Description: “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.” These words of St. Irenaeus will guide our exploration of the important field of Christian anthropology. This course will explore classic and contemporary Christian understandings of human life in light of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Among the topics to be addressed are creation, sin, grace, freedom, gender, race, suffering, death, praxis and the dialogue between science and theology about what it means to be a human person. These topics will be approached not only discretely, but also in terms of their systematic connection to one another. Finally, our study of Christian anthropology will not only seek to gain an understanding of this discipline but also to see its many applications for thinking about contemporary issues, pastoral applications and methodological strategies.

Seminary: Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary