M ODULE D ESCRIPTION
Sections 1 – 7 are key module details which once validated cannot be changed without revalidation
1. Module Title: Contexts of Dissent
2. Credits:
CATS 15
ECTS 7.5
Level: 6
3. Programme: BA (Hons) Practical Theology
Module
Code: PT3903
Status:
Current
Status:
Mandatory
Type: blended learning
4. Pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
5.
Learning Outcomes for the module.
By the conclusion of this module, a student will be expected to be able to :
By the conclusion of this module, a student will be expected to be able to :
a) Demonstrate both synthetic and analytical understanding of the theology of dissent in a variety of
contexts
b) Appreciate postmodern, post-enlightenment and post-colonial thinking, and its application to
political and ordinary theology
c) Evaluate environmental and ecological arguments, including ecofeminism as dissent from
anthropocentric world views
d) Appreciate religious diversity as a context for dissent, including critical assessment of dissent
within religious traditions
6. Catalogue Summary
This module follows on the module ‘Spirit of Dissent’, exploring the theology of dissent in a
variety of contexts. Students are encouraged to consider four settings for dissent, and to study
one of the settings in greater detail. All four settings are of current relevance, and there is an
emphasis on the practical outworking of dissent in contemporary life.
7. Assessment Pattern
Case Study (4000 words)
Weight %
100
Pass Req
Y
Comments
8. Indicative Tutorial Team
Rev Dr Graham Adams
Rev Dr Janet Wootton
Rev John Cartwright
Rev Dr John Parry
9. Indicative Learning and Teaching Activities
Activity Type
HESA Category
Lecture
Scheduled
Seminar
Tutorial
Practical classes and workshops
Supervised time in studio/workshop
Fieldwork
External visits
Work-based learning
Project supervision
Demonstration
Sub-Total
Placement
Placement
Year abroad
Sub-Total
Guided independent study
Independent
15 credits x 10 notional hours = 150 hours
Total Hours
Hours
12
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
12
0
0
0
138
150
10. Sample Assignments
4000 words
Choose one of the theological movements profiled in this module and write a case study on it, which
should include the following:
- an outline of the movement’s main concerns / themes, and some critiques of it, with particular
reference to how it ‘dissents’ from an establishment position
- an outline of how it speaks to a specific contemporary context or concern, for example, a recent
news story or relevant specified context, either local or global
- a personal response in terms of your own life and discipleship
- an outline of how it could affect your church’s life and mission.
The topic of the case study should be agreed with the module tutor in advance.
11. Indicative Outline Content
Unit 1. Dissent in the context of post-Enlightenment thought
Unit 2. Dissent in the context of Empire
Unit 4. Dissent in the context of ecological crisis
Unit 5. Dissent in the context of religious diversity
Teaching sessions:
1. Theology in changing times: the impact of and responses to the western Enlightenment
2. Theology in the shadow of Empire: the impact of and responses to global economic forces
3. Theology in ecological debates: the impact of and responses to environmental damage
4. Theology in religious diversity: the impact of and responses to interreligious encounter
12. Indicative Reading
Please note that resources, including course notes/presentations, papers and discussions, as well
as access to online journals, are available through the University of Winchester Learning
Network: www.winchester.ac.uk.
Unit 1 – Dissent in the context of post-Enlightenment thought
Darwin, C., The Origin of Species (Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1998)
Mill, J. S. On Liberty (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2007)
Marx K. Capital (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
Nietzsche, F. Beyond Good & Evil (Harmondworth: Penguin, 2003)
Unit 2 – Dissent in the context of Empire
Dabashi, Hamid, Islamic Liberation Theology: Resisting the Empire (Routledge, 2008)
Joy, David, and Duggan, J. (eds), Decolonizing the Body of Christ: Theory and Theology after Empire?
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
Jung Mo Sung, Desire, Market and Religion (London: SCM, 2007)
Jung Mo Sung, Subject, Capitalism and Religion: Horizons of Hope in Complex Societies (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2011)
Kwok Pui-lan, Don H. Compier and Joerg Rieger (eds), Empire and the Christian tradition: New readings of
Classical Theologians (Fortress, 2007)
Kwok Pui-lan, Hope Abundant: Third World and Indigenous Women’s Theology (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2010)
Kwok Pui-lan, Postcolonial Imagination and feminist theology (London: SCM, 2005)
Miguez, Nestor, Joerg Rieger, and Jung Mo Sung, Beyond the Spirit of Empire (London: SCM, 2009)
Rieger, Joerg, and Kwok Pui Lan, Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude (Rowman and Littlefield
Publishers, 2012)
Rieger, Joerg, Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times (Augsburg Fortress, 2007)
Rieger, Joerg, Liberating the Future: God, Mammon and Theology (Augsburg Fortress, 2007)
Rieger, Joerg, No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics and the Future (Augsburg Fortress, 2009)
Unit 3 – Dissent in the context of ecological crisis
Cobb, J.B., D.T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether (ed.) Christianity, Economics and Ecology
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000)
Eaton, H. (ed.), Introducing ecofeminist theologies, (London: T & T Clark International, 2005)
Gottlieb, R. S., A greener faith: religious environmentalism and our planet’s future (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2006)
Gottlieb, R.S. (ed.), Religion and the environment, (London: Routledge, 2010)
Hessel, D.T. and Rosemary Radford Ruether, Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Wellbeing of the Earth,
(Worldviews: environment, culture, religion, Vol 7, Part 1/2, 2003)
Stump, J. B. and Alan G. Padgett (ed), The Blackwell Companion to science and Christianity (Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)
Unit 4 – Dissent in the context of religious diversity
Adams, Graham, Christ and the Other: In dialogue with Hick and Newbigin (Farnham: Ashgate, 2010)
Banchoff, Thomas (ed.), Religious Pluralism, Globalization and World Politics (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2008)
Barnes SJ, Michael, Theology and the Dialogue of the Religions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002)
Cobb, John B., Transforming Christianity and the World: A Way beyond Absolutism and Relativism
(Maryknoll: Orbis, 1999)
D’Costa, Gavin (ed.), Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions
(Maryknoll: Orbis, 1990)
Griffin, David R., (ed.), Deep Religious Pluralism (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2005)
Hedges, Paul, Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions (London: SCM, 2011)
Hick, John, The Rainbow of Faiths (London, SCM, 1995)
Knitter, Paul F., Introducing Theologies of Religions (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2002)
Kwok Pui-lan, Globalization, Gender and Peacebuilding: The Future of Interfaith Dialogue (Paulist press,
2012)
Pieris SJ, Aloysius, An Asian Theology of Liberation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988)
Race, Alan, and Paul M. Hedges, Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: SCM Core Text (London: SCM, 2008)
Race, Alan, and Paul M. Hedges, Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: SCM Reader (London: SCM, 2009)
Suchocki, Marjorie, Divinity and Diversity: A Christian Affirmation of Religious Pluralism (Nashville, TN:
Abingdon, 2003)
Yong, Amos, Hospitality and the Other: Pentecost, Christian Practices, and the Neighbor (Faith Meets Faith
Series) (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2008)
Websites
World Communion of Reformed Churches … the Accra Confession: http://www.wcrc.ch/node/469 ... and
Key Documents: http://www.wcrc.ch/node/472
World Council of Churches … Statement on Just Finance and the Economy of Life:
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/central-committee/geneva-2009/reports-anddocuments/report-on-public-issues/statement-on-just-finance-and-the-economy-of-life.html ... and
AGAPE: call for action: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/publicwitness-addressing-power-affirming-peace/poverty-wealth-and-ecology/neoliberal-paradigm/agape-callfor-action-2012.html
Council for World Mission … ‘Theology Statement: Mission in the context of Empire’:
http://cwmission.org/2010/11/09/cwm-theology-statement-2010/
Occupy … http://www.occupytogether.org/aboutoccupy/#issues and http://occupywallst.org/infotent/
www.ecofeminism.net
www.ecofem.org