An exploration of how Saul the Pharisee came to be Saul the Apostle, enlarging the scope of his Judaism through faith in what God had done through the Jew Jesus, crucified and risen. The course will inquire into what St. Paul may or may not have known of the earthly Jesus whom he always wrote of as the glorified "Lord" and "Christ."
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A study of the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of Luke to see how the first Christians developed the legacy left by Jesus; their response to certain issues which face Christians today: living in a secular culture, attitude toward the poor and socially alienated, diversity of theological opinion, charismatic and institutional aspects of the Church, etc.
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âWe live with love as if we knew what it was about,â Jean-Luc Marion writes in Prolegomena to Charity. This course will engage the question of what love is about from a distinctively Christian theological perspective, reading both classic religious texts on love and 20th century theology, spirituality, and literature. An always present undercurrent in the course will be loveâs response to evil, sin, and sufferingâa response made most explicitly in the revelation of love upon Christâs cross. We will focus special attention both on the relationship of human love with the love of God and on the idea of love as gift.
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The Second Vatican Council referred to Scripture as the âsoul of theologyâ in its landmark Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. This course considers what role the Bible plays in Roman Catholicism, and how Catholics read and interpret Scripture. The major source documents that contribute to the Roman Catholic understanding of Scripture will be studied in an effort to examine whether there is a distinctively Catholic way to read the Bible. Students will be introduced to the different âsensesâ of Scripture in the Catholic tradition, and various methods of Scriptural interpretation will be examined and illustrated by selected biblical texts.
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This course undertakes a study of the major themes of the Christian faith from the perspective of the Catholic tradition. It investigates both how various doctrines cohere into a world view and the tensions that exist among them. Each of the themes--revelation, creation, sin and redemption, Christology, ecclesiology, eschatology--is viewed in its development from story, image, and symbol to dogmatic formulation and contemporary interpretation.
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The objectives of this course are to consider various aspects of Christian initiation: (1) conversion; (2) the scriptural roots and historical evolution of Christian initiation rites â both in terms of practices and theology and across communions, with an emphasis on the developments in the sacramental churches (e.g., Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, churches of the Reformation); (3) an in-depth look at the contemporary symbols/ritual practices and theological understandings of Baptism, Confirmation/Chrismation, and Eucharist; (4) an examination of the process of initiation of adults/children of catechetical age (the RCIA in the Catholic Church and the similar processes evolving in other sacramental churches) and of the reception of a baptized person into full communion of the Catholic Church/transfer from one Christian communion to another; and (5) the contours of a baptismal spirituality and the implications of Christian initiation for everyday living.
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In what sense can contemporary Christians understand a particular historical event, the Christ-occurrence, to be definitive revelation about God and humankind, and uniquely decisive for the saving fulfillment of all humankind? What do we mean when we speak of Jesus the Christ as divine and human? After a brief history of the classic teaching and an analysis of modern questions, there will be a study of two approaches in contemporary theology: the theology of Karl Rahner and Liberation Theology.
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The Bible can be a scary book. From chaos monsters like Leviathan and Behemoth, to God's terrifying nighttime attack on Moses in Exodus 4, to the beast with seven heads and ten horns in the book of Revelation--the Bible often reads more like horror literature than religious literature. In this course we will explore why that might be. That is, what might religion and horror (or the monstrous) have in common, and how finally do they differ? Why does the horror genre draw so often on biblical and religious themes (as in Dracula's favorite quote from the book of Leviticus, "the life is in the blood")? And is the supernatural a necessary part of religion, or can religion exist within the bounds of reason alone? The class will engage in close readings of selected biblical texts, and move on to Gothic literature and modern films. A good deal of writing and reading will be required.
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The church honors as martyrs those Christian men and women who refused to deny their faith and thus were âthrown to the lionsâ by the Roman emperors. This same church anathematizes as heretics those men and women it had burned at the stake in medieval Europe. And, although Nestorius was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, the church in Persia reveres him as an orthodox teacher. While the punishments for heresy in the Latin west could be quite dramatic, the complexities in identifying 'heresy' are particularly evident when Christians from different traditions come into contact with one another â as in the Christological controversies in the early church, or during the Crusades, and afterwards, in Ottoman and colonial times. In an effort to unravel the historical, socio-political and theological difficulties in defining 'heresy' and 'true' martyrdom, this course presents a comparative overview of the evolution of Christian doctrine and social realities in the (Hellenized) Latin and Semitic worlds. Course discussions will center on the testimonies and eyewitness accounts of Christian martyrs, as well as the writings of, and invectives against, key 'heresiarchs'.
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Credits: 3.00
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A major influence on the Catholic Church of Vatican II, the thought of John Henry Newman (1801-1890), an English convert, comprises a richly varied synthesis which draws on history, philosophy, and personal religious experience. This course first considers Newman's own religious story before turning to his theories of doctrinal development, religious knowledge, conscience, and role of the laity. The course also treats Newman's sermons and his ideas on university education.
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A study of modern evolutionary theories and their impact on theological thinking. The writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin are central to the course, but texts of Henri Bergson and Loren Eiseley will also be considered.
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The search for truth seen as a quest of the spirit. Historically the search has involved seekers in imaginative dreaming and austere disciplines, but its goal has always been the illumination that liberates. The course includes a weekend retreat in September.
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Some spiritualities have spoken of the suppression of all desire, while others have spoken of the transformation or unification of desire. This course considers the issue in both spiritual and psychological terms and tries to interpret the difference. The course includes a weekend retreat in September.
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The Christian tradition is rich in personalized accounts of religious experience, which are remarkable for the range of the emotions they depict and the variety of cultural values they reflect. This course will study a sampling of such accounts, beginning with St. Augustineâs Confessions, continuing with St. Bernard, St. Francis of Assisi, Erasmus, Luther, St.Teresa of Avila, and then moving into the twentieth century with Dietrich Bonhöffer (executed by the Nazis), Dorothy Day (social activist), Thomas Merton (monk and ecumenist), and Flannery OâConnor (fiction writer). We will see the texts as cultural as well as religious expressions and take into account the literary or rhetorical frameworks the authors employ. Emphasis on close reading of primary texts. Discussion (participation required) with some lecture.
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This course examines cinematic portrayals of Catholic sainthood. Topics include martyrdom, asceticism, evangelization, miracles, mystical experience, saints of the Holocaust, and the Virgin Mary. Films considered include Romero, Il Miraculo, Monsieur Vincent, Edith Stein, Francesco, Th?r?se, The Messenger, and others. (Not offered 2004-05)
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The course will apply the theological method of Bernard Lonergan, S.J. to four phases of the African-American struggle in order to discern and describe the transcendent presence of God. We will examine how, when, and where God shows up in the experience of African-Americans. We will look at four periods: (1) Contemporary Black Culture, (2) The Civil Rights Movement, (3) Reconstruction and Turn of the Century, and (4) Slavery. We will understand the theological method of Lonergan and apply it to these four phases of the struggle in an effort to understand faith, and its impact on the struggle of African-Americans. Lonergan's notions of cognition, history, dialect, doctrine, conversion, and bias will be treated.
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Credits: 3.00
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Credits: 3
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A series of literary pieces, both ancient and modern, will be studied from the point of view of the theological horizon of their authors and the faith that is being imaged in them.
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This course will examine religious motifs in American history and contemporary society, with an emphasis on: the faiths of the founders, conceptions of America as "the kingdom of God," biblical themes, theocracies, "social gospel," and religious freedom and its constitutional constraints. While "mainline" Protestantism has provided the theological foundation for much of American religious life, our examination of Native American religions, indigenous sectarian movements, the Branch Davidian movement at Waco, and contemporary women's spirituality movements, will deepen our understanding of the vibrancy of Religion in America.
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Womanist theology goes beyond Alice Walker's definition of a womanist as a "black feminist or feminist of color." It serves to provide a critical response to the absence/invisibility of African American women in both feminist and Black liberation theologies and to acknowledge their "coming to voice" as articulators of a holistic communication theology which challenges racism, sexism, and classism. The issue will enable students to explore and critically analyze, from a holistic perspective, contemporary issues in both the religious and secular worlds. Insights will be drawn from literature, social sciences, history and other areas. Some background knowledge of either feminist and/or Black liberation theologies is encouraged.
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Originating with and still profoundly influenced by Sigmund Freud, contemporary psychotherapeutic theory and practice give rise to new images of the good human life. Some of these images challenge older images maintained for centuries by religious traditions of the West, both Christian and Jewish. The course examines these images and the extent to which a traditional religious understanding can assimilate positively some of the new psychotherapeutic perspectives and evolve to a fresh, but still genuinely religious, view of human life.
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The Four Gospels give us four different images of Jesus based on the experience of the communities that gave shape to their narratives of his life and work. As Christianity spread towards Greece, Rome and Europe Jesus was understood in various ways through various symbols like redeemer and king. But Jesus was an Asian. Christianity has also spread across Asia. Asians too have tried and are trying to understand the significance of Jesus for them in the context of their many cultures and religions. This course will try to explore the various images and symbols that Asians are using to understand Jesus. It will also try to understand the theological implications of experiencing Jesus Christ in a multi-cultural and multi-religious context. The exploration will be based mostly on what Asian Christians (and a few others with Asian experience) have written. It will also take into account the presentation of Jesus in Asian Christian arts like painting, music and dance.
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The platform of every modern "Islamist" political party calls for the implementation of "the shariâa". This term is invariably (and incorrectly) interpreted as an unchanging legal code dating back to 7th century Arabia. In reality, however, Islamic law is an organic and constantly evolving human project at ascertaining Godâs will in a given historical and cultural context. This course offers a detailed and nuanced look at the Islamic legal methodology and its evolution over the last 1400 years. The first half of the semester is dedicated to "classical" Islamic jurisprudence, concentrating on the manner in which jurists used the Qurâan, the Sunna (the model of the prophet), and rationality to articulate a coherent legal system. In the second half of the course, the focus shifts to the ways in which Muslim jurists have responded to issues of contemporary importance/controversy, ranging from gender equity (in marriage, divorce, economic rights) to medical ethics (abortion, euthanasia, organ donation, female circumcision). The format of the class will vary from topic to topic but students should anticipate *extensive* participation through in-class debates.
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