ANGL 537     C.S. Lewis: Author, Apologist, and Anglican  (3)

This course will examine selected writings of C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) with special attention to the historical development and Anglican character of his work. It will consider how Lewis treated certain key themes through more than one genre, focusing particularly on his apologetics, science fiction, and fantasy. Themes and texts considered will include suffering and eschatology (The Problem of Pain / The Great Divorce), natural law and posthumanism (The Abolition of Man / That Hideous Strength), theism and naturalism (Miracles / The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe), and human and divine love (The Four Loves / Till We Have Faces).

ANGL 539     The Anglican Tradition of Reason: Butler, Newman, and Farrer  (3)

This course will examine the theological and philosophical aspects of an important tradition spanning three centuries of English Anglicanism. Focusing on the writings of three definitive figures who drew upon and shaped this tradition, we will examine Joseph Butler in the eighteenth century, John Henry Newman in the nineteenth century, and Austin Farrer in the twentieth century. All three were noted preachers and scholars, as well as original thinkers and devout churchmen; the works we read will represent these different modes and concerns of their writing. We will also examine the historical context in both church and society during their respective periods, and consider the significance and implications of this "tradition of reason" for Anglican theology today. This course also has the attributes of CHHT and THEO.

ANGL 540     The Shape of the Communion  (3)

This is a course on the Instruments of Communion and how they have shaped Global Anglicanism. It aims at introducing the students to the Anglican Communion structure and how it functions. It will begin with a cursory outline of the spread of Anglicanism from England through the formation of provinces. Along the way we will look at the concepts of Conciliarity, Subsidiarity and Reception in Anglican polity. We will have in depth discussions of the Instruments of Communion as well as the Anglican Congresses through the Virginia Report, the Windsor Report, the Lambeth Conference reports, the Anglican Consultative Council reports, the Anglican Congresses reports.

ANGL 541     Healing and Wholeness in Africa  (3)

HIV and AIDS is one of (if not) the biggest epidemics of our age. Its spread and the effects thereof are a story that is not fully appreciated in the West. The major cause of this status quo in the West is access to antiretroviral treatment that masks the effect. The challenge of access to care and healing, and the consequent effect on culture, education, labor, and economy, and the response of both the state and the church to the pandemic is going to be the focus of this class. Both church and state responses are fraught with challenges as they interface with local worldviews. It is expected that the student will have a greater appreciation of the extent of the pandemic and its effect and the role that the church has and is playing in mitigation, the not so adequate response of the international community and the shortcomings of government responses.

ANGL 542     Church and Politics in Africa  (3)

The Church in Africa operates in a context of religious pluralism while it claims the majority of the population. In many places in Africa it is the most trusted of all institutions in society. More often than not the state is very wary of the church's influence. Providing education, health and being the voice of the voiceless is the normal if not taken for granted role of the church. How does the church understand this role? What is the theology behind this or expressed through this? At times things have gone awry with the Church right in the middle. The course thus provides an opportunity to explore and understand this role of the church. This course seeks to lead to an appreciation of the public role of the Church in African societies and African countries and thus prepare and equip people for global understanding and engagement. It has an Anglican bias by design as it is intended to further understanding of Global Anglicanism. There will be survey discussions based on the bibliography.

ANGL 543     Contemporary Anglican Theologians  (3)

Long overshadowed by the disciplines of Biblical, historical, and liturgical studies, in the late 1980s and early 1990s doctrinal, constructive, and systematic theology in the Anglican tradition experienced an impressive renaissance that continues to this day. While many theologians around the Communion contributed to this development, most of the seminal figures were from the United Kingdom. Rather than a comprehensive survey, this seminar offers a close look at significant texts by David Brown, Sarah Coakley, John Milbank and Rowan Williams (among others) that represent various aspects of contemporary Anglican theology. This course also has the attribute of THEO.

ANGL 544     Anglican Conciliarity  (3)

This course traces the development of such Anglican Communion gatherings as the Lambeth Conference, Pan Anglican Congresses, the Anglican Consultative Council, and the Primates Meeting and explores the synergy or lack thereof as they give expression to the Anglican ecclesiological value of autonomy in communion. The concepts of conciliarity, synodality, subsidiarity, and reception are explored to see how they inform or challenge the now common phrase, "synodically governed and episcopally led.".

ANGL 559     Debating Same-Sex Relationships in the Anglican Communion  (3)

Same-sex relationships replaced the ordination of women as the most divisive issue in the Anglican Communion at Lambeth 1998 and then became the instigating crisis of The Windsor Report (2004). While this issue raises multiple disciplinary questions (biblical interpretation; doctrinal, liturgical, and sacramental theology; law; science; medicine; psychology; etc.), it is often perceived primarily as an ethical matter. Given that the worldwide Anglican Communion is debating the issue, despite our shared tradition it thus also raises questions of moral disagreement across vast and potentially irreconcilable cultural differences. This course will look at this issue primarily through an ethical and theological lens, paying particular attention to its context in various provinces of the Anglican Communion, especially in the Church of England and the Episcopal Church. This course also has the attribute of CEMT.

ANGL 594     Directed Readings  (1 to 4)

An Anglican studies topic developed by the student and a School of Theology faculty member to meet an educational goal not met through existing courses.

ANGL 625     Types of Anglican Theology  (3)

This course presents an overview of Anglican theology by addressing official Anglican formularies, liturgies and statements as these relate to different aspects of ecclesiology and theology and across different periods. Rather than a straightforwardly chronological approach, we will discuss the theology and theological implications of 'official' and semi-official documents and liturgies of the Church of England, The Episcopal Church, The Anglican Communion, as well as other national and regional churches. We begin with doctrinal statements of the English Reformation and briefly look at how these have been understood in non-English Churches, before moving to liturgy, ecclesiology and current issues in Anglicanism. The historical context of each set of texts will be explored by supplementary reading and classroom notes.

ANGL 643     Contemporary Anglican Theologians  (3)

What is the contribution of Anglicanism to theology today? This course examines the writings of selected Anglican theologians to find out both what is distinctive in the work of David Brown, Sarah Coakley, David F. Ford, John Milbank, Mark McIntosh, Kathryn Tanner, Rowan Williams, and others, and at the same time show what these theologians have in common. That commonality is central to Anglicanism, and we hope to show that there are reasons why a tradition with its roots in Great Britain still offers virtues to be practiced across the Communion, and likewise provides help in dealing with persistent theological problems. These theologians all begin their theology with (more or less critical) readings of Scripture and ecclesial practice. But each demonstrates that, from there, contemporary Anglican theology makes many "border crossings:" into the theology of other Christian traditions, into philosophy and sociology, into the arts and natural sciences, even into divine life.