Winter 2011/Pasadena
CH836/536
Robeck
CH836/536: CHRISTIAN UNITY AND BILATERAL DIALOGUES. Cecil M. Robeck Jr.
DESCRIPTION: This course is designed to provide an overview of the major
bilateral dialogues between denominations. Among the dialogues included will be
those involving Roman Catholic, Orthodox (both Eastern and Oriental), Anglican,
Lutheran, Reformed, Methodist, Anabaptist, and Pentecostal denominations.
Students will be introduced to some of the more important doctrinal and
practical discussions on which agreement has been reached. Emphasis will be
placed upon the stated goals of each dialogue, the various methodologies
employed, the way each communion views/describes itself, the subjects chosen
for study, the rationale for undertaking the study, the effectiveness of the
dialogue in bringing about change, and the current level of reception that each
study has achieved.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Students should be better equipped to
engage their own traditions theologically and to enter into contemporary
ecumenical discussions within their own church traditions.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: (1) This course will help students to understand the larger
ecumenical landscape. (2) It should enable students to understand their own
confessional traditions within the broader framework of the ecumenical
movement. (3) Students will learn various approaches to bilateral
conversations. (4) This course will help them understand how the doctrines and
the practices of the church as understood within their own tradition are being
studied and refined in collaboration with the perspectives of other traditions.
(5) Students will increase their critical skills in understanding and
communicating their ecumenical findings through their reading and writing and
their study of primary source materials.
COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet for lecture/discussion format once weekly.
Students are expected to make one 30-minute class presentation.
REQUIRED READING:
- Cassidy, Edward Idris. Ecumenism and Interreligious
Dialogue. New York: Paulist, 2005, 293 pp. ISBN: 0809143380. $18.95.
- Gros, Jeffrey, Harding Meyer, and William G. Rusch, eds. Growth in
Agreement II: Reports and Agreed Statements of Ecumenical Conversations on a
World Level, 1982-1998. Geneva: WCC/Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2000 (OP;
Reserve). Selections from 940 pp. ISBN: 0802849342.
- Gros, Jeffrey, Thomas F. Best, and Lorelei F. Fuchs, eds. Growth in
Agreement III: International Dialogue Texts and Agreed Statements,
1998-2005. Geneva: WCC/Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007. Selections from 615
pp. ISBN: 9780802862297. $65.00.
- Kasper, Walter. Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith
in Ecumenical Dialogue. New York: Continuum, 2009, 207 pp. ISBN:
9781441162724. $14.95.
- Meyer, Harding. That All May Be One: Perceptions and Models of
Ecumenicity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. (OP; Reserve) 156 pp. ISBN:
9780802843487 or 0802843484.
- O'Gara, Margaret. The Ecumenical Gift Exchange. Collegeville, MN:
Michael Glazier, 1998. (OP; Reserve) 180 pp. ISBN: 0814658938.
- Select documents placed on reserve (about 200 pp.)
ASSIGNMENTS: Students will be required to complete the readings in advance of
each class, provide a 30-minute introduction to the day's reading, facilitate
and participate in discussion, and write a research paper (about 25 pages) on a
topic chosen in consultation with the professor. Final grades will be earned
according to the following formula: Regular attendance and participation 10%,
class preparation and presentation 30%, and the paper 60%.
PREREQUISITES: This seminar is designed for ThM and PhD students. Advanced
MDiv or MA students must have permission of the professor and at least two of
the following courses: ST501/502/503 and/or CH501/503/505.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective for MA and MDiv students.
This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (October 2010)