DESCRIPTION:

This doctoral seminar, open only to a very limited number of master's level students by permission of the instructor, is designed to encourage students to develop an intentional and critical methodology for interpreting cultural products (i.e. literary texts, films, music etc.). In the broadest sense the course is designed to develop cultural literacy from a Christian perspective. The approach will be, firstly, to focus on particular cultural `texts' and develop strategies of reading and interpretation that are informed by biblical and theological perspectives.

Ministry is now carried on in a world with a growing awareness of culture and ethnic identity. Commitment to these realities often takes on a kind of idolatry that threatens to distort a person's understanding of reality, and accordingly their interpretation of Christianity. Christians need to understand both the positive and negative roles that culture plays in helping the believer understand and engage their culture in the light of Scripture.

Classes will meet weekly for a three-hour session, and will be conducted in a seminar format.

Bunyan, John. Pilgrim's Progress. (1684).

Dante Aligieri. The Purgatorio. Trans. John Ciardi. Mentor Classic, 1961.

Dyson, Michael Eric. Holler if you Hear Me. BasicCivitas, 2001.

Humphrey, Caroline. Sacred Architecture. Thorson, 2003 [1997].

Niebuhr, H. Richard. Christ and Culture. Harper, 1951.

Paul Schrader. Transcendental Style in Film. New York: Da Capo, 1972.

Stegner, Wallace. The Spectator Bird. Penguin, 1990 [1976].

Reader available in the bookstore.

Grading will be based primarily on a major paper which will be first presented in class and, on the basis of discussion in class, rewritten before submission. Participation in class discussion will be a secondary factor in the final grade, especially as evidence of having done the reading.

For master's level students, permission of the instructor.

Methods core for Ph.D. students in Theology and Culture. Elective for master's students.

No.