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M-ED1
Lectureres: Prof. Dr. Theo Boer; Dr. Lieke Werkman, lawerkman@pthu.nl, coordinator
Course objectives
Students have an insight in current theological debates about the implications of globalisation and of
its countermovements, including the crisis of liberal democracy, the contested normativity of human
rights (freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, women’s and children’s rights), the existence of
deep pluralism within states, religiously inspired conflict (and reconciliation), and economic and
ecological justice;
Students are able to reflect theologically on these debates relying on theoretical models of relating
theology and politics;
Students are able to use the theoretical tools from these debates to relate to their own contexts.
Content
Issues concerning political theology have an urgency in many of the countries our international
students come from. Questions concerning the relation between church and state, conflicting values
and interests within societies, human rights discourses (domestic violence, women’s rights, sexual
abuse) , poverty and violence are close to their hearts as is obvious from the topics many of them
choose to write theses about. Dutch students live in a society in which religion is an increasingly
contested issue debated in domains of religious education, judicial questions concerning freedom of
speech and freedom of religion and political debates concerning national identity and integration.
Both groups of students live in a world with growing tensions between political power blocs and
cultural spheres of influence, religion-related violence and global questions of international justice
and environmental crises. Exchange and comparison between different contexts enhances the
understanding of the shared dimensions of many of these problems.
Study Load
Competences
Disciplinary competence
Assessment of discipline competence
In a written exam students’ knowledge of and insight in theological reflections on politics are tested.
Academic competence
Assessment of academic competence
In an essay students show the competence to relate theoretical concepts to empirical observations
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Hermeneutical competence
Assessment of hermeneutical competence
In an essay students show the ability to relate (certain topics from) the course to their own contexts.
Content/Schedule:
Fridays: 10 – 12.45 hrs.
Lecture 6, 11/1/2019: Dealing with Religious Pluralism: the Example of the Netherlands
Roland Pierik and Wibren van der Burg, ‘What is Neutrality?’, Ratio Juris, Vol. 27 No. 4 December
2014 (496–515). (20 pp.).
Theo A. Boer, ‘Euthanasia and Dying Well: Some Remarks from a Dutch Perspective’, Focus of the
Community of Protestant Churches in Europe 2011, 1, 16‐7
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Written exam: date to be announced (test exam will be published on Blackboard); Most of the
questions will be ‘open book’ questions, but the main concepts of the book by Miller should be
known ‘blindly’.
Guidelines essay
Choose a topic from one or more of the lectures: for example the topic of Religious Pluralism we
talked about in lectures 5 and 6, or a comparison between political and public theology or the
debates about the Christian origins of Human Rights or …..
Of course you have to refer to the obligatory literature we read in this course and you have to find
additional literature from at least three different sources (+/- 150 pp.)
Formulate a central question and relate the literature to a concrete political debate. Refer to your
own context.
If you have doubts about your topic, research questions or if you want help in finding literature you
can contact me lawerkman@pthu.nl