Undergraduate
The Undergraduate Program in theology is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for reasoned reflection on their own values, faith, and tradition as well as on the religious forces that shape our society and world. A broad liberal arts discipline, theology encourages and guides inquiries into life's most meaningful issues.
The major in theology has proved to be excellent preparation for careers and professions requiring careful reasoning, close reading, clarity in written expression, the ability to make ethical decisions, and a broad understanding of cultures. It provides a solid background for graduate study in the humanities and for such professional schools as medicine, business, and law. For those wishing to pursue a career in academic theology, ministry, or religious education—increasingly, these are lay persons rather than seminarians and religious—theology, of course, is still a prerequisite. Many students now also elect theology as a second major or as minor to balance and broaden their education and to provide perspective on other disciplines in the natural or social sciences and the humanities.
The Theology department boasts a large, internationally known faculty with expertise in areas as diverse as biblical studies, church history, systematic theology, theological ethics, pastoral psychology and comparative theology.
The major curriculum in Theology incorporates both structure and flexibility. Majors take a combination of essential, required courses and electives from within and outside the Department of Theology. Programs are designed in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
For more information about specific requirements, please contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Jeff Cooley.
Undergraduates seeking to fulfill the theology core should be able to:
- Engage the quest for truth and meaning that generate theological insight in Christianity and other religious traditions.
- Explore the fundamental texts and practices that shape Christian theology.
- Understand the dynamic relationship between religious truth-claims and their moral implications, both personal and societal.
- Engage the various disciplinary methods required for theological reflection, including textual, historical, social and cultural analysis.
- Relate theological inquiry to the enduring questions animating the broader liberal arts tradition.
Graduating theology majors should be able to
- Demonstrate knowledge of scripture, creeds, major developments, leading thinkers, and spirituality of Christian theological tradition, with proficiency in one or more such areas, and with particular attention to the Roman Catholic tradition.
- Reflect theologically on contemporary social, cultural, and ethical dimensions and implications of Christian faith.
- Mount cogent, constructive theological arguments in dialogue with other disciplines.
- Engage articulately in some aspect of both ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue and learning.