Courses

CC-215WIC: The Christian Tradition
Section A: MWF 9:05-9:55 am – Professor Julien Smith
Section B: MWF 10:45 am–11:35 pm – Professor Julien Smith
Fulfills theology 100/200 requirement and writing intensive course (WIC) requirement.

This course introduces students to central developments in the history of Christianity and to diverse forms of Christianity today. It also explores the nature and purpose of Christian theology and encourages students to reflect more deeply on their own religious convictions and questions. The course focuses on the close reading and discussion of primary texts in the Christian intellectual and spiritual tradition. Readings include selections from the Bible and the writings of various classical theologians, such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as contemporary theologians from a variety of Christian traditions and perspectives.

The course aims to strengthen the student’s: (1) knowledge of Christian theology and practice; (2) ability to read theological texts closely and to think critically about them; and (3) communication and research skills.

Requirements include active participation in class discussions and three papers (5-6 pages each).

Credits 3
Section B: MW 2:40-3:55 pm – Professor Slavica Jakelic
Fulfills 3 cr of social sciences requirement.

Continuing the important questions addressed in the First-Year Program–what it means to be human–this course examines the ways that human beings are deeply social creatures that both make and are made by their communities. The class points to the questions of good life and good society–questions that people share regardless of their cultural background and context–but also looks at various ways in which specific cultures answer those questions. The course will draw its theoretical emphases from major figures in the human sciences, including Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Max Weber, Clifford Geertz, and Michel Foucault. The social thinkers that we study in this course each posit theories and methods for examining the relationship between individuals and their society. We start with the assumption that we are not isolated individuals; our opportunities and even our very identities are shaped by a social environment that we help create.  Thus, we shape our society and in turn our society shapes us.   We end the course by being social theorists ourselves, applying the tools of social analysis that we have honed all semester to contemporary issues of importance in the 21st century. Thus, this class helps students learn how to move from the kinds of big ideas we discuss in our CC classes to critical analysis of the contemporary social events they read about in the news; it is a process of translation for engagement in the contemporary world. 

In addition to weekly discussion and small preparatory assignments, major assignments will include short (5 page) paper and one longer (10 page) paper.

Credits 3
MWF 12:55-1:45 pm – Professor Matthew Puffer

What are the origins, purposes, and limits of science and technology? Together, science and technology have shaped modern society such that we live at a time unprecedented in its potential for human flourishing and its vulnerability to violence and suffering. Today, human society harnesses atomic and solar energy, edits the human genome, engineers new species, impacts the global climate, and reflexively shapes itself through social media. As Martin Luther King, Jr., witnessed the rapid acceleration of society’s scientific and technological capacities half a century ago he observed that moral and social progress were not keeping pace: “We have guided missiles and misguided men.” The interdisciplinary field of Science, Technology, & Society emerged in response to such challenges for the sake of present and future generations.

This course familiarizes students with historical challenges, influential interdisciplinary studies, and complex ethical considerations that inform the field of Science, Technology, & Society. Throughout, we will examine cases from diverse STEM fields in order to develop ethically-informed approaches to scientific research and cross-disciplinary applied projects. Readings, discussions, and assignments will invite students to broaden their understandings of vocation and professional responsibilities beyond the merely descriptive and technical to normative and theoretical domains encompassing multiple disciplinary perspectives, diverse values, and a range of views about what makes for a good and just society.

*This course satisfies the College of Engineering GE 312 (Ethical Decisions in Engineering) requirement.

Credits 3
TR 1:45-3:00 pm – Professor Samuel Graber
Fulfills cultural diversity requirement.

America has always had a love/hate relationship to crime stories. After all, the United States arose through a violent revolution that surely would have been condemned as criminal if it had not succeeded. Two hundred and fifty years later, the same citizens who list “crime” as their top social concern in surveys will spend hours online surreptitiously spiraling down true crime rabbit holes on their laptops, will reward con artists’ tall tales at the box office (and sometimes at the voting booth), and will fall asleep binge-watching old episodes of The Sopranos in their beds. So why does this country fixate on crime? This class assumes that the reasons are neither merely personal nor universal. Rather, it will ask students to examine the crime stories that Americans love, and the practices through which they love them, as indicators of patterns, shifts, and movements within the broader culture. With a primary focus on cinematic and literary forms and feature films in particular, we’ll also consider novels, journalism, memoirs, graphic novels, songs, poems, and essays that highlight the histories and issues shaping America’s relationship to crime stories. The course fulfills Valparaiso University’s humanities-literature and cultural diversity requirements, and students will draw on what they learned in previous CC coursework to analyze the crime stories that embody and engage some of our common passions, anxieties, and beliefs.

Credits 3
T 6:30-9:00 pm – Professor Thomas Albert Howard

Dante’s Divine Comedy is not only one of the greatest works of world literature; it is also a profound meditation on justice, love, grace, and the soul’s journey toward God. In this course, we will read and discuss all three parts of Dante’s epic trilogy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, engaging deeply with its moral and religious content.

Through close reading and discussions, we will explore Dante’s portrayal of sin and redemption, vice and virtue, the medieval Christian cosmos, and the poem’s enduring significance for moral reflection today. What can our jaded, late-modern world learn from Dante’s world?  Students will be encouraged to respond both scholarly and creatively, considering Dante’s work in light of their own intellectual and artistic interests. Whether you are drawn to the poem’s theological depth, its political and historical themes, or its breathtaking poetic brilliance, this course offers a rich opportunity to journey alongside Dante toward the “love that moves the sun and the other stars.”

Credits 3
TR 12:15-1:30 pm – Professor Sara Danger
Cross-listed with ENGL-365-AX

This course uncovers the vital and often overlooked contributions of youth in shaping American thought and culture. Between the American Revolution and the aftermath of the Civil War, an astonishing number of young people—aged 8 to 18—emerged as prolific writers, storytellers, and published authors. Youth writers, including Phillis Wheatley, Louisa May Alcott, Indigenous writers, child journalists, and precocious fantasy authors, harnessed the power of print media, which was the revolutionary “new media” of their time, to share their experiences and challenge societal norms.

Their stories, written during a period of dramatic social change, reveal insights into their worldviews and offer fresh perspectives on age, race, gender, class, and civic participation.

Through archival research, digital publishing, and scholarly collaboration, this course will challenge us to rethink the history of childhood and its critical role in shaping American literature and culture.

By the end of the course, students will possess a deeper understanding of the role of youth in American literature and history and will have the opportunity to contribute to a digital publishing project of newly discovered manuscript magazines. In addition, there will be an opportunity to present at the international conference Amplifying Children’s Voices, hosted by Valparaiso University in Spring 2026.

Credits 3
TR 8:40-9:55 am – Professor Julien Smith
Fulfills upper-level theology/religion requirement.

David French, an opinion columnist for the New York Times, describes having been miraculously healed from chronic ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune disorder for which there is no known cure (“I Believe in Miracles. Just Not All of them.” Nov 14, 2024). Perhaps your reaction to accounts such as this goes something like: “Miracles don’t happen. He was probably just misdiagnosed.” Or perhaps, “I pray for miracles all the time!” Or perhaps, “Do miracles even happen? What a curious thought.” Within Christianity, miracles occupy a prominent, yet fraught, place. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God’s power and presence are frequently described in miraculous terms. Moreover, Christian faith itself is founded upon two absolute whoppers of miracles—the Incarnation and Resurrection. Some argue that Christianity should abandon its primitive belief in miracles if it wants to be taken seriously within societies committed to the scientific worldview. But others insist that to do so would render the core tenets of Christian faith meaningless. This course will explore: philosophical issues related to the possibility and probability of miracles; biblical accounts of miracles; and the role of the miraculous in contemporary Christian faith. Prior knowledge of the Bible or Christian Tradition is not required; this course is for the skeptical, the convinced, and the curious.

Credits 3
MW 2:40-3:55 pm – Professor Gretchen Buggeln

One of the defining features of American culture is that we buy and consume a LOT of stuff. Consumer goods shape our social interactions, our identities, and our hopes and dreams. How did America come to be this way? To address this question, we will study the historical development of American consumerism, from the eighteenth-century “consumer revolution” to the rise of internet shopping. What have been the social, economic, and cultural factors fueling and shaping the consumption habits of Americans? What institutions and ideas have determined where Americans shop, what they buy, and how they pay for it? Perhaps the more knotty and difficult questions about consumerism, however, are ethical and spiritual. Who wins and who loses? Is it good for our souls? Readings by both boosters and critics will inform our discussions. Major texts will likely include Peitra Rivoli, The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy; Bryant Simon, Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks; and S. Margot Finn, Discriminating Taste: How Class Anxiety Created the American Food Revolution.

Credit 1
Professor Amanda Ruud
Time TBD

This internship is designed to provide credit for upper-level students who take on a leadership role in the CC-110L Drama Lab. Students enrolled in CC-486 will work alongside the production coordinator to gain experience in various aspects of creating a drama production depending on their areas of interest, including: scripting, music composition and direction, casting, set design, and overall management of a production. S/U grade only.

Credit 1
Associate Dean Zachary King

Christ College Senior Colloquium provides a capstone, integrative experience for Christ College Scholars.  CC students will gather to reflect upon their college years; integrate academic, practical, social, and spiritual experiences; consider their transition from college; and plan for closure on their undergraduate careers.

This course is required for all CC Scholars, and it is recommended that seniors take it in the fall semester before they graduate. For Fall 2025, Senior Colloquium will meet in person on Friday, August 22, and Saturday, August 23, before shifting to an asynchronous mode.

0 Credits
TBA

Christ College sophomores, juniors and seniors must register for CC 201 A: Symposium each semester they are on campus. Every CC sophomore, junior or senior must attend two Symposia per semester. Failure to do so will result in a “U” on the transcript and may jeopardize standing in CC.

3 Credits 

Section A: TR 8:40-9:55 am    Professor Edward Upton
Section B: TR 10:45 am-12:00 pm    Professor Edward Upton
Fulfills humanities fine arts requirement.

What is representation and how do words and images communicate?
What makes a representation “true”?
Can words claim legitimacy that images may not, or vice-versa?
What do makers of representations owe their viewers/readers?

Word & Image introduces students to problems and questions associated with the nature, form, and circulation of images from Plato to the present. The course is divided into four sections. The first questions the ability of images and text to convey truth and justice, with a special focus on what we call “documentary” images. The second considers historical and contemporary problems in the representation of the sacred and the use of images and objects in worship and devotion. The third section explores the rise of modern ways of subjective seeing and representing, with a particular emphasis on the traveler. Finally, we will turn our attention to comics and film, considering contemporary representation in light of course questions about truth telling and subjectivity.

Credits 3
Section A: TR 1:45-3:00 pm – Professor Ludwig Noya
Section B: TR 3:15-4:30 pm – Professor Ludwig Noya
Fulfills theology 100 requirement.

This course introduces students to central developments in the history of Christianity and to diverse forms of Christianity today. It also explores the nature and purpose of Christian theology and encourages students to reflect more deeply on their own religious convictions and questions. The course focuses on the close reading and discussion of primary texts in the Christian intellectual and spiritual tradition. Readings include selections from the Bible and the writings of various classical theologians, such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as contemporary theologians from a variety of Christian traditions and perspectives.

3 Credits 
M  6:30-9:00 pm     Professor Amanda Ruud

In The Empty Space, Shakespeare director Peter Brook warns audiences and would-be practitioners about the dangers of theatre that he calls “deadly.” Deadly theatre, Brook writes, approaches “the classics” as if “someone has found out and defined how the play should be done.” Lively theatre, on the other hand, approaches each reading and each rehearsal as a new opportunity for discovery and encounter.

In this course, we will aim to bring Shakespeare’s works to life both in the classroom and onstage. Our semester will begin in the classroom with lively, exploratory discussion of Shakespearean genres and a few selected works of performance theory. The course will culminate in a full production of a Shakespeare play, chosen, designed, and performed by you.

Students should expect some additional meetings for ensemble building and role auditions early in the semester and a brief intensive period of rehearsal and performance in the last weeks of the semester. Our performances will take place April 24-27 in the Valparaiso University Black Box Theatre.

3 Credits 
MWF   11:50 am-12:40 pm     Professor Catrina De Rivera
Cross-listed with GER 300 AX
Fulfills cultural diversity requirement.

Why study horror? In the modern world, we no longer need monsters or the supernatural to make sense of our surroundings (or so we tell ourselves). Yet vampires, the walking dead, and even internet trolls are everywhere. To help explain our continued fascination with all things horrifying, this course begins by looking backwards to nineteenth century English gothic literature and German “dark romanticism,” as well as the horror cinema that took up its mantle. Our goal is to study not only the politics but also the aesthetics of horror. The experiments with point of view and handling of narrative time that inform earlier fictions as well as the montage, stop-motion, and parallel editing strategies we find in early film teach us about the creation of uncanny effects. We will conclude the semester with more recent recapitulations and transformations of these modern narratives that give the dead a new lease on life. The premise of this course is that by taking the staying power of horror seriously, we can learn about the way the horror tradition has informed our own cultural identity as well as cultural identity in Germany. Monster stories address the failures built into our systems of categorization and notions of normality, and they make vivid the potential for violence in the notions of cultural purity and cultural inheritance used to organize accounts of identity and community.

3 Credits 
TR     3:15-4:30 pm     Professor Ann Marie Jakubowski

Pain is at once a universal human phenomenon and also a highly alienating experience: if you are in pain, how can you convey what it’s like to others, and how do you expect them to respond? In the medical field, since there is no objective way to directly measure pain, health professionals rely on subjective reports. Patients are typically asked to rank their pain on a scale of 1-10, and children are asked to choose from a set of faces the expression that best reflects their current experience of pain. But the idea and the experience of pain is far more complex than these necessarily simplified scales can reflect. In this course, we will explore a variety of literary and film works alongside scientific discussions of pain, anesthesia, and clinical practice. What strategies do literary writers use to depict the supposedly incommunicable experience of pain? How have modern medical technologies like anesthesia changed cultural attitudes about pain and suffering? How does the experience of pain create and disrupt interpersonal relationships? How does pain shape our ideas about God, suffering, and redemption? We will explore these questions and more through the lens of the medical humanities, putting matters of pharmacology and medical technology in conversation with ideas of gender, class, and society. Over the course of the semester, our readings will include an array of historical, literary, and philosophical texts, including work by Susan Sontag, William James, Leslie Jamison, Amitav Ghosh, Barbara Kingsolver, and C. S. Lewis, among others. 

3 Credits
Cross-listed with SPAN 300 AX
MWF   12:55-1:45 pm     Professor Alberto Lopez Martin
Fulfills cultural diversity requirement.

How does the cultural production of the Hispanic world represent the effects of climate change and recent environmental crises? What solutions or alternatives to our unsustainable ways of life are explored in the literature and art of Latin America, Spain, and Equatorial Guinea? In this course, students will analyze and discuss short stories and narratives from the so-called climate fiction (or cli-fi), as well as films, comics, and graphic novels that address present and future ecosocial challenges such as the phenomenon of climate refugees. Although the class will cover some dystopian works, we will not give in to pessimism and eco-anxiety! There will also be room for utopias, and we will ask ourselves what specific cultural aspects of Hispanic countries, like the Quechua notion of ‘buen vivir’ or ‘sumak kawsay,’ shape literary and artistic responses to the aforementioned crises. To examine the representation of possible and desirable worlds, we will use conceptual tools from ecocriticism, such as the concept of post-growth imaginaries, coined by Spanish scholar Luis I. Prádanos, where economic growth as an end in itself or unlimited productive expansion are called into question. The class will be taught in English and does not require any prior knowledge of the history and cultures of the global Spanish-speaking world.

3 Credits
Off Campus Study, December 2024       Professor Thomas Albert Howard

This course takes as its theme moral inquiry or “ethics” in the classical and Christian traditions, with a focus on their co-mingling in late medieval and early modern Europe (ca. 1200-1600). Participants will have an opportunity to read various classical authors, such as Aristotle and Cicero, and then later medieval/Renaissance authors such as Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, and Dante.  Some key questions that will be explored include (but are not limited to): What is a good life? What is a good society? What is virtue and how does one acquire it? What is vice and how can one avoid it? What is the relationship between the pursuit of virtue and the pursuit of salvation? What is the relationship between individual virtue and public/social responsibility? We shall also ask to what extent medieval and early modern moral philosophy might still be relevant to church, society, and government today? In addition to readings and discussions, field trips will be taken within the city of Orvieto and to Rome, Siena, and Florence. Throughout, we shall attempt to make connections between the past and the present as well as between the writings discussed and on-site art and architecture.

3 Credits
MW  2:40-3:55 pm     Professor Ludwig Noya

Both for positive and also negative reasons, the Christian Bible (the so-called “Old” and “New” Testaments) is undoubtedly among the most influential works ever written and has been interpreted in different contexts and different ways for millennia. Unfortunately, certain communities’ interpretations have dominated the center stage, while others have been sidelined and marginalized—sometimes literally written into the margins of the paper—sidenotes/footnotes)—and others have even been deemed heretical. “Readers on the Margins” will explore these marginalized and underrepresented interpretative communities in North America and beyond. This seminar will delve into how these communities have interpreted (and challenged) biblical texts as they engage and cope with their various struggles. The communities considered in this seminar include but are not limited to African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Islanders, Feminists, Womanists, LGBTQIA+ individuals, Persons with Disabilities, Environmentalists/Posthumanists, as well as various formerly and currently colonized persons in the Global South (Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America). In addition to discussing their interpretations, this seminar will also learn the particular struggles experienced by each of these communities. Students will learn how the texts have been meaningful for these communities amidst their life’s struggles or how the texts themselves become a site of struggle—with the hope of inspiring students to participate in future efforts to help these communities thrive.

In line with the diversity of voices covered in the seminar, students will have the chance to choose from a range of projects to work on—from the traditional research paper to other comprehensive/innovative projects pertaining to students’ self-expressions and learning approaches upon consultation with the instructor.

3 Credits
MWF 11:50 am-12:40 pm        Professor Gretchen Buggeln

Museums reveal what cultures value most. In their architecture, collections, and public programs, museums demonstrate how people organize knowledge, think about the past, and see themselves in relation to others. This seminar will examine the history of museums in Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present, tracing the development of a wide variety of institutions including art museums, natural history museums, history museums, and science and technology museums. Topics will include the nature of collecting as a human activity, history and memory, museums and nationalism, culture as entertainment, and the politics of taste. We will pay close attention to challenges facing museums today, such as Native Americans’ demand for the return of human remains and artifacts, the politics of the representation of racial, ethnic, and religious difference, and the proper response to tragedies such as the Holocaust or 9/11.

Students will take a midterm exam and complete a term project analyzing one museum of their choice, requiring both a fifteen-page paper and a final PowerPoint presentation. They will attend three Saturday field trips to Chicago and Indianapolis. Major texts include Edward P. Alexander, Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Function of Museums; James Cuno, Museums Matter: In Praise of the Encyclopedic Museum; and Lawrence Weschler, Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology.

3 Credits
TR   1:45-3:00 pm     Professor Edward Upton
Fulfills humanities-literature requirement.

Virginia Woolf was no stranger to tragedy: sexually abused as a girl, denied a formal university education, afflicted with mental illness for much of her life, witnessing two catastrophic world wars, and as a writer oppressed by a culture that by and large believed that women either could not or ought not write. Her novels unsurprisingly reflect on tragic alienation, of human beings separated from one another by sexism, individualism, illness, violence, and the vicissitudes of nature. Nevertheless, in a career of stunning courage and innovation, Woolf gradually made the case for the genre of the novel as a potential path out of this alienation. The novel for Woolf not only grappled with the complex web of human relationships and perspectives, it also became a possible site for the emergence of “moments of being,” moments when reality suddenly erupts for a reader, revealing great truth, goodness, or beauty. These moments contained the potential of revealing new types of community that could ameliorate the tragic alienation of one human being from another. These new visions of community could be radical, but they promised greater degrees of healing and solidarity in the midst of an ever-present threat of tragic disruption.

This class will examine five classic texts by Woolf: The Waves, To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway, Between the Acts, and Three Guineas. Even if you’ve read one of these before, why wouldn’t you want to read it again? Don’t you want to flourish? All of these books are amazing. See you in class.

3 Credits
T   6:30-9:00 pm     Professor Matthew Puffer
Fulfills upper-level theology requirement.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was delivering lectures on the Genesis creation account and theological anthropology at the University of Berlin when on January 30, 1933, he witnessed large crowds gathering to celebrate the dawn of the Third Reich and the appointment of the Nazi Führer [leader] Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. On February 1, Bonhoeffer delivered a radio address criticizing the populist fascination with leadership and their Führerprinzip (leader principle). He had by that time disavowed views he previously held as a student which resembled many of Hitler’s apologists, and he had instead become an avowed pacifist through his studies, experiences, and conversations abroad in Rome, Spain, and America. In 1940 however, after a decade of advocating a variety of forms of nonviolent resistance—academic, ecclesial, and political—Bonhoeffer once again entertained the possibility of embracing violent resistance. Bonhoeffer was arrested on April 5, 1943, after ten years of resistance to Hitler—through teaching in the academy and an illegal seminary, pastoring in Germany and in London, and finally participating in a conspiracy and failed assassination attempt as part of the military intelligence. He was killed on Hitler’s orders on April 9, 1945.

In this seminar, we’ll examine Bonhoeffer’s biography, theology, and ethics of peace and resistance, as his thought and practice develop from his years as a university student, to a theology lecturer, and then as a young pastor during the Third Reich, including works on Christian life and community (The Cost of Discipleship and Life Together), Christian ethics and public life (Ethics), and other occasional writings.

1 Credits
TBD             Professor Amanda Ruud

This internship is designed to provide credit for upper-level students who would like to coach a debate team for CC-115L Debate Lab. Students enrolled in CC-487 will work with the Debate Coordinator to gain experience organizing debate teams, shepherding research, and speech writing. S/U Grade Only.

Prerequisite(s): consent of the dean.

1 Credit
Section A: Online Asynchronous        Associate Dean Zachary King

Christ College Senior Colloquium provides a capstone, integrative experience for Christ College Scholars. Through conversations, readings, and written work, students will be led to give shape to the substance of their lives through autobiographical narrative, and they will be led to reflect upon the character and meaning of their future work. The practical dimensions of these reflections will include attention to the transition from college.  [For seniors who were unable to take this in the fall.]