Distance Education Course Descriptions

At the center of history is the person and mission of Jesus Christ. This course examines the purpose and meaning of Jesus' life and mission in the Synoptic Gospels. This course will examine the quest for the historical Jesus, highlighting the importance of historical study for grounding our knowledge and faith in Jesus. The literary and theological nature of the Gospel stories will also be a focus of this class. Finally, the early Church's understanding of Jesus and its relationship to him will be explored through a careful study of Acts of the Apostles.

This survey of the letters of Paul will begin with an examination of the historical context of this New Testament corpus, highlighting the challenges faced by the Jewish Paul to appeal to members of the pagan Hellenistic culture that he addressed. Special attention will be paid to Paul's use of Greco-Roman rhetorical devices to make his appeals as a model for the adaptation of methods in the New Evangelization. Other course themes include Paul's understanding of Christ, Israel, the law, enculturation of the gospel, anthropology, and the resurrection.

Less than three years before his death, John Paul II called on theologians to develop more profound theological studies on the Virgin Mary (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 2002). In response to that call, this course will explore the Biblical foundations for Catholic Marian doctrine and piety. Students will engage contemporary Biblical scholars as they explore the New Testament presentation of the mother of Jesus. Emphasis will be placed on literary and canonical approaches to Scripture in order to explore how the literal sense of the Bible might shed more light on the person of Mary and her role in salvation history. Students also will study the Marian passages in the Bible within the context of sacred tradition, magisterial teaching, and the writings of John Paul II.

The book of Romans has played a central role in formulating the Church's theology of salvation. It has also given rise to controversy. This course examines the reading of Romans throughout history and its theological significance. It begins with Patristic and Medieval accounts and then turns to the controversy of the Reformation. It concludes with modern readings which attempt to retrieve the tradition and overcome divisive issues.

This course presents a synthetic summary of the symbolum fidei, the Christian Creed, with particular reference to its effective presentation in catechesis. The presentation will follow that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, making reference to other statements in minor creeds and magisterial statements, with particular emphasis given to the relevant portions of the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas. Throughout the course the unity and coherence of the fides quae will be stressed.

This course will provide students with an introduction to both moral and spiritual theology in the Catholic tradition.

In terms of spiritual theology, we will explore the writings of the saints and the major themes that have emerged in the Catholic tradition. After a brief consideration of the challenges Christians living in modernity face in the spiritual life, we will turn to the heart of the class, which is the writings of the saints themselves. Special emphasis will be placed on the hope and encouragement men and women can find in the lives and writings of the Christian saints and mystics from throughout the centuries. With lectures and class discussions, students will read original sources from a variety of saints and consider common spiritual themes (e.g., silence, humility, God's mercy, prayer, human weakness, grace, contemplation, love). Students will discover how the insights from these classical spiritual writers can shed much light on the drama taking place in our own souls.

In terms of moral theology: How does one talk about Catholic morality in a relativistic culture that says, "You can have 'your truth' and I can have 'my truth', but there is no 'the truth' to which we are all accountable? This course addresses this urgent question as we study how theologians such as John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have engaged the problem of moral relativism from a Catholic perspective. First, we will consider key elements of a Catholic moral worldview, including topics such as: the Fatherhood of God, the human person, God's law, human freedom, virtue, friendship, self-giving love, and human fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Second, we will briefly trace the history of how the Western World has turned away from the classical worldview and fallen into moral relativism. Finally, we will consider John Paul II and Benedict XVI's reflections on the damaging effects moral relativism has on human persons, marriage, family and society as a whole. In sum, this course will provide students with a framework for communicating Christian moral truths effectively in a secular, relativistic culture that tends to dismiss Catholic moral absolutes in numerous controversial issues such as abortion, sexuality and marriage.

This course provides an overview of the history of methods for evangelization and catechesis beginning with the principles found in the scriptural narratives and advancing to theories prevalent today. It covers figures and events of influence in the Patristic, medieval, and modern eras. This course also focuses on catechesis and initiatory rites as practiced in the early Church and as presented today in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) and as adapted for children.

The light of Christ came into the world at a time when the ancient world was yearning for the fulfillment of its deepest aspirations. This course will examine how the historical fact of the Incarnation and the founding of the Church transformed Greco-Roman culture and eventually gave birth to a new civilization that arose from the ashes of the Roman Empire. Through the lens of St. Augustine's City of God, this course will consider the rise of Christian civilization until its flourishing in the High Middle ages. Among the texts students will read are: selections from Augustine's City of God, Plato's Apology, Cicero's On Duties, Plutarch's Lives, The Didache, selections from the Apostolic Fathers, Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Part of the mission of the Augustine Institute is to provide graduates with the leadership skills necessary to be effective "ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor 5:20), ambassadors who can, in turn, form others in the faith. These leadership skills include the ability to speak, write, and lead well. All of these skills will be practiced within the context of the Church's mission of evangelization.

This course will investigate the history of discipleship, looking back to Scriptural times and the early Church, to explore the foundations of a discipleship model as the cornerstone to effective evangelization and formation. There will also be a research of adolescent spirituality and the unique stages of development young people go through during this time of their lives. Applying this study to Catholic Youth ministry, the course will further explore unique methodological approaches that can effectively reach modern young people, as is urged in the GDC, "the necessary adaptation of catechesis to young people, in order to translate into their terms the message of Jesus with patience and wisdom and without betrayal." (GDC, 185)

This course will emphasize the critical and primary role of parents and family life in the evangelization and catechesis of young people. Youth Ministry can inadvertently have a tendency to fragment families and pull young people even further away from personal engagement with their families. Participants will come to understand how deeply family relationships affect all of our interpersonal relationships. The course will place the role of Catholic youth ministry as a servant of family life, expanding the vision of ministry efforts beyond just the evangelization of young people to encompass a more holistic approach for the whole family. A youth minister's greatest achievement could be equipping and empowering parents to live out their own faith, and instill that faith in the lives of their children.