HJ International Graduate School for Peace and Public Leadership · Courses
THE
18 courses with the subject THE, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
THE 5131Systematic Theology3
Primarily through the instructor’s lectures, the course provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of Christian beliefs such as God, revelation, providence, creation, human fall, Christ, salvation, Trinity, church, and the last things. And it explores a feasibility of theological universality to address some of the unresolved gaps that still exist among various traditions within Christianity.
This course examines the theological basis for building peaceful individuals, families, societies and world. We take as our ground and starting-point first, words in Scripture about peace and second, Sun Myung Moon’s peace teachings. These together provide a broad framework for examining the most important theological conceptions that guide contemporary peace workers, among them the Sermon on the Mount (as applied to politics), Christian pacifism, Just War theory, globalization and its discontents, interfaith cooperation, Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha, Martin Luther King’s principles of non-violent resistance, and contemporary religion- based efforts at peacebuilding in practice. Along the way, this course will introduce students to the large and growing fields of Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation. 3 credits.
This course covers major approaches to normative ethics: utilitarianism (Bentham and John Stuart Mill), deontological ethics (Kant), and virtue ethics (Aristotelianism, Care ethics and Confucianism). Through the analysis of HJI Catalog 2026-2027 real-world moral dilemmas, students examine how these ethical frameworks are applied in practice. The course also surveys key meta-ethical positions, such as moral objectivism, naturalism, relativism (individual and cultural), egoism, and divine command theory. In addition, it explores foundational philosophical issues related to the origin of moral authority, human nature, moral autonomy, freedom, responsibility, justice, and social values. Hermeneutic questions of how to interpret moral principles are also addressed, with attention to both objectivist and constructivist approaches. Designed with academic rigor, the course also encourages students to reflect critically on ethical issues as they relate to their professional and personal lives.
This course will deal with 19th and 20th century modern theology with its prominent representatives and their distinctive schools and teachings, assessing its providential relevance to modern society. Among those to be studied are Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Rauschenbusch, Barth, Niebuhr brothers, Bonhoeffer, Tillich, Whitehead, Cone (black theology), Daly (feminist theology), Rahner and Moltmann. Postmodern theology will also be studied. 3 credits.
This course offers a critical philosophical examination of the nature, significance, and challenges of religion. Rather than aiming to defend or refute religious belief, the course investigates what religion is—or could be—through philosophical inquiry. Topics include the concept of God or ultimate reality, religious pluralism, the problem of evil, religious experience, the relationship between faith and reason, the afterlife, and theories of truth. Students explore both classical arguments and contemporary critiques drawn from science, psychology, and language analysis. Thinkers include Anselm, Aquinas, Kant, Hume, Hick, Wittgenstein, and others. Emphasis is placed on examining the assumptions, implications, and internal coherence of religious ideas in light of diverse intellectual and cultural contexts. The course combines academic rigor with opportunities for personal reflection.
Philosophy, Power, and AI What does it mean to be human in an age shaped by behavioral economics and artificial intelligence? This course begins with contemporary challenges— irrational behavior, predictive algorithms, transhumanism, and the rise of generative AI—and turns to philosophy for deeper insight. Students examine how major thinkers across history have approached questions of reason, freedom, morality, the self, and the dynamics of power. Readings include works by Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Nietzsche, Arendt, and Frankl, along with selected Eastern perspectives such as Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist thought. Throughout the course, students critically reflect on both classical and contemporary views of human nature in light of today’s technological and cultural shifts—paying particular attention to how power, control, and autonomy are reconfigured in an era of surveillance, persuasion, and algorithmic influence. Designed for students new to philosophy, the course combines conceptual rigor with personal reflection.
This course examines the question of life’s meaning through philosophical, existential, and hermeneutic inquiry. Students explore not only possible answers to the question but also its nature: What does it mean to ask whether life has meaning, and how can such a question be approached responsibly? The course focuses on Martin Heidegger’s analysis of mortality and authentic existence, Hannah Arendt’s concept of natality and the human capacity to begin anew, and Viktor Frankl’s account of meaning, suffering, 36
This course explores theological expressions of the Unification message in the context of Christian theology, not only addressing various theological issues and problems in the Christian tradition, but also benefiting from Christian theology for the self-clarification and self- understanding of Unification theology. This course enhances the ability to explain and defend the Unification message in dialogue with Christian clergy and lay people. 3 credits.
Unification Philosophy is the philosophy and thought of Rev. Sun Myung Moon; this philosophy was then systematized by the late Dr. Sang Hun Lee as Unification Thought. This course will explore the central perspectives of Unification Thought and its key concepts by examining them against the background of the history of philosophy, HJI Catalog 2026-2027 other disciplines, and contemporary social cultural contexts. Through the dialogical study of Unification Thought and the philosophic tradition, students will see both the philosophic implications of Unification Thought and the challenges it faces. The course is seminar style. Students are required to do a series of presentations. 3 credits.
Divine Principle provides a formula for our life with God and with one another. It illuminates the path that Rev. Moon walked. It reveals the heart of God and God’s painful course through history. It is a resource for ecumenical relations. To study the Divine Principle in depth, this course starts with Exposition of the Divine Principle, adds insights from True Parents’ words, and from Wolli Wonbon, the manuscript Rev. Moon wrote in Pusan in 1951-52 that has been a particular focus of the instructor’s research. We will give particular attention to issues of relevance and application in the present day. Since this is an advanced course, students should already be well versed in the basic content of the Principle and be trying to live by its precepts.
