THEOL 337 - Theology and the Environment

Credits: (3)
Theological thought about the environment is rooted in basic Christian theological claims about God’s ordering of the cosmos, and has particular contemporary urgency in an age when disruption of environmental patterns poses large-scale, long-term dangers for life. This course develops the theological understanding of the significance of the created order, placing the Catholic vision of the human person within this order, and applies this understanding through the ethical analysis of contemporary problems, encouraging a life of discipleship. Particular themes include the experience of beauty in developing a mature spirituality, the notion of solidarity in the context of environmental justice, and the injustice of structural sin. The course pays particular attention to primary texts of scripture and tradition, and to contemporary sources.