Christianity on the Road Less Traveled
by Dr. Timothy Wadkins
Associate professor of religious studies
The new program will be grounded in two foundational Religious Studies/History courses, taught alternatively during the three spring semesters of the grant. Each course will carry Area VI credit and will count as a course that meets the International and Multicultural requirement.
The first, which will be taught in 2005 and 2007, will be entitled “How the West Won: Christianity, Colonization and the New World Order, 1492-1910.” This course will trace the development of the European and North American colonial enterprise and the Christian missionary movements that were, to a large extent, wedded to it between the years of 1492-1910. The course will help students learn about the importance of cultural and religious contexts in the process of interpreting history, the history and culture of the non-Western world during the colonial era, the colonial expansion of the Western world into the southern hemisphere, and, along with it, the triumphant missionary expansion of the Christian churches. Its content will also effectively lead into the subject matter and locations of the summer immersion programs.
The second course, which will be taught in 2006, is called “Who Do People Say That I Am? Christianity, Cultural Contexts and Cross Cultural Communication.” This course is designed to analyze the multi-cultural dimensions of the Christian tradition in the modern world. After working with various theoretical studies of the interplay between culture and religion, we will explore three different ways in which Christianity and culture interact in the modern world:
- In the expressions of Christianity in particular, present-day, national cultures which are often neglected in courses on global Christianity – especially in places such as Latin America and Asia.
- In the “marginalized” voices of sub-cultures within the framework of larger Christian cultures – such as ethnic, feminist, and gay critiques of the institutional church.
- In the way in which cultural interchange is taking place within global Christianity – such as the tremendous influence of Western Christian Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism around the world, or the increasing appeal of Eastern Religious sensibilities to Western Christian theologians. Whereas the former course focuses on historical expansion of Christianity into the non-Western world, this course emphasizes present trends in Christianity, especially those within marginalized cultures.
Each speaker will be a person of international reputation whose work will be incorporated into the course as assigned reading. This speaker series will help connect the foundational course content with the immersion course and via the Conversations in Christ and Culture lecture series, to the wider community as well. Three speakers who have agreed to participate are:
Dr. Philip Jenkins (2005) –Distinguished Professor of religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University and the author of The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity (Oxford, 2002)
Father Dean Brackley, S.J. (2006) – teaches theology and culture at the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Dr. Lamin Sanneh (2007) – an African Roman Catholic theologian who is Professor of World Christianity at Yale University and a prolific authority on colonialism and Christian missions in Africa.
Immersion Courses
Eight selected students and one faculty advisor will participate in a one-month service/immersion course in the third world. Each immersion course will feature a service project, as well as experience-based learning in the history, economics and cultural aspects of Christianity in that country. Proposed locations include El Salvador (2005), Namibia (2006), and the Philippines (2007).