PHI 600 Philosophical Theology

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Prerequisites: Enrolled in the GCAS MA Programme

Day(s): Saturdays 

Time: 6pm GMT (1pm Eastern)

Term: Fall, 2021

Year: Year 1 MA

Credits: 3

 

Instructors: Creston Davis, PhD (main instructor) Barry Taylor, PhD

The seminar will introduce the student to the key concepts and ideas within the academic subject, “Philosophical Theology” broadly construed. The field of philosophical theology emerged in the wake of a dispute between the relationship between reason and faith relative to truth claims about the world and other transcendent phenomena. This course will unfold in the following three phases:

  1. The origins of philosophical theology (the late medieval period to early modern)

  2. Theology in the wake of the Enlightenment (17th-20th Century)

  3. Contemporary theology within the postmodern epoch (20th-21st Century)

Part 1 will begin by examining truth claims made by Christian philosophers and theologians, especially Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, William of Ockham, and Duns Scotus vis-a-vis articles of faith. We will critically examine the epistemological apparatus of these claims in hopes to shed light on justification of belief. 

Part 2 will move from the scholastic mode of dialectical reasoning to the foundational mode established through the French figure Rene Descartes. This module will carefully examine Descartes' method of thinking and reasoning. We will further relate this “method” of thinking to the foundations of the European Enlightenment. 

Part 3 will move into the 20th and 21st Century and examine the rise of “Radical Theology” within the North American and European contemporary context.  This section of Radical Theology will offer a historical and contextual overview of the various streams in radical theological thought. The seminar will also address the potentials and possibilities Radical Theology offers those who are interested in redefining faith and community life in the 21st century.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

  • To critically understand the contours of Philosophical Theology and it’s important sub-topics and thematics.

  • To understand the relationship between medieval thinking and modern thinking.

  • To develop and deploy advanced critical understandings of justifying transcendent truth-claims and their justification (epistemological, social, and existential).

Required Texts: 

The Medieval Theologians, G.R. Evans (Wiley-Blackwell, 2001)

Rene Descartes,  Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, Hackett Publishing Company; 4th edition (June 15, 1999).

Thomas J.J. Altizer. "The Call to Radical Theology”, (Suny Press 2012)

Simon Critchely, “Faith of the Faithless: Experiments in Political Theology, (Verso 2012)

J.W. Robbins and Clayton Crockett, A Radical Theology for the Future: Five Theses (Palgrave, 2015)

John D. Caputo, In Search of Radical Theology, (Fordham University Press, 2020)

Assessments:

The student will be assessed in all aspects of this course through the following means:

  1. Tutorial Participation [50%]

  2. Research Examination [50%]  (Research Paper of 3,000 words on a topic approved by the instructor)

Accommodations:

Please inform the Chancellor’s office if you need accommodation by completing this form.