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An analysis of the Church as a community of believers and a social institution; a study of church liturgy and sacra-ments.
Is the wizarding world of Harry Potter incompatible with Christianity as some have suggested? This class will explore how the Harry Potter novels are useful guides to examine and reflect on Christian themes like love, grace, sacrifice, power, evil, sin, community, sacraments, and faith.
In this course students will study the various ways that theology and film interact with one another; the manner with which film has been studied for theological themes as well as the influence of the religious imagination in the cinema. Students will view and analyze a variety of films from a cross-section of world cinema.
In this course students will study four American filmmakers (Frank Capra, John Ford, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese) and how their films express a Catholic imagination formed in their childhood. Not all of these filmmakers retained an active Catholic faith into adulthood. However, students will explore how Catholicism as a culture continues to resonate in their films through ideas such as sac- ramentality, mediation, and communion. Students will also study how these concepts are shaped by the distinguishing cultural expressions of Catholicism brought to America by the Italian and Irish forebears of these filmmakers. By viewing such classic movies as The Searchers, It?s a Wonderful Life, The Godfather, and Taxi Driver students will study how these directors present a distinctly Catholic vision of America.
This course explores, through ecclesial texts and some Catholic fiction and film, distinctive themes and issues that mark Catholic identity in the 20th century, including sacramentality, tradition, the faith and reason relationship, and Catholic understandings of authority and community. All interested students are welcome.
A study of the origins and beliefs of major world religions in historical contexts.
The course explores the development of a theology of mysticism that emerged in the context of neo-platonism and its chief proponent within the Christian context, Pseudo-Dionysius. Following that, the course explores several texts by women mystical writers of the High Middle Ages as one access point to the interconnections that exist between mystical experience and lay piety.
What is spirituality? What is Christian spirituality? What is its role in the lives of Christians today? These are just a few of the questions this course will take up. The course explores the various spiritual traditions and practices that have shaped the lives of Christians over the centuries. The first part of the course will seek to define spirituality, both as a lived experience and as an academic field. The second part of the course will engage selections from a variety of classic Christian spiritual sources including Sacred Scripture, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, St. Francis and St. Clare, Julian of Norwich, St. Hildegard of Bingen, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. The final part of the class will examine the ways that Christian spirituality can inform our understanding of contemporary issues; these include sexuality, ecology, interreligious dialogue, and political action. Students will engage texts from a variety of contemporary Christian spiritual writers such as Thomas Merton, Desmond Tutu, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Sr. Simone Campbell, Anne Lamott, and Gustavo Gutierrez. In addition, students will reflect critically on the possibilities and limitations of the various spiritual traditions and practices so that they might be able to determine for themselves the value and role of Christian spirituality in today's world.
Atonement, as celebrated weekly during the Eucharistic Mass or other equivalent celebrations, stands as a central doctrine to the Catholic Church and the Christian world. The problem with the doctrine, however, is that it has come to be interpreted almost exclusively through an ill-advised and even heretical model called 'penal substitutionary theory,' This class will not only call into question and overcome penal substitutionary theory, it will posit and evaluate a number of other atonement models that the Church has historically taken seriously. Moreover, it will spend a lot of time both understanding and evaluating one form of atonement in particular, which we can call the 'anti-scapegoat' model, which at least fits the truth-criterion that must lie at the bottom of any model of atonement: that the ground of peace which founds the Church must come in and as peace to us.
This class explores the much needed yet often ignored relationship between spirituality and justice from the Christian perspective. Students will explore contemporary justice issues that continue to challenge our world today, such as poverty, racism, gender inequality, war and violence, globalization, and ecological degradation. Students will learn how the Christian tradition provides a wealth of spiritual and theological responses to these crises. Students will critically analyze responses to these issues using various understandings of spiritualities of justice found in Sacred Scriptures, patristic writings, Catholic Social Teaching, and various contemporary theological and spiritual texts. Finally, this course is designed to help students learn to develop life-giving, contemporary spiritual practices that help them live just and meaningful lives.
An introduction to moral decision making and moral action in light of biblical principles and changing contexts.
In this course, we will examine fundamental ethical theories, the basis of these theories in the Judeo-Christian understanding of the nature of the human person, and the application of these theories to practical matters within medicine and health care. The approach to ethics we pursue in this course will be grounded primarily in a Western philosophical and theological context, and will focus especially on the moral teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.
This course surveys the historical, literary, cultural and theological heritage in ancient Israel from its earliest beginnings to the start of the Christian era. Attention will be paid to the geographical and historical contexts in which the Jewish scriptures arose, their social setting, political contexts and theological message. Special attention will be devoted to developing the skills necessary to interpret the texts within their own historical context as well as the possibilities that emerge from the text as a literary creation. Students will engage the multiple readings that emerged in subsequent Jewish traditions, New Testament texts and Christian traditions (Roman Catholic and Protestant). Students will acquire the skills to critically engage and interpret some of the most influential sections from the Old Testament based on the ancient context as well as appreciate the multivalent interpretations available to the contemporary reader.
An overview of the origins, themes, and continuing relevance of the books of the Christian Scriptures, with an emphasis on the four Gospels.
An overview of the origins, themes, and continuing relevance of the books of the Christian Scriptures, with an emphasis on the four Gospels. Does not Fulfill writing intensive requirement. Offered as needed.
This course examines how "the question of God" has taken shape in the history of Christianity and how this question is being asked and re-framed today. Particular attention is given to how the tradition has forged "the God question" in terms of "transcendence"/"immanence" and how since modernity this has come to situate contemporary Christian belief in a new and deeply challenging way. In this context, the course explores contemporary ways of thinking about God that draws out the radicality of faith and its existential imperative to live/engage the God question in the challenges and ambiguities of the postmodern world.
A study of the relationship of people and the earth, with a focus on issues of land stewardship as understood in the Bible, in the religious traditions of native peoples, and in the U.S. sociopolitical tradition.
This course examines how and why the relation of Theology and Science has taken shape in the history of Christianity, particularly in its becoming problematic since the rise of modernity. This requires a critical reflection upon philosophical positioning of these disciplines, drawing out important differences in "truth and method" while seeking a non-reductive dialogue. Based on these philosophical underpinnings, a theological re-thinking of God ("after Darwin") and of creation will be explored, both in its opportunities and challenges for contemporary Christian faith.
This course examines how gender-with its pervasive historical-cultural meanings-has given shape to and challenged Christianity. It studies how biblical texts, religious practices and traditions, and theological discourse have been skewed through a "patriarch-ization" of Christianity. It critically examines how becoming androcentric has eclipsed the experience of women and even led to their oppression. Finally the course explores how various forms of feminist theologies attempt to incorporate the experience of women, to retrieve their contributions, and to enrich Christianity with many new and life-giving symbols, forms of thought and ways of living.
This is an exploration of the biblical theme of justice as it relates to wealth and poverty with an attention to the importance of this theme for modern Christian social ideas. Based upon readings of primary texts from the Bible and early Christianity, the course explores the potential contributions and limitations of early Christian social thought to contemporary socio-ethical discourse.
A study of the cultural, political, and economic spheres of social life in the light of Catholic moral teachings, theologies, and action. Magisterial and scholarly writings from 1891 to the present receive primary emphasis. The course also includes a service learning component.
This course first examines the beginnings of Liberation Theology in Latin America and critically considers how this has both challenged and nour - ished the Christian tradition and the fundaments of theology therein. The course will then examine how this has begun to blossom into a rich variety of 'theologies of liberation' in diverse contexts throughout the world. In this context, the course explores new ways of (re)thinking Christianity as fruitfully engaging the world by 'building of the Kingdom of God' in and through the 'option for the poor'.
Special Topics courses include ad-hoc courses on various selected topics that are not part of the regular curriculum, however they may still fulfill certain curricular requirements. Special topics courses are offered at the discretion of each department and will be published as part of the semester course schedule - view available sections for more information. Questions about special topics classes can be directed to the instructor or department chair.