Fall 2014/Pasadena

HT501

Crisp

HT501: THE CHURCH’S UNDERSTANDING OF GOD AND CHRIST IN ITS THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION (4 Units: 160 hours). Oliver Crisp.

DESCRIPTION: HT501 is a survey of systematic and philosophical theology that focuses especially on the doctrine of God, The Trinity, Christology (comprising the person and work of Christ), and the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. The course reflects the historic Christian church's development of trinitarian and Christological theology and creeds in its dialogue with its opponents and with its cultural context. Related topics and themes to be addressed may include the development and articulation of the Christian doctrine of God including the divine perfections and nature, as well as the doctrine of the Trinity; the development and articulation of the person and work of Christ; and Pneumatology, the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students who complete HT501 will demonstrate: (1) a basic critical theological knowledge of the conceptual and normative dimensions of the doctrines of God and Christ as those and other selected doctrines emerged in the early church and developed to this day; (2) a basic competence in interpreting historic and contemporary perorations of these doctrines and an ability to evaluate these theological issues and their historical and contemporary development; and (3) a critical and sympathetic appreciation for the breadth, unity, and diversity of the Christian church.

COURSE FORMAT: This class meets twice weekly for two hour sessions for a total of 40 instructional hours in the classroom for lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED READING: 1,100 pp. total.

* St Athanasius, On The Incarnation. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0881414271. Also available online at: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/athanasius/incarnation. Pub. Price $16.00. [110 pp. assigned].

** Coakley, Sarah God, Sexuality and the Self: An Essay ‘On the Trinity.’ Cambridge University Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0521899499, Pub. Price $29.99 [344 pp. assigned].

* Morris, Thomas V. Our Idea of God. University of Notre Dame Press, 1991 [reprinted by Regent College Publishing, 1997]. ISBN: 978-1573831017, Pub. Price $24.95 [192 pp. assigned].

* Plantinga, Richard J., Thomas R. Thompson, Matthew D. Lundberg. An Introduction to Christian Theology. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0521690379, Pub. Price $32.99 [1-46; 77-146; 227-312 = 200 pp. assigned].

** Tanner, Kathryn Christ the Key. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0521732772, Pub. Price $29.99 [pp. 140-302 assigned = 162 pp.].

Additional essays/papers provided via Moodle will include a number of different authors not represented in the Required Reading, e.g. Miguel H. Díaz “The life-giving reality of God from Black, Latin American, and U.S. Hispanic theological perspectives” in Peter Phan, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Trinity (2011), ch. 15. [100 pp. assigned].

RECOMMENDED READING:

** Adams, Marilyn McCord. Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology. Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0521686006, Pub. Price $40.00 [344 pp.].

** St Anselm of Canterbury. The Major Works, trans. Thomas Williams. Hackett, 2004. ISBN: 978-0199540082. Pub. Price $14.95 [544 pp.].

* St. Augustine of Hippo Enchiridion on Faith. Hope and Love (various editions –see also The Ethereal Library on-line).

*____________________ The Trinity, Second Edition. New City Press, 2012. ISBN: 978-1565484467, Pub. Price $29.95.

** Aquinas, St. Thomas. Summa Contra Gentiles Vol. 4: Salvation, trans. Charles J. O’Neill. ISBN: 978-0268016845, Pub. Price $16.95 [360 pp.].

** _________________ Summa Theologica in 5 Vols, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Provice. 3020 pp. ISBN: 0870610635. Pub. Price $245.00. Also available online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html

* St Basil the Great. On the Holy Spirit. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0881418767, Pub. Price $16.00.

* Beilby, James and Eddy, Paul eds. The Nature of the Atonement, Four Views. IVP, 2006. ISBN: 978-0830825707, Pub. Price $20.00.

** Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Edinburgh., Banner of Truth, 1988. ISBN: 978-0851510569, Pub. Price $34.00.

* Bloesch, D. Jesus Christ: Savior & Lord. InterVarsity Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780830827541, Pub. Price $20.00.

** Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, ed. John McNeill. Westminster Press, 1960 [1559]. ISBN: 978-0664220280, Pub. Price $80.00.

*Comblin, J. The Holy Spirit and Liberation. Wipf & Stock, 2004. ISBN: 978-1592445622, Pub. Price $26.00.

** Crisp, Oliver D. Divinity and Humanity: The Incarnation Reconsidered. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0521695350, Pub. Price $30.99.

*_____________ God Incarnate: Explorations in Christology. T&T Clark, 2009. ISBN: 978-0567033482, Pub. Price $34.95.

**_____________ Revisioning Christology: Theology in the Reformed Tradition. Ashgate, 2011. ISBN: 978-1409430046, Pub. Price $28.00.

** _____________ ed. A Reader in Contemporary Philosophical Theology. T&T Clark, 2009. ISBN: 978-0567031464, Pub. Price $44.95.

*_____________ and Sanders, Fred eds. Advancing Trinitarian Theology, Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics, eds. Zondervan Academic, 2014. ISBN: 978-0310517092, Pub. Price $22.99.

*_____________ and ____________ eds. Christology Ancient and Modern: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics. Zondervan Academic, 2013. ISBN: 978-0310514961, Pub. Price $22.99. [NOTE: videos of the plenary addresses at LATC2013 and LATC2014 on Christology and the Trinity respectively, can be found online at: http://latheology.com/past-years. Students are encouraged to watch these.]

* St Cyril of Alexandria. On the Unity of Christ. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1997. ISBN: 978-0881411331, Pub. Price $16.00.

*Emery, Gilles, and Levering, Matthew eds. The Oxford Handbook of The Trinity. Oxford University Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0198712138, Pub. Price $50.00 [607 pp.]

** Flint, Thomas P. and Rea, Michael C. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology. Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-0199596539, Pub. Price $55.00.

* St Gregory of Nazianzus. On God and Christ”The Five Theological Orations and Two Letters to Cledonius. St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2002. ISBN: 978-0881412406, Pub. Price $16.00.

**Heppe, Heinrich. Reformed Dogmatics. Wipf & Stock, 2008. ISBN: 978-1556357756, Pub. Price $59.00.

*Holmes, Stephen R. The Quest for the Trinity: The Doctrine of God in Scripture, History and Modernity. IVP Academic, 2012. ISBN: 978-0830839865, Pub. Price $26.00.

** St John of Damascus, On the Orthodox Faith. Available online at: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf209.toc.html

** Kärkkäinen Veli-Matti Christ and Reconciliation: A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, vol. 1. Eerdmans, 2013. ISBN: 978-0802868534, Pub. Price $40.00.

** ____________________ Trinity and Revelation: A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, volume 2. Eerdmans, 2014. ISBN: 978-0802868541, Pub. Price $40.00.

*____________________ The Holy Spirit: A Guide to Christian Theology. Westminster John Knox, 2012. ISBN: 978-0664235932, Pub. Price $20.00.

*Lee, Sang Hyun. From a Liminal Place: An Asian American Theology. Fortress Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0800696689, Pub. Price $29.00.

*Parsons, S. F., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN: 978-0521663809, Pub. Price $30.99.

*Phan, Peter C. ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Trinity. Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0521701136, Pub. Price $34.99 [439 pp.].

** Richard of St Victor. On the Trinity. Wipf and Stock, 2011. ISBN: 978-1610970129, Pub. Price $29.00.

**Schmidt, Heinrich. The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Wipf & Stock, 2008. ISBN: 978-1606081037, Pub. Price $59.00.

*Tanner, Kathryn. Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity: A Brief Systematic Theology. Fortress Press, 2001. ISBN: 978-0800632931. Pub. Price $ 17.00 [134 pp.].

** Webster, John, Tanner, Kathryn, and Torrance, Iain eds. The Oxford Handbook to Systematic Theology. Oxford Univ. Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0199245765, Pub. Price $55.00 [pp. 160-175].

*  Indicates text is introductory to intermediate

** Indicates text is intermediate to advanced

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1. 1,100 pages of required reading (30%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome 1] [73 hours].

2. Three 1,000-word critical response essays (30%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome 2]. [21 hours]

3. A research essay on an assigned topic [2,500 words] (40%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes 2, 3] [26 hours].

PREREQUISITES: None.

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH1 or TH4 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program. Meets the STA requirement in the 144 MDiv Program.

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.