DESCRIPTION:

Alongside its ethics and doctrine, Christian theology must address culture, because to be good news the gospel must do so. Constantly interacting with its culture, the church's gospel must constantly be restated truly to be itself. Theology of culture studies this necessary interaction; it makes sense of gospel-and-culture in order to correct the church's current version of the gospel in faithfulness to Jesus Christ. The present seminar explores this theological task. Its chosen example is American culture today--including its political, religious, scientific, and artistic (visual arts, literature, music including jazz) dimensions.

This course is offered to advanced students who have done some work on the relevance of culture to ministry, that is, on a theology of culture. For them it provides an opportunity to explore at term's length issues they already confront in ministry, not by teaching techniques but by studying the underlying theological problems.

Here advanced theological students are given an opportunity to recognize the role of culture in the formation of theology. This will include, beside the usual weekly seminar meetings, some museum-going and group music-listening.

Goldberg, Michael. Why Should Jews Survive? Looking Past the Holocaust toward a Jewish Future. Oxford University Press, 1995.

Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer. Fawcett Columbine, 1996.

Tillich, Paul. Theology of Culture. Oxford University Press, 1959.

Yoder, John H. For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public. Eerdmans, 1997.

Also a Course Reader for some hard-to-buy chapters on our theme.

Begbie, Jeremy. Voicing Creation's Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1991.

Lewis, R. W. B. The American Adam: Innocence, Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Century. University of Chicago Press, 1955.

McClendon, James. Ethics & Doctrine, Systematic Theology Vols. 1 & II. Abingdon, 1986-94.

Noll, Mark A. et al., eds. Eerdmans' Handbook to Christianity in America. Eerdmans, 1983. (OP.)

Woodbridge, John D., Mark A. Noll and Nathan O. Hatch. The Gospel in America: Themes in the Story of America's Evangelicals. Zondervan, 1979. (OP.)

Attend all sessions weekly, prepared for well-informed discussion of the assigned readings. A midterm examination will check progress in the seminar. By term's end submit a paper of 3,000 to 3,500 words, or for doctoral students, a paper written to CATS standards, on an individually-assigned topic closely related to the main seminar task.

For master's level students, permission of the instructor, based upon advanced M.Div. or M.A. standing as determined by your FTS advisor.

Elective.

None.