Themes in Nineteenth-Century Theology and Religion

2203

Themes in Nineteenth-Century Theology and Religion

Course Description

The paper addresses key themes in theological thinking in Europe and North America during the long nineteenth century. These include Biblical interpretation, the nature of authority, faith and reason, ecclesiology, Christology, romanticism, literature and imagination, spirit and history, secularization, reductionism, religious experience, and the encounter with world religions and the natural sciences. The topics will be addressed through seminal or representative texts. Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Newman and Coleridge are especially significant thinkers whose work or influence will normally be represented. Four main topics with prescribed texts will be published for each year. Students are not expected to become familiar with all of these texts, but, in consultation with tutors, will focus on two or three of the prescribed texts as well as preparing one or more essays on more general issues. Lectures will address the background and influence of the texts and comment on the questions they raise, but will not necessarily be limited to exposition of the texts. The themes and texts may change from year to year.

Aims

a)To build on the student’s knowledge of theology and the history of religion

b)To understand some of the key intellectual developments in the long nineteenth century that have proved significant for the history of Christianity, the emergence of the academic study of religion, and for modern society more generally

c)To analyze and evaluate the relative merits and deficiencies of arguments concerning theology and religion as considered under various thematic rubrics

d)To become familiar with the reception history of such arguments through engagement with substantive secondary resources

Objectives

By the end of this course the student should have

a)a good knowledge of some of the most influential and representative texts and thinkers of the period

b)theability to contextualize representative texts and thinkers with respect to the larger religious, social, and political movements of the period

c)skills important for the historical study of religion generally, and for the history of Christianity and historical theology specifically, by assessing different sorts of historical materials, and by analysing the broader context of the period

d)the capacity to think theologically, holding in view classic texts from the tradition

The paper will be taught through a series of 16 lectures, 8 tutorials, and 4 classes. The 16 lectures offer thematic coverage and historical contextualization of the complex intellectual developments in theology and religion across the period; the 8 tutorials enable students to explore and interrogate these themes in greater depth through supervised personal engagement with primary and secondary literature; and the 4 classes (led by graduate students and supervised by the post-holder in the area) help students to consolidate their knowledge of the material in preparation for assessment by a public examination of three hours.