All Christians are called upon to give an account of their faith.
Theology is one public expression of that "account of Christian faith."
Every generation of believers hopes that the theologies which influence
and shape their lives will be appropriate to the classics of the Christian
tradition and credible to the age in which they speak and live. Doing
theology, therefore, demands that we develop and use methods that clarify
theological insights, make theology more adequate to contemporary
problems, and bring forward the religious tradition in living and
life-giving ways. Our goal in this course will be a practical examination
of various theological approaches. As "a Christian community of
intellectual inquiry," we will explore together questions such as: how is
theology done? by whom? for whom? how is theology for the Church? is
Catholic theology unique? how do theologians use the Bible? what does it
mean to be faithful to Tradition? what makes adequate theologies? how can
we do the job of theology better? While geared toward Religious Studies
majors, the course can serve any student with solid general education
background and interest. A seminar, this course requires active class
participation, collaboration, discussion, three short papers, and a final
paper. Satisfies Theory requirement.
