Explores the theological and anthropological meaning and significance of the “person” and the “place” he/she occupies in God’s creation. A theology of individuality, identity, and community will be developed vis-à-vis the imago dei in the service of the missio dei.
This course is an introduction to the theological anthropology of the concept of person, personhood, identity, individuality, and community and how they relate to the image of God from a missional perspective. The sacredness of the place where God has placed individuals, however dehumanizing it may be, will be explored. Stress will be given to the idea that the mission of God is to be carried out by individuals created in the image of God in a particular place where God has kept them for a purpose.
Today the society around us is one of the most religiously and culturally diverse communities that we have seen in the history of humankind. Due to immigration, forced or normal migration, or the enormous refugee crisis, every day we encounter people of different religious beliefs and cultural practices in a myriad of settings. How should a Christian respond to the strangers of the “other”? How do we consider the place we have been raised or have lived all our life or the place God has moved us to? This course will help students learn the meaning of personhood, explore human identity and help us live in more humane ways with the other in whatever place God has kept us thus humanizing the inhuman world of racial and communal conflict around us.
This course will examine the biblical foundations of the doctrines of the person and place by the governing doctrine of the image of God in the book of Genesis.
Theology informs and is informed by missions. The context of missions today invariably faces the issues of migration, immigration, refugees, homeless, and basically “the other” in our neighborhood. This demands a refreshing look at the whole meaning of a person in a particular place. The sacredness of the individuals and place needs to be stressed today more than ever for the mission of God to bring about change in todays’ world
Theology is always done in context. The context of mission today cannot escape the reality of millions of people migrating around the world or landing in new places around the world. How should a Christian respond to the “other” and to the “place” God has given him/her? This course will help analyze our context and form a biblical sound theology of person and place in today’s world.
The crisis of refugees, international migration, and immigration from around the world is changing the traditional landscape and neighborhoods around the world. This course will bring out theological and anthropological insights to inform us how to deal with the “other” persons from different cultures and the new place that is changing around us due to the “other.”
Since the refugee crisis is real and migration is almost irreversible, students need to know practical ways to deal with the “other,” who as a person is created in the image of God. The course will help provide practical ways of relating with the other and look at the place God has kept us and the “other” in all its sacredness.
The course will help gain biblical, theological, and anthropological insights for reaching out to the other or the strangers in the place that we thought was our own. It will help explore ways of seeing the people and places from God’s perspective as the arena of God’s mission. There will be assignments that would encourage students to reach out to the refugees, immigrants, or the just a stranger to gain first-hand experience of what it means to be the other person in a new place.
