Course Description:
The large cities of the world present enormous challenges and opportunities to the church of Christ. The purpose of this course is to develop a relevant evangelical practice for the church within the urban context, understood as contextual, or local theology. This course will expose the student to various dimensions of post-modernity as examined by several contemporary authors. The goal of the course is to help learners develop pertinent theological, missiological, and strategic initiatives for urban settings that can be applied to their own ministry.
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
- Know the primary resources for urban ministry.
- State the premises of contextual urban missiology, the principal hermeneutical debates over the past fifty years, and the emerging paradigms in urban mission.
- Evaluate the issues of post-modernity as they relate to urban ministry.
- Articulate/assess a relevant urban spirituality for life and the community of faith in light of the information gained from the course.
Course Texts:
Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (American Society of Missiology Series, No. 16). New York: Orbis, 1991.
Gellner, Ernest. Postmodernism, Reason and Religion. USA: Routledge, 1992.
Smith, Glenn, ed. The Gospel and Urbanization. 4th ed. Montreal: Christian Direction, Inc., 1997.
(Only available through ITS).
Listeners will read various journal articles.
|
