A study of those issues which are of common concern to philosophy and religion. Topics focused upon include: the nature and function of religion; the existence and attributes of God; the claims of reason and the claims of faith; God and the problem of evil; the meaning of religious statements; religious experience and the inexpressible; religion and morality; human freedom and the meaning of life.
An introductory exploration of basic ethical issues from different philosophical perspectives as well as from the vantage point of the Christian faith. This course is designed to encourage a thoughtful appraisal of the deep questions of life within the broadest possible context.
An exploration of biblical and secular narrative with particular attention to their compositional conventions, theological convictions, and literary connections.
An exploration of the biblical wisdom books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs in conjunction with contemporary reflections on wisdom.
An exploration of the prophetic biblical literature with particular attention to the historical situation of the prophets as well as the contemporary relevance and importance of their message. Text and Context course.
The stories of the Christ are painted out of the events of the life of Jesus. In this course we will explore the ways this single human life was (and is) told and understood as a drama of cosmic transformation.
An exploration of various biblical and theological, historical and contemporary images used to portray and characterize God, including a discussion of the advantages and limitations of these conceptions for an intelligible and credible understanding of God.
Does the future hold the good that has not happened yet or the bad? This course studies the ways Jewish and Christian scripture uses the future as a threat and as a hopeful sign. Close attention will be paid to the literary shape and function of resurrection narratives, especially as they draw on apocalyptic and eschatological texts.
This course will analyze various theological and Biblical texts which seek to reconcile a suffering world to a moral God. The course will also examine the traditional problem of evil.
Do readers find truth or steal it? Create it or deconstruct it? This course explores how interpreters and texts dance with each other to discover and create meaning and truth. Classic stories (some of them biblical, some not) will be read, interpretive theories will be explored, and theological implications will be examined. Particular attention will be paid to how historical events like the Holocaust affect (and create and destroy) the reading of classic stories. We will explore how catastrophe changes what we mean when we talk about meaning or truth.
This course addresses the ways that gender and sexuality intersect with religious thought from multiple traditions, exploring the deep connections between religious experience/knowledge and confirmation of one’s own sex or gender identity. The focus is on analyzing religious and cultural traditions to understand historical and contemporary approaches to sex and gender. Students will leave the class equipped with an understanding of and ability to construct helpful approaches to sexual/gender identities and religious traditions, hermeneutics, and practices.
PHIL 235
This course is a survey of Western philosophical thought with the purpose of introducing students of theology to the philosophical ideas which have had a significant influence on the development of Christian theology.
This course is devoted to concentrated study in liberation theologies and philosophies. Liberation theologies grow out of a wide variety of historical situations spanning the globe. Specific attention will be given to understanding the differences between a variety of schools of liberation thought and applications of those schools to historical or contemporary situations.
This course emphasizes the theological study of conversations between religion and science. Major topics of the course are: 1) a survey of the historical relationship between religion, science, and technology, 2) the breadth and depth of the conflicts and dialogues between religion, science, and technology, and 3) practical application to big problems in religion, science, and technology.
The word "Shoah" means desolation of cosmic proportions. Auschwitz and the killing of six million Jews from 1939-1945 was a "Shoah." This course examines how the "holocaust" has and should affect Christian faith and life.
This course addresses the great issues of justice, both human and divine. What is justice? Does God act justly? Can human beings act justly? This course will focus on a close and careful reading of three important primary texts: the Republic of Plato, the book of Genesis, and the book of Job. Each text provides a different perspective on the problems of justice and its relevance for forgiveness, community, religion, punishment, and natural injury. Text and context course.
This course will engage different living religious traditions worldwide by studying their origins, writings, rituals, beliefs, and contemporary expressions, as well as the emerging non-religious categories of the nones, atheists, and agnostics. The primary questions to be addressed are: How can people engage across religious or worldview differences? What are the things people can learn from each other? How does each address ethical issues in contemporary times?
In voicing the proposition: "We tell ourselves stories in order to live," essayist Joan Didion asserts that humans derive meaning through stories. Stories shape and interpret life events (real or imagined) so as to yield meaning. This course will study the foundational (origin) stories of both the Old Testament and the New Testament in order to observe how these origin stories shape the faith of confessing communities and yield important conversations about divine and human nature and the meaning of life.
This course examines the similarities and differences between Islam and Christianity. We will analyze the beliefs, scriptures, rituals, history and cultural contexts of each tradition. We will also discuss the risks, dangers, and benefits of studying somebody else's religious tradition.
This course is a study of theological perspectives on issues in contemporary medicine. Rigorous intellectual attention will be given to the ways in which religious practices, beliefs, and institutions form and are formed by experiences of illness, health, and medical sciences.
This course examines the relationship between religion, violence and the Christian Faith. From the pacifism of Jesus and the early Christians to scriptural stories about God commanding and using violence to the Crusades to the Just War Theory, and to contemporary discussions about religion and violence, we will wrestle with why certain religious believers feel compelled to use violence.
This course will study how Islam and Christianity understand Jesus Christ as an essential figure in connection to God's revelation to humanity. We will survey the Scriptures, tradition, spirituality, and contemporary views of Jesus in those religions, as well as several points of encounters in the history of Muslim-Christian relations, where Jesus became a contentious point through polemics and apologetics. While we address this reality and examine it critically, the course will utilize the comparative theology method to generate constructive reflections that can enrich dialogue and mutual understanding in today's pluralistic society.
his course introduces students to constructive theology by utilizing the arts to interpret the practice and formation of the Christian faith.
What does geography have to do with our spirit, with God's Spirit? The course is a theological and pastoral response to that question. We will explore the geographies, narratives, and places in Christian theologies, with specific attention to Native American theologies.
This course explores the Lutheran traditions in conversation with other theological, historical, and cultural movements within the Church catholic. Specific emphasis will include theological doctrines and beliefs, confessional documents, organization, practice, history, and the location of Lutheran traditions within an ecumenical context.
Religious views about the environment have profound impacts. Examining religious views about what the environment is, what its importance is, and what humans’ relationship to it is reveals ideas behind many modern day approaches to the environment. The religious component to environmental views—views promoting the environment as a good in itself and views promoting the notion of the environment as a means to human ends—is explored in this class. Students will interpret religious texts, explain key concepts in various religious and philosophical perspectives, and orally articulate theological viewpoints.
Special Topics in Religion.
Permission of Department Chair
Research in a special area, supervised by an instructor.
Permission of Department Chair