Practical Theology

Instructor: Dr. Butler

Email: preed-butler@iliff.edu

Office Hours: By Appointment

Phone: (303)765-3124

Zoom ID: 818 608 7210

Synchronous Times: TBD (Use Zoom ID to login)

Course Description:

Practical theology is a broad interdisciplinary discipline that follows a simple cyclical trajectory: theory, praxis, theory. Grounded in contextual theories, local communities and living spiritualities, practical theology situates itself as the manner in which people (individually and collectively) choose to engage a particular, or a hybridity, of traditions in the rough, granular, beautiful and sometimes awe inspiring aspects of life. This course will place us in conversation with key aspects of practical theology across multiple traditions, and will ask us to interrogate how might this inform our context.

Learning Outcomes:

Theology and Religious Practices (PR): engage in analysis of contemporary religious traditions and institutions in order to assess, design, and perform meaningful leadership practices with sensitivity to contextual realities and relationships ( Master’s Student Handbook , 2016-2017, p. 5).

Course Requirements:

1. Preparation and participation. Participation is 15% of your final grade. For more information concerning participation expectations, see

   Throughout the quarter, we will have several discussions which will compose a large part of our engagement with each other. For these discussions to be meaningful conversation spaces, we all need to take responsibility for consistent and substantial participation. Over the course of a conversation, substantial engagement means:
   

   1. Extend the conversation - creatively and critically push the conversation forward. You need to extend the conversation by adding an additional or different insight from the course materials, by asking a new question that stems from one of the questions already offered, by offering a related and contextualized example of the issue being discussed from your own experience, or by creatively integrating your own perspective with what has already been posted. 
   2. Ask contextualized questions - situate your questions within the discussion by referencing the course materials and other parts of the conversation thread that inform your inquiry. Give us a little background as to why this question matters to you and how it relates to the course.
   3. Engage others in the course - thoughtful engagement with other students in the course and with the instructional team. 
   4. Engage the course materials - thoughtful engagement with readings, lectures, student presentations, and any other materials related to the course. Referencing and citing course materials in your posts where appropriate is encouraged. 
   5. Participate Respectfully - discussions in this course are likely to raise sensitive topics. Please strive for respect in all your comments, and charity in reading the comments of others.

   Things to consider: While we learn from each other through our interactions it is important to remember your classmates are not here to teach you through the justification of their experience/existence. It is also helpful to keep in mind that we take each other's histories and backgrounds seriously--being mindful that humor around these issues can be easily misconstrued.

   Each response need not do all of these things, but your overall participation in each conversation should demonstrate all of these components. You might have several short insights and a handful of longer ones, either way, your overall participation in each conversation will be evaluated for substantial engagement. The goal of this discussion design is to encourage and reward thoughtful and critical exchange, so engage each other with meaningful questions that open to other questions.

   I am looking for comments that help us understand and analyze the text at hand. Just saying that someone did a good job with the presentation is not enough to garner participation points for the week. Application of our texts to new situations is among the primary goals of the discussion, but we can't do that responsibly without understanding what the author is doing first. And we understand that can be difficult!

   section below.
2. Each student will write two papers analyzing one of the readings for a particular. week. You may not write on the same author more than once, and you may not write more than one paper for any given week. Each paper counts for 20% of your final grade. For more information on paper requirements, see Paper Guidelines section below.
3. Each student will provide introductory background on 1 topic during the quarter. This background paper is worth 20% of your grade. For more information on this assignment, see Paper Signups section below.
4. Final project. 25% of your grade

Required Readings

Miller-McLemore, Fry Brown, and Miller-McLemore, Bonnie J. The Wiley Blackwell Reader in Practical Theology, Edited by Bonnie J. Miller-Mclemore. 2019 . (Unlimited access available vial bloomfire)

Additional Readings:

**To be uploaded to Files**

Statement of Inclusivity:

If you have a preferred pronoun that you would like for the class to address you by please let me know so that we can honor that for you.