DESCRIPTION: This is doctoral seminar (for which PhD/ThM students register fall
and winter, TH832A and TH832B), open in the fall to a limited number of
advanced master's students (TH522). This seminar will look at two important
loci in the history of theology: the doctrines of creation and fall,
which include questions of the image of God, theological anthropology, and the
doctrine of sin (and its implied redemption). The seminar will focus on
selected Reformed writers of the sixteenth century, drawing on Zwingli,
Bullinger, Calvin, Musculus, Bucer, and Vermigli--with some non-Reformed
predecessors and contemporaries added for comparison. The course should be of
interest to students in history, theology, and exegesis, insofar as we will be
reading and comparing both systematic and exegetical works.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will gain an increased knowledge of Reformed
theology and greater competence in interpreting the Reformation and its legacy
in the context of the larger Christian church, including greater facility in
evaluating theological issues and a critical and sympathetic appreciation for
the breadth, unity and diversity of the Christian church.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: Protestants have typically invoked the Reformation
motto of sola scriptura as if the phrase were self-explanatory, despite
the clear disagreements among the many sixteenth-century advocates for a return
to Holy Scripture as the only reliable authority in matters of faith and
religion. Yet the Reformation manifested both continuity and discontinuity with
patristic and medieval theology, and it left its own legacy of concord and
discord among its descendants. This seminar examines how key theological themes
emerged from exegetical and pastoral tasks, as well as how those same themes
were part of a culture that also shaped those exegetical and pastoral tasks.
For those who seek to serve as ministers of the Word of God in the diverse
church and pluralistic culture of the twenty-first century, it is crucial to
grasp the continuities and discontinuities between the ideals and legacy of the
Reformation and the task of the interpreter and expositor today.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar, 3 hours weekly to discuss readings and issues, with a
1/2-hour Latin tutorial.
REQUIRED READING: Most 16th c. texts below are out of print but can be
downloaded in digital form from databases available at www.fuller.edu/library/.
Texts designated by Short Title Catalogue (STC) number are available via Early
English Books Online (EEBO). Other texts are available via the Digital Library
of Classic Protestant Texts (DLCPT). Students may wish to obtain Calvin in hard
copy.