Winter 2020/Pasadena

ST529/829

Kärkkäinen

ST529/829: THEOLOGICAL METHOD. (4/6 Units: 180/393 hours). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen.

DESCRIPTION: This doctoral seminar, open to limited number of advanced master’s level students, is designed to investigate and discuss critically competing methodologies and approaches in contemporary systematic/constructive theology including their philosophical, hermeneutical, and cultural ramifications. Approaches to be studied include mainline Protestant and Catholic, post-liberal, postmodern, Radical Orthodox, postmetaphysical, post-colonial, canonical-linguistic, various types of Liberationist and other “contextual” or “global” theologies, and comparative theologies, as well as Evangelical responses and constructive proposals.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students completing this course will have demonstrated their ability to (1) identify key methodological choices and agendas in various contemporary systematic theologies; (2) analyze critically and assess their contributions and liabilities; (3) offer a reasoned response to various proposals in light of tradition and current intellectual milieu; and (4) begin to formulate their own approach to doing systematic/constructive theology.

COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for three-hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for student presentations and critical discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.

REQUIRED READING: Selections from the following texts [total number of pages required: 529: 1590 pp./829: 2500 pp]

Course Reader: “Essays on Theological Method.”

Clooney, F.X. Comparative Theology: Deep Learning Across Religious Borders. Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. ISBN: 978-1405179744, Pub. Price $53.99 [200 pp.]

Cone, J. H. A Black Theology of Liberation. Fortieth Anniversary Edition. Orbis, 2010. ISBN: 978-1570758959, Pub. Price $21.00 [200pp.].

OR Gutiérrez, G. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation. Orbis, 1988. ISBN: 978-0883445426, Pub. Price $26.00 [334 pp.]

Grenz, S. J. & Franke, J. R. Beyond Foundationalism: Shaping Theology in a Postmodern Society. Westminster John Knox, 2001. ISBN: 978-0664257699, Pub. Price $40.00 [296pp.].

OR Murphy, N. Beyond Liberalism and Foundationalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy Set the Theological Agenda. Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 1996. ISBN: 978-1563381768, Pub. Price $34.95. [192pp.].

Johnson, E. She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. Crossroad, 2002. ISBN: 978-0824519254, Pub. Price $32.95 [344pp.].

OR McFague, S. Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age. Fortress, 1987. ISBN: 978-0800620516, Pub. Price $25.00 [244pp.].

OR Kwok, P. Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology. Westminster John Knox, 2005. ISBN: 978-0664228835, Pub. Price $30.00 [256pp.].

Kärkkäinen, V.-M. Creation and Humanity. A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, vol. 3. Eerdmans, 2015. ISBN: 978-0802868558, Pub. Price $45.00 [574 pp.].

Lindbeck, G. A. The Nature of Doctrine: Religion & Theology in a Postliberal Age. Westminster John Knox, 1984. ISBN: 978-0664246181, Pub. Price $30.00 [144pp.].

McCall, T.J. An Invitation to Analytic Christian Theology. InterVarsity Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0830840953, Pub. Price: $22.00 [192 pp.]

Moltmann, J. Experiences in Theology: Ways and Forms of Christian Theology. Fortress, 2000. ISBN: 978-0800632670, Pub. Price $30.00 [320pp.].

Pannenberg, W. Systematic Theology. Vol. 1. Eerdmans, 2010. ISBN: 978-0802865038, Pub. Price $60.00 [486pp.].

Smith, J. A. K. Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: Mapping a Post-Secular Theology. Baker Academic, 2004. ISBN: 978-0801027352, Pub. Price $28.00 [296pp.].

OR Shakespeare, S. Radical Orthodoxy: A Critical Introduction. SPCK, 2007. ISBN: 978-0281058372, Pub. Price $23.99 [208 pp.].

Vanhoozer, K. J. The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Doctrine. Westminster John Knox, 2005. ISBN: 978-0664223274, Pub. Price $42.00 [485pp.].

Highly recommended as a general guide to theologians’ method is:

Mary M. Veeneman, Introducing Theological Method. A Survey of Contemporary Theologians and Approaches. Baker Academic, 2017. ISBN: 978-0801049491, Pub. Price $25.00 [208 pp.]

The following works are available (in the reserve shelf) for consultation for further study and presentations:

Analytic Theology. New Essays in the Philosophy of Theology, ed. Crisp, O.D. & Rea, M.C. OUP, 2011. ISBN: 978-0199600427, Pub. Price $48.95 [316 pp.]

Bevans, S. B. Models of Contextual Theology. Rev. ed. Orbis, 2002. ISBN: 978-1570754388, Pub. Price $32.00. [192pp.].

Bloesch, D. A Theology of Word & Spirit: Authority & Method in Theology. IVP Academic, 2005. ISBN: 978-0830827510, Pub. Price $30.00 [336pp.]

Frei, H. W. The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative. Yale University Press, 1980. ISBN: 978-0300026023, Pub. Price $28.00 [365pp.].

Greene-McCreight, Kathryn. Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal. Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 978-0195128628, Pub. Price $130.00 [192pp.]

Hart, Trevor. Faith Thinking: The Dynamics of Christian Theology. Wipf & Stock, 2005. ISBN: 978-1597520188, Pub. Price $29.00 [248pp.].

Hedges, P. Comparative Theology: A Critical and Methodological Perspective. Brill, 2017. ISBN: 978-9004358454, Pub. Price $84.00.

Kaufman, G. D. The Theological Imagination: Constructing the Concept of God. Westminster John Knox, 1981. ISBN: 978-0664243937, Pub. Price $30.00 [312pp.].

Lonergan, Bernard. Method in Theology. Repr. University of Toronto Press, 1990. ISBN: 978-0802068095, Pub. Price $40.95 [405 pp.].

Marion, J. L. God without Being: Hors-Texte. University of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN: 978-0226505411, Pub. Price $25.00 [284pp.].

Milbank, J. Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell, 2006. ISBN: 978-1405136846, Pub. Price $66.50 {480 pp.].

Milbank, J. & O. Simon, ed. The Radical Orthodoxy Reader. Routledge, 2009. ISBN: 978-0415425131, Pub. Price $46.95 [420pp.].

Moltmann, J.: Any of the volumes in his series “Contributions to Theology” from The Trinity and the Kingdom (1981) to the Coming of God (1996). Fortress Press.

Murphy, N. Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics. Westview Press, 1997. ISBN: 978-0813328690, Out of Print [240pp.].

Pannenberg, W. Systematic Theology. Vol. 2. Eerdmans, 2013. ISBN: 978-0802870896, Pub. Price $60.00 [515pp.].

_______ Systematic Theology. Vol. 3. Eerdmans, 2008. ISBN: 978-0802864567, Pub. Price $61.50 [730pp.].

Phan, P. Christianity with an Asian Face: Asian American Theology in the Making. Orbis, 2003. ISBN: 978-1570754661, Pub. Price $34.00 [256pp.].

Phillips, T. T. & D. L. Okholm, eds. The Nature of Confession. Evangelicals & Postliberals in Conversation. InterVarsity Press, 1996. ISBN: 978-0830818693, Out of Print [298pp.].

Placher, W. An Unapologetic Theology: A Christian Voice in a Pluralistic Society. Westminster John Knox, 1989. ISBN: 978-0664250645, Pub. Price $30.00 [184pp.].

Schreiter, R. J. Constructing Local Theologies. Orbis, 1985. ISBN: 978-0883441084, Pub. Price $26.00 [192pp.].

Shults, F. L. The Postfoundationalist Task of Theology. Eerdmans, 1999. ISBN: 978-0802846860, Pub. Price $30.50 [286pp.].

Tanner, K. Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology. Fortress, 1997. ISBN: 978-0800630973, Pub. Price $25.00 [208pp.].

Tracy, D. The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism. Crossroad, 1998. ISBN: 978-0824506940, Pub. Price $49.95 [480pp.].

Vanhoozer, K. J., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN: 978-0521793957, Pub. Price $36.99 [312pp.].

Ward, Graham, ed. The Postmodern God: A Theological Reader. Wiley-Blackwell, 1998. ISBN: 978-0631201410, Pub. Price $82.00 [416pp.].

Wilson, M. M. Historical and Social Dimensions in African Christian Theology. Wipf & Stock, 2009. ISBN: 978-1606081242, Pub. Price $18.00 [118pp.].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. Class time with active participation in class discussions. (10%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3] [30 hours].
2. A careful reading of the required texts prior to class. [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3] [529: 90 hrs/829: 218 hrs].
3. Class presentations. (30%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2, 3, 4]. [529: 1 pres.: 20 hours/829: 2 pres.: 50 hours].
4. Research paper of 25-30 pp. (60%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2, 3, 4] [529: 12-15pp., 40 hrs; 829: 25-30pp., 95 hrs].

PREREQUISITES: Master’s level students need written permission from the professor. No audits.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Required for PhD and ThM in Theology. Option to meet the TH4 requirement in the 120 MDiv and 80 MAT Programs (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.

NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. Textbook prices are set by publishers and are subject to change. Copyright 2019 Fuller Theological Seminary.