ST530/830
Anderson
ST530/830: KARL BARTH AND EVANGELICALISM. Ray S. Anderson.
DESCRIPTION:
- This seminar is offered as a graduate seminar for Ph.D. and Th.M.
students. By special permission, M.A. and M.Div. level students may enroll as
space permits. This seminar will deal with the theological method and
development of Karl Barth's theology. It will include an introduction to
Barth's life and thought, examination of his method, central themes in his
theology, critical response to Barth by representative American evangelical
theologians, and a final appraisal of Barth's contribution to evangelical
theology. Selected portions from Barth's Church Dogmatics will be
discussed in class, dealing with knowledge of God, election, covenant,
reconciliation, ecclesiology, and ethics.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:
- This course is designed to enable the student to 1) understand and
express Barth's basic theological method; 2) gain an overview of Barth's
dogmatic theology; and 3) interpret the significance of Barth's theology for
the evangelical church today.
COURSE FORMAT:
- Class sessions for ST530 will be held each Tuesday and Thursday,
8:00 to 9:50 a.m. (ST830 will meet concurrently on Tuesdays only from 8:00 to
9:50 a.m. and then separately at a time to be arranged.) Assigned readings will
be used as a basis for the lecture and class discussion each day. A packet of
readings from Barth's Church Dogmatics will be made available in class,
and is required for each student to have. Class discussion will be based on
these readings.
REQUIRED READING:
- 1,500 pages of reading are required, including:
- Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics. Selected portions. (Photocopy packet
made available in class.)
- Busch, Eberhard. Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical
Texts. Eerdmans, 1993. (paper)
ASSIGNMENTS:
- Two papers will be required. The first, due on Tuesday, May 6th,
will be a brief (six to eight pages, double spaced) paper setting forth Barth's
basic theological method. For graduate students, a second paper (20 to 25
pages, double spaced) will be required on a topic which relates some aspect of
Barth's theology to the student's major research project, or which deals
primarily with some aspect of Barth's own theology. Endnotes (or footnotes)
will be required along with a bibliography. M.A./M.Div. level students will
write a second paper (ten to twelve pages, double spaced) as a position paper
on Karl Barth's theology from an evangelical perspective, or it can be a
research paper on a particular aspect of Barth's theology. In this paper, end
notes will be required, documenting sources used and discussing technical
points not included within the paper, along with a bibliography.
PREREQUISITES:
- Permission of the instructor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:
- Elective
FINAL EXAMINATION:
- None.