Description

 

This is the syllabus for the second half of a two-semester survey of the history of Christian ethics and religious social criticism.  It was preceded by R374/574 in the fall.  Students are not required to take both courses.  The survey has three objectives.

 

First, the course aims to give an overview of major thinkers in key periods of Christianity and to acquaint students with different genres of ethical literature.  The underlying argument of the course is that the tradition of “Christian ethics” is not a single, monolithic entity.  It is rather a patchwork of subtraditions that have produced literatures, arguments, and standards for human conduct in response to problems that have emerged in different cultural, social, and institutional contexts.  We will explore that variety in this course.  Materials for the second semester will draw from Enlightenment Christianity, revivalist Christianity, the Social Gospel, Neo-orthodox Christianity, modern Roman Catholic social ethics, feminist and liberation ethics, and contemporary currents in Christian ethics and religious ethics.  Of particular interest will be issues of war; medical ethics; agape, benevolence and beneficence; virtue theory; and equality. 

 

Second, the course will examine intellectual changes that emerged in the last third of the 20th century, giving rise to a more comparative and diversified discipline of religious ethics.  I call this “religious social criticism.”  It has important connections to and differences from Christian ethics, which we’ll note during the last part of the second semester.   

 

Third, given the diversity of materials we study, we will examine the idea of a “tradition,” and will ask what a tradition comprises.  That is to say, we will step back from the survey and ask which materials seem obvious to include in a tradition of Christian ethics, and what those decisions suggest about how a tradition is constructed (and revised). 

 

 

Readings

 

Books ordered for purchase:

 

Books ordered for purchase:

John Locke, Letter on Toleration, ed. James Tully

Jonathan Edwards, The Nature of True Virtue

Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love

Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait

William Dean, The Religious Critic in American Culture

For graduate students: Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity

 

The remaining reading assignments are in the R375/575 Reader on e-reserve. 

 

 

Requirements

 

There will be three written assignments, each worth 20%: one short paper (7-9 pages), one take-home exam; and one annotated bibliography.  The first assignment is due February 10; the second is due March 31; the third is due April 21.  Late assignments are docked 1/3 grade for each day late.  I will spell out specifics for each requirement before it is due.

 

There will be a cumulative final exam, worth 20%.

 

Attendance and participation count 15%.  These may well include occasional quiz scores, which I might include to ensure that we’re all keeping up with the reading. 

 

In addition, each student is required to make at least one office visit before the second writing assignment, which is due on March 31.   That way I can get to know you and your interests, and answer questions that you have about course material.  This requirement counts for 5%.  My office hours are posted at the top of the first page of this syllabus.

 

About attendance: Only excused, documented absences are acceptable.  If you have 4 or more unexcused absences, you cannot score higher than a B in this class; 6 or more, no higher than a C; 8 or more, no higher than a D; 10 or more, no higher than an F. 

 

Summary:

Short Paper (7-9 pp):	25%
Take-home exam:	25%
Annotated bibliography:	10%
Final exam:	20%
Attendance & participation:	15%
Office visit(s):	5%

 

N.B. Graduate students will have 5 additional meetings, separate from R375, which we will schedule during the first week of classes.  We will read Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), in five installments. 

 

 

 

Format, Communication, and Expectations

 

During the first week I will discuss course logistics and will provide some background for the class.  Starting the second week, our format will be lecture-and-discussion.  After taking class attendance, I will make some focused comments on the reading – either to identify and analyze some key themes or passages, or to provide some background information about the author, the reading assignment, or secondary source material.  I will then turn to you for questions, comments, and discussion.  To help you prepare for that part of the class, I will regularly send out questions over email to focus your readings and to provide a framework for discussion.  You will need to consult your email on a regular basis, and you must come to class willing to participate or be called on for comments.  I do not use OnCourse but will communicate instead with an email listserve.  Attendance, keeping pace with the reading assignments, and participating in class are keys to success in this course. 

 

 

Schedule

 

Week 1

Jan 10:             Introduction

 

Jan 11:             Selections from the Journal of George Fox (1624-91), in Reader

 

 

Week 2

Jan. 17:             John Locke (1632-1704), Letter on Toleration, 23-45

 

Jan. 19:             John Locke, Letter on Toleration, 46-58

 

 

Week 3

Jan. 24:             Jonathan Edwards (1703-58), The Nature of True Virtue, chaps. 1-4

 

Jan. 26:             Jonathan Edwards, The Nature of True Virtue, chaps. 5-8

 

Week 4

Jan. 31:             Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55), Works of Love, chap. 2A

 

Feb. 2:             Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55), Works of Love, chap. 2B

 

 

Week 5

Feb. 7:              Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love, chap. 3B, 6

 

Feb. 9:              Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love, chap. 9

 

                       

Friday, February 10: First assignment due at 5:00pm in my mailbox, Sycamore 230

 

Week 6

Feb. 14:            Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), A Theology for the Social Gospel, pp. 38-44, 167-87, in Reader