9 courses with the subject GVC, 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.
GVC 111First Year Seminar: Storylines3
This foundational course introduces first year students to the breadth of the liberal arts curriculum and to the skills needed for successful university work. As an interdisciplinary course, this class invites exploration of class participants’ background and experience, faith, and involvement with others, and develops a deeper understanding of their place in relationship to God, the academy, and the community, using the theme of Micah 6:8.
This largely experiential course focuses on creation care and stewardship of the body in relation to doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. It is ideally taken at the sophomore level. (Education students seeking PreK-3, PreK-6, SPED, or Health and Physical Education (PreK-12) licensure substitute HE 202 Health and Safety for GVC 201 Life Wellness.)
In this course students and faculty will examine the phenomena of cities and urbanization. An underlying theme will be to open ourselves to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God in the city. In this context we will ask the following questions: How/why have cities evolved? What does urban (vs. rural) living do to us and for us? What makes a city work well? Among other outcomes, students will recognize the potential for the city structure to act as an agent for social change, recognize the potential the city provides for demonstrating human creativity, and understand how to use and apply the scientific process to study an urban problem. Global Village Curriculum • 29
GVC 231Colloquium: Passion/Obsession: Mind and Matter; Being Human3
Passion. Obsession. Desire. Addiction. Faithfulness. Fanaticism. Love? Hate? We are created by God to live a life of meaning. As a result, we have inherent drives and appetites that can be either creative or destructive. At what point does a desire develop into a life-consuming addiction? Where is the line between faithfulness and fanaticism? Can love destroy and hate create? Through art, science, and philosophy, professors and students will explore humanity’s eternal struggle with this dichotomy, and hopefully gain insight both corporately and individually into the human condition.
GVC 242Colloquium: Plague: Examining Humanity’s Place in Nature3
Infectious diseases have shaped human populations throughout history and the specter of pandemic flu is again causing global concern. This course will explore aspects of contagious diseases that impact communities, both past and present, and address the fundamental position of humanity in creation. A multidisciplinary approach will blend theology and biology, history and philosophy of the common good. Students will study the biology of disease transmission, disease agents and their vectors with the history of past epidemics and their impact on human communities. Biblical accounts, the history of the Christian movement, and contemporary theological and ethical responses to disease will be explored. Students will be challenged to think and respond to questions such as: How can we build stronger communities? Can we maintain our values in the face of a major disaster? Understanding that disease is part of our world, how do we respond? Senior Seminar Options for 2007-08: GVC 401a Senior Seminar: An Exploration of Suffering 2 The universal theme of suffering perceived through various cultures and articulated in art, song, story, scripture, poetry, and essay is the focus of this course. How pain and suffering are connected to our vocation in life is another aspect of the course. In Western cultures persons often ask “why” in the face of suffering while other cultures regard suffering as a necessary part of being human. The course builds on the students’ cross cultural experience and the cultures and religions represented in the campus and local community in the pursuit of understanding the experience and meaning of and response to suffering. Guest lectures, group presentations, readings, a field trip to Washington D.C., and discussions provide forums for reflection. GVC 401b Senior Seminar: Myths, Legends and Superstars 2 Using pop-cultural “texts” (possibilities include Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and the works of Bob Dylan, U2, the Dixie Chicks), this seminar will explore the irony of post- modernism which deconstructs all meta-narratives, while simultaneously constructing new and powerful replacements. Using communications theory, cultural analysis and biblical perspectives, students will explore deeply the chosen texts, themselves, and the future. This seminar will help students map their own faith landscape within the contemporary and often confusing pop-cultural milieu. GVC 402a Senior Seminar: Following Roots, Finding Wings 2 It is often said that Christians are in the world but not of the world. Some claim that this calls Christians to isolate themselves from the world. Others claim it calls Christians to go into the world proclaiming, more by word than deed and creating the presence of something different in the world. To be in the world but not of it begs questions around two important themes: identity, and the meaning of one’s presence in the world. These become even more intriguing questions as one considers the times. In this class these themes will be explored, primarily through the arts because they can hold a mirror to show where one has been, and can offer a lamp to show where one might go. Students will be asked to explore the question, “Who am I?” and to create something personal (not a paper) by which to communicate and make tangible their ideas. 30 • Global Village Curriculum
