Fall 2019/Pasadena

TC500/800

Callaway

TC500/800: THEOLOGY AND CULTURE METHODS (4 Units: 160 hours/6 Units: 265 hours). Kutter Callaway.

DESCRIPTION: This course is designed not only to introduce students in all of Fuller’s degree programs (SOT, SIS, and SOP) to the depth and richness of what it means to engage “culture” at Fuller Seminary, but also to equip them with the necessary resources for doing so. It thus encourages students to develop a critical theological methodology for interpreting, understanding, and engaging both their local cultural context and “culture” writ large, which includes but is not limited to: (1) concrete cultural products (e.g., literary texts, films, music, visual art, etc.); (2) cultural practices (religious, aesthetic, political); (3) cultural phenomena (e.g., broader societal trends, movements, and sensibilities); (4) cultural theories (philosophy, psychology, critical theory); (5) cultural systems/structures (socio-economic, ideological, technological); and (6) cultural identities (ethnic, linguistic, tribal, national). The approach will be, first of all, to focus on cultural “traces” as embodiments and expressions of a “glocally” situated cultural imaginary, and then to develop strategies of interpretation and missional engagement that are informed by biblical and theological categories. In the broadest sense, the aim of this course is to develop a constellation of cultural competencies for Christians who live, move, and have their being in increasingly globalized, hybrid, porous, and pluralistic cultural contexts.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will have demonstrated the capacity to: (1) Formulate a working definition of “culture” from a theological perspective; (2) Articulate the relationship between theories and practices for sympathetic engagement and critical understanding of the various dimensions of culture; (3) Identify the prevailing critical methodologies for engaging culture theologically and, by situating themselves within this landscape, outline the core elements of their own methodological framework for interpreting and engaging culture; (4) Offer a coherent description of what methodology is and why it matters for research, Christian mission, and life as a person of faith in the late-modern world; and (5) Formulate a compelling research question, rooted in a particular methodology, as a means for investigating theologically a concrete artifact, phenomenon, or structure.

RELATIONSHIP TO PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: TC courses introduce students to an aspect of culture along with one or more interpretive method(s) for both understanding it and engaging with it theologically; they seek to implement the SOT PLO, "Students will have demonstrated academic capacities appropriate to an area of focus in a theological discipline or to interdisciplinary theological study."

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 (MA and PhD): 1,700 total pages required.

Barker, Chris & Jane, Emma. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, Fifth Edition. Sage, 2016. ISBN: 978-1473919457, Pub. Price $60.00. [350 pp. assigned]

Caputo, John. Hermeneutics: Facts and Interpretation in the Age of Information. Pelican, 2018. ISBN: 978-0241257852, Pub. Price $17.95. [368 pp.].

Kim, Kirsteen. Joining in with the Spirit: Connecting World Church and Local Mission. Hymns Ancient & Modern, 2012. ISBN: 978-0334046080, Pub. Price $40.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [338 pp.].

Markus, Hazel Rose, & Conner, Alana. Clash!: How to Thrive in a Multicultural World. Penguin, 2013. ISBN: 978-0142180938, Pub. Price $17.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [320 pp].

Reyes, Patrick. Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood. Chalice Press, 2018. ISBN: 978-0827225312, Pub Price. $19.99. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [192 pp.].

ADDITIONAL REQUIRED READING (PhD only). [1,050 pp. assigned].

Coakley, Sarah. God, Sexuality, and the Self: An Essay ‘On the Trinity.’ Cambridge University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0521558266, Pub. Price $31.99. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [250 pp.].

Damasio, Antonio. The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures, 2018. ISBN: 978-0307908759, Pub. Price $28.95. [150 pp.].

De Botton, Alain, & Armstrong, John. Art as Therapy. Phaidon, 2016. ISBN: 978-0714872780, Pub. Price $16.95. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [150 pp.].

Jennings, Willie. The Christian Imagination. Yale, 2011. ISBN: 978-0300171365, Pub. Price $27.50. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [200 pp. assigned].

Shaw, Daniel, & Burrows, William. Traditional Ritual As Christian Worship: Dangerous Syncretism or Necessary Hybridity?, 2018. ISBN: 978-1626982628, Pub. Price $50.00. Available as an e-book from the Fuller Library [150 pp.].

Tanner, Kathryn. Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology. Fortress Press ,1997. ISBN: 978-0800630973, Pub. Price $25.00. [150 pp. assigned].

RECOMMENDED READING: Recommended reading will be listed in the syllabus.

ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:

1,700 total pages of required reading for MA [85 hours]; 2,750 for PhD [140 hours]. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3, #4, #5].
Participation in class, with evidence of having done the reading by posting critical questions on Canvas in advance of each class. (20%) [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3]. [30 hours].
In-class group presentation on cultural “trace” [MA students]; In-class Lecture [PhD students]. [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, #4, #5]. [20 hours; Includes 10 DLA hours as preparation for in-class presentation/lecture] (30% for MA; 15% for PhD).
Create a Theology and Culture syllabus focused on student’s area of focus [For PhD Students only]. [This assignment is related to learning outcome #1, #2, #3, #4, #5] [35 hours] (15%).
A final paper based on presentations in class and rewritten on the basis of discussion in class [10-12 pp. for MA, 20-25 pp. for PhD]. [This assignment is related to learning outcomes #1, #2, #4, #5]. [25 hours MA; 40 hours PhD]. (50%).

PREREQUISITES: None

RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: A required course for the Cohort portion of the MA in Global Leadership. Option to meet the C2 or TH5 requirement in the 120 MDiv Program. Option to meet the C2 requirement in the 80 MATM Program (Fall 2015).

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.