Fall 2006/Pasadena
PH514
Murphy

PH514: TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. Nancey Murphy.


DESCRIPTION: An examination of several major areas in philosophy of religion: the rationality of Christian belief, arguments for the existence of God, the evidential value of religious experience, the relationship between Christianity and science, the nature of the human person, life after death, and the role of God in the justification of ethics.

COURSE OBJECTIVES/LEARNING OUTCOMES: Knowledge: to introduce students to some of the major intellectual problems facing Christian believers and to some of the strategies that have been used to address them. Skills: to improve student's skills in reasoning about their faith and in academic writing. Attitudes: to promote confidence in the student's own abilities to address intellectual problems as well as sympathetic appreciation for scholars who have struggled with difficult issues and have arrived at conclusions different from those of the student.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: The issues that we deal with in class will also be issues of concern for many church members; this will be an opportunity for students to begin to prepare to address them.


COURSE FORMAT: Mostly lecture; some small group discussion. The class will meet twice weekly for two-hour sessions.

REQUIRED READING:
Murphy, Nancey. Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning. Ithaca, NY: Cornell, 1990.
Ruse, Michael. Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Stroll, Avrum. Did My Genes Make Me Do It? Oxford: One World, 2004.

Additional photocopied materials.

RECOMMENDED READING:
Seech, Zachary. Writing Philosophy Papers. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2000.

ASSIGNMENTS: Two ten-page papers; three one-paragraph assignments in preparation for small group discussions. The first paper will be worth 40%, the second 45%, and each paragraph 5%.

PREREQUISITES: None. This is a good course for beginning students.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Meets MDiv core requirement in Philosophical Theology (PHIL).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.