Divinity Courses 2007-2008
(as of February 8, 2008)
KEY
(A) Arts
(M) Music
(W) Worship
AMST 809b (A)
Reading the Visual Culture of American Religions
This introductory graduate readings course invites critical engagement with scholarship concerning the visual cultures of American religions. The course is organized to consider multiple practices, experiences, and expressions of religion in the United States from the seventeenth century to the present, and to elicit examination of objects as well as texts. This course is offered by the Department of American Studies in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Sally M. Promey.
REL 738 (W & A)
Getting Technical: Moving Images, Worship, and Christian Congregations
This course has three major purposes: 1) to work intensely with the substantial bibliography/linkography concerning moving images used within or made within Christian worship, much of which is online; 2) to study the ways that films are made within and about Christian congregations through viewing examples for study and through fieldwork centered on those who film and those who are filmed; 3) to evaluate the uses of films and filming and of filmed archives for community building, education, outreach, and liturgical scholarship. Margot E. Fassler.
REL 745 (W & M)
Theologies of Love in the 12th Century
This seminar is a study of views of caritas from the perspectives of six twelfth-century theologians. They have been chosen because each of them also wrote or promoted texts for the liturgy, and each allows for an opportunity to study theology within the lives of particular communities: Abelard, Hildegard von Bingen, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hugh of St. Victor, Aelred of Rievaulx, Richard of St. Victor. In English; students wishing to read in Latin are encouraged to do so. Margot E. Fassler.
REL 782 (W)
Foundations of Christian Worship
This team-taught course surveys the major areas of liturgical studies (theological basis, time, space, word and sacraments, pastoral rites, and daily prayer); exposes students to both theological and historical methodologies in looking at worship; traces the development across time of the various strands and traditions of Christian worship; and provides the rudiments for anyone contemplating ordination, liturgical/musical leadership, or any of the more specialized courses offered. The course is open to all Divinity students; it is highly recommended for ISM students and is also recommended for other students as good preparation for subsequent liturgical studies courses. Bryan D. Spinks and Teresa Berger.
REL 784 (W)
Christian Initiation
This course studies Christian initiation from the New Testament to the present. It comprises a study of liturgical texts, historic and contemporary, and considers issues of baptismal theology. Preferred background: Foundations of Christian Worship. Bryan D. Spinks.
REL 786 (W)
Liturgical Theology
A seminar of up to 25 people exploring Liturgical Theology. The aims of this course are to offer students:
ii. a basic introduction to the chief methodological issues facing liturgical theology;
iii. an understanding of how liturgical theology is being both challenged and extended by feminist, womanist, Mujerista, political and biblical theologians; and
iv. an opportunity to explore how this learning can be applied to her or his own experiences as ministers, liturgists and/or scholars.
The course is designed for STM and higher-level MDiv and MAR students and demands considerable pre-class reading and class discussion. It also requires participation in four consecutive Sunday worship services at a local church and some participation/observation in daily worship in Marquand Chapel. You are required to attend every class. Siobhán Garrigan.
REL 787 (W)
The English Reformation Liturgical Traditions and the Evolution of the Anglican Books of Common Prayer
This course considers the liturgical reforms in England, official and unofficial, that gave rise to the Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregationalist, Quaker, and Methodist traditions from 1540 to 1789, looking at liturgical books, theological issues, architecture, music, and preaching styles. The second part of the course focuses on the Anglican Prayer Book tradition from 1789 to the present, and compares the 1979 Book of Common Prayer with that of another Anglican province. This course is required of all Berkeley Divinity School students seeking the Diploma of Anglican Studies; however, the course is designed for students of all denominations, with non-Episcopal students comparing their own denominational book with the 1979 Prayer Book. Prerequisite: Foundations of Christian Worship. Bryan D. Spinks.
REL 789 (W)
Gender and the Liturgical Tradition
Does gender shape liturgy? Is gender inscribed into the liturgical tradition? How did gendered identities mark worship practices, for example in seating arrangements, in participation in or exclusions from certain rituals, or in visual representations in sacred space? And does gender still matter in the formation of liturgical practices in the 21st century? Why is there such an interest in "women who worship" in evangelical churches, and what does worship shaped by the cultural contestations surrounding LGBT lives look like? These are just some of the questions this course proposes for intellectual inquiry. Fundamentally, the category "gender" will be understood to attend to all gendered identities and sexualities. Gender, in other words, goes beyond binary femininity and masculinity and icludes all gendered particularities (e.g., eunuchs in Byzantium or intersexed people in America, as well as men and women). Gender thus is an unstable and context-specific category, relational with "the other (gender)," but relational also with wider cultural materials and with markers of difference such as status, ethnicity, and age. What relationship is there between gender, thus understood, and the liturgical tradition? Briefly, no liturgy ever was celebrated in a vacuum of cultural referents, and gender constructions were one such fundamental cultural referent. They continue to be a cultural referent, even (or especially?) at a moment in time when traditional gender constructions are breaking down. One could thus say that gender has always been and continues to be a fundamental marker of all liturgical life. This course investigates how the liturgical tradition was profoundly shaped by, and itself shaped and continues to shape, gendered lives and symbolic meanings associated with gendered identies. Prerequisite: Foundations of Christian Worship. Teresa Berger.
REL 797 (W)
Eucharistic Prayers and Eucharistic Theology
This course will consider the development of the central prayer of the communion service, the Great Thanksgiving, from its New Testament origins to modern formulations. It will also examine the development of the theology of the sacrament of the Eucharist, particularly in the Western traditions, and will consider modern ecumenical discussions of the subject. The course will be limited to a maximum of 8. Prerequisite: Foundations of Christian Worship. Bryan D. Spinks.
REL 835 (A)
Iconography of Christian Art
The goal of this course is to have students start to see theologically and realize that seeing is believing. If Christ is the image of God (Colossians 1:15) and the goal of faith a Beatific Vision, then Christianity is more a visual experience of Presence and encounter than an abstract set of theories. Eye training is essential for any church member, no matter to what denomination or tradition one belongs. This course dares to say that image shapes belief and attitude, as well as being shaped by belief. The course also acts as an historical survey of the visual presentation of the Trinity, Christ, Mary, Church and saints, as well as issues like the Last Judgment, reward, punishment, etc. Jaime Lara.
REL 837 (A)
Modern Christian Art and Architecture
An exploration of the impact of the Christian faith on the visual arts and architecture of the late 19th century to the 21st century. This course will begin with the ministry of Vincent Van Gogh and conclude with the intentions of architects of the mega-churches and the art of Kiki Smith. The requirements of the course are for students of the course to think theologically about the results and impact of contemporary culture on the enterprise of faith. John W. Cook.
REL 847 (A)
The House of the Lord
The objective of this course is to prepare future ministers and pastoral personnel to understand and design/redesign their worship spaces. This is visual ecclesiology, not interior decoration. The course also acts as an historical survey of twenty centuries of church design for preaching and sacraments, and demonstrates how sacred space has shaped theology and liturgical practice, as well as being shaped by them. Although there are no prerequisites, it is hoped that students know something about Scripture and Christian worship, particularly that of their own religious tradition. The course consists of illustrated lectures. Jaime Lara.
REL 854 (A)
Theology and Cinema
This course examines various themes in Christian theology through the lens of cinematic art. Cinema, in both content and form, offers a window into the beliefs and values of both artists and communities. Theology can be understood as reflection upon faith experience, which in turn leads to the formulation of structures of belief. Both cinematic expression and theological reflection, therefore, share an interest in the probing and interpretation of human nature and experience. The course will offer a distinctive entree into various topics and issues proposed by Christian theology, as well as a critical appreciation for the history, aesthetics, and narrative strategies of film. Mark Villano.
REL 857 (A)
Four English Religious Poets
The goal of this course is to make students feel at home with the works of four terrific poets: William Langland, George Herbert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and T.S. Eliot. If some sense of a tradition develops (Hopkins, for instance loved both Langland and Herbert), all the better. With Piers Plowman, a poem on which I continue to work and feel missionary about, I hope to read enough of the poem to promote understanding and ignite a desire to know more. With Herbert and Hopkins, there will be a combination of wide reading with close study of certain poems. My final objective is that students will see Four Quartets in a new light, knowing the tradition that lies behind it. Traugott Lawler.
REL 926 (A)
Playwrights and Dramatic Interpretation/Performance
A class of 15 students will be chosen through an interview process. Students who have the willingness to be, alternately, both actors and playwrights will be chosen for a course designed to study the writing and practice of dramatic forms. During the semester, there will be presentational workshops in which students (cast in roles by the class) perform a scene written by another member of the class. The course will consist, in part, of the development (with actors and through the revision and further revisions) of student-written dramatic pieces. The objective of “Playwrights and Dramatic Interpretation/Performance” is for everyone to be immersed in the collaborative work of dramatic writing and performance; to study and experience how the two endeavors are related; to work in collaborative ways to better understand the art of drama. Thus, the objectives are not exclusively to develop one’s knowledge of the historical and literary aspect of drama (resulting in written literary criticism). The objective of “Playwrights and Dramatic Interpretation/Performance” is both creative writing and acting, with an emphasis on writing. It allows for both discussion and workshop time in which students perform student work for each other, always asking “What do playwrights and actors learn together by working together?” Occasionally volunteers may be recruited from the student body as a whole in order to help the in the performance aspects of the course. Beverly Coyle.
REL 928 (M &W)
Musical Skills and Vocal Development for Parish Ministry
The course is designed to equip students preparing for ministry with the vocal and musical skills necessary for planning and leading Christian worship in a wide variety of liturgical traditions. We engage practical matters in congregational song, ways in which singing forms community, and strategies for helping the members of the assembly claim their own voices in a culture which privileges performance-quality individualism over the communal musicianship of the assembly. We learn a diversity of musical and liturgical styles, including chant, psalm-singing, Sacred Harp, African-American and global song traditions in which the role of the enlivener is essential. The course requires field work in local congregations and uses the daily ecumenical worship in Marquand Chapel as a point of discussion. Patrick Evans.
REL 933
Ritual, Hermeneutics and Performance Art
This is a course about how ritual is studied and described – a methodologies course, basically. A large part of the course will be spent learning about performance art – how it is conceived, executed, described and critiqued – with the goal of learning new ways of talking about what happens in Christian worship. The aims of the course are to offer students:
1 A thorough introduction to performance art
2 A solid appreciation of the connections between contemporary art and Christian worship
3 A clear understanding of the hermeneutical/methodological issues at stake in the study of Christian ritual. Siobhán Garrigan.
REL 934 (M)
Proseminar (Church Music Studies)
In this professional seminar, minister- and musicians-in-training will consider models for shared ministry involving musicians and pastors. Using theological and musical principles outlined in class, students will gain the skill and understanding needed for a sound liturgical ministry. Faculty TBA.
REL 962 (W)
Hymnody as a Resource for Preaching and Worship
The great English hymnologist Erik Routley observed in one of his last writings: “Periods when somebody somewhere is tearing up the turf and asking questions and organizing rebellions and reconstructing disciplines produce hymns: when the steam goes out of such movements, or they become part of an expanded main stream, hymn writing goes on in a more tranquil way, but never for very long. Another colour is added to the picture by another ‘movement,’ and that movement brings new hymns and new kinds of hymn into the repertory.” (Hymns Observed, p. 6) In light of Routley’s observation, this course will open by examining some of the primary historical periods of hymn writing in the western church that are represented in mainstream hymnals. Students will get to design a service and create and deliver a sermon based on this historical perspective. Students will then learn how to write a hymn text – music students may instead write a hymn setting. Students will be required to write hymns in light of the theological and social needs or our time. In teams they will collaborate to design and lead us in services that feature their hymn texts with settings (where possible) that music students have composed. Patrick Evans and Thomas H. Troeger.
REL 967 (W)
Theologies of Preaching
In the last decade, homileticians have increasingly turned from a focus on methods of preaching to a concern for the purposes of preaching. Why and what do we preach? How do we theologically understand the act of preaching? How is preaching something in which the gathered congregation participates? What is the interrelationship of the gospel and culture in preaching? The course will consider a number of recent works that provide a wide range of answers to these questions. Students will write a brief initial essay on what they believe to be their theology of preaching. Drawing upon the theological/homiletical principles that they encounter in their reading, students will create and deliver sermons, and then critically analyze the theological character of their proclamation, seeing if it is congruent with their articulated theology of preaching. At the end of the course, they will write a final essay about what they discovered from a close examination of the text books, and from comparing the implicit theology of their sermons with the theology that they claimed at the beginning of the course. Where are they congruent, where are they different, what are the implications for their preaching in the future? Thomas H. Troeger.
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