COURSE DESCRIPTION

We are living is a time of ferment. Both as people of faith and as scholars we are confronted with a culture that has become seriously fragmented and addicted to change. Much of this has been brought about by not only major changes in aesthetics, philosophy, economics and technology but important communication developments as well.

One of the most pervasive and important intellectual movements of the West today is rooted in a rejection of Descartes and the Enlightenment project. Postmodernity is the catch-all nomenclature attached to diverse trends that attack the notion of fundationalism and meta-narratives, that subvert the dominance and hegemony of rationality, and that challenge epistemology in favor of organic hermeneutics.

This class aspires to ride the whirlwinds breathed out of the mouths of Nietzsche, Derrida, Foucault, Heidegger, Rorty, Lyotard, Baudrillard, Habermas, and Gadamer. Of course, meetings with such intellectual twisters would be unmanageable without the stabilizing company of fellow pilgrims like St. Paul, C. S. Lewis, and Stanley J. Grenz.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

• Framing objectives
  Our task I is to enter a dialogue with Postmodern perspectives, to attend to and understand their critical concerns, particularly as they relate to the field of communication, and to frame Christian responses to the issues they raise.

• Specific objectives
  After completing the course you should be able to:
  
  • Explain how Christian thought might relate to postmodernism and postmodernity.
  • Identify many of the major issues communication scholars are addressing with regard to postmodernism.
  • Conceptualize and undertake a research project addressing both a significant communication and postmodern issue.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Bernstein, R. J. (1991). The new constellation: The ethical-political horizons of modernity/postmodernity. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
  
• Docherty, T. (Ed). (1993). Postmodernism: A reader. New York: Columbia University Press.
  
• Grenz, S. J. (1996). A primer on postmodernism. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
  
• Olson, R. E. (Ed.). (1996). Christianity and postmodernism [Special issue]. Christian Scholars Review, 26(2).

RECOMMENDED TEXTS

• Dockery, D. S. (Ed.). (1995). The challenge of postmodernism: An evangelical engagement. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
• Eagleton, T. (1996). The illusions of postmodernism. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
• Farrell, F. B. (1996).
• Subjectivity, realism and postmodernism: The recovery of the world in recent philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Habermas, J. (1987). The philosophical discourse of modernity (F. Lawrence, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (Original work published 1985)
• Hoesterey, I. (Ed.). (1991). Zeitgeist in babel: The postmodernist controversy. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
• Jencks, C. (Ed.). (1992). The post-modern reader. New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Lundin, R. (1993). The culture of interpretation: Christian faith and the postmodern world. Grand Rapids,MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
• Roemer, M. (1995). Telling stories: Postmodernism and the invalidation of traditional narrative. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

COURSE PROCEDURES / REQUIREMENTS

1. Each student is responsible for assigned readings and course participation via e-mail interactions. Discussion and debate are crucial for the successful integration of scholarly materials. Missing class e-mail interactions will result in supplementary assignments and may result in the lowering of the student's final grade. Other students depend on your participation in the class e-mail interactions and on your providing them with written assignments and dialogue.

2. Each week a brief (one or two page) critical analysis of an assigned article, chapter or text book will be required. This assignment is intended to benefit you and your classmates. The written assignment should include a brief review and short analysis of the reading. The assignment is to be completed each week but will not to be graded. It is seen as part of your class participation. Therefore, the only requirement is that it is done and turned in on time. In a traditional class room setting a student's discussion of the assigned material is reflected in his or her final grade. Likewise this assignment will be reflected in the "class participation" section of the final grade. These assignments are intended to facilitate e-mail discussion by all members of the class. Therefore you are to use other people's reviews as an occasion to comment on the subject under investigation. It is important that you comment via e-mail on at least one of your classmates reviews each week. Again, these comments are not to be individually graded but we will try to reflect on the quality and quantity of your "class work" in the class participation portion of your final grade.

3. Each student is required to research and write an article for publication in an appropriate scholarly journal. Topic should be approved by the professors and should concern some aspect of postmodernism and communication. The final paper is due December 18, 1997.

STUDENT EVALUATION

1. Class participation, weekly papers and e-mail comments on the weekly reading assignments make up 25% of the grade for this class.
2. The research paper will make up the other 75% of the final grade.

COURSE SCHEDULE / CALENDAR

Week One // October 20-24

Topic:Introduction
Readings:None
Assignments Due:None

Week Two // October 27-31

Topic:"Foundations" of Postmodernism
Readings: Grenz, S. J. (1996). A primer of postmodernism.
Assignments Due: Brief interaction paper

Week Three // November 3-7

Topic:: Objectivism, relativism and reason.
Readings:: Bernstein, R. J. (1991).The new constellation. (Chapters 1-5)
Assignments Due: Chapter critique

Week Four // November 10-14

Topic: Ethical and political implications of postmodernism.
Readings: Bernstein, R. J. (1991).The new constellation. (Chapters 6-10)
Assignments Due: Chapter critique

Week Five // November 17-21

Topic: Christianity and postmodernism.
Readings:: Christian Scholar's Review. (pages 127-220)
Assignments Due:: Article review and critique.

Week Six // November 24-28

Topic: Modernity and postmodernism
Readings: Docherty, T. (1993). Postmodernism: A reader. (pages 1-109)
Assignments Due: Critique of assigned chapter.

Week Seven // December 1-5

Topic: No formal class.
Readings: Reading and library research for final paper
Assignments Due: Discuss by e-mail your final paper with professor.

Week Eight // December 8-12

Topic: Art, Faith and Postmodernism.
Readings: Docherty, T. (1993). Postmodernism: A Reader (chapters 6, 9, 12,13,17,18)
Assignments Due:: Critique of assigned chapter.

Week Nine // December 15-19

Topic: Paper presentations.
Readings:None.
Assignments Due:Final paper due.

INTEGRATION OF FAITH AND LEARNING

To begin this section on the integration of faith and learning, we would like to refer to a brief comment made by John Courtney Murray, given at the inaugural series of St. Thomas More Lectures at Yale University. This class, as Father Murray reminds us, raises the question of the uniqueness of our subject matter and the problem of God amid the whole range of problems that we face.

"If God is a reality, his reality is unique; it will therefore present to man a unique problem. The problem of God exhibits only the barest analogy with the standard model of a problem as it is found in science. In the scientific world of observation and inference, hypothesis and verification, the data are, as it were, "out there." The scientist is distant and detached from them; other things being equal any number of men who are scientists can do the same experiment and record the same results. No personal issues arise in the scientific problem. In contrast, the problem of God is primary among the fateful human questions that, as Pascal said, "take us by the throat." The whole man--is profoundly engaged both in the position of the problem and its solution. In fact, he is in a real sense a datum of the problem itself, and his solution of it has personal consequences that touch every aspect of his conduct, character, and consciousness. Moreover, the problem of God is unique in that no man may say of it, "It is not my problem." Dostoievski's challenge is valid: "If God is not, everything is permitted." But the challenge needs to be amended to include, "except one thing." If God is not, no one is permitted to say or even think that he is, for this would be a monstrous deception of oneself and of others. It would be to cherish and propagate a pernicious illusion whose result would necessarily be the destruction of man. On the other hand, if God is, again one thing is not permitted. It is not permitted that any man should be ignorant of him, for this ignorance, too, would be the destruction of man. On both counts, therefore, no man, may say that the problem of God is not his problem."

Murray, J. C. (1964). The problem of God. New Haven: Yale University Press.

As indicated by the quotation above the issues raised in this class speak to the whole of our life not just the academic. We cannot divorce the sacred from the secular, one's heart from one's mind, or the God of reason from the God of history.

Furthermore, we engage the content of this class as communication scholars looking at theology and not as theologians looking at communication. By this we mean that you are to respond to questions raised in the class or to specific class assignments as a communication scholar speaking or writing to other scholars in the field. Although the professor provides a framework or structure for the class it is the responsibility of the student to integrate the subject matter of the class into their own world view.

STATEMENT OF INCOMPLETE GRADES POLICY

It is University policy that incomplete grades are to be given only for legitimate deficiencies due to severe illness or emergencies or other significant reasons acceptable to the professor and not because of neglect on the student's part. I cannot deviate from this policy. Please consult the Regent University Academic Catalogue for a more complete statement of university policy.

STATEMENT OF ACADEMIC HONESTY

As should be expected, particularly at a Christian university, students will adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty. This includes the avoidance of plagiarism, defined as the uses of written and oral words of another person, including another student, without the expressed acknowledgment of the speaker's or writer's indebtedness to that person This also applies to the use of papers and other materials previously submitted to instructors of other classes, either at Regent University or other institutions. Any violation of this policy will normally result in failure of the course.

COURSE EVALUATION / STUDENT FEEDBACK

You will be given the opportunity to provide me, as well as the college administration, with written feedback and to evaluate the course structure and its conduct. However, you should feel free to bring any concerns to my attention at any time during the semester. We welcome your input, feedback and constructive criticism on this course. Doctoral students are to complete a course evaluation form at the end of the semester for this course.

STATEMENT OF LATE ASSIGNMENTS POLICY

The nature of both doctoral studies and distance learning preclude completing any assignments apart from the necessary interactions among professors and students. This doctoral seminar may not be taken nor assignments completed independently from the seminar as a whole. Late assignments may only be made up by taking the seminar the next opportunity that it is offered.