Winter 2010 Course Descriptions
PLEASE NOTE: This document is subject to amendment. It is intended for descriptive and informational use only. DO NOT USE IT TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES. To register, please consult the University Time Schedules.
The Following "Special Courses" are for M. Div. students only:
629-60000-01/02 Special Course — Chicago Theological Seminarywe
629-63000-01/02 Special Course — Meadville Lombard Theol School
629-65000-01/02 Special Course — Catholic Theological Union
629-66000-01/02 Special Course — Lutheran Theological School
629-68000-01/02 Special Course — McCormick Theol. Seminary* An asterisk indicates that the course so designated may count toward the required “designated introductory courses” for M.A. students.
DVSC 42000 Divinity School: German Reading Exam
Staff: ARR
PQ: Open only to Divinity School students (to be held Monday, January 25 at 6:00 p.m.)
DVSC 45100 Reading Course: Special Topic
Staff: ARR
PQ: Petition with bibliography signed by instructor; enter section from faculty list.
DVSC 49900 Exam Preparation
Staff: ARR
PQ: Open only to Ph.D. students in quarter of qualifying exams. Department consent. Petition signed by Advisor.
DVSC 50200 Research: Divinity
Staff: ARR
PQ: Petition signed by instructor; enter section from faculty list.
DVSC 59900 Thesis Work: Divinity
Staff: ARR
PQ: Petition signed by instructor; enter section number from faculty list.
BIBL 31800 Family Matters in Ancient Israel
Chavel, Simeon
T/Th 1:30-2:50 S106
This course will explore the idea of family in biblical literature and real family life in ancient Israel. Reading assignments will precede lectures, and comprise a mix of primary sources (mainly biblical) and secondary scholarship. Primary sources, in English translation, will encompass law, mythic and historical narrative, and poetry. Secondary scholarship will draw upon the fields of archaeology, sociology, religion, and literary theory. An essay final will provide an opportunity to synthesize.
Ident. RLST 21500, JWSG 32100
BIBL 32500 Introduction to the New Testament: Texts and Contexts *
Mitchell, Margaret
T/Th 10:30-11:50 S106
An immersion in the texts of the New Testament with the following goals: 1. Through careful reading to come to know well some representative pieces of this literature; 2. To gain useful knowledge of the historical, geographic, social, religious, cultural and political contexts of these texts and the events they relate; 3. To learn the major literary genres represented in the canon ("gospels," "acts," " letters," and "apocalypses") and strategies for reading them; 4. To comprehend the various theological visions to which these texts give expression; 5. to situate oneself and one's prevailing questions about this material in the history of research, and to reflect on the goals and methods of interpretation; 6. To raise questions for further study.
Discussion groups will meet on Fridays, 12:00-1:00 in S201 and S208.
Ident. RLST 12000/FNDL 28202/NTEC 32500
BIBL 34100 Intermediate Biblical Hebrew
Thomas, Ben
M/W/F 8:00-8:50 S208
PQ: BIBL 34000
BIBL 35400 Intermediate Koine Greek III
Howell, Justin
M/W/F 8:00-8:50 S201
PQ: BIBL 35300
BIBL 43600 The Pastoral Epistles
Mitchell, Margaret
T/TH 4:00-6:00 S200
An exegesis course on 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, which will focus on the following questions: the nature, significance, dynamics and authority of "corrective composition" in pseudepigraphical Pauline letters; the forms of ethical argumentation in these letters, and their relation to Hellenistic philosophy, the social history of Greco-Roman households and its importance in early Christian formation; historical reconstruction of the roles of women in the communities addressed by these letters (including a reading of the later work, Acts of Paul and Thecla), and the history of interpretation and influence of this small body of texts on Christian thought and practice.
PQ: Greek skills are not required, but ample opportunity will be provided for their use.
BIBL 44600 Zion and Zaphon: Biblical Texts from Seventh Century Judah
Chavel, Simeon
T/Th 4:00-5:20 S201
Students with at least one year of Biblical Hebrew will prepare and read aloud biblical texts selected on the premise that they all respond to the astonishing turn of events at the close of the eighth century bce, in which beleaguered Jerusalem outlasted a siege by the mighty Assyrian forces. The texts will come mainly from the poetry of Psalms and the Prophets, but also from historical narrative. Preparation will require the standard dictionaries and grammars, some commentaries, and a small selection of essays on poetics. A final exam will cover grammatical, syntactical, and some poetic and interpretive aspects of biblical literature.
PQ: First year Biblical Hebrew
Ident. JWSG 44600BIBL 54600 The Wisdom of Salomon and the New Testament
Klauck, Hans-Josef
M 1:00-3:50 S403
Wisdom traditions are of high relevance for the development of early Christian thought. We find them e.g. in Paul, in John, and in James, equally important for Christology and for Paraenesis. A primary textual witness is the "Book of Wisdom" or "Wisdom of Salomon" that belongs to the Canon of the Septuagint. It may have been composed in Alexandria in the late first century B.C.E., and its original language is Greek. We will work through the 19 chapters of this book, compare other traditions and look for allusions to Wisdom in the writings of the New Testament.
PQ: Greek required.
BIBL 54700 Critical Methods in the Study of the Hebrew Bible
Stackert, Jeffrey
F 2:00-4:50 S200
This course will consider the development and application of the various critical methods employed for biblical studies (textual criticism, source criticism, form criticism, tradition history, redaction criticism, new literary criticism, etc.). Each student's study will culminate in a commentary-style treatment of a text chosen from the book of Exodus.
PQ: BIBL 30800; good knowledge of biblical Hebrew.
Ident. JWSG 54700THEO 43700 Theology and Philosophy *
Gamwell, Franklin
T/Th 1:30-2:50 S200
What is the role of philosophy in the task of Christian theology? Attention will be given to some alternative answers (for instance, Anselm, Aquinas, Tillich, Ogden, Frei). Students will be asked to develop a critical reading of a recent or contemporary theologian or philosopher, with the intention to move thereby toward a constructive statement.
Ident. DVPR 43700THEO 47003 The Trouble With Time
Otten, Willemien/Schreiner, Susan
Th 1:00-3:50 S208
This course will focus on time and temporality as an issue at the heart of Christian thought, analyzing in particular different approaches to time in the early Christian, medieval and early modern period. In doing so the course will deal with such tensions as time's flux versus eternal standstill, the force of grace in predestination versus the embrace of fortune and fate, the epiphany of incarnation versus the inevitability of judgment, and apocalyptic violence versus divine impassibility, portraying Christianity over the course of its development as incorporating various perspectives at various times. Among the authors to be discussed are: Augustine, Boethius, Koachim of Fiore, Luther, and Calvin.
Ident. HCHR 47003
THEO 49501 Theology and Theory I: Political Theology
Tanner, Kathryn
W 1:30-4:20 S403
This course investigates the recent upsurge of interest in political theology among political and critical theorists. Readings to include Agamben, Schmitt, Laclau, Lefort, Nancy, Banjamin, Adorno and Zizek.
THEO 49701 The Theological Ethics of Aquinas and Barth
Schweiker, William
M/W 10:00-11:20 S201
Ident. RETH 49700
DVPR 31400 Introduction to Philosophy of Religion *
Arnold, Daniel
M/W 1:30-2:50 S201
DVPR 40900 Contemporary European Philosophy and Religion *
Davidson, Arnold
Tu/Th 10:30-11:20 ARR
In the first part of this course we will consider Martin Heidegger's critique of humanism and various attempts, both explicit and implicit, especially in contemporary French philosophy, to formulate alternative versions of humanism. We will study Emmanuel Levinas' conception of ethics as first philosophy and its effect on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, Jacques Derrida's politics of hospitality and cosmopolitanism, and Pierre hadot's conception of spiritual exercises and philosophy as a way of life. In the second part of this course, we will discuss the status of ethical, political, and religious concepts (and especially those concepts linked to the ideals of humanism) after the experience of Auschwitz. How should such an event affect the articulation of these concepts? The main text for this part of the course will be Primo Levi's If This is a Man (translated into English with the misleading title Survival in Auschwitz). Other readings may come from Levinas, Robert Antelme, Sara Kofman and Hans Jonas. Although all texts will be read in English, the ability to read the texts in the original languages is an advantage.
Ident. HIJD 40901/PHIL 21200/31209/CMLT 21201/31201
DVPR 43100 Modern Ideas of Human Freedom
Coyne, Ryan
T/Th 10:30-11:50 S208
A study of the idea of freedom in Kant, Hegel and Schelling.
DVPR 43700 Theology and Philosophy *
Gamwell, Franklin
T/Th 1:30-2:50 S200
Attention will be given to some alternative answers (for instance, Anselm, Aquinas, Tillich, Ogden, Frei). Students will be asked to develop a critical reading of a recent or contemporary theologian or philosopher, with the intention to move thereby toward a constructive statement.
Ident. THEO 43700
DVPR 43800 Heidegger Through the ‘Turn'
Coyne, Ryan
T 3:00-5:50 S208
A study of Heidegger's thought, focusing on the transition from the "early" to the "later" Heidegger.
This course will be offered in conjunction with Prof. Marion's Spring 2010 course, "Heidegger on Being and Presence." The two courses will form a sequence addressing Heidegger's trajectory starting from the late 1920s.DVPR 46400 The Status of Universals: Realism and Nominalism in Comparative Perspectives
Arnold, Daniel
M/W 10:00-11:20 S208
DVPR 48900 Readings in Buddhist Philosophical Texts
Kapstein, Matthew
M 5:00-7:00 S400
Ident. SALC 48500/HREL 48901
DVPR 50600 Seminar: Buddha Nature
Kapstein, Matthew
M 3:00-5:00 S400
The seminar will examine the development and ramifications of the concept of "Buddha-nature" in India, China and Tibet, as well as the criticism of the concept in the recent Japanese movement of "Critical Buddhism." Participating students should be involved in the study of one or more of the major Buddhist canonical languages, and receive the instructor's permission to enroll.
Ident. HREL 50300/SALC 48504
CHRM 30200 The Public Church in America
Gilpin, W. Clark
T/TH 9:00-10:20 S400
In order to explore the cultural context for ministry, this course will be organized as a workshop that analyzes a single question: "What is public theology?"
PQ: Restricted to first year M.DIV. students.
CHRM 30600 Colloquium: Introduction to Ministry Studies
Boyd, Kevin
Wed 1:30-2:50 S400
PQ: First year ministry students only.
DO NOT REGISTER FOR THIS COURSECHRM 35500 Arts of Ministry: Worship
Tanner, Kathryn
F 9:00-11:50 S400
CHRM 40700 Practice of Ministry II
Boyd, Kevin
F 1:30-4:20 S400
PQ: 2nd year M.DIV. students
DO NOT REGISTER FOR THIS COURSE. CREDIT IS FOR AUTUMN AND SPRING QUARTERS
CHRM 42500 Senior Ministry Project
Gamwell, Franklin/Lindner, Cynthia
W 3:00-5:50 S400
PQ: 3rd year M.DIV. students only
CHRM 43000 Dying in the Modern World
Boyd, Kevin/Koogler, Tracy
TH 3:00-5:50 S106
How do we define death? How do we as persons and professionals respond to the dying? What are our obligations as professionals to the dying and to the grieving loved ones they leave behind? This will be an interdisciplinary class team taught by faculty from the Divinity School and the Medical School that will draw students from both schools. Our central focus will be the experience of death and dying in the modern world from philosophical, clinical, sociological, and religious perspectives. We will explore the ways these different understandings compliment one another, as well as the points where they come into potential conflict, all in the attempt to foster a richer dialogue around death and dying between various professional caregivers.
Ident. PEDS 43000
ISLM 48500 Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonism
Robinson, James
F 12:00-2:50 S403
Ident. HIJD 48500
ISLM 50200 Readings in Arabic Religious Texts
Sells, Michael
Tu 2:30-5:20 MEM Library
PQ: Two years of Arabic or equivalent.
Ident. NEHC 40604
HIJD 40901 Contemporary European Philosophy and Religion *
Davidson, Arnold
Tu/Th 10:30-11:20 ARR
In the first part of this course we will consider Martin Heidegger's critique of humanism and various attempts, both explicit and implicit, especially in contemporary French philosophy, to formulate alternative versions of humanism. We will study Emmanuel Levinas' conception of ethics as first philosophy and its effect on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, Jacques Derrida's politics of hospitality and cosmopolitanism, and Pierre hadot's conception of spiritual exercises and philosophy as a way of life. In the second part of this course, we will discuss the status of ethical, political, and religious concepts (and especially those concepts linked to the ideals of humanism) after the experience of Auschwitz. How should such an event affect the articulation of these concepts? The main text for this part of the course will be Primo Levi's If This is a Man (translated into English with the misleading title Survival in Auschwitz). Other readings may come from Levinas, Robert Antelme, Sara Kofman and Hans Jonas. Although all texts will be read in English, the ability to read the texts in the original languages is an advantage.
Ident. DVPR 40900/PHIL 21200/31209/CMLT 21201/31201
HIJD 46200 Franz Rosenzweig's Star of Redemption-Part II
Mendes-Flohr, Paul
T 3:00-5:50 S403
Part I of this course was largely devoted to Rosenzweig's critique of the Western philosophical tradition and an analysis of his doctrine of "speech thinking." This part will focus on Books Two and Three of the Star, in which he systematically revalorizes foundational concepts of theistic theology, starting with divine miracle and moving on to creation, revelation, and redemption. Our reading of Book Three will highlight his conception of Judaism and Christianity as liturgical communities that are bonded by a dialectical tension engendered by their contrasting but complementary relationship to redemption. Our reading of the Star wil be supplemented by his theological disputasio with Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Judaism Despite Christianity, and his theological reflections on the poetry of Judah ha-Levy.
HIJD 48300 Hannah Arendt's Texts on Jewishness, Palestine, Israel
Mendes-Flohr, Paul/Geyer, Michael
W 3:00-5:50 S200
This is neither a course for the faint-hearted nor for the politically correct. Hannah Arendt's work is much admired and rightly so. But it is also extremely edgy and does not shy away from, shall we say, highly unpopular points of view. Besides, at times she is outright wrong and yet, some of her philosophically or historically more challenged expositions (such as Eichmann in Jerusalem) turn out to contain brilliant insights. In short, debating Hannah Arendt is not an easy task and it is particularly difficult when it comes to her "Jewish Writings." We have in mind reading and discussing-and in the course of it debating Arendt-as many of Arendt's texts as possible. Inasmuch as anti-Semitism is part of this complex, we will also discuss anti-Semitism, but the focus will be on Jews and Jewishness in the Diaspora, in Palestine, and in Israel. This course is primarily for advanced undergraduates and for graduate students, who are willing to engage in sustained reading and are ready to participate in discussion.
Ident. HIST 32904
HIJD 48500 Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonism
Robinson, James
F 12:00-2:50 S403
Ident. ISLM 48500
HCHR 42600 The American Religious Historical Canon
Brekus, Catherine
M 9:30-12:20 S400
This course examines traditional narratives of American religious history. Beginning with Robert Baird's Religion in America (1842), and concluding with Mark Noll's A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (1992), we will trace how scholars have imagined the whole "plot" of American religious history. We will focus particularly on how narratives have changed over time. Students are required to lead class discussion once during the quarter and to write one 20-25 page paper.
Ident. HIST 63800
HCHR 47003 The Trouble With Time
Schreiner, Susan/Otten, Willemien
Th 1:00-3:50 S208
This course will focus on time and temporality as an issue at the heart of Christian thought, analyzing in particular different approaches to time in the early Christian, medieval and early modern period. In doing so the course will deal with such tensions as time's flux versus eternal standstill, the force of grace in predestination versus the embrace of fortune and fate, the epiphany of incarnation versus the inevitability of judgment, and apocalyptic violence versus divine impassibility, portraying Christianity over the course of its development as incorporating various perspectives at various times. Among the authors to be discussed are: Augustine, Boethius, Joachim of Fiore, Luther, and Calvin.
Ident. THEO 47003
HCHR 51500 Melville
Gilpin, W. Clark/Knight, Janice
Tu 3:00-5:50 ARR
Of Melville, Hawthorne famously wrote, "He can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his unbelief; and he is too honest and courageous not to try to do one or the other." In this course we will focus on the problem of meaning in the works of Herman Melville. Beginning with the sanguine assumptions of Jonathan Edwards and R.W. Emerson that human meaning was secured by a system of correspondences between nature and super-nature, we will trace how this confidence is ruptured for Melville by the political upheavals of the 1850s and by his own commitment to skepticism. Moby Dick will dominate our inquiries in the first part of the quarter. In the second half of the quarter we will turn to The Confidence Man, "Benito Cereno," "Billy Budd" and Melville's poetry. Students will become familiar with contemporary critical work on Melville as well as the historical and theological contexts informing his work.
Ident. ENGL 55901
HREL 33100 Introduction to the Study of Tibetan Religion
Kapstein, Matthew
T/Th 10:30-11:50 S201
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition has known over thirteen centuries of continuous development. During that time, it has spread among peoples neighboring Tibet-the Mongols, Himalayan and Siberian peoples, Manchus and Chinese-and at its height has been practiced in regions as far west as the Caspian Sea, and to the east in Beijing. Its capacity for creative adaptation is demonstrated by its recent growth in Europe and America. At the same time, it is at the center of political contestation in ethnically Tibetan regions of China, while its best known exponent, the Dalai Lama, has become one of the most admired religious leaders in the world today. In the present course, we will introduce current research on Tibetan Buddhism, and on Tibetan indigenous religious traditions as well.
PQ: Prior background in the study of Indian Buddhism and permission of the instructor.
Ident. RLST 27303HREL 35000 The Mahabharata in English Translation
Doniger, Wendy
W/F 1:30-2:50 S208
A reading of the Mahabharata in English translation (van Buitenen, Narasimhan, Ganguli, and Donger [ms.], with special attention to issues of mythology, feminism, and theodicy.
Open to both College and Graduate students.
15-20 page paper at end of the course.Ident. SALC 20400/48200/FNDL 24400/RLST 26800
HREL 36000 Second Year Sanskrit. Readings in the Mahabharata
Doniger, Wendy
W/F 10:00-11:20 S207
Readings in Book 14 of the Mahabharata.
PQ: One year of Sanskrit. Open to both College and Graduate students.
PQ: Exam at the end of the quarter.
Ident. SALC 48400HREL 47400 Religious and Other Forms of Capital
Lincoln, Bruce
T/Th 9:00-10:20 S200
HREL 48901 Readings in Buddhist Philosophical Texts
Kapstein, Matthew
M 5:00-7:00 S400
Ident. DVPR 48900/SALC 48500
HREL 50300 Seminar: Buddha Nature
Kapstein, Matthew
M 3:00-5:00 S400
The seminar will examine the development and ramifications of the concept of "Buddha-nature" in India, China and Tibet, as well as the criticism of the concept in the recent Japanese movement of "Critical Buddhism." Participating students should be involved in the study of one or more of the major Buddhist canonical languages, and receive the instructor's permission to enroll.
Ident. DVPR 50600/SALC 48504
RLIT 30300 The Aesthetics of Orthodox Christianity
Bird, Robert
F 1:30-4:20
Orthodox Christianity is to a large degree defined by its emphasis on aesthetic media, from icons to the liturgy itself. Aesthetics provides a useful viewpoint on many of the distinctive theological characteristics of the Orthodox tradition. At the same time, this aesthetic emphasis is at least partially responsible for the modern interest in Orthodoxy on the part of other traditions. We shall trace major topics of aesthetic theory from their Biblical sources through patristic developments to contemporary scholarly debates. Particular emphases will be: the concepts of image, medium/mediation, and the aesthetics of ascesis. All readings will be available in English.
Ident. SLAV 29500
RLIT 36300 Renaissance Epic
Murrin, Michael
T/TH 12:00-1:20 ARR
Ident. ENGL 36300
RLIT 43500 Baudelaire and Company
Meltzer, Francoise
ARR ARR ARR
Ident. CMLT 43300
RLIT 51900 Religion and Literature: Pro Seminar
Rosengarten, Richard/Murrin, Michael
F 9:00-11:50 S101
PQ: Ph.D. standing in Religion and Literature
RETH 33100 Cicero's De Officiis
Nussbaum, Martha
Tu 3:00-5:40 ARR
This class will study one of the most influential works in the whole history of Western political thought, a primary foundation for modern ideas of global justice and the just war. We will understand it in the context of Cicero's thought and its background in Hellenistic philosophy and we will also do readings in translation that show its subsequent influence.
PQ: to enroll for credit, you must have had five quarters of Latin or the equivalent preparation. The translating will always be done in the first hour of the class, so those who do not want to participate can arrive an hour late.
Ident. LAWS/PLSC/PHILRETH 44800 The Just War Tradition
Elshtain, Jean Bethke
Tu 1:00-3:50 S201
An exploration of just war thinking from St. Augustine through Michael Walzer. We will examine critical attempts to limit the occasions for war and the tactics and strategies deployed during war. Case studies will be taken up, including "humanitarian interventions" and the 2003 war to depose the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Special attention will be paid to human rights as a ground for intervention.
Ident. PLSC 50300
RETH 45800 Politics, Ethics and Terror
Elshtain, Jean Bethke
M 1:00-3:50 S208
An examination of three responses to 20th century totalitarianism: Arendt, Bonhoeffer and Camus. What ethical wellsprings were drawn upon to confront Nazism and Stalinism? What sorts of arguments about the function of ideology, the loss of limits, the transgression of "order of being," metaphors of plague or other ravages got deployed and to what ends? What is the connection between explanation, understanding, and action in the "dark times" through which our thinkers lived or in which they died?
Ident. PLSC 45800
RETH 49700 The Theological Ethics of Aquinas and Barth
Schweiker, William
M/W 10:00-11:20 S201
Ident. THEO 49701
RETH 51300 Law-Philosophy Seminar
Nussbaum, Martha
M 4:00-6:00 ARR
This is the second part of the seminar-workshop which began in the Autumn quarter.
PQ: Students who were admitted to the Autumn seminar may register
Ident. LAWS 61512/PHIL 53001/PLSC 51302
