Chapter 11: 2025-2026 JST-SCU Faculty Course Offerings

Below is a sample of courses offered by Jesuit School of Theology faculty this year.

CE-2056: FUNDAMENTAL MORAL THEOLOGY

This Course explores the relevant sources, traditions, categories, dynamics, and methods of Catholic theological ethics. Subjects include love, fundamental option, and goodness; freedom, conscience, and sin; moral agency, reason, and experience; moral acts, moral truth, and moral rightness; law, natural law, and virtue; Scripture, moral discernment, and decision-making; and the magisterial teaching authority in moral matters; and principles. The Course a) presents the sources and traditions of theo-ethical reflection, b) reviews developments in the Catholic tradition and the contexts out of which grew the need for revision and nuance; and c) examines contemporary cases to identify, apply, and assess the methods of moral reasoning.

CE-4017: CHRISTIAN ETHICS: MAJOR FIGURES

This course explores Christian ethics from the perspective of major figures that have shaped the field: historically, contextually, and in the contemporary period. It considers the thought, context, and reception of historical and contemporary figures; and engages in critical analysis and evaluation of their influence, for both foundational approaches and applied topics or issues.

CE-4800: AFRICAN THEOLOGICAL ETHICS

The Course will critically examine the contribution of African theologies and ethics to global Christianity. Using the cultural hermeneutical method, it will start by assessing the work of evangelization in the colonial period and its implications on Christianity in Africa. Then it will investigate a veritable African theological discourse and the ethical values that are critically recognized and assumed by this discourse. The Course will cover the fundamental sources of African Christian theologies; inculturation, its meaning, definitions, challenges and applications; the question of Liberation theology in Africa; various approaches and challenges to doing theology in Africa.

CEFT-2107: CONFESSIONAL CELEBRATIONAL RITES AND PRACTICE

This course will examine the Roman Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation from its historical, theological, moral, pastoral, liturgical and canonical perspectives. It is designed for those who will preside at the Sacrament of Reconciliation as presbyters. The emphasis will be an ongoing practicum on reconciliation rites and practices, utilizing role-playing of a variety of confessional cases and issues. The course will also involve an in-depth discussion of moral, liturgical and pastoral theology as it is related to the Sacrament. Attention will be paid to pastoral care in a variety of different contexts of sacramental confession, as well as related pastoral, moral and canonical issues which often surface in the celebration of the Rite of Reconciliation.

CEPR-4125: SUFFERING, HUMAN FLOURISHING, AND ETHICS

This course is an introduction to the meaning and role of suffering in relation to the question of human flourishing and the work of ethics. It is especially designed for STL and STD students seeking intersectional reflection in pastoral theology and theological ethics. It will consider (a) various theological approaches to the question of human suffering in dialogue with questions of human agency, flourishing or happiness, sin and redemption, and pursuit of the good; (b) social suffering, oppression, and liberation; (c) suffering in relation to health, animal ethics, and ecological ethics.

HMLS-4160: PREACHING/PRESIDING IN SPANISH

Students, teachers, and preachers working with and among Latino communities often find themselves with the challenge of having to translate theological concepts learned in English into Spanish. The fact remains, however, that working in another language requires not only mastery of a certain vocabulary but also an invitation to enter into other social and theological worlds. This seminar provides the opportunity for participants to write and preach homilies in Spanish, with the option of presiding at liturgies in the same. In order to learn to do this, the students will explore the culture and language in relation to the ethnicity of the assembly they serve; increase their awareness of the resources available for this distinctive preaching; acquire a basic knowledge of at least one helpful model for preaching in this unique situation; and practice preaching (and possibly presiding) that is linguistically and culturally congruent with Hispanic or mixed assemblies.

LSST-4181: INCULTURATION AND LITURGY

Inculturation is a work of justice and liberation by which Christian communities grow into the richness of their mature identity. Vatican Council II and subsequent church documents underscore the importance of etho-cultural and racial diversity to the life of the church. Inculturation, and specifically liturgical inculturation, releases that potential, creating a wholeness and integrity – a true “catholicity” – within the people of God. Course readings and visual resources draw on emergent theologies from around the globe, key church documents, and narratives of communities engaged in inculturated worship. Focus given to issues of globalization, justice, popular religion, women, as well as community resilience and sustainability, Discussion/reading will explore Asian, African, Latin American, Asian American, Latino, and African American perspectives and practices.

NT-3513: PAUL IN CONTEXT

This foundation course (a combination of lecture and seminar discussion) provides a historical and theological introduction to Pauline literature. The course locates Paul and Pauline literature in their ancient historical, cultural, and political contexts—within Second Temple Judaism, within the emerging Christian movement, and within the broader Roman Mediterranean—and attends to the development of Pauline texts and thought over time. Beyond ancient contexts, we engage long histories of Pauline reception and explore varied critical and theological approaches to reading Paul today. Students will study primary texts and practice a wide range of interpretive methods. They will also read selected Pauline scholarship.

NT-5003: NEW TESTAMENT RESEARCH METHODS: HEBREWS

This seminar explores the Epistle to the Hebrews as a rich site for investigating the complex relationships between emerging Jesus-believing communities and the diverse expressions of Second Temple and Hellenistic Judaism. Through close engagement with the Greek text, we will examine key theological and sociocultural themes—law, priesthood, cosmology, and community—as they resonate within both early Christian and Jewish contexts, including early rabbinic developments. Students will employ a range of advanced NT research methods—including historical-critical, literary, intertextual, and socio-rhetorical approaches—to analyze the text of Hebrews within its broader historical and religious landscape.

OT-2095: METHODS: PENTATEUCH & HISTORIES

A socio-historical and literary survey of the Pentateuch and Histories with attention to the effects of culture upon both the composition and reception of these writings in faith communities. The course provides a foundation in critical methodologies and in the theory and practice of exegesis. In addition, we will wrestle with pastoral dimensions of our study - i.e. what is the relationship of these biblical criticisms to the kinds of interpretations made of the Bible in pastoral places outside the academy; what kinds of ethical, social, and ideological impact does the Bible and its interpretation have in our world?

OT-4901: BOOK OF DANIEL: APOCALYPSE AMIDST EMPIRE

The Book of Daniel is considered part of the prophetic corpus in Christian tradition and part of the Writings in Jewish tradition. It has been considered in scholarship, moreover, as a sapiential and apocalyptic text. This course considers the Book of Daniel from this variety of perspectives, paying attention to its literary and theological themes, and in particular themes around empire and colonialism. The course is conducted as a seminar, with each meeting centered around a close reading of one chapter of Daniel. Primary and secondary readings are in English, but there will be an optional Hebrew/Aramaic reading group for students with facility in these languages.

OT-5141: LITERARY CRITICISM AND THE OLD TESTAMENT

A survey of the history of literary criticism and an overview of modern literary theory itself, with special attention to its various systems and approaches. An examination of methods for biblical study that have been developed with reference to these literary approaches. An examination of how these methods are applied in the criticism of actual biblical texts.

RAHS-2604: CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY

This course is co-taught by Kate Barush and Christopher Renz. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the "language" of Christian symbols and metaphors, especially those that are most essential to the liturgical life of the Church. Students will learn how the early Church understood and used principles from Greek, Roman, and Byzatine culture to create symbols that convey the multifacited dimension of salvation. The use of sacred geometry in art and architecture helped to create a Christian "imagination" that permeated both liturgical and domestic life. These principles will be engaged with contemporary ideas on Catholic worship and culture.

RAHS-3821: ART AND PILGRIMAGE

Geoffrey Chaucer famously wrote that 'folks long to go on pilgrimage.' Indeed, traveling over long distances to a sacred destination is an important ritual practice that has crossed cultures and time. Such journeys have inspired legends, folk-stories, and artistic representations from the early Christian centuries to today. Using a cross-disciplinary approach, this course surveys the relationship of art, material culture, and Christian pilgrimage practice through a close examination of major shrines and their dedications and decorations, paintings, pilgrimage badges and other souvenirs, films, and surrogate sites of pilgrimage such as maps, labyrinths, and manuscripts. We will address the literal and metaphorical meanings of pilgrimage and the conjunction of artistic practice and contemplative prayer.

RS-2092: CULTURE, CONTEXT AND LIVED RELIGION

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the much-discussed (but less often understood) concept of culture and its implications for theological study and pastoral ministry today. After attending to more theoretical concerns, we will investigate the manner in which a nuanced construal of culture is essential for better understanding such things as secularization, religious change, and the salience of religiosity in shaping people’s perceptions, identities and strategies of action. By attending to these (and other) topics, students should acquire the theoretical and methodological tools necessary for becoming more sophisticated observers of religion as it is actually lived out as well as for deepening their studies in theology and ministry.

RS-3161: RELIGION AND CAPITALISM

The purpose of this course is to assist students in thinking through the complicated relationship between religion and capitalism today. Inasmuch as these seemingly monolithic terms – religion and capitalism – actually refer to tremendously variegated phenomena, this course will be exploratory in nature and privilege the scholarly as well as the theological and pastoral implications of our study. Key areas of discussion will include: capitalism within religion, capitalism as religion, religion contra capitalism, and capitalism and religion.

SPHS-2100: IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA: FROM PILGRIM TO COMPANION

This course will trace the life of Ignatius from a solitary pilgrim to companion with others in mission in an apostolic body. After reading a selection of early biographies about him, we will study the ongoing expression of his spirituality in his letters and the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. The course aims to be mystagogical in nature, introducing the students into the spiritual dynamics present in the texts, challenging us to make a similar journey from pilgrim to companion and collaborator with others in a synodal Church.

SPPR-2500: CONTEMPLATIVE ECOLOGY

There is a rich tradition in the United States of writing on nature that functions by inviting one into a deeper, contemplative stance of experiencing and relating to the natural world of which we are a part. While some of these authors (Thomas Merton, Denise Levertov) are explicitly and self-professedly Christian, others are not (Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson). Yet even in some of the latter cases, there often is evidence that, minimally, a “biblical imagination” inspires their writing—just as great Christian mystics through the ages had a profoundly biblical imagination, which shaped how they prayed and how they taught. There is, thus, a rich opportunity in the United States for a “contemplative ecology” that is ecumenical, even reaching out to agnostics or the “spiritual but not religious,” while also carrying themes and rhetorical tropes with roots going back to the desert monasticism of late antiquity, and beyond that to the Bible itself. This course is intended as an initial exploration of this terrain. It aims to be integrative in nature, covering works in theology and Christian spirituality, but also from the genres of nature-writing, poetry and film. Besides the authors mentioned above, we will also consider indigenous wisdom, using Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. The course concludes with a close reading of sections of Laudato si’ and Querida Amazonia, enriched by the consideration of resources unearthed earlier in the course, in order to explore a distinctively American, but also Christian, way of receiving and implementing Pope Francis’s vision.

SPST-2550: SPIRITUALITY OF THE EARTH

This course explores a spirituality that asks: What can we learn from the Earth? How can we pray with the Earth? And how can we take co-responsibility with the earth for all her inhabitants? The course assumes that the Earth is a source of spiritual and theological reflection; that the natural world, her biodiversity and ecosystemic interdependence, are sources of learning how to live a holistic spirituality in light of the world and the Gospel. The course will explore issues of water, food, and climate, and will integrate eco-feminist and eco-womanist perspectives. Through critical readings, class discussion, film and first-hand exploration and experimentation, students will be able to articulate and practice an Earth-honoring faith that is ecologically truthful, sacramentally expansive, and ethically responsible.