Eschatology and Envisioning the Future: What s (the) Good? Syllabus *DRAFT* Brandy Daniels Spring 2017 Mondays, 1:00-3:50 COURSE DESCRIPTION: Eschatology, from the Greek ἔσχατος (eschatos) is the study or discourse of the last, final, or farthest things it is the area of theology that deals with the ultimate destiny of creation. Both cosmic and particular, its scope ranges from the universe, to the earth, humanity, and all the way down to the final state of individual people. This course explores the subject of Christian eschatology, including various approaches, key themes, and debates in theological literature, in and through conversation with contemporary scholarship on the future in cultural studies and critical theories. What do different eschatologies say about the future? How do these eschatologies draw upon Scripture, the Christian tradition, and other doctrines, particularly Christology, in their accounts, and how does that shape their reflections on the future? What is the role of human agency in envisioning the future? How does the future relate to the events of history? Does reflection on the future play any role in or for social transformation? Through exploring these questions (and many others), this course introduces students to key themes in eschatology, demonstrates the prospects for mutual illumination of eschatology and critical theoretical reflections on the future, and explores the impact of future-thinking on/for theology, ethics, ministry, and social justice work. COURSE OBJECTIVES: 1. To acquire a basic knowledge of the Christian doctrine of eschatology and the diversity of theological approaches, themes, and debates prevalent in eschatological reflection, as well as basic knowledges of critical theoretical reflections on futurity and the ethical dimensions of and in those discourses; to begin to integrate and synthesize theological and ethical reflection, cultural studies and critical theory, and ministry and social action. 2. To critically evaluate models of and for the future in light of eschatological reflections (and vice versa), in conversation with critical theories, historical and Scriptural influences, social locations, and broader theological and ethical frameworks. 3. To enhance capacity and imagination for constructive theological and ethical reflection and praxis related to eschatological reflection in relation to envisioning and engendering a better, more just future; to exhibit pastoral imagination and prepare to lead just and sustainable religious communities.
REQUIRED TEXTS: Bauckham, Richard, and Trevor Hart. Hope Against Hope: Christian Eschatology at the Turn of the Millennium. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Creation and Fall: A Theological Exposition of Genesis 1-3, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, volume 3. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004. Crawford, A. Elaine Brown. Hope in the Holler: A Womanist Theology. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002. Morse, Christopher. The Difference Heaven Makes: Rehearing the Gospel as News. New York: T&T Clark, 2010. Niebuhr, Reinhold. The Nature and Destiny of Man: A Christian Interpretation, 2 volume set. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. SCHEDULE: Week 1: Why (think about) the future? Hans Schwarz, Introduction: Who Still Cares about the Future? In Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 1-17. [B] Bauckham and Hart, Hope Against Hope, chapter 1, pp.1-25. Thomas More, Utopia. [B] Week 2: Creation and fall I. Eschatology: A Theological Timeline Niebuhr, Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 1, chapters VI & VII, pp. 150-208. Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, pp. 60-120. Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), chapters I & II, pp. 42-67. Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, pp. 1-59 2
Week 3: Christology Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, III.21-6. Jesus, pp. 91-106. [B] Niebuhr, Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 2, chapter II, pp. 35-67. Ted Peters, The Person and Work of Jesus Christ and The Work and Person of Jesus Christ. In God The World s Future: Systematic Theology for a New Era 3 rd edition (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015), pp. 343-428. [B] John Howard Yoder, The Possibility of a Messianic Ethic. In The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), pp. 1-20. [B] Week 4: Eschatological ends Morse, The Difference Heaven Makes, chapter 1, pp. 1-26. Niebuhr, Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 2, chapter X, pp. 287-324. Jürgen Moltmann, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), III. 11. The Restoration of All Things, pp. 235-256.[B] Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life 2 nd edition (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2007), VI. The Resurrection of the Dead and the Return of Christ, pp. 165-214. [B] Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, chapter V., pp. 149-187. Week 5: What dare we hope? Morse, The Difference Heaven Makes, chapter 2, pp. 27-50. Hans Urs Von Balthasar, The Obligation to Hope for All and Epilogue: Apokatastasis: Universal Reconciliation. In Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved? (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1988), np. [B] Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, chapter XI., pp. 391-423. [B] Moltmann, Introduction: Meditation. In Theology of Hope (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), pp. 15-36. [B] Crawford, Hope in the Holler, introduction, pp. xi-xviii. [B] 3
II. Eschatology and time (and space) Week 6: Continuity time, history, progress Ernst Troeltsch, Faith and History and Eschatology. In Religion in History (New York: T&T Clark, 1991), pp. 134-158. [B] Moltmann, The Coming of God, IV. 2-4, pp. 267-307. [B] Week 7: Discontinuity annihilation, eternity Bauckham and Hart, Hope Against Hope, chapter 3, pp. 44-71. Kathryn Tanner, Eschatology without a Future? In John Polkinghorne and Michael Welker, eds. The End of the World and the Ends of God: Science and Theology on Eschatology (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000), pp. 222-237. [B] Yoder, God Will Fight for Us. In The Politics of Jesus, pp. 76-88. [B] Week 8: Beyond a neat binary? Apocalyptic, etc. Morse, The Difference Heaven Makes, chapter 3, pp. 51-74. Bauckham and Hart, Hope Against Hope, chapter 4, pp. 72-108. Niebuhr, Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 2, chapter III, pp. 68-97. Christopher Norris, Versions of Apocalypse: Kant, Derrida, Foucault. In Malcolm Bull, ed. Apocalypse Theory and the End of the World (Cambridge: Buckwell, 1995), pp. 227-249. [B] Week 9: Continuity the hope of progress III. Eschatology, time and space, and ethics Wolfhart Pannenberg, Modernity, History, and Eschatology. In Jerry L. Walls, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 493-499. [B] Schwarz, The Liberating Power of Eschatology. In Eschatology, pp. 152-165. [B] Moltmann, The Coming of God, III. 10. Is Apocalyptic Eschatology Necessary?, pp. 226-234. [B] 4
Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Latinas Preferred Future: Our Proyecto Histórico. In En La Lucha/In the Struggle: Elaborating a Mujerista Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004), 52-61. [B] Ernest Bloch, The Last Wishful Content and the Highest Good In The Principle of Hope, volume 3 (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996), pp. 1312-1324. [B] Week 10: Discontinuity the problems, limits, and realities of progress Walter Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History. In Illuminations: Essays and Reflections (New York: Schoken Books, 1969), pp. 253-264. [B] Lee Edelman, The Future Is Kid Stuff. In No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004), pp. 1-32. [B] Jared Sexton, The Social Life of Social Death: On Afro-Pessimism and Black Optimism. InTensions 5 (2011), np. [B] Bauckham and Hart, Hope Against Hope, chapter 2, pp. 26-43. Week 11: Interim existence between the already and the not-yet Morse, The Difference Heaven Makes, chapter 4, pp. 75-98. Niebuhr, Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 2, chapter VIII, pp. 213-243. Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, pp. 121-146. Crawford, Hope in the Holler, chapters 2-4, pp. 15-89. Week 12: Beyond the binary? Theology and Ethics in an Eschatological Time & Space James Cone, They Sought a City: Martin s Dream or Malcolm s Nightmare. In Margaret Farley and Serene Jones, eds. Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty M. Russell (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999), pp. 90-104. [B] José Esteban Muñoz, Introduction: Feeling Utopia and Queerness as Horizon. In Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity (New York: New York University Press, 2009), pp. 1-32. [B] Fred Moten, Blackness and Nothingness (Mysticism in the Flesh). South Atlantic Quarterly 112.4 (2013), pp. 737-780. [B] 5
Letty M. Russell, Horizon of Freedom. In Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective A Theology (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1974), pp. 41-49. [B] Tanner, Eschatology and Ethics. In Gilbert Meilander and William Werpehowski, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics (New York: Oxford University Press: 2005), pp. 41-56. [B] Week 13: Hope against hope? Morse, The Difference Heaven Makes, chapter 5, pp. 99-122. Bauckham and Hart, Hope Against Hope, chapters 5 & 6, epilogue, pp. 109-212. T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets. [B] ASSIGNMENTS: Zero Drafts **due dates vary** Students will write one zero draft for two class sessions in different sections of this course. Signups for these assignments will occur at the end of add/drop period, and the student(s) having done the zero draft for a particular day/reading (or set of readings, depending on the week/material in question) will be responsible for beginning the discussion for that class session/particular reading(s). 6
A zero draft is a detailed explication of a set of readings. It is similar to, but far more than, a book review or report: its objective is to articulate and outline the main points of the respective readings the argument each is making, how they arrived at that argument, the context they are writing in, etc. and the relation of the readings to one another. The aim is to not only articulate what the authors are doing, but to understand what they are doing and their place in relation to the other readings and the broader context of the semester. Further instruction on this assignment is available in a supplementary handout posted on Blackboard. These papers should be approximately 6-8 pages in length. Mid-Term Paper **due at the beginning of class, week 7** Option A: Ministry Resource and Reflection. Students will create a ministerial resource a sermon, an outline for a 4-week adult-education series, an order of service for worship or a community event that responds to or reflects on the topics of this course. They will turn in the content of that resource, along with a 3-5 page critical commentary offering a rationale for and reflection on their resource. Option B: Popular Cultural Engagement and Analysis. Students will critically analyze a topic of this course through engagement with a popular cultural medium or current event, or will critically analyze a popular cultural medium or current event through engagement with a theme or text of this course. This reflection should be approximately 5-7 pages in length, and students must obtain prior approval on their topic beforehand. Option C: Extended Research Paper. Students will extend the depth and/or scope of their final paper assignment by approximately 7-10 pages. Students choosing this option should turn in their abstracts, proposed bibliographies, and an extended abstract/research plan of 2-3 pages by week 7. Final Paper **proposal due week 9, paper due by final exam week** The final paper will be an essay of original research, pursuing an original inquiry related to the topic of eschatology developed in relation to the themes of this course. This paper should be written and researched as if it were to be a conference paper presented at an academic conference of religion. The final paper should be 11-14 pages in length. A proposal consisting of a 200-400 word abstract and proposed bibliography are due at the beginning of week 9 (or week 7, if choosing Midterm Option C), and the paper is due during the final exam week. GRADING: - Attendance & Participation: 20% - Zero drafts (2@10% each): 20% - Midterm Paper: 25% - Final Paper: 35% 7