RELS114 – Flanagan – Syllabus 1/6
INTRODUCTION
TO
THEOLOGY
RELS114: MWF, 9:00 am
Spring 2008
Location: Stein 208
Instructor: Brian P. Flanagan
Email: brianflanagan1@gmail.com
Office: Smith 432
Office Hours: Mondays, 1 – 3:00
Wednesdays, 1 – 4:00 pm, and by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will be an introduction to Christian theology. It is
an introduction in that it will survey some of the major
questions and themes of Christian thought without being
exhaustive. It is a course in theology in that it will
investigate questions about God and all things as related to God,
and the Christian churches’ responses to those questions. It is a
course in Christian theology in that it will focus primarily upon
the variety of Christian responses to questions about God, rather
than upon other religious traditions or the theology of a
particular Christian church. Practically, the course will proceed
through a series of major themes and questions. It will draw upon
the Christian scriptures, the thought of Christians past and
present, the reasonable investigations of philosophers, social
scientists, and other scholars, and the experience of the members
of the course in addressing these basic components of Christian
theology.
OBJECTIVES
-
To introduce students to the study of Christian theology
as an intellectual endeavor
To introduce students to the major questions and concepts
of the Christian tradition
To continue to develop students’ critical thinking skills
and facility of expression, written and spoken through
class discussion, examinations, and other assignments
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
AND
EVALUATION
1. Participation (30%). The most important aspect of your
contribution to the course is attendance and active
participation at each class session. In addition to
grounding your performance on examinations, participation
will be a separate part of grade evaluation.
a. Attendance. Absences will be excused under the
following circumstances: I receive notification from a
physician that you are sick, notification from the
dean’s office that there has been a family emergency,
notification from the career center of a job
interview, or official notification of your
participation in a college-sponsored event. After two
RELS114 – Flanagan – Syllabus 2/6
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
unexcused absences, your overall participation grade
will be lowered by one part of a letter grade. If you
are more than 10 minutes late for a class session, you
are late. Every three classes for which you are late
will be equivalent to an unexcused absence. You are
responsible for any material missed during absences,
and assignments due on that date are to be handed in
at the beginning of the following class. Extended
absences will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. For
more information, see the section “Student Attendance
at Class” of the Holy Cross Catalog.
b. Preparation and Participation. Being a warm body in a
seat fails to satisfy the participation requirement.
Careful preparation of course readings and active inclass participation are expected, and will be factored
into your participation grade.
c. Biweekly Response Papers. Every other week, students
will submit a short typed page responding to the
week’s content, sometimes in response to a question
proposed by the instructor. Students will submit the
text by email to the instructor before the beginning
of class, and will bring a printed copy with them to
class. After one missed discussion paper, your overall
participation grade will be lowered by one part of a
letter grade. Every two papers that are judged to be
below average (a “check minus”) will be equivalent to
a missed paper.
Midterm Examination (25%). On Friday, March 14th, I will
distribute a take-home examination that will be due on
Monday, March 17th. This exam will cover all material up to
and including February 29th.
Church Visit Project (15%). During the week of March 26th,
I will distribute guidelines for a group project involving
attendance at the services of a Christian church of your
group’s choosing in the Worcester area. Presentations will
occur in class during the week of April 14th, which will
provide three possible weekends for you and your group to
schedule your visit.
Final Examination (30%). There will be a final, written
examination. This examination will be cumulative of all
material studied in the course.
Grading. Grading will follow the numeric scale for letter
grades found in the Course Catalogue, namely, A=4.00, A=3.70, B+=3.30, B=3.00, B-2.70, C+=2.30, C=2.00, C-=1.70,
D+=1.30, D=1.00, F=0.00
Style, Grammar, and Content. As in the “real world,” how
one expresses oneself is often just as important as what
one says. Grading will take into account both the content
of your responses and grammar, spelling, and style. A word
to the wise: clicking “spellcheck” is not enough to
satisfactorily edit and proofread an assignment.
RELS114 – Flanagan – Syllabus 3/6
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The College is committed to the pursuit not only of excellence,
but of truth. Holy Cross – and I – take issues of academic
integrity quite seriously. Please familiarize yourself with the
definitions, issues, and consequences treated in the section
“Academic Honesty Policy” in the catalog (available at
http://www.holycross.edu/catalog/academic-honesty-policy.pdf).
Plagiarism, cheating, and collusion cause serious breaches of
trust, will hinder your education, and will result in farreaching consequences. I will encourage collaboration with your
colleagues in this course through discussions and joint
exercises, and hope that your conversations outside of the
classroom will be a part of your learning process, but unless
explicitly instructed otherwise, works submitted for evaluation
should always be your own work. After consultation, I will report
any violations or suspected violations of academic integrity to
the Dean’s Office.
COURSE TEXTS
Alister E. McGrath. Theology: The Basics. 2nd edition. Malden,
MA,: Blackwell Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4051-6754-3
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented
Third Edition. College Edition, New Revised Standard Version
(Paperback). New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 01952-8883-1. (Note: If you already own a study Bible [a Bible
containing explanatory notes] you are not required to purchase
the edition. If you have questions about whether your translation
and edition will be acceptable, please see me or email me.)
In addition, numerous articles and texts will be assigned and
found on the library's Electronic Reserves page for the course.
These will be listed in the syllabus as "ERes." The password for
these reserves is RELS114.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Notes:
1. Readings are to be prepared for the date under which they are
listed. Assignments are due on the date under which they are
listed in bold.
2. The Blackboard page for the course will always maintain the
most accurate course schedule. Major changes to that schedule
will be announced via that site.
1/16
Introduction
Course Syllabus
1/18
Discussion: What is Theology?
Response paper due
RELS114 – Flanagan – Syllabus 4/6
1/23
The Bible I
Read Bernhard Asen, “The Old Testament,” ERes
Read Genesis 1 - 3
1/25
The Bible II
Read James Kelhoffer, “The New Testament,” ERes
1/28
Tradition
Read Martin Luther, “Sermon in Castle Pleissenburg,”
Eres
Read Vatican Council II, Dei Verbum, ERes
1/30
Faith and Reason I
Read Karl Barth and Emil Brunner on revelation and
reason, ERes
2/1
Faith and Reason II
Read Christoph Schörnborn, “Finding Design in Nature,”
ERes
Read George Coyne, S.J., “God’s Chance Creation,” ERes
Response paper due
2/4
Experience I
Read Rudolph Otto, “The fascinating and awesome
mystery,” ERes
2/6
Experience II
Read Anne Lamott, “Overture: Lily Pads”
Read Anne M. Clifford, “The ‘Why’ and ‘What’ of
Christian Feminist Theology,” ERes
2/8
Review: Sources of Theological Reflection
2/11
Faith I
Read McGrath, “Faith,” 1-19
Read Letter to the Romans, Chapters 1-7
Read Thomas Aquinas, “Five Ways,” ERes
2/13
Faith II
Read Martin Luther, Freedom of a Christian, ERes
2/15
Faith III
Read “Joint Declaration on Justification,” ERes
Response paper due
2/18
God I: Talking About God
Read McGrath, “God,” 20-38
2/20
God II: Savior of Israel
Read Exodus, Chapters 1-15
RELS114 – Flanagan – Syllabus 5/6
2/22
God III: The Psalms
Read Psalms 5, 8, 10, 22, 23, 34, 80, 137
2/25
God IV: Creation
Read Genesis, Chapters 1-3
Read McGrath, “Creation,” 39=60
2/27
God V: God and Israel
Read Hosea (entire)
2/29
God VI: God as Father
Read Isaiah, Chapters 48-49
Read Luke 10:25-37; 14:7-24; 15:11-32; 18:9-14
Response paper due
3/3 – 3/7
No class – Spring Break
3/10
Jesus I
Read Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 1-20
3/12
Jesus II
Read Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 20-28
3/14
Jesus III
Read Mark Chapters 1, 14-16
Read John, 1:1-18, Chapters 18-21
Read Gospel of Thomas, ERes
Take-home midterm distributed
3/17
Jesus IV
Read McGrath, “Jesus,” 61-80
Take-home midterm due
3/19
Jesus V
Read Chung Hyun Kyung, “Who is Jesus for Asian
Women?” ERes
Read James Cone, “Jesus Christ in Black Theology,”
ERes
3/21 – 24
No class – Easter Break
3/26
Theological Anthropology I
Read Kevin Seasoltz, “Culture,” ERes
Read Michael DeSanctis, “Beauty, Holiness, and
Liturgical Space,” Eres
Church Visit Guidelines Distributed
3/28
Theological Anthropology II
Re-read Genesis, Chapters 1-2
Read Mary Garascia, “Theological Anthropology,” ERes
Response paper due
RELS114 – Flanagan – Syllabus 6/6
3/31
Salvation I
Read McGrath, “Salvation,” 81-101
Read Genesis 3-4, 6-9, 11: 1-9
Read Anselm of Canterbury on salvation, ERes
4/2
Salvation II
Read James Alison, “Unpicking Atonement’s Knots,” ERes
4/4
Salvation III
Read Dominus Iesus, ERes
Read John Hick, “The Theological Challenge of
Religious Pluralism,” ERes
4/7
Holy
Read
Read
Read
Spirit I
Luke, Chapters 1-4
Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1-5
1 Corinthians Chapters 12-13
4/9
Holy
Read
Read
ERes
Read
Spirit II
McGrath, “Trinity,” 102-22
Robert Jenson, “On the Trinity as God’s name,”
Augustine, Sermon 212, ERes
4/11
Church I
Read McGrath, “Church,” 123-45
Read Lumen Gentium, 1-14, ERes
Response paper due
4/14
Church Visit Project Presentations
4/16
Church Visit Project Presentations
4/18
Church Visit Project Presentations
4/21
Ethics I
Read Barbara Blackburn, “Christian Morality,” ERes
4/23
Ethics II
Read J.A. Wayne Hellmann, “Social Justice,” ERes
Read “Economic Justice for All,” ERes
4/25
Spirituality
Read McGrath, “Sacraments,” 144-64
Read Martin Connell, “On God and Time,” ERes
4/28
Last Class
Review of the Semester
Response paper due
TBA
Final Examination