Instructor: David Deane
Office: Library building, or Teams, phone, text, or email.
Office hours: Any of the above (902 943 1777)
Email: [email protected]
This course is an exploration of Christian Anarchism. It offers an engagement with anarchist analyses of the modern nation state and contemporary capitalism. It asks what Christianity and anarchism can offer to one another and what, if any, are the limits of the relationship between Christianity and anarchism.
In week one we will be focussed on anarchist analyses of the state, violence, and capital today. While we don't have time to look at the first great period of anarchist thought (between 1870 and 1914) a fundamental tension in traditional anarchism (how can humans be so good that they can live peaceably without coercion) will establish the bridge between anarchism and Christianity. Week two will focus on the anarchist elements in Jesus’ teaching and Church tradition.
This syllabus aims to provide all the information about the course as well as access to the texts that we will read in the course. Many sections, such as the section on "Readings" and, especially, "Course Elements" are clickable and provide further information.
Two weeks is a short time. In this course we aim to make things manageable for students, while also being faithful to academic integrity.
To do this we're shifting the pedagogical approach a little. In a 12 week course my primary goal is to assist students in acquiring information and knowledge about the subject matter. We'd come to know about the theological culture and events, say, surrounding the council of Nicaea and its aftermath. In contrast, in this course the primary goal is to stimulate students' interest in, and understanding of, Christian anarchism through exposure to ideas.
What this means, in practice, is that we will be reading relatively short pieces designed less to disseminate information than to provoke thinking.
This approach has positives and negatives. The negatives are that you might wonder at times "Am I getting it?" or feel that sense of dis-ease that accompanies not having mastery over a topic. We won't leave this course, thinking - "yes, I am now an expert on all facets of anarchism".
The positives are that we can reduce the amount of reading, making it manageable in a two week window, and we can focus on topics of particular importance to 21st century thought. Most importantly, this course will pollinate our thinking as we write, read, preach, plan worship, and shape social action in the years to come.