CAST - Catholic Studies (CAST)

What is human fulfillment and how does one find it? Beginning with the Scriptural understanding of the great human drama, the course will explore the Catholic understanding of who we are and therefore what kind of human fulfillment is suited to us. The course will investigate the basics of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition through theology, history, literature, philosophy and end with a look at ultimate fulfillment in the life of heaven. The course will look at primary resources from several disciplines, including theology, philosophy, history, and literature, and from different ages of the Church, ancient, medieval and modern.

Introduction to significant doctrines and an exploration of Christian theology in a historical context. Emphasis on the development of Christian faith and theology.

Approaches to revelation and theology, the reality of God and the triune nature of God; cosmology; and the problem of evil, the Church and the sacraments in the teaching of Vatican II. Traditional and nontraditional eschatology.

The course will feature a study of key elements in the development of sacred music practice as seen through the prism of 2000 years of musical development in the Roman Catholic Church, from Plainchant, commonly known as Gregorian Chant, to Vatican II.

This course considers the relationship between the Catholic faith and artistic expression and why art is an inextricable aspect of Catholicism. Particular attention is paid to the various forms and ages of Catholic art, and the rich theological/spiritual messages conveyed through nearly two millennia of painting, sculpture and architecture.

The course will feature a study of key elements in the development of sacred music practice as seen through the prism of 2000 years of musical development in the Roman Catholic Church, from Plainchant, commonly known as Gregorian Chant, to Vatican II.

Continuation of the basics of reading Latin, including an introduction to some of the best-loved Latin authors: Catullus, Cicero, Horace, Vergil and Ovid. Prerequisite: LATN 1102.

Continuation of the basics of reading Latin, including an introduction to some of the best-loved Latin authors: Catullus, Cicero, Horace, Vergil and Ovid. Prerequisite: LATN 1102.

This course treats the history of Italy from the early Middle Ages to the Council of Trent. Emphasis is placed on the dramatic changes in peoples, state institutions, religion, the economy and society that occurred during these centuries. The abiding and sometimes determinant role of geography in Italian history is a subject that receives particular attention. All areas of the peninsula are discussed, with special attention to relations between peripheral or provincial areas and cultural or administrative centers. Major intellectual, religious, social and political developments are explored through primary and secondary readings, and a mixture of lecture and class discussion.

This course treats the history of Italy from the Baroque Age down to contemporary events. Emphasis is placed on the dramatic changes in peoples, state institutions, religion, the economy and society that occurred during these centuries. The abiding and sometimes determinant role of geography in Italian history is a subject that receives particular attention. All areas of the peninsula are discussed, with special attention to relations between peripheral or provincial areas and cultural or administrative centers. Major intellectual, religious, social and political developments are explored through primary and secondary readings, and a mixture of lecture and class discussion.

Emphasizing the Catholic social encyclical tradition, the course investigates the theoretical and practical relationships between Christian belief and thought, and social and economic life (involving issues of economic justice, peace, race, gender, family, etc.). In so doing, we explore the lives of those who have worked to shape Christian social justice movements, and other concrete contemporary applications of Catholic social teaching.

This course seeks to deepen a student’s understanding of the relationship between the Catholic theology of creation and contemporary empirical science. Topics to be covered include the birth of science; the historical-philosophical environment of this birth; the interventions of recent Popes on the issue; the specificity of the cosmos as shown by current science; the unity of the cosmos and its beauty; the importance of philosophical realism; the doctrine of creation ex nihilo et cum tempore; the theory of the Big Bang; and the theory of evolution. Primary sources will be emphasized.

The history of science is often told as a chronological account of practical and theoretical developments from antiquity to modern times. Because of the modern assumption that science and religion have no relation, the theological influences of religions in various cultures are often ignored, or they are interpreted according to the historian’s biases, which is difficult to avoid. The worldview instilled by theologies, however, influenced how people of different cultures fundamentally understood the universe, so the fuller consideration of the history of science is the consideration of the theological history of science. In this course, the students will read a variety of writings with differing opinions and original sources. Cultures/periods will be treated in this order: Egypt, China, India, Babylonia, Greece, Arabia, Biblical cultures, early Christianity, European Middle Ages, and the Scientific Revolution.

Christianity is literally the religion of the Word, and Catholic writers have been expressing, exploring and communicating the mystery of “the Word made flesh” for two thousand years in every genre of the literary arts. The course will examine this legacy of “artful theology” in its many variations and in its constant features. Representative authors and works from different epochs will be examined both in their socio-historical context and for their enduring theological and spiritual significance.

This course is designed to help students to understand and to explore the experience of voluntary conversion in the Catholic tradition. Beginning with conversion even before Christianity with the story of Moses, moving through the New Testament and St. Augustine to later converts like John Henry Cardinal Newman and Dorothy Day, the course examines the nature of conversion, what led to it in each case, and the impact on the life of the converted and his or her society.

Study of various genres and styles Latin language and literature of late antiquity and the Middle Ages; with readings from the Vulgate, Church Fathers, hymns, drama, history, secular songs, satire, biography and romance. Selections include St Augustine, St Jerome, Bede, the Carmina Burana and the Apollonius Romance. Prerequisite: LATN 2102 or equivalent.

This course represents an integrating experience of the student¿s participation in the Catholic Studies program, whereby theological understanding and lived experience of Catholicism become intertwined. Particular attention is paid to how Catholicism¿s incarnational theology necessarily applies to and acts within the specific setting of the student¿s life, parish and community.

This course is concerned with the development of the experimental sciences (viz., physics, chemistry and molecular biology) within the western tradition and the influence that the Church and science have exerted upon each other since the beginning days of Christianity.

Few countries exhibit as strong a connection of its history, culture and identity with the Catholic Faith as does Poland, a factor which proved decisive in its return to freedom. The course examines how the Polish people and Church endured through the periods of partition and Nazi/Soviet tyranny until their resurgence in the epochal pontificate of Pope John Paul II and the collapse of Communism. This course is part of the Catholic Studies foreign study program.

Drawing from a variety of sources - historical, literary, philosophical and theological - this course examines the origins and nature of Christian culture, exploring in particular the value of culture itself as an aspect of revelation and incarnation. Looking at figures such as the historian Christopher Dawson, the poet-philosopher-playwright G.K. Chesterton, the novelist-philologist J.R.R. Tolkien, the theologian Bernard Lonergan and the novelist-Christian apologist C.S. Lewis, it offers some answers from the contemporary Christian tradition to the ancient questions: How am I meant to understand the world? How am I meant to understand myself? This course is part of Catholic Studies foreign study tour program.

Italy enjoys a pre-eminence as a spiritual center for the Christian world alongside its importance in the development of Western civilization's art, music, architecture and political thought. The course will examine the interplay between Italy's profound spiritual heritage and cultural achievements, focusing on the contributions of such key figures as the Apostles Peter and Paul, Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Ignatius of Loyola. This course is part of Catholic Studies foreign study tour program.

Selected topics in Irish History chosen by the instructor.