THEO103 Liturgy: Principles and Practice

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit is foundational for understanding the nature and purpose of contemporary Roman Catholic liturgy. The unit introduces students to the liturgy documents of the Church, the languages of the liturgy and the theological and pastoral principles which govern liturgical celebration and religious assembly. It attends to structures and forms of the liturgy and requirements for effective liturgical celebration.

 

THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Incompatible THEO162 Introducing the Scriptures
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit is an introduction to the background, history, culture and narrative literature of Ancient Israel and first century Christianity. This unit will involve a study of selected biblical texts, such as Genesis, Exodus, the Gospel of Mark and extra biblical texts.

 

THEO119 Ministry Studies

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 3 hour per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit introduces students to pastoral studies within the context of the theory and practice of ministry in the Christian Churches. It investigates biblical and theological themes and historical and contemporary approaches to ministry and pastoral practice. It compares and contrasts ordained, lay and secular ministries. Finally, it provides the basic tools and resources from which criteria of effective pastoral practice are founded.

 

THEO122 Practical Theology as Social Criticism

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit focuses on Christian theology as a critical and practical discipline. It introduces students to the field of practical theology and provides them with a methodology for relating theology to the social sciences. The emphasis throughout is on the concrete concerns of responsible pastoral praxis for theological reflection.

 

THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Incompatible THEO163 Introducing Theology
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

In this unit, students will explore questions connected to the search for ultimate meaning, value and human identity in the context of the major religious and philosophical questions affecting the contemporary postmodern world. By developing a critical self-awareness in approaching religious and secular worldviews, students will be enabled to examine a number of core elements of Christian faith and Catholic tradition by employing the critical methods and resources of theology.

 

THEO144 Eastern Christian Churches: Histories and Traditions 

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent and distance and electronic modes as needed.

This unit will outline the history, theology and liturgy of the major Eastern Christian Churches. Attention will be given to the historical aspects of the Eastern Churches that have formed the current world situation. The unit will encourage a deeper appreciation of the Christian faith and an ecumenical approach to the situation of the Church in Australia today.

 

THEO149 The Church in History: Tradition and Change

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit presents an outline of the historical experience of the Church. It examines the formative events and personalities associated with the different epochs of Christian history. A critical survey of the social, political and cultural worlds that have affected the life of the Church will be a resource for further historical study of Christian faith in its various doctrinal, spiritual, artistic and social expressions.

 

THEO162 Introducing the Scriptures

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Incompatible THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible
Teaching Organisation 2 contact hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.  This may include lectures, seminars, student presentations, small group work, and other appropriate activities.

This unit engages students in an introductory exploration of the Bible within its historical and cultural contexts. It introduces students to the principles and processes of Catholic biblical interpretation and provides a foundation for understanding the Scriptures in the life of the Church.

 

THEO163 Introducing Theology 

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Incompatible THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 2 contact hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent. This may include lectures, seminars, student presentations, small group work and other appropriate activities.

In this unit students will be invited to reflect on the human search for meaning and purpose. Within that context they will examine some of the major beliefs of the Christian faith, particularly as those beliefs have been articulated in Catholic tradition.

 

THEO164 Introducing Church Life 

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 contact hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent. This may include lectures, seminars, student presentations, small group work, and other appropriate activities.

This unit provides a theological framework to develop a coherent understanding of the Catholic tradition in its communal, sacramental, liturgical and moral dimensions.

 

THEO200 Biblical Hebrew

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit involves a first study of Hebrew sounds, spelling and morphology.

 

THEO203 Contemporary Issues in Theological Ethics

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit is an exploration of particular aspects of Christian Theological Ethics related to personal and community responsibilities. Based on the Christian understanding of the human person as an ethical being, the unit is divided into two sections: the first part considers theological reasoning and stances in regard to traditional areas such as Social Justice and Social Ethics, Ethics in Sexuality and Relationships, and Health and Biomedical Ethics. The second part involves critical reflection on specific contemporary issues deriving from the fields explored in the first section. Interdisciplinarity and ecumenical dialogue will be a necessary context.

 

THEO204 The Christian Middle Ages: Creation and Reform

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit seeks to identify and study the events, institutions, personalities, intellectual and cultural-political elements which together created the world of the Christian Middle Ages. Special attention will be given to the emergence of those movements and ideas which also challenged the theological and cultural unity of Western Christianity, finally leading to the Reformation of the 16th century. It will give a certain emphasis to the patterns of renewal and decline which so characterise much of the religious institutional life of medieval Christendom.

 

THEO205 Jesus Christ Today 

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit examines the person and mission of Jesus Christ and the theological significance of his death and resurrection. It studies the biblical, patristic and historical developments that have contributed to the formulation of Christological doctrines and to the formation of Christology itself. It goes on to examine and compare classical and contemporary expressions of Christology and the spiritualities they inspire.

 

THEO208 New Testament Greek

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit involves a study of the basic morphology, syntax and vocabulary of New Testament Greek. Selected texts from the Gospels will be analysed in light of this study.

 

THEO214 The Pauline Literature

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit involves a study of the letters of Paul in their literary and historical contexts. It will examine the main elements of Pauline theology.

 

THEO215 The Synoptic Tradition 

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit is an introduction to the Synoptic Gospels. It focuses on the tradition of Jesus in the first three gospels through an exegetical study of selected Synoptic texts. Emphasis will be given to Matthew and Luke in examining the evangelists’ portrayals of Jesus in relation to their historical and cultural background.

 

THEO216 The Triune God 

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit investigates the doctrine of the Trinity and its relationship to faith and spirituality. It will be considered in its scriptural foundations and within the development of doctrine. Various theological approaches to the revealed mystery of God will be considered in the light of contemporary worldviews and interfaith dialogue.

 

THEO237 Foundations of Christian Ethics

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit introduces the student to the major questions, concepts and areas of debate in the field of Christian ethics in the Catholic tradition. It also explores methodological issues in theological ethics focusing on the Catholic tradition.

 

THEO241 The Church in Formation: Christianity to 800CE 

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit surveys the process which led to the development of Christianity from its beginnings as an outlawed sect in the Roman Empire into a confident and influential organisation with a sophisticated theology and a vital role in the shaping of history in Byzantine and Western cultures.

 

THEO242 Prayer and Spirituality in the Christian Tradition

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit introduces students to the tradition of Christian spirituality through the study of selected traditions, models, texts, charisms and ways of prayer. It considers how spiritual concerns and theological themes influence the types of prayers as they occur in early Christian, Medieval and Contemporary spiritual traditions.

 

THEO243 Christian Mysticism

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit will examine the tradition of Christian mysticism. It will situate mysticism within a broad religious framework and then study classic examples of mystics or mystical theologians from the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. It will treat such topics as contemplative prayer, apophatic and kataphatic knowing, discernment and deification.

 

THEO244 Church: Communion and Community

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit explores the history, nature, and mission of the Church. It is presented primarily as a communion of faith deriving from the Trinitarian communion, in a way that leads into the consideration of the Church’s institutional, sacramental and prophetic forms in history.

 

THEO246 Humanity, Hope and Salvation 

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit studies the mystery of human existence, especially in the light of Christian faith and hope. It invites theological reflection on the different ways of understanding humans and their influence on such themes as sin, salvation, death, resurrection and universal fulfilment. In this context the social and political forms of Christian hope and its liberating mission will be explored.

 

THEO248 Psalms and Wisdom Literature 

10 cp
Prerequisites THEO113 The World and Literature of the Bible and THEO128 God, Faith and the Search for Meaning
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

This unit involves a study of the literary, theological and historical characteristics of selected texts from the Psalms and Wisdom Literature.