THEOLOGY 385 SPECIAL QUESTIONS IN MORAL THEOLOGY: Ecological Degradation
Offered as a Long Distance Learning Course Spring 2004
Can religious traditions motivate believers to stop accelerating the rate of species extinction, degrading and destroying ecological systems, and threatening the integrity of Earth's biosphere? Widespread abuse of the physical environment has prompted increasing numbers of scholars of world religions to pose this question. They have been exploring ways of thinking that might prompt people of faith to act in ways that are more compatible with the well being of the more-than-human others that constitute our planet. Students enrolled in Theology 385 are afforded an opportunity to participate in this ongoing "greening of religion" by examining teachings of the major religions of the world to discern the extent to which they provide promising foundations for environmental ethics. Current and future teachers are provided opportunities to gear their learning toward application in the classroom and/or education of the public.
During the first part of the semester, we will examine Christian rationales for responding to ecological concerns. Texts by Pope John Paul II, the United States Catholic bishops, and leaders of other Christian denominations will be examined, and each student begin to review a contemporary theological text selected from a list of options. Emphasis will be placed subsequently on critically retrieving and reformulating notions in the Bible and works by eminent Christian theologians in order to respond more relevantly to current ecological problems. Focus will shift to the ecologically promising orthopraxis suggested in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Stressed throughout is the need for religious discourse to be informed by broad scientific findings, particularly evolutionary biology and ecology.
Students will aim to achieve the following objectives: (1) Distinguish among various types of environmental ethics and grasp the distinctiveness of religious foundations for ethical norms; (2) identify and explain key notions in the Christian and other major world religions that appear relevant to addressing ecological degradation; (3) critically assess the extent to which these notions provide ways of thinking about and living more compatibly within the ecosystems of Earth and choose one that appears most promising; (4) adequately research an ecological problem on which to test the viability of theological notions examined in this course; (5) demonstrate analytical and integrative skills in a PowerPoint presentation by applying an assigned religious theme to an ecological problem and assessing its capacity to respond to the problem; and, (6) effectively prepare a teaching unit or course on the subject matter at a particular level of education OR research and write reflectively on an approved topic.
This experimental online course will begin with a teleconference from Raynor e-Learning Center on Tuesday, January 18, 4:30-7 p.m. Two additional teleconferences are built into the course at strategic points of the semester to facilitate student-professor interaction. Participation in the Discussion Board tool of the BlackBoard online learning program (http://bb.mu.edu) will also be used to share perspectives on selected assigned focus questions and to evaluate student PowerPoints presentations. During the final teleconference, the effectiveness of this course as an online learning experience at the graduate level will be evaluated. Graduate students from other colleges and universities may be enrolled in this course, since it is being marketed over the Jesuit Education Network (http://www.jesuit.net) and other venues. The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is running a scholarship competition that will cover the tuition of one graduate student (application accessible from www.protectingcreation.org). Enrollment in the course is capped at ten students.
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