The Church in Theory and Practice (Linguistic Variant)
The course is offered as a single-subject course. It is an elective course within the Master's Program in Eastern Christian Studies.
The course prepares students to understand, assess and work with texts in relation to sociology and applied practices. Students choose a subject (Church History, Liturgical Studies, or Ecclesiology), as well as a linguistic tradition (Coptic, Greek, Old Slavonic, Geʿez, Syriac or Arabic), according to their own particular competence. The course also discusses how to work with, establish, and use empirical data. Literature is partially chosen in dialogue with the supervisor.
Learning objectives
By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:
Knowledge and understanding
- gather information and describe in-depth how modern theories and methods relate to historical documents and empirical data
- discuss how sociology and theology can interact, informed by current research
- explain the link between textual witnesses and the social evolution of the church
Competence and skills
- independently gather, establish and critically analyze data, using the methods provided in the course
- apply theories and methods from social behavioral science to discern and interpret textual sources, within a given time frame
- independently analyze and transcribe, with the help of lexica and grammars, short ancient texts in a chosen language
- illustrate the connection between contemporary social structures of the church and the historical development through a textual analysis in a popular and scholarly way
Judgement and approach
- critically assess and formulate problems in regard to the relationship between source text, interpretation and applied practice
- assess various interpretations and practices and their social and ethical consequences
- assess and argue for the limitations of research, and the need for ongoing research in the field as well as for individual learning
- assess the role of preserving and developing ancient languages and textual sources from democratic, cultural, and ecological perspectives
Requirements
Courses equivalent to 90 ECTS from first-cycle level, including 60 ECTS in religious studies/theology, or Eastern Christian studies, or equivalent competence, and/including 15 ECTS in an ancient language (Arabic, Coptic, Ge’ez, Greek, Old Church Slavonic or Syriac), or equivalent. In addition, 15 ECTS at second-cycle level from the compulsory introductory courses during the first semester are required, including the course ”Method and Theory in Eastern Christian Studies” (10 ECTS). Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary school course English 6 is required.
Course Literature
See course literature for a list of mandatory reading.
Syllabus
See the syllabus for further information.