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Graduate Program

Master of Arts in Theology

“God is the real central theme of my endeavors. I have never tried to create a system of my own, an individual theology (…) The point of departure is first of all the Word. That we believe the Word of God, that we try really to get to know and understand it and then, as I said, to think it together with the great masters of the faith. This gives my theology a somewhat biblical character and also bears the stamp of the Fathers, especially Augustine.”

– Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth the Church at the End of the Millennium

This program has as its purpose the understanding of the person and theological corpus of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI.
The program is open to those who possess a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in philosophy, theology, or related studies.
The program prepares students for doctoral studies in theology, specifically, Dogmatic Theology.
Participation in the program requires attendance of all the courses of a five-semester duration and a thesis directed by one of the program’s professors.

Rationale

Theology is discourse about God and about all things as related to God, based on God’s self-revelation. Revelation is the Word of God, transmitted in Scripture and Tradition to and through the Church as the community of believers.

The courses offered in this program of study are aimed at introducing the student to theology thus understood. St. Anselm has famously described the attitude most productive for this pursuit, namely, “Faith seeking understanding” (fides quaerens intellectum).

Theology mediates between faith and the ever-changing cultures within which the human person exists and functions. It shines the light of faith upon the different questions and challenges which confront the human person, while paying attention to the deepest yearnings and longings of the human spirit and are most fundamental orientation toward God.

 

Course Goals

 

Learning Outcomes

First Semester - Foundations

The Person of Ratzinger

  • Ratzinger’s Life’s Story

  • Ratzinger, Augustine:

    • The Hermeneutic of Love: Amor Meus, Pondus Meum

    • The History of the Human Being: De Confessiones

    • The History of the World: De Civitate Dei

    • The History of God: De Trinitate

  • Ratzinger and Aquinas: On Faith and Reason

  • Joseph Ratzinger: “Man between Reproduction and Creation”, COMMUNIO, International Catholic Review, Washington D.C. (1989).

 

Ratzinger and German Idealism: Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Feuerbach

  • German Idealism: Principal Features

  • Kant: Critique of Pure Reason

  • Kant: Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason

  • Hegel: Life of Jesus

  • Hegel: Phenomenology

  • Nietzsche: The Genealogy of Morals

  • Nietzsche: The Joyful Wisdom

  • Nietzsche: The Anti-Christ

  • Feuerbach: The Essence of Christianity

 

Ratzinger and Modernity: Pascal, Newman, Lonergan

  • Pascal: Les Pensées

  • Newman: An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent and An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine

  • Lonergan: Method in Theology and Understanding and Being

 

Scientific Research Methodology:

  • Intellectual Integrity and Plagiarism

  • Chicago Manual Style of Writing

  • Citations and References: Books

  • Citations and References: Journals and Articles

  • Online Research

  • Structure of a Research Paper

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Chicago Style for Students & Researchers, Eight Edition, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.

  • Lucretia B. Yaghjian, Writing Theology Well, A Rhetoric for Theological and Biblical Writers, New York: Continuum, 2006.

Second Semester

Ratzinger and Theological Method – Donum Veritatis:

  • The Vocation of the Catholic Theologian

  • Professor and participant in the Second Vatican Council

  • Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

  • Magisterium: Teaching and Authority, Vatican II: Hermeneutics of continuity

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, The Nature and Mission of Theology: Approaches to Understanding Its Role in the Light of Present Controversy, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1995.

  • _____. Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987.

  • Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Instruction on the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian, Donum Veritatis, 1990.

 

Ratzinger and the Church – Sacramentum Salutis

  • The Church as the Sacrament of salvation

  • The Church as the People of God

  • The Charisms and Holiness of the Church

  • The Church and Ecumenism

  • The Church and the Eucharist

  • Papal Primacy, Episcopacy and the Priesthood

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Ministers of Your Joy, Scriptural Meditations on Priestly Spirituality, Redeemer Books, 1989.

  • _____. Credo for Today: What Christians Believe, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009.

  • _____. Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987.

  • _____. Called to Communion, Understanding the Church Today, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1996.

  • _____. Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith, The Church as Communion, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005.

  • _____. Theological Highlights of Vatican II, New York: Paulist Press, 2009.

  • _____. Church, Ecumenism & Politics, New Endeavors in Ecclesiology, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008.

  • Benedict XVI, Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Ceotibus Providing for Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans Entering Into Full Communion with the Catholic Church, November 4, 2009.

 

Ratzinger and the Church Fathers – Ressourcement

  • The People and House of God in St. Augustine’s Doctrine of the Church

  • The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure

  • The Hermeneutic of Creative Fidelity

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure, Franciscan Herald Press, 1971.

  • _____. Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche, Munich 1954.

  • _____. The Unity of the Nations, A Vision of the Church Fathers, Washington D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2015.

  • Benedict XVI, Jesus, The Apostles, and the Early Church, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007.

 

Ratzinger on Faith and Reason – Fides Quaerens Intellectum

  • Christianity and the Logos

  • Subiaco, Regensburg, Westminster and Bundestag

  • 1959 Inaugural Lecture: God of Faith, God of the Philosophers

  • Fides et Ratio: Credo Ut Intellegam; Intellego Ut Credam

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004.

  • _____. Faith and the Future, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009.

  • _____. Handing on the Faith in an Age of Disbelief, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.

  • _____. The Dialectics of Secularization: On Reason and Religion, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.

  • Benedict XVI, The Regensburg Lecture, South Bend, IN: St. Augustine’s Press, 2007.

Third Semester

Ratzinger on Law and Politics – Ius Naturale

  • Natural Law and the Moral Order

  • Religion and Politics

  • Justice, the Goal of Politics

  • Secularization, relativism and politics

  • Law and conscience

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Faith and Politics, San Francisco: Ignatius Press: 2018.

  • _____. Church, Ecumenism & Politics, New Endeavors in Ecclesiology, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008.

  • _____. On Conscience, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007.

  • _____. Values in a Time of Upheaval, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2006.

  • _____ and Jügen Habermas, The Dialectics of Secularization On Reason and Religion, Ignatius Press, 2006.

  • _____ and Marcello Pera, Without Roots, The West, Relativism, Christianity and Islam, Basic Books, 2007.

  • Edited by Marta Cartabia & Andrea Simoncini, Pope Benedict XVI’s Legal Thought, A Dialogue on the Foundation of Law, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

  • Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate On Integral Human Development in Christy and Truth, June 29, 2009.

 

Ratzinger and Christology – Dominus Iesus

  • The Christological controversies

  • Jesus Christ, Person and Office

  • Jesus the Savior: Soteriology

  • The Christology of the Sermon of the Mount

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Volumes I-III, New York: Doubleday, 2007; San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011; 2012.

  • _____. Behold the Pierced One, An Approach to a Spiritual Christology, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986.

  • _____. On the Way to Jesus Christ, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005.

  • _____. Introduction to Christianity, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004.

  • _____. Journey to Easter, New York: A Crossroad Book, 1987.

  • CDF, Declaration Dominus Iesus, 2000.

  • CDF, Notification on Jon Sobrino, 2006.

 

Ratzinger and Mariology – Maria Mater Ecclesiae

  • Mary Church at the source

  • Mary, Image and Model of the Church

  • Mary, Daughter Zion

  • Mary and the Communio Sanctorum

  • Marian Apparitions

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, (with Hans Urs Von Balthasar) Mary, the Church at the Source, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007.

  • _____. Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1983.

  • _____. Theological Highlights of Vatican II, New York: Paulist Press, 2009.

  • _____. The Message of Fatima: Theological Commentary, Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000.

  • Benedict XVI Homilies

 

Ratzinger and Christology – Dominus Iesus

  • The Sacramental Foundation of Christian existence

  • Liturgy and Symbolism

  • Beauty: Theology of sacrifice and Liturgy

  • Tradition as foundation of Catholic Liturgy

  • Sacred Music: Encounter with the Divine

  • African Religious Expressions and Symbolism

  • The Development of Rites/Rituals

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger: The Spirit of the Liturgy, San Francisco: Ignatius Press,

  • _____: The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1993.

  • _____: The Feast of Faith, Approaches to a Theology of the Liturgy, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986.

  • _____: Heart of the Christian Life, Thoughts on Holy Mass, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010.

  • _____. A New Song for the Lord, Faith in Christ and Liturgy Today, New York: A Crossroad Book, 1996.

  • Benedict XVI: Behold the Lamb of God, Kennington, Oxford: Family Publications, 2010.

  • _____: Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, 2007.

Fourth Semester

Ratzinger on Law and Politics – Ius Naturale

  • Interculturality and Inculturation

  • Christ, faith and the challenges of culture

  • Jesus Christ, universale concretum et personale

  • The Sacred in African Culture

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Many Religions – One Covenant, Israel, the Church and the World, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999.

  • _____. Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006.

  • _____. Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004.

 

Ratzinger and Christology – Dominus Iesus

  • Revelation, Scripture and Tradition

  • Exegesis and Theology

  • Patristic and Medieval Exegesis

  • Modern Exegesis and the Historical-Critical Method

  • The Relationship between Dogma and Preaching

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Benedict XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God in the Life of the Church, Verbum Domini, 2010.

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, Applying Christian Doctrine to Daily Life, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011.

  • _____. “In the Beginning…” A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall, Grand Rapids, MI: William Eerdmans, 1995.

  • _____. God’s Word, Scripture, Tradition, Office, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 2008.

 

Ratzinger and Eschatology – Vita Mutatur Non Tollitur

  • The Four Last Things

  • The Finitude of History

  • The Christian understanding of the Body

  • The Resurrection

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life, Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1988.

  • _____. Introduction to Christianity, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004.

  • Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter On Christian Hope, Spe Salvi, 2007.

 

Ratzinger and Christian Spirituality: Deus Caritas Est

  • Theological Anthropology: The Human Being, Created for Love

  • The Human Search for Meaning

  • The Human Being, Known and Loved: Encyclical Deus Caritas Est

  • The Human Being, Called to Hope: Encyclical Spe Salvi

  • The Essence of Christianity: Faith, Hope and Love

 

Recommended Primary Bibliography:

  • Joseph Ratzinger, Behold the Pierced One, An Approach to a Spiritual Christology, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1986.

  • _____.: The Yes of Jesus Christ, Spiritual Exercises in Faith, Hope and Love, New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1991.

  • Edited By: Robert Moynihan, Let God’s Light Shine Forth, the Spiritual Vision of Pope Benedict XVI, New York: Doubleday, 2005.

Fifth Semester

Research Dissertation [Maximum: 120 pages]