Westmont College's Religious Studies Theology Core

Structurally Westmont's theology core curriculum teaches along the lines of one particular school of Reformed evangelical theology, sometimes called "Neo-Orthodoxy" and associated with the twentieth century Swiss theologian Karl Barth. (That is why the titles and stated concentrations of our four core courses match the volumes of Barth's magisterial Church Dogmatics.)

The doctrines of revelation, God, creation, and reconciliation are pretty traditional stuff, even if Barth sometimes approached them in new ways. Barth was borrowing the theological categories he inherited from his own earlier Calvinist tradition, which in turn was modifying the Thomistic tradition, which was synthesizing a newly recovered and Islamized Aristotelian tradition and the earlier medieval scholastic Augustinian catholicism it seemed to threaten. Moreover, Barth used his volumes to argue against Schleiermacher's school of Protestantism and pre-Vatican II Thomistic Catholicism.

Still, it is only one way to approach theology among many. Compared to theological schemas over the millennia it is a narrow one, reducing theology to "systematic theology." Moreover, it is rather idiosyncratic. The Church Dogmatics is an unfinished work. Barth died before completing volume IV, The Doctrine of Reconciliation. Perhaps he would have gone on to write a fuller doctrine of the Holy Spirit, a doctrine of the Church, and a doctrine of the Last Things. In that case would Westmont have had six rather than four courses in our theology core? We can only speculate. The peculiarities of his approach should warn us to be respectful of the past without becoming bound by it. It is quite possible that Westmont College is facing different challenges than Barth faced seventy years ago, and that our courses might need to respect them explicitly in the way we approach our theology core.

I view our theology core as an extended introduction into the disciplined ways Christians think about the substance of our faith.

Among these "Christians" we should be open to including all those who appear from the perspective of Westmont's core constituencies to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, but here we should concentrate on thinkers who are near to us, influential for us, challenging to us, helpful to us, and important for us. By "disciplined ways" we should be open to including all the different styles of theology that serve the mission of this Church of Jesus Christ, but we should concentrate on certain styles in the same way as on thinkers. Similarly, what "the substance of our faith" means is subject to the same kind of breadth and focus.

Among these voices I consistently stress figures in the evangelical Reformed and Wesleyan traditions, the radical Free Church traditions, the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Augustinian traditions, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Because Westmont, I, and many of our students are products of the first three communities, our studies inevitably and happily lean their way. Because Roman Catholics are so numerous, so vibrant, and so neglected by most evangelicals, they receive special attention too. The same is true for theological voices often overlooked in the academy, such as Pentecostals from the rapidly growing churches of the southern hemisphere and other "local" theological communities. These have not always learned to play along with the peculiarities of academic vocabulary, political correctness, and Eurocentrism (both "conservative" and "progressive"), but they are a growing share of the actual communities of disciples that academic Christian theology ostensibly serves. Finally, there are theological voices beyond the Church, not just in universities but in synagogues, mosques, film studios, malls, Internet forums, corporate boardrooms, dining rooms, government offices, sports bars, and coffeehouses. Jesus engaged these interlocutors as often as the usual ones, and the remarkable liveliness of his teaching career owes much to those interactions. Here theology looks more wisely to Wesley than to Calvin, more to St. Francis than to St. Dominic.

I have left out until now the most important group of all: worshippers. For far too long theology has ignored its own ancient character as an exposition and norm of prayer, liturgy, and the life of discipleship. It so loves to teach in the streets and the outer courts that it tends to forget to appreciate or even visit the inner courts. As a result the disciplined thinking of theology has often become disconnected from the disciplined life of the Church. That distance brings ruin upon both. Whoever else we listen to, we must listen to the Holy Spirit who inspires our prayers and intercedes in them with sighs both truly ours and truly the Lord's.

Contemporary World Theologies (rs125), the one required theology course for RS's theological and historical studies concentration, is therefore the de facto heart of our current curriculum. It is a rounded intermediate-level introduction and/or captstone to the whole theological curriculum. It emphasizes the substance of Christian doctrines, their interconnections and relations to the other subdisciplines of the RS major, and their present shape in the worshipping Church, the contemporary academy, and cultures around the world.

A revision of this course, tentatively entitled General Theology, would serve as an exposure to the discipline of theology that builds explicitly upon both the dogmatic foundation of rs20 and the biblical studies core of rs1 and rs10. It would further students' exposure to a number of the following:

the practice of theology within the whole life of the Church of Jesus Christ;
the history of the discipline;
the basic logics of the discipline;
the character and roles of Holy Scripture within them;
fundamental theological teachings (developing and supplementing rs20);
major eras, schools, and figures in the discipline;
important theological projects and works;
significant contemporary movements in theology;
problems and failures in the discipline;
interconnections, overlaps, dependencies, and conflicts with other disciplines within and without the RS curriculum.

Then, in greater depth, I teach the Westmont theology core's four advanced courses, which do the following:

Doctrine of the Word of God (rs126) studies "God’s knowability and self-disclosure: revelation, the incarnation, Scripture, preaching." I emphasize God's self-disclosure in the practices of the community of faith, centering on the Sunday liturgy and the Word and sacraments at its heart.

Doctrine of God (rs127) studies "the nature and attributes of God, with emphasis on the Trinity and the deity of Christ." I emphasize God through the creeds and formulas of the confessing Church.

Doctrine of Creation (rs128) includes "discussion of human nature and the fall, God’s providence in history, and miracles." I emphasize life together under the reign of God, centering on the Ten Commandments.

Doctrine of Reconciliation (rs129) studies "election, Christ’s redemptive work, the Holy Spirit’s role in salvation; present and future dimensions of the Kingdom of God; the last things." I emphasize redemption as remembered, presupposed, and actualized through corporate and private prayer: the Lord's Prayer, the Psalter, and/or the Christian calendar.

A fifth course, Seminar in Theology (rs131), studies the theological topic of the professor's choice.

The juxtapositions between theological topics and church practices may seem odd to evangelicals, and too apparently Catholic for comfort. But they are traditional enough, and Luther is as passionate about them as any Benedictine. The Word and Sacraments, the Creed, the Decalogue, and the Prayers are the four basic components of both Catholic and Protestant catechisms. This is to say that they are the way the Church has generally taught and disciplined its thinking about the Christian faith. They are a theological core more ancient than any of the theologians I have mentioned here. In fact, in Acts 2:42 one can see the forerunners of each: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, and the breaking of the bread and the prayers." These four traditions are a deep, practical, broad tradition with strengths both where Westmont has strengths and where we have weaknesses.

There are several weaknesses of the current system:

• First, majors in theological/historical studies take only two rs126-129 courses, and other concentrations in the RS major take only one. The result is an imbalanced exposure to the content of the tradition (a doctrine of reconciliation without doctrine of God or creation? the doctrine of revelation apart from the content of revelation?). For an analogy, imagine a course on the Gospels' passion narratives but not their prologues or Romans 9-16 but not Romans 1-8!
• Second, this kind of systematizing and prioritizing of theology is a legacy of scholasticism (mediated through Protestant Orthodoxy) that describes only one part of the theological enterprise and runs it in an overly simplistic linear direction from prolegomena ("revelation") to practice ("church" or "ethics"), the endpoint of which is rarely reached in a scholar's life (think again of the Church Dogmatics).
• Third, rs126-129's particular sequence does not suit the theological traditions beyond Protestant Orthodoxy, especially those less sympathetic to its intellectual culture. Many of these traditions — among them Wesleyan, Restorationist, and charismatic — are important members of the coalition of evangelical Protestantism. They are also often the fastest growing, representing more of Westmont's likely future constituencies.
• Fourth, theology as discrete and chronologically ordered loci is still popular in many of the seminars and graduate schools that some RS majors attend after Westmont, making their undergraduate and graduate curricula somewhat redundant. While the Barthian structure has its place in Westmont's history and in the current discipline of theology, its place is less comprehensive and less privileged than its prominence in the current curriculum suggests.

The following revised courses in specific theological practices would, in different ways, build upon the foundation laid in rs20 and (depending on when a student takes them) either deepen or anticipate the lessons of rs125. All of them will necessarily include historical, global, practical, and interdisciplinary aspects, though in different ways. Each draws on a traditional catechetical focus that is often neglected in contemporary theology: [these need a longer prologue and rationale for the senate that would educate other departments, whose people may not know the history of theology; it looks like a throwback rather than a cutting-edge approach]

Theology of Worship (echoing Doctrine of the Word) reflects on the liturgical, sacramental, and especially the biblical practices that order the liturgical lives of the people of God. The curriculum may pursue interdisciplinary connections including communication, music, and theater. It may also be appropriate as "cross-cultural communication" course in the new GE curriculum. A goal of this course is to help form servant-heralds of Christ who lead and build up worshipping communities of faith through prophetic, priestly, and royal spiritual gifts such as preaching, interpretation, and exhortation.

Systematic Theology (echoing Doctrine of God) analyzes the whole theological vision of one or more Christian traditions, schools, movements, or thinkers, comparing it to the classical "rules of faith" of the Apostles' and Nicene creeds that norm typical Christian communities, structure their narratives of cosmic history, guide their biblical interpretation, and form the basis of catechesis and doctrinal discipline. The curriculum may pursue interdisciplinary connections including education, philosophy, history, modern languages, physical sciences, and mathematics. It may also be appropriate as "cross-cultural communication" course in the new GE curriculum. A goal of this course is to help form catechetical leaders who evangelize and teach the faith through gifts such as teaching and knowledge.

Theological Ethics (echoing Doctrine of Creation) centers on the normative life and culture of the Church of Jesus Christ, grounded in the Ten Commandments delivered to Israel and fulfilled, transformed, and definitively shaped in the reign of Jesus Christ. The curriculum may pursue interdisciplinary connections including economics, political science, sociology and anthropology, kinesiology, and biology. It may also be appropriate as "competent and compassionate action " course in the new GE curriculum. A goal of this course is to help form disciples free from the tyranny of principalities and powers and obedient to the Gospel of the Kingdom, the Law of the Holy Spirit, and the mission of God through gifts such as wisdom, healing, service, giving, mercy, and works of power.

Spiritual Theology (echoing Doctrine of Reconciliation) explores communion with the Triune God through the focal practice of Christian prayer. This practice is grounded in the Psalter, determinatively shaped by Jesus' commendation and practice of the Lord's Prayer as his disciples' response to the Father's grace, and maintained in the Daily Office and other historical spiritual and devotional practices in the Church. This course can be conceived as an alternative to rs100, Foundations of Spiritual Formation, as a similar course with sufficient overlap for the two to substitute for one another, or as the future home of a course that would include the concerns of both course descriptions and that could be team-taught or cross-taught. The curriculum may pursue interdisciplinary connections including art, English, sociology and anthropology, and psychology. It may also be appropriate as "competent and compassionate action" course in the new GE curriculum. A goal of this course is to help form subjects of the Kingdom whose holy lives are marked by trust in God's faithfulness, hope for God's providence, and love of God and neighbor through gifts such as intercession, discernment, and tongues.

Theological Foundation of Mission as presently taught is appropriate as a theological/historical studies course in this core. It is already commonly accepted as a major substitution.

Seminar in Theology continues to study the theological topic of the professor's choice. Possible topics include the specific doctrines of the older rs126-129 courses as well as doctrines of Church, world, last things, sin, Scripture, etc.

The revised core aims to provide a measure of internal coherence and self-containment in each course, so that students who take only one course still get an appreciation of the logic and content of the whole discipline. There is also less of an overlap with rs20 and thus a less pressing need to refresh some students' memories in the first few weeks of each course (which would happen in rs125 anyway). It is also more flexible during sabbatical relief and openings, enabling faculty to cross subdisciplinary lines more smoothly.

While the revised core remains theological at its heart, it softens the disciplinary boundaries that distinguish "theology" from "biblical studies" and "Church history" and the methodological boundaries that dichotomize theory and practice. For content, the core looks neither to theological fashion, to one theological tradition over against others, nor to artificial modern boundaries between academic disciplines. Instead it follows the Christian tradition's own ancient, contemporary, ecumenical, and evangelical centers of theological investigation and toward the Lord's own ends of salvation, mission, and glorification.

The following new courses increase the efficacy of RS GE courses and RS major coursework:

Studies show that newly learned material that is not reinforced fades almost completely over a series of years, while material that is practiced for one year fades much less, and material that is practiced for several years tends not to fade at all. Accordingly, we would recommend RS minors, interested students, and especially pre-seminary students in other majors to take this course repeatedly for credit. So a further 1-unit course mainly for non-majors and not-yet-majors is Christian Doctrine: Follow-Up. It would be offered once per year, spring semester, with readings that rotated at least every three years. With one or two books of intermediate difficulty and a discussion-centered assignment load, it carries rs20 or the equivalent as a prerequisite and serves as a continual refresher course allowing students to refine rather than forget the material they have learned in Doctrine and encountered elsewhere in the GE curriculum. The payoff in retained and seasoned knowledge leverages our normal GE teaching efforts and develops students for whom their RS GE course might otherwise be high-water-marks for their canonical literacies. RS faculty could team-teach or trade off teaching it, using it as an opportunity to delve into our reading list and keep current in our fields. (The department should consider offering Biblical Studies: Follow-Up as an equivalent course during fall semesters.)

A new capstone course for RS majors is Biblical Performance, a 2- or 4-unit course in which biblical studies, history, biblical studies, and cross-cultural missiology are brought to bear on the interpretation of biblical texts in the life of Christian faith. Secondary readings and early class sessions prepare students to attend to the use of a biblical text from a selection of Scripture — particularly a difficult or rarely used one — in a Christian or missionary setting. Possible approaches can be found in rs107, Biblical Interpretation, and my spring 2005 Seminar in Theology, rs131, Theological Interpretation: Deuteronomy. It might be team-taught by one biblical studies faculty and one non-biblical studies faculty, rotating through the department.

Appendices

Current Westmont Catalog. Catechetical practices. Loci.

RS 125 Contemporary World Theologies (4) Prerequisite: RS 20. Upper-division seminar course open to RS majors and minors (others by permission). Surveys a wide variety of contemporary Christian theologies to understand the historical, intellectual, practical heart of Christian faith as it is embodied around the world and in our own culture. Ecumenics? Hospitality? World. Culture. Mission. Catholicity.

RS 126 Doctrine of the Word (4) Prerequisite: RS 20. Upper-division seminar course open to RS majors and minors (others by permission). God’s knowability and self-disclosure: revelation, the incarnation, Scripture, preaching. Word and sacraments: God's self-disclosure in the practices of the community of faith, centering on the Sunday liturgy. Scripture. Ecclesiology. Incarnation. Pneumatology?

RS 127 Doctrine of God (4) Prerequisite: RS 20. Upper-division seminar course open to RS majors and minors (others by permission). The nature and attributes of God, with emphasis on the Trinity and the deity of Christ. The Creed: The Church's confession of God. Trinity. Teleology. Cosmic Soteriology.

RS 128 Doctrine of Creation (4) Prerequisite: RS 20. Upper-division seminar course open to RS majors and minors (others by permission). Includes discussion of human nature and the fall, God’s providence in history, and miracles. The Ten Commandments: Life together under the reign of God. Creation. Humanity. Sin. Providence. Israel?

RS 129 Doctrine of Reconciliation (4) Prerequisite: RS 20. Upper-division seminar course open to RS majors and minors (others by permission). Election, Christ’s redemptive work, the Holy Spirit’s role in salvation; present and future dimensions of the Kingdom of God; the last things. The Lord's Prayer. The Psalter? The Christian Day/Year? Eschatology. Ecclesiology. Personal Soteriology.

RS 131 Seminar in Theology (4) Prerequisite: RS 20. Upper-division seminar course open to RS majors and minors (others by permission). Topic selected by professor. Focus either on a doctrine (such as ecclesiology, human nature), an issue (such as narrative), or a person or movement (such as Jürgen Moltmann, feminist theology, liberation theology) not covered by other courses.

Fuller Theological Seminary Catalog. Worship practices. Additional (formally missing) loci.

ST 501 Systematic Theology I: Theology and Anthropology. The doctrines of revelation and Scripture. The doctrines of God, God’s attributes, and God’s trinitarian mode of existence. The doctrines of creation and providence. The origin and nature of humankind; the doctrines of the fall and sin. Psalter/Daily Office. Israel.

ST 502 Systematic Theology II: Christology and Soteriology. The doctrine of divine election, the covenant of grace, the person and work of Christ the Mediator. The doctrines of divine calling, regeneration, repentance, faith, justification, adoption and sanctification. Christian Year. Pneumatology.

ST 503 Systematic Theology III: Ecclesiology and Eschatology. The doctrine of the church, its nature and authority. The worship of the church, the sacraments and prayer. The doctrine of last things, death and resurrection, the final judgment, heaven and hell. Sunday Liturgy. Teleology.