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Modern Christian Thought and Critics (“Christianity: to Be Reduced, Reused, Or Recycled?”) RELI 316-DL1 Religious Studies George Mason University

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Modern Christian Thought and Critics (“Christianity: to Be Reduced, Reused, Or Recycled?”) RELI 316-DL1 Religious Studies George Mason University Modern Christian Thought and Critics (“Christianity: to be reduced, reused, or recycled?”) RELI 316-DL1 Religious Studies George Mason University days/times: M&W 1:30pm-2:45pm class room: online instructor: Prof. Garry Sparks office: Robinson Hall B, room 444 office hours: M&W 3:00pm-4:30pm (or by appointment when available) office phone: 703-993-1979 (rarely answer) e-mail: [email protected] (best) Course Description Arguably the beginning of the Modern Era (or at least early modernity) occurs at the turn of the sixteenth century and the encounter between Christianity—namely Western Christendom and by extension colonial Christianity—and the Americas. While Christianity since the time of late antiquity did venture deep into northern Africa as well as Asia (such as by missionaries of Nestorian Christianity into central China and southern India by the seventh century), the Christianity (re)introduced into Africa and Asia and brought to the Americas with the extension of European imperial nation-states in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was significantly different for both the “receiving” indigenous populations and Christian thought. With the encounter of new cultures as well as religions, Christianity began to deal with new languages, aesthetics, practices, construals, and ways of thinking – diversities and an understanding of pluralism. At the same time, confronting the emergence of scientific reasoning and the new concept of “rights,” Christian ideas and institutions dealt with a constriction of their place and influence in Europe while simultaneously Christianity participated in an expansion into a wider known world. By the turn of the nineteenth century Christian thinkers took both of these dynamics into consideration in series of unique and still-lasting constructive moves, intellectual moves and dynamics that continue to pinch and impinge on the continuation of Christianity globally, namely “modern” or “liberal” Christianity and the various responses to it. Through close readings of influential texts, this course will examine in detail critiques against Christianity that began to emerge during the Enlightenment (1700s) and responses to those critiques into twentieth-century America. The course will end with the examination of a current specific case study within the development of “global Christianity,” namely the implied theology within Latino gangs in Los Angeles, California and Central America and its close affinity with storefront churches. RELI 316: Modern Christian Thought and Critics 1 Learning Outcomes Students who complete this course will: • become acquainted with some of the enduring intellectual critiques of Christianity that emerged during the Enlightenment and how Christian thinkers began to take those critiques seriously and respond; • recognize in general the distinct, dominant strands of “modern” or “liberal” (in the technical or academic sense of the terms) Christianities, including their proclaimed critics; • describe various understandings and models of how a Christianity engages wider cultural construals (including but not limited to relationships between form/content). • critically assess the significance and influence of key persons, events, and concepts that modern Christian thought engaged such as “culture,” “rights,” “experience,” “context,” “symbol,” “liberation,” et cetera and the shift in meaning of basic Christian notions, such as “faith,” “grace,” “justice,” “God,” “Christ,” “spirituality,” et cetera. • analyze and evaluate some of the major trends within Christianities by the turns of the 20th and 21st centuries and the engagement with modernity and post-modernities, respectively. Methods of Instruction This course will approach western Christian thought beginning around the Enlightenment and its critics (such as Romanticism and Existentialism) with particular attention on the tension between an understanding of Christianity and the new, modern concept of “culture.” The core of this course will consist of close readings of primary texts by influential Christian thinkers or thinkers influenced by a kind of Christianity – writers who engaged or represent an influential moment for modern Christian thought. You will be expected to have read thoroughly (and thus repeatedly) and reflected upon all texts assigned every week. Each class will consist of lectures germane to the topic of the texts as well as on the texts themselves. Lectures will be accompanied by discussing and exploring together the major ideas behind and claims made in the assigned texts, what resources they draw upon, what specific assumptions they make, et cetera. Furthermore, a recommended secondary text (a history) will help provide the wider contexts for the primary readings and support the lectures. Also please note that I (the instructor) reserve the right to change the syllabus during the term if and/or when need arises (e.g., to meet the learning outcomes of the course). You are responsible for checking for such changes (checking Bboard often) and updating your copy of the course syllabus. RELI 316: Modern Christian Thought and Critics 2 Semester Outline of Topics (to be divided appropriately between class times every week) Week 1 – Introducing “Modern” (Christian) Thought and Histories Jan. 25 & 27 • general introduction to course • read and discuss: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 2-6, 168-171, 237-248; o David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1-33. • optional: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 275-287; o David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, vii-xx. Week 2 – Christianities’ “Enlightened” Critics: Hume’s Ironic Hedonism Feb. 1 & 3 • read and discuss: o David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion., 34-89; o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 288-290. Week 3 – Christianities’ “Enlightened” Critics: Kant’s Transcendentalism Feb. 8 & 10 short assignment on Hume due on Mon., Feb. 8. • for Mon. re-read and discuss: o David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1-89. • for Wed. read and discuss: o Immanuel Kant, “What is the Enlightenment?” (PDF); o Moses Mendelssohn, “On the Question: What Does ‘to Enlighten’ Mean?” (PDF); o Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1-17. • optional: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 249-273. o Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, v-xiii. Week 4 – Christianities’ “Enlightened” Critics: Kant’s Transcendentalism, continued Feb. 15 & 17 • read and discuss: o Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1-62. • optional: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 275-287. Week 5 – Advent of “Liberal” Christianity vs. Christianity’s Cultured Despisers Feb. 22 & 24 short assignment on Kant due on Mon., Feb. 22. • read and discuss: o Friedrich Schleiermacher, “Fifth Speech,” On Religion (PDF); o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II (selections), 301-318, 385-397. • optional: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 319-347. RELI 316: Modern Christian Thought and Critics 3 Week 6 – Christian Existentialism: Advent of a Proto-Post-Liberal Christianity Mar. 1 & 3 • read and discuss: o Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 5-67. o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 349-362. • optional: o Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, ix-xxxix. Week 7 – Christian Existentialism: Advent of a Proto-Post-Liberal Christianity, continued Mar. 8 & 10 • read and discuss: o Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, 68-123. • optional: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 363-383. Week 8 – Catholic Modernity, Neo-Thomism, and the Social Doctrine Mar. 15 & 17 short assignment on Kierkegaard due on Mon., March 15. • read and discuss: o Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (PDF); o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 399-440. Week 9 – Christianity/ies and Culture(s): A 20th-Century Typology Mar. 22 & 24 • read and discuss: o H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ & Culture, 1-82; o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II (selections), 294-299, 457-471. Week 10 – Christianity/ies and Culture(s): A 20th-Century Typology, continued Mar. 29 & 31 • read and discuss: o H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ & Culture, 83-189; o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II (selections), 473-493. Week 11 – (Popular) Culture and the Catholic Grotesque April 5 & 7 movie assignment due on Wed., April 7. • read and discuss for: o H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ & Culture, 190-256; • read and discuss for: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 441-455; o Flannery O’Connor, selected short stories (PDF); o Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (PDF). RELI 316: Modern Christian Thought and Critics 4 Week 12 – Case Example: Trans-local Christianity and L.A.s’ Gangs April 12 & 14 • read and discuss: o Robert Brenneman, Homies and Hermanos, Introduction, Chapters 1-2; o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 495-524. Week 13 – Case Example: Trans-local Christianity and L.A.s’ Gangs, continued April 19 & 21 • read and discuss: o Robert Brenneman, Homies and Hermanos, Chapters 3-5. Week 14 – Case Example: Trans-local Christianity and L.A.s’ Gangs, concluded April 26 & 28 • read and discuss: o Robert Brenneman, Homies and Hermanos, Chapter 6 and Conclusion. • optional: o Justo L. González, Story of Christianity, Volume II, 525-530. Week 15 – Final Exam Period: Take-Home Final Exam Due! before Wed., May 5 @ 5PM https://registrar.gmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/Spring-2021-Final-Exam-Schedule.pdf
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