DESCRIPTION: This course develops a biblically-based, theological approach to identity by exploring the relationship between racial identity, ethnic identity, and Christian identity. Lectures and discussions about selected NT passages and secondary literature about identity help students understand the biblical worldview, Greco-Roman thought, and modern and postmodern trends on the subject of racial and ethnic identity. Students will be exposed to several biblical, theological, and theoretical approaches that will be used to construct a uniquely Christian posture about race issues in society.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The student will be able to (1) understand the background and historical development of race and ethnicity in early Christianity; (2) gain an appreciation for the complexities of modern discussions about identity; (3) understand how race impacts the development of the church in the United States; and (4) develop biblical resources for constructing a Christian ethics of racial identity.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Christians need to develop a biblically based, historically and contextually sensitive understanding of the intersection of ethno-racial identity and Christian commitment in order to meet the challenges of multiculturalism in the contemporary church.

COURSE FORMAT: The course will meet weekly for three-hour sessions.

REQUIRED READING: Selected chapters from the following books:

Boyarin, Daniel. A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.

Braxton, Brad. No Longer Slaves: Galatians and African American Experience. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2002.

Goldenberg, David M. The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Isaac, Benjamin. The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004.

COURSE PACK that includes readings from the following:

Brodkin, Karen. How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2000.

Buell, Denise Kimber. "The Politics of Interpretation: The Rhetoric of Race and Ethnicity in Paul." JBL 123, no. 2 (2004): 235-51.

Foskett, Mary K. "The Accidents of Being and the Politics of Identity: Biblical Images of Adoption and Asian Adoptees in America." Semeia 90-91 (2002): 135-44.

Snowden, Frank M. Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.

1. Very short typewritten responses to course readings (10%).

2. One longer formal oral or written response to selected readings per class guidelines (25%).

3. Five-page exegesis paper (25%).

4. Term paper (10-15 pp.) on some pertinent ethical dilemma raised by the course (40%).