Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2013-2014 (archived)
Module THEO1201: The World, Human Destiny, and God
Department: Theology and Religion
THEO1201:
The World, Human Destiny, and God
Type |
Open |
Level |
1 |
Credits |
20 |
Availability |
Available in 2013/14 |
Module Cap |
None. |
Location |
Durham
|
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Excluded Combination of Modules
Aims
- To equip students with the skills of theological interpretation and
analysis needed for further study in theology at level 2.
- To provide students with a basic framework needed to analyze and
understand central religious insights into the nature of human
existence, its setting in the cosmos, and to interpret a range of
theological genres on these topics with critical insight.
- To present key points of interaction between (a) theological
anthropology and (b) theological notions of the world as structured by
community, freedom, and the future, as these two domains of reflection
intersect against the background of (c) theological understandings of
creation and providence.
Content
- The question of human existence and its destiny has,
understandably, provoked reflection by the greatest poets and
philosophers, scientists, artists, and religious thinkers in every age.
Very often, profoundly theological questions have been at stake. This
module opens perspectives on works that have shaped the
self-understanding of the West, works whose meaning and significance
have extended beyond the eras in which they were produced and beyond the
boundaries of scholarly disciplines. We reflect on a selection of six or
seven (varying slightly each year) from such works as the Odyssey of
Homer, the Book of Genesis, Plato’s Republic, the Aeneid of Vergil,
Augustine’s Confessions, Aquinas on creation and providence, Dante’s
Paradiso, the Essays of Montaigne, Shakespeare’s King Lear, the New
Atlantis of Francis Bacon, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Gulliver’s Travels by
Jonathan Swift, or Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. We encounter these
authors not as producers of ‘literature’ or ‘philosophy’ but as teachers
who help us to recognize and reflect on critical questions concerning
the human journey – conceived against the horizon of the divine.
Students will examine the recurring questions the works pose to each
other and to our own culture: questions about the nature of the world’s
order, whether humanity is subject to forces beyond our control or
understanding, and about the meaning of the world and human life as
‘created’ by God and summoned to a destiny yet unknown. Because the
module builds on a close reading of selected classic texts, students are
advised that somewhat more than the average amount of primary source
reading will be required each week; students will need to have their own
copies of the set primary source texts.
Learning Outcomes
- Knowledge of the underlying concepts and principles
associated with theological anthropology, religious understandings of
the natural and social world, and theological accounts of divine
creativity, agency, and providence – and a concomitant capacity to
interpret and evaluate central primary and secondary literature on
these questions.
- An ability to analyse texts with rigour, historical depth,
and perceptiveness about the implicit religious themes and questions
present in a wide range of literary forms. A capacity to perceive and
interpret relationships between key theological beliefs and spiritual
worldviews, such that their mutual influence becomes perspicuous and
available for academic study. Skills in reading, researching, and
writing about texts that, as spiritual artifacts, require careful
attention to genre and to their performative or formative functions in
communities. Also the capacity to think insightfully about a many
aspects of the human experience. A capacity to discern the deep range
of meanings suggested in metaphorical or imaginative language, and the
ability to apply this discernment when investigating both logical
arguments and non-discursive discourse.
- Skills in the analysis of the interaction between theory and
practice in a wide range of traditions and cultures. An ability to
read multivalent texts with intellectual nuance. Research,
presentation, and writing skills.
Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to
the learning outcomes of the module
- Lectures convey information and exemplify an approach to the
subject-matter, enabling students to develop a clear understanding of
the material and to improve their skills in interpreting and evaluating
information. Lectures in this module contain discussion as well as
seminar-type components, to allow for the integratation of sustained
student response and to encourage critical reflection as well as
text-based argumentation in close co-ordination with teacher
input.
- Summative assessment measures subject-specific knowledge and
understanding, along with student skills in research, analysis, and
argumentation.
- Summative take-home text analyses with increasing word count
as well as short essays fosters command of the material in a formative
manner and allows students to build up skills over time.
- Summative in-class writing assessments and examinations
require the presentation of information in written form under time
constraints at different points in the course of the module.
Teaching Methods and Learning Hours
Activity |
Number |
Frequency |
Duration |
Total/Hours |
|
Lectures |
19 |
weekly |
2 hours |
38 |
|
Seminars |
0 |
|
|
|
|
Preparation and Reading |
. |
|
|
162 |
|
Total |
|
|
|
200 |
|
Summative Assessment
Component: Take-Home Text Analysis (Gobbet) |
Component Weighting: 10% |
Element |
Length / duration |
Element Weighting |
Resit Opportunity |
Take-Home Text Analysis (Gobbet) |
250 words maximum |
100% |
|
Component: Take-Home Text Analysis (Gobbet) |
Component Weighting: 10% |
Element |
Length / duration |
Element Weighting |
Resit Opportunity |
Take-Home Text Analysis (Gobbet) |
500 words maximum |
100% |
|
Component: In-Class Text Analysis Writing Assessment 1 (3 gobbets) |
Component Weighting: 15% |
Element |
Length / duration |
Element Weighting |
Resit Opportunity |
In-Class Text Analysis Writing Assessment 1 (3 gobbets) |
45 min |
100% |
|
Component: Take-home Short Essay |
Component Weighting: 15% |
Element |
Length / duration |
Element Weighting |
Resit Opportunity |
Take-home Short Essay |
1000 words maximum |
100% |
|
Component: In-Class Text Analysis Writing Assessment 2 (1 gobbet, 1
essay) |
Component Weighting: 20% |
Element |
Length / duration |
Element Weighting |
Resit Opportunity |
In-Class Text Analysis Writing Assessment 2 (1 gobbet, 1
essay) |
60 min |
100% |
|
Component: Final Exam (2 gobbets, 2 essays) |
Component Weighting: 30% |
Element |
Length / duration |
Element Weighting |
Resit Opportunity |
Final Exam (2 gobbets, 2 essays) |
90 min |
100% |
|
None.
■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University