Spring 2020/Fuller Online/MAGL
MP519

Bolger

MP519: MISSIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH CONTEMPORARY CULTURE (4 units: 160 hours). Dr. Ryan Bolger, Associate Professor of Church in Contemporary Culture.

DESCRIPTION: This course addresses contemporary cultural issues (such as post-modernity, globalization, race/ ethnicity/nationalism, religious intolerance, poverty, climate change, sex/gender, science/technology) from a missiological perspective and the opportunities that each issue brings to the Church worldwide, necessitating thoughtful, contextually relevant gospel-sourced responses. This course proposes the paradigm that missionary engagement is the normative stance of the Church toward its cultural context, wherever the Church is located.

LEARNING OUTCOMES (“LO’s”): Upon successful completion of this course, students will have:

1. Demonstrated the ability to “read or “exegete” contemporary culture using missionary criteria and to articulate the relationship between theory and practice for sympathetic engagement with culture.
2. Discerned those values and characteristics in their cultural contexts that can be affirmed, promoted, and leveraged for the benefit of God’s kingdom as well as the cultural values and forces that bring spiritual lethargy and decline.
3. Designed strategies for missional engagement with contemporary culture that show cultural awareness and understanding, and in which the full resources of the Gospel are brought to bear in their ministries and churches.
4. Explored global challenges and opportunities and their impact on the communication of the Gospel locally and internationally.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: This course will focus study on the paradigm that missionary engagement is the normative stance of the Church toward its cultural context and provides tools for students to engage this paradigm, thereby remaining consistent with the MAGL PLO “Graduates will demonstrate familiarity with the diversity of theories, practices, and global contexts of missional leadership.”

COURSE FORMAT: Conducted online, the ten weekly sessions align with Fuller's academic calendar. Students, the professor and teaching assistants will interact weekly through lectures, reading responses, discussions & writing assignments.

REQUIRED READING: 1208 pp. of required reading (61 hours):

A. Antal, Jim. Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change. Rowman and Littlefield, 2018. ISBN: 978-1538110690, Pub. Price $25.00 [242.pp].

B. Bevans, Stephen B. Models of Contextual Theology Revised and Expanded Edition, Orbis Books, 2002. ISBN: 978-1570754388, Pub. Price $32.00 [186 pp.].

C. Bolger, Ryan K. ed. Gospel After Christendom New Voices, New Cultures, New Expressions. Baker Books, 2012. ISBN: 978-0801039430, Pub Price. $32.00 [200 pp.].

D. Delio, Ilia. The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love. Orbis Books 2013. ISBN: 978-1626980297, Pub Price $24.00 [206 pp.].

E. Sechrest, Love, Johnny Ramirez-Johnson, and Amos Yong eds. Can White People Be Saved?: Triangulating Race, Theology, and Mission. IVP Academic, 2018. ISBN: 978-0830851041, Pub. Price $30.00 [200 pp.].

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENTS:

1. 1,208 pages of required reading. [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1-4] [61 hours].
2. Weekly forum discussions and reading interactions (35%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, and 4] [2.5 hrs/wk = 25 hours].
3. A 2,00-word Cultural Analysis project (15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, and 4] [19 hours].
4. A 2,000-word Culture Watch assignment researching and assessing popular opinions about or approaches to a particular cultural problem or challenge—in preparation for the Final Case Study Paper (15%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1 and 2] [20 hours].
5. A 3,500-word Case Study paper that 1) presents a particular social challenge in context, 2) provides a critical assessment of how that challenge is currently being engaged or addressed by the student’s church or ministry, and 3) applies the relevant theories, theologies and approaches presented in this class to develop a missional proposal for changing, expanding and/or enhancing current practices to address the challenge presented (35%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2 and 3] [35 hours].

PREREQUISITES: This course is available only to those who are accepted into the MA in Global Leadership degree program. NO AUDITORS.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: A required course for the Cohort portion of the MA in Global Leadership.

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.

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. Copyright 2019 Fuller Theological Seminary.