Curriculum - Theology
THEOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Four (4) Credits of Theology Classes Required for Graduation
Course Number: 2105350
Course Title: Ethics
Pace Number: 011
Grade: 9
1 credit
Major concept. This course sets the foundations of the theological and moral education within the Theology program. The first part of the course involves students in understanding the essentials the Catholic Faith. It addresses the “history of salvation” as it developed throughout the biblical period and culminating in the life and mission of Jesus Christ. The course also enables students to understand Catholic theology as outlined the Creed. The second part of the course engages students in a reflection of human existence in the light of Christian moral teaching. The life of faith is also the life of holiness or “wholeness of life.” This part of the course allows students to become informed about both what humanizes and what dehumanizes. It investigates moral thinking and decision-making and the issues that challenge young people’s well-being and society today. The course is an opportunity for students to discover the transcendent meaning and dignity of being human.
Course Number: 2109410
Course Title: Jewish History
Pace Number: 064
Grade: 10
.5 credit
Major concept. A panoramic study of the Bible that explores its history, development, theology, interpretation, and its significance in the life of the Judeo-Christian communities. The course enables students to get adequate access to the content, studies, and issues surrounding the Bible, while developing interpretive skills. It provides students the opportunity to learn how to become informed and think critically about biblical, spiritual, and moral issues. It fosters among students an ongoing exchange of ideas, insights, and questions which contribute to their personal and social development. It provides rich and varied opportunities to explore the Bible’s meaning and implications for today. Part I is an introduction to the Bible. It examines the basic characteristics of the Bible, including its basic composition, history of development, biblical authorship, sciences employed in biblical research (literary, historical, social and natural), the Bible as literature, biblical geography and languages, the contributions of biblical archaeology, principles of interpretation, theological concepts, and the Bible in the life of the Jewish and Christian communities. Part II is the study of the Torah (Pentateuch), the Historical Books, the Prophets, and Wisdom Literature from contextual perspective. Part III is the study of the New Testament. This includes the Gospels, Acts, Pauline theology and letters, General Epistles, Revelation, as well as Christology and soteriology, contextually.
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Course Title: New Testament
Pace Number: 022
Grade: 10
.5 credit
Major concept. “The New Testament” course continues where “Jewish History” leaves off. The history of salvation reaches its fulfillment in the life and teachings of Jesus, found in the Gospels. The study of the Gospels is followed by an immersion in the world of the early Church: The story in Acts, St. Paul and the epistles of the New Testament. The study of the New Testament allows students to encounter Jesus Christ and respond to his call, “come, follow me.”
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Course Title: Philosophy of Spirituality
Pace Number: 031
Grade: 11
.5 credit
Major concept. What does it mean to live as a person of Christian faith in our society? This course offers students the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the Christian call to holiness of life. Christian life as a daily following of Jesus Christ that involves growing in faith, virtues, integrity of life, the sacramental and prayer life, and the works of love and justice that transforms the world, is the local point of the course. Students will reflect on the Christian life as a communal life lived as a member of the Church, and contributing to the life and mission of the community. Students also explore the rich history of Catholic spirituality and examples of sanctity as modeled in the lives of the saints. This course thus invites students to both personal and ecclesial Christian development and encourages them to enter more deeply into the meaning of following Christ in today’s society with all its opportunities and challenges.
Course Number: 2105310
Course Title: World Religions Dual Enrollment
Pace Number: 032
Grade: 11
.5 credit
Major concept. This comparative study of religions exposes students to the varied beliefs and practices of the religions of the world. Students have the opportunity to understand the relationship between Christianity and the other religions of the world as taught in Nostra Aetate. By doing so they can explore what is good and wise in these religions while discovering the ways in which Christ is the “fulfillment of the longing present in all the religions of the world and (how) thus he is their completion” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, John Paul II). In addition, this course will inform students of the existence and tactics of cults and the occult so that they will not be mislead by these. Dual enrollment with St. Thomas University.
Course Number: 2104320
Course Title: Peace & Justice (Global Studies)
Pace Number: 041
Grade: 12
.5 credit
Major concept. This is a study of Catholic Social Teaching and Action which is one of the most important contributions of Catholicism to the world today. Based on the dignity and value of every human being, without exception, and on the universal call to justice and love, the principles of Catholic social justice will be applied to the life and challenges of our society and world. This important and serious study studies the roots and history of injustice and the dehumanizing conditions that it creates, and explores the ways that Christians, the church, and all people of good will can work toward the humanization of society and the world. Therefore, this course is not merely an academic study, but a personal challenge to transform oneself and the world with the liberating and life-giving Gospel and Christian action.
Course Number: 2104320
Course Title: Peace & Justice (Service)
Pace Number: 040
Grade: 12
Major concept. In addition to the study of Catholic Social Teaching, the Peace and Justice Service course integrates opportunities for students to apply the Church’s Social Justice principles to concrete situations in our community. Students do this via a practicum that involves researching a local need and responding creatively to it as guided by Church teaching. The practicum involves both written and active components which allows each group to put to concrete practice the message of Catholic Social Teaching.
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Course Title: Philosophy of Catholicism
Pace Number: 042
Grade: 12
.5 credit
Major concept . This course provides students the opportunity to know and understand the history of the church and to see their personal connection to that history. This course is rich in a historical grounding in Catholic identity. They will study the beginnings of the church, the crucial centuries of its early history, it development into a global society and institution, the history of its growth, the story of its triumphs and its shortcomings, and its present post-Vatican II role in the world. Also, as study of ecclesiology they will explore the Christian meaning of being church and of the community mission. Students will have the opportunity to study life of the parish, the local church of South Florida, and the challenges that the church is called to address and respond to in our society. The Catechism of the Catholic Church will inform the theology of the course and the lives of the saints will serve as inspirations in the following of Christ today.
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Course Title: Pastoral Ministry
Pace Number: 043
Grade: 12
Prerequisite: Application/Interview Process Required
Replaces 12th Grade Theology Course
1 credit
Major concept. This course gives students the opportunity to study the various roles of service and ministries that exist within the church. As part of this they study the liturgy and its components, ministerial skills, retreat planning, group facilitation, communication skills, and event planning. They develop these skills while working in the context of faith community. In addition, this course integrates essential elements of both the Philosophy of Catholicism and Peace & Justice courses. Students involved in this course experience the challenges and rewards that come with the ministerial professions and ministerial functions in the church.
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Course Title: Apocalypse - The Book of Revelation
Pace Number: 052
Grade:12
Elective .5 credit
Major concept. In this course students engage in a contextual study of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature. As such students will approach the Old and New Testament apocalypses, particularly the Book of Revelation, by studying the historical, literary, and theological milieus that sparked writings that have long been the subject of controversy, imagination, confusion and faith. While through this course students will come to appreciate literary uniqueness and purpose of apocalypses, it will also aid in dispelling common myths and misinterpretations associated with apocalyptic literature. The course incorporates studies in Christology, Soteriology, and Ecclesliology into a rich study of the book’s eschatological meaning. It will also combine the study with other parts of Sacred Scripture, the Catechism, and literature of early Church history. The students will explore the issues and life of the early church in relation to the wider Mediterranean societies in which it flourished and struggled. As part of their course, they will participate in a field trip, classroom projects, critiques of movies, literature, artwork, and music inspired by eschatological themes. Theologically, students will develop and appreciation for the role of eschatology in faith as it seeks to provide hope and encouragement in difficult times, and as it also calls for the transformation of self and society. As a result, students will understand how eschatology serves to illumine a vision in people of the transcendent meaning and value every life, and of the cosmos, in relation to a provident God.
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Course Title: Christ and Culture
Pace Number: 034
Grade: 12
Elective .5 credit
Major concept. This social-analysis course is a thought-provoking study of the meaning of culture that includes an investigation of the cultural forces underlying and shaping individuals and societies. Students will engage in reflection on culture and society as an on-going human construct, and engage in a constructive critique of present and cultural messages that are interpreting reality for them, as well as cultural trends, their roots and influence. As a Theology course, students will reflect on the theological meaning of human culture, as well as the interaction between culture and the Gospel. As a result, students will reflect on both the historical interaction between Christianity and culture, and the post-Vatican II vision of the Church in the world. Students will observe how Jesus was a critical thinker and participant in his society, and as one who reveals what it means to be human. As such this course integrates Catholic Social Teaching, Christology, ecclesiology, and social sciences. This course will strive to respond to the twin problems of individualism and collectivism with the humanizing model of individuality-within-community.
Course Number: 2120910
Course Title: Introduction to Philosophy H Dual Enrollment
Pace Number: 054
Grade: 11-12
Elective .5 credit
Major concept. This course seeks to introduce students to philosophy and its importance in human life and society. All societies, and the individuals who live in them, are shaped by a particular philosophical currents; identifying those currents enables us to understand ourselves in a more conscious way. An introductory course to philosophy exposes students to the great history of philosophers and the worldviews that have fashioned human societies and civilizations. Moreover, students will become familiar with the diverse philosophies from around the world, their views and approaches to being human. As students engage philosophy per se, as well as Western, Eastern and other cultural philosophical expressions, they will be empowered to think more clearly, coherently, and critically. Students will gain the ability for reading critically and for coherent articulation, both verbal and written. They will also develop the liberating skills of critical thinking and of social-cultural analysis that will preserve them for passivity. This is a course within the auspices of Theology, thus students will become aware of the Catholic Church’s impressive history of philosophical inquiry and its teaching on the relationship between faith and reason. Yet this course is not only about thinking philosophically, but also about engaging society in an active way by helping to humanize it, and thus helping to forge a future more worthy of the human person. Dual enrollment with St. Thomas University.