MA Christian Theology (Catholic Studies) (V8K607)

For further information contact the Postgraduate Admissions Secretary or see the Postgraduate Handbook

Dr Paul Murray — Conceiving Change in Contemporary Catholicism

‘This world is so filled with God that it gives God to us’ Karl Rahner
‘Tradition is memory, and memory enriches experience. If we remembered nothing it would be impossible to advance’ Yves CongarThis module will take as its starting point the recognition of there being significant areas of stress and strain within contemporary Roman Catholic ecclesiology and practice. The integrating concern of the module is to examine, project and test how Catholicism might appropriately negotiate such issues both with responsible integrity and with receptive, expansive, creative imagination.

The first phase of the module will examine the fundamental conceptual theological issues pertaining to the task of conceiving and managing change within Catholicism. This will entail an exploration of the diverse ways of conceptualising the development of doctrine in Catholic thought. Also significant here will be an examination of the notion of the Catholicity of the Church in a global-plural world. Following this, critical attention will be given to the diverse approaches that can be taken to the ecclesiological task and to the diverse extant strategies in ecumenical theology.
‘Freedom is a system based on courage’ Charles PeguyAll of this will in turn require a critical-constructive exploration of the theory and practice of ecclesial discernment and decision making within Catholicism.

The second phase of the module will take the form of a series of particular critical-constructive examinations of the possible development of Roman Catholic practice in some specific regard. These will be selected on the basis of student interest.

Taken together the two phases of the module will introduce, exemplify and test a particular way of doing ecumenical theology within contemporary Catholic theology.

Dr Marcus Pound — Twentieth Century Catholic Theologians

‘The age of the proof is in decline, it is the hour of ‘witness’ that is coming’ Henri de LubacThe astonishing influence of French post-war Ressourcement theology continues to be felt both inside and outside Catholicism, from the driving reforms of Vatican II, to the politically charged work of the Radical Orthodoxy movement.
‘Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is’ Hans von BalthasarThis module addresses the historical situation which gave rise to it, and introduces a number of the key theologians associated with it such as Maurice Blondel, Henri de Lubac, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Yves Congar, and Karl Rahner.

Students will also be introduced to a number of key theological concerns addressed by these authors: is theology (and in particular that of Thomas Aquinas) an exercise in deductive reasoning from divinely revealed truths, or about faith and existential commitment? Where does the primacy of Catholicism lie? In its authority or its sacramental and spiritual ways? And what are the sources of theology? For example, what role do patristic and medieval modes of figurative, typological and spiritual exegesis have alongside today’s biblical historicism.

Professor Gerard Loughlin — Christian Gender

‘God enjoys that he is our Mother, and God enjoys that he is our true Spouse’ Julian of NorwichThis module is about the Christian construction of sex and gender, both divine and human, and the relationships between them.
‘Woman has no mirror wherewith to become woman. Having a God and becoming one’s gender go hand in hand’ Luce IrigarayIt introduces students to the work of Thomas Laqueur, Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, and their theories about the social making of sex and gender as cultural identities and ‘performativities’. It will consider the Christian tradition of ‘sacred eroticism’ that, from medieval commentaries on the Song of Songs to the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, privileged erotic discourse in the pursuit of God. It will also consider how this celibate tradition has given way to an obsession with marriage and procreation that was unknown before the modern period. Background reading: Queer Theology: Rethinking the Western Body, edited by Gerard Loughlin (Blackwell 2007).

Dr Chris Insole — Principles of Theological Ethics

This module is an introduction to the advanced study of theological ethics. It will address the principles of theological ethics in two senses.

First of all, it investigates how explicitly religious ethical positions turn on deep doctrinal and philosophical issues: doctrinal issues such as the interpretation of scripture, creation, Christology, Trinitarian theology, ecclesiology and eschatology; and philosophical issues such as the nature of truth, metaphysics, epistemology and hermeneutics. Secondly, it explores the extent to which any ethical system is quasi-theological, in that it makes fundamental claims about reality and our purpose within it.

These conceptual issues will be explored through reading key historical thinkers, such as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Butler, Kant, Kierkegaard, Barth and von Balthasar. This approach will situate recent discussions of virtue, narrative and post-secular ethics within the context of a tradition of Christian reflection. The module will also trace the deep undercurrents at work in the contemporary interest surrounding religion and public reason, for example, in debates between thinkers such as Rawls, Habermas and Pope Benedict.