Fall 2016/Pasadena
PH510
Bailey
PH510: CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS (4 Units: 160 Hours). Justin Bailey.
DESCRIPTION: This course explores the major challenges that Christianity faces in North America at the beginning of the 21st century. It aims to develop an apologetic framework by (1) taking into account the biblical, historical, philosophical, and global contexts that shape how Christians have understood and defended the faith and by (2) developing a pastoral strategy for students to think critically about their own faith (and doubt), responding to challenges, and commending the faith to non-Christians.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Through discussion, reading and writing students will be able to; (1) understand the role the Western philosophical tradition played in the development of Apologetics; (2) develop the ability to think critically and non-defensively about their faith, with a pastoral sensitivity to the intellectual and cultural frameworks people bring to questions of faith; and (3) reflect critically and write clearly and persuasively on some specific apologetic issue.
COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for three hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.
REQUIRED READING: 1,200 pages required. The following texts are required:
Plantinga, Alvin. Knowledge and Christian Belief. Eerdmans, 2015. ISBN: 978-0802872043, Pub. Price $16.00 [126 pp. assigned].
Ramachandra, Vinoth. Faiths in Conflict: Christian Integrity in a Multicultural World. IVP, 1999. ISBN: 978-0830815586, Pub. Price $22.00 [172 pp. assigned].
Robinson, Marilynne. Gilead. Picador, 2006. ISBN: 978-0312424404, Pub. Price $16.00 [247 pp. assigned].
Smith, James K. A. How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. Eerdmans, 2014. ISBN: 978-0802867612, Pub. Price $16.00 [140 pp. assigned].
E-Reader, including Plato, Descartes, Einstein, Van den Toren, Potter, Keller, Craig, etc. [215 pages]
Students will also read 100 pages from a classic apologetic text, and 200 pages from a text that challenges Christianity for the critical book review. Texts will be selected from the recommended reading list below.
RECOMMENDED READING: (for classic text, book review, and research projects)
Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Contra Gentiles: Book One: God. Translated by Anton Charles Pegis. University of Notre Dame Press, 1991. ISBN: 978-0268016784, Pub. Price $19.50.
Calvin, Jean. Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol 1. Edited by John T. McNeill. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Westminster John Knox Press, 1960. ISBN: 978-0664220204, Pub. Price $90.00
Chang, Curtis. Engaging Unbelief. Wipf and Stock, 2007. ISBN: 978-1556355202, Pub. Price $22.00
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Penguin, 2015. ISBN: 978-0812993547, Pub. Price $24.00
Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith. Crossway, 2008. ISBN: 978-1433501159, Pub. Price $26.00.
Davison, Andrew, ed. Imaginative Apologetics. Baker, 2011. ISBN: 978-0801039812, Pub Price $25.00
Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. Mariner Books, 2006. ISBN: 978-0618918249, Pub. Price $15.95.
Dulles, Avery. A History of Apologetics. Ignatius Press, 2005. ISBN: 978-0898709339, Pub. Price $26.95
Edgar, William, and K. Scott Oliphint, eds. Christian Apologetics Past and Present (Volume 1, To 1500): A Primary Source Reader. Crossway, 2009. ISBN: 978-1581349061, Pub. Price $39.00
Harris, Sam. The End of Faith. W. W. Norton, 2004. ISBN: 978-0393327656, Pub. Price $15.95.
Hart, David B. Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and its Fashionable Enemies. Yale, 2009. ISBN: 978-0300164299, Pub. Price $17.00
Hitchens, Christopher. God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Twelve, 2007. ISBN: 978-0446697965, Pub. Price $16.00.
Kierkegaard, Søren, Howard V. Hong, and Edna H. Hong. The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening. Princeton University Press, 1983. ISBN: 978-0691020280, Pub. Price $24.95.
Newbigin, Lesslie. Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship. Eerdmans, 1995. ISBN: 978-0802808561, Pub. Price $15.00
Pascal, Blaise. Pensées. Trans. A.J. Krailsheimer. Penguin, 1995. ISBN: 978-0140446456, Pub. Price $9.95
Penner, Myron. The End of Apologetics. Baker, 2013. ISBN: 978-0801035982, Pub. Price $19.99
Phillips, Timothy and Dennis Ockholm. Christian Apologetics in a Postmodern World. IVP, 1995. ISBN: 978-0830818600, Pub. Price $25.00.
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers. New York: Harper, 1958. ISBN: 978-0061300363, Pub. Price $9.95.
Stackhouse, John G. Humble Apologetics: Defending the Faith Today. Oxford, 2002. ISBN: 978-0195307177, Pub. Price $14.95.
Van den Toren, Bernard. Christian Apologetics as Cross Cultural Dialogue. T & T Clark, 2011. ISBN: 978-0567169167, Pub. Price $36.95.
Zuckerman, Phil. Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions. Penguin, 2014. ISBN: 978-0143127932, Pub. Price $17.00.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
1,200 pp. of required reading, to be reported online: Required Texts (685 pp.) + E-Reader (215 pp.) + Classic Text (100 pp.) + Review Text (200 pp.) = 1200 pages (2.5%) [70 hours].
Class Attendance and Participation (2.5%) [30 hours].
Directed Learning Activities (DLAs): Three Short Reflection Papers (700 words ea.) on the discipline of apologetics, a classic apologetics text, and the relationship of faith and doubt (15%) [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 & 2] [10 hours].
Midterm exam after the first five weeks of the course. (25%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1] [5 hours].
5–7 page (1,500 word) critical book review (20%) of one of the books in the recommended reading list. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2 & 3] [15 hours].
12–15 page (3,000 word) paper/project (40%) on a particular apologetic problem, which may be done in learning groups of 3 or 4. [This assignment is related to learning outcome # 3] [30 hours].
PREREQUISITES: None.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH5 or C2 or C3 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program. Meets PHIL in the 144 MDiv and MAT (Winter 2010) Programs.
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.