Religion, Life and Society: Reformational Philosophy

An exploration of central issues in philosophy, as addressed by Herman Dooyeweerd, Dirk Vollenhoven, and the “Amsterdam School” of neoCalvinian thought. The course tests the relevance of this tradition for recent developments in Western philosophy. Special attention is given to critiques of foundationalism, metaphysics, and modernity within reformational philosophy and in other schools of thought.

ICS 1107AC/2107AC F18
ICT3702HF L0101 / ICT6702HF L0101
Dr. Robert (Bob) Sweetman
Thursdays, 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: ICS Boardroom, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Nothing Can Separate Us…!: The Dialectical Materialism of Slavoj Žižek

This seminar will map out the Dialectical Materialism of Slovenian philosopher, psycho-analyst, and cultural critic Slavoj Žížek. A communist and atheist, Žižek's thought is an original Lacanian inspired repeat of Hegel that recalibrates Materialism. Žížek's incisive structural insights will be explored even as his faith in the Void as the eternal traumatic Real is contrasted with faith in the steadfast Love of God.

ICS 240908 F18
ICT5704HF 0101
Dr. James Olthuis
Wednesdays, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: ICS Boardroom, Knox College

(MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Nature, Supernature & Miracle in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas

This seminar examines Thomas Aquinas’s distinction between nature and the supernatural from the perspective of key texts in his Summa Theologiae and its most important parallels. It does so in order to address the phenomenon of miracles and the role they play in his philosophical and theological construction.

ICS 120406/220406 F18
ICH3156HF L0101 / ICH6156HF L0101
Dr. Robert (Bob) Sweetman
Wednesdays, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Classroom 2, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Grace as an Aesthetic Concept

For much of the Western art tradition, the concept of grace has been an important critical concept for its ability to capture the often elusive quality of artistic affect. Often referred to as the “je ne sais quoi” of art - that something extra that cannot be explained – grace even supplanted beauty for many writers (from Giorgio Vasari to Friedrich Schiller) as the highest artistic ideal. Often missing from modern analyses of the concept, however, are its theological foundations. This seminar style course will exam the concept of grace within its theological, philosophical, literary, and art theoretical contexts in an effort to understand both its historical significance and its potential usefulness for the philosophy of art today. We will look at a variety of texts (e.g. from Plato, Cicero, the Pseudo-Dionysius, Dante, John Calvin, Alexander Pope, Friedrich Schiller, Martin Heidegger) as well as works of art for which grace is an important and defining aesthetic concept.

ICS 220103 F18
ICH3758HS L0101 / ICH6758HS L0101 
Dr. Rebekah Smick 
Tuesdays, 1:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: ICS Boardroom, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Biblical Foundations

This course will explore the Bible as the ongoing story of and for God and creation, paying special attention to the way in which God's story is intertwined with that of humanity and the world. In asking whether and in what way the biblical narrative finds its future in our ongoing narratives, we will attempt to identify which hermeneutical methods and sensitivities might help us discern its significance for present day life, including the academic enterprise. To that end, we shall pay close attention to the shape of gender symbolism in the biblical writings, together with the nature of power, and the call of and to Wisdom.

ICS 1108AC/2108AC F18
ICB2010HF L0101
Instructor: Dr. Nik Ansell
Mondays, 1:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: ICS Boardroom, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

World-Viewing: An Introduction to Worldview Studies (Distance)

Who am I? Where do I belong? What is the world and what do I believe about it? What do I love? What opportunities and constraints do I face in my particular context? What am I to do with my life?

View five significant recent movies. Consider the responses to these movies by thoughtful critics. Read and talk through a short list of insightful writings. Reflect on your own lived experience. Explore and reconsider how you view the world in relation to these movies, writings, and reflections.

World-Viewing: An Introduction to Worldview Studies serves as a touchstone course for the Master of Worldview Studies program as a whole, providing students with an overview of the program, an initial set of frameworks and tools for finding their way through the program, and a selection of readings (about 1,250 pages) that will prime students for reflecting on the six inter-related wayfinding questions listed above. The course also introduces students to the Christian worldview tradition out of which the Institute for Christian Studies emerged.

This is a thirteen-week all-online course, starting in the week of September 10, 2018 and finishing in the week of December 10, 2018. There will be no assignments due during ICS’s reading week, October 22-26, 2018. For participants doing the course or credit all outstanding work will be due by no later than January 25, 2019.

ICSD 132505/232505 F18

Dr. Gideon Strauss

Distance (Online)

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

The Observant Participant: Applying Research Craft to Professional Practice (Hybrid)

Learn to apply tools and frameworks from contemporary qualitative research craft to your professional practice. Become a more observant participant and strengthen your capacity as a reflective practitioner. Read Sarah Ahmed on how our bodies dwell in the world, Ruth Behar on being a vulnerable observer, Dara Culhane on imaginative research practices, Natalie Wigg-Stevenson on studying one’s own lived experience… and more!

While the focus of this course is on applying research craft to professional practice, the course is also a solid introduction to graduate level qualitative research and key perspectives from phenomenological philosophy. The Observant Participant will be a very active workshop-oriented learning experience for participants, rather than a more passive lecture-based experience. It will be presented in a hybrid format consisting of in-person sessions during the Fall 2018 term, along with weekly online interactions and written assignments throughout the term.

ICSDH 132501/232501 F18
Dr. Gideon Strauss
Hybrid (Online/In-Person)
October 25-26, 2018

For further details about in-person sessions please contact Dr. Strauss or Elizabet Aras

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

World-Viewing: An Introduction to Worldview Studies (Hybrid)

Who am I? Where do I belong? What is the world and what do I believe about it? What do I love? What opportunities and constraints do I face in my particular context? What am I to do with my life?

View five significant recent movies. Consider the responses to these movies by thoughtful critics. Read and talk through a short list of insightful writings. Reflect on your own lived experience. Explore and reconsider how you view the world in relation to these movies, writings, and reflections.

World-Viewing: An Introduction to Worldview Studies serves as a touchstone course for the Master of Worldview Studies program as a whole, providing students with an overview of the program, an initial set of frameworks and tools for finding their way through the program, and a selection of readings (about 1,250 pages) that will prime students for reflecting on the six inter-related wayfinding questions listed above. The course also introduces students to the Christian worldview tradition out of which the Institute for Christian Studies emerged.

This version of the course will take a hybrid format, with five bi-weekly in-person classroom sessions as well as weekly structured interactive online forum discussions in response to reading assignments.

ICSDH 132505/232505 F18

Dr. Gideon Strauss

Hybrid (Online/In-Person)

Mondays, 6:00pm - 9:00pm (September 24, October 15, November 5, November 26, December 10)
Location: ICS Boardroom, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

The Observant Participant: Applying Research Craft to Professional Practice (Distance)

Learn to apply tools and frameworks from contemporary qualitative research craft to your professional practice. Become a more observant participant and strengthen your capacity as a reflective practitioner. Read Sarah Ahmed on how our bodies dwell in the world, Ruth Behar on being a vulnerable observer, Dara Culhane on imaginative research practices, Natalie Wigg-Stevenson on studying one’s own lived experience… and more!

While the focus of this course is on applying research craft to professional practice, the course is also a solid introduction to graduate level qualitative research and key perspectives from phenomenological philosophy. The Observant Participant will be a very active workshop-oriented learning experience for participants, rather than a more passive lecture-based experience.

ICSD 132501/232501 F18
Dr. Gideon Strauss
Distance

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus