Three Credits Spring Semester Role of the Church in human development and the pursuit of social justice, focusing on the evolving corpus of Church social teaching. This course explores the roles played by women in the development of early Christianities and examines the factors which led to the decline of women's influence as a more institutionalized Christian religious system developed. This course examines a variety of religious ideas, institutions, and traditions in the United States from the colonial period to the present. Special emphasis is placed upon questions of religious pluralism, religion and cultural identity, and religion in public life. Three Credits Spring Semester Church and society in western Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries.
Attention is paid to popular religious movements as well as to theological and institutional change.
Three Credits Offered Periodically Historical investigation of the religious practices and experiences of ordinary Christians from the earliest centuries of the Church into the modern period, including such topics as worship, popular devotional practice, Christian teaching, and imagery, all considered within their social contexts. This course considers the development of Christianity in its institutional forms, its devotional practices, and its doctrine from Augustine through Aquinas and Bonaventure. Both the self-understanding of the selected thinkers, and the impact of their legacy on contemporary Christian thought will be considered. The development of liberation theology in the historical, political, economic, and cultural contexts of Latin America's struggle to move from colonialism to freedom. The course also explores feminist theology, ecological theology, and indigenous people's theology that are rooted in liberation theology.