Syllabus

Enroll Now: Class begins June 12

Course Description:

This course surveys the major Theological traditions of Christendom including Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism and then Examine Protestantism in its major sub-traditions including Lutheranism; Reformed (Calvinism), Wesleyan-Arminianism; Dispensationalism; Liberalism; Neo-Orthodoxy and Liberation Theology. Its primary purpose it to expose you to the breadth of historic Christianity in its diverse forms and by so doing to give an understanding and appreciation for the motivating factors, key conceptions and thought forms of the various traditions. Particularly, you will grasp that the traditions have arisen out of particular historical circumstances and are wedded to particular philosophical conceptions and epistemologies.

Course Objectives:

The student will come to understand that each theological tradition is a time-bound contextualization of the gospel.

The student will come to understand the historical circumstances that gave rise to the various traditions.

The student will begin to understand the various traditions “from the inside” rather than just critiquing traditions foreign to him/her from the perspective of his/her own tradition.

The student will realize that his/her tradition is not to be equated with the TRUTH but is instead a fallible human interpretation of the truth.

The student will gain a genuine appreciation for theological systems and traditions outside his/her own.

Course Texbooks:

Required:

Sawyer, M. James. The Survivor’s Guide to Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006.

Recommended (NOTE: Not necessarily honors reading books since they are textbooks):

McGrath, Alister. Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of the Christian Church. Malden MA: Blackwell, 1998.

McGrath, Alister. Reformation Thought: An Introduction 2^nd ed. Cambridge MA: Blackwell, 1993.

Course Requirements and Grading:

Certificate students take the course for a grade to receive a certificate that can be applied towards the TTP diploma. You must pay the tuition, attend or listen to all five sessions, and complete enough of the homework according to the grading system below to receive a passing grade. This applies to both online and campus students.

Honors credit can be earned in this course by completing all the coursework and completing an additional reading assigned by the teacher. See list below for honors reading options.

Assignment Description – see course schedule for due dates

Attending Classes: Students are required to attend or listen to all five sessions of the course. These sessions will take place on Monday nights on Paltalk from 9-11pm central standard time. While attending or listening to the sessions is required for all certificate students, it does not apply toward your grade and you cannot receive credit without it. If you happen to miss a course, they will be recorded and available to view the day after the course on the TTP student website.

Five hours of theological community time: All online certificate students are required to spend one hour a week in the online TTP forums where you accrue theological community time by asking or answering questions of other students, blogging your thoughts, reading the posts of others, and discussing issues relevant to the course. While theological community time is required for all online certificate students, it does not apply toward your grade and you cannot receive credit without it.

1. Reading: Reading assignments are listed in this syllabus. Each student is expected to read the material according to the session schedule provided in the syllabus.
2. Case Study: The student is to attend a church service of a major tradition outside his/her own and to write up the experience.
3. Comparison study: the student will write a paper comparing and contrasting two of the traditions studied.
4. Reading & Reflection: The student will read on one tradition outside of his own and write his/her analysis of that tradition giving both positive contributions as well as problems found within the tradition. This assignment is based upon his/her reading beyond the required reading listed in the syllabus. (Every chapter includes a bibliography for further reading. The reading for this assignment will be drawn from these lists).
   
   

   Grading System

   Complete 1 of 4 D

   Complete 2 of 4 C

   Complete 3 of 4 B

   Complete 4 of 4 A

   Complete all 4 plus honors reading A With honors

   Schedule

   Session No.	Session Date	Topic	Assignments	Due Date
   1	June 12	Introduction; Contextualization & Systematic Theology	Survivor’s Guide 71-108; 203-233	June 12
   2	19	Orthodoxy; Roman Catholicism	Survivor’s Guide 239-253; 257-280	19
   3	26	Lutheranism, Reformed (Calvinism)	Survivor’s Guide 285-301; 305-336	26
   4	July 3	Wesleyan-Arminianism, Dispensationalism	Survivor’s Guide 345-371; 373-392	July 3
   5	10	Liberalism, Neo-Orthodoxy	Survivor’s Guide 397-414; 419-444	10

   
   
   Honors Reading Options:
   
   

   Orthodoxy:

   Daniel Clendenin, Eastern Orthodox Theology: a Western Perspective

   Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church

    

   Catholicism

   Richard McBrien, Catholicism

    

   Lutheranism

   Duane W. H. Arnold & C. George Fry, The Way The Truth and The Life

   Eric W. Gritch and Robert W. Jensen, Lutheranism

    

   Reformed:

   John I Hesselink, On Being Reformed

   John Leith, Introduction to the Reformed Tradition

    

   Wesleyan-Arminianism

   Thomas Oden, The Transforming Power of Grace

   J. Kenneth Grider, A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology

    

   Dispensationalism

    

   Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock, Progressive Dipensationalism

   Vern Poythress, Understanding Dispensationalists

    

   Liberalism

   Adolf von Harnack, What is Christianity?

   Lloyd J. Averill, American Theology in the Liberal Tradition

    

   Neo-Orthodoxy

   David L Mueller, Karl Barth

   J. Edward Humphery, Emil Brunner

   Bernard Ramm, After Fundamentalism

    

   Liberation Theology

   Leonardo Boff and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology