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Department for Continuing Education

www.conted.ox.ac.uk

OXFORD UNIVERSITY THEOLOGY

SUMMER SCHOOL

31 July – 13 August 2016

at Christ Church, Oxford

COURSE INFORMATION

CONTENTS COURSE INFORMATION Week 1: 31 July-6 August 2016

MORNING SEMINARS CHRISTIANS AND OTHER ANIMALS Professor David Clough 1 HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Fr Nicholas King SJ 3 THE PLACE OF COMPASSION The Revd Canon Professor Jane Shaw 4 AFTERNOON SEMINARS REDEEMING EVIL Professor Keith Ward 6 SACRAMENTS: THE MEDICINE OF THE GOSPEL? The Revd Dr Keith Riglin 8 THEOLOGY AFTER THE CRASH: MONEY, DEBT The Revd Dr James Walters 9 AND JUSTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Week 2: 7-13 August 2016

MORNING SEMINARS CREATION AND SALVATION IN THE EARLY CHURCH The Revd Professor Frances Young 11 HEALING THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH The Revd Dr Keith Clements 13 THE MONASTIC MEDICINE: PRAYER, STUDY, WORK The Revd Dr Shaun Henson 15 AFTERNOON SEMINARS A BRIEF HISTORY OF SIN The Revd Angela Tilby 17 GOD AND SUFFERING IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY The Revd Dr Peter Groves 19 LAUDATO SI: POPE FRANCIS'S VISION The Revd Canon Dr Robin Gibbons 21 FOR THE WORLD

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information within this document, which was assumed to be correct in March 2016, OUDCE cannot accept liability for any inaccuracies

The information in this document is available in other formats on request

Theology Summer School Week 1: 31 July-6 August 2016 - Morning

CHRISTIANS AND OTHER ANIMALS Professor David Clough

Description This course introduces students to a theological understanding of the place of non-human animals in Christian doctrine and ethics. It asks new and fundamental questions about where other animals belong in God’s purposes, and what this means for how Christians should treat them.

The first three sessions explore where animals belong under the major doctrinal topics of creation, reconciliation, and redemption. The first session asks about God’s purpose in creation as it relates to human and non-human animals. The second session explores the implications of the Christian doctrines of incarnation and atonement for animals. The third session addresses the question of non-human animals in Christian visions of the new creation.

The final two sessions turn from Christian doctrine to ethics, asking how Christian beliefs about other animals impact on pressing practical questions of our relations to them. The fourth session focuses on our use of other animals for food: the human use of animals that accounts for the vast majority of all our dealings with them. The final session extends this ethical reflection to ask about other human uses of animals: as experimental subjects, sources of medicinal products, workers in various contexts, participants in sport, companion animals, captives in zoos, and so on.

By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of the place of non-human animals in Christian theology, and the tools to develop an ethical framework that allows a theologically informed approach to human uses of other animals, with practical implications.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

Creation: what it means to be an animal creature

What is God’s purpose in creation as it relates to human and non-human animals?

Is creation all about human beings, or do God’s creative purposes extend to other creatures, too?

What does it mean to be an animal creature of God (human or non-human), and how should theology should discuss differences between animal creatures?

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Reconciliation: where animals belong in doctrines of the incarnation and atonement

What are the implications of the Christian doctrines of incarnation and atonement for animals?

Does God’s decision to become incarnate in a human being, and die and be raised up to overcome sin mean that other creatures are of no account, or should we consider a larger view of God’s work in Jesus Christ?

Is sin itself a category that is restricted to humans, or might reconciliation have meaning beyond the human realm?

Session 3 (Wednesday)

Redemption: the place of animals in the new creation

What is the place of non-human animals in Christian visions of the new creation?

Is life beyond this one only for human beings, or for all things God has made?

If the new creation is a more than human reality, what does that mean for the future lives of lions and lambs?

Session 4 (Thursday)

The ethics of consuming animals in a Christian context

How do we apply a Christian view of animal life to ethical questions?

Should Christians make use of animals for food?

If so, what does a Christian view of animals mean for how they should be raised and slaughtered?

Session 5 (Friday)

Other human use of other animals

Is research experimentation on other animals legitimate?

Should non-human animals be used for sport?

Should they be kept as companion animals, or in zoos?

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Reading list Key text – to be read in advance of summer school and brought to class in Oxford

Clough, David, On Animals, Volume I: Systematic Theology (London: T & T Clark, 2013) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Gilmour, Michael, Eden’s Other Residents: The Bible and Animals (Eugene, US: Cascade Books, 2014)

Lymbery, Philip, Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat (London: Bloomsbury, 2014)

Tutor Dr David Clough is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester and the President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. He has published on the ethics of Karl Barth (Ethics in Crisis: Interpreting Barth’s Ethics; Ashgate, 2007) and the ethics of war (Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War; with Brian Stiltner, Georgetown University Press, 2009). His current research concerns the place of non-human animals in Christian doctrine and ethics, focused on a two-volume monograph On Animals, Volume I: Systematic Theology (T & T Clark, 2012); Volume II: Theological Ethics (forthcoming, 2016).

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HEALING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Fr Nicholas King SJ

Description Healing was an eye-catching symbol of the newness of the kingdom inaugurated by Jesus. This course will approach the theme of healing by way of a detailed examination of the key New Testament texts on the matter, namely the letters of Paul, the four gospels and the Acts of the Apostles (which is understood here as a fifth gospel). In Acts and the Pauline corpus there is not much by way of a theology of healing; but both assume that healing is a normal part of being ‘in Christ’. Mark’s Gospel is rather different. From the very beginning extraordinary things are happening, signaling the newness of the kingdom that Jesus sees himself as sent to inaugurate. Matthew’s gospel places the healings in an orderly way (silently chiding Mark for his disorder), and perhaps sees healing as subordinate to teaching. In contrast, Luke is in some ways the gospel of healing. It is not surprising that there is an ancient tradition of linking ‘Luke the Doctor’ in Colossians to the author of the third gospel. In John’s Gospel there is not an enormous amount of healing, in contrast to what we find in the other three gospels, but what there is, with the discourses added, takes us deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is.

The surprising thing about the wonderful works chronicled in the New Testament is that they are always narrated without drama, and never seem to function as any kind of evidence. Healing is simply taken for granted. It happens when and where Jesus is present. Contemporary readers need to ask themselves what they think about healing in the present age; it is not self-evident that the only intellectually respectable response to any suggestion of healing is headlong flight.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

Paul and Acts: not much focus on healing, but in both the Pauline corpus and Acts the assumption is made that healing is a normal part of being ‘in Christ’

Session 2 (Tuesday)

From the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, extraordinary things happen, indicating the newness of the Kingdom of Heaven; Jesus demonstrates effortless authority


Healing in Matthew: more teaching than healing? What has Matthew done with what he found in Mark?


Luke: Is this the gospel of healing? We shall follow this gifted raconteur from the first manifesto of Jesus’ mission to the last earlobe

Session 5 (Friday)

Healing in John’s Gospel; there is not much of it, but what there is takes us deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is


The New Testament - any edition is acceptable Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Cotter, Wendy, Miracles in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A Sourcebook for the Study of New Testament Miracle Stories (London: Routledge, 1999)

Eve, Eric, The Healer from Nazareth: Jesus’ Miracles in Historical Context (London: SPCK, 2009) Read all, especially Chapters 3 & 7-8

Twelftree, Graham, Jesus the Miracle Worker (Westmont, US: InterVarsity Press, 1999)

Tutor Fr Nicholas King is a Jesuit priest who taught New Testament and Greek for many years in South Africa and then in the Theology Faculty at Oxford University. He is currently Academic Director, Theology at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. He recently published a translation of the entire Greek Bible (Kevin Mayhew, 2014), and The Helplessness of God: Biblical Models of Leadership (Keven Mayhew, 2015).

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THE PLACE OF COMPASSION The Revd Professor Jane Shaw

Description In the core text for this course, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, the author Karen Armstrong suggests that compassion is at the heart of all religions. We will begin the course by examining this claim, looking primarily at Christianity and Buddhism. We will consider specific religious texts and also the religious practices of meditation and mindfulness which are designed to cultivate compassion. We shall also consider scientific studies of those practices. We will assess the current vogue for mindfulness and its place in our increasingly ‘spiritual but not religious’ society. We will then consider the role of the imagination in both cultivating and feeling compassion.

Participants should read the novel The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion ahead of time for discussion in class; we will also be looking at the visual arts and poetry in this segment of the course. Next we will evaluate the role of technology in both helping and hindering our capacity to know the other, and express compassion. How has the technological revolution of the last two decades contributed to a decline in the art of conversation and direct communication? And yet how can technology (photography, virtual reality) contribute to our knowledge of others, especially those whose worlds and experiences we do not share? Throughout the course, we will consider the related concepts of altruism, love, forgiveness, sympathy and empathy, and the claims made by some that compassion has ‘staying power’ whereas empathy can cause ‘empathy fatigue.’ We will close the course by evaluating Karen Armstrong’s twelve steps to a compassionate life, and asking whether and how it works in our particular contexts.

It would be helpful if participants could bring a Bible (any translation) to the seminar.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

What is compassion? Is it central to all religious traditions? We will begin by looking at Christianity

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Buddhism, mindfulness, meditation and compassion What role does mindfulness have in our ‘spiritual but not religious’ society? Are scientific studies of the effects of meditation convincing?


Entering the world of the other How does imagination play a role in that? What is the place of the arts in cultivating compassion? (We will discuss The Rosie Project today as well as the visual arts and poetry)


Technology and compassion: how does technology help and hinder our capacity for compassion? We will consider the decline of the art of conversation and its impact, as well as the positive role of different forms of technology – from photography to virtual reality - in bringing distant worlds into our lives

Session 5 (Friday)

Living a compassionate life We will evaluate Karen Armstrong’s twelve steps to a compassionate life, and consider whether and how we would want to refine, nuance or rewrite her manifesto for our own contexts

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Armstrong, Karen, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (London: Vintage, 2011) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Simsion, Graeme, The Rosie Project (London: Penguin, 2014) Read all

Tutor The Revd Dr Jane Shaw is Dean for Religious Life and Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, USA; Canon Emerita of Salisbury Cathedral; and a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. She formerly taught at Oxford University for 16 years. Her books include Miracles in Enlightenment England (Yale University Press, 2006), Octavia, Daughter of God: The Story of a Female Messiah and her Followers (Yale University Press, 2011), and A Practical Christianity (Morehouse, 2012). She is currently writing a book on the ‘spiritual but not religious’ 100 years ago; and she is also working on a project on empathy, the arts and social change with the actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith.

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Theology Summer School Week 1: 31 July-6 August 2016 - Afternoon

REDEEMING EVIL Professor Keith Ward

Description The problem of evil is classically stated as an inconsistent triad: God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good.

The Christian concept of God will be examined, with reference to the Bible and to various philosophical writings. The major problem perhaps lies in the concept of God, and so the ideas of omnipotence, omniscience, and goodness will be analysed. Aquinas’ use of Aristotle provided one solution to the problem of evil, but it results in a very paradoxical view that a ‘simple and necessary’ God creates a complex and contingent universe.

Hegel introduced into Western theism the thought that ‘the Infinite’ must include the finite, and that the universe is a necessary and progressive self-expression of the divine being. This requires a reformulation of the traditional attributes of God, and makes time and development essential to the divine being. Process theology is one version of such a view, but not the only or even the main one. Post-Hegelian views of God may be called ‘open and relational’. A number of such views will be considered, including those of Jurgen Moltmann.

The philosophy of Idealism has various forms, and Absolute and Personal Idealism are two main versions. The philosophy of Personal Idealism will be expounded, and its idea of God will be compared with that of classical Christian theism. Finally, it will be asked whether personal immortality helps to ease the problem of evil, whether such a thing is possible, and what forms it may take.

Thus the emphasis throughout will be on ideas of God and of the nature of human persons, mostly in the works of major philosophers, and evaluated for the light they throw on the morally ambiguous nature of human existence.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

The classical problem of evil ‘Evil’ and ‘good’ defined Can there be a ‘perfectly good’ being?

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Aristotle on God Aquinas on God The Biblical view of God


The Hegelian revolution The relation of time and eternity Freedom and necessity in God


Is God omniscient? Is God omnipotent? Is God perfectly good?

Session 5 (Friday)

Process Theology Open and Relational Theism Does immortality help?

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Ward, Keith, The Evidence for God (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2014) Chapters 4-7

Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Ward, Keith, Christ and the Cosmos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Ward, Keith, A Guide to the Perplexed (London: Oneworld, 2015)

Tutor Professor Keith Ward is a British philosopher, theologian, priest and scholar who was Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford from 1991 until his retirement in 2003. He is the author of a number of books considering the relationship of theology and philosophy and is a leading exponent of contemporary Christian apologetics.

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SACRAMENTS: THE MEDICINE OF THE GOSPEL? The Revd Dr Keith Riglin

Description

For those receiving Holy Communion, the words, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed” may be familiar. They speak of both a particular understanding of the world, and of how Christian sacraments respond to that understanding.

Christian theology views the world as somehow wounded and in need of healing. For many Christians the sacraments are perceived as “certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace” (Article XXV of the Church of England) – a combination of words and actions conveying the healing of the fallen, or wounded, world.

This course explores how the church, through doctrines such as the Incarnation and the Resurrection, expresses an understanding of the healing of the world, and how that healing connects with crucial moments, places, and persons in the life of the various churches. Thus, how does baptism give “that thing which by nature [we] cannot have” and how does it relate to health and wholeness? When Christian communities celebrate the Eucharist, how does this bring about a living healthily in a wounded world?

Through a study of the sacraments, and reflecting upon those particular moments when ill-health and dis-ease are addressed, this course will interrogate the statement “the wounds of the world and its redemption are always personal but never private,” and endeavour to address the question in its title – Sacraments: the medicine of the Gospel?

Throughout it is hoped that participants will contribute the thoughts, practices, and liturgies of their particular religious communities.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

An introduction to the theme, considering the place and practice of the three words of the title – sacraments, medicine, and gospel

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Beginning a healthy life: baptism, confirmation, and a pattern of living


Living healthily in a wounded world: the Eucharist and Christian worship


Being wholesome: reconciliation, absolution, funerals

Session 5 (Friday)

Being the wounded healers: ministry, ministers, and modelling the gospel


Davison, Andrew, Why Sacraments? (London: SPCK, 2013) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Bradshaw, Paul et al, The Study of Liturgy (London: SPCK, 1992) Read pp. 3-60

McBrien, Richard, Catholicism (San Francisco, US: Harper, 2005) Read pp. 783-804

Tutor The Revd Dr Keith Riglin is a Chaplain at King’s College, London, where he teaches occasionally in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a senior member of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and chairman of the All Saints Educational Trust. He is the co-editor and contributor to Reforming Worship (Wipf and Stock, 2012), and contributed to Mary for Earth and Heaven (Gracewing, 2002). His particular interests are in ecclesiology and sacramental theology, and in the application of theology and religious belief to public thought and practice.

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THEOLOGY AFTER THE CRASH: MONEY, DEBT AND JUSTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY The Revd Dr James Walters

Description The global economy has stabilised but not recovered from the Financial Crisis that began in 2008. Many commentators predict that the return to debt reliance, particularly in emerging markets, could prompt another crisis soon. Beyond some easy criticisms about the dangers of greed and corruption, Christians have had little to say about the causes and consequences of this crisis and about the workings of the monetary system more broadly. The dominant view is that economics should be left to economists since it is merely a matter of technical management. It is time for a ‘Reformation’ in the public understanding and debate about this most powerful social force: money.

This course will seek to build confidence in asking questions about money and economics from a theological perspective. It will include some learning about how money operates but requires no technical expertise. It will draw on primary and secondary theological sources, as well as biblical texts, to challenge much of the accepted wisdom about debt, inequality and the economy. We will consider how it might be possible to “redeem” money as a force in our lives at a structural, congregational and personal level.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

Credit crunch: What happened in 2008? We explore the events that led to the financial crisis and consider Christian responses from the time including those of Archbishop Rowan Williams and Pope Benedict

Session 2 (Tuesday)

What is money? We consider how money has changed over the centuries and what role it plays in our society and politics today We consider the theological challenges this raises, particularly as considered by Peter Selby


Forgive us our debts Our economy is constructed on debt, both public and private We consider debt from a theological perspective and examine the ethics of the Jubilee 2000 campaign and the Greek debt crisis


Created equal We consider the increasing problem of global inequality, including Thomas Picketty’s recent analysis We explore whether inequality matters from a Christian perspective and how Christians might address it

Session 5 (Friday)

Money in the future What alternatives exist for a more just and stable economy? How viable are they and what can the church do to further them?

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Selby, Peter, An Idol Unmasked: A Faith Perspective on Money (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2014) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Martin, Felix, Money: The Unauthorised Biography (London: Bodley Head, 2013)

Sandel Michael, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (London: Penguin, 2012)

Tutor The Revd Dr James Walters is Chaplain and Senior Lecturer at the London School of Economics. He directs the work of the LSE Faith Centre and is a Senior Fellow in the LSE Institute of Public Affairs. He took his degree and doctorate in theology from the University of Cambridge where his research focused on the theological implications of the consumer phase of capitalism. Before ordination he worked as a parliamentary researcher in Westminster and he continues to write on contemporary political issues. His book on the late French philosopher Jean Baudrillard was published by T & T Clark in 2011.

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Theology Summer School Week 2: 7-13 August 2016 - Morning

CREATION AND SALVATION IN THE EARLY CHURCH The Revd Professor Frances Young

Description In Western Christian theology it can often seem as if creation and salvation are in tension with one another: the atonement puts right a world gone wrong. Early Christian theology, however, shows a strong sense of their coherence within the overarching story of God’s oikonomia: basically the word means ‘household management’, but in Christian theology it signifies God’s arrangement of everything with respect to the created order, from beginning to end – creation, providence, incarnation, eschatology. The metaphor of healing a wounded but essentially good world fits their overall perspective better than some great reversal of a catastrophic Fall.

In this course we shall explore the work of five early theologians. For three of them St Vladimir’s Seminary Press has translations in their Popular Patristics series – small paperback volumes, which participants are urged to obtain if possible, as also a translation of Augustine’s Confessions, available in Oxford World’s Classics series.

The overarching story of God’s dealings with creation in general and humanity in particular will be approached through Irenaeus’ On the Apostolic Preaching (trans. John Behr, SVS Press). The classic expression of incarnational theology in the context of that overarching story will be studied in more detail in the second session through direct engagement with Athanasius, De Incarnatione (suggested below as set text for the course). We shall then explore the way in which this story is presented (1) in the poetry of Ephrem Syrus – venturing beyond the Greek world Eastwards into Syriac material – his Hymns on Paradise will be the focus (trans. Sebastan Brock, SVS Press); (2) in the exegesis and preaching of John Chrysostom, at the heart of the Greek Christian tradition; and (3) in the theology of Augustine, especially in the Confessions, turning Westwards into Latin works.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

Irenaeus, and the over-arching story from beginning to end.

The goodness of creation

Adam and Eve

Recapitulation

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Athanasius: engaging with a classic text, On the Incarnation.

Out of nothing and its consequences

God’s dilemma

Theosis


The poetry of Ephrem Syrus

Recapitulation again – the story of ‘everyman’

Paradise

Theological language


God’s loving outreach: the preaching of John Chrysostom

God beyond us

God’s synkatabasis – ‘condescension’, adaptability

Eleemosyne – ‘mercy/almsgiving’ – God’s and ours

Session 5 (Friday)

Creation in Augustine’s Confessions

Augustine’s story

The point of books XI – XIII

From the Confessions to the City of God – healing a wounded world

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Behr, John (trans.), On the Incarnation: Saint Athanasius (Crestwood, US: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Anderson, Gary, The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002) Read all, especially Chapters 7-8

Bouteneff, Peter, Beginnings. Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives (Ada, US: Baker Academic, 2008) Read all, especially Chapters 3 & 5-6

Young, Frances, God’s Presence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2013) Read all, especially Chapters 3-5

Tutor The Revd Professor Frances Young is now retired, but taught theology at the University of Birmingham from the early 1970s. She was appointed to teach New Testament Studies, though her principal research interest has always been Patristics, that is the study of the writings of the ‘fathers’ of the church during the first four-five centuries when the creeds were formed. The two areas came together when her research turned to early Christian exegesis of scripture. Long-standing theological interests have been soteriology and Christology, and in recent years the impact of the doctrine of ‘creation out of nothing’ on the whole range of Christian doctrines has become a central topic in her investigations.

12


HEALING THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH The Revd Dr Keith Clements

Description In this course we shall explore how the church, called to be one community in Christ, might itself be healed and contribute to the healing of the world.

Divisions and conflicts mark Christianity at many levels. Although recent decades have seen significant convergences between the major historic Christian confessions important differences remain unresolved, while newer churches and Christian movements have arrived on the scene. Moreover within single churches factors of race, power and gender can conspire to disrupt fellowship. Even at the parish or congregational level, Christians often are at odds with each other on ethical issues like sexuality. How can one-ness and diversity be held together? When does an issue become so fundamental that it requires Christians to sever communion with one another?

At root, how do we understand ‘community’ or ‘communion’ in Christ, and how is this to be worked out in the day-to-day living of Christians and churches? We shall therefore be looking at a basic theology of community, as well as very specific cases of issues that divide. The course aims to end on a positive note, drawing hope not only from the story of ecumenical dialogue in recent years, but from living examples of congregations that experience healing of relationships within themselves and are able to make their experiences a gift to the society around them.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

In what ways is the church in need of healing today? Our own experiences of hurt and division in the church The essentials of ‘community in Christ’’

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Recent advances in agreement and convergence between Christian traditions Is table (or Eucharistic) fellowship a means to unity or the expression of its consummation? The big issue: authority


Relations of power and powerlessness as factors in discord and division Politics and economics: the church in the world and the world in the church Race and gender issues in the church: some case-studies


Historic disagreements on ethical issues such as peace and violence, and control of human life processes More contemporary hurting points such as different understandings of human sexuality When does disagreement require disengagement from one another (the “confessing” situation)?

Session 5 (Friday)

What all of this means for local parishes and congregations Some case-studies in communities of healing and reconciliation The need for a spirituality that embraces both passion for truth and acceptance of otherness in community

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Clements, Keith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Ecumenical Quest (Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches, 2015) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

The Church: Towards a Common Vision (Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches, 2013) Read all: version available online at https://ctbi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Study-Guide-The-Church-Towards-a-Common-Vision.pdf

Bass, Diana Butler, Christianity for the Rest of Us (New York, US: HarperOne, 2007) Read all if possible

Grdzelidze, Tamara, Sources of Authority, Volume 2: Contemporary Churches (Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches, 2014) Read all, especially Chapters 1-3, 6 & 8-9

Tutor The Revd Dr Keith Clements, a Baptist minister, has served as local church pastor, tutor at Bristol Baptist College and part-time lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol, followed by 15 years in full-time ecumenical work concluding as general secretary of the Conference of European Churches (Geneva) 1997-2005. He has written extensively on modern Christian life and thought with a focus on the churches’ responses to conflict and war, and has a specialist interest in Dietrich Bonhoeffer on whom he has written or edited six books. In retirement he continues to lecture and write and is an adjunct lecturer at Whitley College, Melbourne.

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THE MONASTIC MEDICINE: PRAYER, STUDY, WORK The Revd Dr Shaun Henson

Description Monasticism evokes images of men and women ‘dwelling alone’ (Greek monos) in quiet withdrawal from society. Yet the rise and astonishing influence of monastic communities made them the most potent architects of medieval civilisation, creating a legacy from which we still benefit today even if we are unaware of this provenance. How did the paradox between apparent abandonment and the seminal intellectual and practical fruitfulness of monasticism work? In this course we shall examine the classic monastic ideals of prayer, study, and work to see how their application facilitated the guidance, education, and healing of our world. Crucially, we shall ask whether or not and to what extent this ‘monastic medicine’ might make similar contributions to twenty-first century society.

The first session is dedicated to comprehending the monastic desire and its fulfilment via the origins, key figures, literature, and geography that led to the ascendancy of medieval monasticism. Session two will offer a comprehensive look at the life of prayer and contemplation at the heart of the monastic impulse. The third session details how prayerful contemplation led to fecund intellectual contributions, with many of the greatest ideas and movements in the sciences, humanities, and education today originally birthed in the cloisters. Session four examines the monastic work ethic and its unprecedented artistic, agricultural, industrial, and architectural achievements. Finally, session five seeks to mine the accomplishments of monasticism for our present world, forecasting realistic directions for future contributions.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

The monastic impulse

An overview and analysis of the origins and ascendancy of monasticism

Key male and female figures including St Anthony, St Benedict, St Francis, Clare of Assisi, and others, and the reasons for their influence

The Rules, biographies, philosophical, scientific, and other literature, and the geography of monasticism

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Hallowed be thy name

Prayer as the background and bedrock of monastic societies

Detailing prayer as variously practiced and defined in communities of monks and nuns

The classification and nature of monastic contemplation, and the recapitulating of all of life, thought, and work as prayer


Monastic mindfulness

The life of the mind in monasticism and the multi-disciplinary emphases on reading, writing, teaching, experimenting, and healing

How monastic thinkers like Grosseteste and Bacon birthed the scientific method and laid the foundations of modern science

Education and educating: how monastic communities founded the world’s great universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Bologna, Paris, etc.


Form of a servant

The monastic work ethic – its particularities and effectiveness

Practical contributions to art, architecture, agriculture, and industry

The summation of a life of prayer, study, and work into one overall vocation

Session 5 (Friday)

Medicine for millennials

The 21st century, the millennials, and medieval monastic ideals

Similarities and differences between the medieval and Millennial worlds – some of which are obvious and others surprising

Constructive contemplation on how the ideas and practices that made the medieval world might contribute to a better present and a healthier future

15


Chittister, Joan, The Rule of Benedict. A Spirituality for the 21st Century (New York, US: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2010) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Hannam, James, God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science (London: Icon Books, 2010) Read all

Henson, Shaun & Michael Lakey (eds.), Academic Vocation in the Church and Academy Today (London: Ashgate, 2016) Read all, especially Chapter 2

Tickle, Phyllis, The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why (Ada, US: Baker Publishing Group, 2012) Read all Websites

Medieval Science and Philosophy: www.jameshannam.com

Third Order, Society of Saint Francis – European Province: www.tssf.org.uk

The Order of Saint Benedict: www.osb.org

Tutor The Revd Dr Shaun Henson is a member of Oxford University’s Theology and Religion Faculty and Chaplain to St Hugh’s College, Oxford. He researches and teaches in areas including science and religion and Christian doctrine. His recent publications include God and Natural Order: Physics, Philosophy, and Theology (Routledge, 2014), Academic Vocation in the Church and Academy Today (Ashgate, 2016), and ‘Quantum Mechanics and a Reality of Randomness’ in Abraham’s Dice: Chance and Providence in the Monotheistic Traditions (Oxford University Press, 2016). He is a Franciscan Novice Guardian and a Vocations Advisor for the Diocese of Oxford in the Church of England.

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Theology Summer School Week 2: 7-13 August 2016 - Afternoon

A BRIEF HISTORY OF SIN The Revd Canon Angela Tilby

Description The definition of sin is more complicated than might be thought. The notion is usually expressed metaphorically with sin being seen as a stain to be cleansed, a weight to be shed, a missed target or a debt to be paid. This course explores how these various metaphors in their turn suggest not only what sin is but how sin might be removed and its effects healed.

In early Christianity the various Biblical notions of sin were interpreted through contact with Greek philosophy which added an introspective twist to the notion of sin: ignorance could be overcome through self-knowledge and the symptoms of sin examined therapeutically to discover their root causes in the passions and compulsions of human nature. The work of Evagrius Ponticus in analysing the Eight Evil Thoughts will be examined in this context, along with his vivid demonology which suggested sin arose when human passion coincided with demonic temptation.

In the Latin West a distinctly forensic approach to sin gradually developed which saw Evagrius’ Evil Thoughts transformed by John Cassian and Gregory the Great into the Seven Deadly Sins, with the leading sin as Pride. Sin became understood almost exclusively in terms of transgression of God’s laws. Augustine, in counter ing the teachings of Pelagius, developed the idea of Original Sin as a basic flaw of human nature passed on from generation to generation. This came to dominate the Western theology is sin in contrast to that of the Christian East.

The advent of modern psychological approaches to human brokenness has raised questions about the place of sin and guilt in the teaching of the church and whether there can be a ‘healthy’ attitude to sin. The role of the confessional and spiritual direction in relation to sinful tendencies will be explored.

In more recent theology the individualism attached to the Western notion of sin has been questioned and a more ‘structural’ view of sin proposed particularly by proponents of the theologies of liberation. We examine whether this deals more adequately with the notion of sin and what it might imply for Christian living today.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

The idea of the holy Biblical metaphors for sin: from burden to be shed to debt to be paid Forgive us our trespasses / debts?

Session 2 (Tuesday)

‘Know thyself’: the contribution of Greek philosophy The passions Evagrius and the Eight Evil Thoughts


From Evagrius to Gregory the Great: from sin as unruly passion to sin as a crime against God, via Augustine and original sin


‘Only man is vile’, the positive and negative consequences of the Western view of sin in Protestantism and Catholicism Can there be a ‘healthy’ approach to human sin, and how might this relate to therapeutic interventions in relation to human brokenness?

Session 5 (Friday)

The re-thinking of sin in structural and corporate forms and how this might reflect some underplayed aspects of Biblical and patristic thinking

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The Bible - any edition is acceptable Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Anderson, Gary, Sin: A History (New Haven, US: Yale University Press, 2010)

Tilby, Angela, The Seven Deadly Sins (London: SPCK, 2009)

Tutor The Revd Angela Tilby is a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and Continuing Ministerial Adviser to the Diocese of Oxford. She is a graduate in theology of Girton College, Cambridge. She worked for 22 years as a radio and television producer for the British Broadcasting Corporation before she was ordained in 1997. She was tutor and later Vice Principal of Westcott House in Cambridge where she taught Early History, Spirituality and Anglicanism in the Cambridge Theological Federation. She took up her present post in 2011. She is well-known as a writer, broadcaster and columnist. She also reviews books for several theological journals. Her publications include Science and the Soul (SPCK, 1992) and The Seven Deadly Sins (SPCK, 2009).

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GOD AND SUFFERING IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY The Revd Dr Peter Groves

Description In this course we shall explore various Christian responses to the problem of suffering in a world created by God. We shall consider some treatments of this question from scripture and Christian history, and set these against more recent theological and philosophical developments, as well as explorations of the theme in art and literature, past and present. We shall be asking why and to what extent Christian attitudes to these questions have changed in recent centuries, and what effect these changes have had on wider Christian thought.

Beginning with scripture and its reception in early Christian thought, we shall set alongside each other the twin themes of human suffering and the passion of Christ, examining these under different thematic headings: suffering and (in)justice; suffering and atonement; suffering and martyrdom; suffering and divinity; suffering and liberation. Major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas and Jean Calvin will be discussed alongside artists, poets and musicians including Caravaggio, George Herbert, John Milton, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Throughout the course, we will be bringing modern Christian thinkers into conversation with their predecessors. Jurgen Moltmann and Eleonore Stump represent two differing contemporary approaches to these sorts of questions. Marilyn Adams, John Milbank, Rowan Williams, Herbert McCabe and Sarah Coakley will also feature. Participants will also be encouraged to contribute their own reflections on the issues of faith and suffering.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

Suffering and (in)justice: a tale of two gardens? Reading Genesis and Job, the prophets and the passion narratives, we ask whether scripture teaches that suffering is just reward for sin Augustine and Milton will feature

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Suffering and atonement: by his stripes, are we healed? Is the death of Christ the defeat of suffering? Is the suffering of Christ in itself redemptive? Anselm and Calvin will be discussed


Suffering and martyrdom: does Christianity rejoice in suffering? Do early Christian understandings of martyrdom have anything to offer today, or is martyrdom a dangerous idea in the 21st Century?


Suffering and divinity: the crucified God? Do the problem of suffering and the passion of Christ demand a reworking of the traditional Christian doctrine of God? Aquinas and Moltmann (and others) in dialogue

Session 5 (Friday)

Suffering and liberation: will the truth set you free? Does the reality of suffering have anything positive to contribute to Christian accounts of political or person liberation? Must discord and tension resolve? Theology through the arts might help

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Moltmann, Jurgen, The Crucified God (London: SCM Press, 2015) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Adams, Marilyn, Christ and Horrors (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006) Chapters 8-10

Chadwick, Henry (ed.), Augustine: The Confessions (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2008) Book VII

Lewis, Clive Staples, The Problem of Pain (London: Collins, 2012)

Tutor The Revd Dr Peter Groves is Vicar of St Mary Magdalen, Oxford, and Lecturer in Theology at Worcester College, Oxford. He was a curate in Essex, and served as Chaplain and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, before becoming a parish priest. He teaches doctrine at Worcester College in Oxford. He is the author of Grace (SCM Press, 2013) and editor, with John Barton, of The New Testament and the Church (Bloomsbury, 2015).

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LAUDATO SI: POPE FRANCIS VISION FOR THE WORLD The Revd Canon Dr Robin Gibbons

Description Laudato Si, is the second of Pope Francis’ Encyclicals (May 2105) and the first completely written by him. It has been widely acclaimed as one of the most important of recent papal encyclicals both for Catholics, Christians and anybody concerned about our planet.

Pope Francis reportedly said that the encyclical was not really an environmental document at all, although concerns expressed in it focus on global warming and destruction of the planet as grave warnings, clear symptoms of greater problems that face human kind. Its subtitle, ‘On Care for Our Common Home’, places wider social, scientific political and theological questions before us and calls for immediate action on a global scale.

Pope Francis critiques the consumerism of the contemporary world, both highlighting and ‘lamenting’ the unchecked environmental degradation and destruction of our ‘Sister the Earth’. The Encyclical calls upon all people of the world to take "swift and unified global action”.

There are not two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but one complex crisis that combines both these elements. Strategies for a solution demand the involvement of national and international communities. It will involve dialogue between religion and science, working together for the common good, particularly In an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.

Our five seminars will examine these issues and the wider ecumenical implications of Catholic Social teaching, but always in the ‘hope’ expressed in the spirit of St Francis’ great hymn after which the document is named.

Course content

Session 1 (Monday)

Problems

Five main themes frame our examination of Laudato Si. Firstly the problems facing us all, particularly the developed world's indifference to the destruction of the planet in the pursuit of short-term economic gains

The Pope calls this a ‘throwaway culture’ where unwanted items and unwanted people are discarded as waste

This subtext makes the document "more profoundly subversive" than it appears on the surface!

Session 2 (Tuesday)

Issues

The subtitle ‘On Care For Our Common Home’ places before us the necessity of dealing concretely with issues raised in the document

By examining particular issues we will investigate Pope Francis’s critique and his understanding of the Gospel of Creation


Responses

In this session we shall look at concrete examples of response nationally and internationally including the work of the Ecumenical Patriarch - for example, Catholics in Bangladesh met at Dhaka in 2015 to promote awareness among the faithful, encouraging them to engage with people in their respective communities for climate change dialogue and action


Vision

We shall examine various practical actions and theological vision implicit in the Encyclical

Can humanity save the world by taking care of our planet as mother and sister, as the Pope Francis suggests?

Session 5 (Friday)

Hope

Lastly we shall examine implications of hope in spiritual and theological ways: we are called to reconcile ourselves with nature to help extend it; hope is at the centre of LS inviting us to a spiritual conversion, an invitation for humans to change their habits

‘In union with all creatures, we journey through this land seeking God. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope’ (LS 244)

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Pope Francis, Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home (London: Catholic Truth Society, 2015) Other recommended reading – texts not required in class in Oxford

Cobb, John, For Our Common Home. Process-Relational Responses to Laudato Si (Anoka, US: Process Century Press, 2015) Read all

Jenkins, Willis, Ecologies of Grace (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) Read all Websites

National Catholic Reporter: http://ncronline.org/feature-series/francis-environment-encyclical

America: The National Catholic Review: http://americamagazine.org/top-ten-takeaways-laudato-si

International Environment Forum: Summary of Laudato Si: http://iefworld.org/ddahl15d

Tutor The Revd Dr Robin Gibbons is a Greek Catholic Melkite priest. He is an Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is a member of Oxford University’s Faculty of Theology and Religion, and Director of Studies in that subject in the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education; he is also a Fellow of the Centre for Christianity and Culture in Regent’s Park College, Oxford. His research interests include Middle Eastern Christianity, Liturgical Art and Saint Frideswide. He is a liturgist, pastoral theologian and writer, contributing weekly to Independent Catholic News. His latest book For the Life of the World, on environmental issues, is due to be published in 2016 by the Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture at Washington College.

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