Spring 2018/Pasadena
CH833/533
Carter
CH833/533: DIETRICH BONHOEFFER AND THE PROBLEM OF CHURCH AND STATE (PhD Seminar: 6 units, 370 hours. MDiv/MA Elective Course: 4 units, 210 hours). Grayson Carter.
DESCRIPTION: Church-state relations have been of enormous importance to Christian history and society since the time of Jesus, yet this significance is often overlooked in contemporary scholarship. This doctoral seminar will examine Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s unique contribution to church and state relations in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s, as a way of looking more broadly at those relations throughout the past – from Patristics to the modern era, and from Germany to the United States, Latin America, Asia and Africa. The seminar will appeal to those interested in church history (all periods), theology, Christian ethics, church and state relations (broadly considered), and the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer not only wrote extensively about church and state, his life and ministry during the time of the Nazis were entirely overshadowed by this complex relationship. Consequently, an examination of his engagement with church and state relations opens numerous opportunities for historical, theological, and ethical study over a broad range of engaging topics, diverse methodologies and periods, and widespread locations. Though organized and run as a doctoral seminar, a limited number of Masters-level students will be permitted enroll with the prior approval of the Instructor.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: All students enrolled in this course (at both the doctoral and masters levels) will demonstrate: (1) a basic understanding of the life and theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; (2) a more specialized comprehension of Bonhoeffer’s views on the relations between church and state, as well as the historical context in which they were set; (3) general knowledge of the history of church and state relations in Europe and in other parts of the world, from the Patristic period to the present; (4) the ability to formulate and execute a research agenda; and (5) basic competence in formulating and presenting an academic lecture and in leading a seminar discussion.
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. Class will meet in a classroom in Pasadena, but will be taught by the professor from Phoenix for most of the quarter. Professor and students will communicate via live, interactive audio/video link. On at least two evenings during the term (27 March and 29 May), the professor plans to be present in Pasadena.
REQUIRED READING: Ph.D. students: 2700 pages required; M.Div./M.A. students: 1,200 pages required. (Notes: Reading may be selected from a variety of categories, as listed below. Masters-level students should concentrate their reading on primary sources from Bonhoeffer + selections from the Marsh volume. Alternative (specialized) volumes to the Assigned and Supplemental Reading may be substituted with permission of the Instructor.)
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Ethics. Touchstone, 1995. ISBN: 978-0684815015. Pub. Price $16.99 [384 pages].
Hauerwas, Stanley. Performing the Faith. Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence. Brazos, 2004/Wipf & Stock, 2015. ISBN: 978-1498222969. Pub. Price $30.00 [252 pages].
Marsh, Charles. Strange Glory. A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Vintage, 2014. ISBN: 978-0307390387. Pub. Price $17.95 [528 pages].
One additional primary writing by Bonhoeffer of the student’s choice may be selected [various lengths].
Readings available online, on eReserves, or on Canvas [approximately 895 total pages available]:
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Selected articles and letters on church and state [approximately 350 pages].
Calvin, John. “Civil Government,” in Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. (Westminster, 1960), 1485-1521 [36 pages].
Chapman, G. Clark. Universal Health Care as a Human Right: The Argument of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Edwin Mellen, 2014. ISBN: 978-1495502811 [90 pages].
Dramm, Sabine. “The Search for the Lost Church,” in Dietrich Bonhoeffer an Introduction to his Thought. Hendrickson, 2007. ISBN: 978-1565637627 [14 pages].
Elshtain, Jean Bethke. “Bonhoeffer and the Sovereign State,” in First Things, August/September 1996 [apx. 6 pages] Can be read online at: https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/08/bonhoeffer-and-the-sovereign-state
Godsey, John D. “The German Church Struggle,” in The Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Wipf & Stock, 2015. ISBN: 978-1498225786 [12 pages].
Kelly, Geffrey B. “The Idolatrous Enchantment of Church and State: Bonhoeffer’s Critique of Freedom in the United States,” in Bonhoeffer for a New Day, ed. by John de Gruchy. Eerdmans, 1997. ISBN: 978-0802842848 [21 pages].
Luther, Martin. “Temporal Authority: To What Extent Should it be Obeyed?,” 1523, in Luther’s Works, vol. 45, The Christian in Society, II (Muhlenberg, 1982), 77-129 [52 pages].
Mueller, William A. Church and State in Luther and Calvin: A Comparative Study. Broadman, 1954. Out of Print [187 pages].
Tödt, Heinz Eduard. “Resistance by Word and Political Resistance in Ethical Responsibility: The Individual, the Groups, and the Church,” in Authentic Faith. Bonhoeffer’s Theological Ethics in Context. Eerdmans, 2007. ISBN: 978-0802803825 [17 pages].
Wilcken, John. “The Ecclesiology of Ethics and the Prison Writings,” in A Bonhoeffer Legacy. Essays in Understanding, ed. by A. J. Klassen. Eerdmans, 1981. ISBN: 978-0802835468 [9 pages].
Zerner, Ruth. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Views on the State and History,” in A Bonhoeffer Legacy. Essays in Understanding, ed. by A. J. Klassen. Eerdmans, 1981. ISBN: 978-0802835468 [27 pages].
________. “Church, State and the ‘Jewish Question’,” in The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ed. by John W. de Gruchy. Cambridge, 1999. ISBN: 978-0521587815 [16 pages].
Zorzin, Alejandro. “Church versus State: Human rights, the Church, and the Jewish Question (1933),” in Bonhoeffer for a New Day, ed. by John de Gruchy. Eerdmans, 1997. ISBN: 978-0802842848 [22 pages].
One (or more) additional volume(s) may be drawn from the Supplemental Reading [various lengths]
SUPPLEMENTAL READING:
Barth, Karl. Church and State. New edition. Smyth and Helwys, 2012 (Originally published in 1939). ISBN: 978-0962845543. Pub. Price $15.00 [102 pages].
Bethge, Eberhard. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography. Revised edition. Fortress Press, 2000. ISBN: 978-0800628444. Pub. Price $59.00 [1048 pages].
Chandler, Andrew. George Bell, Bishop of Chichester: Church, State and Resistance in the Age of Dictatorship. Eerdmans, 2016. ISBN: 978-0802872272. Pub. Price $35.00 [208 pages].
Eberle, Edward J. Church and State in Western Society: Established Church, Cooperation and Separation. Routledge, 2016. ISBN: 978-1138260856, Pub. Price $54.95 [224 pages].
Ehler, Sidney Z. and John B. Morrall, eds. and trans. Church and State Through the Centuries. A Collection of Historical Documents with Commentaries. Burns & Oats, 1954 [625 pages]. Out of Print
Ferguson, Everett. Church and State in the Early Church. Routledge, 1993. [432 pages]. Out of Print.
Gaustad, Edwin S. Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land. A History of Church and State in America. Oxford, 2003. ISBN: 978-0195166873, Pub. Price $14.99 [184 pages].
Gill, Anthony. Render Unto Caesar: The Catholic Church and the State in Latin America. New Edition. Chicago, 1998. ISBN: 978-0226293851. Pub. Price $34.00 [284 pages].
de Gruchy, John W., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Cambridge, 1999. ISBN: 978-0521587815. Pub. Price $40.99 [308 pages].
Hill, Bennett David. Church and State in the Middle Ages. John Wiley, 1972. ISBN: 978-0471396505 [224 pages].
Hinchliff, Peter. “A Good Political Animal,” in Holiness and Politics. Eerdmans, 1983. ISBN: 978-0802819673 [26 pages]. Available on eReserve.
Kindopp, Jason and Carol Lee Harmin, God and Caesar in China. Brookings, 2004. [200 pages].
Leung, Beatrice. Changing Church and State Relations in Hong Kong, 1950-2000. Hong Kong, 2003. [230 pages].
Madeley, John S. T. and Zsolt Enyedi, eds., Church and State in Contemporary Europe. The Chimera of Neutrality. Routledge, 2003. [256 pages].
Matheson, Peter. The Third Reich and the Christian Churches. Eerdmans, 1981. ISBN: 978-0567291059 [103 pages]. Out of Print.
Meecham, J. Lloyd. Church and State in Latin America. North Carolina, 1966. [465 pages]. Out of print.
Pike, Frederick B., ed. The Conflict Between Church and State in Latin America. Knopf, 1967. [237 pages].
Rahner, Hugo. Church and State in Early Christianity. Ignatius, 2006. ISBN: 978-0898703771 [324 pages].
Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. Reissued ed. Simon & Shuster, 2011. ISBN: 978-1451651683. Pub. Price $29.99 [1280 pages].
Solt, Leo F. Church and State in Early Modern England. Oxford, 1990. [288 pages].
Stokes, Anson Phelps. Church and State in the United States, 3 vols. Harper, 1950. [938 pages]. Out of Print.
Temple, William. Christianity and the State. Macmillan & Co, 1928 [198 pages]. Available in electronic form at: https://archive.org/stream/MN41368ucmf_10#page/n5/mode/2up
Tracy, James D. ed., Luther and the Modern State in Germany. Truman State, 1986. ISBN: 978-0940474079. Pub. Price $40.00 [108 pages].
Walshe, Peter. Church versus State in South Africa. Orbis, 1983. [234 pages].
Wilson, John F. Church and State in American History. Routledge, 2003. [452 pages].
Wind, Renate. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Spoke in the Wheel. Eerdmans, 1992. ISBN: 978-0802806321. Pub. Price $14.53 [180 pages].
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
PhD Seminar:
MDiv/MA Elective Course:
PREREQUISITES: Master’s students must have permission of the instructor; CH580 and ET525 are recommended, but not required.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: Option to meet the TH4 requirement in the 120 M.Div. and 80 M.A.T. Programs (Fall 2015).
FINAL EXAMINATION: None.