Core Curriculum

The core curriculum for the Master of Arts degree is a sequenced and integrated program uniting the study of Sacred Scripture and Theology, Catholic History and Culture and Pedagogy and Leadership. (The last of these is replaced by Greek in the Sacred Scripture specialization) Owing to the fact that the methodology of the Institute is narrational, linking the content of the curriculum to an ordered narration of the history of salvation in the Scriptures and the history of the Church, the order of the curriculum, which is tied to a historical disclosure of doctrine, is key. This ordered disclosure of the content of the curriculum leaves the student, not with a piecemeal understanding of the content of the faith as is so often the case in programs of study, but with a synthetic understanding of the interconnection of the truths of the faith and the way in which they percolate out of the history of salvation as a unified and harmonious whole. Recognizing the unity of doctrine, the student is better able to acquire an understanding of it and to pass that on to others. It is for this reason that whenever possible the graduate student should take the courses in the order proposed.

Sacred Scripture Core

"The wisdom of what a person says is in direct proportion to his progress in learning the holy Scriptures" -St. Augustine (De Doctrina Christiana, Book IV) The study of Sacred Scripture, which is described as the "soul of theology," is the basis for all other theological study. As Augustine notes in his treatise on the study of the sacred page, De Doctrina Christiana, "the teacher who teaches how to understand scripture is like the teacher of the alphabet." The content of Sacred Scripture, as well as that of sacred Tradition is the matter upon theology reflects. More still, Sacred Scripture is the story of God's self-disclosure in time and the story of His saving work in our regard. At the Augustine Institute the study of Sacred Scripture is approached from the perspective that the Bible, when properly understood, is already an inspired and ordered account that carefully leads us to the realization of the absolute centrality of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. For this reason the first course in the curriculum takes up the "Salvation History", which does the work of exploring what John Paul II has called the "careful divine pedagogy" of God as He prepared a people and, in fact, a world to receive and recognize its Savor. The study of salvation history with Christ as its center and fulfillment makes possible a reappropriation of the Old Testament in light of the revelation of Christ and the Church in the New Testament. And so the second course in the curriculum, entitled "Synoptic Gospels and Acts" undertakes a study of the three portraits of the single mystery that is Christ and of that mystery which is the Church He founded for the purpose of knowing those mysteries better. After the plan of salvation history has been studied and the center of that history in the Gospels and Acts mastered, the student moves on to a study of the Johannine followed by the Pauline literature. In addition to being part of the New Testament Revelation, these serve to demonstrate the way in which the Sacred Scripture is in some measure self-interpretive, pointing the way for the Church's theology.

Theology for Catechesis Core

In this part of the core curriculum of the Institute, the graduate student studies the Church's reflection on the content of Revelation as it has been transmitted to us in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, with special attention given to the imparting of it in the catechetical setting. This means that each topic is approached as an integral part of the larger Gospel, which should then yield a unified and coherent grasp of that message of salvation and of the Church's doctrine as an articulated expression of it when the course of study is finished. The theology faculty of the Institute starts from the assumption that since Revelation is God's self-disclosure to man, it is possessed of an order and harmony that theology is charged to discover and elaborate. The model for this approach is St. Thomas but other sources will be tapped to show the order and beauty of theology. The core begins with a study of the nature and content of Revelation, the mode of its transmission and the Christian response of faith. This course also includes treatment of the functioning of the Church's magisterium and theological methods. The second course presents a synthetic treatment of the Christian Creed in accord with the first pillar of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with special attention given to the way in which the economy of salvation yields the content of the symbol of faith. The third course takes as its subject the matter of the second pillar of the Catechism on the liturgy and sacraments, again with reference to the way in which the sacraments make the great works of God ritually present. The fourth course presents the Christian path of moral and mystical development. In each of these courses, St. Thomas will provide the foundation with others of the Fathers and Doctors cited, especially from their catechetical works.

Catholic History and Culture Core

As was noted above, the narrational approach of the Augustine Institute highlights the importance of history as the place where God and man meet. In this strand of the core curriculum the graduate student seeks to attain a grasp of the third part of the ancient catechetical narration, the age of the Church. Since the Institute aims at forming those who will work for the establishment of that Civilization of Love which is the goal of the New Evangelization, it is essential that the student understand the past history of the Church. The Church is always fully in the world and yet not of it, always incarnated in culture, but likewise always a prophetic voice raised against the shortcomings of cultures. Understanding the Church's varied and Spirit-inspired response to ancient paganism, renascent Aristotelianism, Protestant individualism or Modernism in different periods of her history helps us to recognize the way in which she is both unchanging in her adherence to the Gospel her Lord has consigned to her care, as well as the way in which she is ever new. The arrangement of this historical portion of the core is, not surprisingly, a temporal one, beginning with a course on the Church's response to a decaying Greco-Roman culture at the time of its inception and culminating with a course considering the modern world and the problems of secularization, skepticism, and subjectivism. In every phase of the Church's history there are lessons to be gained about how the world, which is both the world redeemed by Christ and the world under the sway of the prince of this world, can be brought - one person at a time - under the loving sovereignty of God.

Catholic Leadership Core

Every Evangelization & Catechesis student is required to take a two hour course on Catholic leadership (LEAD 601), but the Institute's commitment to the development of future Catholic leaders is not only expressed in that requirement. Creating a culture of leadership, of service, is the primary aim of the Augustine Institute and so every course includes, in an integrated way, the application of the material studied at the graduate level to the task of leading and teaching others. This is proposed in a mode appropriate to the apostolate of the laity and so seeks to build a cadre of leaders who will be willing and able to place their talents at the service of their pastors and fellow Catholic laymen. This commitment to leadership development stresses first the need to place oneself under God's grace and to follow the prompting of the Spirit in the growth in the life of virtue. This is not merely hortatory but proposes particular acts, such as forming and following a plan of life, which aid in the formation of those virtues which will make the graduate of the Institute a fit instrument in the New Evangelization. Second, those professional attitudes and skills - defining the student's future apostolate, whether one of study, administration, teaching or even as a Catholic parent - are gained primarily in the specialized tracks.