This introductory course explores a contemporary approach to a theology of marriage and family from a Roman Catholic perspective. It provides an opportunity for students to study Catholic teaching and to discuss disputed questions. Students will write and present a 10 page paper that entails a dialogue between Church teaching and contemporary research on marriage and family. A brief sketch of the course follows: 1. The Sacramental Crisis (cultural and ecclesial) and Methodological Considerations (psychological, essentialist, and existentialist) 2. Sacramental Considerations (elements, ritual, definition, eucharist as basic sacrament, marriage as basic sacrament) 3. Philosophical, Psychological, and Sociological Considerations (Existentialism, Family as Developing System, family and social institutions) 4. Contemporary Hierarchical Magisterium (1950’s to present: sacrament of marriage, family as domestic church, sexuality, birth control) 5. Biblical and Theological Tradition (historical overview) 6. Toward a Lay-Centered Spirituality (models of spirituality, marriage and family as creative act, intimacy, facing the crisis) 7. Select Disputed Questions (examples: cohabitation, divorce, remarriage, faith and love) NOTE: This course satisfies one semester of the College Theology requirement.

This course will examine the competing notions of martyrdom which have risen in Western religious traditions. Ranging from ancient to modern times, course readings, films and speakers will try to establish the difference between religious martyrs and ethno-martyrs, and to examine their inter-relationship. Principal religious traditions to be examined will include Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Grade determined through class participation, mid-term and semester-end research papers. This course satisfies one semester of the College Theology requirement.

Catholicism has a history in Japan longer than the United States has been a nation. Beginning with the arrival of St. Fr ancis Xavier in 1549, Catholicism has shaped Japanese culture in subtle but profound ways. This course seeks to enrich our understanding of Japanese culture by challenging stereotypes of Japanese culture as either “non-religious” (materialistic) or “not-our-religious” (Buddhist, Confucian, etc). Simultaneously, it challenges Eurocentric views that reduce Catholicism to an expression of Western culture. This course will emphasize the Catholic experience in modern Japan (defined as from 1868 to the present). Available English language sources focus on the postwar period (1945-present), and especially the writings of three important Catholic Japanese novelists. Readings in the past have included works by Endo Shusaku (whose manuscripts are housed in GU’s library) such as Silence and A Life of Jesus. Silence is a historical novel that looks at the period of Catholicism’s arrival in Japan in the mid 16th century, the horrific martyrdoms that occurred, and the struggle of faith for Japanese at that time. A Life of Jesus is Endo’s imaginative reconstruction of the life of Jesus through his own self-consciously, Japanese sensibilities. We also have read fictional works like The Sting of Death, by Shimao Toshio (1917-1986) and No Reason for Murder by Sono Ayako (1922-1999). Background readings, including Pope John Paul II’s Ecclesia in Asia, commentaries on the novels, and even films present a broader picture of the experience of the Catholic faith in modern Japan. Take a course at Georgetown that will introduce you to the culture that St. Francis Xavier struggled within his latter years! Course and readings are in English. No previous study of Japan or Catholicism is required or presumed. This course satisfies one semester of the College Theology requirement.

An introduction to meditation as religious practice through textual exploration of a variety of forms of yoga within the Hindu tradition and comparative theological study of Christian texts on meditation and prayer mostly from the Catholic tradition. Note: This course counts for one semester of the College Theology requirement.

The premise of this course is that the tradition of Catholic social teaching stands on the verge of an important new development in its approach to war and peace -- but one that has yet to be worked out. "Catholic peacemaking," as it may be called, does not fit easily into traditional debates about war. Its focus is not on how to respond to discrete acts of injustice, but on how to help societies to seek the emerging opportunity of peace when it presents itself by seizing the moment and building on lessons learned from the destructive legacies of a violent past. What does the Catholic tradition have to say about actual acts of human destructiveness and about building a just order? What role do forgiveness and apology play? What role can the Church play? What relevance does this role have for politics? The course is unusual in giving students the opportunity to develop, not merely to study, a topic. Catholic approaches will be explored through theology, Christian history, case studies, and biography. Note: This course counts for a semester of the College Theology requirement.

Students will consider whether the traditional understanding of Christian art as fundamentally visual pedagogy, i.e. a fusion of narrative art and visual symbols working in unison to teach the faith, is in fact the full picture of Christian art. During this course through lectures, museum visits, and field trips, we will consider “the politics of Christian art,” that is the transformations and symbological evolutions that result from new styles of governance or society, i.e., the imaging of Christ as Emperor following the declarations of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Imperium; or from the promulgation of official Church doctrines, i.e., the evolution of the Virgin Mary from simple maiden into the Theotokos as a result of the decrees of the Council of Ephesus. This new style of “reading” Christian art will provide insights not only in the visual culture of Christianity but of the interconnections between art, culture, politics, and religion throughout the history of western Christianity. Course lectures/discussions will begin with a consideration of the symbological values present in Simone Martini’s innovative depiction of The Annunciation. Class lectures and discussions will concentrate on “the politics of Christian art” through a chronological survey of Christian art from the 2nd/3rd-century catacombs and sarcophagi in Rome to the 5th/6th-century mosaics in Ravenna to Medieval manuscripts and cathedral architecture to such Florentine Renaissance masterpieces as Donatello’s sculptures of David and Judith, Michelangelo’s sculptures for the Medici Chapel Tombs. Special sessions will be devoted to Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes. A comparative study of Cristofano Allori’s, Caravaggio’s, and Artemisia Gentileschi’s paintings on the theme of Judith and Holofernes, and Donatello’s, Michelangelo’s and Bernini’s sculptures of David will provide points of discussion for the evolution of images in Christian art and culture. Final class sessions will be given over to Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s triumphant vision of Roman Catholicism in the Vatican, Rembrandt’s biblical paintings and prints, and the 20th-century debate over “Christian art.” COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Students are required to attend class sessions at which attendance will be taken in accordance with university policy.. Grades for this course will be based upon an "average" of the exam grades discussions, and attendance. Students may enroll in this course for their Humanities & Writing II requirement. All students are required to submit a series of 3-to-5 page “position” papers as assigned by the professor by 11 October. These position papers will develop into a 10-to-15-page research rationale/methodology for the theme of this course—the interdisciplinary study of Christian art—plus an annotated bibliography. The abstract, outline, and preliminary bibliography for the “researched rationale/methodology” will be due no later than 15 October. Final papers are on the first day of the exam period.

During the senior year students taking the Catholic Studies Minor will enroll in this capstone course. Each student will choose from a list of titles a classic text from the Catholic tradition. The student will work with this and related texts under the direction of a tutor drawn from faculty members interested in Catholic Studies. Much of the semester's work will be done individually and independently. However, at certain times during the semester students doing this work will gather to describe to each other what they had been reading individually and to reexamine through discussion some of the topics which they had considered in their previous Catholic Studies courses. The program's Director will chair these discussion sessions. The semester will conclude with each student writing an extended essay on his or her chosen subject. Note: Permission of Catholic Studies director (djm2@georgetown.edu) required to enroll.