Religion is an enormously important and, despite all the talk about us living in a ""secular"" society, persistent component of human experience. This course will introduce students to the sociological study of religion and provide them with the requisite theoretical tools for assessing the ongoing (and ever changing) salience and functions of religion in the modern world. Among the topics to be addressed are: the ways in which religion shapes individual meaning systems; processes of religious conversion and commitment; types and dynamics of religious collectivities (e.g., denominations, cults, sects, etc.); secularization theory; the impact of religion on social cohesion, conflict and change; and the connection between religion and popular culture. Format: Lecture and discussion sections. Requirements: Classroom participation, short papers and a written final exam. [25 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
This course is essentially a sociological exploration of spirituality in the contemporary United States. In other words, we will attempt to analyze how Americans discern meaning and experience transcendence in their everyday lives in ways that both connect them to ""official"" religious institutions and in ways that distance them. Among the topics to be addressed are: patterns of religious belief and belonging; contemporary understandings of the self; new institutions for spirituality; changes in spirituality across the lifespan and among generational cohorts; research methods for interrogating spirituality in everyday life; and the connection between spirituality and wider socio-cultural changes within the United States and beyond. Format: each class session will incorporate both lecture and class discussion. Requirements: classroom participation, and a choice between multiple shorter papers or one longer paper.[20 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
An introduction to major methodological and practical questions in biomedical ethics. In this course, we'll consider topics including methodologies, beginning of life issues, (e.g., reproductive technologies, stem cell research,) conscience conflicts in medical issues, end of life issues, (e.g., assisted suicide and euthanasia,) justice in public policies concerning medicine and research, research ethics, and issues of pastoral care in the hospital setting. Topics may change if students wish to pursue a particular interest. Grades will be based on class participation, weekly reflection papers, and a final project. [Fundamental Moral Theology or another graduate Introductory course in ethics; PIN code required; 15 max enrollment]
This course explores scriptural stories, histories, and interreligious issues concerning women across the three great traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It considers common and distinctive topics that characterize these religious cultures and how they might be addressed in the context of dialogue among the women of these communities. Finally, it offers a two week immersion experience in Jerusalem, Israel during January 2016 whereby students visit the significant religious sites associated with their study. During this time they will participate in learning opportunities with Jewish, Moslem and Christian women living there. (A minimum number of students is required for the immersion component with a maximum of 12 students). Estimated Cost of Immersion Component $1800. Interview with the professor required for registration. Course satisfies either either a Biblical Studies or Interreligious Requirement for JST students. [Foundation course in OT and NT; PIN code required; 12 max enrollment; Interview required]
This seminar will consider theological and philosophical questions posed by the ethics of reconciliation in the social and political realms: In what respects is the reconciliation of peoples related to the themes of justice, liberation, reparation, and forgiveness? What are the appropriate forms of moral discourse invoked in assessing genocide, ""ethnic cleansing,"" institutional racism, or the systematic rape of victims? In what respects are distinctively theological interpretations possible or necessary? We will first explore the ethical dimensions of reconciliation, examining the interrelated aspects of justice, reconciliation, reparation, historical memory, and forgiveness. We will then examine and assess recent attempts at public reconciliation. Regular attendance and participation in seminar; final research paper of 20 pages. Intended audience MDiv, MA/MTS, PhD/ThD, STL/STD. [Introduction in Christian ethics; Faculty Consent required; 20 max enrollment]
The aim of the course is to examine religious and ethical perspectives on war and peacebuildng. The course will examine the role and limitation of religion in the process of peacebuilding. Such a perspective will illuminate appeals to religion both in generating conflict and in the process of peacebuilding and their implications in the rise of religious fundamentalism affecting security. The course will also evaluate the role of religious and political institutions and non-governmental organizations in addressing consequences of conflict and the search for lasting peace. The required readings for the course are mainly drawn from public theology, political philosophy, social science, and political science. Topics to be explored include: 1) Foundation of public values; 2) Human rights and the common good; 3) Political of identity, inclusion, and multiculturalism; 4) Religious conscience, political responsibility, and social organization; 5) Christian pacifism and political realism; 6) Just war theory; 7) Islam ethics of war and peace; 8) The convergence of forgiveness, justice and politics; 9) Ambiguity and limitation of religion; 10) Methodologies of conflict resolution and social reconciliation; 11) Peacebuilding, democratization, and governance; 12) The role of non-governmental organizations in peacebuilding. Open to students in all programs; evaluation based on class participation, written summaries of readings, one 20-25 page paper. [25 max enrollment]
This course offers students the opportunity to encounter the world of Mahayana Buddhism as it is lived and practiced in contemporary Nepal by representatives of the Tibetan diaspora, as well as by autochthonous Nepali practitioners. The class will focus on the Tibetan (Vajrayana) rendition of the Buddhist tradition; it will also touch on the co-existence in Nepal of different forms of Hindu and Buddhist practice, and explore points of contact between Vajrayana and Christian theology/spirituality. Students will attend six evening sessions in the fall and then travel to Nepal for three weeks during the January Intersession, where they will attend classes at the Center for Buddhist Studies at Kathmandu University. Students can register for the class either as a Fall or as an Intersession class, but participation in both parts of the program is required. The course is restricted to 8/10 JST students in the MDiv/MA/MTS and STL/STD programs; information on the application process will be made available in Spring, 2013. [PIN code required; 9 max enrollment]
THE NEW ATHEISM IN AMERICAN CULTURE One could say about prognostications about the decline of religion in the United States (and elsewhere) what Mark Twain once quipped upon learning of newspaper reports of his own death-- they are greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, in recent years we have seen the emergence--within scholarly (and not-so-scholarly) books, the mass media, small groups, and so forth--of a self- confident and self-consciously public atheism. This course is designed to explore this reality and interrogate its meaning. Among topics we will address are: the mutually influencing processes of secularization and sacralization; ideological and cultural change; small groups and social movements devoted to promoting atheist, humanist, and ""free thinker"" political agendas; and theories of high and post-modernity. Format: Lecture and discussion sessions. Requirements: Classroom participation, short papers and written final. [25 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
The purpose of this course is essentially twofold. First, it will introduce students to the following four important theoretical strands within the discipline of sociology: conflict theory (in both its Marxian and Weberian variants), structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism and rational choice theory. Second, by focusing specifically on the critical study of religion, this course will also demonstrate the salience and applicability of these theoretical frameworks as we investigate the work of contemporary sociologists who actually employ them as a means for analyzing religion in the modern world. This course, while open to other advanced students as well, is specifically designed to assist doctoral students in the area of Ethics and Social Theory as they prepare for the comprehensive exam in ""Foundational Social Theory."" Format: Each class session will incorporate both lecture and class discussion. Requirements: Classroom participation, and a choice of multiple short papers or a longer final paper. [25 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
PARADIGMS OF LIBERATION: GUTIERREZ, GANDHI & AMBEDKAR The yearning for a better living is ever present and persistently operative in the struggles of human history. Though the world is not yet a fitting home for full humanity, history has witnessed the rise of various ideologies, strategies, and utopias for social and material progress and human welfare and liberation. Irruption of prophetic personalities in various places and time has produced new paradigms that reshape society and set things right when the blindness of the human mind failed to find, or even blocked, the process of liberation. It is in this context that the liberative transformations advocated by three paradigm figures - Gustavo Gutierrez, Mohandas Gandhi and Bhimrao Ambedkar - become important and challenging. When violence is staring at us from every corner of the world, the non-violent, truthful and peaceful means of social transformation of Gandhi, the challenge that Ambedkar gave to the social fabric of a hierarchical anthropology of caste system in the Indian context, and the challenge that Gutierrez, the father of Theology of Liberation, brought to the very process of theology in the Christian context, are paradigmatic, and indeed worth pursuing. So, a comparative, analytical and critical approach is attempted in this course. This course is open to students in all GTU programs and will be taught in lecture/Student-presentations/discussion style. Evaluation is based on class participation, presentations, weekly one-page papers and a final 10-15 page (double space) paper. [PIN code required; 20 max enrollment]
This lecture-seminar course provides an inculturated approach to the theology, preparation and celebration of the sacraments for a U.S. Church which is becoming predominantly Latino. It is especially designed to introduce the MDiv student both to the theology of the sacraments and to the pastoral resources available for celebrating sacraments in a Hispanic context. Its ethnographic approach, however, provides a model for sacramental inculturation to other contexts. The instructor is the co-author of one of its major textbooks, La Vida Sacra, one devoted to contemporary Hispanic sacramental theology. It is also designed to help prepare the student for the sacramental portion of the M.Div comps. Knowledge of Spanish is helpful but not required. Assignments include an article review, film reflection paper, and a final oral exam. [Auditors with Faculty permission]
In addressing the problematic status of human rights in moral and political theory, we will consider the history, scope, and limits of human rights' theory as it applies to a range of social-ethical issues. We shall be concerned especially with the use of rights' language in religious discourse; the extension of human rights to social-economic claims; and the principal philosophical and theological criticisms of modern rights' discourse. Intended audience: Ph.D/Th.D; STL/STD [Faculty Consent required; 15 max enrollment]
Despite the oft-voiced conceit that religious traditions are largely immutable, it is now abundantly clear that religious believers today do not access and live out those traditions as did their forebears of even a generation or two earlier. At the same time, despite the continuing popularity of unduly confident versions of the so-called ""secularization thesis,"" it is also clear that modern societies remain overwhelmingly (albeit differently) religious. The purpose of this course is assist students in analytically surmounting such ""either/or"" conceptualizations and thus arrive at a more nuanced understanding of how the sacred and secular are inextricably entwined within everyday life, especially in light of the fluid (and problematic) nature of the modern self. Beginning with Charles Taylor's mammoth and illuminating A Secular Age, we will read some of the most important contemporary texts attending to the nexus of self, sacred and secularity. [20 max enrollment]
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the much-discussed (but less often understood) concept of culture and its implications for the study of contemporary religion. After attending to more theoretical concerns, we will investigate the manner in which a nuanced construal of culture is essential for better understanding such things as secularization, ideological subcultures, religious change, and the salience of religiosity in identity formation. By attending to these (and other) topics, students should acquire the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for becoming more sophisticated observers of religion as it is actually lived out in the United States and elsewhere. [20 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]
This course is an introduction to mission and world Christianity which seeks to contribute to a new missiology for our churches. We will survey Biblical, historical, cultural and theological resources for the theory and practice of mission, with particular emphasis on current concerns and perspectives. Among the issues to be treated are: the interaction between global and local mission; evangelism and witness; gospel and cultures; religious pluralism and inter-religious dialogue; mission and ecumenicity; justice, peace and liberation; and the spirituality of mission. The course will emphasize the critical interaction between theology and practice in mission. Lectures and discussions will be combined with small group interaction, videos and multi-media presentations. A mid-term exercise, a field visit and a final paper/project will be required. This course counts as a praxis, multicultural or intercultural engagement course for MDiv, MTS, and MA students. ThM and STL students will have additional requirements. [One course in history or theology; Faculty Consent required; 20 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
The image and devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the world's dark virgins, and the location of the most visited pilgrimage site in the Americas, has had a very complex and controversial history. This seminar which will explore this popular Marian faith tradition from an interdisciplinary perspective, examining its origins in colonial Mexico, together with the various theologies and artistic manifestations which continue to this day, will culminate with the participants experiencing and reflecting upon a local community's artistic presentation of the apparitions in Mission Santa Clara in December. Writings from a U.S. context will also be included. Requirements include weekly Moodle postings, class presentation, discussion leadership, a final research paper and December event attendance. This class may count as a JST praxis MDiv course, upper level, and is open to STL, STD, MTS, and doctoral students with some additional work. [PIN code required; 12 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]
This seminar provides students with an opportunity to read and discuss primary theorists in the history of Western social and ethical thought, with an eye toward how these ideas still shape understandings of: *human person and human community, *human flourishing and human fallibility, *implicit or explicit appeals to God, the gods, the good or the right, *what constitutes civil society and what constitutes the common good. The first part of the course, Fall Term 2014, includes material from the ancient, medieval, and Reformation periods covered in the comprehensive exam in Western Social Thought, i.e., Plato and Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Luther and Calvin. The second part of the course, Western Social and Ethical Thought II, in Spring Term 2015, will treat the rest of the material covered in this exam. The course is a required course for doctoral students in the field of ethics and social theory at the GTU, and is open to others with permission. [Faculty Consent required; 15 max enrollment]
WOMEN: BIBLICAL PORTRAITS AND ISSUES IN MINISTRY: (a Hybrid course on-line and three Saturdays) This course considers biblical traditions focused upon women in conjunction with ministerial issues that relate specifically to women. It explores how these biblical accounts might inform our understanding and respond to these ministerial challenges. It also considers how these contemporary ministerial challenges illuminate our interpretation of these stories. [PIN code required; 12 max enrollment]
In this course we will explore the ethical and theological underpinnings of the emerging theme of restorative justice. We will consider the biblical background and the ""place"" of restorative justice in Christian interpretations of justice. We will likewise consider the differing practices of restorative justice in both western and nonwestern contexts, exploring modes of victim/offender mediation and the reconciliation of peoples. MA/MTS, MDiv, STL, STD, PhD/Thd. Reflection and Research Papers. [PIN code required; 15 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]
Methods in Moral Theology: This seminar will offer a critical analysis of differing methodological and hermeneutical perspectives in Christian Ethics/Moral Theology, with particular emphasis upon Roman Catholic Moral Theology, e.g., deontology, teleology, proportionalism, the uses of Scripture in ethics, doctgrinal development etc. Comparative assessments will draw upon representative case studies. The seminar is intended primarily, but not exclusively for STL/STD studen[Faculty Consent required; 15 max enrollment]
This contextual theology course offers JST students the opportunity to encounter the world of Islam as it is lived and practiced in Indonesia. The course will investigate the religious heritage of Indonesia and explore the contemporary issues among national and regional faith groups in Indonesia, especially in the local Christian communities. We will also study principles of inter-religious dialogue and engage in practical experiences of this dialogue during our travel and study in Indonesia. The course begins in Fall 2014 and continues in Indonesia January 2015. Students must apply in the Spring of 2014 for the program. Students then will preregister for the Fall 2014 (and with some exception, Intersession 2015). The course is restricted to JST students who were enrolled in the MDiv, MA, MTS, ThM, STL and STD programs. [PIN code required; 8 max enrollment for both Fall and Intersession; Interview required; Auditors excluded]
What role does religion play in Hispanic culture? What are the many ways that such beliefs are manifested? How do the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, literature and art all contribute to a better understanding of how Latinas and Latinos experience the Sacred? This course provides an opportunity for students to explore such areas as popular religion, the historical roots of religious expressions, how religion appears in contemporary movies, art, and music, and also to learn about various perspectives. Although the focus is primarily Mexican and Mexican American, an attempt will be made to include examples from other Latino cultures. Aside from lectures and readings, the class features films, slides, and class discussions. Requirements: weekly Moodle postings, a book report, reflection paper on field visit, and one oral final. Knowledge of Spanish is helpful but not a requirement. Can count as a JST MDiv. praxis course and is intended for MDiv, MA/MTS, and STL students. [PIN code required; 12 max enrollment]
Intended for future church leaders (both lay and ordained) as well as for students interested in sociology of religion more generally, this course is designed to provide an analytical snapshot of the Catholic Church as it currently exists in the U.S. Among the topics to be addressed are: Catholic identity; institutional change; community; religious leadership; and public Catholicism. Along with providing this analytical snapshot, this course is also designed to expose students to two other things. First, it will introduce students to key sociological concepts and, second, it will acquaint them with important empirical methods of information gathering. In doing so, the course aims to equip students with the tools to better understand and respond to the various socio-cultural dynamics that will likely confront them throughout their academic and/or ministerial careers. [25 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
How does one go about changing the world? What difference do religious ideas and values make in a society that so often seems resistant to them? How does one move beyond an ideal (and/or idealistic) vision in order to bring about a new social reality that is more propitious of human flourishing? These are the sorts of questions that animate this class. In responding, we will investigate, among other critical topics, the efficacy of religious ideas and constituencies with respect to understanding and challenging institutional power, engendering civic discourse and engagement, and contributing to social movement activism. [20 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]
THICK OR THIN? MORAL CRITIQUE The problematic defined by the quest for (or critique of) a common morality forms the backdrop of many of the questions raised in constructive Christian ethics or moral theology, e.g., whether respect for cultural difference or particularity in discussions of ""multiculturalism"" presupposes a universal rule of tolerance (and if so, how such a rule is to be justified); whether the discourse of human rights is consistent with differing cultural construals of the normatively human; whether claims for the hermeneutically privileged role of feminist and liberationist methodologies are consonant with the ideal of the common good; and whether distinctively or specifically Christian attitudes and beliefs can sustain a non-sectarian morality. Research and Reflection Papers. MDiv., STL, STD, PhD, ThD. [PIN code required; 15 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]
The aim of this course is to explore a contemplative-prophetic spirituality which is grounded in contemporary history. We will consider calls to prayer and to personal/societal conversion within the context of the earth and of our world. Liberation and ministry will be considered, particularly in relation to the marginalized and oppressed. Opportunity for interaction with individuals and groups struggling with liberation issues is an option for members of this seminar, as a way of grounding our reflection in direct experience. Format: Seminar. Evaluation: Informed class participation, reflection papers, some presentations. This course meets the requirements of a praxis course for the 2nd and 3rd year JST MDiv curriculum. Intended audience: MA/MTS, MDiv New Directions. [Faculty Consent required; 12 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
One could say about prognostications about the decline of religion in the United States (and elsewhere) what Mark Twain once quipped upon learning of newspaper reports of his own death - they are greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, in recent years we have seen the emergence - within scholarly (and not-so-scholarly) books, the mass media, small groups, and so forth - of a self-confident and self-consciously public atheism. This course is designed to explore this reality and interrogate its meaning. Among topics we will address are: the mutually influencing processes of secularization and sacralization; ideological and cultural change; the historical roots of atheism in the West, small groups and social movements devoted to promoting atheist, humanist, and ""free thinker"" political agendas; and theories of high and post-modernity. Format: lecture and discussion sessions. Requirements: classroom participation, choice between multiple short papers or a longer final paper. [25 max enrollment; Auditors with faculty permission]
This course explores fundamental concepts of Roman Catholic moral theology, including: moral anthropology; the use of Scripture in morals; the nature and function of moral norms; conscience and its formation; natural law; fundamental option and sin; virtue and the telos of human life, and modes of moral reasoning. Moral theology is fundamentally a discipline of practical reasoning: these concepts will be addressed in the context of concrete cases and issues as well as at the abstract and theoretical level. Format is lecture/discussion in a ""flipped"" classroom: students will watch short lectures, take short quizzes and participate in on-line discussion forums outside class. Class sessions will include q&a, developing topics raised in discussion forums, and small-group work. Student evaluation will be based on 3 essay examinations, with the option of writing a research paper in place of the second two exams, a group wiki project, and participation in on-line and in-person discussions.
THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE: CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM This course will introduce issues at the interface between religious faith and the theology that expresses it, and the sciences that study the universe we inhabit. Science asks how the world works; theology asks about meaning, purpose, and value. Course traces this relationship in Christian history, and probes questions including: (1) faith and biological evolution, (2) Genesis, cosmology and the far future, (3) genetics, neuroscience, and the ""soul,"" (4) the problem of suffering and theodicy, (5) sin, redemption, and salvation, (6) science in interreligious discussion, and (7) theology for a sustainable future. Class equips students to lead scientifically literate congregations in vital discussions. [15 max enrollment]
This course will introduce students to research methods for investigating religion sociologically. Students will learn how to pose well-conceptualized and theoretically informed research questions and then devise research designs based upon empirical study. Particular focus will be on training students to use in-depth interview, participant observation, content analysis and survey methodologies. Students will read exemplars of each of these methods and also be given opportunities to practice them vis-�-vis research topics generated by both the professor and themselves. This course is very highly recommended not only for Religion and Society students, but for any students who simply want to become knowledgeable about these methods or who intend to use one or more of them in addressing their thesis or dissertation topics. [20 max enrollment]
SPRING 2016 ""The only constant is change."" This course will examine the experience of transition from the perspective of the Christian tradition, the human sciences, and contemporary spirituality. Students will be encouraged to reflect upon the transitions they have experienced/are experiencing in their own lives. The class will unfold in four parts: 1) A look at the lived experience of transition in the stories of two persons; 2) Analysis of the process of transition; 3) Transition as seen through the lens of theology and psychology; and 4) How might we sustain transformation in our lives? Both personal and cultural transformation will be considered. [Faculty Consent required; 15 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission] SPRING 2017 ""The only constant is change."" This course will examine the experience of transition from the perspective of the Christian tradition, the human sciences, and contemporary spirituality. Students will be encouraged to reflect upon the transitions they have experienced/are experiencing in their own lives. The class will unfold in three parts: 1) A look at the lived experience of transition in the lives of two representative persons. 2) Analysis of the process of transition from the viewpoint of psychology and theology; and 3) How might we sustain transformation in our lives. Both personal and cultural transformation will be considered. Evaluations based on short reflection papers, a presentation, and an 8-10 page final paper. This course is open to students in all programs. [Faculty Consent required; 15 max enrollment; Auditors with Faculty permission]
The purpose of this course is to introduce MTS students to the much-discussed (but less often understood) concept of culture and its implications for undertaking what we at JST call the ""culturally contextualized study of theology and ministry."" After addressing critical and somewhat challenging ""dimensions"" of culture, the course will then focus on how these dimensions can actually be used to: 1. Better understand the human person as a cultural being; 2. Frame empirical approaches to ""lived religion""; and 3. Arrive at a nuanced appreciation of how culture relates to theology and undergirds various approaches to pastoral ministry. This course will center on an intensive week of course meetings in Berkeley and meets M-F 7/25/16-7/29/16, from 9am-5pm, at JST 217. There will be readings and assignments both prior to and following on the week of meetings.
This course will consider the tradition of Roman Catholic Social Teaching and modern social ethics. Issues to be treated will include Christian interpretations of violence and non-violence, war and peace, global and domestic justice, human rights, bioethics, and ecological ethics. In assessing these issues, we will consider the interpretative perspectives of a liberation theology and Christian feminism. [20 max enrollment; Faculty Consent required]