Instructor: Dr Butler
Email: preed-butler@iliff.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
Phone: (303)765-3124
Zoom ID: 818 608 7210
Synchronous Times: Thursdays April 8, April 22 and May 13 2:30-3:45pm MT (Use Zoom ID to login)
Course Description:
This introduction to Christian theology will focus on systematic theology, that is, what are the traditional loci (topics or rubrics) that form a complete theological system, how do they fit together, and how does thinking them as a system influence theological thinking? We will look at how the Christian theological tradition provides resources for contemporary theology.
Professional Degree Learning Goals for Constructive Theology Area:
Constructive Theology (TH) : critically engage historical and contemporary theological expressions of religious traditions and articulate one's own constructive theological position in relation to contemporary events and/or situations.
Learning Outcomes:
After taking this class, students will be able to:
Course Requirements:
Throughout the quarter, we will have several discussions which will compose a large part of our engagement with each other in this online learning space. 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:
Each post 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 posts and a handful of longer posts in a week or you might have only a few strategic substantial posts (minimum of 2 posts per discussion). 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 interchange, so post often and engage each other with meaningful questions that open to other questions.
I am looking for posts that help us understand and analyze the text at hand. Application of our texts to new situations is of course the ultimate goal, but we can't do that responsibly without understanding what the author is doing first. And that can be hard!
If your first post (due Thursday) focuses on one of the assigned papers/readings, please focus your second post on a discussion about another paper/reading.
.Each student will prepare 3 papers of 3 double-spaced pages each. You will choose two readings you will write about and one background paper in the Paper Sign up assignment.
On a week you have signed up to write, you will submit your paper on canvas for grading. Background papers and one of your reading papers will also be shared as discussion starters for that week. So, on the week you write a background paper and on the week you have indicated that you want to share you reading paper, you will post the paper both in the paper assignment area and as an attachment to a discussion post in our discussion for that week.
All students not writing in a week will read all of the posted papers and choose one to engage substantially with a robust response by the first discussion deadline for the week. See Discussion Guidelines for more details on discussion expectations. By the second discussion deadline each week, students will need to participate substantially in the discussion at least one additional time. Late postings will not be accepted.
Papers will be graded according to the following 4 criteria:
In a short paper the claim typically appears as the last sentence of the introductory paragraph (if it is not there the writer needs clearly to mark where it is, since otherwise readers will assume that sentence is the claim). A claim states the conclusion of the argument put forward in the paper. You have a great deal of freedom here. A claim might state what is the most important idea in the reading, or what the author must assume to make his or her argument, or what the logical extension of that argument might be, or how that argument relates to other readings on our syllabus, or what the author gets right or wrong, etc. In a short paper you will likely not be able to summarize the all the points the author makes, nor should you try. Part of your task of analysis is to prioritize what is most important to lift up for discussion for our class. Your paper will likely not follow the same organization as the reading under analysis, since the logic of your argument will not be the same as the logic of the argument of the reading. If your paragraphs tend to begin “And then . . .; Next . . .” then it is probably time to go back and do at least one more draft and re-think what you are presenting and how. Papers for this class are a little closer to the summary end of the spectrum than a term paper might be, since they are the basis for our discussion. But they are still papers that make engage the text by making a point about the text.
The purpose of the papers is three-fold:
Papers will be graded on the following scale:
4 = A
3 = B
2 = C
1 = D
0 = F
Required Readings
Philip Butler Black Transhuman Liberation Theology (While you may purchase this book an unlimited use digital copy is available online via Primo.)
Daniel L. Migliore Faith Seeking Understanding
Gloria Anzaldua
La Frontera
Further readings will be provided via Canvas
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.
Date | Day | Details | |
Mar 23, 2021 | Tue | Sign up for papers | due by 05:59AM |
Mar 25, 2021 | Thu | Week 1 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
Mar 26, 2021 | Fri | Week 1 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
Mar 28, 2021 | Sun | Week 1 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
Mar 31, 2021 | Wed | Week 2 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 02, 2021 | Fri | Week 2 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 02, 2021 | Fri | Week 2 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 07, 2021 | Wed | Week 3 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 09, 2021 | Fri | Week 3 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 11, 2021 | Sun | Week 3 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 14, 2021 | Wed | Week 4 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 16, 2021 | Fri | Week 4 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 18, 2021 | Sun | Week 4 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 21, 2021 | Wed | Week 5 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 22, 2021 | Thu | Week 5 Discussion | due by 07:00PM |
Apr 24, 2021 | Sat | Week 5 Continued | due by 02:00PM |
Apr 28, 2021 | Wed | Week 6 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
Apr 30, 2021 | Fri | Week 6 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
May 05, 2021 | Wed | Week 7 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
May 07, 2021 | Fri | Week 7 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
May 09, 2021 | Sun | Week 7 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
May 12, 2021 | Wed | Week 8 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
May 13, 2021 | Thu | Week 8 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
May 14, 2021 | Fri | Week 8 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
May 19, 2021 | Wed | Week 9 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
May 21, 2021 | Fri | Week 9 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
May 23, 2021 | Sun | Week 9 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
May 26, 2021 | Wed | Week 10 Papers | due by 05:59AM |
May 28, 2021 | Fri | Week 10 Discussion | due by 05:59AM |
May 30, 2021 | Sun | Week 10 Continued | due by 05:59AM |
Jun 01, 2021 | Tue | Final papers | due by 05:59AM |