Christian Social Ethics
The course will examine the sources, transformation, problematics, and potential directions in developing the middle principles which articulate the interaction of theological ethics and social questions.
Outcomes: A deep level of understanding and of critical thinking with respect to the subject matter of the course.
The course will examine the sources, transformation, problematics, and potential directions in developing the middle principles which articulate the interaction of theological ethics and social questions.
Outcomes: A deep level of understanding and of critical thinking with respect to the subject matter of the course.
Restricted to Graduate School students.
In this course, we will explore the implications of decolonial studies for Christian Theology and Ethics. The work in this course will be in part historical, in part methodological, and in part explorative, asking the following questions, among others: Western Christianity spread with the Roman Empire, missioning and converting the native people in Europe and Africa. In early modernity, Western empires (Spain, and Portugal, then Great Britain and France) began to colonize the Americas, legitimized in the intertwining of politics and religion. The documents of early modernity and modernity are reminders of the violence inflicted upon people and peoples in the name of God, but also of the solidarity with the suffering, the establishment of global education networks especially by Jesuits, and the resistance and perseverance of oppressed people and peoples, often motivated by the liberationist and liberating narrative of Christianity.
From a theological and ethical perspective, and assessment of the recent literature of decolonial theology and ethics as well as the concept of coloniality is important to develop a critical and constructive stance within Christian Theology and Ethics. In the course, we will therefore ask hard questions: What is the Christian historical contribution and critique of colonialism How does the concept of dominion shape Christian theological concepts, and how has it changed over the centuries? How is it related to the rise of modern capitalism? In what way does coloniality ¿ as habitus or disposition ¿ pervade Christian morality and ethics? What role does the theological concepts of nature and creation play? Is decolonial Christian theology and decolonial Christian Ethics an indispensable approach for the 21st century?
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