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Grace, Christ, and the Spirit LIM 714, Fall 2014

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Grace, Christ, and the Spirit LIM 714, Fall 2014 Grace, Christ, and the Spirit LIM 714, Fall 2014 Instructor: Robert Ludwig, PhD Mobile Phone: 773/230-8587 E-Mail: [email protected] On-Line Office Hours: Students can contact the instructor via e-mail anytime, and they can normally expect a response within 24 hours. However, the instructor will normally be available for phone or email contact with students immediately on Mondays from 5:00 – 7:30 PM Central Time Thursday evenings. Class Sessions: On-Line, September 1 – December 8, 2014 (Final Essay Due 12/15/14) Required Readings: • Robert Ludwig, LIM Course Book. Available upon request from Elizabeth Harris at [email protected] • Hans Kung, Great Christian Thinkers (Continuum, 1995). 0826408486. $39.95 list. • Selected Essays posted on Blackboard and in Course Schedule Suggested Reading: Karen Kilby, Brief Introduction to Karl Rahner (Crossroad, 2007) Course Description: Today many Christians have little or no understanding of how the New Testament experience became translated into Christian doctrine; many have little or no insight into how Christian theology today understands the dynamics of sin and grace, the notion of salvation, the role of Jesus Christ and the presence of the Spirit as understood by Christian faith. This course is an overview of fundamental Christian theology, as it developed through history, focused on the core doctrines of grace, Christ, and Trinity. In this course, students will pursue an understanding of the Catholic core: how God has been wedded to humanity and creation in Jesus Christ and how we are called to participate in this divine-human communion in and through incarnation and grace. We will explore the experiential foundations of Christian doctrine and see the evolution of interpretation from early centuries to the present. Much of the course will explore contemporary, pastoral understandings of Christian doctrine: How might we understand and explain the Catholic core in our ministries on the ground today? We will move between experience and doctrine and back to experience, helping students gain insight into both as they come to understand the dynamic process that leads from experience to doctrine—and, in theology, back again to experience and to ministry. The course begins with a study of the historical evolution of Christian doctrine, beginning with the Apostle Paul (“the first Christian theologian”) and then to Origen. At the beginning of the 4th century, the status of Christian faith took a dramatic turn when it became legitimated and made legal by the Emperor Constantine. Thus begins the rise of “the imperial Church” the context for the first seven ecumenical councils, wherein 1 key Christological doctrine was set. We study St. Augustine, “the father of Latin Catholic theology,” whose influence on the tradition since is difficult to overstate. In the thirteen century, a somewhat radical challenge emerges in Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan theologians (in particular, John Duns Scotus). We then look at the thought of Thomas Aquinas, the Dominican theologian whose thought would shape Roman Catholic thought through the Reformation and well after—even up to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). The Reformation is considered by reference to Luther and other Reformers and to the Catholic response in the Council of Trent. Due to the shortness of time, we leap to the 20th century and the teachings of Vatican II. Thus concludes our historical survey of Christian doctrine and theology. In addition to the Course Book, the primary text for this historical survey is Hans Kung’s Great Christian Thinkers, with additional readings available on Blackboard for download. The remainder of the course is focused on contemporary theological understandings, primarily the thought of the great German Jesuit, Karl Rahner, whose influence during and after Vatican II is steady. We will also consider a variety of theological developments described by Elizabeth Johnson in her book, Quest for the Living God. Instructors’ Expectations/Course Requirements/Grading Standards: • LEARNING OUTCOMES: Ø The two most important learning outcomes: (1) Insight into the connections between lived experience and doctrine, between Christian faith and how that faith is explained in different historical and cultural contexts—the process involved in the emergence of doctrine and how theology morphs Christian understanding of that doctrine through the centuries and in various cultural contexts—the first critical learning for students. (2) The ability to understand and relate the fundamental theology of Karl Rahner for faith and ministry contexts today—the second critical learning outcome for students in this course. Ø In order to accomplish the above, students will need to develop some strategic and procedural knowledge. They will learn to think about how faith pushes towards understanding, articulation, and connections with how one understands self, others, and world—how religious experience compels its appropriation and integration, and ultimately expresses itself in ecclesial forms. Students will discover the tools of historical theology and correlation—the dynamic of revising theological understanding in the light of new ways of thinking and understanding in changed historical-cultural contexts—and the hermeneutical task of translating their meaning into present contexts. Ø Utilizing these methods, students will gain a sense of the evolution of Christian faith from the Apostle Paul and churches that grew up in the Jewish Diaspora in the first century, to the Hellenistic world in Greco-Roman cities, to the establishment of Christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire and the emergence of “the Latin Catholic paradigm” (Kung) in Augustine and Thomas, 2 then the great challenge to that doctrinal model in up the Reformation and the emergence of modernity. Here students will see an evolution of faith according to changing cultural contexts. • Finally—and not unimportantly—students will learn to “translate” ancient truths into their own contexts by thinking about their own experience and the world of the faith communities in which they minister or plan to minister. • Please thoughtfully consider the chart below, where the learning goals for this course are carefully outlined. Understanding the course goals and pursuing the course competencies are the main tasks of each student. Thinking about Competencies Strategic Knowledge • The strategy of “critiquing present presuppositions and The thinking strategies and processes assumptions” about fundamental categories in faith: students will need to develop in this course How to retrieve past understandings by discovering them in their original historical contexts and assessing the gains and losses as the tradition morphs its understandings of the human, the world, salvation, and God • The strategy of translation: How to connect the meanings and values manifested in earliest Christianity to the present day contexts of faith and ministry Procedural Knowledge • Historical-critical theology, contextual correlation, and Procedures, techniques, and methods the science of hermeneutics (how faith experience and taught in this course theological understanding connect) • Assessment and critical thinking in theology— developing criteria and process for evaluating strengths and weaknesses in theological expression Factual Knowledge • Factual understandings of Christian doctrine Knowledge of facts, details, concepts, and interpreted in key historical moments resulting in terminology that students will become theological paradigms: the Greek Fathers, Augustine, familiar with in this course Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, the Council of Trent, and 20th century theology, especially the thought of Karl Rahner 3 • EVIDENCE: Students will demonstrate these competencies through their active participation in class and in their written assignments—as described below. o Weekly Participation on Blackboard’s Discussion Board: It is very important that students attend to their on-line learning by doing the required readings, participate actively in the threaded discussions, and develop informed and thoughtful postings as described in the Course Schedule. Your questions and comments in the threaded discussions and your essay postings and responses provide evidence that you are, in fact, developing the competencies and accomplishing the learning objectives outlined above. Please Note: If you need to absent yourself from active participation in the course at any time due to illness or other important reasons, you need to contact the instructor by email or on his mobile phone and provide him with an explanation. Arrangements will be made for the student to complete the necessary work and proceed with the course. Participating actively in the weekly discussions contributes 40 points to your final grade. All students are expected to be engaged in the class, raising questions, contributing insights, and making useful connections between “then” and “now.” Lack of participation in class discussions can seriously affect your final grade. (40 points) o Major Essays: All students will write three major essays in addition to the postings in the Discussion Board. 1) A 1,000-word essay contrasting the Latin Paradigm (Augustine and Aquinas) with the theology of the Franciscan school— due October 20th at 12 Noon; 2) A 1,000-word essay on the Reformation (including the Council of Trent) and Vatican II—due November 10th at 12 Noon; and 3) A 1,500-word essay on post-Vatican II fundamental theology, including Rahner,
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