Spring 2007/Pasadena
ST829/529
Brown
ST829/529: THEOLOGICAL METHOD. Colin Brown.
DESCRIPTION: The seminar is designed for PhD and ThM students in the CATS
program, with room for five MDiv/MA students by written permission. It is a
critical examination of competing methodologies in contemporary theology based
on recent writing. It will examine such topics as types of ethnic theology,
feminism, and liberation theology, forms of postmodernism, the nature of
doctrine, and models of constructive theology.
COURSE FORMAT: The seminar will meet weekly for three-hour sessions. Appointed
members will introduce the week's readings by giving a critical analysis with
comment. All members are expected to study beforehand the required readings for
the week, and take part in the discussion.
REQUIRED READING:
- Cone, James H. Black Theology and Black Power. Orbis Books,
1997 (1969).
- _________. God of the Oppressed. Orbis Books, 1975; rev. ed. 1997.
- Gill, Robin, ed. Readings in Modern Theology: Britain and America.
Abingdon, 1995 (selections).
- Gutiérrez, G. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and
Salvation. Orbis, 1973 (selections).
- Hart, Trevor. Faith Thinking: The Dynamics of Christian Theology.
InterVarsity Press, 1996.
- Lindbeck, G. A. The Nature of Doctrine: Religion & Theology in a
Postliberal Age. Westminster, 1984.
- Lonergan, Bernard. Method in Theology. Darton, Longman & Todd,
1972; reprint University of Toronto for Lonergan Research Institute of Regis
College, Toronto, 1994 (selections).
- Lundin, R., C. Walhout, and A. C. Thiselton. The Promise of
Hermeneutics. Eerdmans, 1999.
- Murphy, N. Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on
Science, Religion, and Ethics. Westview Press, 1997.
- Ward, Graham, ed. The Postmodern God: A Theological Reader.
Blackwell, 1997 (selections).
- Volf, M. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity,
Otherness, and Reconciliation. Abingdon, 1996 (selections).
RECOMMENDED READING FOR REFERENCE AND BACKGROUND:
- Badham, Roger A., ed. Introduction to Christian Theology:
Contemporary North American Perspectives. Westminster John Knox, 1998.
- Crowe, Frederic E. Lonergan. Liturgical Press, 1992.
- Dyrness, William. Emerging Voices in Global Christian Theology.
Zondervan, 1994.
- Ford, David F., ed. The Modern Theologians. 2nd ed. Blackwell,
1997.
- Greene-McCreight, Kathryn. Feminist Reconstructons of Christian
Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal. Oxford University Press,
2000.
- Livingston, J. C., F. Schüssler Fiorenza et al. Modern Christian
Thought, vol. 2: The Twentieth Century. Prentice Hall, 2000.
- Thiselton, Anthony C. New Horizons in Hermeneutics. Zondervan,
1992.
- _________. Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self: On Meaning,
Manipulation and Promise. T. & T. Clark/Eerdmans,
1995.
ASSIGNMENTS: All members of the seminar are expected to have studied the set
readings for the week. Each week designated members of the seminar will
introduce discussion, giving a brief background of the readings, summarizing
the key issues, and offering a reasoned response. At the end of the quarter
each member will present a paper on one of the topics covered by the seminar
(25 pages for PhD and ThM students; 15 pages for masters students).
PREREQUISITES: At the masters level, three of the following MDiv core
requirements: STA, STB, STC, PHIL, and written permission of the professor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: MDiv/MA elective. Required for PhD and ThM in
Theology.
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.