Foundations for Theological Study (CT8020T)

Content

In this unit students will be introduced to the study of theology by examining the engaged processes in which belief is formed. To believe something particular is not to believe everything in general. Christian doctrinal claims have often emerged out of the refusal to believe some-thing or some-one. This process of discernment is, therefore, at the heart of the ongoing theological task. Through an engagement with critical theological traditions, students will examine the ways in which Christians have practiced their belief and their disbelief as integral to discipleship.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

Foundational CT unit, serving as a prerequisite for further study in CT.

Pedagogy

Lectures, tutorials, online discussion, forum

Indicative Bibliography

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Discipleship. in Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volume. 4. Trans., Geoffrey B. Kelley and John D. Godsey. Ed., Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss. Mineappolis, MI: Fortress Press, 2003.
  
• Shusaku Endo. Silence. Foreword., Martin Scorsese. Trans., William Johnson. New York: Picador, 2016.
• Stanley Hauerwas and William W. Willimon. Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony. 25th Anniversary Edition. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2014.
• Jennifer McBride. Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel. Minneapolis, MI: Fortress Press, 2017.
• Christopher Morse. Not Every Spirit: A Dogmatics of Disbelief. 2nd Ed. London and New York: T&T Clark, 2009. (Recommended for purchase)
• Howard Thurman. Jesus and the Disinherited. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2012.
• Graham Ward.Unbelievable: Why We Believe and Why We Don’t. London: I.B. Tauris, 2014.
• _________. The Politics of Discipleship: Becoming Postmaterial Citizens. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009.
• Natalie K. Watson. Feminist Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.
• Rowan Williams. The Wound of Knowledge. 2nd edition. London: Darton, Longmann and Todd, 2009.

Assessment