Religion-Christianity

Survey of development of Christian ethical thought and teaching from beginnings through Reformation era. Major ethical themes are traced through the centuries, as the church's scripture, evolving doctrine, and emerging tradition interact with secular society, politics, and philosophy. Readings will be taken mostly from primary texts, such as the Bible and the writings of selected Christian thinkers.

This course examines the history of the interplay between theology, morality, social movements, and politics in America. Topics covered include temperance and prohibition, abolition, labor, civil rights, anti-war and pacifism, and environmentalism. Lecture, weekly readings (often a book), class presentations, short papers, and original research.

There are four gospels, one book of "acts," and one "apocalypse" (that is, "revelation") in the canonical New Testament -- but early Christian authors produced far more literature than that. In this course, we will read a wide range of "apocryphal" (or "noncanonical") gospels, acts, and apocalypses, focusing on texts that, despite their noncanonical status, were widely read and highly influential in the history of Christianity.

Christian Europe gave rise to modern science, yet Christianity and science have long appeared mutual enemies. In this course we explore the encounter between two powerful cultural forces and study the intellectual struggle (especially in Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Freud) about the place of God in the modern world.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of Christianity.

Who are the great modern Christian theologians? What do they have to say to us? What do they argue about? Who did they offend and why? In this seminar we shall read major works by four of the truly great modern theologians of the twentieth century. Two are Protestant (Karl Barth and Paul Tillich), and two are Catholic (Karl Rahner and Henri de Lubac).

This course is an introduction to Christology, that part of Theology concerned with the claim that Jesus is the Christ. How is this doctrine built up from Scripture, Church Councils, and the Fathers? What roles do heresies and creeds play in the construction? What events in the life and death of Jesus are most relevant to Christological claims? Particular attention is given to Jesus's preaching of the Kingdom of God.

Why were women excluded from the priestly hierarchy of the church? How did male clerics subsequently circumscribe women's roles in the church? And how did women respond? These are the questions that we will explore in this course on the intersection between gender and power in pre-modern Christianity.

Exploration of Roman Catholic experience outside structure of the Holy See (for example, devotions, pilgrimages, shrines, art, fiction, cinema, television), particularly as committed Catholics argue over how to honor their spiritual tradition in day-to-day life. Study of current challenges wrought by women, Jews, and gays. Special attention paid to contemporary intellectuals and artists who criticize John Paul II while fiercely guarding their own.

This class engages debates about Christianity, gender, and sexuality in past and present. Topics addressed include: biblical treatments of sex, gender, and sexuality; theological views of the human in patristic, medieval, and modern theology; Christianity, feminism, and feminist theology; sexuality and sexual ethics; and queer theology.

Examines the life and thinking of Augustine of Hippo, a major figure in Christian history and a formative influence on Christian thought to this day. Prerequisite: Any RELC course or instructor permission.

Historical and topical survey of Christianity in Africa from the second century c.e. to the present. Cross listed with RELA 389. Prerequisite: a course in African religions or history, Christianity, or instructor permission.

What is the nature of religion and its role in American society? This seminar will explore the limits of spiritual convictions in a liberal democracy which guarantees religious freedom. This course will examine: 1) the First Amendment; 2) legal methodology; and 3) the contemporary debate over whether citizens and public officials have a duty to refrain from making political and legal decisions on the basis of their religious beliefs.

An examination of Christian missions in Africa in the 21st Century. Through a variety of disciplinary lenses and approaches, we examine faith-based initiatives in Africa--those launched from abroad, as well as from within the continent. What does it mean to be a missionary in Africa today? How are evangelizing efforts being transformed in response to democratization, globalization and a growing awareness of human rights?

The course has four goals: (1) to understand the theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King Jr.; (2) to explore the themes of resistance and reconciliation in their writings and actions; (3) to examine their ambivalent relationships with academic theology; and (4) to consider the promise of lived theology for contemporary religious thought.

A graduate seminar overview of Christianity's remarkable cross-cultural presence, highlighting the community's global scope, cultural pluriformity, and confessional diversity, as well as its historic and current centers in the Global South. Throughout, the class examines how a range of chronological, ideological, social, political, linguistic, and cultural contexts interact with Christian communities, beliefs, and practices.

Intensive consideration of a selected issue, movement or figure in Christian thought of the second through fifth centuries. Prerequisite: RELC 2050 or instructor permission.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new topic in the subject of Christianity

This seminar examines perspectives on freedom in landmark texts of Christian theology, western philosophy, and recent critical theory. It engages diverse accounts of (a) the relationship of divine and human action; (b) the nature of sin and grace; and (c) gender, sex, race, and class as they bear on human subjection and/or liberation.

Amid a global resurgence of localism, populism, strong identity heritages, and nationalist political cultures, this graduate seminar explores the history, ideology, current form, and critiques of Christian Nationalism. It further raises questions about how Christians have thought, do think, and should think about their cultural contexts, national identities, and political orders.

This course examines Christian discussions of death & dying. It starts with a historical analysis of topics like Stoic influences, whether death is a good, the early modern art of dying tradition, & twentieth century shifts in dying. The second half of the class brings this historical material into discussion with key contemporary bioethical debates at the end of life including euthanasia, withdrawing treatment, & the determination of death.

A comparative study of key works by F. D. E. Schleiermacher and Paul Tillich, two of the most important Protestant thinkers of the last two hundred years. The course attends particularly to both authors' attitudes to the category of "religion," the nature and meaning of cultural production, and the vexed category of "experience." It also engages both authors' perspectives on central issues in the fields of Christian thought and religious ethics.

A semester-long engagement with the writings of the most important Protestant theologian in the twentieth century. While we will read some of Barth's earlier work, our main focus will be the *Church Dogmatics*.

An advanced graduate class, run tutorial-style, which will acquaint graduate students with core texts, themes, and thinkers in Christian thought.

This course provides the opportunity to offer a new course in the subject of Christianity.