Mission-Related Courses

The Mission-related courses at Lewis University, among all the general education requirements, represent the hallmark of a Catholic and Lasallian education, which is founded on a profound respect for the person. Mission-related courses specifically advocate the Mission values of Lewis University. These courses have several purposes. One goal is to engage students in the pursuit of knowledge and the practice of association, two overarching Mission values, but their primary goal is to encourage students to consider the implications of three other Mission values: justice, fidelity, and wisdom. These courses challenge students to critique the contemporary world, while advocating the cultivation of social, spiritual, and ethical values in the context of scholarly writings and personal introspection. Finally, they urge students to acknowledge and to use higher-order principles in their interactions with others and as a means of understanding the world around them.

The Department of Sociology’s Diversity and Social Justice course (SOCI 29000) informs students about the diversity of racial, ethnic, and religious groups in America with a special emphasis on the analysis of class, age, and gender inequalities, the histories of diverse groups, and public policy issues. Students also develop a greater respect for cultural and ethnic differences among peoples the world over as well as greater appreciation for their own familial and social heritage.

Consistent with the Mission of Lewis University, as well as its Catholic and Lasallian heritage, the Department of Theology offers a variety of courses which provide a diverse population with a liberal and professional education grounded in the interaction of knowledge and fidelity in the search for truth and one’s relationship with God. Theology courses are intended to provide students with an opportunity to personally explore religious questions from a Christian, especially Roman Catholic, perspective. Such a theological approach involves working to understand what one believes.

The Ethics course (PHIL 33000) in the Department of Philosophy and the Christian Action and Values course (THEO 31000) in the Department of Theology integrate reflection and action through the development of higher learning skills. Students are challenged to clarify their own values through the study of ethicists and moralists. Students develop their own perspectives on timeless and timely ethical and moral issues. Personal experience and responsibility, social behavior and interactions with other humans, and human relationships with the physical universe are examined, together with the nature of virtue, vice, goodness, and evil, and what constitutes prudent judgment. In both courses, students use critical thinking skills. Ethics focuses on assessing critically various ethical viewpoints, while Christian Action and Values focuses on the fundamental principles of Christian morality.