PE017-812 - Personal Identity and the Bible

  • 2,976 Standard Tuition Fee
  • 12
    Credit Points
  • 0.125 EFT 
  • 8
    AQF level
  • Category advanced unit
    C
  • philosophy ethicsUnit Discipline

Prerequisites

12cps TH/CH/PE

Exclusions

Prior to 2020, this unit content was delivered under the unit code PE706-4.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will

A. Know and understand

1. Demonstrate Advanced knowledge and understanding of, and the research underlying, biblical and contemporary perspectives on identity and identity formation

B. Be able to

1. Examine biblical and contemporary perspectives on identity and identity formation

2. Demonstrate Advanced skill in applying biblical perspectives to contemporary views of personal identity

3. Present Research-Aware evidence-based perspectives on biblical and contemporary perspectives on identity and identity formation

C. Be in a position to

Applying Advanced perspectives and skills from ‘Personal Identity and the Bible’ to ministry practice and Christian living as a reflective practitioner

Content

  • What the Bible teaches about being true to yourself and following your heart
  • Contemporary and biblical answers to the questions: Who or what defines you? What makes you, you? How important are your ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, occupation and so on to your identity?
  • Being made in the image of God
  • Being known by God
  • Divine adoption
  • The relevance of personal identity for significance, humility, comfort and moral direction

Set Readings

Prescribed:

Rosner, Brian S. Known by God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity (BTFL; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017)

 

Recommended:

Bauckham, Richard Gospel of Glory: Major Themes in Johannine Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015)

Billings, J. Todd Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011)

Blocher, Henri In the Beginning In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis (Leicester, UK: Inter-Varsity Press, 1984)

Brooks, David The Road to Character (New York: Penguin, 2015)

Brooks, David The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement (New York: Random House, 2012)

Burke, Trevor J. Adopted into God’s Family (NSBT, Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006)

Keller, Tim Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical (New York: Penguin, 2016)

Robinson, Marilynne The Givenness of Things: Essays (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2015)

Smith, James K.A. How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014)

Scott, James M.  Adoption as Sons of God: An Exegetical Investigation into the Background in the the Pauline Corpus (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992)

Siedentop, Larry Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism Hardcover (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 2014)

Taylor, Charles The Ethics of Authenticity (London: Harvard University Press, 1991)

Volf, Miroslav The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006)

Wright, N.T. Paul: In Fresh Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005)