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RELIGIOUS STUDIES 205 Seminar: Readings In The Theology of Radical Human Existence Professor: Charles DeCelles, Ph.D. COURSE OUTLINE CURRICULAR PURPOSE: The undergraduate curriculum at Marywood University is designed to help students live responsibly in an interdependent world. The course, Readings In The Theology of Radical Human Existence, contributes meaningfully to the fulfillment of this curricular purpose. The course deals preeminently with values: moral, religious and spiritual. It treats of topics such as the reality of God, faith and unbelief, the Holy Spirit and the miraculous, suffering, compassion, poverty and aging, death, heaven and hell, abortion, capital punishment, war, racism, the will of God and sin, prayer, sanctity and love, conscience and conscientious objection. It concerns itself with both the why and the how of responsible living. It focuses on the treatment of certain categories of persons in our interdependent world, e.g. the poor of the Third World, unborn children, the aged, convicted murderers, the dying, Blacks and members of racial minorities. Perhaps more than any other single course offered on the Marywood campus this seminar assists students to incorporate the focus, "Living responsibly in an interdependent world" into their personal lives. Not only does the course offer the students the opportunity to explore a wide range of religious values, it provides a fine opportunity for improving one's speaking skills, and for doing careful critical thinking on one's feet. For the course is designed as a discussion seminar in which students are graded on the basis of the quantity and quality of oral participation. COURSE PURPOSES: The purpose of this course is to explore through readings and discussions an extensive variety of religious topics of root human concern. The main hope is that the students will think through at least to some degree those issues which point to realities that undergird human existence, and which should be giving meaning to our lives. It is expected that the students will expand their horizons regarding a number of fundamental questions which they had perhaps little reflected upon prior to their taking of the course, or falsely assumed they had neatly packaged answers to. The readings assigned often represent varied and opposing perspectives, and the classroom exchanges bring forward opposite viewpoints. This does not result in ready conclusions, and the professor does not necessarily attempt to lead the students toward any. It is sufficient that they give serious thought to crucial issues, and formulate opinions regarding at least some of them. The course encourages students to confront meaningful questions and dialogue on them beyond the confines of the classroom. A secondary purpose of this course is to acquaint the students with several of the foremost American Catholic magazines and journals: periodicals which, although the students may not realize it, help or helped significantly to shape American Catholic thought and/or opinion. Most of the readings are taken from such periodicals. Rarely are they from truly current issues, but their thought content is meaningful today. Frequently the thought content is of timeless value. SPECIFIC COURSE OBJECTIVES By means of assigned readings and graded open discussions, the course aims to provide students with the following: 1. a skill in publically articulating and defending opinions and views on issues foundational to human existence; 2. an exposure to the meaning of faith and unbelief and evidence for the reality of God; 3. an acquaintance with certain issues of spirituality: the Holy Spirit, miracles, suffering, compassion, sanctity, love, prayer, and the will of God; 4. a familiarity with the ethical issues of conscience, sin, abortion, capital punishment, poverty, racism, war, and conscientious objection; 5. a knowledge of end of life issues, including aging, death, heaven and hell. SKILLS ADDRESSED Each course at Marywood must address at least three of nine officially recognized basic skills. This course, The Theology of Radical Human Existence, addresses the following: 1. Awareness of diversity issues. The course examines such issues as world hunger and racism. 2. Public speaking. This is a discussion seminar. Students are graded on the basis of the quantity and quality of oral class participation. 3. Critical thinking skills. Part of what constitutes quality participation in classroom discussion are statements that appeal forcibly to reason. 4. Understanding of religious, spiritual, and philosophical issues. The course addresses this skill first and foremost. It explores such topics as God, faith, unbelief, miracles, Holy Spirit, suffering, compassion, death, capital punishment, abortion, sanctity, love, sin, prayer, the will of God, heaven, hell, conscience and the ethics of war. INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS Extremely important in the lifelong process of accessing and integrating information in order to be able to articulate it effectively in either written or oral form is regular and continuous exposure to sound written materials. No literacy skill is more important than the habit of regularly reading printed materials generated by competent authorities. This course not only directs students to essentially sound written materials, and a small amount of unsound material for purposes of contrast, but requires the cultivation of the regular habit of reading, since specific required readings are assigned for each class period. The required readings are normally obtained at the library. The course also provides the setting, opportunity, and incentive to discuss and evaluate the ideas encountered, the principal incentive being a good grade for the course. It provides feedback from the professor and fellow students on the opinions expressed regarding the materials read, as well as on the soundness of the materials themselves. GRADING: There are no examinations or tests in this course of any type. Nor are papers or presentations required. There is, however, a grading procedure. Students are evaluated on the basis of the quantity and quality of their participation in classroom discussions. Quality is judged in terms of such things as clarity of thought, cogency of argumentation and familiarity with material read. Agreement or disagreement with the views of the instructor is of no consequence favorably or disfavorably in the determination of the student's grade. Hence, the student should feel completely free to express his or her mind. The professor will assign a grade for each topic discussed. In order that careful records might be kept, the students will be required to identify themselves before they speak. Generally two topics are approached in each three hour evening meeting. For this reason the three hour meetings are usually divided into two classes or class periods, the first being somewhat longer than the second. If a student is physically present in class but does not actively participate, he or she will be assigned a "D-" grade for that class period. Occasionally a student may elect to submit reflections in writing on a given discussion topic, in lieu of oral class participation. Such reflections must be turned in to the professor prior to the beginning of class discussion. Over the semester period, no student will be allowed to turn in reflections on more than eight topics. Students who have great difficulty sharing their views during class may share them privately or in a small group with the professor after class and be credited. A student who is absent from a class will be assigned an "F" grade for that discussion period. Such an "F" will be lifted and a new grade assigned, if the student submits reflections on the reading materials for that class. He or she must submit these reflections by the next meeting attended. By arrangement, the reflections may be submitted at a later date. A student who submits reflections for a discussion class he or she missed will be graded more strictly than one who submits reflections for a class attended. In either case, however, an "A" grade is possible. For someone who attended class, the ideal reflection paper length is 410 words for the evening's first topic and 380 for the second topic. The longer ideal length applies if an evening has only one topic listed. For someone who missed class but hopes to attain the highest possible grade, the ideal minimum length is 550 words for the first topic and 530 words for the second. Although private discussions with the professor and reflection papers are approved and permitted, they are not encouraged due to the nature of the course. The case where a person has unavoidably missed class and wishes to share ideas in writing would be an exception. Obviously, such a person would be encouraged to offer something in writing. At the end of the course, the three worse grades which the student has earned will be wiped away, including "F"s earned for nonattendance. In the case of students who are ill, or who otherwise miss numerous classes for valid reasons, arrangements may be made to submit reports on assigned readings, even after the semester has concluded. The student must, however, go through the proper channels and be awarded an "I" grade for the course. The "I" grade will hold until such time as the deficiencies are cleared away. No student who has signed all the vouchers, indicating that he or she has read all the required readings, and who has not missed more than a total of two evenings, excluding the first, will receive a grade of less than "C-" for the semester, regardless of the average he or she has compiled, unless there is clear evidence of dishonesty being involved in the signing. To receive this "guaranteed C-", however, every single voucher without exception must be signed, even vouchers for reading materials assigned for days the student has missed class. All the vouchers must be signed within four days of the last class, that is, the Friday of the week in which the last class falls. No student should expect to receive either an A or B grade, regardless of how well and how often he or she speaks in class, if it is not obvious that he or she fulfills the assigned readings. USE OF LIBRARY: The course has no textbooks in the ordinary sense: no books to be studied, memorized or purchased. There are only readings. Most of these are magazine articles. A few are chapters of books. All are kept on reserve in the library. Ideally the materials will be found both in the original periodical or book and in a photographic copy. Some of the items have been scanned and are available through Marywood's electronic library reserves on the web. For the convenience of those students who do not reside on campus or in the vicinity of the school and are not frequent visitors to the campus, permission has been obtained from the various publishers of the reading materials to duplicate the readings and lend them out to the students as necessary with no cost to the students other than a nominal fee to cover printing and permissions. These students obtain their reading materials from the professor. The availability of these materials will depend in part on how responsible previous users were to returning them after they were used. ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance records will be kept. Students are expected to attend all classes. Cuts amounting to twice the number of hours the group meets per week - six academic hours altogether - will be deemed excessive. Abuses may be reported to the appropriate administrator. The grade you will earn in this course will be based both on the quality and the quantity of your participation in class discussions. Since absenteeism inevitably diminishes the quantity of a student's participation, it will naturally enter as a factor in the determination of your grade. SIGNING A VOUCHER: No effort will be made to test students on the reading material assigned. Nevertheless, to insure productive use of class time, each student will be asked to sign a voucher just prior to the beginning of the class discussion indicating that he or she has completed the assignment for the day. Students may sign the vouchers at later times. VIDEO/MOVIE: The students are not required or expected to listen to/view audio-visual materials in advance of the classes. These nonreading materials will be clearly marked as such on the calendar of events that follows. We will view or listen to these items together as a group. PLAN YOUR READINGS The articles for a typical week should probably take the average student about four to five hours to read. This includes moments to pause and reflect. The articles for some weeks, however, such as March 14, when we discuss sin and racism, may take some students in excess of five hours to complete. It is up to each student to plan his or her schedule accordingly, by trying to estimate a couple weeks ahead the likely amount of time needed. On average, ideally, a student should put in one and one half hours of work per week for each semester credit. SNOW OR EMERGENCY CANCELLATION: In the event of a cancellation, abide by the course sequence of topics, rather than by the calendar dates. May 2, the exam day, might then be used as a make-up day. This is unlikely but possible because there is no examination in this course. SPECIAL SERVICES: A student with a disability may request an "adjustment" in meeting the requirements" of a class. Such a person is asked to contact Mr. Christopher Moy, Director of Disability Services, L.A.C. 201, Ext. 2549. Ideally, he would have been contacted prior to the beginning of the class. E-mail address: decelles@es.marywood.edu Office hours to be posted each semester Office Location: Liberal Arts Center, Room, 120W. Phone: Ext. 2305 EACH SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. For more information contact: leombruni@es.marywood.edu

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Last update September 21, 2005
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