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COR102: Christian Thought & Life Print E-mail

Course Description:
This course introduces the student to critical thinking regarding the essentials of Christian faith including the nature of orthodox Christian belief and the practices that Christians have historically engaged in as part of their commitment to the Church of Jesus Christ. The course considers how one uses the authorities of Scripture, reason, tradition and experience as they form the bases for a Christian worldview. A trip to a variety of worship communities in Chicago is a requirement for the course.

Prerequisites:
COR 101

Instructors:
Instructors for the course will come from the Philosophy & Religion Department. However, due to the interdisciplinary nature of the course, guest lecturers from English, art, sociology and the natural sciences will also be utilized throughout the semester as needed.

Frequency of Offering:
Every semester. REL 101 and REL 301 have been deleted to make room in faculty schedules for this new course. We expect to offer 4-5 sections of the course with a limit of 32 students per section. The course will have a heavy writing component and so faculty will need assistance from the English Department in preparation for this aspect of the course.


Course Objectives: Enabling Activities: Evaluation:
The student will learn to: To meet the objectives the student will: The level of mastery of the objectives will be measured by:
1. Identify the 4 sources of Christian authority and the elements of orthodox Christian belief 1. Write a statement of belief incorporating the 4 sources of authority and the of key elements of the Christian faith 1. Faculty evaluation the paper
2. Identify the 4 movements of worship, the role of sacred space, and the historical development of Christian worship 2. Read a text on worship 2. Examination on the text
3. Identify and/or begin to develop the spiritual disciplines and their role in the Christian life 3. Keep a journal on one’s spiritual development and read materials addressing spiritual development 3. Faculty evaluation of the journal
4. Distinguish between good and bad arguments 4. Read a primer on logic and critical thinking 4. Examination on logic and faculty evaluation of written arguments
5. Evaluate apologetic writing 5. Read an apologetic for theism and write a critique of it 5. Faculty evaluation of the student critique
6. Identify the various traditions within the Christian Church 6. Read a survey on the history of the Church 6. Examination on the text
7. Identify and interpret various genres of literature in the Scriptures 7. Read selections of Scripture, a good secondary source, and keep a notebook on interpretation 7. Examination on the materials and evaluation of the notebook
8. Distinguish between the mono-theistic religions and their views on worship and the role of the Scriptures 8. Take a trip to Chicago to visit Muslim, Jewish and Christian houses of worship 8. Evaluation of journal or paper

Course Content Outline:
(based on M-W-F schedule)

  • SESSIONS 1-14: The Authority of Experience
    The course begins with an examination of Christian worship: i.e. what Christians do. This first section of the course will focus on the history and various practices of Christian worship including biblical, medieval, reformation and contemporary models of worship.

    The focus then moves from the corporate experience of Christians to the practices of the Christian disciplines and their role in the Christian's life. The individual disciplines will be investigated and examined with particular attention paid to the role they play in developing mature Christians.

  • SESSIONS 15-21: The Authority of Reason
    This section of the course will have two primary purposes: (1) to help students think critically via elementary inductive and deductive logic, and (2) to help students understand, and develop, an apologetic for a Christian worldview.

    Students will study informal arguments and learn to identify informal fallacies used in a variety of contexts. Students will also learn to use basic deductive logic as an aid in paper writing.

    Students will also read an apologetic for the Christian faith (e.g. Chesterton's Orthodoxy, Lewis' Mere Christianity or Swinburne's Is There a God?). Students will summarize and evaluate the arguments presented in these works and then develop their own approach.

  • SESSIONS 22-30: The Authority of Tradition
    This section of the course focuses upon the important role that the Church tradition. The Commonitorum (i.e. "what all Christians, everywhere have always believed") will help us distinguish between the common tradition of all the Churches and the individual traditions of various groups like the Lutherans, Presbyterians and Methodists.

    Students will read a Church history survey, or take notes on lectures, and come to identify their own Christian tradition in light of the common tradition of the Church.

  • SESSIONS 31-45: The Authority of Scripture
    This section of the course introduces students to important ideas concerning the nature of Scripture, its interpretation and its role in Christian theology.

    Students will keep a notebook on insights and observations on Scripture reading. The notebook will serve as the basis for learning to do elementary interpretation.

    Students will also read a secondary source (e.g. Fee & Stuart’s How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth or White’s From Adam to Armageddon: A Survey of the Bible) helping them understand contextual, historical, literary and spiritual issues.

 

Possible Texts:

  • G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
  • John Cobb, Becoming a Thinking Christian
  • Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
  • Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline
  • Stephen Gunther, Wesley and the Quadrilateral
  • C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  • Alister McGrath, An Introduction to Christianity
  • Alister McGrath, I Believe: Exploring the Apostles' Creed
  • Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections of Christian Leadership
  • M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
  • Richard Swinburne, Is There a God?
  • Robert Webber, Worship Old and New
  • Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World
  • Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments
  • Willimon & Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer in the Christian Life
  • Willimon & Hauerwas, Resident Aliens
 
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