Our three-year study of Sacred Scripture begins in Form A. Students read the narrative portions of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua (with a brief look at Leviticus). This is a reading class that focuses on the successive covenants God makes in order to gather the human race, scattered by sin, back into one family. Reading skills and developing literacy are key points of emphasis.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form A

Students continue their study of the Old Testament begun in Form A. The history of Israel unfolds in the books of Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, and II Kings. Students also read from the prophets, especially Isaiah, as well as other narrative selections. This is a reading class that focuses on the developing understanding of kingdom in Israel. In addition to continued reading skill development, this class begins to place more emphasis on note-taking, outlining, and textual annotation. Students are also exposed to the way Scripture is read in the Church and to the monastic practice of lectio divina (prayerful reading of Scripture).

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form I

Our Form II students complete their study of Sacred Scripture by reading the Gospel of St. Luke and the Book of Acts. Jesus Christ is presented as the fulfillment of God’s saving plan for the human family in general and the prophecies of the Old Testament in particular. The Acts of the Apostles is considered “Part II” of the same narrative and is and a continuation of the work of Jesus, now carried on by the Church he founded. Time permitting, students will also read selections from the New Testament letters.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form II

Our Form III religion class introduces students to the beliefs of the Catholic Church on God, Faith, and Revelation, and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Most material is taught from primary sources, with a special emphasis on the writings of St. Anselm of Canterbury wherever appropriate. Students are challenged to analyze arguments, write critical responses, and generally pursue the Anselmian project of " fides quaerens intellectum" (faith seeking understanding) in the context of the ancient and apostolic faith of the Church.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form III

This course will help students understand that in and through the Church, we encounter the living Jesus Christ. The Church is both human and divine; the Church was instituted by Jesus Christ, was given to the Apostles, and is sustained by the Holy Spirit. The Church is not only a visible structure; the Church is made up of persons who make up the living Body of Christ. Then, in the Spring Semester, we will study the seven sacraments, which are real encounters with Christ. We will emphasize the importance of the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith.

Course Length: All Year
Registration Policy: Required for Form IV

This course presents foundational principles of Christian morality and a method of evaluating the good and evil of human acts. Emphasis is on the importance of Christian virtue expressed through the New Law of the Holy Spirit and the moral teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. The course will also give particular attention to human agency, freedom, knowledge, eternal law, natural law, divine law, moral absolutes, the role of one’s conscience, and Grace. Goals are to assist students in seeking to acquire Christian virtues and to recognize the ethical implications of decisions they make. The course will treat fundamental ethics, and two of the following areas: capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, cloning stem cell research, lying, just-war theory, and human sexuality.

Course Length: All Year

Registration Policy: Required for Form V

The course Modern Spiritual Masters examines the life and writings of a dozen persons who have made major contributions to spirituality in recent decades. Almost all of them were Christian (for example, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, and Henri Nouwen), and the one who was not (Mahatma Gandhi) was greatly influenced by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Selected texts from the writings of the twelve masters will be taken from the book Modern Spiritual Masters: Writings on Contemplation and Compassion, edited by Robert Ellsberg and published by Orbis Books. In addition to the reading and classroom discussion of these writings (with discussion being based on questions distributed in advance), there will also be lectures on the life and writings of these persons, the viewing of a number of documentary films, and the discussion of reflection papers written by the students on assigned topics.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Form VI

This course will explore the “monastic impulse” as it has developed within Christianity over the centuries. We will look at monastic parallels within the pre-Christian religions and their current manifestations. Of central importance will be a study of the birth of Christian monastic life in the 4^th century after the age of persecution, and of St. Benedict and his predecessors as monastic legislators. We will survey the development of Benedictine monastic life in its various branches from the 5^th century to the present and its cultural influence in Europe and around the world. The monastic roots of other more modern religious orders in the Catholic Church will be looked at along with the existence of monastic life within non-Catholic Christian churches. We will also discuss the basic elements of monastic spirituality and the growth of interest in it on the part of lay Christians in the contemporary world.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Form VI

This course will examine some major themes in Church history relating to the unity of the Church and major sources of division in the Christian community. We will look at the development of church institutions in the first three centuries, the Great Schism of East and West in the 11^th century, the Protestant Reformation, the age of the Enlightenment, effects of rationalism, and contemporary ecumenism in the post-Vatican II Church.

Course Length: 1 Semester

Registration Policy: Elective for Form VI

This course has two aspects. First, and primarily, it will enable you to become more familiar with some of the major world religions, above all with Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Protestant and Orthodox Christianity, and Islam. Second, we will examine ways in which Christians and members of other religious traditions have engaged in dialogue with one another. Some of what is learned will come through lectures and films, and some through your study of material in Huston Smith’s book The World’s Religions. There will probably also be one field trip.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Form VI

This course introduces the students to the key themes of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. This course will examine the philosophy of the human person and human sexuality in accord with man’s creation in the Image of God. This course will then look at man’s call to love through a total gift of self. This call to love goes to the core of what it means to be a human person; this is not only written on the soul, but is also written into our bodies. With this as our foundation, we will then look at particular themes such as freedom and person, male and female difference, the nature of chastity as virtue, consecrated life, and marriage and family.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Form VI

This course will apply ethical principles to issues that concern human life in its development from conception to natural end. Using the dignity of human life and its inviolability as its starting point, we will study the human person in his unified whole. Every human life is a gift, a “unity of body and soul . . . the subject of his own moral acts” (Veritatis Splendor, 48). With this as our foundation, we will then examine some issues such as: fertility care, abnormal pregnancies, contraception and sterilization, abortion, embryo adoption, stem cell research, brain death, organ transplantation, suicide, euthanasia, proportionate and disproportionate means, and end of life care.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective

This course will begin by considering just what is meant by “spirituality” and will then focus on main figures and movements in the history of Christian spirituality from the first century up until recent times, with readings from the works of such authors as St. Augustine, St. Bernard, Meister Eckhart, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Evelyn Underhill, and Thomas Merton.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective

This course will examine some of the philosophical questions that have arisen in the Western tradition concerning God and religion. Some of the issues to be explored include the relationship between philosophy and theology, the rational arguments for and against the existence of God with their philosophical presuppositions, the nature and attributes of God, and faith and evidence.

Course Length: 1 Semester
Registration Policy: Elective for Form VI

This course will begin with a consideration of different ways in which the relationship between science and religion has been understood by prominent scholars and will next consider two of the major controversies that occurred in the area of science and religion in the past (concerning Galileo and Darwin). We will then turn to some of the major topics in the field today, such as (1) current theories about the origin of our universe and their possible relevance for the doctrine of creation, (2) evolution and the doctrine of the human soul, (3) the projected long-term future of the universe and scriptural teachings about “a new heavens and a new earth,” (4) how the notion of God’s action in our world might best be understood, and (5) ecological issues. These topics will be treated through relevant readings, lectures, and films, along with classroom discussion of the students’ reflection papers.