Independent Study

This is an interesting process, designing your own class. :)

Just finished writing my first draft of a syllabus. I really had no idea of how to do this, but fortunately the prof who will be "overseeing" me gave me a guide for how to be sure I have enough hours in terms of reading and writing to qualify for a full four credits.

So, for what I will call TS670: Change in God, I assigned myself 5 books, and 6 papers. I'll write an 800 word book review paper on each text, and then a comprehensive 1300 word paper at the end, trying to tie them all together. That'll be the fun part!

And yeah, I do mean fun. It really should be interesting, at least to me. The premise of the class is to take a look a some contemporary theologians' views on the positions long held (for the 1,200 years from Augustine through the full development of Calvinism) on two key aspects of God's nature: immutability and impassibility. These say that God is unchanging and unaffected.

I'll be reading books by Korean, German, Brazilian and American theologians who stress God's relationality, both with humankind and among the persons of the Trinity. My initial thought is that the idea of God "relating" (and "loving") both within and beyond the Godhead has implications. Significant ones.

Relating to another being, and especially loving another being, implies caring about that person. If you really care about someone, you invest yourself in them emotionally, and allow yourself to be affected by them - not only by their personal ups and downs, but also by their reactions to you.

And if the relationship is an engaged and mutual one, that person you care about will not only affect you, but you will react to what they do or say - you will adapt to their exercise of independent will, as you interact in a caring relationship.

What all of this says about God being unchangeable and unaffected... is what I plan to learn.

If the prof (and the dean) approve. :)