Person, Family & Society

This course will reflect on the nature of the social world in a way that emerges from and is integrally linked with Christian faith. Challenging the common view that individuals are fully independent and self-made, we will look at the different kinds of communities that define us, in both restrictive and enabling ways: family, political society, religious community, and groups formed on the basis of other kinds of shared identities. We will look at the way in which we emerge as individuals only through these primary identifications, and at the conflicted way in which our individuality is essentially an attempt to understand and even overcome them. We will also explore the tensions that arise between these various communities and their claims upon us—between family and social membership, between religious community and political membership, between formal legal identity and concrete group identification, and so on. The course includes readings from diverse philosophical, religious, literary, and social-scientific texts. It aims to develop an existentially and philosophically rich Christian sensitivity to the complexity of the social relationships that shape us and make claims on us.

ICSD130609 F12 / ICS130609 F12
(This course is being submitted for accreditation for the CSTC)

Dr. Shannon Hoff

MWS



* Please note that this course is being offered both on-campus and via distance education. When registering be sure to indicate the desired mode of study in the course code (ICSD indicates distance while ICS indicates on-campus study)

Syllabus