Particular attention is paid to the social and political context which facilitated such a growth as well as to the most important personalities and characteristics of the Methodist movement. Throughout the course, we employ an interdisciplinary methodology drawing up political economy, distributive and social justice literature, liberation theology, postmodern studies, and ethics. The purpose of this seminar is professional formation of doctoral students in Boston University through the study of certain central approaches in theology and an introduction to program requirements, faculty, and library resources, reading lists, and qualifying exams. Significant background in theology is required. Christianity has to find ways of making the gospel relevant to the pluralistic culture within which it finds itself.
Dialogue is based in Christian commitment, nurture, and discipleship.
This elective course will focus on the theory, history, and practice of music as it pertains to the worship of God in the Christian church. In addition, issues of conflict management and aesthetic balance in the current musical pluralism will be addressed. Two credit course. This course will be centered on the major writings, works and movements of dominant figures in seventeenth-century French Catholicism. Readings and discussion will focus on the experience and expression of Christ's Incarnation as the fundamental insight in this period of mystical revival, an insight that translated into works of active social compassion by clergy and laity alike.