DESCRIPTION:

This CATS graduate seminar is open to a limited number of master's level students. Community has resurfaced as a major theme in contemporary life. As current religious and social scientific surveys attest, there is an increasing search for community in both the church and the world. A focus on community is also present in the works of some biblical, systematic, and pastoral theologians, as well as in some writings on ethical, social, and political thought. In this seminar we will examine a number of these works, concentrating especially on definitions, dimensions, and dynamics of community in congregational and everyday life.

Students will come away with (1) a sharper awareness of current writing on, and empirical research into, the search for community in the West; (2) a deeper biblical, theological, and ethical understanding of the Christian view of community; and (3) a concrete set of proposals and recommendations for building community in and through the church and other religious organizations.

The class will meet for three and a quarter hours each week and will, for those interested, include a meal to which all are invited. This will provide the opportunity to build community as well as study it. Each week a student will prepare a brief presentation on the required reading. The class will break into smaller groups for discussion on a regular basis.

Banks, Robert J. Paul's Idea of Community. Rev. ed. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994.

Bellah, Robert N. et al. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985.

Etzioni, Amitai. The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities and the Communitarian Agenda. New York: Crown, 1993.

Hesselbein, Francis, et al. The Community of the Future. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.

McKnight, John. The Careless Society: Community and Its Counterfeits. New York: Basic Books, 1995.

Peck, M. Scott. The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.

Rasmussen, R. Moral Fragments and Moral Community. Minneapolis: Augsburg/Fortress, 1993.

Snyder, Howard. Signs of the Spirit: How God Reshapes the Church. New York: Free Press, 1994.

Volf, Miroslav. Trinity and Community: An Ecumenical Ecclesiology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

Wuthnow, Robert. Sharing the Journey: Support Groups and America's New Quest for Community. New York: Free Press, 1994.

For master's level students, one to two page reports on four of the books listed under required reading, due the day the class discusses the book in question. A twenty page practical theological paper on some aspect or type of community discussed in the course, due at the end of the Spring quarter. Doctoral students will be expected to do additional work.

For master's level students: 3.5 GPA or higher and permission of instructor.

Elective.

None.