Friendship, a Theological Investigation

Led by Charlie Clark D’11 & Blake Whitmer D’23
Five Wednesdays: 9/16, 9/23/, 9/30, 10/7, 10/14
8:00 – 9:00 pm, via zoom (Register for Access)

Description: Some of Jesus’s final words to his disciples were about friendship. At their last supper together, he told them, “I do not call you servants any longer… but I have called you friends.” Centuries earlier, Aristotle had devoted two books of his Nicomachean Ethics to friendship—twice the space he accorded to justice. Yet today, we rarely think of friendship as a theological issue. Still, many of us sense that friendship is more important than this unreflective attitude would suggest. Wesley Hill writes, “We might be able to muster a definition and explanation of friendship’s importance if we were quizzed on it, but for many of us that doesn’t solve the deeper matter of why we want it so much, and why it so often seems unreachable or fraught.”

In this course, we will take a systematic look at friendship in theological perspective. Drawing on both Christian and non-Christian sources, we will ask what friendship is, how it differs from other relationships, how friendship can go wrong, how we out to go about making and being friends, and how to deal with broken friendships.

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Can We Trust the Bible?

Can We Trust the Bible? Five Common Challenges to the Reliability of Scripture

Led by Prof. Lindsay Whaley & Drew Whitley D’23
Five Wednesdays: 9/16, 9/23/, 9/30, 10/7, 10/14
8:00 – 9:00 pm, via zoom (Register for Access)

Description: As “people of the Book,” Christians traditionally have professed that their Scripture is a reliable and authoritative guide to matters of faith and practice. However, over the last sixty years an increasing number of scholars have challenged the reasonableness of that profession by questioning the origins of Christianity and the formation of the Bible. In this five-week class, we will examine some of these challenges, especially to the New Testament, to see how they hold up under scrutiny.

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Christianity and the Vocation of Learning (via Zoom)

Led by Charlie Clark D’11 & HArrison Lawson D’23
Five Wednesdays: 7/1. 7/8, 7/15, 7/22, 7/29
8:00 – 9:00 pm, via zoom (Register for Access)

 

Description: If you’re a Dartmouth student or alum, you’ve dedicated a significant portion of your life to learning. Maybe you didn’t have much choice about your first thirteen years of school, but you worked hard at it. Then you chose to spend at least four more years pursuing knowledge. If you’re a Christian and you believe God has some kind of will for your life, you must believe that the time you’ve spent learning is part of God’s will—or at least not contrary to it. That’s what this reading group is about. How does learning fit into God’s call for our lives? What does that vocation have to do with Dartmouth? How do we live up to our callings as lifetime learners?

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Readings:

C.S. Lewis, “Learning in War-Time”

A.G. Sertillanges, O.P., The Intellectual Life, “The Spirit of the Work”

Michael Oakeshott, “The Idea of a University”

Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Selections on the Virtues and Vices of Learning

Simone Weil, “On the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God”

The History of Doctrine Part 1: The Ancient Church

Led by Rev. Don Willeman & Ryan Bouton D’01
Five Tuesdays 1/26, 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23
7:00 – 8:30 pm, Dartmouth Reed Hall 108

 

Description: This seminar provides a broad overview of the history of the church in the ancient period, with a particular focus on theological controversies, what spawned them, and the creedal/confessional statements that were developed in response to them. We will look at the movement from the Apostolic teaching of the New Testament era to the robust Trinitarian doctrine of the late Ancient Period, and consider how the doctrines deeply informed the early Christians’ perspective the nature of reality and the value of human life.

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What’s the Point of Education? A Christian Perspective (For Freshmen)

Typically for freshmen, we’ve opened it up this year for some select upperclass students.
Led by Lindsay Whaley, Professor of Classics & Linguistics
Student Contact: Daniel (Dongeun) Jung D’18
Mondays, 7-8:30pm, 09/28 – 10/19

College freshmen are faced with a maze of decisions, from which classes to take, to which activities to join, to which friends to spend time with. Author Stephen Covey reminds us that successful people begin with the end in mind. So is there an ultimate goal in going to college? How should that shape our decisions? Should our religious beliefs be part of our education, or something to keep distinct? In this four-week introductory class for first-year students, we will discuss the nature of a liberal arts education, the relationship between faith, reason, and vocation, and how the Christian faith informs our vision for learning.

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The History of Doctrine, Part 2: Middle Ages and Reformation

Rev. Don Willeman, Pastor of Christ Redeemer Church
TAs: Daniel Jung ’17 and Hallie Reichel ’17
Tuesdays, 7-8:30pm, 4/7-5/5, Reed Hall

This class provides a general overview of the history of the church during the medieval period and the Reformation. In particular, it will focus on theological controversies, what spawned them, and the creedal/confessional statements that were developed in response. We will consider the theology of sin and grace, the development of the medieval sacramental system, the Reformation, and the different branches of the Reformation throughout Europe. Students will gain a basic knowledge of church history, and an understanding of central issues of historic Christian theology.

This class is a continuation of last term’s History of Doctrine, Part 1: The Ancient Church, but is open to all students and community members. (textbook available for purchase)

Click here to sign up.