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Catholic
Studies Courses
AH 301-51: Northern Renaissance Art AH 304-51: Baroque Art This course examines major developments in art and architecture in Western Europe (Italy, Flanders, Spain, Holland, and France) during the 17th century (1950s-1700). The Baroque period was dynamic and full of contrasts. It was a time of major religious, political, and social developments to which artists and patrons responded. Readings and lecturers will consider art in the service of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, the absolutist monarchies of France and Spain, as well as the middle class, Protestant society of the Northern Netherlands. We will look at the development of art academies, landscape and genre painting, and portraiture as well as new approaches to depicting Christian and mythological subject matter. Major artists to be studied include Caravaggio, Bernini, Rubens, Velazquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Poussin. Economics EC 299E-1: Struggle for Justice in El Salvador In the early morning hours of November 16, 1989, a unit of the El Salvadoran army quietly infiltrated the campus of the Jesuit University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador, located the Jesuit residence, and brutally shot to death six Jesuit priests plus their housekeeper and her daughter. At first, the government blamed this heinous crime on the leftist guerilla fighters who had recently brought the decade-long civil war from the countryside into the city with major armed attacks inside the capital itself. Within weeks if not days, however, it was clear that the El Salvadoran army had carried out an order to silence the Jesuits. The wealthy elite of El Salvador saw these Jesuit scholars who belonged to the Faculty of the UCA as an obstruction to their objective of maintaining economic and political dominance of El Salvador. Who, in fact, were these Jesuits? How had they come to be seen by the army as legitimate targets in a long and bloody civil war? To answer these questions in depth, this team-taught and cross-disciplinary course will critically examine and evaluate El Salvador’s economic, political, and theological-ethical structures and issues. It focuses on topics related to land and income distribution, poverty and solidarity, the twelve-year civil war, political and economic transformation before and since the civil war, liberation technology, human rights, and democracy en El Salvador. (Also listed as PO 396B-1 and RL 399B-1) English EN 311-51: Medieval Literature: Old English Prerequisite: a 200-level literature course. Major authors, themes, genres, and forms of British literature during the Anglo-Saxon period. EN 320-51: Renaissance: Tudor Lit. This course offers students a representative sampling of writers and texts from one of the most miraculous periods in European letters, sixteenth-century English literature. Shaped by the confluence of Renaissance and Reformation thought, and energized by the emergence of the public theatre in London, this initial era of print-culture is alternatively engaging and perplexing to current readers. We will be as attentive to its strangeness as to its iconic familiarity. As one of the six required courses in our program, this course gives equal weight to increasing students’ knowledge of cultural history and improving their analytical skills. Greek GK 280: The Gospel According to Saint John We shall be reading this gospel in its entirety for its language, not for historical or theological investigation. Special attention will be given to the lexical breadth of important conceptual words. There will be periodic review of pagan Greek (the Enchiridion of Epictetus) as well as compositional exercises. This course requires at least one collegiate year of ancient Greek. History HS 412-51: Reformation Europe The Archbishop was under attack for dishonesty and malfeasance in office. The laity attacked the clergy for sexual misconduct and pastoral incompetence. Professors of theology openly challenged the operations of the local Roman Catholic archdioceses. Political leaders called for dramatic changes in how the church operated and what privileges it enjoyed in civil society. Boston in 2002? No, Germany in 1521. The parallels between the current crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and the religious situation in Europe in the Renaissance and Reformation are numerous. As Yogi Berra might say, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Europe in the sixteenth century underwent a religious crisis, the ramifications of which are still with us. A society that had previously been united in a common Church and culture became divided between those who considered each other’s leader’s to be either the “whore of Babylon” or a “wild boar loose in the vineyard.” The relationship of Church and State, the internal organization of the churches, and the nature of Christian belief, the status of women, the role of the laity, the attitudes of Christians to the non-Christian societies of the world, and the participation of religious people in “Holy Wars” were all prominent issues. The social and intellectual worlds of Martin Luther, Michelangelo, Ignatius of Loyola, and Queen Elizabeth I still hold our interest today. This class will examine the religious and political revolutions that swept Europe in the sixteenth Century. Latin LT 399 Confessiones Sancti Augustini Tredecim libri omnes nobis legendi sunt. Optime mensibus aestivis quattuor vel quinque ab omnibus discipulislecti erunt, eoque modo ad rationes de tempore clarissimas adveniamus Alia scripta eius, scilicet aliquot sermones ac enarrationes, occasionibus acceptis, percurremus. Adconsulendos libros commentariosque fruitor www.stoa.org/hippo. Ferox quidem hortatu magister nihilominus animo benevolo petit ut vos amatores istius sancti intellectu gloriosi maxime gaudeatis. Philosophy PL 101-41: Introduction to Philosophy PL 220-51 and 52: Medieval Philosophy In this course, we will survey the central problem areas of medieval philosophy, reading Catholic thinkers such as Augustine, Anselm, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham along with Jewish and Islamic thinkers for comparison. Our goal will be two-fold: first, to learn how these authors thought through philosophical issues; second, to think them through for ourselves. The issues we will be focusing on include freedom of the will, proofs of the existence of God, the problem of universals, the nature of virtue, and mysticism. PL 315-51: Applied Ethics Bioethics provides a range of theoretical underpinnings to assist in the resolution of clinical dilemmas presented by the practice of modern medicine. In order to answer the question “what ought I do?” patients, their families, health care professionals and religious advisors face increasingly complex challenges to traditional views about the sanctity and value of human life. In this Catholic Studies course, we examine five main bioethics concerns contrasting a faith based perspective provided by Catholic tradition and Magisterium with secular bioethics perspectives. We consider 1) valuing life: being pro-life in an age of science and relativism: personal autonomy over life and death in medical treatments; 2) creating life: the ethics of assisted reproduction, and genetically engineered human and animal life; 3) modifying life: the ethical limits of transplantation, genetic modification, and the use of stem cell technologies; 4) ending life: the ethics of assisted suicide, withdrawl of artificial life support or nutrition; 5) real life using bioethics in the practical resolution of ethical dilemmas faced by Catholics in medicine and biotechnology. PL 368-41: Ethical Theory Detailed examination of some of the major philosophical theories about the nature and justification of moral principles of rightness, obligation, and value. Special emphasis is given to the contemporary developments of such theories. PL 395-41: Metaphysics We will attempt to understand what kinds of things there are in the world through the questions of Being and related concepts of existence, thing, property, event, matter, mind, space, time, and causality. PL 396-41: Theories of Knowledge Examination of the nature and sources of knowledge and the means for establishing knowledge claims. Readings from classic works and contemporary writers. Political Science PO 396B-1: Struggle for Justice in El Salvador In the early morning hours of November 16, 1989, a unit of the El Salvadoran army quietly infiltrated the campus of the Jesuit University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador, located the Jesuit residence, and brutally shot to death six Jesuit priests plus their housekeeper and her daughter. At first, the government blamed this heinous crime on the leftist guerilla fighters who had recently brought the decade-long civil war from the countryside into the city with major armed attacks inside the capital itself. Within weeks if not days, however, it was clear that the El Salvadoran army had carried out an order to silence the Jesuits. The wealthy elite of El Salvador saw these Jesuit scholars who belonged to the Faculty of the UCA as an obstruction to their objective of maintaining economic and political dominance of El Salvador. Who, in fact, were these Jesuits? How had they come to be seen by the army as legitimate targets in a long and bloody civil war? To answer these questions in depth, this team-taught and cross-disciplinary course will critically examine and evaluate El Salvador’s economic, political, and theological-ethical structures and issues. It focuses on topics related to land and income distribution, poverty and solidarity, the twelve-year civil war, political and economic transformation before and since the civil war, liberation technology, human rights, and democracy en El Salvador. (Also listed as PO 396B-1 and RL 399B-1) Religious Studies RL 101-41: Introduction to Religious Studies Introduction to the academic study of religion. Topics include the nature of religion; the human search for meaning; revelation; symbol, myth, and ritual; faith as it relates to reason, experience, and morality. Introduction to the areas of scripture, theology, ethics, and religious traditions. This class is designed to prepare students for courses at the 200 and 300 levels. RL101-60 and 61: Introduction to Religious Studies This is an introductory course to the study of religion taught through the lens of Catholic Christianity. The course will explore how scriptures, symbols, myths, rituals, and creeds of the Catholic Church respond to the human search for meaning. In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, the course will include attention to contemporary practice, issues in morality and methodology, reflection on personal faith as it relates to reason, as well as a sympathetic appreciation of the beliefs of others with special consideration of Islam. The course is open to all students interested in fuller understanding of religion with a focus on the Catholic tradition. RL 200-41: Old Testament Introduction This course is an introduction to the scholarly study of Sacred Scripture in the Roman Catholic Tradition. More specifically, it will examine the historical and cultural environment of the Old Testament, its nature and composition, its religious and theological developments, and its signficance for today’s Christians. RL 200-51: Old Testament Introduction This is an introduction to the library of texts which have become the Hebrew Bible. Some aspects considered are: the origins, formation, and development of these texts as they grow out of the experience of ancient Israel; the different theological perspectives which can be discerned in these writings (including the JEPD theory of Pentateuch literature); and the historical-cultural context in which the texts arose. This course is part of the Catholic Studies curriculum because it engages the student with the Roman Catholic theological tradition of interpretation of the Old Testament, both as an entity and in its respective parts. The ecclesial nature of authentic scriptural interpretation is fundamental to this tradition. RL 260-51 and 53: Moral Decision Making This course investigates contemporary moral issues in light of certain theological and philosophical methods for evaluating the issues. The issues will address dilemmas in the area of human sexuality, bioethics, criminal justice, economics, and war and peace. Specific issues handled largely through cases include abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, capital punishment, war in Iraq, international trade and sweatshops, just friendships and same-sex relationships, marriage and divorce. The methods-divine command theory, ethics of virtue and Kantian ethics-attend to human experience, divine revelation, church teaching, and philosophical reasoning. Format calls for some lecture and much class discussion. RL 320-51: History of Christmas This course will examine how the feast of Christmas developed in the Christian Church. Emphasis will be placed upon the relation of this development to larger developments in Church and society, especially in the nineteenth century. RL 326-51: History of the Papacy Rome, the ‘Eternal City’, central in the history of Western culture, changed from Antiquity to Modern times passing through a medieval evolution that made the capital of the Roman Empire the centre of Christianity. To understand how and why Rome became the most important city of Christendom it is necessary to reconstruct the historical evolution of the Papacy. Indeed, the presence of popes in Rome shaped the city role, culture, politics and architecture of the Eternal City. This course will study topics related to the evolution of the papal primacy from Late Antiquity to the Medieval period in relation to the Byzantine Empire, where Constantine founded the “New Rome”. In the course we will analyze the relation between the Rome of the Roman Empire and the centre of Christianity: how the heritage of the Roman Empire influenced the role played by the papacy and how the new imperial see reacted against the evolution of the papal primacy. RL 364-51 and 52: Christian Sexuality It is widely held today that the human race is undergoing a massive cultural mutation in the area of sexual values, ethics, and behaviors. Christian Sexuality explores this claim from the perspective of the church’s wisdom and teaching and, from the perspective of human experience, wrestles with the mystery and meaning of human sexuality as revelatory of our deepest urgent longings for communion with God. RL 376-41: The Franciscan Movement Bro. Charles McElroy, OFM Cap. (TR 8:30-9:45 AM) This course meets at Borromeo Seminary. Fulfills core requirements for Division V. This course will study the Franciscan Movement from its birth in the life of St. Francis of Assisi to its modern-day manifestations. Through reflections upon the historical and spiritual aspects of the movement, the course will give the student an overall perspective of the Franciscan experience, identifying its unique and vital charism within the Roman Catholic Church. RL 385B-1: The Four Canonical Gospels: History, Conflict, and Faith Fr. George Smiga (R 6:30 – 9:15 PM) This course will examine the four gospels of the New Testament, familiarizing the student to their origins and historical settings, their literary forms, and their message for believers. All four of these gospels were composed as works for small local communities of the first century. As such the manner in which the work of Jesus is presented within them is colored by local understandings and issues. When these gospels were accepted into the canon of the New Testament, what was local became universalized. Today as readers interpret these ancient works, applying them to ever new situations, they must be aware of the originating forces which influenced the writing of these texts. Ignorance of these forces will lead to interpretations which are skewed and potentially harmful. RL 399B-1: Struggle for Justice in El Salvador In the early morning hours of November 16, 1989, a unit of the El Salvadoran army quietly infiltrated the campus of the Jesuit University of Central America (UCA) in San Salvador, located the Jesuit residence, and brutally shot to death six Jesuit priests plus their housekeeper and her daughter. At first, the government blamed this heinous crime on the leftist guerilla fighters who had recently brought the decade-long civil war from the countryside into the city with major armed attacks inside the capital itself. Within weeks if not days, however, it was clear that the El Salvadoran army had carried out an order to silence the Jesuits. The wealthy elite of El Salvador saw these Jesuit scholars who belonged to the Faculty of the UCA as an obstruction to their objective of maintaining economic and political dominance of El Salvador. Who, in fact, were these Jesuits? How had they come to be seen by the army as legitimate targets in a long and bloody civil war? To answer these questions in depth, this team-taught and cross-disciplinary course will critically examine and evaluate El Salvador’s economic, political, and theological-ethical structures and issues. It focuses on topics related to land and income distribution, poverty and solidarity, the twelve-year civil war, political and economic transformation before and since the civil war, liberation technology, human rights, and democracy en El Salvador. (Also listed as PO 396B-1 and RL 399B-1) RL 420-1: Early Christianity This course will study the emergence of Christianity into the Greek and Roman world from the first to the sixth centuries. Trinitarian theology and Christology, church and state, the role of women, monasticism, the interaction with pagan culture, the establishment of ecclesiastical structures, early Christian art, and the Church’s growing self-understanding will be among the topics discussed. |