TH61901                                Suffering: Comparative Theologies                  Spring, 2009


Tuesdays, 2:00 - 4:20 p.m.                     Building, Room                                 Boston College

 

Professors

Name:  Ruth Langer                                                   Bruce Morrill, S.J.

Office: 21 Campanella Way, Room 331                     21 Campanella Way, Room 322

Phone: 617-552-8492                                                  617-552-3873

Email: ruth.langer@bc.edu                                          bruce.morrill@bc.edu

Hours: T Th 10:30 - 11:30                                          M 4:30 - 5:30; T 11 - 12; W 1:30 - 2:30

 

Description

In the wake of the Holocaust, how can Christians and Jews comprehend evil and suffering? This course explores this theological question theoretically, comparatively, and dialogically, considering both social questions and individual suffering. The last few weeks will explore Jewish and Roman Catholic rituals for death.

 

Procedure and Requirements

The course is being conducted as a graduate-level seminar. All students will prepare a single-page precis of the readings each week. In addition, for each session one or two students (depending on the size of the class) will prepare an approximately four-page paper (1000 to 1200 words), with at least one other student in the class serving as a respondent. Students will also produce a term paper on a topic they work out with the professors, building on reading or interests developed in class (approximately 5000 words, plus footnotes). The professors will provide guidelines for the doing the paper. Note: The official syllabus will be on Blackboard.

 

Schedule of Classes

1/20     Introduction

 

1/27     Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, pp. 1-174

Boston: Beacon Press, 1967

 

2/3       Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, pp. 175-362

 

2/10     Required:

The Jewish Study Bible: TANAKH Translation (New York: Oxford, 2004)

in Biblical Motifs: Origins and Transformations, ed. Alexander Altmann (Cambridge: Harvard, 1966), 197-220. (survey of medieval interpretations)

  Recommended:

 

2/17     Gustavo Gutierrez, On Job: God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent

Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1987

 

2/24     Abraham Heschel, The Prophets, chapters 9-18

                        San Francisco: Harper Perennial Classics, 2001

            and selections from his Heavenly Torah

 

3/10     Johann Baptist Metz, A Passion for God: The Mystical-Political Dimension

of Christianity. New York: Paulist Press, 1998

 

3/17     Wrestling with God: Jewish Theological Responses During and After
                     the Holocaust, ed. Steven Katz and others.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2007

 

3/24    · Wrestling with God, further selected chapters
           · Elie Wiesel, The Town Beyond the Wall and Norman Lamm's essay about it in Faith and Doubt

 

3/31     Dorothee Soelle, Suffering

Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975

 

4/7       No class          (Holy Week/Passover)

           

4/14     ·  Ruth Langer, "Jewish Funerals: A Ritual Description," Proceedings of the North

American Academy of Liturgy (2001):108-122. (use the corrected version on LangerÕs website)

·     Maurice Lamm, The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning, rev. ed.

Middle Village: Jonathan David Publishers, 2000.

 

4/21     Richard Rutherford, The Death of a Christian, rev. ed.

                        Collegeville: Pueblo Books/Liturgical Press, 1990

 

4/28     Order of Christian Funerals, with Cremation Rite, International

Committee on English in the Liturgy

Washington, DC: Catholic Book Publishing, 1999

 

5/8       Term papers due

 

Students are responsible for knowing and following BC's policies for academic integrity:

http://www.bc.edu/offices/stserv/academic/resources/policy.html#integrity