Holy Apostles College and Seminary 

ICU Courses

ICU Spring 2004 Semester Schedule:

Required Reading Documents:

Dei Verbum.rtf

Interpretaion of Bible in Church.rtf
Lumen Gentium.rtf
SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM.rtf
That they may be one.rtf
Veritatis Splendor.rtf
EVANGELIUM VITAE.rtf
Centesimus annus.rtf
Gaudium Et Spes.rtf
DECREE ON ECUMENISM.rtf
Dives in misericordia.rtf
redemptor hominis.rtf
Dominum et Vivificantem.rtf

Course

Date

Assignment

1 Biblical

Long weekend

1/17-1/19

 

For this Lesson 1 A read the following: video and notes:

Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum). This reading explains the teaching of the Church on the Inspiration and Inerrancy of the Bible and its relation to Sacred Tradition.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission (with a foreword of recommendation by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church," Origins, 23, n.29 (Jan. 6, 1994): 499-524. An evaluation of the various current methods of exegesis.

1 Modernism

Week of 1/19

Lesson 1 The Nature of Modernity (I)
Reading Assignments

Watch Video 1a and read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

2 Biblical

Weekend

1/24

Learning Unit 2 Readings

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 1, pp. 1-13.Watch Video 1b and read the corresponding internet notes.

2 Modernism

Week of 1/26

Lesson 2 The Nature of Modernity (II)
Reading Assignments

Read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

3 Biblical

1/28-1/29

Finish Brown, 101 Questions.

Begin, Roland Murphy, 101 Questions on Biblical Torah

4 Biblical

Weekend

1/31-2/1

Re-read Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter I.

Roland Murphy, 101 Questions on Biblical Torah

Read in the Bible the Book of Tobit.

3 Modernism

Week of 2/2

Lesson 3 Readings
Watch Video 1b and read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

BIBLICAL

Due on 2/8

Writing assignment # 1 due.

4 Modernism

Week of 2/9

Read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

5 Biblical

Weekend 2/13

Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), 1964

Read the Books of Exodus. Leviticus, and Deuteronomy

5 Modernism

Week 2/16

Continue reading Lesson 5

6 Biblical

All Week of 2/16

Vatican II, The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium), 1963

John Paul II, The Encyclical "That They May be One" (Ut Unum Sint), 1995

7 Biblical

Weekend 2/21

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 2, pp.41-88.

8 Biblical

Week of 2/23

John Paul II, The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor), 1993

John Paul II, The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae), 1995

MODERNISM

Week of 2/23

Writing Assignment # 1 due

BIBLICAL

Due on 3/1

Writing assignment # 2 due.

6 Modernism

Week of 3/1

Watch Video 2a and read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

9 Biblical

Weekend 3/6

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 2, p.61-150.

7 Modernism

Weekend of 3/8

Watch Video 2b and read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

10 Biblical

Week of 3/8

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 3.

The Book of Sirach

The Epistle of St. James

11 Biblical

Week of 3/15

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5

8 Modernism

Week of 3/15

Read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

12 Biblical

Week of 3/22

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 6

St. Paul, Second Epistle to the Corinthians

The Book of Revelation

9 Modernism

Week of 3/22

Read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

BIBLICAL

Due on 3/29

Writing assignment # 3 due.

13 Biblical

Week of 3/29

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 9 (note we have left 7 and 8 to the next lesson).

MODERNISM

Week 3/29

Writing Assignment # 2 due

14 Biblical

Weekend 4/3

Ashley, Living the Truth in Love, Chapter 7 and 8

John Paul II, On the Centenary of Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum (Centesimus Annus), 1991.

15 Biblical

Week of 4/5

Vatican II, The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes), 1965.

Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis redintegratio), 1964.

10 Modernism

Week of 4/5

Continue Reading

16 Biblical

Week of 4/12

Read the three encyclicals of John Paul II based on the Three Persons of the Trinity and containing a profound modern spirituality: Rich in Mercy (Dives in Misericordia), 1980 on the Father, The Redeemer of Humanity (Redemptor Hominis), 1979 on the Son, and On the Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church and the World (Dominum et Vivificantem), 1986.

11 Modernism

Week of 4/12

Watch Video 3a and read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

BIBLICAL

Due on 4/19

Writing Assignment # 4 due.

12 Modernism

Week of 4/19

Read at least one pertinent chapter in the texts of your choice.

MODERNISM

Week of 4/26

Writing Assignment # 3 due.

Biblical

5/1 - 5/8

FINAL EXAM

Modernism

5/1 - 5/8

FINAL EXAM

 

Written Assignments for Modernity and Biblical foundations:  Spring 2004 Semester

 

Course

Date

                Writing Assignments

Biblical Morality

2/8/04

For 2/8/2004, read the sets of notes on the internet for lessons 1 to 4, as well as the required readings and in four pages paper explaining the questions of this section.

Writing Assignment 1

Why is a revision of moral theology necessary today?

Why must moral theology be based on the Bible?

How is the foundation of moral theology in the Bible related to Sacred Tradition?

What does it mean to say that Bible moral precepts are "historically conditioned?"

What have been the historic stages of the development of Catholic moral theology?

Why and how is there a specifically Christian Ethics?

What is Canon Criticism and the hermeneutic circle?

Why must the Bible be read in the context of Sacred Tradition?

What is the difference between the principle of a biblical command and its application in he Bible?

Give examples of how the Ten Commandments are applied in different ways in different circumstances but are always true in principle.

 What do you understand by the "Way of Life and the Way of Death?"

 Can you explain how the Ten Commandments sum up all the rest of the moral Torah?

How do the narratives of the Bible illustrate the Law?

What is Wisdom Literature? Give examples of how it supports the Law?

What are some moral teachings in the Book of Tobit? If this book is, as many scholars think, a fictional short story, how can it teach morality?  

       What is the relation of the Prophetic Books to the Pentateuch?

       Were the prophets and the priests of the Old Testament at odds?

       What moral principles can one draw from Judith?

       What is a "morality of intention"?

       What is the difference between objective and subjective morality?

Modernism

 

2/23/04

Writing Assignment #1 (Write a 2-3 page paper on one of the following)
1) How did popes and other Catholic leaders in the 19th century respond to modernity?
2) What was "liberal Catholicism" in the 19th century?
3) Compare and contrast Alfred Loisy's approach to doctrine with that of John Henry Newman, especially in the latter's Essay on the Development of Doctrine.
4) To what extent was the thought of Loisy included in the condemnations of St. Pius X?

Biblical Morality

3/1/04

Writing Assignment 2

  What became of the moral, ritual, and judicial precepts of the Old Law under the New Law?

What does it mean to say that the new Law is the "the Law of the Holy Spirit"?

Why is the moral instruction of the New Testament so lacking in concrete norms compared with the Old Testament?

In what sense did Jesus return to the Law of Creation?

Is it really possible for us to imitate Christ?

Why and how is the Church "the Body of Christ" (Eph 1:22-23)?

What is the relation of liturgical worship to private prayer?

What exactly does the term "ecumenism" mean?

Name some of the effects of "individualism" on morality and spirituality.

Explain Galatians 6:2, Bear one another's burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Why can the Church never change the moral teachings of Jesus and the Apostles?

What is the role of the sensus fidelium in the development of moral doctrine in the Church? Why does Vatican II prefer the term sensus fidei?

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the development of moral doctrine?

What is the role of the Magisterium in the development of moral doctrine?

Do you think there can be a development of doctrine that in the future will permit the practice of contraception?

Why is the moral teaching of the Magisterium a safer guide for conscience than the views of theologians or our own opinions in moral matters?

Why has the Magisterium not infallibly defined all the moral norms?

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in aiding the individual apply the moral teaching of the church to their own problems?

What arguments could be used for and against the infallibility of the teaching of Humanae Vitae on marriage?

How can we be sure what Jesus taught about behavior?

 

Modernism

3/29/04

Writing Assignment #2 (Write a 2-3 page paper on one of the following)
1) Discuss the career of William Sullivan in the light of the Americanist movement.
2) Discuss the relationship between Americanism and Modernism?
3) How did the new biblical criticism influence the people called Modernists?

Biblical Morality

3/29/04

Writing Assignment 3

  What is the difference between human faith and Christian Faith?

Why is Christian Faith the basis of the Christian life?

What is the difference between Christian Faith and a "religious experience."

 What is the relation of Christian Faith and human reason?

"To be prudent" in English usually means to be cautious. Is the virtue of Prudence just caution? What is it then?

What is an "informed conscience"?

Discuss the Kantian concept of morality? Has it influenced your thinking?

Why must we love ourselves? How should we love ourselveS?

 Why is Prudence the chief of the moral virtues?

  Does the Virtue of Hope gives us certitude of salvation? How?

Explain the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

    What do you think of the asceticism of St. Simeon Stylites (see New Catholic Encyclopedia) who for 36 years lived as a hermit on the top of a pillar?

   What is the difference between the Hope that inspires Christian martyrs and the hope of persons who burn themselves to death in a demonstration in favor of a political cause?

 Did Jesus on the Cross despair when he cried out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me!" ?

When is pleasure morally good and when is it morally bad?

 Why is marriage good if celibacy is better?

    Do you really think that Jesus got angry? How did he deal with anger?

   What is your understanding of why Christian virginity is an important value?

 How do you think regular meditative prayer increases the virtue of Hope?

 

Biblical Morality

4/19/04

Writing Assignment 4

 List different meanings of the word "love." Is hate always contrary to love?

  Why does the love of friendship require friends to live together or meet or correspond frequently?

    What does it mean to say that Jesus loves you and that you love Jesus?

  Why is God closer to us in the New than in the Old Testament?

   How does Christian love unify the whole of the Way of Life?

   What is "subsidiarity"?

  What is "social justice?"

  Why can there be no true love without true justice?

 How can mercy be greater than justice?

    Explain 1 Peter 3:13-17 urging Christians to respect the Roman Government when the Book of Revelation portrays the Roman Government as "the whore of Bayblon." (Rev 17-18)?

      How do you understand the terms "liberal Catholic" and "conservative Catholic"?

      Are you a conservative or a liberal? What good can you see in the other party's positions?

     What was the Enlightenment? How is it still an influence today?

     What is "moral relativism?"

      What is your understanding of the work of Vatican II in the history of Christian moral teaching? Are you sure this is what Vatican II really said?

      What is the relation of Christian spirituality to moral theology?

    What is the Communion of Saints?

      What is the role the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church?

      How do you understand the Christian Covenant in comparison with the Mosaic Covenant?

     What is the measure of the morally good and the morally bad in a biblically based Moral Theology?

Modernism

4/26/04

Writing Assignment # 3 (Write a 2-3 page paper on one of the following)
1) Delineate one of the following themes as expressed in St. Pius X's encyclicals condemning Modernism: denial of transcendence, materialism, perversion of spirituality, denial of authority, influence of modern culture.
2) What did St. Pius X mean in calling modernism the "summation of all heresies"?
3) Is present-day dissenting Catholic theology a direct descendent of Modernism?

  Modernism Questions

All of these review questions were written by James Hitchcock for this course and are listed on the ICU website.

1. How can modernity be defined? How does the modern mind differ from earlier ages?

2. When does modernity begin and what caused it? Justify your answer in terms of the particular criteria you identify as defining modernity.

3. Why did modernity develop in ways inimical to religion?

4. What is Modernism, understood in a secular social and cultural sense?

5. Discuss the cultural situation the 19th century, in which there was both a return to religion and an increasingly intense attack on religion.

6. What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on the spiritual state of Europe? In what ways did it help usher in the modern world?

7. How did the Catholic Church respond to the Reformation?

8. Was the Scientific Revolution anti-religious?

9. How did the New Science permanently alter the intellectual outlook of the West?

10. Why was the Enlightenment anti-religious?

11. How did the Church respond to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution?

12. What factors led to a religious revival in the 19th century, even as modernity became increasingly secular and anti-religious?

13. How did popes an other Catholic leaders in the 19th century respond to modernity?

14. What was "liberal Catholicism" in the 19th century?

15. What intellectual and personal factors caused Loisy to move away from Catholic orthodoxy?

16. What were his attitudes towards Protestantism?

17. What were his attitudes towards the traditions of the Catholic Church?

18. Compare and contrast his approach to doctrine with that of Cardinal John Henry Newman, especially in the latter's Essay on the Development of Doctrine.

19. To what extent was the thought of Loisy included in the condemnations of St. Pius X? (Found in Reardon, Roman Catholic Modernism, and other places).

20. What is meant by "historical consciousness" and how did it affect Loisy's thought?

21. What is meant by "religious experience" and how did it affect his thought?

22. What intellectual and personal factors caused Tyrrell to move away from Catholic orthodoxy?

23. What were his attitudes towards Protestantism?

24. What were his attitudes towards the traditions of the Catholic Church?

25. Compare and contrast his approach to doctrine with that of Cardinal John Henry Newman, especially in the latter's Essay on the Development of Doctrine.

26. To what extent was Tyrrell's thought included in the condemnations of St. Pius X? (Found in Reardon, Roman Catholic Modernism, and other places).

27. What is meant by "historical consciousness" and how did it affect Tyrrell's thought?

28. What is meant by "religious experience" and how did it affect his thought?

29. How did the new biblical criticism influence von Hugel?

30. Should he be called a Modernist in the full sense?

31. How did the new biblical criticism influence the people called Modernists?

32. What role did Bremond play in the Modernist crisis?

33. In what ways did spirituality, especially mysticism, serve as a means of "transcending" some of the theological issues of the day?

34. What did Blondel mean by "action"? Was he a Modernist?

35. What role did Maude Petre play in the Modernist crisis?

36. What was the situation of Catholics in the United States at the end of the 19th century?

37. In what sense were some of the American bishops of the time "liberals"

38. How did they think the Church ought to accommodate itself to the American situation?

39. How did Leo XIII view the situation?

40. Discuss the career of William Sullivan in the light of the Americanist movement.

41. How did the new biblical criticism influence scholars in the United States?

42. Was there a relationship between Americanism and Modernism?

43. Delineate one of the following themes as expressed in St. Pius X's encyclicals condemning Modernism: denial of transcendence, materialism, perversion of spirituality, denial of authority, influence of modern culture.

44. What did St. Pius X mean in calling modernism the "summation of all heresies"?

45. Discuss the enforcement of the condemnation of Modernism.

46. Discuss the claim that the condemnation of Modernism blighted the intellectual life of the Church for decades.

47. How did orthodox Catholic intellectuals come to terms with the issues raised by the Modernists?

48. In what ways did the Second Vatican Council come to terms with those issues?

49. Is present-day dissenting Catholic theology a direct descendent of Modernism?

Biblical Morality Questions

    Questions - Review questions for student self-assessment

    1. Why is a revision of moral theology necessary today?

    2. Why must moral theology be based on the Bible?

    3. How is the foundation of moral theology in the Bible related to Sacred Tradition?

    4. What does it mean to say that Bible moral precepts are "historically conditioned?"

    5. What have been the historic stages of the development of Catholic moral theology?

    6. Why and how is there a specifically Christian Ethics?

    7. What is Canon Criticism and the hermeneutic circle?

    8. Why must the Bible be read in the context of Sacred Tradition?

    9. What is the difference between the principle of a biblical command and its application in he Bible?

    10. Give examples of how the Ten Commandments are applied in different ways in different circumstances but are always true in principle.

    11. What do you understand by the "Way of Life and the Way of Death?"

    12. Can you explain how the Ten Commandments sum up all the rest of the moral Torah?

    13. How do the narratives of the Bible illustrate the Law?

    14. What is Wisdom Literature? Give examples of how it supports the Law?

    15. What is the relation of the Prophetic Books to the Pentateuch?

    16. Were the prophets and the priests of the Old Testament at odds?

    17. What moral principles can one draw from Judith?

    18. What is a "morality of intention"?

    19. What is the difference between objective and subjective morality?

    20. What became of the moral, ritual, and judicial precepts of the Old Law under the New Law?

    21. What does it mean to say that the new Law is the "the Law of the Holy Spirit"?

    22. Why is the moral instruction of the New Testament so lacking in concrete norms compared with the Old Testament?

    23. In what sense did Jesus return to the Law of Creation?

    24. Is it really possible for us to imitate Christ?

    25. Why and how is the Church "the Body of Christ" (Ephesians 1:22 -23)?

    26. What is the relation of liturgical worship to private prayer?

    27. What exactly does the term "ecumenism" mean?

    28. Name some of the effects of "individualism" on morality and spirituality.

    29. Explain Galatians 6:2, Bear one another's burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.

    30. Why can the Church never change the moral teachings of Jesus and the Apostles?

    31. What is the role of the sensus fidelium in the development of moral doctrine in the Church? Why does Vatican II prefer the term sensus fidei?

    32. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the development of moral doctrine?

    33. What is the role of the Magisterium in the development of moral doctrine?

    34. Do you think there can be a development of doctrine that in the future will permit the practice of contraception?

    35. Why has the Magisterium not infallibly defined all the moral norms?

    36. What is the role of the Holy Spirit in aiding the individual apply the moral teaching of the church to their own problems?

    37. What arguments could be used for and against the infallibility of the teaching of Humanae Vitae on marriage?

    38. How can we be sure what Jesus taught about behavior?

    39. Who is Lady Wisdom and who is Lady Folly in the Wisdom Literature?

    40. What is the difference between human faith and Christian Faith?

    41. Why is Christian Faith the basis of the Christian life?

    42. What is the difference between Christian Faith and a "religious experience."

    43. What is the relation of Christian Faith and human reason?

    44. "To be prudent" in English usually means to be cautious. Is the virtue of Prudence just caution? What is it then?

    45. What is an "informed conscience"?

    46. Discuss the Kantian concept of morality? Has it influenced your thinking?

    47. Why must we love ourselves? How should we love ourselves?

    48. Why is Prudence the chief of the moral virtues?

    49. Does the Virtue of Hope gives us certitude of salvation? How?

    50. Explain the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer.

    51. What do you think of the asceticism of St. Simeon Stylites (see New Catholic Encyclopedia) who for 36 years lived as a hermit on the top of a pillar?

    52. What is the difference between the Hope that inspires Christian martyrs and the hope of persons who burn themselves to death in a demonstration in favor of a political cause?

    53. Did Jesus on the Cross despair when he cried out, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me!"?

    54. When is pleasure morally good and when is it morally bad?

    55. Why is marriage good if celibacy is better?

    56. Do you really think that Jesus got angry? How did he deal with anger?

    57. What is your understanding of why Christian virginity is an important value?

    58. How do you think regular meditative prayer increases the virtue of Hope?

    59. List different meanings of the word "love." Is hate always contrary to love?

    60. Why does the love of friendship require friends to live together or meet or correspond frequently?

    61. What does it mean to say that Jesus loves you and that you love Jesus?

    62. Why is God closer to us in the New than in the Old Testament?

    63. How does Christian love unify the whole of the Way of Life?

    64. What is "subsidiarity"?

    65. What is "social justice?"

    66. Why can there be no true love without true justice?

    67. How can mercy be greater than justice?

    68. Explain 1 Peter 3:13-17 urging Christians to respect the Roman Government when the Book of Revelation portrays the Roman Government as "the whore of Babylon." (Rev 17-18)?

    69. How do you understand the terms "liberal Catholic" and "conservative Catholic"?

    70. Are you a conservative or a liberal? What good can you see in the other party's positions?

    71. What was the Enlightenment? How is it still an influence today?

    72. What is "moral relativism?"

    73. What is your understanding of the work of Vatican II in the history of Christian moral teaching? Are  you sure this is what Vatican II really said?

    74. What is the relation of Christian spirituality to moral theology?

    75. What is the Communion of Saints?

    76. What is the role the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church?

    77. What is the measure of the morally good and the morally bad in a biblically based Moral Theology?

 

Dominus Iesus
Declaration Concerning Ethics
Domun Vitae
Familiaris Consortio
Humanae Vitae - A Generation Later
Pastoral Care of Persons
HUMANAE VITAE