Theology Department
The classes in this department attempt to help all students recognize, discuss, and fulfill their spiritual and religious needs. Through an orderly progression of material, the department addresses both cognitive and affective religious education objectives and outcomes which are developmentally appropriate to the lives of its students. Therefore, all students are required to attend these classes in order to understand better and live out their own traditions and their personally developing faith.
Theology I: Introduction to Sacred Scripture
Students will read selected sections of the Hebrew Bible. Among Christians, the Bible is normative for the study of theology for worship and for daily living. A presentation of the context in which the Bible was written (i.e. the historical background, the literary styles of writing, and the cultural patterns) will help the students to understand the meaning of the passages. Thus, all students will be able to use this process for their own study, prayer, and application to contemporary situations.
Theology II: Christology, Church and Sacraments
A contemporary theological view of Christ, the Jesus of history and of faith, is presented. Using a careful blend of sacred scripture, history, tradition, and human development, Christian students will be offered the opportunity to engage in a commitment to Christ; non-Christian students will be exposed to the Jesus of history with the opportunity to understand Christian beliefs. Through a study of the Christian Community of faith from the time of Jesus to the present, students will be exposed to the origins, development and traditions of the Church; they will examine how this vision of the Christian Community is reflected in the post-Vatican II sacramental life of the Church.
Theology III: The Making of Moral Decisions
The junior religious education program explores the process of making a moral decision. By investigating theological, moral and ethical principles, along with issues of human development, the students are encouraged to confront global, national and personal socio-moral dilemmas. An application of this process is used to understand the making of moral decisions in the context of human relationships. Issues of human sexuality and marriage are explored, especially in light of the current teaching of the Catholic Church, in order for students to deal with present cultural influences.
Theology IV: Jesuit Education Capstone
St. Ignatius Loyola believed that without appropriate reflection, it is possible to live through a significant experience — such as one’s high school years — and miss its meaning. Prep’s Catholic and Jesuit tradition tells us that human beings are meant for more than meaningless experience. This course is a sustained intellectual and spiritual reflection on your experience of your years at Scranton Prep. Through study of the Catholic worldview, the Jesuit imagination and the aims of Jesuit education, and the Jesuit School Network’s “Profile of the Graduate at Graduation,” we will lay a foundation upon which you will build an understanding of what your Scranton Prep experience has meant — and how it might influence your life in college and beyond, with special attention to questions of justice and the common good.
