Theology and Religious Studies Minor

A minor in Theology and Religious Studies can be fulfilled by taking any six courses taught within the department. Doing a Theology and Religious Studies minor is relatively easy, and could even be completed using only GEP courses. A third of the minor will be completed by required GEP courses: every student must take THE 154 and a Religious Difference course. Students could then complete the minor by taking their First Year Seminar, Ethics Intensive, Faith and Reason, and Writing Intensive courses within the department. However, students can complete the minor with any six courses, whether GEP courses, electives, or ILC courses for other majors.

Goal 1: Students will study at least two religious traditions beyond an introductory level, including their histories, beliefs, practices and contemporary expressions.

Outcome 1: Students will be able to identify the foundations, historical development, and ethical ramifications of at least one religious tradition other than the Roman Catholic tradition, using sources and methods appropriate to the discipline of Religious Studies.

Goal 2: Students will understand the implications of religious belief for moral decision making and ethical action in the world.

Outcome 2: Students will be able to articulate key ethical implications that arise from the study of theology and religion.

Goal 3: Students will appreciate the diversity of method, content, and history that exists within the contemporary academic disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies.

Outcome 3: Students will be able to articulate the nature and language of academic theological inquiry.

A minor in Theology and Religious Studies can be fulfilled by taking any six courses taught within the department. Doing a Theology and Religious Studies minor is relatively easy, and could even be completed using only GEP courses. A third of the minor will be completed by required GEP courses:  every student must take THE 154 and a Religious Difference course. Students could then complete the minor by taking their First Year Seminar, Ethics Intensive, Faith and Reason, and Writing Intensive courses within the department. However, students can complete the minor with any six courses, whether GEP courses, electives, or ILC courses for other majors.

Some students might like to focus their Theology and Religious Studies minor on topics they find of particular interest. This, too, is quite easy to do. The following are only some of the potential combination of courses. Feel free to design your own focus.

Focus in Asian Religions

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
First Year Seminar
Hinduism
Spirit Disc in Compar Perspect
Introduction to Buddhism
East Asian Buddhism
Food Practices & Chinese Relig
Death & Afterlife Chinese Rel
Yoga:Ancient&ModPathsToFreedom

Focus in Biblical Studies

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
First Year Seminar
Israelite Religion
Religion&Law in the Anc World
Myth and History in the Bible
The Psalms
NT&Chr Atts to Jews/Judaism
Synoptic Gospels
Letters of Paul
Past/Present in ISR and PLS (STR)

Focus in Ethics

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
Christian Social Ethics
Faith, Justice & Jesuit Miss
Catholic Social Teaching
Christian Medical Ethics
Just Hlth Care in Dev Nations
Christianity and Media
Technology Ethics
Economic Ethics
War and Peace
Comparative Religious Ethics

Focus in Systematic Theology

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
First Year Seminar
Gendr & Christian Spirituality
Atheism and the Case for God
Jesus through the Centuries
Does God Exist?
Theology of Word and Sacrament
Theology of the Church
Evil as a Theological Problem
Salvation as Story & Belief
Death and Rebirth
Theology and Science
The Beauty of God
Ignatian Spirit in Jesuit Trad
Recent Trends in Roman Cathol
American Catholicism
Beauty&ConsciousnessInTheArts
American Religious Thought
Liberation & Pol Theologies
Feminist Theologies
One True Religion?

Focus in Historical Theology

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
First Year Seminar
NT&Chr Atts to Jews/Judaism
Early Christn Thought
Knowl & Love of God: Mid Ages
Revolt, Reform, Reunion?
Gendr & Christian Spirituality
Jesus through the Centuries

Focus in History and Material Culture

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
African & Caribbean Religions
Religion & Race in Phila
Global Christianities
Past/Present in ISR and PLS (STR)
Death & Afterlife Chinese Rel
Food Practices & Chinese Relig

Focus in Islamic, Jewish, and Christian Relations

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following: 115
Judaism
Islam
Jew&Chr Responses to Holocaust
The Quran and Its Interpreters
Women in Muslim Tradition
Interreligious Dialogue
Jews/Chr: Theologies Compared
Jews&Chr: Entwined Histories
Jews&Chr: Bible Interpretation
Abrahamic Peoples I
The Abrahamic Peoples II
1

Students should take at least one each in Judaism and Islam and at least one interreligious dialogue course which deals with the relations of Christianity with at least one of the other traditions.

 Focus in Jewish-Christian Relations

THE 154Catholic Theological Tradition3
Select five of the following:15
Judaism
Topics in Ancient Judaism
Jew&Chr Responses to Holocaust
Interreligious Dialogue
Jews/Chr: Theologies Compared
Jews&Chr: Entwined Histories
Jews&Chr: Bible Interpretation