The course surveys the Jewish context of early Christian literature and history through close analysis of primary texts. We begin with the origins of Jewish sectarianism in the second century BCE and study the development of various Jewish and Christian sects, concluding with Jewish and Christian groups in the second century CE. We will explore how closely related, and in many cases inseparable, Christian and Jewish identity were well into the second century CE.

The Book of Psalms, sometimes called Israel's "Songbook," engages the world of religious practice, or cult, in a variety of ways. This is true, also, of other biblical poetic compositions outside of the Psalms. The present course investigates the problem of Psalms and the Cult from a number of perspectives by posing a variety of questions. To what extent does Israel's poetry reflect or take for granted specific cultic practices? Are such practices individual or communal? Were they connected with expert oversight? How might Psalms have been used during cultic practice? Were they liturgical or performative texts? How might the relationship between psalms and prophecy inform the discussion? Students will formulate answers to these and other questions by close reading of a selection of Psalms in Hebrew, and by engagement with secondary literature and material culture evidence. Three semesters of Biblical Hebrew or equivalent.

This course explores theoretical problems in Christology, including the nature of the transition from the New Testament to Christological dogma, the ontological and psychological constitution of the incarnate Word, his human knowing, and his redemptive work, through selections from classic and contemporary authors.

This seminar introduces students to classic and contemporary works in liberation theology that emerge from diverse historical contexts and address matters of universal concern. It examines the organic relationship between liberation theology and grassroots social movements confronting problems of extreme poverty, racism, sexual violence, and environmental devastation. It clarifies the liberative meaning of doctrinal traditions in areas such as trinitarian theology, Christology, pnematology, soteriology, and theological anthropology and explores various approaches to a spirituality of liberation. It engages prominent critiques of liberation theology and touches on recent innovations such as the decolonial turn.

This course concerns various theologies of the ascetical life in Early Christianity. The course will begin by asking just what Christian asceticism is, both in distinction from the asceticism of Jewish and Hellenistic traditions, and on its own terms. The second unit of the course will pursue questions of how Christian ascetics speak, especially insofar as this is shaped by biblical narrative. Here we will treat cenobitic and eremetical traditions, and the theological import of monastic rules. The final unit will concern theologies of grace and union with God, with special interest in the tradition of divinization in Greek Christianity.

This course offers an in-depth study of Marcion, one of the most significant heretics ofthe second century CE, and his impact upon and place within early Christianity. The first half of the course will focus on the portrayal of Marcion found in the writings of several of his most prominent opponents, including, e.g., Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Epiphanius, and Origen. The second half hones in on elements of Marcion's theology and texts, along with the proto-orthodox polemic against them, including topics such as Marcion's dualism, ecclesiology, Gospel, Apostolikon, points of contact with ancient philosophies, and "disciples."

Famously, Heidegger accused nearly all western philosophy of ontotheology, the naming of God as Being and everything else as manifestations or participations in that metaphysical scheme, a manifestation of the human desire to grasp, to comprehend, and thus, in some measure, to manipulate and control reality as such, the ultimate extension of humantechne, our capacity to manipulate the world. Such a metaphysics, he averred, deprives Being of its deep mystery by claiming to know its nature as such, and thus to grasp it and make it useful. In the end, it is little more than a more refined and civilized dimension of the Nietzschean will to power. Ever since, scholars have sought the precise origins and development of this pernicious modernity. Also famously, so-called Radical Orthodox thinkers have sketched an influential genealogy of this modernity that extends through Suarez back to Scotus, and then hinted that behind Scotuss error may be even Bonaventure. In the preface to the second edition ofTheology and Social Theory, John Milbank traces this first step through to the Scotist leap and the modern tumble into the ontotheological slough, labeling this bad tradition Franciscan modernity. While this narrative has recently come in for trenchant criticism, it remains widely and resiliently prevalent. This seminar, accordingly, seeks to canvas the problem of Franciscan modernity, critically assessing the accuracy and utility of this genealogical narrative, beginning with its sources in the late Middle Ages and then surveying its modern proponents and detractors.

This seminar will explore the narratives that emerged in theLbgtiq+ communitys protests in the streets demanding recognition of their identities and rights. These experiences gave way to political, theological and spiritual thinking that imagines the person and society in new ways. We will also address ecclesial challenges, focusing new horizons for spirituality, new forms of community and new theological narratives that emerge from gender exclusion as political and spiritual resistance, reshaping the human condition and the Christian identity from denied bodies.

A study of Thomas Aquinas's Pars Secunda of the Summa Theologiae, including his writings on Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Fortitude and Temperance.

A graduate-level in-depth overview of historically grounded modern and contemporary Islamic theological and legal thinking in both majority and minority contexts throughout the Middle East, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, with attention to: debates about the impact of colonialism, the Western Enlightenment, and the politics of resistance; political ideologies including secularism, nationalism, socialism/Marxism, democracy, authoritarianism, various forms of political Islam and the "Islamic" state, theologies of liberation, Salafism, and violence and extremism; Islamic law and justice; women, gender and sexuality; religious pluralism; science and medicine; and ethics and the environment.

This course explores the meaning of mercy, particularly in its relationship to justice. It examines four major topics: (1) mercy in its relationship to retributive justice, focusing on mercy or clemency in the case of criminal sentencing, as well as broader questions of retribution for wrongdoing, such as whether there can or should be criteria for the exercise of mercy, whether mercy can be exercised unjustly, and the relationship of forgiveness to mercy; (2) mercy in its relationship to distributive justice, focusing on the corporal works of mercy and issues such as the relationship of justice and private charity; (3) mercy in its relationship to social justice, or the social face of mercy; and (4) divine justice and mercy, focusing on the way theologians have attempted to reconcile God's mercy and God's justice. Readings for the course will be interdisciplinary, including philosophical, theological, and legal materials.

This seminar studies the diverse Christological patterns in the New Testament: Jesus as embodiment of Wisdom in sayings and hymns (John); as fulfillment of messianic hopes (Matthew); as crucified and resurrected redeemer (Paul), and as exalted in heaven (Rev). Both Jewish elements in these patterns and their reformulation in second and third century Christianity (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Valentinians and Origen) will be discussed. The final section of the seminar will discuss the use of these studies in Catholic systematics (Schillebeeckx, Gutierrez, Schussler-Fiorenza, Johnson and Benedict XVI).

This course will engage in close readings of Karl Marx's political and philosophical work and trace his critique of capitalism as formulated in Capital. Students will be introduced to Marx's intellectual context, his key texts and concepts, and reflect on the legacy of his philosophical and political contributions, particularly in critical studies in religion and theology. The course will also engage with texts that expand the Marxian contribution to the realm of postcolonial studies and critical theory.

Recent developments across a variety of disciplines have led to deep and widespread interest in "political theology" -- a diverse range of approaches to interrogating, (re)imagining, and (de)constructing the intersection of politics, religion, and theology, present and past. Scholars have argued that dominant paradigms of sovereignty, the secular, modernity, and liberalism are themselves secularized, corrupted, or otherwise transformed versions of Jewish and Christian theology. Others contend that modern political practices and paradigms represent not the legacy of early modern secularization but the trail of an early modern reinjection of theology in political and social theory. Others still find in the practices of contemporary communities lived political theologies that subvert existing power structures and cast doubt on common conceptions of contemporary political life and possibilities. This course examines these competing developments, readings, and proposals; their interactions; and the contested histories, theories, and values that underwrite them. Considering political theology as both a historical and contemporary phenomenon and engaging a range of perspectives and figures, the course also considers relations and interactions between political theology and other approaches to questions of "religion and politics."