Religious Studies

This course introduces students to the literature and major themes of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) with an emphasis on its ancient Near Eastern context. Through the study of representative primary texts, the course familiarizes students with methods and issues in the modern study of the Old Testament. The course provides useful background for further studies in religion and theology.

The New Testament is an integral source for understanding and contextualizing the mission of Jesus as well as understanding the theological heritage of the Church. This course gives students an appreciation for the New Testament as an early and developing witness to a faith in Christ. The focus of the course is to acquire skills to do textual exegesis and understand historical factors that shaped the New Testament’s origins.

“Who is my neighbor?” How history, economics, politics, science and religion affect our personal, social, global and cosmic relationships.

This course will deal with the historical contexts, competing analytical approaches, and foundational Catholic documents on the impacts of industrialization, colonialism, twentieth century warfare, and environmental degradation especially on the poor and the marginalized people of the world.

This course is an introduction and entry into both the Christian and the Jewish Scriptures via selected key themes. Each theme will be studied in its own historical and literary contexts as the foundation for meaning, but also be compared across beyond historical boundaries into contemporary contexts. Attention will be given to gaining a basic understanding of responsible and historically informed interpretation of these books, as well as the role of the variety of sources and perspectives that inform them. Attention will be given to a Catholic approach to these texts as a compass, as well as to how different traditions approach the issues raised in thematic study.

A survey of Patristic Writing from the Apostolic Fathers to the Fifth Century: Didache, Pastor of Hermas, Clement’s Epistles, Ignatius of Antioch’s Epistles, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Lives of the Martyrs, Desert Fathers, Cappedochians, John Chrysostom, Cyprian, Augustine.

Introduction to the major religions of the world, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.

This course examines several major figures who significantly influenced the Christian tradition from the fourth until the thirteenth century. It places them in their historical and intellectual contexts as we study key features of their thought. These figures include Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis and Clare of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas.

This course will examine several major figures who significantly influenced the Christian tradition from the sixteenth century to the present. It will place them in their historical context and study key features of their thought.  These figures will include Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal, François de Fénelon, Cardinal Newman and Thomas Merton.

This course introduces students to Mesopotamian mythology and the scriptures of Judaism. This will be achieved through introductions to, and reading representative selections from, ancient Near Eastern mythology and the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Attention will be given to comparisons between these texts, as well as parallel and interpretive literature.

This course introduces students to the scriptures of Christianity and Islam. This will be achieved through introductions to, and reading representative selections from, the New Testament and Qur’an. Attention will be given to comparisons between these texts, as well as parallel literature and interpretations of the texts by later thinkers.

Bridging the divisions between the Catholic and the Protestant as well as the Orthodox Churches and empowering lay LAST through a renewed appreciation for baptism.