Dr. R. Brad Bannon

Creation, Creativity, and ReCreation is a journey of self-discovery through the study and celebration of the enormous diversity of human thought about the meaning and purpose of existence and our responsibilities to nature and society. Through in-class discussions and small group podcast recordings, we consider the relationship between creation, creativity, and playful re-creation. We dive deeply into Hindu theologies, Buddhist theologies, and Christian theologies in comparative reflection while exploring the relationships between work/karma and play/leela.

This course invites students to journey through life’s biggest question (Who am I and why am I here?) by considering various doctrines of God, particularly the relationship between Self, World, and God. We shall consider this question in dialogue with Medieval, Renaissance, and contemporary theologians in the Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant traditions, but also alongside theistic and nontheistic Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Moral/Ethical questions related to social and ecological justice serve to frame our discourse, as do questions concerning the theological significance of diversity, writ large.

This course examines the relationships between desire (eros), ethics, pedagogy, and justice with particular attention to issues of race, gender, sexuality, ecology, health care, and poverty. The course balances focus on primary texts, especially Plato’s erotic dialogues and the Gospel of Luke, with contemporary Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Hindu liberation theologians, including Pope Francis, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Oscar Romero, Shawn Copeland, James Cone, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Tracy Sauki Tiemeier, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Paul Farmer, Anantanand Rambachan, and others. Central to the course is a phenomenological analysis of ethics as the ‘re-orientation of desire’ and the discursive roles of logic and rhetoric to cultivate a desire for social and ecological justice.

This year-long course, which is a core requirement for all Boston College undergraduate students, examines Hinduism and Christianity through in-depth study. The Fall semester entails systematic study of theory and method, creation, creativity, anthropology, ludic theology, and soteriology. The Spring semester examines the ethical, practical, and ritual aspects of Hinduism and Christianity, engages in close readings of the Bhagavad Gita, the Gospel of Luke, and explores issues of social and ecological justice through the lens of Christian and Hindu liberation theologies.

This semester-long course meets a core requirement for Boston College undergraduate students. It examines Hinduism and Christianity through in-depth study. In this course, students examine the ethical, practical, and ritual aspects of Hinduism and Christianity, engage in close readings of the Bhagavad Gita, Hebrew Scriptures, and the Greek New Testament while also exploring issues of social and ecological justice through the lens of Christian and Hindu liberation theologies.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the dynamics of theological reflection in an academic setting. Framed as a quest for truth, transformation, and justice, the course invites students to explore key questions and themes of enduring human significance in conversation with the classic texts, ideas, and practices that animate the Christian theological tradition. Such questions include: What is theology? What is the ultimate horizon of our lives? What does it mean to be human? Who is Jesus Christ? And how can we know and serve the common good? Satisfies Core requirement for: Theology (Christian Theology)

This course leads students on a religious quest through several religious traditions with a focus on Creation, Creativity, and ReCreation. Our focus is on healing, self-discovery, existential purpose, the value of diversity, the relationship between freedom and diversity, and social/ecological justice. In addition to the philosophical and historical content taught in the lectures, this religious quest also builds critically important skills. Most importantly, students will learn to have meaningful conversations with other humans using the phenomenological method through a series of small-group, class, and individual discussions. This in-person class makes use of four teaching modalities: (1) All the lecture videos are pre-recorded and publicly available on YouTube, (2) Class time is devoted to engaged group discourse about the material and current global events related to religious organizations, (3) Students work closely together in a series of six podcast discussions, and (4) Students are required to meet individually with the professor at least twice during the semester.

This Philosophical Quest is designed to guide students on a journey of self-discovery. This quest begins by equipping students with the tools needed to have meaningful discussions about truth and ethics with others – tools that will help them to think critically, to question, to think independently, and make better decisions in life. This quest should be disorienting at times, as we encounter wisdom traditions and worldviews of human existence from distant times and places. Filling the sails for this introspective quest is the phenomenological method, which is a mode of discourse and learning in the pursuit of fact, wisdom, and truth. Once students have cultivated a working knowledge of the phenomenological method through repeated practice and guided feedback, we then begin to think about ethics, moral values, justice, and the pursuit of a good life.

This course gives students an introduction to Western Philosophical thought and thinking. In addition to critical thinking tools and solid introduction to epistemology, ontology, phenomenology, logic, existentialism, ethics, and the first principles of philosophy, students also closely examine several texts by Plato. The course also includes sections specifically designed for film majors, game design majors, and critical reflections on the emerging realities of artificial intelligence.

This textbook-based course introduces students to logic, rhetoric, and critical thinking.

This course introduces interdisciplinary studies majors (typically sophomores or juniors) to IDIS theories and methods. I designed the course as an introspective preparation for students to begin drafting their senior capstone thesis. The course is also designed to build and foster an IDIS cohort through peer review and peer collaboration.

This senior seminar is for interdisciplinary studies majors who are in the process of writing and revising their capstone thesis. The course is designed to foster an IDIS cohort and interdisciplinary collaboration through peer review and student presentations.

This graduate-level conference course seminar is designed to empower upper level graduate students to advance and deepen their understanding of interdisciplinary research methods through mentorship, collegial discourse, and independent study. Through doctoral-style discourse, we will consider interdisciplinary research as it is practiced today and explore some of the philosophical underpinnings of interdisciplinary studies. The primary goal of the course is to help each student formulate and formalize a Capstone Thesis Proposal for IDIS 9400. For the conference portion of the course, students lead discussions and teach everyone in the course as a means to share knowledge and deepen your understanding of the research methods you are already familiar with while also learning from your peers.

Two students in my IDIS 9000 course requested me as their faculty research advisor and guide as they wrote and completed their Graduate Capstone Thesis. Both students completed projects related to racial/socio-economic inequities (opportunity gaps) in public education in the Boston Metropolitan area.

This upper-level course is structured as a “conference course”, meaning that students actively participate in the seminar throughout the semester and then take the reins to lead the seminar through the final weeks on ecological ethical issues that are particularly important to them and their academic major. The content introduces students to the foundational issues in environmental ethics and the philosophical tools for working through these issues. Students will also reflect on a number of important contemporary issues in environmental ethics, most notably climate change, which many believe is the most exigent ethical (and political) crisis of our time. Prerequisite(s): ENGL 1100 or HON 1050.

This interdisciplinary course serves as an overview of the basic principles and issues of sustainability, laying out the intellectual frameworks, technological innovations, and sociopolitical developments that will bring us closer to a more sustainable and equitable global community. It provides a point of entry for students wishing to pursue various aspects of sustainability in more depth, and students will also learn about the rapidly-expanding career opportunities within the field of sustainability. This online course uses a wide array of modalities.

This seminar equips students to have meaningful discourse about contemporary ethical problems, including topics related to race, gender, sexuality, pedagogy, abortion, capital punishment, treatment of nonhuman animals, and ecological responsibility, among others. In order to increase student engagement and pedagogical effectiveness, the course included assignments to watch NBC’s The Good Place, which is based on TM Scanlon’s primer What We Owe to Each Other.

This upper-level senior seminar examines social justice issues with particular focus on race, gender, sexuality, pedagogy, mass incarceration, and other social issues and consequent political implications. Readings include Plato, JS Mill, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, James Baldwin, Angela Davis, Simone de Beauvoir, and others.

This course gives students an introduction to Western Philosophical thought and thinking. In addition to critical thinking tools and solid introduction to epistemology, ontology, phenomenology, logic, existentialism, ethics, and the first principles of philosophy, students also closely examine several texts by Plato. Most of the lecture content is available in this YouTube playlist.

In this course, Prof. Harvey Cox examined the religious and cultural sources of Pentecostalism from its birth in Los Angeles in 1906. Focusing on healing, expressive bodily worship, speaking in tongues, and its special appeal to people on the margins of society, we also discussed neo-Pentecostalism, its political and familial implications, social theology, and social justice movements within Pentecostalism. As teaching fellow, I led weekly discussion sections, graded student papers, prepared extensive audio-visual media, and lectured on Amos Yong’s pneumatological Theology of Religions.

This seminar is designed to guide third-year MDiv students as they research and write their master’s thesis. As seminar leader, I worked closely with ten students in 2011-2012 and eight students in 2012-2013 in close collaboration with senior faculty advisors. The course is designed with dual aims: (1) to prepare masters students for graduate level research and (2) to train doctoral students to advise graduate student research through an autonomous teaching experience. Professors led biweekly seminars for teaching fellows on pedagogy and didactic strategy.

This required course for first year MDiv students is designed to introduce and problematize the notion of ministry through an examination of practical theology in contemporary world religions. “Ministry” is examined in Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions, including a component on multiple religious belonging. As teaching fellow, I participated in class lectures, led two weekly discussion sections, and graded student papers.

This course examined the processes by which theologians study theologies across religious boundaries. Readings included Hindu and Christian primary texts and theological texts from these traditions. As Teaching Fellow, I lectured in five classes, led discussion, and graded student papers while working closely with Professor Francis X. Clooney.

This course provided an introduction to Hindu ritual theory through the study of primary texts in the Brāhmaṇical Mīmāṃsā tradition, including Jaimini’s Pūrvamīmāṃsāsūtra, Śabara’s Bhāṣya, Kṛṣṇa Yajvan’s Mīmāṃsā-Paribhāṣā, and contemporary academic scholarship. As Teaching Fellow, lectured, led discussion, and graded student papers while working closely with Professor Francis X. Clooney.

This course is designed as a general education course, introducing students to the narratives and arts of the Hindu tradition and the sacred geography of contemporary India. Readings included the Ramayana, Bhagavad Gītā, Gītā Govinda, Śiva Purāṇa, and the Devī Māhātmya. The course included visitation to a local Vaiṣṇava temple. As Teaching Fellow of this large (100 students) course, I met weekly with Professor Diana Eck to discuss the material, led weekly discussion groups and graded student papers.