Catholic Studies Minor

[This program is not accepting applicants at this time.]

David Turnbloom, Ph.D., theology, director

Through the Catholic studies minor students seek to understand the mutual influences of Catholic Christianity and world cultures over the course of 2,000 years. Drawing on the resources of many departments at the University of Portland, students will study how faith and reason have shaped Catholic texts, systems of thought, institutions, and devotional practices and how Catholic Christianity has contributed to world cultures through works of charity, justice, and peace up to the present day. At the same time, students will engage in rigorous assessment of the Church’s contributions to intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and social developments, in order to achieve a mature understanding of the Church’s role.

Besides providing opportunities to explore the dynamic and mutual interaction between the Church and cultures, the minor challenges students to add their own transformative contributions to the rich and living tradition of Catholic Christianity.

The Catholic studies minor provides opportunities for students to engage in sustained reflection on the Catholic tradition and to experience its many facets — intellectual, spiritual, liturgical, artistic, and service. Because it is necessarily interdisciplinary and promotes the study of faith and service, the Catholic studies minor clearly manifests the mission of the University of Portland.

Learning Outcomes for Catholic Studies Minors

Catholic studies graduates at the University of Portland should be able to:

1. Identify informing principles of Catholic thought and culture through examples from selected times and places.
   1. Explain orally and in writing informing principles of Catholic thought and culture.
   2. Explain orally and in writing how these principles are instantiated in various times and places.
2. Explain how expressions of Catholic faith and thought influence surrounding cultures and, in turn, are influenced by them.
   1. Explain orally and in writing how Catholic faith and thought influences at least one culture in which they are found.
   2. Explain orally and in writing how at least one culture in which Catholic faith and thought are found has influenced that faith and thought.

Capstone Experience

Students pursuing the Catholic studies minor will participate in a three-credit Capstone Directed Readings course in either philosophy or theology (PHL 490 or THE 490), as approved by the director of the minor.

Minor Requirements - 18 credit hours

Required Courses - 6 credit hours

PHL 334	Metaphysics: Problem of Being	3
PHL 490	Directed Study	Variable
	Or
THE 490	Directed Study	Variable

Upper Division Electives - 12 credit hours

Select from the following:

ECN 426	Comparative Economics	3
ENG 375	Studies in Irish Writers	3
ENG 401	Seminar in British Literature I	3
ENV 400	Integrating Seminar in Environmental Studies	3
ENV 482/THEP 482	Theology in Ecological Perspective	3
HST 332	Saints and Sinners in the Middle Ages	3
HST 333	Medieval Europe	3
HST 335	Europe in the Age of Religious Wars	3
PHL 325	Bioethics	3
PHL 372	Medieval Philosophy	3
THE 302/THE 402	Poets, Prophets, Divas, and Diviners	3
THE 322/THE 422	Modern Catholic Ethics	3
THE 325/THE 425	Catholic Social Teaching: A Living Tradition of Thought and Action	3
THE 328/THE 428	Ecology in Theological Perspective	3
THE 341/THE 441	Responding to God: An Introduction to Spiritual Practice	3
THE 342/THE 442	Introduction to Christian Spirituality	3
THE 353/THE 453	Religion and Science	3
THE 356/THE 456	Literary Catholicism	3
THE 363/THE 463	Saint Augustine, Teacher of Christianity	3
THE 402/THE 302	Poets, Prophets, Divas, and Diviners	3
THE 425/THE 325	Catholic Social Teaching: A Living Tradition of Thought and Action	3
THE 457/THE 357	Foundations of Catholic Theology	3

ENG 401 may only count towards the minor when the subject is Chaucer.