Based on draft 2023-24 Academic Calendar
Foundational Theology
FND 110G Introduction to Catholic Studies I
3 Credits
An historical introduction to Catholicism from its roots in Jewish and Greco-Roman antiquity to modern times. Catholicism’s key literary, religious, and institutional contributions to Western culture will be studied through the close reading and discussion of representative Great Books of the Catholic Tradition.
FND 111G Introduction to Catholic Studies II
3 Credits
An historical introduction to Catholicism from its roots in Jewish and Greco-Roman antiquity to modern times. Catholicism’s key literary, religious, and institutional contributions to Western culture will be studied through the close reading and discussion of representative Great Books of the Catholic Tradition. Successful completion of FND 110G is a prerequisite for FND 111G.
FND 120 Exploring the Catechism of the Catholic Church
3 Credits
This course presents an introduction to Catholic belief and practice by means of a study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Students will thoroughly consider each of the Catechism’s four parts: on Faith, on Liturgy, on Life in Christ, and on Prayer. Select texts from Church fathers and doctors as well as other magisterial and conciliar documents may be drawn upon to illuminate the Catechism’s own systematic presentation.
FND 130G Way of Beauty: Sacred Fine Arts I
3 Credits
An introduction to the theory and practice of sacred fine arts. Classroom seminars on aesthetics and art history will introduce students to the West’s rich tradition of architecture, painting and music alongside seminal reflections on beauty by such as Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Ruskin, Jacques Maritain, Josef Pieper, and Joseph Ratzinger. The practical element of this course will normally include participation in a sacred music choir as well as short workshops on Eastern Iconography and other sacred arts.
FND 131G Way of Beauty: Sacred Fine Arts II
3 Credits
An introduction to the theory and practice of sacred fine arts. Classroom seminars on aesthetics and art history will introduce students to the West’s rich tradition of architecture, painting and music alongside seminal reflections on beauty by such as Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, John Ruskin, Jacques Maritain, Josef Pieper, and Joseph Ratzinger. The practical element of this course will normally include participation in a sacred music choir as well as short workshops on Eastern Iconography and other sacred arts. Successful completion of FND 130G is a prerequisite for FND 131G.
FND 310 Patristic Theology
3 Credits
A historical and literary overview of Christian writers and theology from the first to the seventh century. Select fathers in the eastern and western Church, the development of Trinitarian and Christological doctrine, and the emergent western theological tradition will be considered.
Languages
LNG 101 Fundamentals of Latin I
3 Credits
Elements of grammar, basic vocabulary and practical exercises in classical and Christian Latin.
LNG 102 Fundamentals of Latin II
3 Credits
Elements of grammar, basic vocabulary and practical exercises in classical and Christian Latin. Successful completion of LNG 101 is a prerequisite for LNG 102.
LNG 111 Introduction to Biblical Greek
3 Credits
Elements of grammar, basic vocabulary and practical exercises. Successful completion of LNG 111 is a prerequisite for LNG 112.
LNG 112 Introduction to Biblical Greek
3 Credits
Elements of grammar, basic vocabulary and practical exercises. Successful completion of LNG 111 is a prerequisite for LNG 112.
Sacred Scriptures
SCR 110 The Old Testament
3 Credits
Formation and interpretation of the Old Testament: biblical inspiration, canonicity, textual criticism, hermeneutics, history, geography and archeology. Understanding the Old Testament. Study of selected tests from the Pentateuch, Historical Books, Psalms, Wisdom, Prophets, and deuteron-canonical books of the Old Testament focusing on salvation history and covenant theology.
SCR 210 The New Testament
3 Credits
Formation and interpretation of the New Testament: biblical inspiration, canonicity, textual criticism, hermeneutics, history, geography and archeology. Understanding the Old Testament. Understanding the New Testament. Study of selected texts from the Gospels, Pauline Letters, Catholic Epistles, and other NT writings (Acts of the Apostles, Hebrews, etc.)
This course includes a seminar that explores the question of the interpretation of scripture with the Mind of the Church, during which key Church documents will be analyzed while some major contributions from the world of academia to the field of biblical interpretation will be considered. The aim is to equip students with a range of exegetical tools and building blocks that will be necessary in subsequent scripture courses in their chosen program, and indeed in their various ministries as exegetes of Sacred Scripture.
Philosophy
PHIL 110G Historical Introduction to Philosophy I
3 Credits
An historical introduction to philosophy from the pre-Socratics to modern times. Topics such as the nature of God, of knowledge, of human nature, of society, of friendship, and of beauty will be studied through the close reading and discussion of representative Great Books of the Western philosophical tradition.
PHIL 111G Historical Introduction to Philosophy II
3 Credits
An historical introduction to philosophy from the pre-Socratics to modern times. Topics such as the nature of God, of knowledge, of human nature, of society, of friendship, and of beauty will be studied through the close reading and discussion of representative Great Books of the Western philosophical tradition. Successful completion of PHIL 110G is a prerequisite for PHIL 111G.
PHIL 120 Logic and the Art of Reasoning
3 Credits
The study of logic enables the intellect to engage in the orderly pursuit of truth. In this class, students will hone their ability to use language with precision by mastering the rules of definition, by identifying the relationship between kinds of propositions, and by becoming familiar with valid and invalid syllogistic forms. Besides studying substantial portions of Plato’s Meno, Aristotle’s Categories and Porphyry’s Isagogy, students will learn how to name and avoid the most common logical fallacies.
PHIL 220 Social & Political Thought
3 Credits
A study of the fundamental principles of political philosophy as a basis for Catholic social teaching. The course will address such questions as: Are social and political modes of organization – family, household, city, and nation – natural or merely conventional? What are the appropriate limits of human freedom? Do human beings have rights that everyone should respect? Is there a difference between moral and legal obligations? Can it ever be morally acceptable to disobey the state? These questions will be explored through a study of texts by historical and recent authors such as Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Hobbes, de Tocqueville, Rawls, MacIntyre and Finnis, but will focus upon topics of perennial concern.
PHIL 240 Philosophy of Human Nature
3 Credits
A philosophical inquiry into human nature and personhood in relation to nature and being in general. The historical development of the concept of person in philosophy and anthropology from past to present, especially in view of theological understandings.
PHIL 241 Philosophy of Nature
3 Credits
Philosophical inquiry into various aspects of nature and the universe, including issues arising from changing views of science and cosmology. The theological importance of various views of nature and God in historical and contemporary times.
PHIL 243 Thomistic Metaphysics
3 Credits
A philosophical study of being in its various dimensions. Issues such as substance and attributes, transcendental, being and essence, analogy, and universals will be addressed in light of classical and contemporary approaches. Special attention will be given to the functions of metaphysics within theology.
PHIL 330 Ethics
3 Credits
Introduction to traditional and contemporary problems and methods of philosophical ethics or moral philosophy. The impact of ethics on theological and religious teachings and concerns and vice versa.
PHIL 400 Senior Research Thesis & Defense
3 Credits
During the last year of study, each student researches, writes, and presents a written thesis, the results of which they will defend orally before a panel of faculty members. Under the direction of a thesis director, students will explore critically a topic that arises from their program in Catholic Studies. The purpose of this cumulative exercise is to provide each student with an opportunity to develop and manifest what John Henry Newman called “an integrated habit of mind”.
English
ENG 106 Writing and the Art of Rhetoric
3 Credits
A study of the fundamentals of clear and eloquent expression. Practical exercises in English grammar and syntax will be enriched by the recitation and consideration of classical and modern examples of persuasive writing in such authors as Cicero, St. Paul, St. Augustine as well as Jane Austin, Abraham Lincoln, GK Chesterton, and Flannery O’Connor.
ENG 201G Literature I - Greek and Roman
3 Credits
Socratic seminar on the works of ancient Greece and Rome. Will include genres such as epic poetry, theatrical tragedy/comedy, lyric poetry, and historical narrative, featuring the work of authors such a Homer, Virgil, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Lucian, Pindar, Sappho, Horace, Ovid, Thucydides, Herodotus, Livy, Plutarch, and Tacitus.
ENG 202G Literature II - Medieval
3 Credits
Socratic seminar on the literature of the Medieval world. Will include genres such as narrative poetry, plays, mystical narratives, hagiography, and historical narrative, featuring culture-defining works such as Beowulf, the matter of Britain, mystery and morality plays, and the Golden Legend, and authors such as Dante, Chaucer, Omar Kayyam, Julian of Norwich, Hildegard von Bingen, and the Venerable Bede. ENGL 201G is a prerequisite for this course.
ENG 301G Literature III - Early Modern - Victorian Literature
3 Credits
Socratic seminar on the literature of the Early Modern through Victorian eras. Will include genres such as plays, lyric poetry, narrative poetry, political satire, political history, the essay, and the novel, featuring the work of authors such as Shakespeare, Petrarch, Herbert, Donne, Milton, More, Machiavelli, Swift, Moliere, Montaigne, Voltaire, Austen, and Dickens.
ENG 302G Literature IV - Modern - Contemporary Literature
3 Credits
Socratic seminar on the literature of the late Modern world. Will include genres such as the novel, the short story, lyric poetry, political history, and biography, featuring authors such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Conrad, Waugh, Atwood, Boyagoda, Camus, O'Connor, Hopkins, Eliot, Auden, Frost, Burke, Tocqueville, Frankl, and Solzhenitsyn. ENGL 301G is a prerequisite for this course.