Fall 2011/Pasadena
ET824/524
Stassen

ET824/524: THE RECOVERY OF JESUS IN CURRENT CHRISTIAN ETHICS. Glen Stassen.


DESCRIPTION: This doctoral seminar, open to a limited number of master's level students by permission of the professor, will engage the thesis that Christian ethics can be stronger if it pays attention to the way of Jesus Christ. Increasingly interesting resources are at hand. We will analyze several books that exemplify this thesis.

SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Many churches teach, preach, and practice without much concrete attention to the way of Jesus, instead emphasizing general inspiration, or doctrine, or exegesis of other aspects of biblical literature. The result often is a church ripe for co-optation by secular ideologies and accommodation to secular culture rather than being authentically transformative. The same is true of much Christian ethics. Our objective is to recover a transformative vision that is faithful to Jesus Christ, fully Lord and fully Savior.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Our objectives are (1) to detect methodological assumptions in the frameworks that Christian ethicists use which block, divert, or enhance their ability to write ethics that learns constructively from Jesus; (2) to notice some approaches in New Testament scholarship for deepening and strengthening awareness of Jesus' ethics, thus increasing knowledge of some resources in exegetical approaches, historical Jesus approaches, recovery of Jesus' Jewish context, and Christian ethicists whose writing is strengthened by their methodologically interesting attention to Jesus; (3) to become ethicists with somewhat deepened personal appreciation of Jesus' way, and who can articulate this for others; and (4) to develop the skill to write a constructive essay in Christian ethics that combines accurate interpretation of the way of Jesus with a critical ethical method or framework.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar discussions, weekly for three-hours, analyzing, comparing, and assessing different understandings of Jesus in Christian ethics.

REQUIRED READING:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Fortress, 2001. (314 pp.) ISBN: 0800683048. Pub. price $21.

Cahill, Lisa Sowle. Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics. Cambridge University Press, 1996. (348 pp.) ISBN: 0521578485. Pub. price $34.82.

Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew. Brazos, 2007. (272 pp.) ISBN: 1587430959. Pub. price $30.

Jennings, Willie. Christian Imagination. Yale University Press, 2001. (384 pp.) ISBN: 0300171366. Pub. price $23.

Marshall, Christopher D. Beyond Retribution: A New Testament Vision for Justice, Crime, and Punishment. Eerdmans, 2001. (362 pp.) ISBN: 0802847978. Pub. price $26.

Myers, Ched. Binding the Strong Man. Orbis, 2008. (Approx. 350 pp. of reading.) ISBN: 1570757976. Pub. price $28.

Spohn, William. Go and Do Likewise. Continuum, 2000. (240 pp.) ISBN: 0826412912. Pub. price $27.

Stassen, Glen, and David Gushee. Kingdom Ethics. InterVarsity Press, 2003. (370 pp. of reading.) ISBN: 0830826688. Pub. price $36.

Verhey, Allen. Remembering Jesus. Eerdmans, 2005. (350 pp. of reading.) ISBN: 0802831311. Pub. price $28.

Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus. Eerdmans, 1992. (270 pp.) ISBN: 0802807348. Pub. price $22.

Additional reading on Moodle or on reserve in the library.

RECOMMENDED READING: See the course syllabus for recommended texts.

ASSIGNMENTS: Attend all seminar sessions prepared to analyze the readings of the day. Participants will write six weekly short essays analyzing the reading in advance of the weekly seminar, and a term paper that meets at least two of the objectives in "Learning Outcomes" above. At the 500 level, five brief reflection papers; no term paper.

PREREQUISITES: Master's level students: permission of the instructor.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: For master's level students: elective.

This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (corrected September 13, 2011)