Master of Advanced Study

Plato ranks as one of the most important thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition. This module introduces the student to some of the fundamental ideas that inform his works as well as guiding the student through some developments in his presentation of these ideas.

This course introduces some of the key elements in Aristotle's thought. It will consider, among other things, Aristotle on language, logic, “first philosophy” or “wisdom”, and effective choice and action. In the appendices, Aristotle on language and logic in the Organon, on nature in the Physics, on “first philosophy” or “wisdom” in the Metaphysics, and on effective choice and action in the Nichomachean Ethics will be considered.

The principal aim of the course will be to furnish an appreciation of Johannine literature as Good News, with particular reference to the theological perspective of the author. The course will further aim at providing a basic familiarity with, and a critical assessment of, contemporary critical thinking on the Johannine writings, particularly the Gospel of John.

Ethics, like philosophy, is in search of principles and universals. Ethics reflects on a particular human experience, namely, the experience of the good or of being good, and sets it in the context of the whole. One could also say that ethics reflects on what is the good and how our lives are oriented towards it

The name which designates the book has not always been the same through the centuries. The name « Tobiah » in English or « Tobie » in French comes from the Latin Vulgate which gives the same Latin name, Tobias, to the father and the son. It has been used in the past decades but is generally no longer in use.

The book of Esther tells the story of... Esther, a young Jewish girl who is among the deportees living in Susa, in Persia. After the dismissal of the former queen Vashti because she disobeyed king Ahasuerus, Esther is chosen and becomes queen of Persia.

The book of Judith is named after its main hero whose achievements it tells and glorifies. Like the books of Tobit and Esther, the book of Judith focuses on a main character and tells in detail the salvation given by God in a critical situation.

In sum, the Father’s kenosis to the Son, and the kenosis of the Father and the Son to the Holy Spirit correspond to the very essence of God which can only be love.

In order to have a better understanding of Dupuis’ viewpoints, the study will put side-by-side Dupuis’ ideas and those of pluralism, exclusivism and inclusivism. For this reason, the three approaches to the theology of religions will be briefly discussed. Likewise, the study also briefly presents the understanding of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) concerning the issues raised.

There are many different definitions of Social Political Philosophy (SPP): the political can be defined as social decision making; philosophy is the most general form of inquiry that is the attempt to say what it is true and why. 

Considering that the divine revelation always takes place in the form of symbols and within human experience, I also study O’Collins’ understanding of symbols and experience, and their relationship with the divine revelation.

How can we access the reality of revelation when both symbols and experience are historically, socially,and religiously conditioned and limited? What is the role of symbols in both the communication of the divine revelation by God and its experience by human beings?

Thomas never refers to Muslims by their name. Given that, as was already stated, Islam in Mediaeval times was not considered as another religion different from Christianity, but rather as a heresy or some aberrant form of the Christian faith...

In this course we look at the Hebrews’ arrival in the Promised Land and continue right up to the end of their existence as an independent nation when disaster overwhelmed them.

This course is divided into six sections : What is Philosophy? ; Why Study Philosophy? ; The place of philosophy in theology ; Main Areas of Philosophy ; Presocratic Philosophy ; Socrates

Common elements of Monasticism in Myanmar Buddhism and in the Latin Catholic Church, in preparation for an Interreligious Dialogue : a Comparative Study

A specialised course in Thomistic issues by fr. Gilles Emery, OP,  a leading specialist in this discipline !

For MA students only

According to Gibelin in his Foreword to Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Freedom is the central theme of Kant’s philosophy. This course will introduce to Kant, centering on Freedom as a key concept to understand his philosophy, in the three spheres defined by the critical project: Metaphysics, Moral and Aesthetics.

In the lives of the sains lifes " lives" the Christian vision of God, man, and the world which stand all​ out very clearly. Men can learn almost as much about the real meaning of Christianity from the legends of the saints produced within the tradition of the Church as from the authentic lives themselves. Through the reading and studying the lifes of the saints​ who arrived before us in the promised land​, we came to know how God works in the daily lives of Christians and how faith can be lived not only in good times but especially during persecution and suffering. This helps us to appreciate more our faith and make us grow in loving our brothers as part of God's providence.

Ecumenical dialogue requires a methodology to move from disagreement to consensus. 

This course allows students to explore the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant understandings, interpretations and uses of Scripture. The course introduces students to several contextual and traditional practices of hermeneutics in biblical studies. They will learn to read the Bible from various perspectives by engaging in a series of exegetical exercises and developing an exegetical study of selected biblical texts. Participants will also have an opportunity to explore the use of the Bible in pastoral setting: namely, how various approaches and readings impact social and ethical life of believing communities.

Like all movements, ecumenism had its beginnings and thus it has a history to be studied. History helps us to see the evolution and growth of The ecumenical movement in seeking to recover the apostolic sense of the early church for unity in diversity while it confronts the frustrations, difficulties, and ironies of the modern pluralistic world. It is a lively reassessment of the historical sources and destiny of what followers perceive to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Jesus Christ.

While the ecumenical movement can be regarded as something that has made great strides to bridge the divides that have existed between Christians, it is undeniable that this movement still meets great opposition from many Christians today. This opposition has come from those within the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions respectively, and each seem to have their own unique justifications for their unfavorable views of modern ecumenism.

As reasoned discourse about God ecumenical theology is focussing on God’s will for unity among Christians. In brief words we can even say: Ecumenical theology is theological reflection on the unity of the Church as it is willed by God. And as a way of reflection of the Christian faith on its own nature, ecumenical theology is dealing with the different theologies being in dialogue with one another in the ecumenical movement. Ecumenical theology tries to bring these different theologies into a dialogue.

This course gives a survey on the Catholic tradition by examining a series of documents like Lumen Gentium and other documents of Vatican II to show that the Catholic Church does not possess one rite only, but that she embraces all the ancient rites of Christendom and thus her unity consists not in a mechanical uniformity of all her parts, but on the contrary, in their variety, according in one principle and vivified by it. The readings of the documents enable to see the Church’s intent to move always in the direction of unity.

This course helps us to get in touch and explore with the this 16th century religious movement the originated in western Europe over against the prevailing Roman Catholicism. Conceived originally by its leaders in northern Europe and British Isles as a reform of Catholicism, it soon broke with the Catholic Church. This course explores and studies various documents like The Augsburg Confession, the Second Helvetic Confession, the Strassburg Liturgy to get an appreciation of of the reformed theological and liturgical trends.

This course will look at some issues of theological controversy between East and West (e.g. Filioque) and some areas of doctrine and practice traditionally distinctive of Eastern Christianity (e.g. theology of the icon), as well as areas of theology and church life that show especial vitality today. Through a variety of readings, including some patristic and liturgical texts, it will try to convey the connections between spiritual life and worship, theology, and the response of the Church to the world.

This course is part of the book of Bieke Mahieu,
Between Rome and Jerusalem. Herod the Great and His Sons in Their Struggle for Recognition: A Chronological Investigation of the Period 40 BC-39 AD, with a Time Setting of New Testament Events.
Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 208. Leuven: Peeters, 2012.
 

This course will explore some of the ethical and social issues in genomic research; Specific emphasis will be placed on incidental findings, as well as how to manage such findings/information when they arise within genomic research.

Divine Impassibility: A Thomistic Critique of Jürgen Moltmann’s Staurocentric Trinitarianism

Classical Christian doctrine has always affirmed divine impassibility, that is, God, in his divine nature, does not suffer. However, this doctrine has been subjected to criticism by some modern passibilist theologians. The thoughts of Saint Thomas Aquinas offer us insights in responding to such passibilist theologians, for divine compassion is grounded on divine impassibility.
 

Bonaventure style is fashioned upon Holy Writings. He was a master of language and was called the Doctor Scripture evangelicae. He was able to adapt it perfectly to the the demands of his writings. He was simple and delicate. Sometimes his admiration can turn to imitation, and this explains the rhetorical character found in some passages, the abundance of superlatives, the length of sentences, etc.
In this course we will be able to discover the method and style of Bonaventure and how he used these to be able to spread the Gospel in a time of evangelical renewal which reached its height in the 13th century.
 

The term ‘anthropology’ is derived from two Greek words: ἀνθωπος (anthrōpos) and λογος (logos). 

The norm is the idea central to the thought of Michel Foucault. It is the point from which he studies modern society. He distinguishes the norm from other forms of power.

Application of the Newmanian Criteriology on the Axiom Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus

There are many different spiritual pathways that were born in the Indian sub-continent: Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, for example, and others that came to India such as Christian and Muslim. Hindu spirituality which represents the spiritual quest of the vast majority of the people of India is rooted in the relentless and uninterrupted search of the seers from the Indian sub-continent.

This is a comprehensive and systematic course on the philosophy of David Hume – a prominent Scottish Enlightenment philosopher widely known for his influential system of philosophical empiricism, naturalism and scepticism. Based on his influential and extreme Empiricist ideas, Hume can be rightly considered as one of the most important philosophers of all time.

The aim is to explore some aspects of Christian-Muslim dialogue in Britain, against the climate of rising secularization of European societies and the changing dynamics of institutional religious channels in this context. It will also touch upon questions of faith, belonging and belief, after an in-depth analysis of the challenges secularism represents for inter-faith dialogue given the contemporary popularity of militant atheism.

The Gospel of Mark is distinctive within the New testament. It may be the oldest Gospel, but it post-dates some of Paul’s letters, from which we already have a good picture of the preaching of Peter and Paul. Mark paints Jesus in down to earth human form, willing to change his mind, vulnerable to the opinions of others, and especially those of the ones who opposed him.

The first thing to say is that the New Testament is the second half of the Christian Bible, and follows the Old Testament and what Protestants call the Apocrypha – mostly intertestamental writings which continue to speak of God’s grace and his care for his people, the people of Israel. The New Testament is about Jesus, a Jew from Israel, who lived and died and was brought back to life again by God.

Important issues in legal philosophy range from abstract conceptual questions about the nature of law and legal systems, to normative questions about the relationship between law and morality, politics and other norms as well as the justification of various legal institutions. Although this course will deal with conceptual themes of philosophy of law especially in the first section, the course generally focusses on the practical and readily applicable aspects of the field.

This course places the Epistles of John within their context in the New Testament with the Gospel of John. It invites you to think for yourself about the meaning of the texts, and the relationship between the Epistles and the Gospel.

Both traditions, classical Greek metaphysics and Trinitarian theology, link “being” with life, but Trinitarian theology deepens the connection by making “relation” essential to the “First Principle” in a way that ultimately produces something new, a Trinitarian ontology.

This course will enable you to explore his mind and to learn from Thomas Aquinas. The Dominican motto contemplata aliis tradere, which means contemplate and hand over to others is from Thomas, and this motto summarises the aims of the course.

The Hegelian philosophy presents itself as a system, a systematic knowledge. It is not the expression of a feeling or an intuition. Philosophy is a science, a knowledge. It's not a way of life like ancient philosophy...

SEM66 - Seminar in Theology

4th October - 29th November 2021

presented by David H. Pereyra

The aim of this course is to discuss the precepts, principles, and values of Catholic morality.

Students will be introduced to the methods known as Rhetorical Biblical Criticism and Theological Criticism of the Bible.