Syllabus+for+STM+831

** Semester: Fall 2010 ** ** Course Number: STM 831-11 ** ** Class Times: Thr 5PM – 9PM ** ** Class Room: Omalia 5 ** ** Office: Sullivan Hall, Room 108 ** ** Phone: (305) 474-6842 ** ** Cell: (954) 290-9803 ** ** Email: ****Twhapham@stu.edu** ** Office Hours: TBA **
 * SOURCES OF CONTEMPORARY PRACTICAL THEOLOGY **  ** Course Syllabus **   ** Instructor: Theodore James Whapham, Ph.D. **

** __Course Description:__ ** Explores practical theological sources in the Old Testament and New Testament as well as the experience of Second Temple Judaism and the first Christian communities. Focuses on the practical theological conversation throughout Christian history, with emphasis on the formal development of practical theology in the early 19th century and subsequent advances through the mid-20th century. Students will acquire an understanding of how scripture, practice, and theological reflection over the centuries provide the foundation on which contemporary practical theology rests.

** __Instructional Techniques:__ ** As a doctoral level seminar course, class sessions will focus around class discussion of the required reading as well as student presentations on the required reading. The development of a major research paper and its presentation to the class will also be an essential element of the course.

** __Ph.D Program Goals:__ **
 * 1) Develop advanced competency in practical theology that appropriates biblical, historical, and contemporary sources.
 * 2) Apply practical theological method and analytical skills in a manner that critically incorporates insights from philosophical, psychology, and social scientific theory and research.
 * 3) Advance the work of practical theology within culture, society, religious formation, and the life of the faith community.
 * 4) Cultivate practical theological skills critical for transformative leadership and advocacy within society, church, and the contemporary theological conversation.
 * 5) Acquire skills necessary to research and teach practical theology at an advanced level.

** __Course Outcomes:__ ** By the end of the course students will have: 1. Reviewed a theological major theme through its historical development in scripture and the breadth of the Christian tradition. 2. Developed a major research project that analyzes theological primary source material as a source material for the work of contemporary practical theology. 3. Utilized the techniques and insights of hermeneutical theory to the work of historical reconstruction and application. 4. Evaluated the relationship between biblical studies, historical theology, and systematic theology and practical theology. 1. The course will focus on the development of the doctrine of grace from a historical perspective. However, it does so with the bias that all good theology is practical (i.e. grows out of a lived experience of the Gospel and which seeks to express a question or challenge that has developed in this relation with the world). 2. Grace, in particular, has been chosen as a theme because of its kinship to the discipline of practical theology. Grace is the gratuitous gift of God’s presence as experienced in the life of the believer and is fundamental for liberation, redemption, salvation, and sanctification. In short, grace is the transformative presence of the Triune God in the lives of individuals and the community. 3. Selected key figures in the development of the doctrine of grace will be treated by the instructor for the course to both address moments in the history that cannot be ignored. 4. The class as a whole then will discuss other sources for a practical theology of grace, in a way that provides adequate representation for the following historical periods: early church, medieval, reformation/counter-reformation, and modern. I will provide you with a list to help you think about figures from each period; however this list is far from exhaustive and should be seen primarily as a way to open up conversation. 5. During the progress of the course students will be expected to write an essay length contribution to an edited volume that demonstrates the interplay between their chosen figure, practical theology, and the contemporary world. All of this is in an effort to make explicit the interplay between hermeneutics, historical theology, and practical theology. 6. Students will then also be responsible for planning a class session, in which they take the lead in presenting their topic to the class. This will include providing students with appropriate reading (both primary and secondary) and conducting the class session using whichever pedagogical methods they deem most appropriate to their topic and audience. 7. The remaining class sessions (if they exist) will be dedicated to revising articles and preparing a manuscript to be submitted for publication.
 * __Principles for Sources of Contemporary PT Course__ **

My vision is that this will not be merely a church history course or a systematic expression of the doctrine of grace, but a true exercise in practical theology. History will provide the sources, but it is our job to apply the hermeneutical principles that we have learned this semester to all allow these classic texts to become transformational for our audiences and pastoral setting in the 21st Century.

** __Required Texts:__ ** The complete list of readings for this semester will be determined in part by the students in the class. However all students will be required to read the following text as well as a series of primary texts that will be made available via blackboard or the reserve desk in the library.

Roger Haight, // The Experience and Language of Grace //. Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1979. ISBN: 978-0809122004

** __Schedule of Activities and Assignments:__ ** August 26 Syllabus, Themes and Graduate Student Orientation September 2 Paul and Augustine Haight 1 – 53 & Primary Doc September 9 Aquinas and Scholastics Haight 54 – 78 & Primary Doc September 16 Luther and Calvin Haight 79 – 119 & Primary Doc September 23 Rahner, Barth, and Tillich Haight 119 – 142 & Primary Doc September 30 Recent Discussions Haight 143 – 186 & Primary Doc October 7 Student Presentation 1 October 14 Student Presentation 2 October 21 Student Presentation 3 October 28 Student Presentation 4 November 4 Student Presentation 5 November 11 Student Presentation 6 November 18 Student Presentation 7 November 25 ** Thanksgiving ** December 2 Student Presentation 8 December 9 Wrap - Up

** __Evalutation__ ** The goal of this course is for you to develop a practical theology of grace that deeply and seriously engages the historical and theological sources of the development of this Christian doctrine. T this seminar and will be derived as follows: ** 20% Class Participation ** ** 40 % Student Presentation ** ** 40% Research Paper **

// Class Participation // Given the size and nature of the course it is imperative that you come to class each week with the reading assignment completed and prepared to discuss it. While I recognize that external processing of material is more natural to some than to others, this element of the course is essential because it gives us the opportunity to further break down the material that is being covered, analyze the main structure of the argument and critique it. As a result, every student will be expected to make a major contribution to the discussion every class session. // Research Paper // Students are to select a historical figure or movement (which predates contemporary discussions) that they feel exemplifies a key element of a practical theology of grace. This figure or movement will then be presented in such a way that exemplifies the interplay between practical theology, historical/systematic theology, and contemporary Christian practices. All papers should be 25 - 35 pages in length in a standard format. In addition, your essay must include a bibliography that references at least seven of the texts covered in this course, but may include any other material that you found appropriate and used during the preparation of your paper. Please use footnotes for citations and follow the conventions for citation as developed in Kate L Turabian. // A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations //. 7th Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2007. ISBN 978-0226823379 It is my intention that all paper’s from this course of sufficient quality will be the foundation of a edited volume on the practical sources of theology of grace which will be revised and submitted for publication. // Presentation – Due Date TBD // The student presentations are intended to be a major opportunity for each student to present and workshop his or her research with the entire class. As a result, students will be responsible for one entire class session. While students are free to use whatever pedagogical methods they deem appropriate, they are responsible for making use of the entire class session, including providing the instructor and class with appropriate primary and secondary reading materials related to their chosen topic. Students will present in chronological order based on the dates of their primary source.

** __Expectations:__ ** Students at St. Thomas University are expected to observe the highest standards of academic conduct, ethics and integrity. No student shall engage in any form of fraudulent, deceitful, dishonest or unfair conduct with respect to examinations, papers, presentations, or other academic endeavors.

The following is excerpted from the Academic Conduct Code published in the Student Handbook, referred to in the University catalogue and implemented through the Office of Academic Affairs. “Both faculty and students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic honesty and to present work with which is genuinely theirs. Therefore, faculty and students will neither commit nor tolerate cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty is considered to be the representation of another's work as one's own, either directly or through complicity in falsification; cheating; plagiarism; facilitating academic dishonesty; or infringing on academic rights of others. Areas of academic dishonesty:

1. Falsification is the intentional and unauthorized invention or fabrication of any information or citation in an academic exercise. An example of falsification includes but is not limited to making misrepresentations about facts in a report for a class.

2. Cheating is intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in an academic exercise. Examples of cheating include but are not limited to: a. looking at notes or another student's exam during a test or allowing another student to do so. Tests and examinations are considered as original work of the student unless working together is expressly permitted by the instructor; b. copying homework assignments from another student or source when not permitted by the instructor or giving your homework to another student to copy; c. submitting as your own work any academic exercise prepared by someone else; d. submitting the same paper in two or more courses without the permission of the appropriate instructors; e. g. having another student take your own exam or do/prepare your assigned work.

3. Plagiarism is intentionally or unintentionally representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise. Examples of plagiarism include but are not limited to: a. presenting assignments such as course preparations, examinations, tests, projects, term papers, which are not original work of the student. Original work of the student may include thoughts, ideas, and words of another author only if their source is acknowledged using normally accepted standards; b. using information from printed/video/audio materials, and presenting it as your own; c. altering thoughts or writing of others in order to make them appear as your own or purchasing, rewriting, or stealing a paper and making it look as if it were your own.

4. Facilitating academic dishonesty is intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty. Examples of facilitating academic dishonesty include but are not limited to: a. giving or selling a term paper or project to another student required to do the term paper or project; b. stealing a term paper or project for the purpose of giving or selling it to another student required to do the term paper or project; c. taking an exam or preparing work for another student.”

Violation of the Academic Conduct Code may result in a failing grade for the course, academic probation, suspension, or expulsion.

** __Caveat:__ ** This syllabus is intended to be an accurate description of the contents and requirements of the course. However, in the course of a semester any number of events may occur that would require the flexibility of both the instructor and the students in the course. As a result, the instructor reserves the right to make any changes to the syllabus at any time he deems necessary.