Spring 2013/Fuller Online

NS563

Sechrest

NS563: RACE AND CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Love Sechrest.

DESCRIPTION: This online 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 theoretical approaches that will be used to construct a uniquely Christian ethic about issues in race relations in U.S. society.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Christians need to develop a biblically based, historically and contextually sensitive understanding of the intersection of ethnoracial identity and Christian commitment in order to meet the challenges of multiculturalism in the contemporary church.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Having successfully completed the requirements for this course, students will have demonstrated the ability: (1) to articulate the historical development of race and ethnicity as constructs in early Christianity and in modernity; (2) to apply identity theory to issues in modern ethnic and race relations; (3) to develop moral analogies for theological ethics on problems in race and ethnic relations in a way that incorporates contextually sensitive exegesis of the NT, and sensitivity to modern identity theory; (4) to demonstrate the relationship between New Testament exegesis and New Testament theology in constructing a Christian ethic of ethnoracial relations and identity.

COURSE FORMAT: This is an online course that will be conducted over a ten-week schedule aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar.Each week, students and the instructor will interact with the material and each other through journaling, threaded discussions, research, and other assignments. Lectures, notes, and readings for each lesson will be available online to supplement course textbooks.

REQUIRED READING: Selected chapters from the following books:

Emerson, M., and Christian Smith, Divided by Faith. Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN: 978-0195147070, Pub.price $19.99 [224 pp.].

Healey, Joseph F. and Eileen O’Brien, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender: Selected Readings, 2nd ed. Pine Forge Press, 2007. ISBN:978-1412941075, Pub.price $67.95 [504 pp.].

Hays, J. Daniel. From Every People and Nation. InterVarsity Press, 2003. ISBN: 978-0830826162, Pub.price $22.00 [240 pp.].

Issues in Race and Ethnicity. Ed. 6th ed. CQ Press, 2012. ISBN: 978-1452227818, Pub.price $40.00 [318 pp.].

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria. BasicBooks, 2003. ISBN: 978-0465083619, $15.95 [294 pp.].

COURSE PACK on E-RESERVES that include readings from the following:

Barreto, Eric. Ethnic Negotiations: The Function of Race & Ethnicity in Acts 16 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. No. 294; Tübingen: Mohr Siebech, 2010 [selected pages].

Blount, Brian. Can I Get a Witness: Reading Revelation through African American Culture. Westminster John Knox, 2005 [selected chapters].

Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament. HarperSanFrancisco, 1996 [selected chapters].

Levine, Amy Jill. A Misunderstood Jew. HarperSanFrancisco, 2006 [selected chapters].

Sechrest, Love. A Former Jew: Paul and the Dialectics of Race. T&T Clark, 2009 [selected chapters].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

  1. Threaded discussions on questions that solicit student responses to lectures, readings, and other activities (20%)

  2. Short typewritten reflections on course lectures (20%).

  3. Weekly projects (as individuals or in groups) that do moral reasoning from the NT on problems in racial and ethnic relations (30%)

  4. Term paper (8-10 pp.) that does theological and biblical reflection on some pertinent ethical dilemma in ethnicity or race relations raised by the course (30%)

PREREQUISITES: NS500 or NS501 or NT500.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in New Testament Theology (NTT); Meets MA requirement in Ethnicity (ETHN).


NOTE: This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. Textbook prices are set by publishers and are subject to change.