SPRING COURSES - 2008

SP 2105 Church and Culture in Italy II:  Introduction to the Interrelation between the Catholic Faith and the Building of Churches and Liturgical Spaces. (Andrea Baciarlini)  The course proposes to help students enter into the richness of the relationship existing between the Catholic faith and the construction of churches and liturgical spaces, so as to understand the meaning and symbolism of the buildings and the historical and social reasons behind them.  The focus of the course is Rome, but a wider, general overview of the situation elsewhere will also be given.

SP 2115 Topics in the Politics and Economics of Europe II: Europe After the Second World War—Christian Democracy and Post-War European Political Institutions. (Sr. Helen Alford, OP)  In this course, the focus is on postwar Catholic political activity, especially at the level of Europe.  We will look at the flowering of the Christian democratic tradition after World War II and at European integration and the Catholic influence on this.  Catholics become les identifiable as a particular block in national politics after the war, but they are crucial to the Christian democratic parties.  Key Catholics are also crucial in the development of the European Union.  This course is more theoretical and less historical than SP 1104, but again both are important in understanding the impact of Catholics on politics in Europe.

Spring 2008 – The thought of John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger (Dr. Gregory Coulter, UST faculty member going with the group)  The course will examine various writings of John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) with a view to uncovering their philosophical content.  One purpose of this work is to discover how philosophic ideas are employed in arguments on social, moral and metaphysical topics. Possible topics include the relation of faith to reason, religious pluralism and religious freedom, culture, truth, conscience, law, solidarity, sexuality and human life. Basic logical analysis will be an essential element in achieving these aims.

Italian Course – Non Credit – Conversational Italian, must be completed during the semester

Electives – Choose 1 or 2

SP 2693, God and the Poets (Murray)  In Scripture it is abundantly clear that God chooses to speak at times through poetry.  And it is in poetry also that Christian men and women have, over the centuries, often expressed their deep love for God and their faith in Him.  In this course, apart from a brief examination of the general relationship between poetry and Christian faith, our attention will be given to selected texts from the following poets:  Dante, St. John of the Cross, George Herbert, Shakespeare, Gerard Manley Hopkins and T. S. Eliot.  Bibliography:  H. Bremond, Prayer and Poetry, Burns Oats, London 1927; H. L. Weatherby, The Keen Delight: The Christian Poet in the Modern World, Georgia Press, Athens 1975; P. Murray, T.S. Eliot and Mysticism, Macmillan, London 1991; H. Urs Von Balthasar, The Glory of God, vol. 3, Studies in Theological Style: Lay Styles, T & T Clark, Edinburgh 1989.

FI 2016, History of Medieval Philosophy (Fr. A. Wilder)  1. The patristic period.  2. The scholastic period: a) the pre-scholastics, b) the first scholastics, c) the Islamic and Jewish Philosophers, d) the high scholastics, e) the late scholastics. Bibliography includes:  F van Steenberghen, Historie de la philosophie: période chrétienne, Louvain, 1964; E. Gilson, Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages, New York 1954; . M. DeRijk, La philosophie au moyen âge, Leyden, 1985; N. Kretzmann, etc., The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy, Cambridge, 1982; F Copleston, A History of Philosophy, v. 2, Garden City, NY 1962.

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16 credits plus the Italian are required; you have the option of taking an additional elective for a total of 20 credits.  If you wish to do so, please consult with Dr. Briel.