DESCRIPTION:

This seminar 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, first of all, 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].

Dyrness, William. The Earth is God's: A Theology of American Culture. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1996.

Dyson, Michael Eric. Holler If You Hear Me. New York: Basic Civitas, 2001.

Humphrey, Caroline. Sacred Architecture. Thorson, 2003 [Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1997].

Niebuhr, H. Richard. Christ and Culture. New York: Harper, 1951.

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

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

Course Reader.

Grading will be based primarily on a major paper that 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 PhD students in Theology and Culture. Elective for master's students.

No.