Course Catalogue 2026-2027

A study of human sexuality, love, marriage and select related issues in light of Catholic anthropology and the Catholic moral tradition.

A study of human sexuality, love, marriage and select related issues in light of Catholic anthropology and the Catholic moral tradition.

This course seeks to provide both an historical and a systematic overview of the development of social ethics within the Catholic tradition, noting major themes in the tradition. The course presumes that one has completed at least an introductory course in Christian ethics at the graduate level. The purpose of the course is to assist students in forming moral arguments, engaging discussions on emerging issues, and placing debates within their historical context, including their contemporary context. All students will at the end of the course be expected to have a firm grasp of the ethical teaching of the Church, including knowledge of key magisterial documents, as well as how to apply them to situations they will face in their ministerial context. While the course will attend to major magisterial works chronologically, it will engage the issues raised by those texts as they developed over time. For example, Pope John's encyclical, Pacem in Terris, will be linked with growing attention to human rights as a foundation for world peace.

This unit explores lgnatian mystical spirituality as a resource for the construction of religious narratives that contribute to intentional, social transformation in a post-secular context. Drawing principally on the lgnatian appropriation of monastic adaptation of rhetoric in the practice of mental prayer and the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur, the course engages contemporary social theory to address issues of racism and other forms of systematic injustice. Students develop a transdisciplinary approach to ecological, social, cultural and ecclesial reconciliation. They also develop an understanding of the evolution of a religious and cultural recognition of the autonomous rights of indigenous peoples. Elements of recognition theory and transitional justice are introduced through a discussion of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. Authors include: Marie Battiste, Judith Butler, Glen Sean Coulthard, Cynthia Crysdale, Nancy Fraser, Priscilla Hayner, Axel Honneth, Bernard Lonergan, Ronald Niezen, Paul Ricoeur, and Charles Taylor.

This unit explores lgnatian mystical spirituality as a resource for the construction of religious narratives that contribute to intentional, social transformation in a post-secular context. Drawing principally on the lgnatian appropriation of monastic adaptation of rhetoric in the practice of mental prayer and the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur, the course engages contemporary social theory to address issues of racism and other forms of systematic injustice. Students develop a transdisciplinary approach to ecological, social, cultural and ecclesial reconciliation. They also develop an understanding of the evolution of a religious and cultural recognition of the autonomous rights of indigenous peoples. Elements of recognition theory and transitional justice are introduced through a discussion of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. Authors include: Marie Battiste, Judith Butler, Glen Sean Coulthard, Cynthia Crysdale, Nancy Fraser, Priscilla Hayner, Axel Honneth, Bernard Lonergan, Ronald Niezen, Paul Ricoeur, and Charles Taylor.

This unit explores lgnatian mystical spirituality as a resource for the construction of religious narratives that contribute to intentional, social transformation in a post-secular context. Drawing principally on the lgnatian appropriation of monastic adaptation of rhetoric in the practice of mental prayer and the narrative theory of Paul Ricoeur, the course engages contemporary social theory to address issues of racism and other forms of systematic injustice. Students develop a transdisciplinary approach to ecological, social, cultural and ecclesial reconciliation. They also develop an understanding of the evolution of a religious and cultural recognition of the autonomous rights of indigenous peoples. Elements of recognition theory and transitional justice are introduced through a discussion of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools. Authors include: Marie Battiste, Judith Butler, Glen Sean Coulthard, Cynthia Crysdale, Nancy Fraser, Priscilla Hayner, Axel Honneth, Bernard Lonergan, Ronald Niezen, Paul Ricoeur, and Charles Taylor.

This course offers an introduction to Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Drawing principally on magisterial sources, it will survey the main themes of CST, including: the dignity of the human person and the principles of CST, the family, human work, economic life, the political community, the environment, war, and peace.

This course offers an introduction to Catholic Social Teaching (CST). Drawing principally on magisterial sources, it will survey the main themes of CST, including: the dignity of the human person and the principles of CST, the family, human work, economic life, the political community, the environment, war, and peace.

This course is a seminary format historical retracing of the main figures, movements, and issues which have emerged overtime in the fields of Christian ethics. Starting with the early church through to contempOrary times, this course is an in-depth analysis of the development of Christian understanding of right and wrong, human morality, concerns for justice, peace, freedom, etc. Major emphasis is given to enhancing participants' skills in analyzing ethical arguments from different periods, from their own cultural and religious background and context.

An introduction to the foundations and principles of Catholic moral reasoning in bioethics; consideration of select questions in contemporary bioethics in light of the Catholic moral tradition.

This course introduces students to the practice of theological research and its communication. It explores the distinctive contents, methods, and interests of theological disciplines (biblical studies, church history, pastoral and systematic theology and ethics) as well as their interrelationships. Students will explore the task of theological research and writing through all its steps.

The cross-disciplinary migration of ethnography - or, more broadly, qualitative methods (QR) - has called not just for its application to, or even, integration with the various academic fields in which it lands. Rather, each discipline needs to reinvent and reimagine qualitative approaches in light of the nature, goals and norms of their own scholarly communities. Theology - where ethnographic approaches are increasingly being used - is not exempt from this need. While the sub-fields of Practical Theology and Ethics are best known for their use of ethnographic approaches to the theological disciplines, other sub-fields (e.g., Constructive/Systematics, Biblical studies, Digital Studies and more) have recently followed suit. Robust conversations at these inter-disciplinary intersections are developing complex ways for arranging myriad vectors of knowledge production that contribute to a theological project. This course is designed for AD theology students (all research areas) intending to use ethnography or QR in their thesis projects. While exploring some of the QR methods most used by theologians, its main purpose is to engage with the core theological questions associated with the use of QR for theological purposes, including, but not limited to: reflexivity, normativity and representation.