Winter 2017/Pasadena
TH846/546
Kärkkäinen
TH846/546: THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (6/4 Units: 393/180 hours). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen.
DESCRIPTION: This doctoral seminar, open to a limited number of advanced master’s level students, is designed to study theological anthropology, the doctrine and understanding of human beings in Christian perspective, from a philosophical and theological perspective, including relevant biblical and historical, as well as scientific views. The focus will be on the meaning and significance of the image of God in Christian tradition and in relation to contemporary evolutionary worldview, the questions of identity and “self,” the competing views of the nature of human nature in light of tradition and contemporary sciences, as well as the complex network of questions related to sin and Fall. The cultural and “global” conditioning of these issues will be carefully considered. The seminar is interdisciplinary in its approach and will welcome some Fuller colleagues from SOT and SOP to enrich the learning experience.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students completing this course will have demonstrated their ability to (1) identify key philosophical and theological views of the human being and human nature in Christian tradition; (2) analyze critically and assess different and competing accounts of human nature in contemporary interdisciplinary conversation; (3) offer a reasoned response to current proposals in light of tradition and current intellectual milieu; and (4) begin to formulate their own understanding of a Christian view of human beings as God’s image.
COURSE FORMAT: This class meets once per week for three-hour sessions for a total of 30 hours of classroom instruction for lecture and discussion plus 10 hours of directed learning activities for a total of 40 instructional hours.
REQUIRED READING: Selections from the following texts (1590pp./2500pp):
Crisp, O. “On Original Sin.” Three Essays (available in Moodle Course Reader)
Green, Joel. Body, Soul, and Human Life. Baker, 2008. ISBN: 978-0801035951, Pub. Price $24.00. [240 pages]
Grenz, S. The Social God and Relational Self: A Relational Theology of the Image of God. Westminster John Knox, 2007. ISBN: 978-0664232382, Pub. Price $50.00.
Hopkins, Dwight, A. Being Human: Race, Culture, and Religion. Fortress, 2005. ISBN: 978-0800637576, Pub. Price $22.00.
Kärkkäinen, V.-M. Creation and Humanity. Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World, vol. 3. Eerdmans, 2015. ISBN: 978-0802868558, Pub. Price: $40.00. [574pp., Part II: Humanity].
Murphy, N. Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies? Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0521676762, Pub. Price $29.99. [147 pages]
Murphy, N. and Warren Brown. Did My Neurons Make Me Do It? Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0199568239, Pub. Price $39.95. [308 pages]
Moodle eCourse Reader:
Gonzales, M. A. Created in God’s Image: An Introduction to Feminist Theological Anthropology. Orbis, 2007 : chs. 4,5,6.
Kelsey, David H. Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology. 2 vols. Westminster John Knox, 2009: pp. 1-11, 27-41, 120-31, 159-214, 242-308, 895-921, 1008-21
Moltmann, J. God in Creation. A New Theology of Creation and the Sprit of God, tr. Margaret Kohl. Fortress Press, 1993, chs. 9, 10.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Systematic Theology. vol. 2, tr. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Eerdmans, 1992, ch. 8: pp. 175-231 only.
For orientation to all major aspects of contemporary theological anthropology (in an interdisciplinary matrix), please consult the following two works; they are also highly useful as preparatory reading:
Jeeves. M., and Brown, W. S. Neuroscience, Psychology and Religion. Templeton Foundation Press, 2009. ISBN: 978-1599471471, Pub. Price $17.95. (Highly recommended for science background.)
Schwarz, H. The Human Being. A Theological Anthropology. Eerdmans, 2015. ISBN: 978-0802870889. Pub. Price: $35.00. 416pp.
RECOMMENDED READING: These works are to be consulted in preparation for student presentations, where relevant:
Fisher, Christopher. Human Significance in Theology and the Natural Sciences: An Ecumenical Perspective with Reference to Pannenberg, Rahner, and Zizioulas. Pickwick, 2010. ISBN: 978-1606080535, Pub. Price $42.00.
Gonzales, M. A. Created in God’s Image: An Introduction to Feminist Theological Anthropology. Orbis, 2007. ISBN: 978-1570756979, Pub. Price $24.00.
Graff, A. O’Hara, ed. In the Embrace of God: Feminist Approaches to Theological Anthropology. Orbis, 1995. ISBN: 978-1597520287, Pub. Price $28.00.
Green, Joel, ed. In Search of the Soul. 2nd ed. Wipf & Stock, 2010. ISBN: 978-1608994731, Pub. Price $25.00.
Ipgrave, Michael, and David Marshall, eds. Humanity: Texts and Contexts—Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown University Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1589017160, Pub. Price $26.95.
Kapolyo, J. M. The Human Condition: Christian Perspectives through African Eyes. InterVarsity Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0830833023, Pub. Price $15.99.
Keller, K. From the Broken Web: Sexism, Separation, and Self. Beacon Press, 1986. ISBN: 978-0807067437, Pub. Price $23.00.
Martin, R. and Barresi, J. The Rise and Fall of Soul and Self: An Intellectual History of Personal Identity. Columbia University Press, 2006. ISBN: 978-0231137454, Pub. Price $36.00.
McFadyen, A. Call to Personhood: A Christian Theory of the Individual in Social Relationships. Cambridge University Press, 1990. 340 pp. ISBN: 978-0521409292, Pub. Price $44.99.
Murphy, N., and Brown, B. S., eds. Whatever Happened to the Soul? Scientific and Theological Portraits of Human Nature. Fortress, 1998. ISBN: 978-0800631413, Pub. Price $23.00.
Niebuhr, R. The Nature and Destiny of Man, A Christian Interpretation. 2 vols. Westminster John Knox, 1996 [1964]. ISBN: 978-0664257095, Pub. Price $60.00.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Anthropology in Theological Perspective. Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 1999. ISBN: 978-0567086877, Pub. Price $60.00.
Shults, F. LeRon. Reforming Theological Anthropology: After the Philosophical Turn to Relationality. Eerdmans, 2003. ISBN: 978-0802848871, Pub. Price $37.50.
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
A careful reading of the required texts prior to class [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, 2, 3] [546: 1590 pp./90 hrs; 846: 2500 pp/ 218 hrs].
Class time with active participation in class discussions (10%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, 2, 3] [30 hours].
Class presentations (30%). [This assignment is related to learning outcome #2, 3, 4] [546: 1 pres.: 20 hours/846: 2 pres.: 50 hours].
Research paper of 25-30 pp. (60%). [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #2, 3, 4] [546: 12-15pp., 40 hrs; 846: 25-30pp., 95 hrs].
PREREQUISITES: For master’s level students, written permission of one of the professors.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH4 requirement in the 120 MDiv and 80 MAT Programs (Fall 2015).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.