Foundations for Baptismal Living

January 11, 2024 - February 2, 2024
Live sessions occur on Fridays from 5-6:30 pm ET for group engagement of course material with the instructor and peers (synchronous via zoom). The zoom link is available within the course modules. The dates of the live sessions are: January 12, 2024 January 19, 2024 February 2, 2024 (Note: this meeting will be 5-7:00 pm ET)
$200USD
ChicagoIL
USA

Gain an appreciation of how to “think theologically,” reflect on what we know and how we know it, engage a variety of interpretive lenses and explore ways to talk across difference.

  • 4-week blended (synchronous and asynchronous) course
  • 3 hours a week
  • independent study (reading, watching, listening, and/or writing),
  • online text-based discussion (asynchronous),
  • final project due at the end of the third week

How do we get started? What are our foundational principles?

This course asks all the baptized to reflect on who we are as God’s people, and to consider how “who I am” affects “what I see,” “how I respond,” and what is my theological explanation for that.
The course uses the book How to Think Theologically by Howard W. Stone and James O. Duke (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2013) and a racial justice approach to addressing difference. You will have a chance to understand what theological thinking is and apply that to a contemporary issue that is important to you.
A final project (due at the end of the third week) is a short-video or written paper presented to the cohort, followed by a group response.

ORGANIZATION OF COURSE

  • WEEK 0. Preparing Before We Begin
      • Make sure to log into the class ONE WEEK before the course start
  • WEEK 1. Social Location and Theological Analysis
  • WEEK 2. A Theological Method
  • WEEK 3. Considering the Four Levels of Oppression in Context
      • Projects Due Saturday midnight
  • WEEK 4. Christian Community
      • AFTERWARD: Spiritual Formation

TEXT:
How to Think Theologically, Howard Stone and James Duke (Fortress Press, 2013)

This is the first course of the Fundamentals of Faith Series; it can be taken by itself or as part of the six-course series. It is a pre-requisite for the Preaching course.