Catholic Theology

Catholic Theology

Catholic Doctrine: God and/as Loving Conversation. We will explore the heart of Christian belief: the God who is “loving understanding” and calls us, in our interpersonal relations, to an imitation (mimesis) of and participation (koinonia) in God’s loving understanding. The experience ofGod’s grace is the experience of being lovingly understood, and we are called to lovingly understand ourselves and others. The Christian God
IS the eternal conversation of unlimited understanding speaking (Father) and lovingly listening (Holy Spirit) to God’s own word/logos (Jesus Christ), and God has lovingly spoken God’s mind in and through creation and human history in the mysterious “law of the cross,” in which good is intelligently and lovingly brought out of evil.
Thus, we will begin with Bishop Robert Barron’s rules for friendly conversation about faith and reason in Arguing Religion: A Bishop Speaks at Facebook and Google. This will guide our own class conversations and help us appropriate the methodological question of what (and why) we’re doing when we’re doing theology. It will also be helpful in understanding current social-political discourse, especially the struggle of
Americans to listen and speak in what Marshall Rosenberg calls “nonviolent communication” with others and, to quote colloquial parenting theory, “use our words.” Using our words does not mean parroting the right “word sounds” to gain approval from the group and scapegoat another, but using our words to express and seek correct understanding of and passion for truth and goodness.
After exploring what it means to reach (theological) understanding, we will try do so with respect to radical Catholic doctrines—radicalis, “of or relating to a root”—by reading Michael Himes’s The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to Catholicism. On Himes’s understanding of the Catholic imagination, authentic human life is a process of “doing the truth in love.” We are to honestly say the truth we’ve understood and do what we
say. Our speaking should proceed from our understanding of the truth as the Son proceeds from the Father, and our acts of loving should proceed from our understanding of the truly good as the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son. The assessments in this course (see below) are an opportunity to join in this theological conversation of understanding and honestly speaking (e.g., writing) the truth about goodness, and do so persuasively-beautifully with love. People don’t tend to be united in conversation unless parties speak persuasivelybeautifully, and they can’t help but be united if they do.
At the end of each unit, you will write a 3–4 paged, double-spaced essay that will give you the opportunity to demonstrate learning outcomes 2–5: (2. clearly explain major themes in Catholic theology. 3. relate themes to one another in an orderly way. 4. creatively apply themes to some of [your] own life experiences. 5. formulate and justify [your] own theological positions persuasively.)
Each essay will include three sections.
Section 1: Reading Summation
• Clearly, thoroughly, and accurately explain a fundamental idea of your choice from the unit readings.
• Argue (give reasons/evidence) persuasively that the idea is important to Catholic theology.
• Coherently relate the fundamental idea to a wide range of other ideas in the unit readings.
Section 2: Lecture Summation

• Clearly, thoroughly, and accurately explain a fundamental idea of your choice from the unit lectures.
• Argue (give reasons/evidence) persuasively that the idea is important to Catholic theology.
• Coherently relate the fundamental idea to a wide range of other ideas in the unit lectures.
Section 3: Your own creative theological idea
• Clearly and thoroughly explain a fundamental theological idea/hypothesis of your own creation that complements unit readings and lectures.
• Argue (give reasons/evidence) persuasively that (1) the idea/hypothesis is important to Catholic theology and (2) it is true.
• Coherently relate your theological idea/hypothesis to a wide range of other ideas in the unit lectures and readings.
Readings so far: Arguing religion and Michael Himes’s The Mystery of Faith