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Undergraduate Degree

Bachelors of Arts in Theology

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.

 

Learning Goals

First Semester - Foundations

Philosophical Thinking — philosophia ancilla theologiae

Foundations in Theology — fides quaerens intellectum

Introduction to Sacred Scripture — fons theologiae

Controversies and Theological Definitions in the Early Church

 

Introduction to the Methodology of Scientific Research

Second Semester

Christian Tradition I: Introduction to the Church Fathers

Trinity and Creation

Christ, Grace, and Salvation

 

Theology of the Liturgy and Sacraments: An Introduction

Third Semester

Christian Tradition II: Scholasticism – the High Point of Philosophical Theology

  • Major Theologians – Their life and unique theological contributions:

    • Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – 1109)

    • Peter Abelard (1100 – 1160)

    • Thomas Aquinas, Doctor Angelicus (1225–1274)

    • Bonaventure, Doctor Seraphicus (1221 – 1274)

  • Major theological topics:

    • God: Existence, Nature and Attributes, Mystery

    • Creation and the Angelic world

    • Christology: Grace, Nature, Salvation, Atonement

    • Church and State: Iconoclasm

    • Liturgy and Sacraments: Transubstantiation

  • Major Medieval Spiritual Traditions of the West:

    • Francis of Assisi (Franciscans)

    • St. Dominic, Priest and Mystic (Dominicans)

    • Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross (Carmelites)

    • Gregory Palamas and the Hysachast Tradition of the East

Theology of Virtue and Moral Action

  • Defining Moral Theology

  • Principles of Moral Theology

  • Understanding of Virtue

  • Thomas Aquinas’ distinctions of virtues:

    • Intellectual & Moral; Infused & Acquired; Natural & Supernatural

  • Today’s moral issues: Abortion, Euthanasia, IVF, technology, etc.

  • Catholic Moral Principles

  • Principles of Catholic Social Teaching / Preferential Option for the Poor

Theological Anthropology

  • Human Person in Biology, Psychology, theology, etc.

  • Imago Dei and the Human Vocation

  • Human Person and the Worship of God

  • Body, Soul, and Spirit and the challenge of modern dualism

  • Human dignity in a technological age (of humanoids)

Fourth Semester

History and Theology I: The Reformation and Council of Trent

  • Historical framing of the Reformation

  • Major theological debates and controversies

  • Major Reformers: Martin Luther; John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli

  • Counter-Reform: Council of Trent (1545–1563): Decrees and Canons

  • Post-Tridentine Normativity of Scholasticism in the Catholic West

 

History of Christianity in Africa: Case Study of Cameroon

  • Pre-colonial: First four centuries of Christianity

  • Spread of Christianity in colonial days

  • Missionaries to Africa: Church and Crown

  • Christianity in Cameroon in general

  • The Catholic Church in Cameroon in particular

  • Pan-Africanism & rejection of ‘colonial Christianity’: Theological response

  • Today’s African Church as a missionary Church to the rest of the world

 

History of Christianity in Africa: Case Study of Cameroon

  • Trinitarian foundation of the spiritual life

  • Universal vocation: Holiness

  • Christian Prayer & Spiritual traditions: (Foster’s Streams of Living Water):

    • Contemplative tradition: Desert Fathers and Mothers and 4th century monastic traditions, St. Benedict, Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux

    • Holiness tradition: Hermas, Tertullian, John Cassian, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas à Kempis, Ignatius of Loyola, Menno Simons, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    • Charismatic tradition: Ephraem the Syrian, Gregory the Great, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc

    • Social Justice tradition: Order of Widows (1st – 4th Century),

      • Catherine of Genoa, John Mary Vianney, Dorothy Day, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Mother Teresa, Jean Vanier

    • Evangelical tradition: Ignatius of Antioch, Basil the Great, Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo; Dominic (c. 1170), Thomas Aquinas, Francis Xavier

    • Incarnational tradition: Athanasius, John Damascene, Albert the Great, John Henry Newman

  • Select treatment of these expressions of Christian spirituality

  • Spirituality and the sacramental life

 

Spirituality and the Christian Vocation

  • Trinitarian foundation of the spiritual life

  • Universal vocation: Holiness

  • Christian Prayer & Spiritual traditions: (Foster’s Streams of Living Water):

    • Contemplative tradition: Desert Fathers and Mothers and 4th century monastic traditions, St. Benedict, Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux

    • Holiness tradition: Hermas, Tertullian, John Cassian, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas à Kempis, Ignatius of Loyola, Menno Simons, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

    • Charismatic tradition: Ephraem the Syrian, Gregory the Great, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc

    • Social Justice tradition: Order of Widows (1st – 4th Century),

      • Catherine of Genoa, John Mary Vianney, Dorothy Day, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Mother Teresa, Jean Vanier

    • Evangelical tradition: Ignatius of Antioch, Basil the Great, Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, Augustine of Hippo; Dominic (c. 1170), Thomas Aquinas, Francis Xavier

    • Incarnational tradition: Athanasius, John Damascene, Albert the Great, John Henry Newman

  • Select treatment of these expressions of Christian spirituality

  • Spirituality and the sacramental life

 

Theology, Science, and Culture: An Essential Dialogue

  • Meaning of Culture and characterization of cultures

  • Five Models of “Christ – Culture” Relationship (Richard Niebuhr):

    • Christ against culture, Christ of culture, Christ above culture, Christ and culture paradox, Christ the transformer of culture

  • Interculturality, Enculturation, Inculturation, Case study: Aspects of African culture and religion (ATR) in dialogue with Christianity

  • Science: Different perspectives on what science is

  • Science, truth, and theology

  • “Technology culture” and theology

  • “Gay culture” and human rights: A theological response

Fifth Semester

History and Theology II: Post-Trent to Vatican II

  • History and Theology II: Post-Trent to Vatican II

  • Historical contexts

    • Modernism (rationalism, liberalism, materialism, rejection of authority)

  • Vatican I (1869–70):

    • Pastor Aeternus and Infallibility

    • Dei Filius: Divine Revelation, Faith, & Reason in a changing world

  • Pope Leo XII’s Aeterni Patris (1879): Restoration of Christian Philosophy

  • Pius X’s Pascendi Dominici (1907): Condemnation of Modernism as heresy

  • Vatican II: Ecclesia ad intra and Ecclesia ad extra

    • History, context, and uniqueness

    • Overview of the 16 Documents of Vatican II (1962-65)

    • Religious Freedom; Church and Modern world; Media; Communication

 

Ecclesiology and Mission

  • Trinitarian Origin of the Church

  • Definition (of Church): Communio Sanctorum

  • Nature and Marks of the Church

  • Church as essentially Missionary in nature

  • Understanding Mission in the Twenty-First Century

  • Mission, Evangelization, and Discipleship

  • Images of the Church in Vatican II: Lumen Gentium

  • Models of the Church (see Avery Dules’ text and others)

  • “Church as Family” – Ecclesia in Africa

  • Church, Law, and Power

 

Mariology

  • Meaning and historical development

  • Four Marian Dogmas – definition, promulgation, significance:

    • Ancient: Divine Motherhood & Perpetual Virginity

    • Modern: Immaculate Conception & Assumption

  • Mary as the Prototype of the Church

  • Mary as the Perfect Disciple (Biblical studies of Mary’s discipleship)

  • Major Marian Apparitions/Patronages – history and significance today:

    • Our Lady of Guadalupe & Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

    • Our Lady of Lourdes, France & Our Lady of Fatima, Portugal

    • Our Lady of Medjugorje, Bosnia

    • Mary as Principal Patroness of Cameroon

  • Marian Saints & theological significance: Dominic, De Montfort; Bernard

  • Theology of Marian Devotions: Rosary, Novenas, other Marian

 

Ecumenism and Inter-Religious Dialogue: Formation in Pastoral Dialogue

  • Introducing these theological concepts

  • Nostra Aetate & Unitatis Redintegratio: Theology of these texts

  • Principles of Ecumenism and Inter-Religious Dialogue

  • Major World Religions: Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism

  • Christian Denominations: Calvinists, Lutherans, Anglicans,

  • Pentecostals

  • Primacy of truth (logos) over praxis in dialogue

  • Theological principles of pastoral formation and ministry

Sixth Semester

Twentieth and Twenty-Frist Century Christian Theology

  • Survey course on prominent theologians of the 20th and 21st century:

    • Karl Barth

    • Henri de Lubac

    • Hans Urs von Balthasar

    • Karl Rahner

    • Bernard Lonergan

    • John Paul II

    • Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)

 

Introduction to African Theology

  • History, trends, concerns, and divisions of African theology

  • Pre-Colonial Era: Tertullian, Clement, Athanasius, Cyril, Augustine

  • Major Modern African theologians and their theological projects:

  • Pioneers: John Mbiti; Jean-Marc Ela; Charles Nyamiti; Benezet Bujo

    • Ancestor Christology and other Christologies

    • African Sociology, Anthropology, and Morality

    • Black Liberation Theologies

    • Political Theology and Theology of Suffering and Lament

  • African theological perspectives in dialogue with the West

    • African Family Ecclesiology and Communio Ecclesiology

    • Ecclesia in Africa and Lumen Gentium

 

Eschatology

  • Christian Hope: “I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.”

  • The Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell

  • History, Time, and Finitude

  • Nature of Eternal Life

  • Biblical apocalyptic imagination: Daniel and Revelation

  • Christian apocalyptic imagination in arts and literature

  • Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement; Dante’s Divine Comedy, C.S. Lewis’ Great Divorce

  • “Saved together”: Salvation and Communion

Longer Term Paper on any theological topic [25 – 40 pages]