CHET 60013
Introduction to Theological Ethics
3 semester hours, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, Spring 2020
Tuesday, 1:00-3:30, Moore 309
Instructor: Charles Bellinger c.bellinger@tcu.edu 817-257-7668
Prerequisites: none.
Description of Content: This course will survey the major methodological questions of theological ethics, its thematic subdivisions, and the schools of thought and individual authors who have shaped the discussion of ethical questions within the theological world. Topics addressed will include: the Bible and ethics, philosophical schools of moral thought, violence and war, gender and sexuality, natural law, virtue, social justice, ecology, and liberation.
Course
Objectives:
1. Students will be introduced to key vocabulary terms in theological ethics.
2. Students will read and respond in writing to some of the key authors,
topics, and schools of thought in theological ethics.
3. Students will develop critical thinking skills at the intersection of theological
anthropology and ethics.
Course
procedures:
1. Lectures.
2. In-class discussions.
Requirements
and grading:
1. Class participation and comments* on reading assignments (15%).
*By midnight on the day before a class meeting, each student needs to email me
three (one sentence) statements and/or questions related to the reading
assignments for that week.
2. Vocabulary quiz (10%).
3. Five take-home exams, 4-5 pages [double-spaced, include page numbers, no
separate title page needed] (75%). [Note: there are six exams on the schedule;
students may choose, if they wish, to skip one of those exams, or to do all six
and have the one with the lowest grade removed from the final grading
calculation.]
Texts:
Bellinger, Charles. The Trinitarian Self: The Key to the Puzzle of Violence.
Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick, 2008. ISBN: 9781556352324, $19
Brooks, Arthur C. Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt. New York: Broadside Books, 2019. ISBN-13: 978-0062883759, $25.
Cone, James. The Cross and the Lynching Tree. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2011. ISBN-13: 978-1626980051, $20
Wallis, Jim. America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-1587434006, $13
Wells, Samuel, Ben Quash, and Rebekah Eklund. Introducing Christian Ethics, 2nd ed. Hoboken, N. J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2017. ISBN-13: 978-1119155720, $27 [W-Q-E below]
There will be additional readings assigned by the instructor during the semester. Students must have the ability to check their TCU email account and do so regularly, because I will communicate with you in that way regarding reading assignments and other course matters. See:
http://lib.tcu.edu/staff/bellinger/60013/60013_2020_links.htm
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Schedule |
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lecture/discussion topics |
reading assignments |
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Week 1 |
Jan. 14 |
Introduction to course |
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Week 2 |
Jan. 21 |
vocabulary quiz |
W-Q-E, ch. 1 [God] |
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Week 3 |
Jan. 28 |
paper on SK / Barth / Bonhoeffer |
W-Q-E, ch. 2 [Church] excerpts from Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer |
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Week 4 |
Feb. 4 |
W-Q-E, ch. 8 [Good Order] |
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Week 5 |
Feb. 11 |
paper on pacifism and just war |
W-Q-E, ch. 3-4 [Ethics and Christian Ethics] excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr., Stanley Hauerwas, and Jean Bethke Elshtain |
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Week 6 |
Feb. 18 |
Ministers Week, no class |
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Week 7 |
Feb. 25 |
W-Q-E, ch. 5 [Universal Ethics] James Cone, The
Cross and the Lynching Tree, xiii-92 |
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Week 8 |
March 3 |
paper on Cone |
W-Q-E, ch. 6 [Subversive Ethics] James Cone, The
Cross and the Lynching Tree, 93-166 |
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Week 9 |
March 10 |
Spring Break, no
class |
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Week 10 |
March 17 |
W-Q-E, ch. 7 [Ecclesial Ethics] |
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Week 11 |
March 24 |
W-Q-E, ch. 9 [Good Life]
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Week 12 |
March 31 |
paper on Wallis |
W-Q-E, ch. 10 [Good Relationships] Wallis, America’s
Original Sin, 155-226 |
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Week 13 |
April 7 |
April 10 Good Friday |
Bellinger: ix-13, 27-82 |
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Week 14 |
April 14 |
paper on Bellinger |
Bellinger: 83-156 George W. Bush and Brian McLaren excerpts |
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Week 15 |
April 21 |
W-Q-E, ch. 11 [Good Beginnings and Endings]
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Week 16 |
April 28 |
paper on Brooks, no class |
W-Q-E, ch. 12 [Good Earth]
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Week 17 |
May 5 |
[Finals Week, no class, no final] |
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Email Notification:
Only the official Brite student email address will be used for all course notification. It is your responsibility to check your email on a regular basis.
Late Work Policy:
Work turned in up to 24 hours after the deadline will receive a one grade notch reduction (from A- to B+, for example); work turned in 24-48 hours late will receive a two notch reduction; work turned in 48 hours to one week late will receive a three notch reduction. After that, no credit will be given. If a student has special extenuating circumstances, he or she can request an extension of the deadline by contacting the instructor.
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