Welcome to Fundamental Theology
SUBJECT OVERVIEW
TEACHER: Fr Matthew Bloomer
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
‘In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature … The obedience of faith is to be given to God who reveals, an obedience by which man commits his whole self freely to God, offering the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals, and freely assenting to the truth revealed by Him.’ (Dei Verbum, 2, 5)
Building on the subjects Philosophy of Religion and Introduction to Theology, Fundamental Theology is a foundation for the study of dogmatic theology. It is an in-depth study of Revelation and Faith, examining the relationship between reason and faith, by which we adhere to Revelation by which God makes Himself known and shows us the ultimate meaning of reality. We will study the relationship between Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Church’s Magisterium, concluding with an analysis of the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum. The second part of the course takes a more apologetic and anthropological approach to the question of belief, looking at the nature of religion, non-Christian religions, agnosticism and atheism, and the possibility of attaining religious truth. We will then look at the credibility of Revelation and whether the Catholic faith can be considered reasonable. We will look at ‘motives of credibility’, particularly with reference to Jesus Christ and the Church.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this course students should be able to
- Appreciate the possibility and value of religious truth
- Explain the relationship between Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium
- Identify and explain the key ideas of the Constitution Dei Verbum
- Dialogue with Catholics, Protestants and non-believers to explain the nature of faith and its reasonableness
- Distinguish faith from superstition and identify practical examples
- Demonstrate some ways that faith can illuminate our life and culture.
PROGRAM
The course will cover the following topics:
Part 1: Revelation and Faith
- Introduction
- Divine Revelation and its Contents
- The Transmission of Revelation in the Church
- Theological Reflection on the Nature of Revelation
- The Christian Faith
Part 2: Credibility
- General Notions
- Religion from the Perspective of Fundamental Theology
- Signs and the Credibility of Revelation
- Christ and the Church, Signs of Revelation
- Grace, Reason and Freedom in Christian Faith
The full program is available here VIEW
Class notes are available HERE
Excerpts of Magisterial documents to be covered in class:
Dei Verbum | VIEW
Dei Filius | VIEW
ASSESSMENT
TBA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Essential Reading
Ocariz, Fernando, and Blanco, Arturo, Fundamental Theology, Midwest Theological Forum, Downers Grove, 2011.
Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on Revelation, Dei Verbum, 1965. VIEW
Vatican Council I, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, 1870. VIEW
John Paul II, Enc. Fides et Ratio, 1998. VIEW
Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 50-100 and 142-184. VIEW
Further Reading
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church, Dominus Iesus, 6.8.2000. VIEW
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Mysterium Ecclesiae, 24.6.1973, nn. 1-5. VIEW
International Theological Commission, The Interpretation of Dogma, October 1989. VIEW
International Theological Commission, Christianity and the World Religions, 1997. VIEW
Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science, ed. G. Tanzella-Nitti. VIEW
Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 1-10. VIEW
Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica II-II, qq. 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 171-174 and 176-178. VIEW
Escriva, Josemaria, Christ Is Passing By, nn. 127-138 and 175-178. VIEW
Escriva, Josemaria, Friends of God, nn. 23-38, 160-174, 225-229 and 258-273. VIEW
Escriva, Josemaria, Conversations, nn. 1-23; 58-62, 73-79 and 113-123. VIEW