Course Description

Addiction is a crisis of our time. We frequently hear about the devastation caused by drug addiction: overdose deaths, broken relationships, and harm to communities. Many of us have wrestled with addiction in the context of our own lives, homes, workplaces, and churches. We often hear that addiction is essentially a narrow medical issue. But what does Christian theology say about what addiction is and how it might be healed? How can the practices of Christian communities promote recovery, justice, and peace for our neighbors with addiction? This course seeks to engage these difficult and pressing questions. We will seek a nuanced answer to the foundational question: What is addiction? We will consider how the resources of Christian tradition and Scripture can be powerful tools in teaching us how to think, speak, pray, and act with regards to the addiction crisis of our time. Finally, we will explore ways that Christian communities can and should be places of healing and hope for our neighbors with addiction.