The Radical Theopoetics of John D. Caputo

This seminar will explore John D. Caputo’s Theopoetics, a "weak theology" of narratives, prayers and praise in response to the call of God in contrast to a "strong" theology of predicative claims about the existence and nature of God. 

Dr. Jim Olthuis
ICS 150907 / 250907 F24

Remote (Online Synchronous)
Tuesdays, 6pm - 9pm EST

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Enrolment Notes:

To register for this course, email academic-registrar@icscanada.edu. Last date to register September 13, 2024. ICS reserves the right to decline registrations.

*Attention TST students: if you are interested in taking this course for credit, you must petition your college of registration to count the course credit toward your degree program.

A Cosmic Theopoetics of/for Love

This seminar will explore, question and develop Olthuis’ ‘theopoetic philosophical work.’ Despite the ever present reality of brokenness, trauma and evil, in conversation with Levinas, Derrida, Caputo, Lacan and Žížek, Olthuis argues theologically, anthropologically, psychologically and etho-politically that the universe comes from Love, continues in Love, and is headed to Love.

Dr. Jim Olthuis

ICS 140909 / 240909 F23

ICT5711H L6201*

Remote (Online Synchronous)

Wednesdays, 6pm - 9pm ET

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Enrolment Notes:

To register for this course, email academic-registrar@icscanada.edu. Last date to register is September 15 (Note that the first class for this course takes place on September 13). Maximum enrolment of nine (9) students. ICS reserves the right to decline registrations.

*Attention TST students: if you are interested in taking this course for credit, you must petition your college of registration to count the course credit toward your degree program.

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.

Dr. Jim Olthuis

ICS 140908 / 240908 W23

ICT5704HS L0101*

Remote (Online Synchronous)

Wednesdays, 6pm - 9pm ET (Starting January 18, 2023, and finishing April 19, 2023.)

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Enrolment Notes:

To register for this course, email academic-registrar@icscanada.edu. Last date to register January 13, 2023. Maximum enrolment of nine (9) students. ICS reserves the right to decline registrations.

*Attention TST students: if you are interested in taking this course for credit, you must petition your college of registration to count the course credit toward your degree program.

The Radical Theopoetics of John D. Caputo

This seminar will explore John D. Caputo’s Theopoetics, a "weak theology" of narratives, prayers and praise in response to the call of God in contrast to a "strong" theology of predicative claims about the existence and nature of God. 

Dr. Jim Olthuis
ICS 150907 / 250907 F21

Remote (Online Synchronous)
Wednesdays, 2pm - 5pm EST

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Enrolment Notes:

To register for this course, email academic-registrar@icscanada.edu. Last date to register September 17, 2021. Maximum enrolment of nine (9) students. ICS reserves the right to decline registrations.

*Attention TST students: if you are interested in taking this course for credit, you must petition your college of registration to count the course credit toward your degree program.

Hermeneutics and Deconstruction

Against the background of Heidegger's Being and Time, this seminar will contrast Gadamerian "Hermeneutics" and   Derridean "Deconstruction." Attention will then focus on Derridean John D. Caputo's 2019 Cross and Cosmos as an exercise in reading-with as rabbi/poet.

Dr. Jim Olthuis
ICS 120901 / 220901 F20
Remote (Online Synchronous)
Wednesdays, 10am - 1pm

(MA, PhD)

Syllabus


*Attention TST students: if you are interested in taking this course for credit, you must petition your college of registration to count the course credit toward your degree program.

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

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

Group Process in Psychodynamic Therapies

This one-semester course (36 course credit hours) explores group dynamics and professional functioning in relation to psychodynamic approaches to psychotherapy. It examines experiential and theoretical factors with a focus on CRPO professional competencies. Within a small group context there will be emphasis on developmental processes, power dynamics, leadership influences and conflict resolution. Attention will also be given to deepening an understanding of psychodynamic psychotherapy within a therapeutic relationship. The class will function as a learning space in which issues and themes related to group dynamics are examined and processed.

Year Two - FALL Semester

ICS 152815 F18
Rev. Dr. Lawrence Beech, Dr. James Olthuis
Mondays, 1:00pm - 3:50pm
Location: TCPCE

Syllabus

Psychodynamic Therapies

This one-semester course (36 academic course credit hours) teaches the student basic concepts and skills in self-psychology and psychodynamic therapies that prepare students to work with clients. Priority is given to the safe and effective use of self, confidentiality, and self-care within the therapeutic relationship. The course includes components of psychotherapy that involve such concepts as empathy, present moment awareness, and a healthy therapeutic alliance, Students gain an awareness of transference and counter-transference through an ethical, clinical and spiritually-integrated therapeutic framework. This course will be of interest to students preparing for certification in the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario.

Year Two - FALL Semester

ICS 152809 F18
Rev. Dr. Lawrence Beech, Dr. James Olthuis
Mondays, 9:00am - 11:50am
Location: TCPCE

Syllabus

IDS: Archeology, Power and “Truthtelling” in Michel Foucault as Challenge to and Resource for Christian Thought

This course is designed to examine the body of work that marks Michel Foucault’s last years (1981-1984) in the context of the earlier themata of his career in order to examine that concentration upon the self as aesthetic construction and the philosophical self’s construction of itself as “truthteller”.  This examination is designed as a mirror in which the seminar participants are invited to consider their own orientation to themselves as Christian person, scholar and philosopher/theologian. 

Drs. Robert Sweetman, Nicholas Ansell, James Olthius
ICS 2400AC W17
Wednesday 9:30am-12:30pm

(MA, PhD)

Syllabus

Hermeneutics and Deconstruction

This seminar will examine and compare Hans-Georg Gadamer’s “Hermeneutics” and Jacques Derrida’s “Deconstruction.” Attention will also be paid to the emphasis on hermeneutics in Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time. The seminar discussions will move toward developing a non-violent reading-with hermeneutic theory which features both trust and suspicion.

ICS 120901/220901 F16
Dr. James Olthuis
Wednesday 6:00pm-9:00pm

(MWS, MA, PhD)

Syllabus

IDS: Problem-Historical Approaches to Philosophy, Theology, Psychology, and Art History

This course is designed to examine and appraise the critical practice manifest in the problem-historical tradition of reading texts in a variety of disciplines as to the ability of that practice to bring to the surface deep spiritual intuitions and concerns at play in those texts, and ability that fosters both a person of faith's open learning from and knowing criticism of those same texts.

ICS 2400AC W16
Bob Sweetman, James Olthuis, Nik Ansell
Wednesday 9:30am - 12:30pm

(MA, PhD)

Syllabus

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 F15
Dr. Jim Olthuis
Wednesday 6:00pm-9:00pm

(MA, PhD)

Syllabus

The Radical Theopoetics of John D. Caputo

This seminar will explore John D. Caputo’s theopoetics at the interface between deconstruction and the religion as an alternative to both classical theism and classical atheism.

Wednesdays, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Dr. Jim Olthuis
ICS 150907/250907 W15
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 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 F11
Dr. Jim Olthuis
Mondays 7:00-10:00pm
MWS, MA, PhD

Syllabi

Religion, Life & Society: Reformational Philosophy

An exploration of central issues in philosophy, as addressed by Herman Dooyeweerd, Dirk Vollenhoven, and the "Amsterdam School" of neo-Calvinian 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.

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Relational Psychotherapy and the Christian Faith

Relational psychology is an approach to counselling which envisions being-with as the heart of the psychotherapeutic process. The core features of a relational approach (empathy, re-stor(y)ing, transforming) and a four-stage 'spiralling' model of therapy (attending to, journeying-with, birthing-with, transforming) will be introduced.

Hermeneutics and Deconstruction

After giving brief attention to the hermeneutic theories of Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer, this seminar will focus on Derrida’s “deconstruction” as a hermeneutic theory.   Attention will also be given to John D. Caputo’s exploration of religious themes in Derrida.

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Download course syllabus (PDF)