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God, Ethics, and Science

THEO 310/311

God, Ethics, and Science

Description and Objectives

God, Ethics, and Science is a full-year class for juniors. The class is about our call to happiness, rooted in human nature. It is about the beauty of the virtuous life. The class will describe how such a life has been supported by great thinkers of the West and the Church’s teachings.

This class will be doctrinal and personal. The twofold aim of the class is to learn the basics of moral Catholic teaching while growing in friendship with Our Lord.

Textbooks

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

God: the Science, the Evidence, Bollore and Bonnassies

Gorgias, Plato

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Second Edition)

Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love, Edward Sri

Course Requirements

The quarter grades are a combination of tests, class participation, and some oral recitations. The semester and final exam are both cumulative. On the first day of each quarter, the students will have the dates of the exams and the dates by which they should memorize prayers/recitations assigned for that quarter.

Students are expected to come prepared to each class with their texts, having carefully read the appropriate material from the assigned texts. They should be prepared for a brief reading quiz. Students who are thus prepared will be better able to contribute to class discussions. Students should also count on taking careful and thoughtful notes, not all of which will be written down on the board in class.

General Topics Covered

  1. Our Common End: Happiness
  2. Evidence for the Existence of God
  3. The Existence of God and Morality
  4. Natural Law and Human Freedom
  5. Moral Conscience
  6. Human Acts
  7. The Moral Act
  8. Virtue and Vice
  9. Grace
  10. The Commandments
  11. The Sacrament of Marriage
  12. The Beatitudes

Successful Students

In addition to tending to nightly work and reading, students should strive to take part in class discussions as much as possible. Taking part in the group discussion will be easier for those students who attend to the class lecture and notes portion of each lesson with humble, critical thinking. Those who are having difficulty should come find their teacher at any time to discuss the class.