 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
THEOLOGY (THEO)
Chair: Terrence Reynolds (202) 687-4610
Department of Theology website
PRE SESSION (May 18-June 12)
God and Gender
Lamm
THEO-161-01
M-F 1:00-3:00 p.m.
3 cr.
This course focuses on the issue of gender in our understanding of God--the names we apply to God and the images we have of God. We shall undertake three main tasks simultaneously:
1. A Critical Task. How did the transcendent God of the western religious tradition come to be understood as masculine? What do we really mean when, for example, we call God "father" or the image God as "king?" How are our understandings of authority and power related to our understandings of gender?
2. A Historical Task. Are there other images of God in the tradition that can be retrieved? Do the "classics" of the western tradition really support the "masculinized" God that much of our society has come to take for granted?
3. A Constructive Task. How should language be applied to God? Do we really mean to claim that God has gender? What do we mean when we say God is both transcendent and personal?
Through a close reading of historical and contemporary texts, mostly in the Christian tradition, we shall trace the issue of the divine gender as it has been understood throughout the centuries in the western religious tradition and as it relates to the major Christian doctrines of creation, incarnation, Christology, redemption, the Trinity, and Mariology. Although the majority of the course focuses on the western Christian tradition, students are encouraged to use the ideas and methods they learn here to explore other religious traditions.
FIRST SESSION (June 1-July 2)
The Problem of God
Ruf
THEO-001-10
MTWR 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
3 cr.
William James describes religion as a way of "fronting life." What he means is that religions provide humans with orientation in their lives by telling them who they are, where they are, and where they are going. Clearly, being religious is not just a matter of being Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu. This course pays particular attention to non-religious religion, to the ways in which aspects of ordinary, seemingly secular existence provide humans with religious orientation. We examine two important understandings of religion, those of Mircea Eliade and Paul Tillich, and we consider crucial religious issues such as the nature of evil, human individuality and sociality, the relations between reason and faith, and the importance of ritual, myth, space, time, and particular ("sacred") objects. But we concentrate on the "implicit religion" that is spread throughout culture, rather than on the world religions. The course concludes with a detailed consideration of an Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria, in order to test the theories and issues of the course.
Religion in America
Steenhuisen
THEO-046-10
MTWR 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
3 cr.
This course will examine religious motifs in American history and contemporary society, with an emphasis on: the faiths of the founders, conceptions of America as "the kingdom of God," biblical themes, theocracies, "social gospel," and religious freedom and its constitutional constraints. While "mainline" Protestantism has provided the theological foundation for much of American religious life, our examination of Native American religions and indigenous sectarian movements will deepen our understanding of the vibrancy of Religion in America.
SECOND SESSION (July 6-August 7)
How Christians and Muslims View Each Other
Wilde
THEO-137-20
MTWR 3:40-5:40 p.m.
3 cr.
God "neither begets nor was begotten." Have Christians distorted the true teachings of Jesus, Son of Mary? Is Islam a Christian heresy? Is Muhammad as John of Damascus, Dante, or Abd al-Masih al Kindi portray him? Did Paul "Romanize" the teachings of Christ? A Christian king in Abyssinia granted Muslims asylum in the early 600s. The Qur'an says that the "nearest in love" to the believers are those who say "we are Christians." Ever since the 600s of the Common Era, Christians and Muslims--Christianity and Islam--have had occasion to "view" one another with varying degrees of intimacy: in debate, trade, marriage, politics or war, as neighbors, allies, foreigners, strangers, barbarians, invaders, rulers and ruled, minorities or majorities, fellow citizens, enemies, heretics, infidels, common children of Abraham. In the imagination of individual believers, or in Christian and Muslim tradition, have the similarities (e.g. prayer, alms, fasting, One God, His messengers, His books, His angels, the Last Day) or differences dominated?
Adam and Eve
Sanders
THEO-155-20
MTWR 1:30-3:30 p.m.
3 cr.
This course looks at the story of Adam and Eve, especially as found in the Bible's Book of Genesis. It examines the history of Muslim, Jewish, Christian and non-religious interpretations of the story as well as contemporary issues related to it. These issues include humans' role in the natural world, the meaning of death, evolution/creationism, moral decision-making, the origins of evil, gender relations, and sexuality.
SPECIAL SESSION (June 15-June 19)
The 46th Annual Institute on Sacred Scripture
Director: Alan C. Mitchell (202) 687-5756
MTTh 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
WF 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
The 45th Annual Institute on Sacred Scripture will convene on the
Lectures will include:
The Book of Ezekiel and The Man Ezekiel
Prof. Lawrence Boadt,
Prof. Margaret Y. MacDonald
We Have Such A High Priest: Hebrews
Prof. Alan C. Mitchell
For more information, please visit:
The Institute on Sacred Scripture
For the Brochure and Special Application Form, please email:
Heather Pribulick at hmp28@georgetown.edu
Or write to:
Georgetown University
School of Continuing Studies
Special Programs
Or call/fax:
Phone: 202-687-8700
Fax: 202-687-8954
