DESCRIPTION: Socrates' dictum, the unexamined life is not worth living, seems to have a modern corollary in the claim that the unexamined faith is not worth believing. But what does it mean to submit faith to rational scrutiny? This course will explore philosophical options for understanding the nature of belief and the relation of religious belief to human reason. Although some historical references will be made, the bulk of the course will be devoted to contemporary thinkers on the subject of faith and reason.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students who engage the material will (1) understand the historical and philosophical context for understandings of the nature of belief and its relationship to reason, (2) develop pastoral sensitivity to the frameworks people bring to questions of faith and reason, (3) reflect and write on some specific issue dealt with in the course.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Historically Christian believers have taken diverse positions regarding the relationship of faith and reason. Augustine said, "I believe in order that I may understand." Tertullian, another church father, is reported as having said, "I believe because it is absurd." This course is designed to help ministers respond with wisdom to the entire spectrum of positions represented by contemporary thinkers such that the faith of the people of God might be nurtured.

COURSE FORMAT: Lectures, discussion, some small-group work. The class will meet daily for four-hour sessions for two weeks (except July 4).

REQUIRED READING:

Connolly, William. Pluralism. Duke University Press, 2005. (195 pp.)

Evans, C. Stephen, Faith Beyond Reason. Edinburgh University Press, 1998. (167 pp.)

Placher, William C. Unapologetic Theology: A Christian Voice in a Pluralistic Conversation. Westminster/John Knox, 1989. (178 pp.)

McClendon, James Wm. Witness: Systematic Theology, Volume 3. Abingdon, 2000. (466 pp.)

McInerny, Ralph. Characters in Search of Their Author. Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 2001. (138 pp.)

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Eerdmans, 1989. (252 pp.)

Course Reader including: Romand Coles, "The Wild Patience of John Howard Yoder," ch. 4 in Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy, 109-38 (University of Minnesota Press, 2005). Alasdair MacIntyre, "Epistemological Crises, Dramatic Narrative, and the Philosophy of Science," in Paradigms and Revolutions, ed. Gary Gutting, 55-74 (University of Notre Dame Press, 1980). Charles Taylor, Philosophical Arguments, chs. 1-3 (1-60) (Harvard University Press, 1995). Charles Taylor, "A Philosopher's Postscript: Engaging the Citadel of Secular Reason," in Reason and the Reasons of Faith, ed. P. J. Griffiths and R. Hütter, 339-53 (T & T Clark, 2005). John Howard Yoder, "`But We Do See Jesus': The Particularity of Incarnation and the Universality of Truth," ch. 2 in Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel, 46-62 (University of Notre Dame Press, 1984).

Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. University of Minnesota Press, 1984. (106 pp.)