Fuller Online

ET520: Fall 2008

THIS ECD IS FOR FALL 2008 QUARTER ONLY!

If you are viewing this after Sept. 2008 it serves as a SAMPLE ONLY

Stassen/Hamsher

 

ET520: BIBLICAL AND PRACTICAL PEACEMAKING (4 units). Glen Stassen, Professor of Christian Ethics;

Online Facilitation by Matthew Hamsher, Adjunct Instructor in Christian Ethics.

DESCRIPTION:

The way of Jesus in the New Testament centrally includes the way of peacemaking. We will seek to deepen our understanding of that way and our ability to teach it and model it. We will compare major present-day ethical positions--nonviolence, just war, and just peacemaking--as they relate to overcoming terrorism, preventing nuclear war, peace in the Middle East, and practical peacemaking in churches. We will include role-playing conflict resolution for conflicts within churches. And we will study how to begin inward/outward journey small groups in churches with a mission of following Jesus in peacemaking.

 

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

The course has four objectives: (1) to develop practical ways for following Jesus' call to Christian peacemaking in our ministry and practice; (2) to compare a multilevel just peacemaking approach to preventing terrorism with the present official approach; (3) to compare different Christian ethical approaches to peace and war, including nonviolence, just war theory, and just peacemaking theory; (4) to consider theological rationales for Christian commitment to nonviolence and transforming initiatives of peacemaking.

 

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:

Jesus' call to peacemaking echoes throughout the New Testament and the prophets; church members need deep formation in that call or they lack the antibodies to resist political ideologies of prideful warmaking. The present struggle against terrorism needs deep Christian assessment and realistic alternatives. Peacemaking as mere ideals lacks the strength that we need in our time of polarization; we need realistic practices of peacemaking that have proven effective in real experience. Church leaders and ministers need skills in conflict transformation to cope with conflicts that occur within the church.

 

COURSE FORMAT: The class will be conducted on the Internet using a 10-week lesson program aligned with Fuller’s academic calendar. Each week, students and the instructor will interact with the material and each other through journaling, threaded discussions, and web-based research. Lectures for each lesson will be available online.

 

REQUIRED READING:

·          Fisher, Roger and William Ury.  Getting to  Yes:  Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.  2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1992 OR Lederach, John Paul.  The Little Book of Conflict Transformation.  Good Books, 2003.

·          Herr, Robert and Judy Zimmerman Herr, eds.  Transforming Violence:  Linking Local and Global Peacemaking.  Herald, 1998.

·          National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Challenge of Peace. U.S. Catholic Conference, 1983.

·          Stassen, Glen, ed. Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War. Pilgrim, 2004.

·          Tooley, Michelle.  Voices of the Voiceless:  Women, Justice, and Human Rights in Guatemala.  Herald, 1997.

·          Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus. Eerdmans and Paternoster, 1994.

·          Yoder, John Howard.  The War of the Lamb.  Eerdmans, forthcoming.

 

RECOMMENDED READING:

·          Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Love Your Enemies: Discipleship, Pacifism, & Just War Theory. Fortress, 1994.

·          Clough, David, and Brian Stiltner. Faith and Force. Georgetown University, 2007.

·          Sharp, Gene. The Politics of Nonviolent Action. 3 vols. Porter Sargent, 1974.

·          Shriver, Donald. An Ethic for Enemies. Oxford University Press, 1995.

·          Wink, W. Engaging the Powers: Discernment & Resistance in a World of Domination. Fortress, 1992.

·          Zehr, Howard. The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Good Books, 2002.

 

ASSIGNMENTS:

1.        Weekly threaded discussions (20%), webliography exercises (5%) and journaling, (15%)

2.        Three essay exams (15% each = 45%). 

3.        Students will be encouraged to find an opportunity for applying the practices of just peacemaking to their own ministry or congregational context and submit a journal of their involvement at the end of the course.  Alternatively, those for whom this is not possible will propose a ten-page position paper describing their thought on a particular practice of Christian peacemaking and how it can be taught and modeled in a church (15%).

 

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective.

FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes, an essay exam.                                                                                                               

Updated July 2008

 

This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification