St. Peter's
Seminary

 

FUNDAMENTAL MORAL THEOLOGY 5132B (RS 2238G, Section 570)

A. COURSE DESCRIPTION

An exploration of the fundamental concepts of the Catholic moral tradition: the scriptural, historical and conciliar foundations, conversion and discipleship, the role of the Magisterium, natural law and the law of Christ, conscience, the moral act, sin and virtue.

B. GOALS

This course will assist student in developing the following goals of knowledge, skills and attitude:

KNOWLEDGE
~ to gain a deeper understanding of the basic concepts encountered in Catholic Moral Theology.
~ to gain a better grasp of the philosophical and historical background of the natural law tradition.

SKILLS
~ to recognize how Catholic moral theology is relevant to the various contemporary issues.
~ to learn to discuss and examine ethical issues from a Catholic moral perspective.

ATTITUDES
~ to develop an appreciation of the influences of faith and reason on current Catholic moral thinking.
~ to appreciate the various ways of approaching moral theology from a Catholic perspective.

C. ASSESSMENT

"Ethics in the News" Assignment/Presentation	10%
Midterm Exam (Oral)	25%
Essay (25%) and Presentation (10%)	35%
Final Examination	30%

D. READINGS/TEXT

To be announced.

E. COURSE STRUCTURE (tentative) 

January 7/8 INTRODUCTION	Course Outline Essay Assignment Jesus: Centre of Moral Theology	Recent 'History of Catholic Moral Theology Old and New Testament Morality "Ethics in the News" Model
January 14/15 HISTORY	Major 'schools" of Ethics	Major 'schools' of Moral Theology 2 Article Presentations
January 21/22 ANTHROPOLOGY	Philosophical Anthropology	A Christian Anthropology 2 Article Presentations
January 28/29 CONVERSION	5 Essay Presentations	Sin and Conversion
February 4/5 CONVERSION Continued	Lonergan's Types of Conversion Judgment of Reason	Religious View on Conscience 2 Article Presentations
February 11/12	Midterm (Oral) Sign up required.	Midterm (Oral) Sign up required.
February 18/19	BREAK WEEK	BREAK WEEK
February 25/26	Natural Law	Divine Law 2 Article Presentations
March 4/5 VIRTUE	Cardinal Virtues	Theological Virtues
March 11/12 COMMUNITY	5 Essay Presentations	The Church Magisterium 2 Article Presentations
MARCH 18/19 COMMUNITY Continued	Community Influence on Ethics Common Good	Communion of Saints 2 Article Presentations
MARCH 25/26 PRINCIPLES	The Moral Act	Veritatis Splendor: Martyrdom 2 Article Presentations
APRIL 1/2	5 Essay Presentations	Deus Caritas Est: Love 2 Article Presentations
APRIL 8/9 PRINCIPLES Continued	Principles from the Tradition of Moral Theology	Conclusion

 Final Examination will be scheduled in the April Examination period.

F. University Regulations

Students are responsible for knowing the University's academic policies and regulations and any particularities of their own course of study. These can all be found at the University's website (http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/handbook/appeals/scholoff.pdf). Ignorance of these policies is not an excuse for any violation thereof. The following policies are particularly important to note:

Submission of Assignments: It is the responsibility of the student to organize his or her work so that the assignments are completed on time. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment will be deducted for each day it is overdue without permission.

Plagiarism: Students must write their essays and assignments in their own words. Whenever students take an idea or a passage from another author, they must acknowledge their debt by quotation marks and/or footnotes. Plagiarism is a major academic offense.

Selection and Registration of Courses: Students are responsible for ensuring that their selection of courses is appropriate and accurately recorded, that all prerequisite course(s) have been successfully completed, and that they are aware of any anti-requisite course(s) that they have taken. As per senate policy: “Unless you have either the requisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.”