Rel. 440 The Church Winter 2007Dennis M. Doyle

M W F 2:00—2:50 Class: HM 117 Office: HM333 229-4219

Note: This course fulfills a requirement for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition cluster.

THEME/GOALS:

A study of the Catholic Church's selfunderstanding as expressed at Vatican II as well as further developments concerning issues such as ecumenism, authority, laity, gender, and spirituality.

Goals of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Cluster:

Students should be able to:

Recognize how the dignity of the individual human person and the social nature of humans have been at the center and the periphery of Catholic thought;

Analyze how religious beliefs have influenced great works of world literature;

Trace the impact of new philosophies on Catholic thinking and vice versa;

Evaluate religious arguments relative to conservative and liberal movements in history;

Examine the interaction of faith and reason in various historical periods;

Investigate the impact of religious thinking on how individuals are seen in society, how humans are related to nature, and on how to evaluate appropriate human autonomy;

Relate Catholic thinking to contemporary moral, social and cultural issues and how contemporary thought may and does have an impact on Catholic thought.

This course should help students build on what they achieved in the Humanities Base. The goals of the Humanities Base Program are:

Students will begin to develop and formulate their own conception of what it means to be human.

Students will understand how the humanities disciplines ultimately constitute an integrated pursuit of the same goals.

Faculty and students will form a community of learners through the examination of selected texts and common themes.

Students will develop a more critical understanding of Western culture and will be introduced to the richness of non-Western civilizations.

Students will develop general level competencies in reading, writing, and information literacy in conjunction with the Competency Program.

This course is a 400 level course designed to help Religious Studies Major and Minors and other interested students gain basic competency in the area of ecclesiology (the study of the Church):

Students will study an important sub-discipline within Christian theology with attention to ecumenical, systematic, historical, and social dimensions

Students will engage in a research within a group setting and individually produce a research paper.

CLASS PROCEDURE:

Some lecture, much discussion concerning reading assigned for each class. One group presentation and one individual presentation.You are expected to take notes throughout each class period. If you miss a class, you are still responsible for the material of that class.

EVALUATION:

panel presentation 15%

research paper (includes brief presentation) 25%

three essay tests (including the final) 60%

PRESENTATIONS:

Each student will belong to a small group that is researching select issues involving two different traditions of Christians. In most cases, one of the traditions will be Roman Catholic. Each group will give a panel presentation based on reading, discussion, and other forms of research. Topics for the panels include: History; Worship; Beliefs; Ecumenical Dialogues.

RESEARCH PAPER:

The individual student’s research topic will grow out of these panel presentations. The final 8-10 page research paper will delve more deeply into a topic that has arisen through the initial study.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONE’S OWN WORK:

We will follow the student handbook in cases of plagiarism.

SPECIAL NEEDS:

Please inform the instructor of any special needs you might have in regard to learning.

Part one: Ecumenical Issues

Jan 3 / Intro lecture; “Young Catholics and Their Faith” optional
Jan 5 / CEV 1-3
Jan 8 / CEV 4-6
Jan 10 / CEV 7-9; LG1
Jan 12 / LG2; also Vatican II’s UR
Jan 15 / MLK Day
Jan 17 / “Through Divine Love,” a Methodist-Catholic dialogue document
Jan 19 / Gros 1, 2, 3
Jan 22 / Gros 4, 5, 6
Jan 24 / Gros 7, 8, 9
Jan 26 / Gros 10, 11, Conclusion
Jan 29 / Test 1
Jan 31 / presentations
Feb 2 / presentations
Feb. 5 / presentations

Part two: Roman Catholic Ecclesiology

Feb. 7 / CEV 10, 11, 12
Feb 9 / Gaillardetz preface, intro, also Vatican II’s DV
Feb 11 / Gaillardetz 1, 2,3
Feb 14 / Gaillardetz 4, 5
Feb 16 / Gaillardetz 6, 7
Feb 19 / Gaillardetz 8, 9
Feb 21 / LG3
Feb 23 / CEV 13-15, LG4
Feb 26 / CEV 16-18, LG5
Feb 28 / CEV 19-21, LG6
Mar 2 / CEV 22-24, LG7
Mar 5 / CEV 25-27, LG8
Mar 7 / Selections from encyclicals of John Paul II
Mar 9 / Test 2
Mar 12-16 / Spring Break

Part three: Historical and Social Issues

Mar 19 / Prusak 1-37
Mar 21 / Prusak 37-69
Mar 23 / Prusak 70-103
Mar 26 / Prusak 103-139
Mar 28 / presentations
Mar 30 / presentations
Apr 2 / Prusak 139-175
Apr 4 / Prusak 176-205
Apr 6-9 / Easter Break
Apr 11 / Prusak 205-239
Apr 13 / Prusak 239-269
Apr 16 / Prusak 270-312
Apr 18 / Prusak 313-341
Apr 20 / CEV 28-30
Apr 23 / CEV 31-33
Apr 25 / CEV 34-36

Texts, Abbreviations, and Web Sites:

CEV = Doyle, Dennis M. The Church Emerging from Vatican II. Revised and Updated.

Mystic, CT: Twenty-Third/Bayard, 2002

DV = Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, document/Vatican II)

Gaillardetz = Gaillardetz, Richard R. , By What Authority?a Primer on Scripture, the

Magisterium, and the Sense of the Faithful. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2003.

Gros = Gros Jeffrey, Eamon McManus, and Ann Riggs, Introduction to Ecumenism.

Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1998.

LG = Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, document/Vatican II)

Prusak = Prusak, Bernard P. The Church Unfinished: Ecclesiology Through the

Centuries. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2004.

Selections from the encyclicals of John Paul II, will be e-mailed to you as a file.

“Through Divine Love,” a Methodist-Catholic dialogue document.

UR = Unitatis Redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism, document Vatican II)

“Young Catholics and Their Faith.” optional reading for first class