Beauty: Theology, Ethics, or Aesthetics?

Is beauty simply “in the eye of the beholder” or is it something more? Is it a way to God, a moral precept, or the specific locus for a unique kind of pleasure? This course examines a variety of subjective and objective views of beauty in the history of Western philosophy and theology from antiquity to the present (e.g. in the thought of Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Weil, Barth, and Balthasar). It will also consider the implications of these views of beauty for the production of the visual arts, music, and literary culture in Western religion and society.

ICS 220105 F19
ICH3757HF L0101 / ICH6757HF L0101*
Dr. Rebekah Smick
Thursdays, 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: Classroom 2, Knox College**

(MA, PhD)

Syllabus


*TST students have to register with ICS Registrar to complete registration. ICS reserves the right to decline late registrations due to limited space.

**Also available via Zoom video conference.

Aristotle, Aquinas and the Scholastic Approach to the History of Philosophy

This seminar examines the scholastic approach to the history of philosophy exemplified by Etienne Gilson against the background of its foundation in the thought of Aristotle as it was appropriated by Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. It examines the role that philosophy or theology's history plays in the conceptual constructions of scholastic thinkers, and what they think is truly first and deepest in the history they so study.

ICS 220401 F19
ICH3313HF L0101 / ICH6313HF L0101*
Dr. Bob Sweetman
Thursdays, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Location: Classroom 2, Knox College
(MA, PhD)

Syllabus


*TST students have to register with ICS Registrar to complete registration. ICS reserves the right to decline late registrations due to limited space.

The Divine (at) Risk: Open Theism, Classical Theism and Beyond

Did God take a risk in creating the world?  How are divine and human freedom related?  Can we confess God’s sovereignty in the face of evil?  This course will explore the different ways in which the God of history is viewed by advocates and critics of “Open Theism”.  Our examination will stimulate our own reflections on how we might best understand and, indeed, image God’s love, knowledge and power.

ICS 120803 / 220803 F19
ICT3730HF L0101 / ICT6730HF L0101*
Dr. Nik Ansell
Wednesdays, 1:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: ICS Learning Studio, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus


*TST students have to register with ICS Registrar to complete registration. ICS reserves the right to decline late registrations due to limited space.

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 F19
ICT3702HF L0101 / ICT6702HF L0101*
Dr. Bob Sweetman
Wednesdays, 9:30am – 12:30pm
Location: ICS Learning Studio, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus


*TST students have to register with ICS Registrar to complete registration. ICS reserves the right to decline late registrations due to limited space.

Twentieth-Century Postmodern Theories of (Inter)Subjectivity

This seminar will examine the philosophical anthropologies of four 20th Century post-modern Continental philosophers: Emmanuel Levinas, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Jacques Derrida. In addition to focusing on how each thinker develops a view of the human self in reaction to the modernist over-reliance on the thinking self, attention will be paid to considering each of the thinkers contributions to an anthropology in which “be(com)ing a “lover” is the epitome and mark of authentic humanity. Throughout this course we will look to the social and political implications of our anthropological theories and the conception of (inter)subjectivity they espouse.

ICS 220903 F19
Dr. Jim Olthuis
Tuesdays, 1:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: ICS Learning Studio, Knox College

(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 Bible is also our story, we will attempt to identify which hermeneutical methods might help us discern its significance for present day life, including the academic enterprise.

ICS 1108AC/2108AC F19
ICB2010HF L0101*
Instructor: Dr. Nik Ansell
Mondays, 1:45pm - 4:45pm
Location: ICS Learning Studio, Knox College

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus


*TST students have to register with ICS Registrar to complete registration. ICS reserves the right to decline late registrations due to limited space.

The Soul of Soulless Conditions

Although Marxists and Christians have found plenty of reasons to be mutually suspicious, prominent voices in both historical communities explored creative ways of relating to one another, politically and ideologically, throughout the 20th century and beyond. Through dialogical exchanges, party documents, and theological reflection, important questions were raised, if not always solved. Were the first Christians communists? What do Moscow and Havana have to do with Rome and Nazareth? Does materialism disqualify Christians from Marxist analysis? Can Marxist political parties accommodate Christian believers, and how far can Christians go in participating in Marxist revolutions?

Over the course of thirteen classes, we will read several Marxists on Christianity (e.g. Lenin, Luxemburg, Castro, Horkheimer) and several Christians on Marxism (e.g. McCabe, Soelle, Cone, Zuidervaart) to better understand where these communities found points of agreement and disagreement. Because neither Marxism nor Christianity are entirely unified traditions of thought, the selection of authors will aim to represent at least some of this diversity, although privileging voices that made an effort to bring these two discourses closer together in some way. Reading these traditions together, we will try to uncover how Christianity contributes to the soul of soulless conditions, and also what it might mean to embody that soul in the flesh of political organization.

ICSD 132902 F19
Dean Dettloff
Distance (Online)

(MWS)

Syllabus

Wisdom and Schooling

This course explores a biblical view of wisdom as an alternative to the theory into practice paradigm, which has dominated the way in which schooling is conducted at virtually all levels. According to this paradigm, schooling is the process by which theoretical insight and abstract academic understanding lay the foundations for an abundant life. The Christian story, however, is that walking in the way of Jesus is truth and life. The challenge to the Christian school and the Christian teacher is how to be in the world of schooling while not being of it.
                                                           
Wisdom is not something that one possesses in abstraction from the actual living of a wise life. Wisdom is always for the moment, which is why James (Ja 1:5) encourages us to ask God for wisdom in any situation in which we lack it. It is not a collection of timeless propositions that we merely have to apply to a situation, as Job’s companions believed. Wisdom is always ‘knowledge for’, as well as a matter of ‘knowing when’: it is concretely and temporally situated.

Wisdom can be defined as the ‘realisation of value’, in the two senses of realisation: understanding and actualising, or (in Hebraic language) hearing and doing. On this view, theoretical insight is one form of value among many that are to be realised. It is not to be denigrated, but it is by no means the primary or most important form. And the limitation of theory is that, in itself, it is powerless to change what we traditionally call ‘practice’.

ICSD 120306/220306 F19
Dr. Doug Blomberg, and Joonyong Um
Distance (Online)

(MA-EL)

Syllabus

How to Coach a Strong Team: Leading People, Building Instructional Capacity, and Securing Accountability

How to Coach a Strong Team is a course for new and aspiring principals. The course provides frameworks and tools for setting directions, building relationships, developing people, developing a school culture and structures to support desired practices, and securing accountability.

The course starts with attention to the character of the leader. It continues with an exploration of the processes necessary to gain competency in the cultivation of vision, the nurture of trust, the leading of change, the building of teams, professional coaching, and the supervision of professional development. It concludes with hiring practices, handling conflict, and terminations of service.

How to Coach a Strong Team is a hybrid course consisting of five in-person learning experiences and thirteen weeks of online interaction.

ICSDH 260005 F19
Dr. Gideon Strauss
Hybrid (Online/In-Person)
Dates TBA

(MA-EL)

Syllabus