Catholic Studies Minor

Belief, Unbelief & the Good Life
The course examines arguments for and against the existence of God and studies how these arguments affect a comprehension of the moral life and the value of human behavior. The course will begin with a study of “virtue ethics” and will use this ethical theory as a basis for dialogue with the ethics of the non-Christian belief systems of Feuerbach, Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche. Students will develop the tools to make ethical decisions about critical issues facing the human community.

Little Less Than a God
This J-Term travel course to Italy focuses on religious conceptions of the human person across time and place. It will offer a comparative analysis of distinct perspectives on the human person as expressed by Christians of different eras, locations, and theological perspectives, as well as the cultures in which Christianity is rooted. By studying the cultural histories, theological perspectives, and works of art and architecture, students will encounter the diverse influences that have given shape to the self-understandings and religious imaginations of Western Christians today. This course is cross-listed as L.RST-227. The courses are identical but transcripts will reflect the course number (L.RST or L.CTL) that a student registers for and completes.

Human Dignity & Human Rights
This course will examine the lives and creative output of three twentieth-century American Catholics: Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), Dorothy Day (1897-1980), and Fulton Sheen (1895-1979). We will attempt to uncover these individuals’ convictions about sacramentality, mediation, and communion. We will investigate how they were shaped by Catholic perspectives and American culture and how they shaped Catholic perspectives and American culture. We will pay special attention to the claims made by each of these individuals about human dignity and human rights.

All for One, One for All
An investigation into questions surrounding the responsibilities of the individual to the community as evident in the work of three Nobel prize-winning authors- Francois Mauriac, Albert Camus and Samuel Beckett. We will examine the notions of choice, free will, personal identity and faith, and discuss ways in which these notions function within the framework of the novels/plays chosen for the semester.

Requirements for minor in Catholic Studies:
Select two from Req 2 (Philosophy, Religion and Theology)