General
The course is offered as a freestanding course. It is an elective course in the one-year Master’s program in Eastern Christian Studies.
Course Description
The course presents the historical vision of primacy and synodality from the perspective of history and ecclesiology. In particular, the concepts of communion and papacy are introduced, and students explore how these concepts have historically been argued for. During the course, students learn to connect various models of primacy and synodality to various practices of the community in regard to power, clergy-laity relations, sustainability, and ecumenical relations.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:
Knowledge and understanding
- describe how church structure has evolved in Eastern Christianity
- discuss current research on the structure and organization of the church, and how these relate to Eastern Christianity
- describe receptive ecumenism as a method and approach in relation to church structure
Competence and skills
- independently analyse how primacy has affected models of church governance, even with limited information, and present this in both oral and written form
- apply theories and methods to discern and interpret both textual material on primacy and church governance in Eastern Christianity, as well as extra-textual sources, within a given time frame
Judgement and approach
- critically assess and formulate problems with regard to primacy and church governance, from various angles, including those relating to gender, democracy and sustainability
- reflect critically on the limitations and possibilities of research connected to power and organization of the Church, and the responsibility of the individual scholar for how it is used