Syllabus+for+STM+821

** Course Syllabus ** ** Instructor: Theodore James Whapham, Ph.D. **    ** Semester: Spring 2010 ** ** Course Number: STM 821-11 ** ** Class Times: Thr 5PM – 9PM ** ** Class Room: Omalia 5 ** ** Office: Sullivan Hall, Room 203 **  ** Phone: (305) 474-6842  ** ** Cell: (954) 290-9803 ** ** Email: ****Twhapham@stu.edu** ** Office Hours: M & W 8:30am – 10:30am ** ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> T & Th 10am – 12am ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Course Description: __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Presents hermeneutical philosophy and related interpretive fields central to contemporary practical theology, integrating methodological topics with a diversity of perspectives including deconstructionist, critical, and postmodern theory. Students will develop philosophical and methodological criticism necessary to advance contemporary construction of theology in a direction that restores focus on // phronesis //and recovers the primacy of praxis. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fundamental to the methodology of praxis is a reading of the signs of the times and bringing this into relationship with the insights and wisdom of the Christian tradition that leads to transformative action. At the core of the first two steps in this process is the practice of interpretation. Apart from interpretation it is impossible to come to an adequate understanding of the world as its stands today with all of its challenges and rewards (experience) and it is equally impossible to make sense of scripture, doctrine, and the history of the Church. Indeed, much of contemporary philosophy suggests that all knowledge is already interpreted. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hermeneutics is the philosophical field that deals with the principles of interpretation. While the Christian history of this field has focused largely on issues related to the proper understanding of Sacred Scripture, recent philosophical and theological conversations have extended these principles to the entirety of the theological enterprise. Practical Theology finds itself among this important trend in theology because the discipline of praxis constantly requires that we ask the questions, “What is really going on?” and “What does this really mean?” <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Instructional Techniques: __ **<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Course Objectives and Outcomes: __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">By the end of the course students will have <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Analyzed, Synthesized and Evaluated a variety of historical and contemporary hermeneutical approaches and the ways that they can and might contribute to practical theological method <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Formulated and supported an approach to issues of a theological epistemology in conversation with other such fundamental theological positions. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Addressed key methodological issues such as the nature of truth, the existence and character divine revelation, and the role of Christian traditions (including Sacred Scripture) for the practice of contemporary practical theology. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Critiqued a variety of models for understanding the relationship between hermeneutics, theological methodology, and practical theology in the process of articulating their own visions of the interrelationship of these themes. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Required Texts: __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For a full list of required reading assignments see Schedule of Activities and Assignments. The following list of texts will be read in the entirety and can be purchased in the bookstore or online. Some other required reading assignments are either relatively short or out of print. These materials will either be distributed to the class as handouts or placed on reserve in the library. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Augustine. //On Christian Teaching.// Oxford World Classics Series. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0199540631 <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gadamer, Hans-Georg. //Truth and Method//. London: Continuum, 2004. ISBN 978-0826476975 <span style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Millbank, Pickstock, and Ward, //Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology//. New York: Routledge, 1998 ISBN: 978-0415196994 <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ricoeur, Paul. //Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning.// Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1976. ISBN 978-0-912646596 <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thiselton, Anthony, //New Horizons in Hermeneutics//. Zondervan, 1997. ISBN 978-0310217626 <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Segovia, Fernando. //Readings from this Place//. Vol. 2, Fortress, 2000. ISBN 978-0800629496 <span style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 6.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Schedule of Activities and Assignments: __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">January 14: Fides et Ratio <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">January 21: On Christian Doctrine <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Pat, Christine, Jonathan <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Lecture Topic: 19th Century Background and Dialectical Theology <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">January 28: Schleiermacher, // Hermeneutics and Criticism // 1-158 and Bultmann // NT and Mythology // 1-43;69-93 (both on reserve) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Emory, Daniel, Ondina <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Lecture Topic: Nouvelle Theologie and Reformulated Liberalism <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">February 4: Heidegger // “On the Essence of Truth” //in // Basic Writings // Edited by David Farrell Krell London: HarperPerennial, 2008. and excerpts from// Being and Time //169-224; 383-401 (Para. 28-38; 67-68) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Enrique, Hank, Peter <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Lecture Topic: Transcendental Thomism and Process Theology <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">February 11: Gadamer Part 1 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Joe, Hank, Pat <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Lecture Topic: Eschatological Theology and Contextual Theology <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">February 18: Gadamer: Part 2 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Jonathan, Christine, Enrique <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Initial Topic and Bibliography Discussion: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">February 25: Gadamer Part 3 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Daniel, Joe, Emory <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Book Review: Jonathan, Pat <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">March 4: ** Spring Break ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">March 11: Ricoeur <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Peter, Hank, Jonathon, Ondina <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Proposal Discussion: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">March 18: Lonergan // Insight //3-24; 343-617 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Christine, Joe, Pat <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Book Reviews: Hank, Daniel <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">March 25: Pannenberg // Systematic Theology //, Vol 1, Translated by Geoffrey Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdemans, 1991, 1-118 (on reserve). and “Hermeneutics and Universal History,” in Hermeneutics and Modern Philosophy, Edited by Brice Watcherhauser, New York: State University of New York Press, 1986, pp 111-46. (handout) <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Daniel, Enrique, Ted <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Writing Discussion: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">April 1: ** Holy Thursday ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">April 8: Thiselton Ch 1 – 5 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Peter, Daniel, Ondina <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Editing Discussion: <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">April 15: Thiselton Ch 6 – 11 ** Papers Due ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Ted <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Lecture Topic: Late 20th/Early 21st Century Trends <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">April 22: Thiselton Ch 12 – 16 <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Jonathan, Enrique, Joe <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Book Reviews: Peter <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">April 29: Segovia and Tolbert <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Ondina, Hank <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Book Reviews: Christine, Joe <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">May 6: Radical Orthodoxy <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leaders: Christine, Pat, Peter <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Book Reviews: Enrique, Ondina <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Evalutation __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The goal of this course is for you to develop an intimate familiarity with the field and an overview of major contemporary contributors and their work. T this seminar and will be derived as follows: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">25% Class Participation ** ** <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">25% Book Review ** ** <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">25% Conversation Leadership and Reading Outlines ** ** <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">25% Final Paper ** <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> // <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Class Participation // <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">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. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">As a result, every student will be expected to make a major contribution to the discussion every class session. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> // <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Book Review //<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">No single course in hermeneutics and methodology could cover even the most important texts in the field. Nor is it possible to select a collection of required readings that will meet the needs of all students. As a result, each student will be expected to choose one additional text that they will be responsible for reading, reviewing and presenting to the class. Students may choose from the supplemental bibliography that has been prepared for the course or seek to have another book approved. However, no two students may review the same book. Once the approved book has been read students will be expected to read five to seven book reviews that have been published on the same book to get a sense of the work’s reception. After this students will develop their own review of 400-600 words that discusses that major arguments and themes of the text and evaluates the volume’s worth. Finally students will present their work and review to the class for discussion. More information about how to write a book review will be forthcoming. Students will sign up for ** book review presentation dates that will start 2/25 **. // <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Conversation Leadership and Reading Outlines //<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">While we all will be expected to contribute to the conversation in class, periodically each student will be expected to lead the conversation on a particular piece of writing and to engage the class in critical reflection on the key elements of the readings. This involves two elements. First, you will be expected to prepare an outline or argument summary for the text being discussed. This written project will involve 1) a concise statement of the author’s main thesis 2) a detailed summary of how this thesis is developed throughout the various sections and chapters of the text, including a discussion of major themes in the text 3) a critical evaluation of the text that evaluates its relative strengths and weaknesses 4) some discussion of its applicability in the discipline of practical theology 5) a series of open-ended questions to help initiate conversation. Second, students will be expected to distribute typed copies of their reading outline to the other members of the class and present the material to during the class session. This presentation will form a basic structure upon which conversation can be built. While students should aim for 15-20 minutes of material on their outlines, they should also be prepared for numerous interruptions to discuss the text and its implications. // <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Final Paper – Due Thursday April 15 //<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The purpose of the paper is for students to help articulate their own approach to the topic of hermeneutics and methodology as it applies to their research interests and in conversation with other contemporary approaches in the field. Students should be certain to address key themes of the course such as the <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> nature of truth, the existence and character divine revelation, the relationship between hermeneutics and praxis, and the role of Christian traditions (including Sacred Scripture) for the practice of contemporary practical theology. Students should also view this research paper as an opportunity to further topics that may be developed later in their dissertation or other topics of interest. This paper may be particularly helpful in that almost all dissertations include at least one chapter that treats methodological issues. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">All papers should be 15 – 30 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. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Expectations: __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">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.
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">HERMENEUTICS AND METHODOLOGY IN PRACTICAL THEOLOGY **

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. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> ** __<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Caveat: __ ** <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> 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. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">