200

THEO-20100 Modern Christian Spirituality

A study of modern Christian understandings of experiences of God in the world and their relation to the Catholic religious tradition, particularly the tradition's call to love. Non-religious experiences of a spiritual dimension to human existence will also be explored. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-20400 Christian History

This course is a survey of the history of Christianity, from the time of its founder and its founding through the early period up to the modern era.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-20500 The Catholic Church

The nature and the function of the Roman Catholic Church are discussed, with a consideration of how the Church functions both in itself and in relation to other religious traditions.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-21700 Writing in Theology

A one-credit online tutorial in the genres of writing in the discipline of Theology providing reinforcement of skills pertaining to forms of writing and research appropriate to theological inquiry, including the Turabian/University of Chicago style. Students complete exercises enabling them to build skills toward a fifteen-page research paper in an upper-level, 3-credit Theology course. Topics and methods deployed to assess a given topic will vary from semester to semester and from student to student.
1

Prerequisites

ENGL 11100, THEO 10000 or 10600, and permission of the Department Chair.

THEO-22300 Hebrew Bible

This course seeks to understand the Jewish scriptures and closely related texts in their historical settings as well as in their subsequent role as canonical texts for Judaism. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-22500 New Testament and Early Christian Literature

This course seeks to understand the Christian scriptures and closely related texts in their historical settings as well as in their subsequent role as canonical texts for Christianity. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-22700 Catholic Sacraments

This course offers a scriptural, theological, and liturgical study of the nature of sacraments as foundational channels to life in Christ. Attention will be given to the practice of sacraments within the contemporary Church. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-23500 Sexuality, Spirituality, and Relationships

Students will explore fundamental aspects of the Christian moral theological tradition with regard to marriage, relationships, and sexuality, assessing this tradition on its own merits and in relation to contemporary cultural contexts and questions. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-23600 Women and Religion

This course will focus on the lived religious experience of women in the three major monotheistic religions of the world—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The course perspectives will look at women as subjects and agents, not merely objects, of religious tradition, and explore persistent questions about women’s shaping of, and shaping by, religious traditions. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-23800 American Catholic Experiences

Students study the sociological, cultural and theological history of the Catholic Church in the United States, from colonial to modern times.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-24000 Methods in Religious Studies

This course introduces students to classical and contemporary theories about religion, as well as methods in the interdisciplinary field of religious studies. Students will engage with approaches to the study of religion through comparative, historical, sociological, anthropological, textual, or other disciplinary lenses in order to explore the intersections of religion with varied aspects of culture.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-25000 Foundations of Peace and Justice Studies

This course provides an overview of peace studies which examines human conflict and its peaceful transformation. Drawing from Catholic social teaching's imperatives, the emphasis will be on acquiring a justpeace lens in order to do social analysis through service learning and civic engagement. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course and the General Education requirement for Civic Engagement.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-26200 The Qur'an and the Bible

This course provides an introduction to the themes of the Qur'an and the Bible, their roles within Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, their meanings to Muslims, Jews, and Christians, their relationships to each other, and their relevance to American history and American life. In addition to seeking a variety of insights into religion's capacity to give life meaning, students will hone their critical skills of reading, thinking, and formulating arguments. Study and examination take place with an eye toward practical application in both religious and secular environments. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-26400 Religion and Popular Culture

This course examines intersections of religion and popular culture, including the lived religious experiences of everyday people, as well as the expression and reception of religious content through the arts and various forms of media. Special attention will be given to the dialogue between Catholicism/Christianity and culture, although course content may explore other religious traditions. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology: 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-26500 Religion and Literature

Students will engage religious and theological questions and biblical themes through the examination of selected genre(s) of imaginative fiction, which may include novels, short stories, and works of film and/or television. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-26600 Theological Perspectives in Bioethics

This course examines the most influential narratives, including Catholic Christian views of God and of human beings, shaping the meaning and experience of our health, our lives, and our deaths. Religious, medical, and other cultural worldviews will be compared and contrasted as offering differing ways of framing and addressing bioethical questions, including but not limited to: Is life the most sacred value? Is there a right to die? How should communities anticipate and care for the needs of the most vulnerable?
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-26700 Practicing Faithful Justice

This course will explore justice as understood through the lens of Christian social teachings. Engaged with the community through service learning, the course examines social realities and practical responses to address a variety of concerns affecting today’s marginalized and oppressed persons and communities. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course and the General Education requirement for Civic Engagement.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-26800 Christian Social Teaching

This course considers how Christians are called to act in a world challenged by racism, poverty, consumerism and other complex, modern problems. Particular attention is given to the Roman Catholic perspective as expressed in Scripture, Church doctrine and papal teaching. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-27000 Faith and the Arts

This course explores the ways in which religious faith and belief are expressed through the arts, including the visual and performing arts. The theatres, museums, concert halls and churches of Chicago and elsewhere may be used as resources for the class. This course is offered both as a traditional semester-long course and may also be offered as an accelerated travel course. This course fulfills the General Education Globalization requirement and Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-27100 Science and Faith

The fundamental goal of this course is to provide students with the resources to evaluate the Christian, particularly roman Catholic, understanding the relationship between modern western science and faith. The focus is on how theological and scientific methods influence the interpretation of selected contemporary scientific issues. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-27200 In the Beginning: Origin Stories in Religion and Science

This course thinks about origins in both scientific and religious narratives, focusing on (for example) Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Western scientific tradition. By looking at these various narratives together, we will explore the relationships between the categories of science and religion, as well as the cultural and ethical dimensions of origin stories. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-28000 From Jesus to Christ

This course examines varied understandings of Christology in the person and significance of Jesus of Nazareth. Biblical, classical, and modern perspectives are engaged. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-28100 Global Christianity

During the last three centuries, the size, global distribution and ethnic composition of world Christianity have been transformed. Most Christians now reside in the developing world, and the total number of Christians in Africa, Asia and Latin America increases daily while the Christian communities in so-called 'developed' nations are growing smaller. This course will examine the history of missionary efforts during colonization as well as the indigenous movements and Vatican II reforms that reshaped the understanding and practices of mission and inculturation of Christianity around the world. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course and the Globalization requirement.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-28300 Islam in America

This course explores what it means to be Muslim in America, and how the practices and understandings of Islam have been shaped in American contexts. It examines the varied experiences of the diverse racial, cultural, and ethnic groups that constitute the Muslim community in America in order to think about race and religion in the US. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-28400 Introduction to Islam

This course provides a basic introduction to Islam, including topics such as: the origins of Islam, the prophecy of Muhammad, the Qur’an, and the five pillars of Islamic belief and practice. The course focuses on Islam as living tradition and will engage with diverse contemporary practices of Muslim communities around the world. This course fulfills the General Education Globalization requirement, and Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-28500 Theologies of Liberation

This course focuses on theologies generated from Latin American, African-American, feminist and other perspectives, assessing the challenges and changes that marginalized perspectives bring to the traditional understanding of such theological topics as God, creation, human beings, salvation and the Holy Spirit.

3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600

THEO-29800 World Religions

This course takes a comparative, interreligious approach to the study of religion. The nature and dimensions of religion will be examined through a study of the beliefs, texts, experiences, or practices of a variety of religious traditions, as well as interreligious interactions among them. This course will place Christianity in conversation with multiple other religious traditions, such as: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Native American traditions, or others. This course fulfills the General Education Catholic and Lasallian Heritage requirement for Theology 20000-level course and the Globalization requirement.
3

Prerequisites

THEO 10000 or THEO 10600