Introduction to Urban Ministry
MUM 315
Spring 2016
Deborah J. Kapp, Ph.D.
773.947.6327 (office)
Office Hours: Wednesday afternoons or by appointment
Course Description:
Through the study of particular neighborhoods in Chicago and several church or church-related ministries in their midst, this course will introduce students to various models of ministry in a changing urban setting and equip them to do community analysis.
Course Goals:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify and discuss several dynamics that characterize and shape urban settings
- Study and analyze a particular neighborhood
- Interpret the question, “Who is my neighbor?” biblically and theologically and relate this interpretation to the practice of ministry in particular locations
- Compare and contrast several ways that faithful urban ministry can be embodied
The curricular learning outcomes to which this course teaches include:
· Think critically: Neighborhood analysis (course goal 2) helps students to deepen their contextual intelligence by mapping a neighborhood with an eye to existing assets and potential partnerships.
· Construct theological meaning using Christian tradition(s): Multiple reflections on the parable of the good Samaritan (course goal 3) encourages students to consider a contemporary neighborhood and its people through biblical lenses and reinterpret the ancient story in the context of their ministry.
· Exhibit pastoral imagination: Being able to see the world through the eyes of faith is a dimension of pastoral imagination that this course promotes in all its goals, in which students have the opportunity to integrate theological convictions, biblical narrative, contextual analysis, and urban theory.
· Exhibit cross cultural competence: Students deepen their cross cultural competence by learning more about the racialized dynamics of urban systems and witnessing a multiplicity of approaches to urban ministry (course goals 1 and 4).
· Serve effectively in congregational ministries: Students broaden their capacity to serve effectively in congregational ministries by learning how to map their neighborhoods, growing in their understanding of dynamics at work in their cities, expanding their awareness of best ministry practices, and reflecting theologically on urban ministry. All course goals further this learning outcome
Reading
Books (required)
Day, Katie. Faith on the Avenue: Religion on a City Street. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1986 [1958]. Students are free to choose any edition of this play, as long as it includes the full text.
Hirsch, Arnold. Making the Second Ghetto: Race & Housing in Chicago 1940-1960. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998 [1983].
Koval, John P, L. Bennett, M.I.J. Bennett, F. Demissie, R. Garner, K. Kim, eds. The New Chicago: A Social and Cultural Analysis. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006. Selected chapters.
Book (recommended but not required)
McRoberts, Omar. Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
Articles or Book Chapters (required)
These will be available electronically on the course website.
Pena, Milagros, Edwin I. Hernandez, and Melissa Mauldin. Hispanic Clergy and the Task of Ministry in Urban America. South Bend: University of Notre Dame, 2005. http://latinostudies.nd.edu/pubs/pubs/2005_3_Hernandez.pdf
Stone, Bryan P. and Claire E. Wolfteich. “Urban Challenge and Opportunity,” in Sabbath in the City: Sustaining Urban Pastoral Excellence, pp. 1-25. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.
Sermons or Biblical Reflections (required):
These will be available electronically on the course website.
Araya Guillen, Victorio, Nirmalka Fernando and Alexandros Papaderos. “The Samaritan’s Diakonia: An Option for Life, and Reactions,” in Diakonia 2000: Called to be Neighbors. Ed. Klaus Poser, pp. 50-61. Geneva: WCC Publications, 1987.
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. “Sermon CXIV,” in Selected Sermons. Edited and translated by Quincy Howe, Jr., pp. 825-835. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1966.
Boesak, Allan. “The Law of Christ: Reconciliation and Forgiveness,” in The Finger of God: Sermons on Faith and Socio-Political Responsibility. Translated by Peter Randall, pp. 63-69. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1982.
Buechner, Frederick. “The Miracles at Hand”, in The Magnificent Defeat, pp. 136-144. New York: Seabury Press, 1983.
Fry, John. “Mercy,” in Fire and Blackstone, pp. 223-228. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1969.
Gomez, Medaro. “Forbidden to be a Samaritan,” Trinity Seminary Review 7:1 (Spring 1985): 14-17.
King, Martin Luther. “On Being a Good Neighbor,” in Strength to Love. With a foreword by Coretta Scott King, pp. 21-30. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010 [1963].
______. “A Time to Break Silence,” in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ed. J.M. Washington, pp. 231-244. New York: Harper Collins, 1986 [1967].
Koyama, Kosuke. “He Had Compassion (Luke 10: 31-33),” in The Christian Century (July 5-12, 1989): 651.
Long, Thomas, 2007. “Meeting the Good Samaritan,” http://day1.org/1051-meeting_the_good_samaritan
Thielicke, Helmut. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, in The Waiting Father: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus. Translated by John W. Doberstein, pp. 158-169. New York: Harper & Row, 1959.
Optional Book Reading: Students wishing to earn extra credit may read one of these books and write a book review (worth up to 5% of grade).
Of course, interested students may wish to read these books anyway!
Gamm, Gerald. Urban Exodus: Why the Jews Left Boston and the Catholics Stayed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York, NY: Random House, 1961.
Johnson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Patillo, Mary. Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Sharkey, Patrick. Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress Toward Racial Equality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Wilson, William Julius and Richard P. Taub. There Goes the Neighborhood: Racial, Ethnic, and Class Tensions in Four Chicago Neighborhoods and Their Meaning for America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
Wilson, William Julius. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.
Optional Chapters and Articles: (Note: these will be posted on Moodle)
Franklin, Robert M. “The Tempest,” in Another Day’s Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis, pp. 53-82. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997.
Quigley, Mike. A Tale of Two Cities: Reinventing Tax Increment Financing. Cook County, 2007.
Suarez, Ray.” The Church and the City,” in The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999, pp. 47-57. New York: The Free Press, 1999.
Wellman, James K. “Finding a New Center: The Future of the Liberal Protestant Mainline,” in The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto: Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism, pp. 197-220. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999.
Optional Film
Ronitfilms, Voices of Cabrini. http://ronitfilms.com/films/voicesofcabrini.html
Course Organization:
Course will be taught on 8 Thursday nights and two all day Saturday sessions:
· Thursdays, February 4 and 18; March 3, 10, and 31; April 7, 21, and 28, from 6-8:50 pm
· Saturdays, February 20 and April 9, from 9-4.
We will begin with an introductory session on Thursday, February 4 (6-8:50 pm). We will have some snacks, but you should also feel free to bring along some dinner if you need to. It’s always fine to eat in class.
Subsequent Thursday night classes will be devoted to discussing the readings, which we take very seriously, reflecting on our biblical text for the semester (Luke 10: 25-37), sharing our maps, and taking the final exam.
The final exam is a reflective essay on the topic “Who is my neighbor?” It is intended to be an opportunity for students to reflect personally and integrate their thoughts about the class readings and discussions, this text, their observations about urban ministries and their engagement with neighbors, and their vocation. The essay can be written as a take home exam. If it is not handed in by April 28, students can write it as a sit-down exam in class that night. Students who have already handed in the paper are excused from class that night. All this is to say that no extensions will be given for this final assignment, except in the context of extreme emergency.
Every week our class work will include reflection on the question phrased by the lawyer in Luke 10, “Who is my neighbor?” We will explore several dimensions of this text and the questions it raises. We will use a variety of resources, including textual work that we do ourselves, sermons, and other relevant materials.
Course assignments
1 Active participation in class, including attending class and all field trips, electronic forum/ discussion participation, reading, and in-class discussion. It is essential that students attend all field trips on Saturdays, Feb 20 and April 9; these cannot be made up. It will be impossible to pass the course if a student misses the field trips (20%).
2 Concept map of the ideas/ stories shared in Making the Second Ghetto by Arnold Hirsch. Due March 10. Bring your concept map to class in hard copy (20%).
3 Reflective essay that engages the question “Who is my neighbor?” from the perspective of the Bible, the community studied, and the church in which you are involved. Due April 28, 2016 (graduating seniors must hand in their final work no later than April 22). Students who have not completed the essay by the class period on April 28 may write it as an exam during class time (30%).
4 Critical map and analysis of the area of the city you choose for study. Due on the night it is presented in class (30%).
Additional Resources (FYI):
Alinsky, Saul. Works on Community Organizing.
Ammerman, Nancy T. Congregation and Community. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.
Beukema, George. Stories from Below the Poverty Line. With a foreword by Jim Wallis. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001.
Boo, Katherine. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. New York: Random House, 2012.
Bos, A. David. Bound Together: A Theology for Ecumenical Community Ministry. With a foreword by Larry L. Rasmussen. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 2005.
Cnaan, Ram A. with Stephanie C. Boddie, Femida Handy, Gaynor Yancey, and Richard Schneider. The Invisible Caring Hand: American Congregations and the Provision of Welfare. With a foreword by John Dilulio. New York: New York University Press, 2002.
Cnaan, Ram A. with Stephanie C. Boddie, Charlene C. McGrew, and Jennifer Kang. The Other Philadelphia Story: How Local Congregations Support Quality of Life in Urban America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
Dahm, Charles W., O.P. Parish Ministry in a Hispanic Community. New York, NY: Paulist Press, 2004.
Delloff, Linda-Marie. Public Offerings: Stories from the Front Lines of Community Ministry. An Alban Institute Publication, 2002.
Demerath, N.J. and Rhys H. Williams. A Bridging of Faiths: Religion and Politics in a New England City. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Dudley, Carl S. Community Ministry. An Alban Institute Publication, 2002.
______and Nancy Ammerman. Congregations in Transition. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
______and Sally Johnson. Energizing the Congregation: Images that Shape your Church’s Ministry. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993.
Farnsley, Arthur E. Rising Expectations: Urban Congregations, Welfare Reform, and Civic Life. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2003.
Glaeser, Edward. The Triumph of the City: How our Greatest Invention Makes us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. New York: Penguin Books, 2011.
Harper, Nile. Urban Churches Vital Signs: Beyond Charity Toward Justice. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999.
______. Journeys into Justice: Religious Collaboratives Working for Social Transformation. Minneapolis: Bascom Hill Publishing Group, 2009.
Holland, Joe and Peter Henriot. Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2005 [1980].
Kretzman, John P. and John L. McKnight. Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Skokie, IL: ACTA Publications, 1993.
Kusmer, Kenneth L. and Joe W. Trotter, eds. African American Urban History Since World War II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Livezey, Lowell, ed. Public Religion and Urban Transformation: Faith in the City. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2001.
McKnight, John. The Careless Society: Community and its Counterfeits. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1995.
Neumark, Heidi. Breathing Space: A Spiritual Journey in the South Bronx. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2003.
Niebuhr, Reinhold. Leaves From the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic. With a foreword by Martin E. Marty. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1980 [1929].
Orsi, Robert, ed. Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999.
Paris, Peter, John Wesley Cook, James Hudnut-Beumler, Lawrence H. Mamiya, Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, and Judith Weisenfeld. The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York. With a foreword by Martin E. Marty. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2004.
Peters, Ronald Edward and Marsha Snulligan Haney. eds. Africentric Approaches to Christian Ministry: Strengthening Urban Congregations in African American Communities. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006.
Rans, Susan and Hilary Altman. Asset-Based Strategies for Faith Communities: A Community Building Workbook From the Asset Based Community Development Institute. Chicago, IL: ACTA Publications, 2002.
Roozen, David, William McKinney, and Jackson Carroll. Varieties of Religious Presence: Mission in Public Life. New York, NY: Pilgrim Press, 1984.
Sahlin, Monte. Mission in Metropolis: The Adventist Movement in an Urban World. Lincoln, NB: Center for Creative Ministry, 2007.
Sampson, Robert J. Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect. Chicago: Universityy of Chicago Press, 2012.
Suarez, Ray. The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration 1966-1999. New York: The Free Press, 1999.
Tom, Bert. Vital Signs of Urban Congregations. Louisville, KY: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 2005.
Tucker-Worgs, Tamelyn. The Black Mega-Church: Theology, Gender, and the Politics of Public Engagement. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2012.
Um, Stephen and Justin Buzzard. Why Cities Matter: To God, the Culture, and the Church. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013.