Summer 2023
Module 1: June 12 – June 30
Module 2: July 3 – July 21
Online Courses
THEO 60201: Apologetics of Love
Professor: J. Cavadini
Dates: Week of May 22 until July 21.
Description: This course is intended to serve as a resource for catechists and religious educators. It provides a basic theological introduction to the material represented in Pillars I and II of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: the Creed and the Sacraments. The course is specifically designed to cover this material in a way that will provide facility in teaching it in a variety of contexts. Readings will come not only from the Catechism , but from various primary sources, both traditional and contemporary illustrative of the theology that forms its background. With regard to the student's facility in learning to teach the materials, the course focuses on an Apologetics of Love, based largely on the work of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. The course will be especially useful for anyone wishing to acquire an understanding of the basic doctrines of the Catholic faith and of the theological integration of these doctrines. (online elective)
Syllabus for THEO 60201
THEO 63202: Genesis of Gender
Professor: Abigail Favale
Dates: Thursdays, 8:30-10PM EST, June 1-June 22
Description: This course is designed as a seminar in which students will read "The Genesis of Gender" closely and consider its philosophical and theological implications for pastoral praxis today. It is the first in a series of three 1-credit courses on topics surrounding gender and the Church.
THEO 60664: The Lay Apostolate
Professor: Katharine Harmon
Dates: May-July, meetings TBD
Description: The lay faithful are indispensable for the life and mission of the Church. This course explores the theology and practical expressions of the lay apostolate, examining Scripture, sacramental rites of initiation and vocation, prayer and devotion, and ecclesial documents. Special attention will be paid to the burgeoning lay movements of the 20th century, including the active participation of the faithful in the modern world, and the significance of the family and the domestic church.
Hybrid Symposia Courses
THEO 60901: Symposium on Evangelization, Media & Technology
Professor: Brett Robinson
Dates: Online from week of May 22, In person: June 27-July 1.
Description: How the Church communicates is often as important as what she communicates. In this course, students will pay special attention to the forms of communication that have shaped the history of the Catholic Church. Each "media age" has provided new opportunities and presented new challenges for the promulgation of the Christian message. Students will come to understand the process of religious and cultural change through the lens of how we structure "media environments." All media environments (oral, scribal, print, electric and digital) add something to the previous environment while also changing our relationship to knowledge, ritual, community and each other. By examining these environmental shifts more closely, students will be better able to assess the prospects of promoting a more Christian culture in the digital age. Note: This course requires coursework to be done online & in person. Two different symposia courses are required in the hybrid online track curriculum.
THEO 60904: Symposium on Theology, Beauty & Evangelization
Professor: Sarah Maple
Dates: Online from week of May 22 on Saturdays, In person: June 27-July 1.
Description: This course considers how issues of faith and theological anthropology are articulated in culture. We examine the role of Beauty as a Transcendental that inspires, enlightens, and edifies the beholder. Along with truth and goodness, beauty is essential to prayer, communion, love, and our understanding God. Stewards and consumers of Beauty are transformed by it in every age. Be it in architecture, painting, prose, or music, the deeper revelation of heavenly mysteries takes its form in earthly portrayal. If the human person and culture are meant to be eschatological situated, it thus “tends towards its completion in Christ” (ITC, 1988). The fullness of truth in the arts thus take their form in the person of Christ, the Beautiful One, who “is the center and purpose of human history” (RH, JPII). With a breadth of studies in the arts, from Early Christian pictographs, towering cathedrals, illuminating stained glass, sculpture, painting, and choral and organ music, this course entertains a conversation of the theology of beauty present over the life and history of the Church. It also considers the reality and needs of revelation, creativity, the imago dei, and the human person as co-creator and co-redeemer in a culture of life. Ultimately, our considerations examine the role of ‘wonder’ in Salvation, how a study of a ‘theology of beauty’ can help us approach contemporary issues concerning art, culture, and the human person, and how evangelization is illumined by and testifies to the power and path of God through Beauty. Note: This course requires coursework to be done online & in person. Two different symposia courses are required in the hybrid online track curriculum.
Residential Courses
THEO 60806: Ecclesiology
Professor: Kristin Colberg
Dates: June 12-30
Description: TBD (Core Course)
THEO 60884: Trinity
Professors: Monsignor Michael Heintz & Shawn Colberg
Dates: June 12-30
Description: TBD (Core Course)
THEO 60894: Art of Catechesis
Professor: Tim O’Malley
Dates: June 12-30
Description: In this course, students will be introduced to the art of catechesis as a sacramental and aesthetic ministry within the Church. In the first week of the course, students will learn the major principles governing the ministry of catechesis as related to a participation in divine Revelation. They will also read chief classics in catechesis within the history of Christianity. After this introduction, the course will be structured around the experience of education as described by Luigi Giussani. How does the catechist provoke the student to encounter the living God? How does the catechist introduce the student to the ultimate hypothesis at the heart of Christianity? And how does the catechist initiate students into practices within a community of faith that allow for the verification of the Gospel in one’s life? In answering each of these questions, the students will deepen their theoretical and practical capacity to function as a catechist within the Church. In the final week, students will consider the Catholic school as a place of evangelization, focused on the intellectual formation of the students. Here, readings will be centered on a Catholic philosophy and theology of education. (Echo Requirement/Elective Course)
THEO 60863: Patristic Doctrine of Creation
Professor: Josh McManaway
Dates: June 12-30
Description: The doctrine of creation is a radically misunderstood and neglected aspect of Christian theology. For the earliest Christian theologians, the Fathers of the Church, the doctrine of creation was foundational for all other theological speculation. This course is an overview of their writings on the subject of creation, paying special attention to Patristic exegesis of Genesis 1-2. We will likewise address other, perhaps non-obvious, questions that arose in the Patristic period thanks to this doctrine: is creation from nothing philosophically intelligible? Is gender a result of the fall? What can we say about Christian anthropology? Who created: the Father only? The Son? The whole Trinity? As we will see, the doctrine of creation touches on nearly every aspect of early Christian thought and this course will equip students with a knowledge of the texts and issues relevant to these discussions. (Elective Course, but could count as a Core Course – ask Katie.)
THEO 60893: Teaching Theology
Professor: Todd Walatka
Dates: June 12-30
Description: This course will provide an introduction to pedagogy for theological educators. The primary focus of the course will be on a) the vocation of teaching theology and b) basic pedagogical principles for the theology classroom. Students will engage educational and sociological research relevant to teaching high school theology and learn pedagogical techniques which build upon this research. Much of the class will be spent working through how to teach key doctrinal moments in the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ High School Curriculum Framework in a pedagogically effective manner. (Echo Teacher Requirement)
THEO 60848: Theological Integration
Professor: K. Haas
Dates: June 12-30
Description: TBD (Echo Requirement)
THEO 60181: Theology of Revelation
Professor: S. Long
Dates: July 3-21
Description: God Speaks to us through the Word in Scripture and Tradition. This course intends (1) to provide a deeper knowledge of the Word as He conveys Himself through these two “Streams” of Revelation and (2) to give students the skills necessary to lead others (and themselves) in the ongoing task of theology – of, that is, faith seeking understanding. In particular, we will study (1) the relation of natural knowledge and divine revelation; (2) the “streams” of revelation that are Scripture and Tradition; (3) the relation between these two and the means of interpreting them; and (4) the salient content of this revelation as it Is communicated in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the first several centuries of the Catholic Tradition. (Core Course)
THEO 60222: Christian Doctrine for Catechists
Professor: J. Lee
Dates: July 3-21
Description: This course is intended to serve as a resource for catechists and religious educators. It provides a basic theological introduction to the material represented in Pillars I and II of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: the Creed and the Sacraments. The course is specifically designed to cover this material in a way that will provide facility in teaching it in a variety of contexts. Readings will come not only from the Catechism , but from various primary sources, both traditional and contemporary illustrative of the theology that forms its background. With regard to the student’s facility in learning to teach the materials, the course focuses on an Apologetics of Love, based largely on the work of Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI. The course will be especially useful for anyone wishing to acquire an understanding of the basic doctrines of the Catholic faith and of the theological integration of these doctrines. (Echo Requirement/Elective Course)
THEO 60601: Fundamentals of Moral Theology
Professor: Bill Mattison
Dates: July 3-21
Description: This course introduces the history and patterns of thought that provide the foundations for contemporary discussions about moral theology in the Roman Catholic Church. Its central aim will be to position moral theology as a practical and pastoral expression of Christian faith, but also as a tradition of inquiry relevant to wider discussions about moral matters in the academy and in society. Topics to be considered include: sources for moral theology, genres of moral writing, the nature of the human person and her relationship to the community of disciples, the dynamics of moral action, and the topics of freedom, experience, authority, virtue, and forgiveness. Course requirements include two short reflection papers and a final research paper, which may be customized to students’ own ongoing pastoral and/or academic questions. (Core Course)
THEO 60453: Catholic Sacraments
Professor: Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C.
Dates: July 3-21
Description: “Lumen Gentium” says that in the Church, “the life of Christ is poured into the believers who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ who suffered and was glorified” (7). This course will look at the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church as the means whereby Christians are mystically united to the life of Christ. Although we will use a historical framework to organize our material, the main focus of attention will be on the theological dimensions of each sacrament. This will give us the opportunity both to examine particular questions that conditioned the development of current sacramental theology, and the content of each rite as it exists today. Some attention will be paid to the nature of sacramental symbol in general, but the course’s primary focus is on the sacraments as liturgical rites by which Christian life is celebrated. (Core Course)
THEO 60609: Christian Ethics & Pastoral Praxis
Professor: Fr. Paulinus Odozor, C.S.Sp.
Dates: July 3-21
Description: Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior has practical implications for the way believers construe the world and organize their lives. What these implications are for Christian life in some specific areas of life and the tensions which arise from the attempt of the Christian community to remain faithful to the teachings of the Lord Jesus while trying to live a fully human life – this is at the core of our course. (Elective or Can Count as MT Core Course)
Hybrid Capstone Courses
THEO68803-01 & THEO68804-01 MA Capstone - (Non-Echo Students)
On Campus Days: June 28-30
Professor: T. Walatka/A. Pagliarini
THEO68804-02, 03: MA Capstone - (Echo students)
On Campus Days: June 26-28
Professor: C. Cavadini / A. Pagliarini