Fall 2012/Pasadena
ET832/532
Stassen
ET832/532: METHOD FOR CONCRETENESS IN CHRISTIAN ETHICS. Glen Stassen.
DESCRIPTION: This doctoral seminar, open by special permission to a limited
number of advanced master's students, is a systematic and comparative analysis
of essential ingredients in an ethical method adequate for grappling with
concrete issues. An analytical model of essential ingredients will be used to
compare representative methods in Christian ethics.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Authentic Christian ministry helps persons
become faithful disciples, which requires growing character and calling forth
faithful deeds or practices. But we are shaped powerfully by perceptions,
loyalties, beliefs, and styles of reasoning that we are often unaware of. The
seminar identifies key variables that shape our ethics, and compares how they
interact.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: I hope that you will develop skill in analyzing the key
variables that shape some leading methods in Christian ethics. Second, that you
will develop a holistic awareness of how these variables work together to shape
the way Christian ethicists do ethics. Third, that these two analytical and
synthesizing skills will help your writing about concrete questions in
Christian ethics. Fourth, that your analysis and comparison of these variables
can build the base for cumulative sharpening of your own self-critical
definition of these variables in your own method in Christian ethics, and thus
your own ethical growth. Fifth, that together we can discuss how to do
Christian ethics within a tradition, while learning from other traditions.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar discussions, in which we help each other map different
methods in Christian ethics as they relate to a concrete issue. The seminar
will meet weekly for three-hour sessions, with the final seminar discussion
meeting during the final exam period if members vote to share what they are
writing.
REQUIRED READING:
- Farley, Margaret. Just Love. Continuum, 2008. (336 pp.)
ISBN: 0826429246. Pub.price $29.95.
- Gushee, David. Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust. 2nd ed. Augsburg
Fortress, 2003. (302 pp.) ISBN: 1557788219. Pub.price $16.95.
- Hauerwas, Stanley. A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive
Christian Social Ethic. University of Notre Dame Press, 1981. (312 pp.)
ISBN: 0268007357. Pub.price $22.
- Hollenbach, David. The Common Good and Christian Ethics. Cambridge
University Press, 2002. (238 pp.) ISBN: 9780521894517. Pub.price $36.95.
- Marsh, Charles. The Beloved Community. Basic Books, 2006. (292 pp.)
ISBN: 9780465044160 Pub.price $17.95.
- McClendon, James Wm. Ethics. 2nd ed. Abingdon, 2002 [not 1986 1st
ed.]. (368 pp.) ISBN: 0687090873. Pub.price $38.
- Rasmussen, Larry. Earth Community, Earth Ethics. Orbis, 1996. (376
pp.) ISBN: 9781570751868. Pub.price $30.
- Sider, Ronald J. Scandal of Evangelical Politics. Baker, 2008 (275
pp.) ISBN: 0801068371. Pub.price $20.
- Stassen, Glen H. A Thicker Jesus: Incarnational Discipleship in A
Secular Age. Westminster John Knox, October 2012. ISBN: 9780664238179.
Pub.price $25.
- West, Traci. Disruptive Christian Ethics. Westminster John Knox.
2006. (240 pp.) ISBN: 9780664229597. Pub.price $30.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: Attend all sessions prepared to analyze the
readings of the day and for five sessions, email two days in advance a two- or
three-page analysis paper on the readings for seven of the sessions. 500-level
students write five analytical papers. 800-level students choose a concrete
ethical issue; write a paper comparing two or more ethical arguments on the
issue and seeking to develop your own method.
PREREQUISITES: For masters students: one prior course in Christian ethics and
one in theology, and permission of instructor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Elective.
This ECD is a reliable guide to the course design but is subject to modification. (July 2012)