Winter 2012/Pasadena
TH861/ST564
Crisp
TH861/ST564: TOPICS IN CONTEMPORARY CHRISTOLOGY. Oliver Crisp.
DESCRIPTION: This is a 6-unit seminar designed for PhD and ThM students in the
CATS program, also offered at the 500-level as a 4-unit course open to five
MDiv/MA students by written permission. It is a critical examination of some of
the central themes in contemporary philosophical-theological accounts of
Christology, with an emphasis on articulating and defending a constructive
theological understanding of the person of Christ.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Christology is one of the central and
defining dogmas of Christianity. It is therefore of fundamental importance that
the formation of any Christian theologian provide an opportunity for sustained
reflection upon this topic.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students completing this course will have demonstrated
their ability to (1) identify key methodological choices and agendas in
Christology; (2) analyze critically and assess the contribution of
analytic philosophers and theologians to central aspects of Christology;
(3) offer a reasoned response to various proposals offered by these
philosophical theologians in light of tradition and current intellectual
milieu; and (4) begin to formulate their own approach to doing
systematic/constructive Christology.
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:
- Adams, Marilyn McCord. Christ and Horrors. Cambridge
University Press, 2006. xii + 331 pp.
- Crisp, Oliver D. Divinity and Humanity: The Incarnation Reconsidered.
Cambridge University Press, 2007. xiv + 187 pp.
- _____. God Incarnate: Explorations in Christology. T&T Clark,
2009. 192 pp.
- Macleod, Donald. The Person of Christ. InterVarsity Press, 1997. 303
pp.
- Morris, Thomas V. The Logic of God Incarnate. Wipf & Stock 2001
[1986]. 220 pp.
- NB: In addition to this, a course-pack of weekly seminar readings
will be made available to registered students via Moodle at the beginning of
the course. This will contain at least 4 additional chapter-length required
readings each week drawn from a variety of sources including historic
theological works as well as contemporary articles, essays, and chapters. Here
is an indicative sample of such material from the final week of the course:
- Topic 10: Multiple Incarnations
- Aquinas, St. Thomas. Summa Theologiae IIIa. Q.
3.
- Fisher, Christopher L., and David Fergusson. "Karl Rahner and the
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence Question." Heythrop Journal 47 (2006):
275-90.
- Freddoso, Alfred J. "Human Nature, Potency and the Incarnation." Faith
and Philosophy 3.1 (1986): 26-53.
- Hebblethwaite, Brian. "The Impossibility of Multiple Incarnations."
Theology 104 (2001): 323-34.
- Le Poidevin, Robin. "Multiple Incarnations and Distributed Persons." In
Marmadoro and Hill (2011), pp. 228-41.
RECOMMENDED READING:
- Adams, Marilyn McCord. What Sort of Human Nature? The Aquinas
Lecture, 1999. Marquette University Press, 1999.
- Anderson, James. Paradox in Christian Theology: An Analysis of its
Presence, Character, and Epistemic Status. Paternoster /Wipf & Stock,
2007. Chs. 1, 3-8.
- Brown, David. The Divine Trinity. Duckworth, 1985.
- Chr van Driel, Edwin. Incarnation Anyway: Arguments for Supralapsarian
Christology. Oxford University Press, 2008.
- Crisp, Oliver D. An American Augustinian: Sin and Salvation in the
Dogmatic Theology of William G. T. Shedd. Paternoster/Wipf & Stock,
2007.
- _____, ed. A Reader in Philosophical Theology. T&T Clark, 2009.
Part II.
- _____. Retrieving Doctrine: Essays in Reformed Theology. IVP
Academic, 2011.
- _____. Revisioning Christology: Theology in the Reformed Tradition.
Ashgate, 2011.
- Cross, Richard. The Metaphysics of the Incarnation: Thomas Aquinas to
Duns Scotus. Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Davis, Stephen T. Christian Philosophical Theology. Oxford
University Press, 2006. Chs. 5-10.
- _____, Daniel Kendall, and Gerald O'Collins, eds. The Incarnation.
Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Evans, C. Stephen. The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith: The
Incarnational Narrative as History. Oxford University Press, 1996.
- _____, ed. Exploring Kenotic Christology: The Self-Emptying of God.
Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Hebblethwaite, Brian. The Incarnation: Collected Essays in
Christology. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
- _____. Philosophical Theology and Christian Doctrine. Blackwell,
2005.
- Hick, John. The Metaphor of God Incarnate. Westminster John Knox,
1993.
- _____, ed. The Myth of God Incarnate. SCM Press, 1977.
- Marmodoro, Anna, and Jonathan Hill, eds. The Metaphysics of the
Incarnation. Oxford University Press, 2011.
- McKinley, John E. Tempted For Us: Theological Models and the Practical
Relevance of Christ's Impeccability and Temptations. Paternoster/Wipf &
Stock, 2009.
- O'Collins, Gerald. Christology. 2d ed. Oxford University Press,
2009.
- Rea, Michael C., ed. Oxford Readings in Philosophical Theology, Vol.
I: Trinity, Incarnation, Atonement. Oxford University Press, 2009. Chs.
7-12.
- Spence, Alan. Christology: A Guide for the Perplexed. T&T Clark,
2009.
- Sturch, Richard The Word and the Christ: An Essay in Analytic
Christology. Oxford University Press, 1991.
- Swinburne, Richard. The Christian God. Oxford University Press,
1994. Chs. 9-10.
- _____. The Resurrection of God Incarnate. Oxford University Press,
2003. Chs.1-6, 13.
- Tanner, Kathryn. Christ the Key. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Van Inwagen, Peter. "Incarnation and Christology." In Routledge
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge, 1998.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: 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. Each of these
student seminar papers will be graded (20% overall course mark). 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 master's students
= 80% overall course mark).
PREREQUISITES: At the master's level, three of the following MDiv core
requirements: STA, STB, STC, PHIL, and written permission of the professor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective for MDiv/MA.
This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (Novewmber 2011)