BBST 465 Seminar Descriptions

This seminar explores the concept and reality of beauty in the world as it relates to culture, the Bible, our worldviews and our spiritual lives. We will survey the concepts of beauty through history and discuss a theological concept of beauty from the Bible and classical teachings. We will discuss God’s use of beauty in the world, His lordship over beauty and the significance of beauty in social and personal spirituality. The class involves practical integration of theology and culture through scholarly studies and field exercises. We aim to apply a biblically theological perspective of beauty to faith, society and culture, and to recognize God’s lordship of beauty in the world through common grace.

This seminar has three sections: (1) We will look at the history of Christianity and the natural sciences for examples and lessons of their past interaction [which, contrary to myth, has often been favorable]; (2) We will survey the contemporary approaches which various people advocate for the interaction between Christianity and science; (3) We will focus on a specific issue, the Creation & Evolution debates, for a detailed look at the contemporary approaches.

The purpose of this course is to reintroduce the ancient ideal of practical reasoning, self-knowledge and action in the care of the sick and the marginalized, with a special focus on people with disabilities. The student will engage in discussions on various aspects of healthcare humanities, including historical theology, the history of medicine, literature and medicine, movies and arts and medicine. The student will use these humanities to gain an increased perspective and understanding of the healthcare professional/patient relationship, the art of listening, visual observation, and ethical principles in the context of a Christian worldview. While some of the main texts in this course highlight physician’s experiences and medical school education, any student in any of the healthcare related majors will benefit from the particular lessons learned in these contexts.

This seminar is especially designed for students in the Christian Ministries major though scripture indicates that all believers are to be equipped for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11-13), so all ministry-minded students are welcome. The seminar will cover critical topics of current interest and concern to vocational Christian ministers, and particularly for those serving in local and parachurch-based positions.

This seminar is designed to be a senior capstone course in which the student will reflect upon the Bible, educational philosophy, and current educational issues in order to integrate personal Christian beliefs and values with the field of education. Historical educational theories and philosophies will be compared to those of contemporary society and traditional Christian world view(s). Students will engage in developing their own integrated philosophies.

A senior level capstone seminar in which the student will search the Bible and the literature dealing with a study of Christ and personal, Spirit-led formation 'integrated' with Biblical truth. Students examine their own formation through critical evaluation of the knowledge, skills, and values of the discipline according to Christian faith and practice (i.e., a biblical worldview), describe a personal relationship with God in a maturing Christian faith and practice, and demonstrate the ability to serve the church and the world for Jesus Christ’s purposes of redemption.

Our task in this seminar is to wrestle with the intersections between art and theology within our contemporary cultural context. What does it look like for an artist or scholar to rigorously engage both Christian theology/practice, on the one hand, and contemporary art theory/practice, on the other? How might the two serve to enrich and deepen each other? What does is look like for a life to be both profoundly theological and profoundly artistic, and for these to form a unified whole?

We will attempt to answer these questions through careful reading and writing, coupled with in-class lectures and discussion. We will investigate a range of critical and theological frameworks that offer possibilities for a more meaningful Christian engagement in the contemporary arts.

This course is designed to equip students with Spanish Christian vocabulary, language, and cultural knowledge for use in pastoral, non-profit, and missions-related fields. This preparation will be relevant for students involved in evangelism, revivals, seasonal celebrations, men’s and women’s ministries, and community work.

This seminar will introduce students to the theological discipline of Christian Ethics. The introduction will frame Christian ethics against the main contemporary philosophical ethical theories; re-capitulate and examine the doctrine already studied in Theology I and II for its ethical bearing; and explore a range of theologically and practically important contemporary ethical questions. Students will pay particular attention to how the Bible shapes the discipline in a setting of worship, mission and discipleship. Students will analyze and evaluate particular forms of ethical argument, learning through class lectures and discussion. Topics addressed may include: moral formation, cultural participation, worship and work, virtues and natural law, property, sexuality, gender, race, economics, medical, environmental, and bio-ethics, war and peace.

Students will understand not only the theology of evangelism, but understand how today’s argument culture presents challenges to communicating the gospel.

This senior capstone integration course covers what a Christian film is and what makes a Christian filmmaker. Films will be analyzed and discussed to understand how God's truth can be seen in films regardless of who creates them. The study of film is used as a means for reflection upon the meaning and truth of the Christian faith as well as its communication and embodiment in contemporary culture. The films selected are representative of shaping critical thinking from a variety of theoretical and theological perspectives. The course combines film screenings and discussion of the films required for viewing each week. By the end of the course, students should be able to extract meaning and enter into discussion about theological issues perceived as themes in various motion pictures.

Mathematics is one of the oldest disciplines of academic study and its history has intertwined with theological issues since the ancient Greeks. In this course we will look at that history and the major philosophical and theological questions which have arisen in relation to math, and their answers. We will also look at how serious math is used in Christian practice today through biblical numerology, apologetics, practical analogies, and types. Practical analogies and types are ways of relating mathematical phenomena, such as infinity, dimensionality, and incompleteness, to God. Did God create mathematics or does it is a part of His being? Regardless of which side of the issue students land on, they will be challenged to an expanded apprehension of God through the revelation of His nature through abstract mathematics and exemplified in the physical world. All math majors are strongly encouraged to take the course, as well as students interested in mathematics who have taken one semester of Calculus or Statistics.

This is the senior capstone seminar for ICS majors. It is an integration seminar, summing up in a final project, all that the student has learned and synthesized in the past 3+ years of the major. In this course, the student will search the Bible, worldviews, philosophies, and current issues, in order to contextualize Christian beliefs and values with the fields of mission, anthropology, social justice, and related intercultural interests. Examination of scriptural principles and Biblical truth will be compared to those of contemporary society for the purpose of integration. Both traditional and current (modern and postmodern) concepts will then juxtapose Christian thought and worldview. Students will engage in developing their own integrated philosophies, as a result of critical thinking, for application in real life, cross cultural settings. Please note that this course is largely discussion- and research-driven.

In this seminar we are investigating what it means to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God in a world that is often and increasingly contentious to Christian beliefs and practices. Though many questions are black and white in the Bible and a scripture formed Christian worldview, social, technological, and scientific advancements have increased the gray areas that Christians must learn to navigate in a winsome and thoughtful manner. In this course we will be introduced to, explore, and feel the tension of those gray areas.

Money, sex and power are so often associated with human sin that we read the words as a vice list. However, all of these words represent or reflect an aspect of creation which God deemed to be good. In fact, money, sex and power are essential to human life in a material world. This seminar will examine both how we have abused these aspects of creation and also cast a vision for what the world might look like if money, sex and power were submitted to the Lordship of Christ.

Music has been described as “one of the most powerful media humans have at their disposal; how it mediates and what it mediates are notoriously hard to understand or explain” (Begbie, Resounding Truth). Like all other parts of creation, music bears the marks of the fall and is tainted by the messages, themes and character of the world. According to Dr. Rick Langer, “The task of theological integration is the enthroning Christ as King in every sphere of human endeavor and every aspect of the created order.” The challenge for the Christian musician is to evaluate our contemporary culture in a theologically discerning way and to express the depth and breadth of God’s truth through the medium of music. In this course, students will learn to look at the contemporary music world, first as artists who evaluate their culture as trained experts in their field of study and, second, as theologians who evaluate their culture and express their faith in a way that resonates with the expressed truth of God’s Word. Students will explore theological themes appropriate to their musical expression and also perform a work that declares God’s truth through their musical expression.

This seminar focuses on a study of the foundations and theories of ethics as related to the Bible, the marketplace, and the modern corporation. Case studies in modern ethics are discussed with a view to raising the moral consciousness of business professionals.

This course invites students to become familiar with a classic of evangelical spirituality. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress sits still at number 80 in PBS’ recent America’s Big Read survey. Besides the Bible, it long claimed the place as second most published book since its original publication in 1678. In encountering The Pilgrim's Progress students will be invited to reflect critically and biblically on the theology of the text and its rendering of the Christian life. Attention will be given to the shape of Puritan accounts of conversion and Christian living as also mapped in Bunyan’s Grace Abounding. Students will be required to imaginatively journal the encounters of their own lives in allegorical form, offering scriptural marginal notes, in a mode that is spiritually edifying to other Christians and glorifying to God. Required lecture videos for each Module will cross disciplinary boundaries of history, politics, and economics, through philosophy and psychology, to contemporary literary and film studies; research into the spiritual formation that comes out of Pilgrim's Progress and its spiritual and cultural legacy could focus on movies, music (opera, musicals, prog rock), and art, as well as adaptations of the text for children or contemporary readers, or study guides designed for church or devotional use, or graphic novels, or re-tellings in fantasy or sci-fi mode.

An introduction to the field of positive psychology, which focuses on the systematic study of optimal human functioning; aiming to discover factors that contribute to individual and community flourishing. Theological integration will also be covered as it shares a concern with both Christian theology and ancient eudaemonistic ethics regarding the cultivation of human virtues. Students will use the integrative thinking cultivated in the class while researching and presenting their findings. This seminar is open only to psychology majors.

Students successfully completing this course will gain an overview of the mandate for cross-cultural encounter seen in Scripture and as a crucial element of successful 21st century journalism or public relations in the United States as a globalizing marketplace. The course guides students in exploring their own racial/ethnic heritage and experience, walks them through encounter with someone of another culture in an in-depth journalistic (or PR) storytelling process; its apex is written research exploring the scholarly and Scriptural support for cross-cultural encounter in journalism, public relations, or some hybrid of these in today’s world; its apex is written, researched narrative exploring the scholarly and Scriptural support for encounter with others with whom we differ. Its principles are applicable to any pre-professional journey.

This integration seminar will focus on ethics and leadership in light of what it means to be called to the industry of public relations. Attention will be given to the way our theological and social ideologies of calling and meaningful work influence habits of the heart and soul, as well as professional implications for practice.

The Christian communities of the first three centuries developed and thrived in the environment of the rigidly stratified and increasingly violent Roman Mediterranean. This seminar seeks to understand the ways in which both the New Testament texts as well as early Christian martyr texts participated in Roman discourses and realities of power, status, virtue, gender, and violent spectacle as these Christ-confessing texts sought to showcase Christ-following virtues and attitudes. While a great deal of this seminar will have a historical and literary focus, as an integration seminar, it will continually invite the student to reflect on contemporary topics and, all along the way, to put our ancient and academic sources in conversation with theology and the Christian worldview.

This seminar educates students on the integration between the theological use of heroes and villains to convey truth and the use of heroes and villains in popular movies to convey worldviews. Students will learn about God’s common grace in the development of many heroes of movie stories, various worldviews expressed in pop culture and the application of understanding heroes and villains on personal discipleship and cultural engagement.