Course Description

Throughout Scripture, believers are called to discern the times. This involves understanding global movements, and how they have shaped worldviews within and beyond the church. From the late twentieth century, three movements have fundamentally shaped contemporary culture – postmodernism, feminism, social justice.

In this course, we examine the historical emergence of these movements and influential concepts such as post-truth, intersectionality, gender performativity alongside some of the key tensions that have emerged such as gender versus sexuality, equity versus equality, rights versus virtues based approaches to justice, among others.

In particular, we discuss how Christian scholars have critiqued as well as engaged with postmodern, feminist and social justice concepts. We consider how Christians can respond when these concepts conflict with Christian values and the opportunities these concepts may have in informing biblical interpretation, the role of women in the church, and the church’s role in effecting transformative changes in the world.

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Lecturers

Dr Suzanne Choo

Associate lecturer

Dr Suzanne Choo is an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education, NTU. She completed her PhD at Columbia University, USA. She teaches and researchers on topics related to critical theory, ethics, cosmopolitanism and globalization, critical methods of interpretation especially Ethical Criticism. Her research has been published in internationally reputable journals including Harvard Education Review, Critical Studies in Education, Reading Research Quarterly among others. Her book Reading the World, the Globe, and the Cosmos: Approaches to Teaching Literature for the 21st Century was awarded the 2014 Critics Choice Book Award by the American Educational Studies Association.

Rev Dr Lim Kar Yong

Associate Lecturer

Dr Lim is one of the leading New Testament scholars in Malaysia and has led Bible Land Tours for more than a decade. He is a Research Fellow at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia (STM) and also an Anglican priest with St Paul's Church Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Apart from theological education, Kar Yong also contributes to the wider Christian community by serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of World Vision Malaysia and a member of the Executive Committee of the Bible Society of Malaysia. He is an author of four books and numerous academic essays, including Following Jesus: An Illustrated Guide to the Places in the Holy Land according to Mark.

  • Location

    Online via Zoom (Live)

  • Dates

    (Wednesdays)
    Sep: 6, 13, 20, 27
    Oct: 4, 11

    Registration Close Date
    Sep 1, 2023

  • Time

    7:15pm–10:00pm

Course curriculum

  • 1

    General

  • 2

    Week 1. Postmodernism: History and Core concepts

    • Week 1 Part 1 and 2 PPT

    • Week 1 Part 3 PPT

    • Week 1 Class video

    • Readings for this week

    • Sim Postmodernism and Philosophy

    • Pantaleo Metafictive Nature Postmodern Picturebooks

    • Watkins Introduction Biblical Critical Theory
  • 3

    Week 2. Poststructuralism: Christian Perspectives

    • Session 2 PPT

    • Session 2 Video

    • Readings for the week

    • Beardslee Poststructuralist Criticism

    • Moore Are There Impurities in the Living Water

    • Leggo Deconstruction

    • Week 2 Discussion Handout
  • 4

    Week 3. Feminism: History and Core Concepts

    • Week 3 Feminism PPT

    • Week 3 Video

    • Readings for this week

    • Lim-ForOneChrist-2021

    • Week 3 discussion handout

    • Excerpts deBeauvoir Second Sex

    • Excerpt Butler Gender Trouble

    • Steinberg Feminist Criticism
  • 5

    Week 4. Feminism: Christian Perspectives

    • Week 4 Video

    • Week 4 PPT

    • Readings for the week

    • Piper A Vision of Biblical Complementarity

    • Groothuis Equal in Being Unequal in Role

    • Westfall Meaning of authenteo

    • Reconstructing Junia's Imprisonment

    • Co-workers
  • 6

    Week 5. Topic 5: Social Justice: History and Concepts

    • Week 5 Video

    • Week 5 Parts I and II PPT

    • Week 5 Part III PPT some images not included due to size limit

    • Readings for the week

    • Week 5 Justice Word Search Handout

    • Justice Full Search

    • Justice in Jonah

    • [Kar Yong Lim] Generosity from Pauline Perspective

    • Summary of Sandel Justice

    • Excerpt Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed

    • Excerpt Teo This Is What Inequality Looks Like

    • Paul the Economist
  • 7

    Week 6. Social Justice: Christian perspectives

    • Week 6 Video

    • Week 6 PPT

    • Readings for the week

    • Groody justice spirituality

    • Gustav Liberation and Development

    • Paul and Feminism
  • 8

    Evaluation Form

    • Evaluation Form
  • 9

    Assignment Submission

    • Reflection Paper

    • Research Essay