IC 3610 EXERCISES IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

Friday 9:00-9:50, 10:40-12:30

GH 104

Sarah Henrich, Patricia Lull

 

 

Course Description

 

A study of the Bible as a living word of God that informs the imaginative framework through which we encounter the world and engage in Christian ministry. Through lectures, case studies, and field projects, students and instructors engage in doing biblical theology in the context of the practice of ministry, including such specifics as the care of souls, moral deliberation and actions, community formation and conflict, evangelism and mission.

 

 

Teaching-Learning Goals

 

  1. To demonstrate confidence and willingness to shape one’s own learning goals.
  2. To  integrate interview and listening skills with a theological imagination.
  3. To become deeply familiar with at least one biblical passage.
  4. To integrate new skills for a careful, imaginative reading of text with the practice of pastoral leadership in specific contexts for ministry.
  5. To enjoy one another as colleagues and co-seekers after God’s ways in the world.
  6. To expand one’s repertoire of ways to move to action for the sake of the neighbor.
  7. To develop skills for and conviction about the process of working in groups to learn, construct, imagine, act, and support.
  8. To create and sustain a teaching-learning environment that encourages critical reflection.

 

 

Requirements

 

Complete assignments, attend class, participate in discussions and group projects.

  • Class attendance and active participation is expected for all thirteen weeks of the course. Since much learning happens in this group context, students need to confer with the instructors if absence from class is necessary. (25%)
  • Brief writing assignments are designed to enrich the class discussions and are due the day of class, as outlined on the syllabus. (35%)
  • Work with a group on the development, presentation, refinement, and re-presentation on an issue essential for pastoral leadership and the vitality of the church in the 21st century (20%)

 

A final reflection on the course learning is due on December, 12, 2008. (20%)

 

 

Course Resources

 

Required readings/engagement:

 

BOOKS:

 

Mark D. Constantine.  Travelers on a Journey: pastors talk about their lives and commitments, Eerdmans, 2005

Edwin Friedman.  Generation to Generation:Family Process in Church and Synagogue, Guilford Press, 1985

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda.  Public Church , Augsburg, 2006

 

Activity:

Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument.  You will be contacted about taking this analytic piece.  Payment will be by check to Lull/Henrich who will pay North Central Career Development Center.

 

ARTICLES and e-RESOURCES:

·         Wendell Berry, “The burden of the Gospels”

·         Joseph Sittler, “The Maceration of the Minister”

·         The theological worlds inventory from W. Paul Jones, Theological Worlds

 

ARTICLES ON BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

From Mary F. Foskett and Jeffrey Kah-Jin Juan (eds.).  Way of Being, Ways of Reading: Asian American Biblical Interpretation.  St. Louis, Missouri: Chalice Press, 2006.

            Lai Ling Elizabeth Ngan, “Neither Here nor There: Boundary and Identity in the Hagar Story,” 70-83

            Uriah Yong-Hwan Kim, “The Realpolitik of Liminality in Josiah’s Kingdom and Asian America,” 84-98.

            Jean K. Kim, “Empowerment or Enslavement? Reading John 4 Intertextually with Ezra-Nehemiah,” 99-111.

 

From: Mary N. Getui, Tinyiko Maluleke, and Justin Ukpong (eds). Interpreting the New Testament in Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: Acton Publishers, 2001:

            Chris U. Manus, “Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus: An African Reading,” 215-230

            Justin S. Ukpong, “The Parable of the Vineyard,” 194-212.

 

From Susanne Scholz (ed.).  Biblical Studies Alternatively, An Introductory Reader:  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003:

            Bernadette Brooten.”Patristic Interpretations of Romans 1:26,” 165-169.

    1. Gene Rice, “The curse that Never Was (Genesis 9:18-27), 217-228.
    2. Dalila Nayap-Pot, “Life in the Midst of Death: Naomi, Ruth and the Plight of the Indigenous Women,” 266-276.
    3. Jon L. Berquist, “Dangerous Waters of Justice and Righteousness: Amos 5:18-27, 327-341.
    4. Luise Schottrof, “Human Solidarity and the Goodness of God: The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, 351-367
    5. Jan Botha, “Creation of New Meaning: Rhetorical situations and the Reception of Romans 13:1-7,” 368-384

From: Gerald O. West (ed.).  Reading Other-Wise: Socially Engaged Biblical Scholars Reading with Their Local Communities.  Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007:

    1. Nicole M. Simopoulos, “Who Was Hagar? Mistress, Divorcee, Exile, or Exploited Worker: An Analysis of Contemporary Grassroots Readings of Genesis 16 by Caucasian, Latina, and Black South African Women.” 63-72.
    2. Bob Ekblad, “Journeying with Moses toward True Solidarity: Shifting Social and Narrative Locations of the Oppressed and Their Liberators in Exodus 2-3,” 87-102
    3. Monika Ottermann, “’How Could He Ever Do That to Her?!’ Or, How the Woman Who Anointed Jesus Became a Victim of Luke’s Redactional and Theological Principles,” 103-116.

Carter Heyward, “A Path Wide Open: Toward a Critical Relationship with the Christian God,” in Engaging the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006), 105-125, 144-145.

Justin S. Ukpong, “The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Lk 16:1-13): An Essay in the Enculturation of a Biblical Hermeneutic,”  Semeia 73 (1996), 189-212.

 

Detailed Outline of the Course

 

Section One: The Personal Formation of the Leader

 

September 12: Week One     Introduction of course participants, design, and expectations; assignment of synod, Bible passages, selection of companion chapter numbers, and prayer responsibilities; reflection on formative events from internship or other contextual experiences; group deliberation on essential issues for the relevance of the church’s life in the 21st century;

Assignments:

·         Prior to the first class session you are asked to prepare two one-paragraph descriptions of a formative event for understanding yourself as a person in the leadership of the church. These might be a critical incident from internship, a fresh way of glimpsing your vocation, or an image from your own study of the Bible, which now serves as a key expression of your call into ministry. These will be shared during class.

·         Read Walter Brueggeman, Biblical Authority at http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2104.  This article appeared in The Christian Century, January 3-10, 2001, pp. 14-20. Copyright by The Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. This material was prepared for Religion Online by Ted and Winnie Brock.

 

September 19: Week Two    Perennial challenges for pastoral leaders.

Overview of the theological worlds paradigm and the importance of recognizing one’s theological perspective and respecting that of others; introduction of interviewing as a pastoral skill. We will assign interviewees for each of you to present on September 26th, using the questions formulated in class today.

 Introduction to and interview of a local pastor, Rev. Jim Gertmenian, in class.

Assignments:

  • Prior to this class take the “Theological Worlds” inventory and self-score. These will be shared in class
  • Read Mark Constantine.  Travelers on the Journey
  • Learn something about who Jim Gertmenian is.
  • Write ½-1 page on Constantine book, listing or outlining the interview technique(s)  that Constantine uses.

 

September 26: Week Three  Learning from Peers --  Peer interviews to be shared in small groups; What is “public church?”  What resources do we bring to it? 

Assignments:

  • Read Joe Sittler, “The Maceration of the Minister”
  • Cynthia Moe-Lobeda.  Public Church:

Respond on paper to questions 4 (p. 61),3 (p. 72), 6(p. 73.)

  • Presentation of Interviewees.  Two page summary to be handed in.

 

***October 1 Wednesday     The Church in Public Life***

Breakfast in the Auxiliary Dining Room with Bishop Mark Hanson, 8:30-9:30.

 

October 3: Week Four  Pastor in Conflict Situations -- Discussion of the Hanson lecture. Presentation on the person of the pastor in conflict situations: Rev. Dr. John Henrich 

Assignments:

  • Bring notes from the lecture.

 

 

Section Two: Working with Scripture in Contexts

 

October 10 : Week Five Class Begins at 8:00 a.m.!

Breakfast with Bishop Steve Ullestad, NE Iowa Synod. 

 

Work with Rev. Dr. John Henrich on conflict, resistance, and the person of the pastor.   

Assignments:

·         Complete Thomas-Kilman inventory

·         Complete Genogram and bring to class

***  October 15. Becoming Human: Biblical Interpretation and Ecological Responsibility.”  Breakfast with Dr. Ellen Davis, Word and World Speaker.  Auxiliary Dining Room, 8:30-9:30***

October 17: Week Six  Going Deeper in the Bible.

Discussion of the Davis lecture. Reading the bible as a leader in/for the contemporary church. Presentation on assigned Bible passages in small groups, reflecting on those passages as a lens by which to see oneself.  Assignment to clergy for interviews.

   Assignments:

·         Bring notes from Davis lecture.

  • Read EITHER Ellen Davis “Critical Traditioning: Seeking an Inner Biblical Hermeneutic”, in The Art of Reading Scripture

OR

Wayne Meeks, “On Trusting an unpredictable God: an hermeneutical meditation on Romans 9-11 In Faith and History,105-124.

  • Write another one or two pages on what you think exegesis is, what steps are important to take, and why such work is important keeping in mind the parish(es) that you have adopted in Week One.

 

October 26: Week Seven  The Bible and Leadership

Some models to consider and some ways to consider the models.

 Assignments:

  • Write a short (one or two page) paper reflecting on what work/class in Bible has most transformed, deepened, your vocation here at Luther.
  • With the above in mind, write a one page reflection on your assigned Bible passage.  Be prepared to teach your passage to others in the class.
  • Read (at least) one article from the list at the beginning of the syllabus, “Articles for Biblical Interpretation.”   Bring notes for discussion.  How does this way of reading influence your interpretation of your own passage?  How would this way of reading work or not in “your parish”?  How do we speak of biblical truth/biblical norming when readings are so diverse?

 

Section Three: Public Person, Public Ministry

 

October 31: Week Eight  Family Systems and Pastoral Leadership

Presentations by Rev. John Mann

Assignments:  Read Friedman, Generation to Generation, esp. chapters 8-10.

 

November 7: Week Nine  Biblical Models for Public Ministry

Discussion of biblical models for public ministry; discussion of the role and responsibility of the leaders of the church in the public square; Small group work in five (or six) task forces addressing essential issues for the church’s relevance.

Assignments:

  • Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, Public Church: Take two.  Bring notes for discussion.

·         Elections matter differently in different places.  Use insights from guest speakers, systems thinking and Moe-Lobeda and write 3-4 pages that include the following:

o   Local impact of results.

o   Identify at least 2 theological resources as seen in Moe-Lobeda that would inform your response.

o   Identify at least 2 ways that biblical images surfaced in the election.

o   Identify 1-2 intersections of the pastoral practices we’ve heard about with your ministry at this time and “in your parish.”

o   Several messages they would want to convey on the Sunday after the election. 

 

November 14: Week Ten  Straight From the Parish

First presentations from the working groups on essential issues from parish experiences.

Assignments:  Prepare 2 page summary of case for presentation.

 

November 21: Week Eleven.  NO CLASS.

 

December 5: Week Twelve  Straight From the Parish – Take Two

Assignments :  Travelers on the Journey: Take 2

Assignments:

  • Each working group will have 30 minutes to re-present their case study, highlighting the matter of pastoral leadership, biblical hermeneutics, and theological formation for leading on this issue; A two page written summary will be presented to each class member.

 

December 12: Week Thirteen  Constructing a Theology of Pastoral Ministry

Discussion of lessons learned and promises made for “exercising” biblically and theologically during the next three years; sending rituals.

Assignments:

  • Write a fresh, five-six page reflection on your assigned Bible passage and the way that you have “lived with it” this semester; Write three promises/intentions for actions you will take to keep exercising your biblical imagination during the next three years; complete a written assessment of your learning in this course.
  • Bring a piece of art (including a picture from the Internet or bookmark an Internet location) that illuminates your biblical passage.   Write a one page summary:  What surprised me or was new?  How does this inform/shape my interpretation?
  • Come to class ready to reflect again on the two formative events you named on September 14.  Would you choose these same events if you were now asked the questions about two main events formative for your leadership?
  • If NOT, what events would you now choose and why