|
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Pre-campus Syllabus for
RLED635 Theological and Ethical
Foundations of Family Life
Instructor: Jane Thayer, Ph.D.
Session: July 29-August 2, 2002
Office phone: 471-6703
Class schedule: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MTWR
Office: S228 Seminary Hall
Class Location: Seminary Hall, Room S340
E-mail: thayerja@andrews.edu
Credits: 2 semester hours
________________________________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
OF THE COURSE
As the foundational course for the
Family Life Education graduate certificate program, this course examines
the Christian theological and ethical bases on which family ministries
are designed and implemented in both the church and the community.
Required Readings
Reading Guides
Pre-campus and Post-campus Assignment
Graded Assignments
Explanation of Assignments
Reading Guides
STUDENT OUTCOMES AND MEANS OF ASSESSMENT
Outcome |
Means of
Assessment |
KNOWLEDGE:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will know- |
- •definitions of theology and ethics
|
Exam |
- •the basic characteristics of "thinking theologically": active,
cognitive, demanding, multidirectional, secondary to faith, individual,
and communal.
|
Exam |
- •the basic criteria for thinking theologically with intellectual
integrity: adequate grounds, sound reasoning, conceptual coherence,
experiential fruitfulness
|
Exam |
- •the definitions and functions of the two basic interpretation
tasks needed when using Scripture in the development of theology:
exegesis and hermeneutics
|
Exam |
- •know two basic hermeneutical rules to use when applying the
NT epistles to life today
|
Exam |
- •know where to find the key biblical passages that relate to
issues of sexuality, marriage, divorce, remarriage, parenting,
and the role of the church in family ministry
|
--------
|
- •know the principles of how to use Scripture in making ethical
decisions
|
Exam |
- •know the differences between contracts and covenants as they
relate to family issues
|
Exam |
- •know the official Seventh-day Adventist* positions on major
ethical family issues: Abortion; abuse and family violence; birth
control; care for the dying; divorce and remarriage-2000 statement;
family; family violence; homelessness and poverty; homosexuality;
human cloning; marriage; sexual abuse of children, sexual behavior.
*If you are a member of another denomination, find your own denomination's
statements-as many as are related to family issues.
|
Present a file
with copies of all 13 statements |
- •know the National Council on Family Relations' (NCFR) guidelines
for professional ethics for a family life educator.
|
--------
|
SKILLS: Upon
successful completion of this course, students will be able- |
- •to recognize seven forms of theological fallacies: assertion;
scholarly opinion; association; projected consequences; ad
hominem criticism; clarification; and rebuttal.
|
In-class assessment
in teams of 2 or 3 |
- •to identify four common hermeneutical problems presented by
the New Testament epistles: (1) extended application; (2) particulars
that are not comparable; (3) cultural relativity; (4) task theology.
|
in-class assessment
in teams of 2 or 3 |
- •to apply Balswicks' theological model to marriage, parenting,
and believers' interpersonal relationships.
|
Prepare a learning
event in which you use this model |
- •to use Scripture in making ethical decisions.
|
In-class written
response to an ethical dilemma |
- •to state proponents' logic and biblical support for the following
five positions on divorce and remarriage: (1) no divorce, no remarriage;
(2) divorce, no remarriage; (3) divorce and remarriage for adultery
and desertion; (4) divorce and remarriage under a variety of circumstances;
(5) the official Seventh-day Adventist* position on divorce and
remarriage. *If you are a member of another denomination, state
your own denomination's position on divorce and remarriage.
|
In-class debates
in which you will "draw by lot" the position you are to defend. |
- •to take a stand and defend, using biblical support, your personal
position on divorce and remarriage.
|
Write a position
paper giving your beliefs regarding divorce and remarriage |
- •to advocate that the denomination and the local church be pro-active
in its ministry to families.
|
Write a letter
to your pastor or conference family ministries director. |
VALUES: Upon
successful completion of this course, students will value- |
- •theology constructed on sound principles exegesis and hermeneutics.
|
Self report |
- •the role of sound principles in the use of Scripture for ethical
decision making.
|
Self report |
- •unconditional love, grace, empowerment, and intimacy as elements
in healthy family and church relationships.
|
Evidence within
the above learning event |
- •the National Council on Family Relations' (NCFR) guidelines
for professional ethics for a family life educator.
|
Exam |
- •the role of the church in family ministries.
|
Letter to pastor
or family ministries director |
Back to top
REQUIRED
TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Textbooks
Guernsey, Dennis B. 1984. The Family
Covenant: Love and Forgiveness in the Christian Home. Elgin, IL:
David C. Cook. (110 pages)
House, H. Wayne, (ed.). 1990. Divorce
and Remarriage: Four Christian Views. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity.
(267 pages)
To order from the Andrews University Bookstore,
phone 1-800-385-2001
Journal Articles and Chapters in Books
The following materials-except the Balswick
chapter-are available in a Reading Packet that can be purchased from the
Andrews University Bookstore. The price includes copyright royalty for
the Fee and Stuart chapters. (The Reading Packet will probably be ready
shortly after April 1).
Balswick, Jack O., & Judith K. Balswick.
1999. The Family: A Christian Perspective on the Contemporary Home.
(2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. Chapter 1 (17-36).
(20 pages)
Fee, Gordon, D., & Douglas Stuart.
1993. How To Read the Bible for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding
the Bible (2nd). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Chapters
1 and 4. (32 pages)
Guy, Fritz. 1999. Thinking Theologically:
Adventist Christianity and the Interpretation of Faith. Berrien Springs,
MI: Andrews University Press. Chapters 1 and 5. (49 pages)
Davidson, Richard M. 1988. The Theology
of Sexuality in the Beginning-Genesis 1-2. Andrews University Seminary
Studies 26, (1), 5-24. (20 pages)
Davidson, Richard M. 1988. The Theology
of Sexuality in the Beginning-Genesis 3. Andrews University Seminary
Studies 26, (2), 121-131. (11 pages)
Davidson, Richard M. 1988. Theology of
Sexuality in the Song of Songs: Return to Eden. Andrews University
Seminary Studies 27, (1), 1-19. (19 pages)
Flowers, Ronald, Karen Flowers, & Betty
Holbrook. 1990. A Theological Rationale for Family Ministries in Caring
for Families Today: A Guide for Family Ministries (Rev. ed.). Silver
Spring, MD: Department of Church Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day
Adventists, 57-60. (4 pages)
Flowers, Ronald, Karen Flowers, & Betty
Holbrook. 1990. An Affirmation of the Family. Caring for Families
Today: A Guide for Family Ministries (Rev. ed.). Silver Spring, MD:
Department of Church Ministries, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists,
53-56. (4 pages)
NCFR Guidelines: Ethics for Family Life
Educators
SDA Statement on Divorce and Remarriage
(10 pages)
Back to top
PRE-CAMPUS ASSIGNMENTS
Read all of the reading assignments
given above.
Write a position paper on divorce and remarriage.
After reading the book, Divorce and Remarriage, write a 3-5 page
paper stating your personal position on these difficult issues. Support
your position with biblical and theological material.
POST-CAMPUS ASSIGNMENTS
Develop a learning event: Family as covenant
Write an advocacy letter. (This assignment
might be changed.)
ASSIGNMENTS THAT WILL
BE GRADED
To be completed on campus
(Percent is the weight of the assignment)
Exam (Fee & Stuart; Guy; Balswick, Davidson,
Brunt & Winslow, and Winslow,
NCFR) 20%
Position paper on Divorce & Remarriage
10%
Oral presentation (Divorce & Remarriage)
10%
To be completed post-campus
An advocacy letter (This might be changed.)
15%
Learning event: Family as covenant
45%
TOTAL 100%
Back to top
EXPLANATION OF
ASSIGNMENTS
Exam
The reading guides will help prepare you
for the exam. The exam will cover only the authors listed in the "Assignments
that will be graded" section. It is imperative that you read all of the
reading assignments before the intensive begins. There will not be enough
time to read everything during the intensive. The exam will be primarily
objective.
Oral presentation on divorce & remarriage
You will be assigned to a group and to a
position on the issue of divorce & remarriage. Your group will be
given a set amount of time to "make a case" for your position. The time
should be divided in such a way that each group member has approximately
the same amount of time to speak. After your group's presentation, the
rest of the class will ask you questions, trying to find theological flaws
in your position. (When you are not in the group presenting, you will
be asking questions.)
Collection of SDA statements on family
issues
If you do not have access to the internet,
you are to make a collection of SDA statements on family issues while
you are on campus. You may get these statements either on the internet
at the web site: www.adventist.org or
in the Readings Binder on reserve in the library. (You will have to Xerox
your own set of statements. Leave the originals for your classmates.)
You will be able to use these for reference in your ministry.
Advocacy letter
Write a letter to your pastor OR If you
are the pastor, write to your supervisor (the appropriate conference or
union official) The letter will be a theological rationale for family
ministries in your church.
- If you have a pastor who supports Family
Ministries, express appreciation and thanks for his support. Be specific.
(Then continue with Items 3 and 4 below.)
- If you have a pastor who does not support
Family Ministries, tell him/her that you are writing this letter to
state how you believe Family Ministries can help the church fulfill
its mission. (Don't use a "threatening" or "bossy" approach. Just use
an approach that is natural to you and that shows your enthusiasm and
commitment to Family Ministries.)
- Explain how Family Ministries is currently
helping the church to reach its mission (if you have an active Family
Ministries program) and/or explain your vision for what Family Ministries
could do for the mission of the church. Use materials in the Caring
for Families Today guide book. In your letter include a discussion
of the following two questions:
How can Family Ministries contribute to
the discipleship of your church members?
How can Family Ministries be a pre-evangelistic
tool by meeting needs in the community?
- You should conclude with a request asking
the pastor for his/her permission and support (financial and otherwise)
to hold some kind of Family Ministries event or series, etc.
- This letter should not exceed 2 typewritten,
single-spaced pages. You will have to make every word count. And, please,
do make the letter interesting and appealing. You are writing a promotional,
motivational letter.
- Whether or not you actually send the
letter to your pastor is up to you. (I hope you will, if it is appropriate.)
In any case, send the letter to the teacher of record for this class.
Learning event or series
- Build a one-time program or a seminar
or a series of programs or seminars based on the concept of marriage
and family as covenant. Or you may design this learning event as a series
of discussion topics for a small group that would meet for several weeks.
Guerney's book will be a primary resource.
- Teach people what it means to make a
covenant as opposed to a contract. (Broadly speaking)
- Show people how love and forgiveness
can bring healing and joy to the marriage and/or to the family.
- Prepare this learning event or series
so that it can be promoted and offered to the community as well as to
church members. Let this event or series be used as a pre-evangelistic
tool.
- Present the event or series and ask
the pastor or a family life educator to critique it for you. Send me
a copy of the critique.
- (You do not have to present it to the
community; it may be given to church members. However, I would like
to encourage you to offer it to the community. You will need to have
your pastor's support. And he/she should see your material and check
your methodologies before you present it.)
- Hand in to me a detailed description
of your teaching guide and any handouts you will distribute.
Back to top
DEADLINES FOR ASSIGNMENTS
Since this course is being given as a one-week intensive, it has been
designated a DG course, which means that some assignments will be completed
after the on-campus classes. The course has been designed so that most
reading assignments should have been completed as pre-campus work; so
that on-campus work can focus on in-class discussion, activities and group
work, and library resources; and so that some post-campus work will be
required.
Post-course assignments are due as soon after the intensive as you can
complete them. The sooner you finish the assignment, the easier it will
be and the more motivated you will be to finish. In any case, your assignments
should be mailed to the instructor by November 15, 2001, for the grade
to be recorded in the fall semester grading period. (The instructor will
tell you if assignments should be mailed electronically or by postal mail.)
You can submit your assignment until April 15, 2002, but after November
15, 2001, a $25 late fee will be charged. ($10 late fee for students from
outside the United States). If your grade has not already been recorded,
at the grades due date the first week of May you will be given a grade
based on whatever scores you have at the time.
Back to top
READING GUIDES
Reading Guide for RLED635 Readings
Fee and Stuart's How to Read the Bible for
All Its Worth
Chapter 1: Introduction: The Need to Interpret
- The authors say that it is naive to think that one
can just read the Bible and do what it says without interpreting the
Bible. For what two reasons is it naive? The nature of the reader
and the nature of Scripture. 14
- What does the reader bring to the text? Our experiences,
culture, prior understanding of words and ideas. 14
- In what way has the church historically understood
the Scripture to be like Jesus? Both divine and human. 17
- Interpretation of the Bible is demanded by the "tension"
that exists between what two characteristics? As God's Word it has
eternal relevance; but because it uses human words in history, it also
has historical particularity. 17
- What is the first task of the interpreter? To
be a good exegete. To find out what it meant to them. 21
- How can a person who does not know the biblical languages,
the historical backgrounds of the Bible books, etc., be a good exegete?
Ask the right questions. Questions that relate to context and to
content. 22
- What is the second task of the interpreter? To
do hermeneutics. What does the text mean here and now? 25
- What is the best control for determining what a text
means for us today? Find out what it meant to the original author.
25
Chapter 4: The Epistles: The Hermeneutical Questions
- The big hermeneutical issue among Christians committed
to Scripture as God's Word has to do with the problems of ______________________________.
Cultural relativity, 61
- The authors state that most of the matters in the
Epistles fit very nicely into a common-sense hermeneutics. The hermeneutical
difficulties that we have are all related to one thing. What is it?
Our lack of consistency, 62
- What is the basic rule for interpreting the epistles?
A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author
or his or her readers. 64
- What is the second rule for interpreting the epistles?
Whenever we share comparable particulars (i.e., similar specific
life situations) with the first-century setting, God's Word to us is
the same as his Word to them. 65
On pages 66 to the top of 70, there are many examples
and details of texts used to explain the problem of extended application
and the problem of particulars that are not comparable. For the purposes
of this course, we do not need to deal with them. Begin again with the
section on the problem of cultural relativity-page 70.
- The authors have attempted to give us guidance on
how to distinguish between items that are culturally relative and those
that transcend their original setting and have normativeness (standards)
for all Christians of all times. What are these 7 rules?
- Distinguish between the central core of the
message of the Bible and what is peripheral to it. 71
- Distinguish between what the New Testament itself
sees as inherently moral and wht is not. 72
- Note where the NT itself has a uniform and consistent
witness and where it reflects differences. 72
- Distinguish within the NT itself between principle
and specific application. 73
- To determine the cultural options open to any
NT writer. 73
- Keep alert to possible cultural differences
between the first and 20th centuries that are sometimes
not immediately obvious. 74
- Exercise Christian charity 74
- The authors say that much of the theology in the
Epistles is task oriented, that is, they were written for a particular
situation. The theology is not presented in a systematic way. And this
fact causes some problems: We want the Epistles to answer our
questions, but the texts are only answering their questions.
So how can we get our questions answered? p. 77
On the basis of a whole biblical theology, that includes
our understanding of creation, the Fall, redemption, and the final consummation.
That is, we must attempt to bring a biblical worldview to the problem.
No proof texts when there are no immediately relevant texts!
Fritz Guy's Thinking Theologically
In these two chapters, you will not find any discussion
of the theology of the family. But, you will learn some basic vocabulary
and criteria for thinking theologically. As you read these two chapters,
consider how this discussion of theology relates to a theology of family.
Chapter 1
- What are Guy's definitions of theology and faith?
- What does he call a "first order religious experience"
and a "second order religious experience"? Explain the difference.
- Define "Adventist" as Guy uses it.
- Study carefully his explanation of what "thinking
theologically" means. (p. 10) For the next several pages, he "decodes"
this explanation.
- On pages 15-17 Guy lists 3 basic questions that theology
asks. (What, why, so what?) What do these questions become in a theology
of family life? (Thought question-not in text, of course.)
- Which comes first: faith or theology?
- Guy says that "Ministry precedes and produces theology."
Does your experience affirm that? Through your ministry to families,
do you get a better understanding of faith, the will of God, etc., and
does your understanding of faith, the will of God, etc. contribute to
your ministry to families?
- What are the risks of doing theology?
- What roles do the theologian and the community of
faith play in thinking theologically?
- Know the differences among the terms orthodoxy, heterodoxy
and heresy. How would these terms relate to the church's understanding
of divorce and remarriage?
- Note his definitions of conservative and
liberal as used of people within a community of faith. Which
label best describes your theological thinking?
Chapter 5
- Know the basic criteria for thinking theologically
with intellectual integrity: adequate grounds, sound reasoning, conceptual
coherence, experiential fruitfulness.
- According to Guy, what are the three complementary
sources that Adventists use to find adequate grounds for their theology?
Are all of these three needed in developing a theology of family life?
- Does our theology affect our experience? Should it?
- In this day when so many people keep emphasizing
the fact that we are living in a post-modern era when people aren't
interested in theological propositions-they only are interested in experience,
should Guy place so much emphasis on reason?
- Be able to recognize seven forms of theological fallacies:
assertion; scholarly opinion; association; projected consequences; ad
hominem criticism; clarification; and rebuttal.
Davidson's The Theology of Sexuality
- In Genesis 1:1-2; 4a, what seven fundamental insights
about sexuality does Davidson derive? pp. 6-11
- What does Genesis 2:4b-25 tell us about the relative
status of the sexes-is it equality or hierarchical?
- State the 5 major arguments in favor of a hierarchical
view. pp. 14-18
- What is Davidson's concluding opinion about the relative
status of the sexes?
- In Genesis 3, do the biblical statements that Adam
and Eve's "knowledge of good and evil" and their knowledge "that they
were naked" (3:5,7) refer to the awakening of their sexual consciousness?
What is another interpretation of these texts?
- What is the judgment pronounced on Eve? (vs. 16)
- State the 5 major views for interpreting the judgment
on Eve.
- What does Davidson conclude? pp. 126-131
- Does he extend his evaluation of the husband-wife
relationship to determine the nature of relationships between all men
and women?
Back to top
Below is a sample cover sheet that should be used
for assignments you hand in.
Andrews University
Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary
TAKING A STAND AMONG THE CHALLENGES
OF DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
by
Sharon McTaggart
A POSITION PAPER
Submitted to Dr. Jane Thayer
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for RLED635-Theological and Ethical Foundations of Family
Life
at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan
July 29, 2002
smt37@hotmail.com
2543 Shepherds Hill Road
Worland, Wyoming
Back to top |