Spring 2008 Course
Descriptions
60003/01
Elementary Biblical Hebrew II
Instructor: Abraham Winitzer
MW
1:30-2:45p
This is a two-semester introductory course in biblical
Hebrew; under normal
circumstances, the student must complete the first to
enroll in the second. The fall
semester will be devoted to learning the grammar of
biblical Hebrew. The spring
semester will be divided into two parts. For the first
six weeks we will finish and review
the grammar. In the remaining part of the course we will
read and translate texts from
the Hebrew Bible, Qumran, and Rabbinic literature. The
course will focus on developing
reading and comprehension skills in biblical Hebrew
through the study of biblical texts. In
addition, students will learn how to use reference
grammars, concordances, and
apparatus to the Biblica Hebraica. The course encourages
students to think about the
grammatical forms and their implications for biblical
interpretation.
60009/01
Coptic (2 day course)
Instructor: Greg Sterling
MW 8-9:15am
60016/01
Aramaic II
Instructor: Abraham Winitzer
MW
3:00-4:15pm
60102/01
New Testament Introduction
Instructor: Mary Rose DÕAngelo
TR
9:30-10:45am
This
course provides an overview and critical study of the New Testament in its
historical, literary and theological context. The focus will be on reading the
texts of the New Testament,
gaining an informed understanding of scholarly questions about them, and
acquiring tools for further work. Special attention will be paid to the
christologies of the writings and the role of the spirit in earliest
Christianity. Extra-canonical texts (Qumran texts, extra-canonical gospels)
will help in locating it the rich religious and cultural world of the later
Hellenistic era and the early Roman empire. Issues of contemporary theology
will also be addressed, as will development of the canon.
The
course is designed to prepare students both for doctoral work in biblical
studies and other areas of theological study, and for intelligent use of the
Biblical text in pastoral or educational settings.
60106/01
Prophets
Instructor: James VanderKam
TR
11:00-12:15pm
The
purpose of the course is to survey the prophetic literature in the Hebrew Bible
and to consider the major aspects of it and the messages contained in the
books. There will be an introduction to prophecy in the ancient Near
East, its early forms in Israel, and especially the evidence in the prophetic
books. Grading will be based on a midterm exam, a paper, and a final
exam.
60113/01
Gospel of John
Instructor: John Meier
TR
2:00-3:15pm
Description:
The purpose of this lecture course is to introduce the student at the MasterÕs
level to present-day study of the Gospel of John. The Gospel will be
covered by the interaction between class lectures on specific disputed topics or
pericopes on the one hand and the reading of a commentary on the Fourth Gospel
on the other. The major methods employed will be those of source, form,
and redaction criticism, though recent literary theories will also be
considered. The emphasis in the lectures will be on a synthetic overview
of the theology of JohnÕs Gospel, divided into major themes, rather than on an
exegesis of the whole Gospel in order. An overview of the whole Gospel in
its final canonical order will be gained by weekly reading and discussion of
the commentary, periodic quizzes on the readings, and discussions following the
quizzes.
60133/01
Bible in the Church
Instructor: David Aune
MW
10:00-11:15am
Description: This course will focus on the
liturgical and educational functions of the Bible in the church from the 2nd
through the 21st centuries with emphasis on the period following the
Reformation. The ideological role of the Bible will be compared and
contrast with its actual role in church documents of varying authority and in
the systematic theologies of select Christian traditions. The role of
Scripture in the major liturgical traditions will be particularly emphasized
(i.e., Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism/Episcopalianism,
Lutheranism). Further, the liturgical role of Tanak in Judaism will
provide a context for early development of the Christian use of the
Bible. The following topics a nd issues will be treated: (1) the history
of the various Christian Biblical canons, (2) the history and theology of the
lectionary, (3) the theological role of the Bible in creeds and church
documents of varying authority as a (or the) source of religious authority, (4)
theories of Biblical inspiration and authority (including the meanings of such
terms as inerrancy and infallibility), (5) the limitations of the
historical-critical method for the theological use of Scripture, (6) the
evolving relationship between the Bible, Tradition (or tradition) and the
Magisterial (or ecclesiastical authority), and (7) an overview of several major
theologies of Scripture found throughout the history of the church.
This course can also be taken at the PhD level with permission from the
instructor.
60204/01
Introduction into Medieval Theology
Instructor: Thomas Prugl
60255/01
The Formation of Imperial Christianity
Instructor:
Robin Darling Young
TR
3:30-4:45pm
Description:
Many of the present institutions of the Christian church - its structures and
its laws - developed from the governmental offices of the later Roman
Empire. Parish, diocese and metropolitan see; episcopal, patriarchal and
papal governance; and the ecumenical council with its doctrinal pronouncements
and conciliar decisions, were all made possible thanks to imperial
sponsorship. Nonetheless, opposition to empire remained an attractive
minority position among Christians, from the Book of Revelation through
martyrdom to monastic anachoresis. Through a close examination of both
primary and secondary sources, this course will introduce students to the
structures and habits of the Roman Empire from the first through the sixth
centuries, the Christian adaptation to empire, and the resultant church
polities that remain in existence today.
60256/01
Mysticism and the Plurality of Religions: The Case of Buddhism and Christianity
Instructor:
Robert Gimello
TR
3:30-4:45pm
Max 30
Description:
The modern study of mysticism, particularly as conducted by philosophers
and theologians, has developed in tandem with increasing reflection on the
implications of religious pluralism. Claims about the nature of mystical
experience, and about the relationship between mystical experience and other
elements of religion, have often been shaped either by the ardent assumption
that mysticism is an arena of convergence among religions or by strong
resistance to such an assumption. Perceived similarities and/or differences
between Christian mysticism and its Buddhist counterpart have regularly been at
the very center of lively and continuing debates about such matters. This
course - a foray into the disputed territory mysticism and religious pluralism
- will take the form of a close examination of selected classics from the
Christian and Buddhist contemplative traditions read and discussed against the
background of contemporary theoretical discourse about the character, meaning,
value, homogeneity or heterogeneity, and cross-cultural range of mysticism.
60257/01
(and 40244/01) Jewish Christian Dialogue in Germany before and after the
Holocaust
Instructor:
Michael Signer
TR
2:00-3:15pm
Description: From the second half of the
nineteenth century to the rise of the Nazi state there was an intense exchange
between Jews and Christians about their relationship. Tolerance and the promise of citizenship led to
unprecedented formulations of Jewish identity. The question of ÒGerman-nessÓ and Judaism [Deutschtum und
Judentum] raised issues about the character of German society itself. In this
course we shall concentrate on Jewish and Christian authors who addressed these
topics. During the final weeks of
the course we shall read from Christian authors who wrote after the Holocaust
and, in the wake of the II Vatican Council, brought the Catholic Church into
conversation with the question of what elements of Christianity could address
the horrors that the immediate past.
Readings will be in English, but students who have the ability will be
encouraged [and assisted] by the instructor to read select essays in German as
part of the Language Across the Curriculum group of courses.
60403/01
Rites of Christian Initiation
Instructor: Max Johnson
MW
3:00-4:15pm
This course will trace the historical development of the
liturgies and theological interpretations of Christian Initiation in East and
West from the New Testament period to the modern period of ecumenical
convergence. In light of this
historical investigation some modern forms of these rites (e.g., RCIA, LBW,
BCP, etc.) will be considered theologically and ecumenically with an eye toward
pastoral appropriations and implications..
60614/40613/01
Catholic Social Teaching
Instructor:
Margaret Pfeil
MW
11:45-1:00
Description: The primary goal of this course is to familiarize students
with the tradition of Catholic social teaching with a view toward developing
skills for critical reading and appropriation of these documents. We will examine papal, conciliar, and
episcopal texts from Rerum novarum (1891) up to the present time, identifying
operative principles, tracing central theological, ethical, and ecclesial
concerns, and locating each document in its proper historical context. We will also hold recurring themes in
conversation with the broader theoretical framework of Catholic social thought
and relevant secondary literature.
60624/40615
Comparative Religious Ethics
Instructor: David Clairmont
TR
11:00-12:15
Is religion necessary to live a
moral life? If so, are all
religions basically the same when it comes to the moral norms contained in
them? If not, how do we account
for the differences among religious values, norms and principles? How do religions justify their distinctive
moral claims in the face of alternative proposals? Can we study the ethical thought of a religious tradition
that is different from our own in a responsible manner and, if so, how should
we proceed? This course will take
up these and other related questions through an examination of classic and
contemporary Christian and Buddhist texts in dialogue with recent theoretical
options for the comparative study of religious ethics. We will begin with an assessment of the
importance and distinctive quality of religious voices in moral debate and then
look at some of the ways that contemporary scholars have approached the
investigation and assessment of similarities and differences in moral world
views. The middle portion of the
course will focus on a careful reading of selected Christian and Buddhist texts
that offer visions of the moral life.
The course will conclude with a comparative consideration of Buddhist
and Christian positions on the moral issue of abortion and the relationship of
human beings to the natural world.
Course requirements include two short critical response papers and a
longer final paper.
60629/01
Love of God and Neighbor
Instructor: Jennifer Herdt
Max. 19
TR
2:00-3:15
Description: Love has always been at the heart of ethical reflection in
the Biblical traditions. But if
Christians have always agreed that love is central to the Christian vocation,
they have differed on what it means to love God with all oneÕs heart, soul,
mind, and strength, how love of neighbor is to be understood in light of this
devotion to God, and what constitutes proper love of self. Is Christian ethics a repudiation of
eudaimonism or a form of it? How
are eros, agape, philia, and caritas to be understood in relation to one
another throughout the tradition?
How is Christian love made possible, and how does it relate to natural
loves? This course will take up
this complex set of questions with the help of both classic and contemporary
authors, likely to include the following:
Augustine, Aquinas, FŽnelon, Kierkegaard, Anders Nygren, Pierre
Rousselot, Gene Outka, Oliver OÕDonovan, Ed Vacek, Robert Merrihew Adams, and
Benedict the XVI.
60806/01 Ecclesiology
Instructor: Richard McBrien
TR 9:30-10:45am
Description: An examination of the nature and mission of the Church,
with special emphasis on the Second Vatican Council – its theological and
doctrinal antecedents and post-conciliar developments.
60808/01 Mystery of God
Instructor: Cyril OÕRegan
MW 1:00-2:45pm
The general aim of the course is introduce to the student to
the Catholic tradition of reflection on the triune God who always remains
mysterious even in, or precisely in, his revelation in history and in our
lives. The pedagogic aim is familiarity with the tradition that is the ChurchÕs
common possession. The hope I entertain, however, is that this tradition might
be truly appropriated, its meaning and meaningfulness embodied, and its truth
witnessed. The course necessarily will have a historical bent. It will commence
with the patristic period, and move from there to the contemporary period of
reflection on the triune God through the medieval period. My interest, however,
is not ultimately that of a chronological sketch. In the patristic section of
the course, my major concern is with the formation of Trinitarian doctrine,
with how and why Christians eventually made their conviction of GodÕs triune an
article of faith. Undoubtedly, one will find in the formation of doctrine a
good amount of intellectual sorting out, but I will try to draw attention to the
more holistic environment in which intellectual reflection was one thread in a
complex tapestry that included liturgy, biblical interpretation, and the
ethical practices of the community. In the section entitled Ôthe classical
tradition,Õ I want to explore the tradition of reflection on the Trinity from a
number of different points of view. I want to indicate that the Nicaean creed
did not bring and end to theological reflection, but promoted it, as the
Trinitarian doctrine had to meet new and complex challenges both from within
and without the church. The examples of Augustine and Bonaventure are crucial
here. Equally I want to underscore that the theological tradition did not
simply regard the doctrine of the Trinity as something that engages the mind,
the most challenging kind of intellectual puzzle. I do this by emphasizing how
in the East as well as the West the triune God is the goal as well as origin of
the mystical life. The section on contemporary Trinitarian thought features the
work of Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Both of these theologians are
conscious of the marginalization of the Trinity in modern piety and theological
reflection, and strive to reverse the fortunes of Trinitarian thought and
reflection. They argue for a holistic understanding of the Trinity that
reflects the fact that doctrine itself represents an interpretation of GodÕs
activity in history and in human life. A contemporary issue in Trinitarian
thought that will receive particular attention is the issue of whether the
triune God suffers, and if so in what way. This remains, as we will see, an
open question.
Required
Texts:
Augustine, De
Trinitate
Walter
Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ
Karl
Rahner, The Trinity
William
Rusch, The Trinitarian Controversy
Course
Packet
Texts
Recommended:
Edmund
Hill, Mystery of the Trinity
Elizabeth
Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse
J.N. Kelly,
Early Christian Doctrines
Catherine
LaCugna, God For Us
John
OÕDonnell, The Mystery of the Triune God
60821/01 Modern Theology
Instructor: Matt Ashley
TR 3:30-4:45pm
Nineteenth
century Christian theologians were challenged both to defend the legitimacy of
Christian faith and theology in an increasingly secularized intellectual
culture and to develop an authentic response to the dark underside of
scientific, technological and economic "progress" that became more
and more apparent as the century progressed. In many ways their successes
and their failures still set the agenda for theologians today. This course
will survey a representative sample of their responses. The guiding theme
will be the attempt to grapple theologically with the modern
"discovery" of history, which brought with it a sense of the
historical particularity of all traditions (including religious traditions) and
raised the problem of how to evaluate the continuity and difference that
separates any age from its past. We will read from the following authors:
Gotthold Lessing, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Ludwig
Feuerbach, David Friedrich Strauss, Karl Marx, Johann Sebastian Drey, Johann
Adam Mšhler, Adolf von Harnack, Alfred Loisy, Karl Barth, Maurice Blondel, and
Ernst Troeltsch. Course Requirements: three exegetical papers (8-10 pages
each) and an in-class final exam.
60824/40822 Educating in Faith: Catechesis in Catholic Schools
Instructor: Jan Poorman
TR 12:30-1:25
Description: This course is designed to assist current or
prospective teachers of religion/theology at the junior-high and high school
levels in the catechesis of young adults in Catholic schools. The course is open to Theology
Department students at the undergraduate and graduate levels (including those
enrolled only for the Summer Session), to M.Ed. students serving in the
Alliance for Catholic Education, and to Notre Dame undergraduates with minors
in Education, Schooling, and Society.
Within class sessions designed to be highly dialogical, interactive, and
prayerful, participants will explore both theological and practical/pedagogical
dimensions of the process of catechesis.
Required readings are drawn from The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
from publications of the United States Catholic Conference (notably the
General Directory for Catechesis, the National Catechetical Directory
for Catholics in the United States, and the Guide for Catechists)
and from the works of several theologians and educational theorists who have
contributed significant responses to the two central questions addressed in
this course: "What is
Catechesis?" and "How Do We Engage in Catechesis in the Context of
Catholic Schools?". During
this course, participants will explore all of the central tasks that constitute
the holistic process of catechesis as delineated in the general and national
Catholic catechetical directories and other catechetical documents and as
adapted for use in Catholic schools: communicating knowledge of the mystery of
God's self-revelation; fostering maturity of faith and moral development;
sharing and celebrating faith by forming Christian communities of prayerful
people; promoting Christian service and social justice; and witnessing to faith
through pedagogy and by the example of authentic spiritual lives.
60838/01
Orders and Ministry
Instructor: David Fagerberg
TR
12:30-1:45pm
Description: This course begins by putting ministry
in an ecclesiological context leading to Lumen Gentium. It then examines
the forms of that ministry in the Church: ordained priesthood, the lay
apostolate, and lay ecclesial ministry. A theology of ordained and baptized priesthood
is considered first, the apostolate of the baptized priesthood is treated
second, and recent developments in the United States concerning lay ecclesial
ministers is studied third. Students will read the relevant official documents
coming out of Vatican II. By a format of seminar discussion, they should gain a
vocabulary and principles for articulating their own ministerial identity.
60849/01
Christian Spirituality
Instructor:
Lawrence Cunningham
MW
1:30-2:45pm
This course will have three fundamental foci:
(1) An argument that academic theology should not be divorced from spirituality
correctly understood; (2) That central to the discourse of Christian
spirituality is the biblical notion of Holiness; (3) That holiness manifests
itself and is lived out in various ways within the Christian tradition. That
final focus will be the subject of student selected topics chosen in
consultation with the instructor producing a major paper. That paper will be
significant for the final grade when weighed in the light of class
participation, close reading of required texts, and occasional written and oral
short presentations.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Mark McIntosh <Divine Teaching>
(Blackwell,2007)
Donna Orsuto <Holiness> (Continuum, 2007)
Cunningham/Egan
<Christian Spirituality> (Paulist, 1996).
60859/40423 The Long Quest: From the Buddha to the Prophet
Instructor: Lawrence Sullivan
TR
12:30-1:45pm
Description: One of a sequence serving the history
of religion, this course covers select cases from early Hinduism, Buddhism, the
Greek Mysteries, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Course requirements include
quizzes on readings, class presentations, brief papers, and mid-term and final
exam.
60947/01
Liturgical Celebration/Ministry II
Instructor:
2 credits
W 9-11:30am
60950/01
Preaching III
Instructor: Craig Satterlee
F: 9:30-11:30am
Description: A continuation of Preaching II, with
emphasis on the theological and social dimensions of preaching. The main work of the course will be
preparation, delivery and review of homilies. Assigned readings to be discussed in class. In addition to preaching and reading
assignments, each student will prepare a short paper on a theology of preaching.
60951/01
Reconciliation Ministry
Instructor:
Peter Jarret
63001/01
Synthesis Seminar
Instructor: Michael Connors
M:
9:30-11:30am
Description: The Synthesis Seminar is both a point of
arrival and a point of departure -- arrival, in that it seeks to integrate the
course of formal studies with one's theology of ministry, and departure in that
it is provisional, leaving one with questions for the journey. Each
student chooses a topic that will serve as a focus for synthesis. Synthesis
should illustrate both theological and ministerial preparedness. In developing the topic, attention is
to be paid to at least three theological areas (Scripture, systematics,
history, ethics, liturgy and practical theology...). Oral presentation
and major paper.
65932/01
Images & Models of Ministry II
Instructor: Michael Connors
W: 3:00 – 5:45pm
Description:
Through supervision and seminars, students continue to form their
identities as ministers, sharpen skills for theological reflection upon
pastoral praxis, and deepen theological understanding of ministry. The case
study method is introduced, and each student prepares one case study. The semester ends with evaluations by
both students and supervisors.
65934/01
Articulating Faith II
Instructor: Jan Poorman
W
10:00-11:30am
Description: Field Education is an integral component of
education for ecclesial ministry.
Through field education, students pursue the integration of theological
competence with pastoral skill in a developing identity as a public
minister. The goal of the second
year of field education is facility in articulating the Christian faith,
particularly as understood in Roman Catholic tradition, and in fostering the
development of faith with others.
The goal is approached through a threefold constellation of
learning contexts: field work in a
ministry placement, supervision of that work, and a field education
seminar. The primary learning
dynamic for the seminar is dialogical and includes conversation about assigned
texts and critical incidents as reported by participants using the prescribed
case study method for this course.
67009/01
MSM Colloquium
Instructor: Michael Driscoll
W
4:30-6:00pm
67010/01
Practicum
Instructor: Michael Driscoll