Core

Philosophy for Theology

Core/Philosophy

This course will introduce students to the philosophical grammar that God’s people have found useful throughout the ages in grasping the content of their faith. While this course will be weighted toward a broad survey of scholastic metaphysics, anthropology, and ethics, we will also consider other ancient and modern trends that have helped to illuminate the Christian faith.

Taught by Dr. Joseph Minich.

Runs 7/4-8/26/22.

Note: due to the start of term beginning on a holiday, classes that are scheduled to meet on Monday will not meet for the first time until the week of 7/11; professors will schedule a make-up class somewhere during the term to cover the missed class time.

Auditing: participate in readings and live class sessions, but no graded assignments and no course credit
Full course part-time: individual classes on a for-credit basis; you can later apply them toward a Certificate or Degree
Full course full-time: for-credit courses (at least four per term) toward our Certificate or M.Litt in Classical Protestantism

Description

This Core/Philosophy course will be taught by Dr. Joseph Minich, and will run from July 4th through August 26th 2022. The syllabus is available here.

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Quite a lot, it turns out. This course will introduce students to the philosophical grammar that God’s people have found useful throughout the ages in grasping the content of their faith. The road between philosophy and theology has been a two-way street from the earliest days of the church, and we will give close attention to this traffic between philosophical and theological projects. From ancient to contemporary man, the saints (taking their cue from God’s special revelation) have always both creatively appropriated and boldly corrected the understanding of those around them. Any students who want to know their way around the historic Christian tradition need to be familiar with the concepts and categories that have arisen in the midst of this long exchange. While this course will be weighted toward a broad survey of scholastic metaphysics, anthropology, and ethics, we will also consider other ancient and modern trends that have helped to illuminate the Christian faith.


Dr. Joseph Minich (Ph.D, The University of Texas at Dallas) is a Teaching Fellow with The Davenant Institute and Editor-in-Chief of The Davenant Press. The founding editor of Ad Fontes, he is also the author of Enduring Divine Absence and a current co-host of the Pilgrim Faith podcast. He lives in Garland, TX, with his wife and four children.


Online only, runs 8 weeks, meeting 2.5 hr./wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion on the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register to reserve your spot and schedule will be set after a poll of participating students; if the class time does not fit your schedule, you will be eligible for a full refund.

This is a graduate-level course. Although a BA is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.