especially in Judaism, and (ii) detailed exegetical study of key Pauline texts concerning grace. Attention will be paid not only to recent interpreters of such texts but also to selected figures from reception history (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas, Luther etc.). Through such study students will critically engage key questions concerning Barclay's thesis (e.g., is incongruity indeed the principal characteristic of grace for Paul, is he distinctive in emphasizing it, does he consider that grace always demands a response from its recipients?) and responses to it, to discern its implications for interpreting Paul's theology more broadly (e.g., for Paul's Christology, for Paul's place within Judaism), and to reach their own conclusions about the part played by grace in Paul's theology.