Nineteenth and twentieth-century developments in philosophical method, biblical exegesis, theology, and fiction, as influenced by the “existentialist” framing of questions traditionally raised about the meaning of life. Focus, in turn, upon:

1. Soren Kierkegaard's exploration of his personal courtship experience as a resource for theological reflection on Abraham and Isaac;

2. Fyodor Dostoevsky's dramatization of bottomless, spiteful self-consciousness to which Jesus's kiss of the Inqusitor is the only positive answer?

3. Rudolf Otto's “phenomenology” of religious experience as preparation for subsequent religious existentialisms;

4. Paul Tillich's reconceptualization of faith as “ultimate concern” expressed through metaphor and myth guarded against idolatry; and

5. Jean-Paul Sartre's fictionalized vision of redemption from sceptical existentialist sickening.

Emphasis on independent, critical evaluation of the texts discussed and the preparation of five well-argued short reports on each.

REQUIRED READING:

Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard
Notes from Underground and “The Grand Inquisitor,” Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto
The Dynamics of Faith, Paul Tillich
Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Attendance expected. Make a contribution: 5%.

Five Response/Book Report Papers, each 3-4 pages (or more). Due on the dates indicated below.Choices of topics and formats to be discussed in class. Each worth 19% of the course grade. Grade penalty for a late paper--as circumstances warrant. Need I worry about plagiarism? (Calvinists worry about "total depravity.")

No Mid-terms, no Final Exam.

COURSE SCHEDULE:

Reading to be completed for class discussion on the days specified. Keep up with it.

Week 1

Introduction, time-line, religion vs. science and "enlightenment," the ambiguous good of individualism and self-consciousness

Week 2

Fear and Trembling
Fear and Trembling

Week 3

Fear and Trembling
Video: Dostoevsky ....... Paper due

Week 4

“The Grand Inquisitor” (video)
Notes from Underground

Week 5

Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground

Week 6

The Idea of the Holy ..... paper due
The Idea of the Holy

Week 7

The Idea of the Holy
The Idea of the Holy

Week 8

Friedrich Nietszche ..... Paper due

Week 9

The Dynamics of Faith
The Dynamics of Faith

Week 10

The Dynamics of Faith
The Dynamics of Faith

Week 11

Nausea ..... Paper due
Nausea

Week 12

Nausea
Nausea

Week 13

Nausea
Nausea

Week 14

Nausea
Nausea ..... Paper due