Christ & Being Human

Week 1

Course Introduction

• Luke 9:18-27; Romans 6:1-14
• Hans Frei, “A Meditation for the Week of Good Friday and Easter”
• Willie J. Jennings, “Introduction,” The Christian Imagination, 1-11

Week 2

Why Visions of True Life Matter (Or: The Pearl of Great Price)

• Matthew 13:44-53; Luke 4:1-12, 5:1-11, 17:20-33; Romans 14:1-23
• Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity, 1-29
• Matthew Croasmun & Miroslav Volf, For the Life of the World, 11-34,
• David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” 256-268
• Howard Thurman, “Jesus – an Interpretation” & “Epilogue,” Jesus and the Disinherited, 1-25, 100-102

Week 3

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’?”

• Matthew 7:24-28; Luke 6:17-49, 10:25-37, 14:25-33, 18:18-26; John 9:24-41, 10:1-18, 11:25-27, 12:20-26; Philippians 2:5-11
• John Webster, “Christology, Imitability and Ethics,” Scottish Journal of Theology 39:3, 309-326
• Dorothy Day, “Why,” “Wheat and Cockle,” and “Your Three Objections,” From Union Square to Rome, 1-17, 143-173
• Matthew Croasmun & Miroslav Volf, For the Life of the World, 45-147
• James Cone, Speaking the Truth, vii-viii, 4-8.

Week 4

Home as a Cradle of Our Humanity

• Luke 2:39-52, 4:16-30, 9:28-36, 9:51-62, 14:12-14, 15:11-32, 16:1-9, 18:28-30; 1 Peter 2:4-8; 1 John 4:7-21, Revelation 21
• Ryan McAnnally-Linz & Miroslav Volf, “Cadbury Lectures”
• Monique Valeris & Lucia Tonelli, “How To Marie Kondo Your Home in 2019,” ElleDecor.com
• Dorothy Day, On Hospitality, 20-26
• Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity, 31-41
• Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, LXVII

Week 5

Birth & Expectation

• Luke 1:1-3:38, 12:49-53, 13:31-35, 14:25-27, 18:15-17; John 3:1-16, 16:16-24; 1 Peter 2:1-2
• Jürgen Moltmann, “The Promise of the Child,” In the End—the Beginning, 1-18
• Aldous Huxley, A Brave New World, chs. 1-2
• Radiolab, “G: Unnatural Selection” [click for audio or transcript]
• Frances Young, Face to Face, 8-68
• Julian of Norwich, “The Kind, Loving Mother,” Revelations of Divine Love, Ch.LX

Week 6

Call & Responsibility

• Luke 1:5-80, 2:1-35; 3:1-22, 4:1-30, 9:1-6, 9:21-27, 10:1-20, 10:38-42, 12:49-53, 13:6-9, 14:25-33, 19:1-27, 21:1-4; 1 Peter 1-2:10, 3:8-12
• Charles Taylor, Ethics of Authenticity, 43-80
• Dorothy Day, “May 10th,” On Pilgrimage
• Søren Kierkegaard, “The Listener’s Role in a Devotional Address,“ and “What Then Must I Do? Live as an ‘Individual’,” & “Occupation and Vocation; Means and End” Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
• Miroslav Volf, “Work, Spirit, and New Creation,” Work in the Spirit, 88-122

Week 7

Freedom & Bondage

• Luke 4:31-44, 6:1-5, 7:1-10, 8:22-39, 9:43b-50, 11:14-23, 11:27-28, 11:37-54, 16:10-13, 17:1-10, 20:20-26, 21:7-18, 22:14-46; John 8:31-38; Romans 7:14-25
• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 26-78
• Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 10-17
• James Cone, “The Gospel of Jesus, Black People, and Black Power,” Black
• Theology & Black Power, 31-43
• Taylor, Ethics of Authenticity, 81-121

Week 8

Forgiveness & Justice

• Luke 6:27-38, 7:36-50, 11:1-4, 12:8-12, 15:11-32; 17:1-5; 18:1-14, 22:63-23:49
• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 79-99
• Jonah Engel Bromwich, “Everyone Is Cancelled,” The New York Times, June 28th 2018 (Watch embedded video by Kimberly Foster)
• Imaculée Ilibagiza, Left to Tell, xix-xx, 3-12, 37-44, 73-94, 129-135
• James Cone, “The Gospel of Jesus, Black People, and Black Power,” & “Reconciliation,” Black Theology & Black Power, 43-61, 143-152
• Miroslav Volf, “How Should We Forgive?” Free of Charge, 157-191

Week 9

Boredom & Entertainment

• Luke 6:20-25; 7:24-33, 10:21-37, 11:29-36, 12:35-48, 12:54-56, 17:20-24, 21:25-36; 24:13-35; Matthew 22:1-14; Mark 6:21-28; Ecclesiastes 2:1-3:15; Ephesians 5:1-20; Philippians 4:4-9; Revelation 2:1-5
• David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, 33-37, 54, 78-79, 87, 105-109, 317-321 / The Pale King, 78-85, 437-438
• Simone Weil, “Reflections on the Right use of School Studies with a View to the
• Love of God,” Waiting for God, 105-116
• C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, XII-XIII
• Lars Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom, 11-48

Week 10

Sickness & Healing

• Job 2:1-13; Luke 4:16-30, 5:12-32, 7:11-23, 8:26-56, 9:1-6, 10:1-12, 13:10-17, 17:11-19; James 5:1-19
• Martin Luther, “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague”
• Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, chs 1-3, 64-68
• Aldous Huxley, A Brave New World, chs. 16-17
• Yuval Harari, Homo Deus, 1-3, 19-55

Week 11

Mourning & Death

• Luke 2:25-38, 6:20-25, 7:11-17, 8:40-56, 9:21-27; 17:20-37, 22:1-23:56; Matthew 9:14-15, 24:3-31; John 14:1-31, 16:4-33; Romans 12:14-15; 1 Peter 4:13-19; James 4:9; Revelation 1:4-8, 12-18, 2:8-11, 9:1-6, 21:1-8
• Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, 267-90 and “Expectations”
• C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, ch. 4.
• Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, chs. 8-13, 15
• Mark O’Connell, “600 Miles in a Coffin-Shaped Bus, Campaigning Against Death Itself,” NY Times, February 9, 2017

Week 12

Joy & Fear

• Luke 1:11-79, 8:22-56, 10:17-24, 12:4-34, 15:1-32, 19:35-44, 21:25-28, 24:1-53; Matthew 10
• Gustavo Gutiérrez, We Drink from Our Own Wells, 114-21
• C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, ix-x, 1-19, 159-175, 205-230
• Marianne Meye Thompson, “Reflections on Joy in the Bible” in Joy and Human Flourishing
• Frank Furedi, How Fear Works: Culture of Fear in the Twenty-First Century, “Introduction” & “Conclusion: Towards a Less Fearful Future”
• Julian of Norwich, Showings, chs. 20, 24, 25, 64.
• Christian Wiman, “The Cancer Chair”