Winter 2006/Pasadena
NS550
Kinsler

NS550: EL JUBILEO BIBLICO Y LA LUCHA POR LA VIDA.
(The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life). F. Ross Kinsler.


DESCRIPTION: This course, taught in Spanish for Hispanic and Latin American pastors and church leaders, has at the center the biblical vision of fullness of life for all God's people through the lens of the Sabbath-Jubilee materials of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will focus upon biblical teachings about economic justice and ecological integrity, and they will examine these teachings in terms of their original contexts and today's contexts of socio-economic injustice and ecological destruction, locally and globally. Their fundamental purpose will be to develop their ability to use the hermeneutical circle (analysis of today's world, interpretation of biblical faith in response to today's world, and commitment to responsible discipleship coherent with that analysis and interpretation) as a primary resource for their faith and ministry.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: It can be said that economic injustice and ecological destruction are the two greatest threats to life in the twenty-first century. They should become, for Christians, primary concerns of mission, ministry, and spirituality, as they clearly are in the Bible. Many of today's theological and missiological traditions have not yet taken up these challenges. This course will attempt to equip pastors and church leaders to deal with the prophetic biblical message of Sabbath economics/Jubilee spirituality in their churches as an invitation to personal, ecclesial, and social transformation.

COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet once a week for three-hour sessions that will include various seminar methods--brief expositions, group Bible studies (exegesis), reports and discussion of readings, plenary and small group discussion of handouts, liturgical moments, etc.

REQUIRED READING:

Kinsler, Ross and Gloria Kinsler. El Jubileo Bíblico y la Lucha por la Vida. Quito: CLAI, 2000. (Or English version: The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life: An Invitation to Personal, Ecclesial, and Social Reform. Orbis: 2003.)

Selected articles from Revista de Interpretación Bíblica Latinoamericana (RIBLA) to be assigned. (English versions of these articles are available in Ross Kinsler and Gloria Kinsler, eds., God's Economy: Biblical Studies from Latin America. Orbis: 2001.)

Select one of the following:
Hanks, Thomas. Opresión, Pobreza, y Liberación: Reflexiones Bíblicas. Miami: Editorial Caribe, 1982.

Herzog, William R. Jesus, Justice, and the Reign of God: A Ministry of Liberation. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2000.

Horsley, Richard A. Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Tamez, Elsa. Contra Toda Condena: La Justificación por la Fe desde los Excluidos. San José: DEI, 1991.
Select one of the following:
Galeano, Eduardo. Las Veinas Abiertas de América Latina. México: Siglo Veintiuno, 1971.

Todorov, Tzvetan. La Conquista de América: El Problema del Otro. México, Siglo XXI, 1989.

Rivera Pagán, Luis N. Evangelización y Violencia: La Conquista de América. San Juan: Editorial CEMI, 1990.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York: Harper Collins, 1980.

RECOMMENDED READING:
Lowery, Richard H. Sabbath and Jubilee. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2000.

Richard, Pablo. Apocalipsis: Reconstrucción de la Esperanza. San José: DEI, 1994.

Aquino, María Pilar. Nuestro Clamor por la Vida: Teología Latinoamericana desde la Perspectiva de la Mujer. San José: DEI, 1992.

Duchrow, Ulrich y Franz J. Hinkelammert. La Vida o el Capital: Alternativas a la Dictadura Global de la Propiedad. San José: DEI, 2003.

ASSIGNMENTS: (1) Students will be expected to be prepared for each class session through thorough written and oral analysis of assigned chapters of the basic text and RIBLA articles to be assigned and other assigned materials (2 pp. each) (1/3 of grade). (2) Participation in the examination of biblical texts and their relevance for faith and ministry in today's world will be essential, in plenary and small groups. Each student will be asked to draw upon his or her own experience of life and ministry, as well as that of other colleagues, to complete the hermeneutical process with concrete recommendations for action (1/3). (3) Reports on required readings will be written (5 pp. each book) and oral (dates to be assigned), and a final paper of up to 10 pages will permit students to summarize and internalize and articulate their emerging understanding of God's mission, their own ministries, and spirituality--especially in terms of economic justice and ecological integrity, i.e., the Biblical Jubilee and the struggle for life (1/3).

PREREQUISITES: Spanish.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective. Meets requirement in Hispanic Church Studies courses for the MDiv (Multicultural Ministries concentration) and the MA in Multicultural Ministries (Hispanic Church Studies Concentration).

FINAL EXAMINATION: No.