Previous Years' Course Catalogues

This course complements EMB5703 (Paul's Biographical Problems); though it may be taken independently. Pursued will be problems related to the manuscript tradition of the corpus paulinum; historical authenticity, literary unity, and chronology of the individual writings; scribal and other interpolations.

This seminar will map out the Dialectical Materialism of Slovenian philosopher, psycho-analyst, and cultural critic Slavoj Zlzek. A communist and atheist, Zlzek's thought is an original Lacanian inspired repeat of Hegel that recallibrates Materialism. Zlzek's incisive structural insights will be explored even as his faith in the Void as the eternal traumatic Real is contrasted with faith in the steadfast Love of God.

This seminar will map out the Dialectical Materialism of Slovenian philosopher, psycho-analyst, and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek. A communist and atheist, Zizek's thought is an original Lacanian inspired repeat of Hegel that recallibrates Materialism. Zizek's incisive structural insights will be explored even as his faith in the Void as the eternal traumatic Real is contrasted with faith in the steadfast Love of God.

This course will concern itself with various recent forms of natural theology (and arguments in support of natural religion) that claim to provide evidence that confirms belief in the existence of God (and/or other transcendent realities). Such theologies almost always attempt to draw on the authority of the sciences for their claims and amount to full-scale challenges to modernist claims that science has disenchanted the world. The main objective of the course is to assess the cogency of the explicit claims that a more perceptive and comprehensive view of science can restore the pre-modern optimism in the belief in the existence of God and the value of religion.

This course will concern itself with various recent forms of natural theology (and arguments in support of natural religion) that claim to provide evidence that confirms belief in the existence of God (and/or other transcendent realities). Such theologies almost always attempt to draw on the authority of the sciences for their claims and amount to full-scale challenges to modernist claims that science has disenchanted the world. The main objective of the course is to assess the cogency of the explicit claims that a more perceptive and comprehensive view of science can restore the pre-modern optimism in the belief in the existence of God and the value of religion.

Theology was established as an academic discipline in the Christian universities of the European Middle Ages. Methodologically, however, that discipline seems ill-suited for the new epistemic culture produced in the West by the Scientific Revolution and now institutionalized in the modern secular research university. This is the intellectual context in which Christian theology emerged and matured as an academic discipline and against which its ‘religious knowledge’ claims will be measured. Understanding this history is essential, therefore, in methodological discussions in all areas of the theological encyclopedia.

Theology was established as an academic discipline in the Christian universities of the European Middle Ages. Methodologically, however, that discipline seems ill-suited for the new epistemic culture produced in the West by the Scientific Revolution and now institutionalized in the modern secular research university. This is the intellectual context in which Christian theology emerged and matured as an academic discipline and against which its ‘religious knowledge’ claims will be measured. Understanding this history is essential, therefore, in methodological discussions in all areas of the theological encyclopedia.

This seminar examines that philosophical approach to the history of philosophy that travels under the name of genealogy. It does so in terms of close readings of selected texts of the tradition's two major figures: Friederich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault against the backdrop of a number of ancient and medieval examples of protreptic rhetoric. It thereby attests the thesis that contemporary genealogy is the latest manifestation of the protreptic tradition in the history of philosophy, i.e., a deliberative rhetoric designed to exhort recipients to turn (convertere) from harm to health, from falsehood to truth, from the base to the noble.

This seminar examines that philosophical approach to the history of philosophy that travels under the name of genealogy. It does so in terms of close readings of selected texts of the tradition's two major figures: Friederich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault against the backdrop of a number of ancient and medieval examples of protreptic rhetoric. It thereby attests the thesis that contemporary genealogy is the latest manifestation of the protreptic tradition in the history of philosophy, i.e., a deliberative rhetoric designed to exhort recipients to turn (convertere) from harm to health, from falsehood to truth, from the base to the noble.

This seminar will explore, question and develop Olthuis’ ‘theopoetic philosophical work.’ Despite the ever present reality of brokenness, trauma and evil, in conversation with Levinas, Derrida, Caputo, Lacan and Žížek, Olthuis argues theologically, anthropologically, psychologically and etho-politically that the universe comes from Love, continues in Love, and is headed to Love.

An exploration of selected interpreters of Paul and his letters. While the selection will vary from year to year, each year there will be a particular focus. Focuses will include: seminal 19th-century figures; turning points in 20th-century interpretation; Jewish Interpreters of Paul, past and present; the "new perspective"-its precursors, proponents and critics; the Sonderweg reading of Paul.

Throughout Christian history Paul's letters have been crucial texts for those attempting to answer the question 'What is the gospel'? This class explores the Pauline interpretation of sixteenth century Protestant Reformers, whose work forms one of the most influential episodes in that history of reception. It considers the impact upon them of earlier interpreters, and the content of their own Pauline interpretation. It also considers their influence upon subsequent eras as those who contributed to the development of new traditions of Pauline interpretation. In order for students to undertake this exploration in a methodologically sophisticated manner, the course also examines reception theory and its potential contribution to New Testament interpretation. Students will assess what use we should make today of resources drawn from previous interpretations, especially those of the Reformers, in our own attempts to interpret Pauline theology. Many recent interpreters understand their positions as standing in direct opposition to trajectories of interpretation established by the Reformers. Does this render Reformation interpretations redundant or are contemporary interpreters neglecting an important resource?