RST 404 - Catholic Creation Theology

This course traces the historical tradition of Catholic Christianity’s theology of creation, rooted in early biblical sources, particularly the Books of Genesis, Job and the Psalms; illuminated in new Testament texts, particularly Johannine and Pauline writings; explicated and refined by the Patristic teachers; metaphysically elaborated in the Scholastic masters; and flowering in a rich medieval Christian cosmology. It will also investigate the contraction and eclipse of this affirmative celebration of the mysteries of The Trinity and Incarnation in subsequent centuries, beginning with the Black Death; in response to the Protestant Reformation; the challenges of the Enlightenment; the emergence of a secular and scientific-technological global culture – all of which contributed to the disorientation and dislocation of Christian theology and practice. Finally, and in light of the crises of the natural world, the inquiry will engage the resurgence of renewed creation consciousness and ethic of care within the Catholic community, both “from below” in popular women’s and environmental spiritualities and movements, and “from above” in academic theological and magisterial developments.
Lecture
Credits: 3
Offered in the Spring Semester