WESTERN SEMINARY

Portland, Oregon 97215

THS 664L PRAYER & PROVIDENCE

Summer Semester, 2004

Gerry Breshears, Instructor

SYLLABUS

REQUIRED TEXTS

Terance Tiessen, Providence & Prayer

Paul Helm, The Providence of God

Jack Cottrell, What the Bible Says about God the Ruler

Jerry Sittser, When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayer

CATALOG DESCRIPTION

Understanding the role of prayer in the divine sovereignty is an essential question in the life of believers. It is a part of grasping the balance between God's providential guidance of the world and secondary causes such as obedience and sin. These sorts of questions merit our best efforts for it is the heart of Christianity. You will do careful work to comprehend the various themes the Bible uses to describe providence and prayer, interact with the major approaches past and present and grapple with some of the deep questions for ministry and life from a personal and ministry perspective. 2 hours.

COURSE GOALS

A. You will understand the issues involved in developing a theology of providence, exegete key passages relating to providence, and formulate a carefully developed statement of the theology of the providence.

B. You will develop some basic principles by which to understand and develop key theological doctrines which they may encounter in the future.

C. You will become better able to use exegesis of key texts to develop their theology.

D. You will gain a basic familiarity with major theologies of providence from first hand sources.

E. You will observe, articulate, compare and contrast the distinctive characteristics of these views.

F. You will appreciate the contributions of other theological movements to our own theology both in terms of direct contribution and in terms of correctives to our weaknesses.

RESPONSIBILITIES

A. Reading assignments

You will read all the required texts prior to the beginning of the class in order to understand the issues and options in relation to key passages and theological principles.

B. Class Procedure

The class will be conducted seminar style. Most of the class time will be devoted to discussion of the views and exegesis of key texts led by students and the instructor. The goal of the discussions will be to develop a more adequate personal theology of providence. You will be responsible to be familiar with the relevant reading and relevant biblical texts.

C. Seminar Leadership

Everyone will be responsible for discussion of the texts. You will prepare to lead discussions in relation to one of the positions represented in Tiessen's book. It should be a position different than what you are inclined toward at this point. Make your presentation as persuasive as possible.

In addition, you will be prepared to present careful, exegetical interpretation of a major passage on either prayer or providence. It should be done from the original language. It will develop the key issues and concepts in the passage, and conclude with a theological summary of the contribution of the passage. Do not waste our time with form and function discussions unless it's relevant to your point.

It would probably be good to have an outline for the rest of the class to follow as you present your material.

D. Integrative Paper

The final task will be to write a paper summarizing your own understanding of the theology of providence and its relation to prayer and key implications of it for other aspects of theology and life. Write it on the basis of carefully interpreted biblical materials and in interaction with the assigned readings and class presentations. It should show critical interaction with the various interpretive and theological issues as well as an awareness of the theological and practical implications of the position. This paper will be due by July 12.