Syllabus

RELG 200
Biblical and Theological Foundations for Benevolence
Spring Semester: 2008 | February 11 ? March 31

01 SECTION: Lectures (Six Mondays): EB 114 Mon. 11:00 ? 11:50 a.m.
02 SECTION: Lectures (Six Mondays): EB 114 Mon. 12:00 NOO N ? 12:50p.m.
Labs with Preceptors: various times and locations (see below). Labs will meet beginning 2/11 and ending the week of 3/31. Please note that Spring Break (March 3-7) will interrupt the schedule, and Easter Break (March 21-24 ) will affect the labs on those dates. At the first lab, Preceptors will go over the syllabus.

Professors/Lecturers:
Terry L. Cross, Ph.D., Professor of Theology
Tom Doolittle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry
Mike Hayes, Ed.D., Director of the Leonard Center and Assistant V.P. for Student Development
Emerson B. Powery, Ph.D., Associate Professor of New Testament

Lecture Schedule – ?Sections 01 & 02
Tom Doolittle – February 11
Mike Hayes?- February 18
Emerson Powery- February 25 & March 10
Terry Cross?- March 17
Tom Doolittle?- March 31

RELG 200 Coordinator:
Tom Doolittle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry: WM 311, ext. 8291
If you have a specific question about the class in general, you are welcome to email Tom Doolittle: tdoolittle@leeuniversity.edu. If you have questions about grades, responsibilities, assignments, please contact your lab preceptor. Preceptors are responsible for the grades in this class. This class is jointly ?sponsored? by the School of Religion and the Leonard Center. You may contact Dr. Mike Hayes or Mr. William Lamb for information about service in general or questions about the Leonard Center: mhayes@leeuniversity.edu or wlamb@leeuniversity.edu
RELG 200 Gaduate Assuistant

Lab Preceptors:
RELG 200L-01A: Connie Potvin, Graduate Student: LC 201, Friday, 12:00 p.m. ? 12:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01B : Lena Barber, M.S.: LC 200, Wednesday, 12:00 p.m. ? 12:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01C: Megan Moe-Lunger, Ph.D.: LC 201, Friday 11:00 a.m. ? 11:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01D: Connie Potvin, Graduate Student: LC 201, Thursday, 4 p.m. ? 4:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01E: Taz Randles, M.Div.: LC 200, Friday, 11:00a.m. ? 11:50 a.m.
RELG 200L-01F: Milton Riley, Ph.D.: LC 201, Wednesday, 1:00 p.m. ? 1:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01G: Murl Dirksen, Ph.D.: LC 201, Wednesday 2:00 p.m. ? 2:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01H: Arden Jensen, Ph.D.: LC 201, Monday, 1:00 p.m. ? 1:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01I: William Jessen, Graduate Student: LC 200, Friday, 12:00 p.m. ? 12:50 p.m.
RELG 200L?01J: Matthew Sims, Ph.D.: LC 201, Monday, 3:00 p.m. ? 3:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01K: William Lamb, M.A.: LC 201, Tuesday, 9:10 a.m. ? 10:00 a.m.
RELG 200L-01L: William Lamb, M.A.: LC 201, Tuesday, 11:45 a.m. ? 12:35 p.m.
RELG 200L-01M: Phil Cook, M.Div..: LC 201, Wednesday, 12:00 p.m. ? 12:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01N: Lena Barber, M.S.: LC 201, Wednesday, 11:00 p.m. ? 11:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01O: Jeff Sargent, Ph.D.: LC 201, Wednesday, 10:00 p.m. ? 10:50 p.m.
RELG 200L-01P: Donald LeRoy, D.M.A.: LC201, Monday, 2:00 p.m. ? 2:50 p.m.

TEXT: Villafane, Eldin. Beyond Cheap Grace. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2006.

UNIVERSITY MISSION STATEMENT:

Lee University is a Christian institution which offers liberal arts and professional education on both the baccalaureate and graduate levels through residential and distance programs.? It seeks to provide education that integrates biblical truth as revealed in the Holy Scriptures with truth discovered through the study of arts and sciences and in the practice of various professions.? A personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior is the controlling perspective from which the educational enterprise is carried out.? The foundational purpose of all educational programs is to develop within the students knowledge, appreciation, understanding, ability and skills which will prepare them for responsible Christian living in a complex world.

CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

This course offers students an introduction to various aspects of service as portrayed from biblical, theological, and historical sources. Issues of benevolence, poverty, social justice, and ministry to those in need will be examined. A segment of the course will require students to do some form of Christian service in the world.

Prerequisites: BIB 110, BIB 111 (or BIB 101, BIB 102) 1 Credit Hour

I. PURPOSE
This course is intended to introduce students to the biblical and theological bases for service to the less fortunate.

II. OBJECTIVES OF COURSE
A. General Learning Objectives
This course seeks to:
1. Introduce students to several biblical passages and other texts that address the issues of poverty, benevolence, and service.
2. Relate the concepts of poverty and social justice that occur in the Old and New Testaments to the people of God.
3. Describe Jesus? approach to justice and the less fortunate.
4. Provide an overview of the concept of benevolence and justice throughout the history of the Christian church.
5. Explain the salient features of the ?social gospel? that arose in the early 20th century as well as provide an interpretive framework for understanding this movement.
6. Introduce students to the concept of social justice and sin in the structures of society.
7. Describe a theology for ministering among the less fortunate of the world and its effects on those providing service/ministry.
8. Introduce students to concrete ways of serving the needs of others in their communities and the world.
9. Examine the relationship between race and economics in contemporary society.
10. Relate the procedures to be followed in doing the service learning projects throughout students? tenure at Lee University.

B. Specific Behavioral Objectives
As a result of the activities and study in this course, the student should be able to:
1. Explain how various passages in the Old and New Testaments relate to the concept of Christian service.
2. Discuss the concepts of poverty and social justice in the Bible.
3. Identify Jesus? approach to justice and the less fortunate.
4. Give an overview of the idea of benevolence and justice throughout the history of the Christian church.
5. Trace the influence of the social gospel movement upon modern-day evangelical and Pentecostal movements.
6. Describe ?structural? dimensions of sin in societies.
7. Demonstrate a theological understanding of how to minister to the less fortunate of the world and explain the ministry?s effects on those who serve.
8. Identify concrete ways of serving the needs of others.
9. Discuss the role of race in relation to economics.
10. Describe the procedures for performing service learning projects at Lee University.

III. TOPICS TO BE COVERED
A. What is Christian Service all About?
B. Biblical Foundations for Service
1. The Old Testament and Justice and the People of God
2. The New Testament: Jesus, Justice, and Service to Others (the Gospels)
3. The New Testament: Early Christians, Justice, and Service to Others (other NT passages.
4. The Early Church and Service
C. Theological Foundations for Service
1. A History of Benevolence and Service in the Church
2. ?Thy Kingdom Come?: The Social Gospel?
3. ?Deliver Us From Evil?: Structures in Society That Oppress
4. ?Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread?: Serving the Poor and Marginalized
D. The Context of Social Service
1. The Church and Social Service Inside of the Community of Faith
2. The Church and Social Service Outside of the Community of Faith
E. What Are We To Do?
1. Practical Guidelines for Christian Service
2. How Do We Apply Our Theories?
3. Needs of the Area
4. Services and Agencies That Can Assist Us
5. How to Fulfill the Service Requirements at Lee University
6. A Life-long Servant
IV. INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
A. Readings of texts (both biblical and other sources)
B. Lecture
C. Discussion with the entire class
D. Small group discussions
E. Multi-media presentations
F. Presentation of case studies

V. RESPONSIBILITIES OF STUDENTS
A. Attendance
B. Reading of text and handout material for lectures and labs
C. Participation in discussions
D. Group participation in service

E. Response journals
VI. EVALUATION
A. Evaluation Activities
1. Attendance and Participation* (15% of final grade)
2. Reflection/Journal Papers (40% of final grade)
(4 reflection/journal papers @ 10% each)

3. Final Journal/Reflection Paper (15% of final grade)
4. Service (30% of final grade)
One MUST do service in order to complete the class.

All evaluation work will be provided by the lab preceptors. Therefore, listen carefully to their description of the below materials to discover further what they are looking for in your writing and work.

*Attendance will be taken at all six lectures and all six labs (a total of 12 meetings). One absence (in either lab or lecture) equals a loss of 5% of the Attendance/Participation grade; two absences equal 10% loss; three absences equal 15% loss. If students are to be away on school-sponsored trips, appropriate information must be given the lab preceptor before the absence in order for it to count as ?excused.? There are no other excused absences.

While the details of grading will be explained more thoroughly by your preceptor of the labs, some aspects can be offered here. First, you must attend all lectures, preceptorial labs, and service projects in order to get the full 15% of your final grade credit. Also, ?participation? in groups/discussions/labs requires attendance for full credit. Further, your 10 hours of service with your lab group will count towards another 30% of your grade. Obviously, attendance is required for credit.

Response journals are the reflective aspects of this course. What they are like and how they will be evaluated will be given by the preceptors at your first lab session. However, here is a preview of some aspects of the journals and their evaluation:

A journal entry/reflection paper will be necessary for each lecture and reading assignment (4 total). Using the lecture material and the readings for that section (which will be discussed in your labs), write a response to what you have read and heard. Use this journal to interact and think about the topics covered. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Can you think of another way to respond as a Christian to the issues covered? What is the basis for your evaluation of this material? You may also offer some personal reflection or story, but only as long as you also offer analysis and evaluation of the material. Remember that personal opinion is useful evaluation only if it is backed up by some form of reasoning behind it. The ideal journal entry for each lecture will be a minimum of 2 pp. double-spaced.

A final journal entry/reflection paper will be required for reflection on your service work (one). Critical reflection on the service that your lab group does will be one of the most important aspects of this course. This journal entry should be 750 word minimum, double-spaced. It should not be a ?report? of what you did, but rather a reflection on the meaning of such tasks and this one in particular. It should attempt to integrate how your understanding of benevolence in this course coincides with the action you performed. It should raise critical issues and questions as well as offer ideas that ?clicked? for you. Your lab preceptor should be helpful in assisting you to craft appropriate responses that integrate the readings, lectures, and your work.

Grading Rubric for Reflection Papers/Journals

Each paper/entry will be evaluated on a 10 point scale with the following components assessed by the lab preceptor:

5 points for turning in the assignment on time.
2 points for demonstrating knowledge of the lecture
2 points for demonstrating knowledge of the text
1 point for demonstrating application of lecture or text to life OR for evaluating the text and lecture for the week.

Dates and Deadlines:

Remember the following:
a. Attendance will be taken at the lectures and at the labs.
b. All service must be completed by April 11 (Friday).
c. All final journals/reflection papers must be handed to the preceptor by April 14 (Monday).
d. Journals/reflection papers are due at the time of the lab and cover the week?s lecture and reading (the lab preceptor will explain how s/he would like these to be handled).

Reading Guide for Dates this semester:

The reading is scheduled below to match the dates of the lectures related to the material. You will ?engage? the lecture and text reading in your reflections.

1st Week: February 11..??. Villafane, pp. ix-xiv
2nd Week: February 18??? Villafane, pp. 57-89
3rd Week: February 25??? Article by Birch, on library reserve, pp. 1-5
4th Week: March 10????. Article by Birch, on library reserve, pp. 5-13
5th Week: March 17…???.. Villafane, pp. 29-56
6th Week: March 31…???.. Villafane, pp. 1-28

Grading Scale

A = 90-100
B = 80-89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
F = below 59
VII. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES:

Lee University is committed to the provision of reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities as defined in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Students who think they may qualify for these accommodations should notify their instructor immediately. Special services are provided through the Academic Support Program.

VIII. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

As a Christian community of scholarship, we at Lee University are committed to the principles of truth and honesty in the academic endeavor. As faculty and students in this Christian community, we are called to present our academic work as an honest reflection of our abilities; we do not need to defraud members of the community by presenting others? work as our own. Therefore, academic dishonesty is handled with serious consequences for two fundamental reasons: it is stealing ? taking something that is not ours; it is also lying ? pretending to be something it is not. In a Christian community, such pretense is not only unnecessary, it is also harmful to the individual and community as a whole. Cheating should have no place at a campus where Christ is King because God desires us to be truthful with each other concerning our academic abilities. Only with a truthful presentation of our knowledge can there be an honest evaluation of our abilities. To such integrity, we as a Christian academic community are called.

IX. READING LIST

A Cry for Justice: The Churches and Synagogues Speak. Edited by Robert McAfee Brown
and Sydney Thomson Brown. New York: Paulist Press, 1989.

Amin, S. Imperialism and Unequal Development. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1977.

Barnet, Richard, and Ronald E. Muller. Global Reach: The Power of the Multinational
Corporations. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974.

Bellah, Robert, et al. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

Beckford, James A. Religion and Advanced Industrial Society. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.

Bennett, John C. ?Reinhold Niebuhr?s Social Ethics.? In Reinhold Niebuhr: His Religious,
Social and Political Thought. Edited by Charles W. Kegley and Robert W. Brettall.
New York: Macmillan, 1956.

Brown, Robert McAfee. Gustavo Guti?rrez: An Introduction to Liberation Theology.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.

Chopp, Rebecca. The Praxis of Suffering: An Interpretation of Liberation and Political
Theologies. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986.

Dorrien, Gary J. Reconstructing the Common Good: Theology and the Social Order.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990.

Elliott, Charles. Comfortable Compassion? Poverty, Power and the Church. New York:
Paulist Press, 1987.

Flanagan, Owen and Karthryn Jackson. ?Justice, Care, and Gender: The Kohlberg-Gilligan
Debate Revisited.? Ethics 97 (1987): 622-37.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press, 1970.

Gonz?lez, Justo L. Out of Every Tribe and Nation: Christian Theology at the Ethnic
Roundtable. Nashville: Abingdon, 1992.

Guti?rrez, Gustavo. The Power of the Poor in History. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1983.

_______________. On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent. Translated by
Matthew J. O?Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987.

_______________. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation. 2nd ed.
Translated by Caridad Inda and John Eagleson. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.

Hampson, Daphine. ?Reinhold Niebuhr on Sin: A Critique.? In Reinhold Niebuhr and the
Issues of Our Time. Edited by R. Harries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1986.

Hauerwas, Stanley. A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981.

_______________. The Peaceable Kingdom: A Primer in Christian Ethics. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983.

_______________. Christian Existence Today: Essays on Church, World, and Living In Between. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 1988.

Hauerwas, Stanley and William H. Willimon. Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1989.

Hays, Richard. New Testament Ethics: Community, Cross, New Creation. San Francisco:
Harper, 1996.

Hopkins, C. Howard. The Rise of the Social Gospel in American Protestantism, 1865-1915.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940.

MacIntyre, Alasdair. Whose Justice? Which Rationality? Notre Dame: University of Notre
Dame Press, 1988.

Minus, Paul M. Walter Rauschenbusch: American Reformer. New York: Macmillan, 1988.

Mott, Stephen. Biblical Ethics and Social Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

Moltmann, J?rgen. Creating a Just Future: The Politics of Peace and the Ethics of Creation in
a Threatened World. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1989.

______________. On Human Dignity: Political Theology and Ethics. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1984.

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989.

Niebuhr, Reinhold. Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics. New
York: Scribner?s, 1947.

______________. ?Walter Rauschenbusch in Historical Perspective.? Religion in Life 27
(1958).

______________. The Nature and Destiny of Man. 2 vols. New York: Scribner?s, 1964.

Rauschenbusch, Walter. Christianizing the Social Order. New York: Macmillan, 1912.

__________________. The Social Principles of Jesus. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1916.

__________________. A Theology for the Social Gospel. New York: Macmillan, 1917.

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.

Shaull, Richard. Heralds of a New Reformation: The Poor of South and North America.
Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1984.

Sider, Ronald J. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. rev. ed. Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Press, 1984.

____________. Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999.

Stackhouse, Max L. Public Theology and Political Economy. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.

Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Until Justice and Peace Embrace. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983.

Yoder, John Howard. The Politics of Jesus. Vicit Agnus Noster. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1972.