Core Curriculum Guide: Knowledge Areas
Theological and Religious Studies Knowledge
Learning Outcome: Demonstrate an understanding of theological and religious questions and traditions.
This area of study promotes critical thinking and informed reflection on theology and religion. Students ought to develop familiarity with the basic content of, and modes of scholarly inquiry into, selected theological and religious systems, including forms of religious ethics, and to develop productive intellectual attitudes to guide them in their search.
Competencies: By way of example, Loyola graduates should be able to:
- Analyze and interpret religious texts, beliefs, and practices using standard scholarly methods and tools.
- Demonstrate knowledge, with attention to historical development, of the central texts, beliefs, ethical understandings, and practices of at least one religious tradition.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the intersections between religion and selected contemporary issues, including ethics, social, political, economic, or cultural issues.
- Evaluate one's own religious perspective and the religious perspectives of others.
- Demonstrate knowledge of central ethical teachings and perspectives of a religious tradition.
Theological and Religious Studies Knowledge Courses
| Ancient Greek Religion | CLST 371 |
| This course examines the beliefs and practices in ancient Greek religion by studying the written, artistic and archaeological evidence for their forms and functions and the environment in which they flourished. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of ancient Greek religion. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Religion and Society | SOCL 245 |
| This course examines how religion and society interact. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of how individual behavior, organizations, and society as a whole are affected by religious ideas and institutions, and how religion is itself changed by its encounter with changing social circumstances. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking communication (written) (oral) |
| Introduction to Theology | THEO 100 |
| This course is an introduction to reflection on and analysis of the Christian theological tradition. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the tasks of Christian theology in its efforts to understand the human situation from the perspective of faith, various challenges to theology in the contemporary world, and will focus on one or more current theological issues. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| The Theology of Faith | THEO 101 |
| This course studies multiple dimensions of religious belief as a phenomenon. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the nature, grounds, and implications of Christian faith as a particular form of belief, and consider this phenomenon in light of questions posed in a variety of eras about the meaning and credibility of religious belief. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Jesus Christ | THEO 104 |
| This course examines the life of Jesus Christ, utilizing the Gospels, the writings of Paul and other biblical authors, the early ecumenical councils, and the history of church doctrine, including contemporary scholarship. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ as both human and divine, what this might mean, how this formulation was derived, and the varieties of understanding of Christ within the Scriptures, the church, and modern scholarship. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| The Church and the World | THEO 105 |
| This course provides an introduction to ways in which the Christian churches, and primarily the Roman Catholic Church, understand and enact their identity in relation to the secular world of culture, economics, and politics, both nationally and globally. Outcome: Students will be able to analyze and interpret contrasting Christian understandings of the notion of original sin, and demonstrate knowledge, with attention to historical development, of the central texts, beliefs, ethical understandings, and practices of at least one religious tradition. |
Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Theology of Sacraments | THEO 106 |
| This course studies the realities of Christian faith life as expressed and celebrated in the concrete rituals of the Christian communities. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate how a sacramental system of aesthetics is often embedded in cultural artifacts such as poetry, music, painting, literature, and film, and recognize and interpret the impact of history and cultures on the development of Christian doctrine and practices. |
Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to the Bible | THEO 110 |
| This course provides an overview of the Bible, and examines the contents and major theological themes that have shaped the religious traditions of Christianity. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of of central texts, beliefs, ethical understanding, and practices of Christianity, insofar as the Bible is universally acknowledged to be the foundational religious text of Christianity. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking communication (written) (oral) |
| Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures | THEO 111 |
| This course provides an introduction to the Old Testament / Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures). Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of of central texts, beliefs, ethical understanding, and practices of Judaism and Christianity. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to the New Testament | THEO 112 |
| This course is an introduction to the historical and theological reading of the various documents of early Christianity known as the New Testament. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the various literary genres found in the New Testament and explain why the recognition of genre is essential to the interpretation of the New Testament, as well as the importance of how the New Testament documents have reached their present form. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to the Qur'an | THEO 114 |
| This course provides an introduction to the central Islamic scripture, the Qur’an. This course will consider the Qur’an as a basis for the theological and ethical teachings for Muslims, as well as a source of literary inspiration. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the main Islamic scripture, the Qur’an, and its influence on Muslim beliefs, ethical understandings, and social and religious practices. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Theology and Interdisciplinary Studies: Human Rights in Latin America | THEO 157 |
| This courses engages students in both scholarly study and personal reflection on issues related to social responsibility, global citizenship, and personal calling to civic engagement and leadership in advocacy for human rights at both local and global levels. | View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to the Study of Religion | THEO 170 |
| This course is an introduction to the contemporary field of religious studies. focusing on both the theoretical investigations of religious traditions, as well as on the study of selected religious texts and practices (such as creation stories, sacred biographies, sacred scriptures of a religious tradition(s) rituals, ritual taboos, religiously motivated behaviors. Outcome: Students will be able to analyze and interpret various ways in which religious traditions intersect with contemporary issues, such plural and conflicting ethical behaviors, the creation of social roles and organizations, the impact of religious perspectives on the political and economic order, and the mutual influence of religion, culture and language. |
Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Great Christian Thinkers | THEO 171 |
| This course studies the ideas and contributions of a select group of writers, thinkers, artists, and activists, all of whom have been significantly shaped by their encounter with Christianity, and have, in turn, created lasting testimonies of significant cultural value because of that encounter. Outcome: Students will be able to assess how various configurations of a religious worldview can both expand and foreshorten the way human thinking has gone on. |
Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to Classical Judaism | THEO 172 |
| This course provides an introduction to Classical Judaism. Outcome: Students will be able to name and discuss some of the most important Jewish scriptures, articulate the general outline of the historical evolution of Classical Judaism, and define and discuss key concepts,terms, values, and religious practices foundational to Classical Judaism. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| The Orthodox Christian Tradition | THEO 173 |
| This course provides an introduction to Orthodox Christianity. Outcome: Students will be able to name and discuss some of the most important Orthodox Christian scriptures, articulate the general outline of the historical evolution of the Orthodox Christian Tradition, and define and discuss concepts,terms, values, and religious practices foundational to Orthodox Christianity. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Religion in America | THEO 174 |
| This course provides an introduction to religion in the United States of America and explores the impact of the American culture upon very diverse religious traditions and religious movements as well as the contributions of various faith traditions to the American culture. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the numerous religions practiced in the United States of America, as well as the American context and the ways "world" religions have adapted to this context. Students will also be able to demonstrate understanding of the relationship between religion and politics and culture in the contemporary U.S. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Contemporary Protestantism | THEO 175 |
| This course provides an introduction to contemporary Protestantism. Outcome: Students will be able to articulate the general outline of the historical evolution of the Protestant tradition, including key individuals, transitions, and points of controversy, and define and discuss key Protestant concepts, ideals, and values, as well as Protestant debates about these. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| African American Religious Experience | THEO 176 |
| This course is an introduction to the study of African American religious traditions. Specifically, this course will examine, the religious experiences of the African-American community as modeled and expressed by several of its most prophetic leaders. Outcome: Students who take this course will be able to analyze and interpret the lives, beliefs and practices which are shaping the development of African-American religious traditions. They will be able to demonstrate knowledge of the historical development of these religious traditions, as well as knowledge of the intersections between the religious experiences of the African American communities and various social, political, economic, cultural and ethical issues. |
Skill Area: critical thinking |
| World Religions | THEO 177 |
| This course will provide introduction to major world religions. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of at least four important world religions, including at least one Western (Abrahamic) and one Eastern (Indian or Chinese) tradition. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking communication (written) (oral) |
| Women and Religion | THEO 178 |
| This course will study the role of women in at least one (if not more) of the major world religious traditions. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the influence of religion on gender roles, and how women in the contemporary world are reinterpreting their religious traditions. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Roman Catholicism | THEO 179 |
| This course provides an introduction to Roman Catholicism. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the most important Roman Catholic beliefs, the historical evolution of Roman Catholicism, the key Roman Catholic concepts, terms, values, and religious practices, and the main lines of current Roman Catholic debates about its identity in today's world. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Theology & Interdisciplinary Study | THEO 180 |
| There are two guiding features of course: a) that it present knowledge from the field of theological and/or religious studies focused on a topic of importance to an undergraduate student body; b) that in the consideration of this topic it take an interdisciplinary approach. Outcome: The student who successfully completes this course will be able to demonstrate knowledge about religion and its intersections with selected contemporary ethical, social, political, economic, or cultural issues. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Christianity through the Ages | THEO 181 |
| The course is a survey course in the history of Christian thought. Not a course in Church history, this is a course whose primary goal is to investigate the major interactions between Christian thought and practice and the cultures that it has been a part of in its two thousand year history. Outcome: Students will learn to analyze and interpret religious texts, beliefs and practices using standard scholarly methods and tools. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Moral Problems: Medical Issues | THEO 182 |
| This course offers both an exploration into U.S. healthcare and medical issues, especially as they relate to racial/ethnic and socio-economic disparities. It also offers an introduction to methods in ethics. In particular, the problem of U.S. healthcare quality and access disparities serves as a primary case study which provides practice in the steps of moral deliberation and the incorporation of various ethical theories that are possible to use. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of ethical comprehension, analysis, and decision-making within the context of select theological and religious traditions. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking ethical awareness |
| Moral Problems: War and Peace | THEO 183 |
| This course provides an introduction to theological and religious ethics through attention to ethical issues regarding war and peace. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of ethical comprehension, analysis, and decision-making within the context of select theological and religious traditions. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking ethical awareness |
| Moral Problems: Ecology | THEO 184 |
| This course provides an introduction to theological and religious ethics through attention to ethical issues regarding ecology. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of ethical comprehension, analysis, and decision-making within the context of select theological and religious traditions. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking ethical awareness |
| Moral Problems | THEO 192 |
| This variable topics course provides an introduction to theological and religious ethics through attention to a select number of moral problems. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of ethical comprehension, analysis, and decision-making within the context of select theological and religious traditions. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking ethical awareness |
| Christian Marriage | THEO 193 |
| This course examines the Christian understanding of marriage Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of ethical principles used to evaluate particular issues relevant to the understanding of the Christian tradition of marriage, such as, homologous in vitro fertilization, artificial birth control, indirect abortion (pregnant woman seeking treatment for cancer), etc. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to Islam | THEO 195 |
| This course will provide an introduction to Islam. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the most important Muslim scriptures, the general outline of the historical evolution of Islam, the key Islamic concepts, terms, values, and religious practices, and the diversity within Islam in terms of sectarian, regional, and historical developments. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to Hinduism | THEO 196 |
| This course provides an introduction to Hinduism. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the most important Hindu scriptures, the general outline of the historical evolution of Hinduism, the key Hindu concepts,terms, values, and religious practices, and the basic narratives and imagery associated with some of the most important Hindu deities. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Introduction to Buddhism | THEO 197 |
| This course provides an introduction to Buddhism. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the most important Buddhist scriptures, the general outline of the historical evolution of Buddhism, including its different major branches, and the key Buddhist concepts,terms, values, and religious practices. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Jews and Judaism in the Modern World | THEO 198 |
| This course examines the reshaping of Judaism in response to the challenges of modernity, focusing primarily on one hundred and fifty years of European Jewish history, from the mid-eighteenth century to the turn of the twentieth century, in order to study the foundations of religious, intellectual, and social trends characteristic of modern Judaism. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of of the central texts, beliefs, ethical understandings, and practices of Modern, as distinct from Classical, Judaism. In particular, students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the nature of "modernity" and Jewish responses to it, the changes that Judaism underwent in the Modern period, and some of the most important individuals and ideas of Modern Judaism. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| Religions of Asia | THEO 199 |
| This course provides an introduction to Asian religious traditions. Outcome: Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the central texts, beliefs, ethical understandings, and practices of at least three Asian religions. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |
| South Asian Literatures and Civilizations | THEO 291/ENGL 292 |
| This course offers an introduction to South Asian literatures and civilizations, spanning from what we know of the earliest peoples to contemporary times. Attention is given to both unity and diversity across the South Asian sub-continent. Topics addressed include religious thought and practice, literature, civilizational origins and development, the establishment of social institutions, artistic achievements, and modern challenges. Outcome: The proposed course will fulfill two of the designated Core learning outcomes: literary knowledge and experience, and theological and religious studies knowledge. |
View syllabus Skill Area: critical thinking |