First Assignment: Contextualizing a Theologian

The decision to frame class presentations around individual theologians was in part intended to avoid duplication of lecture material, but it may also serve as a reminder that even the most erudite of scholars are men and women of their time, whose entire life experience - including the years preceding conversion - informs what they do and are (you have only to read St. Augustine's Confessions for this to become apparent).

The goal is not for you to attempt summarize everything a theologian said and wrote but to provide a window on their life experience and on the theology that he or she fashioned. The presentation should last between five and ten minutes and address the subject's personal history, the wider social and cultural context, and one or two of their more significant contributions to theological understanding. A presentation dealing with St. Augustine, for example, would include in the personal history, the influence of his mother Monica, his experience of Manichaeism, classical education, conversion to Christianity and election as Bishop of Hippo. The wider cultural context would include the decline of the Roman Empire in the West and the consolidation of Christianity as a state religion, while Augustine's singular contributions to theology could include (though obviously would not be limited to) predestination - which later helped inform many Protestant theologians including Calvin - and his related defense of the doctrine of Original Sin (against Pelagius).

The presentation may be accompanied by handouts or slides if a presenter wishes, but neither are required. Far more desirable is that you choose a theologian for whom you feel some sympathy and can inspire your audience with similar enthusiasm.