Syllabi

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CH 502 Church History II

D. Allen Tennison

“An introduction to the development of Christianity from the apostolic period to the Reformation. Emphasis is placed on the central historical figures, movements, and theological issues, with attention given to their importance for Christian ministry today. Major texts and interpretive studies will be read.” The purpose of this course is to introduce the history of the Church from the first century to the Reformation. Emphasis will be placed on the major individuals, movements and theological debates that have shaped Christianity up to the 1500s. Attention will be given to the development of various movements, the relevance of major debates, the personal stories of select individuals, and the reception of Christianity in different cultures. Students will be encouraged to reflect upon their Christian vocation in the light of the historical and theological currents of the Christian tradition.
CS 640 Christianity and Social Justice

James R. Thobaben

Virkler, Henry A., A Christian’s Guide to Critical Thinking [read Chapters 1, 4, 5, 6 & 7] Monahan, Mirola & Emerson,Sociology of Religion: A Reader THIS SUBSTITUTES FOR: McGuire, Meredith B., Religion: The Social Context [DO NOT USE THIS BOOK] Kivisto, Peter, Social Theory: Roots & Branches [read all except skim Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 15, 17, 20, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, 36, 41, 43, 45, 52, 54, 58, 59, 65, 68, 69] Stark & Finke, Acts of Faith [read entire book] Thobaben, James R. "Ecclesiology & Covenant: Christian Social Institutions in a Pluralistic Setting" (available on closed reserve)
CS 654 Morality at the end of Modernity

James R. Thobaben

Thobaben, James “Holy Knowing: A Wesleyan Epistemology” The Death of Metaphysics; The Death of Culture (Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2006) [available through Info Commons] Gardner, John, “Moral Fiction” in On Moral Fiction Beowulf, More, Thomas Utopia, Bunyan, John A Pilgrim’s Progress, Swift, Jonathan, Gulliver’s Travels, Voltaire, Candide, Shelley, Mary Frankenstein, Rousseau, J.J. Emile, Golding, William Lord of the Flies Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Tarzan of the Apes, Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, Stevenson, R.L. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Conrad, J. The Heart of Darkness, Melville, Herman, Moby Dick, Bradbury, Ray Something Wicked This Way Comes(film), Sinclair, Upton The Jungle, Orwell, George Animal Farm, Orwell, George Nineteen Eighty-Four Wells, H.G., Island of Dr. Moreau, Kafka, Franz, “Metamorphosis”, Capek, Karel R.U.R., Huxley, Aldous Brave New World, Steinbeck, John Of Mice & Men Lewis, Sinclair, Babbitt, Baldwin, James Go Tell It on the Mountain, Speare, Elizabeth George The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, Herland, MacDonald, G. “Gifts of the Child Christ” Tolstoy, L. The Death of Ivan Ilych Wilde, Oscar, Picture of Dorian Gray, Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions OR Dostoyevski, Fyodor Notes From Underground Chesterton, G.K., The Man Who Was Thursday Lewis, C.S. Till We Have Faces, Miller, Walter A Canticle for Leibowitz Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
CS 680 Bioethics- Death and Dying

James R. Thobaben

To prepare students for ministry by training them to analyze and address issues in the arena of healthcare from a Christian perspective. To develop ministers who are responsive to the needs, contexts, and insights of parishioners and members of the larger community who are patients, family members of patients, or practitioners. To enable ministers to equip their congregations for understanding their moral responsibility in decisions about the delivery and receiving of health care and the impact of social decisions in health care and biotechnology on the broader community. This course focuses on the bioethical issues that most commonly arise for pastors, chaplains, and other caregivers in clinical settings. Specifically, the course examines the cultural and religious meanings of and the moral response to sickness, disability, and death. The course specific consideration of how Christian death rituals, specifically the funeral. This course is one of five 1-hour bioethics courses. The others examine: • Biotechnologies (focusing on genetic alteration, abortion, stem cell research, etc.), • The moral questions arising from current discussions of cosmology, evolution, and creation, • Environmental ethics, and, • Sickness and disability (along with the distribution of healthcare).
BS 504 Introduction to Biblical Studies: Old Testament

David Loren Thompson

Coogan, Michael D., ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible (3rd augm. Ed., 2007; ISBN 9780195288803). NOAB Pritchard, James B., ed. The HarperCollins Concise Atlas of the Bible (1991; ISBN 0062514997 HCAB
NT 511 The Gospel of Mark

David Loren Thompson

Thompson, David L. Bible Study That Works. Revised edition. Evangel Press, 1994.(=BSTW). A Bible. Green, Joel B., Sct McKnight, and I Howard Marshall (eds). Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. InterVarsity Press, 1992.
NT 511X The Gospel of Mark

David Loren Thompson

Course Description This course introduces you to methodical, inductive Bible study and to the message and significance of the Gospel of Mark, with emphasis upon understanding biblical books as wholes. By the study of Mark’s Gospel itself, the course helps you gain and hone skills necessary for using inductive Scripture study in life and ministry. When I took a similar course here at Asbury it changed forever my approach to Scripture study. That class gave me tools without which I would not want to attempt Christian ministry. This is not my first experience teaching NT(IBS)511 as an ExL class. Even so, I have much to learn about designing and guiding this sort of “cyber–learning.” It may or may not be your first venture into online learning. Adjustments may be necessary on both ends of the line. I welcome your feedback to help me in this growing process and in enabling the course to run as smoothly as possible. These and all of the other materials of this course are designed specifically and solely for distribution in this ExL class and are not to be reproduced without my permission for any other purpose. Note at the outset that NT(IBS)511X presents a class experience. Cyber–learning opens up remarkable independence and flexibility for us. Nevertheless, this course is not simply an “independent study.” Interaction and group consultation will contribute significantly to our learning. This will affect the pace at which you do your work, since peer feedback will prove significant. More on this below.
OT 615 Minor Prophets

David Loren Thompson

This course is a study of the Minor Prophets that builds on the methodology of the first Inductive Biblical Studies course by further use of the skills learned there and by emphasizing the study of books as wholes. Accordingly, there is special focus on the initial survey of books as wholes, the interpretation a) of parts of books in the context of the books as a whole and b) of the books themselves as wholes. In addition, increased attention is given to thinking, valuing and living biblically by placing individual passages within their larger canonical contexts and by applying Scripture to life and ministry.
CA 614

Mark A. Torgerson

Begbie, Jeremy, ed. Beholding the Glory: Incarnation Through the Arts. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2000. Jensen, Robin M. The Substance of Things Seen: Art, Faith, and the Christian Community. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004. Kapikian, Catherine. Art in Service of the Sacred. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006. Schultze, Quetin J. High-Tech Worship? Using Presentational Technologies Wisely. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004. Sullivan, Michael. Windows into the Soul: Art as Spiritual Expression. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing, 2006. Torgerson, Mark A. An Architecture of Immanence: Architecture for Worship and Ministry Today. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.
CL 616 Leading Change

Thomas F. Tumblin

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within by Robert E. Quinn (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996), 236 pages. (ISBN: 0787902446) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th ed. by Everitt M. Rogers (New York: The Free Press, 2003), 512 pages. (ISBN: 0743222091) The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2006), 220 pages. (ISBN: 078798325X) Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington, et al. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000), 240 pages. (ISBN: 0787947652) Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, 2nd ed. by William Bridges (New York: Perseus Publishing, 2003), 144 pages. (ISBN: 0738208248)
CL 616 Leading Change

Thomas F. Tumblin

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within by Robert E. Quinn (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996), 236 pages. (ISBN: 0787902446) Diffusion of Innovations, 5th ed. by Everett M. Rogers (New York: The Free Press, 2003), 512 pages. (ISBN: 0743222091) Leading Congregational Change by Jim Herrington, et al. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000), 240 pages. (ISBN: 0787947652) The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2006), 220 pages. (ISBN: 078798325X) Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, 2nd ed. by William Bridges (New York: Perseus Publishing, 2003), 144 pages. (ISBN: 0738208248)
CH 600 History of Methodism

Robert G. Tuttle

We will survey American Methodism from its beginnings to the present. The course materials focus on the theological, cultural, and institutional themes that shaped Methodism in America. The course especially highlights the spiritual, theological, and social aspects of Methodism's grand legacy. The evangelistic thrust, social concern, institutional development, and theological shifts noted in America between 1766 and the present will be seen against the backdrop not only of American political and cultural factors, but of the Methodist origins in England. If you have been a United Methodist very long, you already know some things about American Methodist history. For example, almost all United Methodists understand that Bishop Francis Asbury was an important person, even if they do not know exactly why he was so important. Also, you are probably already aware that nineteenth-century Methodism dominated the American religious landscape, in a time when Methodism was the most significant religious force in the nation's growth and development. Many know that Methodism founded a host of colleges, seminaries, and universities, some of which now rank among America's best schools (I attended two of them myself, Duke as an undergraduate and Garrett-Evangelical for seminary). The majority of United Methodists have some appreciation of the prominent place of the early circuit riders, camp meetings, and class meetings. Most United Methodists understand that their liturgy echoes many of the strains inherited from Anglican liturgy. Most Methodists have some awareness that Methodism uniquely combined formal and informal styles of worship. In light of all this, Methodism, like several of the so-called old-line churches are ripe for a reexamination of their heritages. We live in a time when many United Methodists want to know more about the legacy that is theirs. Obviously, a declining American Methodism does not mirror American Methodism in its original form. As stated above, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the Methodist Episcopal Church had become the largest and most influential of America's denominations. Indeed, at one time, Methodism's membership roles exceeded the combined membership roles of the rest of the nation's Protestant denominations. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, American Methodism began to change directions. If you want to understand the original genius of American Methodism in order better to assess the present and more adequately to prepare for the future, this class will be a rewarding adventure. Since United Methodists cannot move into a challenging future without knowing their treasured past, the purpose of this course is to do just that.
DO 670 United Methodist Theology

Robert G. Tuttle

At Asbury Theological Seminary, there are four classes designed to meet the denominational requirements of The United Methodist Church for ordained ministry. They are DO 690 – John Wesley’s Theology Today; CH 600 – History of Methodism; PM 604 - United Methodist Polity; and this class DO 670 - United Methodist Theology. The purpose of this class is (1) to examine what constitutes United Methodist doctrine as well as its standards and norms, (2) to survey Methodist theology after John Wesley to the present with a special focus upon its American developments, (3) and to study a variety of theological perspectives existing presently within the denomination.
ME 636 World (Transcultural) Evangelism

Robert G. Tuttle

COURSE DESCRIPTION In an age of increasing mobility across cultural boundaries it becomes more and more necessary to understand the Christian faith from a global perspective. Several issues, therefore, will be addressed in this course. Primarily, how do we make decisions regarding that which is essential for Christian commitment across cultural lines? How do we detach ourselves from parts of our gospel understanding that may be culturally bound? How can we sensitize ourselves to issues than transcend cultural boundaries that might actually assist our communication of a relevant transcultural gospel?
MS 610 The Ministry of Evangelism

Robert G. Tuttle

1. The Story of Evangelism, Robert Tuttle, Jr. (424 pp.). 2. Can We Talk?, Robert Tuttle, Jr. (110 pp.). 3. Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church, Ron Crandall (160 pp.). 4. Someone Out There Needs Me, Robert Tuttle, Jr. (a print out book available at the Bookstore).
MS 610 The Ministry of Evangelism

Robert G. Tuttle

COURSE DESCRIPTION The course equips students with contemporary models and strategies of personal, congregational, and world evangelization based on biblical, historical and cultural foundations. Attention will be given to recognizing the social, personal and spiritual needs of people and relating the gospel to such needs. Efforts will be made to develop an integrated Wesleyan model of evangelism bringing strategies and methods into closer harmony with God's ultimate purpose, the great commission, and the commandment of love. This is a basic course for all that seek to serve Christ and his Church with a global consciousness and a local effectiveness.
MS 685 The Church Abroad: Turkey/Greece (with an extension to Rome)

Robert G. Tuttle

Course Description: The trip to Turkey and Greece will begin in Istanbul where we will be met by Ralph and Elaine Elliot, leaders in the church in Turkey where there are less than 3,000 Protestant Christians nationwide.1 They will deliver the first lecture. This is a course that begins with history and focuses on evangelism and mission. Not only are we visiting the sites, we are visiting local churches in both Turkey and Greece to receive some instruction as to how the Church survives in an overwhelmingly predominate Muslim setting (Turkey) and Orthodox setting (Greece). Apart from the local churches and traditional sites of Paul's missionary journeys we visit the Blue Mosque and Saint Sophia in Istanbul and then include visits to the rock fortress of Meteora and the Byzantine monasteries in western Thessaly. During the 11 days in Turkey and Greece (an extension to Rome is also possible) there will be frequent input from the professor along with evening sessions for reflection and processing the day’s events. Students will be asked to read in advance from a selection of books that cover topics relevant to the Biblical times as well as the contemporary religious and socio-political scenes.
MS 692 Theology of Evangelism

Robert G. Tuttle

COURSE DESCRIPTION It is our intent to present evangelism as the controlling purpose of all divine revelation and to clarify the fundamentals of doctrine immediately related to the propagation of the gospel. Various theologies of evangelism will be examined in light of both their historical and contemporary expression. The course seeks to clarify, from a Wesleyan perspective, the basic gospel message and aid students in their design of theologically appropriate methods and motivations for its communication in order that we may be better equipped as "ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20).
PH 610 Systematic Apologetics

Robert G. Tuttle

PURPOSE: It is the purpose of this course to give the student reasonable response to some of the most challenging questions for the Christian faith today. Some people tend to define faith (since it apparently lies beyond the senses, perhaps even the realm of their experiences altogether) as trying to believe in something they can’t quite believe in, that’s just out of reach, just beyond belief. They sometimes ask, “Must I check my brain at the door of the church or does the Christian faith make sense? Furthermore, what’s the point? What's in it for me?" Since Pentecost there have been Christians called to respond to such questions. We will study several of these in expectation of strengthening our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
CO 601 XL Counseling Theories and Techniques

Frederick C. Van Tatenhove

In this course classical theories of counseling will be surveyed. Focus will be upon the major traditions within the psychodynamic, humanistic and behavioral fields. These three traditions provide the foundational framework from which most theories derive. In addition, attention will be given to the beginning process of appraising these traditions from a Christian perspective. How does our understanding of theology influence and determine our use of these secular theories of counseling? This study will consider several topics – the integration of theology and psychology, assumptions about human nature and theories of personality, the development of dysfunction and other problems, the nature of change, techniques and application of each theory.
DO 501 Basic Christian Doctrine

Jason E. Vickers

By the end of the course students will: l. Have developed a working Christian doctrinal vocabulary that will support further study in theology and related disciplines. 2. Have grasped the vital connection between Christian doctrine, the Christian life, and the practice of Christian ministry. 2 3. Have been introduced to all the major areas in the study of Christian theology and doctrine, e.g., the doctrine of the Trinity, Christology, pneumatology or the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology or the doctrine of the Church, and the like. 4. Be able to articulate the distinctive doctrinal emphases of the Wesleyan- Arminian theological tradition, e.g., the doctrines of prevenient grace and entire sanctification. 5. Have further cultivated the worship and love of God with one's own mind and, as a result, have further developed intellectual and theological virtues that are distinctively Christian.
MM 602 Mentored Ministry: Mentored Ministry Experience in a Cross-Cultural Ministry Setting

Michael C. Voigts

Course Objectives • To help students feel comfortable in ministering to individuals who are significantly different from themselves, and to grasp a wider understanding of the nature of the Church in the world. • For each student to appreciate the role of personal spiritual development for ministry leaders, and to intentionally examine areas in her or his life with Christ that need to be expanded. • To gain skills in problem solving through the use of simplified case studies; using them as tools for finding key issues involved in case study situations.
OT 619 Exegesis of 1-2 Samuel

Craig Vondergeest

Anderson , A. A. 2 Samuel. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, 1989. Arnold, Bill and John Choi. A Guide to Biblical Hebrew Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2003 Brueggemann, Walter. David’s Truth in Israel’s Imagination and Memory. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002
MB 610 Learning a Language and Culture

Dale F. Walker

Course Description: (From the ATS Catalog): “The developed generic methods of applied linguistics which equip the cross-cultural worker with methods of acquiring a field language with maximum efficiency.” This course is a follow-up to MB600 / 700: Anthropology for Christian Mission, and a bridge to MB 720: Cross-Cultural Communication of Christianity. We will be concerned with several aspects of cross-cultural living and learning, in order to facilitate communication in our various ministries. The course has several facets, each of which could be expanded into at least a full semester’s course. Being put together into one semester here, these facets will serve as introductions to areas of life-long interest, learning, and possible research. These facets are: An introduction to language and linguistics, as the scientific study of language; An introduction to field methods in cultural anthropology and linguistics; An introduction to learning strategies in language study.
CL 614 Leading Groups and Organizations

Russell W. West

Course Description. Transforming simple or complex groups (such as organizations) requires exceptional insight and skill. This course will examine the social psychological aspects of leadership from both the classic literature and from Christian parallels. Organic systems and the impact of belief structures on leadership and organizational behavior will frame the discussion.