THEO205Biblical Greek
3 credits
The course helps students learn New Testament Greek by teaching them the necessary linguistic foundations. The gradual approach aims to teach a translation method allowing to understand biblical texts. Based on Bible texts, the course covers the Greek alphabet and its distinctive features (diphthongs, accents), the cases in the Greek language (nominative, vocative, genitive, dative, and accusative), the article, nouns, prepositions, adjectives, and pronouns, along with verbs and verb tenses.
Objectives
The objectives of the course include:
- to familiarize students with the Greek text of the New Testament.
- to teach students how to read a biblical text.
- to acquire a basic vocabulary for translating a New Testament text.
- to be able to understand Greek syntax.
THEO202Biblical Hebrew
3 credits
The aim of this course is to help students in their second year of theology (undergraduate studies) to read, translate, and parse texts from the Hebrew Bible in preparation for biblical exegesis. The course is based on the study of Hebrew grammar (morphology and syntax) using selected full texts from the Bible.
In the first level, Hebrew I, grammar is limited to morphology and noun properties, whereas in the second level, Hebrew II, grammar focuses on verbs. Practical exercises are given in class to deepen the students’ grammatical knowledge and enrich their vocabulary.
THEO452Bioethics
2 credits
Life technologies have revolutionized our personal and social lives. These advances concern all living beings, but this course focuses on human health, reproduction, genetics, life, and death, addressing some lingering questions: Is what is possible desirable? How can we agree on the ethical choices to be made and actions to be undertaken? Does science not run the risk of reducing human beings to objects?
This course aims to analyze the stakes and consequences of these advances for mankind, promote interdisciplinary research, and explore the main ethical issues raised by medical practice, striving to illustrate theory with practical examples. Philosophical and theological reflection is required to avoid basing behavior on purely scientific factors or on any specific circumstances. The course analyzes the position of the Catholic Church, which appreciates and encourages biomedical research when it aims to prevent and cure disease, alleviate suffering, and promote human well-being, and which is not blind to the dramatic complexity of painful human situations.
THEO365Canon Law I: Norms and The Individual
THEO420Canon Law II: Persons
2 credits
Under the title “persons” (323-583), the Canon Law II course covers three categories of Christian believers: the clergy (323-398), laypeople (410-583), and hermits and other monks and members of institutes of consecrated life (410-583). It begins by discussing the legal status of each of these three categories to better understand their rights and duties. The aim of this course is to study the organization of relations at administrative and pastoral levels, and to understand monastic organizations and their relations with the Church hierarchy, particularly with relation to caring for the souls of the faithful.
To serve this objective, this course presents new perspectives for better cooperation among the three categories of Christian believers for the greater good of the Church.
THEO435Catholic Letters
1 credits
After a general introduction on Catholic letters and their introduction into Church canon, this course tackles the eight Catholic letters, presenting for each of them the author, recipients, place and date of writing, and literary affinity with other biblical and non-biblical writings. Special emphasis is placed on their individual doctrinal and theological significance.
The course uses a pragmatic, communication-based approach to study a few selected texts.
Far from merely passing this course with a good grade, the aim is to introduce students to biblical hermeneutics by proposing a “pragmatic” approach to exegesis, allowing for a new perception of reality, and appealing to their moral action.
THEO431Christian Anthropology
3 credits
Christian archeology is a multi-disciplinary science, the aim of which is to discover and study buried monuments and treasures related to the Christian faith, and which can be divided into places of worship (such as baptisteries, churches, monasteries, cemeteries, or catacombs), liturgical objects or instruments (tools, vestments, furniture, minor arts), and their restoration and preservation for future generations (museology).
It requires knowledge of scriptural sources (paleography and epigraphy) and familiarity with the various visual religious representations in the fields of architecture, painting (iconography and sacred images), sculpture (such as ceramics, marble, and alabaster), metallurgy (such as mints), and various
Instrumentum Domesticum from the early Christian era to the contemporary world.
This global vision of Christian archeology encompasses the main traditions (habits and customs) and rituals of Western and Eastern Christians. The course aims to take a closer look at the various monumental and minor artefacts found in the excavations of various Christian places of worship and used in liturgical celebrations and daily life.
THEO232Christology
3 credits
Christology is the core and foundation of the Christian dogma. It presents, develops and explains the fundamental profession of Christian faith: "Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior." It is the principle of the whole Christian theology, and the short word of faith.
The course is based on four main movements. The first is devoted to listening to the Word of God, the standard and basis of all Christological thoughts. After a brief introduction on historical research on Jesus, we will explore the original experience of the New Testament communities, seeking to present their testimony on Christ following its chronological and thematic development. The second movement follows the development of faith in Jesus in the living Tradition of the Church, through the thought of the Fathers and the most important dogmatic decisions of the ecumenical councils. The third movement deals with contemporary Christology developed through a surprising variety of Christological movements which express, each in its own way, the present status of faith and the main place occupied by Christ in the life of Christians and every human being. Finally, in the fourth movement, Christology is reflected through soteriology which shows that personal communion with Jesus through faith achieves the aspiration of people for salvation and deification.
THEO360Eastern Churches and Oecumenism
THEO425Eastern Mysticism Spirituality
THEO231Ecclesiology
3 credits | Pre-requisite: THEO 220
This course is an introduction to Catholic ecclesiology found in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, particularly in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, its ultimate expression and the fundamental source of renewing the concept of Church in fidelity to the Bible and to Tradition. After a brief biblical introduction of the word "Church", we will first explore the Trinitarian foundation of the Church where the latter proves to be at the same time the People of God, Body of Christ and Temple of the Holy Spirit. In the second part, we will discuss the four Church attributes as mentioned in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, namely unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity. We will conclude by studying the Church's relationship with the world, from the perspective of the expansion of the reign of God in Jesus Christ. The theme of the Christian presence in Lebanon and the Middle East will also be highlighted.
THEO432Eschatology
2 credits
Eschatology now occupies a central place in theology. Even theology itself has become eschatological. Christian eschatology, writes Rahner, is “the doctrine of man as a being open to the absolute future, to God himself”, with the essential precision that what is at stake is “the future of man in all his dimensions”, both “as a unique, irreducible individual” (individual eschatology) and “as a member of a community” (collective eschatology). It is clear, as Laubier notes, that “eschatology is a question for everyone”, even though it has become, in Balthasar’s words, “the cornerstone of theology” since theology itself has become eschatological. This is why Barth went so far as to assert that “A Christianity that is not wholly eschatology and nothing but eschatology has absolutely nothing to do with Christ”. For Barth, “eschatology is a fundamental dimension for a correct understanding of the Christian mystery”.
Nevertheless, as Birmelé points out, eschatology must be cautious, aware of its limitations, coherent, and at the same time imbued with a sense of pastoral concern.
Students are encouraged to explore different areas of eschatology through a systematic approach based on theological phenomenology. This working method involves questioning the truth of our hope, a truth grounded in the mystery of the Holy Trinity’s eternal love, which – according to Balthasar – “is so made in its very essence that its night, in the excess of its light, can only be glorified by adoration”.
THEO451Family Ethics, Sexuality, and Marriage
3 credits
In the light of the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, especially numbers 47-52 dedicated to the “nobility of marriage and the family”, the Catholic Church pays particular attention to the reality and challenges of marriage and the family. This is evidenced by Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968) and John Paul II’s series of Wednesday catechesis and his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio 1981), as well as by the various documents of the Pontifical Council for the Family on issues proper to married and family life, the two Synods of Bishops (2014-2015) and Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (2016). All these events bear witness to the interest and concern shown by the Church in its mission with families. The pastoral character of these events is well highlighted by Pope Francis, who – while not neglecting the need to always announce the truth about marriage and the family – emphasizes the need to understand reality, to be open to difficult situations, and to abstain from easy, hasty judgments.
This long-term pastoral process is “difficult and complex”, yet necessary to help families walk with the Church amid their difficulties and conflicts.
This course is divided into three parts: marital ethics, sexual ethics, and family ethics, reflecting this pastoral approach with a view to raising awareness of the reality and the pastoral task before us.
THEO251Fundamental Moral Theology
3 credits
This Fundamental Moral Theology course deals with the Christian action in a rational process, while relying on the Holy Scripture, and placing Tradition, Magisterium and human sciences within a contemporary situation scenario. The course will particularly address: Biblical perspectives of moral theology, its creative evolution and fundamental principles, such as freedom, responsibility, will, the good and the bad in the act, conscience, law, sin, conversion, salvation and revelation, theological and human virtues, bliss as the end of all Christian actions. Following a careful reading of the Veritatis Splendor encyclical and the document of the International Theological Commission on the natural law, we will present some new perspectives for moral thoughts, illustrated and enlightened by two concrete examples.
THEO220Fundamental Theology
3 credits
This introduction to theological study examines the foundations of Christianism, divine revelation, and faith.
The course starts by explaining what theology is per se. Following a historical overview, it defines the nature, methods, purpose, and scope of reflection of theology, describing the various theological disciplines and focusing particularly on fundamental and dogmatic theology.
Next, the course emphasizes Revelation, faith, the study of the main theological concepts, including God’s Word, the living Tradition, and Church Magisterium, among others.
THEO273History of Antique Church
THEO373History of the Church in the Middle Ages
2 credits
The Middle Ages lie between antiquity and modern times, spanning almost a thousand years. During this long period, the Church sought to unite the various peoples emerging in the West to form a united Europe. Enjoying a dynamic and youthful period with the Merovingians, its missionary activity was costly but fruitful.
The Church helped the Carolingians restore the Holy Roman Empire and create a “state” populated by Christians only to suffer the ravages of feudalism and the
Reichkirche system between the 9th and 11th centuries, before liberating itself with the Gregorian Reform.
THEO473History of the Modern and Contemporary Church
2 credits
This course is an essay, or rather an attempt or historical approach to examining a prosperous and critical era of Church history, namely the modern time, spanning the 16th to the 20th century. This approach to a period that undeniably shaped the current structure of the Church is grounded in scientific, thematic, and sometimes event-based prospects.
The study of modern and contemporary history is full of lessons and experiences and remains a necessary tool today to understand the present in the context of the past and build a future based on solid experience or, to put it differently, on a collective historical consciousness.
THEO230 Human and Theological Virtues
2 credits
Today’s world is dominated by individualism and relativism, which lead human beings to seek their own personal good independently of the common good, thus alienating them from their fundamental vocation to love. It is therefore urgent to rediscover the teaching of virtue to ensure the proper development of the human conscience. This essential education enables students to distinguish between the real good associated with the realization of their call to love, and the love that translates into good. This course in fundamental moral theology aims to respond to this urgent need. Starting from the definition of virtue as “a habitual and firm disposition to discern and do good”, it strives to highlight the importance of these virtues, according to their nature and dynamics, for the realization of this fundamental human vocation to love. While explaining the difference and complementarity between theological virtues and human virtues, the course suggests ways of acquiring them and allowing them to guide daily human action.
THEO355Introduction to Sacramental Theology and Liturgy
3 credits
Following the Second Vatican Council and the Sacrosanctum Concilium constitution, this course explores the meaning of liturgy as the prayer of Christ and of the Church, with a view to understanding its inner significance to better live it or bring it to life. It focuses on the ritual and symbolic language of the liturgy to grasp its importance and its repercussions on our life experience.
The course also draws on the history of the liturgy, particularly in the early centuries and the Church Fathers’ period, as well as on the roots of liturgy in the living tradition of the Church. Starting with the liturgical movement, it helps understand the focal issues of the Vatican II reform.
By tackling some of today’s more sensitive notions, such as the relationship with the sacred, the relationship with liturgical norms, or even the place of different cultures, the course delves deeper into how liturgy sanctifies time on a daily, weekly, and yearly basis.
THEO213Introduction to the Bible
3 credits
The main objective of this course is to learn about the events constituting the history of salvation in their respective context (geographical, social, historical, religious…), to discover how this history reached us orally and in writing, and to understand why it was set in a definitive canon.
THEO422Islam
2 credits
This course provides theology students with a general knowledge of the other main religion in Lebanon. Focusing first on Islamic religious books, including the Quran, Quranic interpretations, and the life of the prophet Mohammad (Seerah), it moves on to analysis based on recent scientific studies on the emergence of Islam and the revelation of the Quran.
The objective is to offer students basic and accurate information on Islam to support a scientific and accurate Christian-Muslim dialogue.
THEO312Johannine Corpus
3 credits
This course is an introduction to the Johannine corpus, with particular emphasis on the 4th Gospel. It focuses on the texts as such, as well as on the various contexts in which they were written. To illustrate these testimonies of faith, the excerpts studied are placed in the historical context of their development and analyzed using the narrative and rhetorical strategies employed by the authors of a body of literature that is both communal and personal.
THEO336Patrology of the Eastern Churches
3 credits
A return to the roots: to a certain extent, this expression summarizes the content of this course, which acts as an introduction to the thinking and theology of Eastern Church Fathers between the 1st and 8th century. The lectures focus on key fathers of the Church, using texts as documentation.
THEO337Patrology of the Western Church
THEO411Pauline Corpus
3 credits
After an introduction dedicated to methodological issues, the aim of the course is to bring to light the sources, originality, coherence, and possible evolutions of Paul’s thought within the framework of his Letters.
THEO211Pentateuch and Historical Books
3 credits | Pre-requisite: THEO 202 - THEO 210
This course examines the main themes of the Pentateuch and the historical books, drawing on other cultures (epic Mesopotamian poems) and disciplines (history and archeology). The texts are studied based on the narrative approach using the close reading method and the historical-critical approach.
The course aims, among others, to explain the various traditions found in the Pentateuch and historical books (the JEPD theory) and provide the tools needed to study any biblical text using the previously mentioned methods.
THEO305Priesthood, Penance, and Anointing of the Sick
3 credits
In the past, the faithful preferred to call the anointing of the sick “extreme unction”, as this sacrament was only administered to the dying. Practices have since evolved and another, more pastoral and lenient practice is now preferred by administering this sacrament to the sick and the elderly before they are on their death bed.
Today, in response to the pastoral needs of an ever-increasing number of sick people in our contemporary society, believers genuinely expect the Church to provide them with the grace of relief, attention, comfort, and moral and spiritual support in their illness.
However, the fact that anointing is no longer associated with the imminence of death has opened the way for new pastoral challenges, as some ask whether anointing is still related to death or whether it would be more appropriate to present it as a sacrament for illness in general, rather than for mortal illness. What is at stake eschatologically in this anointing? What is the true place of the body in the practice of this anointing? What is the place of grace and healing? The anointing of the sick remains a theological knot for the 21st century.
For this and many other reasons, this course begins with an analysis of the New Testament foundation for the practice of anointing the sick in the early Church, especially based on the Letter of Saint James (5: 14-15ff). This Scripture-based approach is then followed by a study of the history of the anointing process, both in the East and in the West. Students discover how theologians have interpreted Church praxis to understand its meaning. Concluding with an essential look at the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI, this approach allows for a fresh look at the meaning given by the Church to the “dehumanizing” aspects within the Body of Christ, namely sickness, suffering, and evil.
THEO412Psalms and Wisdom Scriptures
3 credits
Biblical wisdom is the art of knowing how to live and act in accordance with God’s will. It is born of reflection on the great problems of life and asks divine revelation about them. The course studies selected texts from the Psalms and wisdom books, with a view to gaining an understanding of this wisdom.
Intended as a primary aid to the critical study of biblical wisdom, this course seeks to identify its essential characteristics and highlight its fundamental biblical themes.
THEO225Sacrament I: Baptism, Confirmation and Communion
THEO436Sacraments III: Penance and Anointing of the Sick
THEO351Social Ethics
3 credits
The field of social ethics encompasses all aspects of relations between members of the same society and between different societies. As a broad branch of moral theology, it covers a wide range of themes: How should we act, as believers, in the various sectors of social life? What moral values should we adopt to guide our behavior, reactions, and initiatives, among others, in society? How should we behave when faced with several alternatives? Which choice best reflects God’s will, as expressed in Sacred Scripture and tradition? The dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God, human rights, work as the key to the social issue, the universal destination of goods, the environment, the economy, peace (and wars in its various forms), politics (authority, the common good, democracy, the role of the State, its responsibilities and limits), and the place of the family in the social doctrine of the Church, among others.
The approach adopted is to reflect on man’s existence in society in the light of faith and ecclesial tradition, with a view to examining their conformity or divergence with the Gospel’s teaching on man.
The value of this course lies in the fact that it enables future priests to develop a pastoral strategy, providing guidelines for Christian behavior.
THEO212Synoptics and Acts of the Apostles
3 credits | Pre-requisite: THEO 201 - THEO 210
This course covers the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, noting that the latter is the first volume of a work completed by the Acts of the Apostles, which must be studied to better understand the thinking of the third evangelist.
Following a brief introduction to the synoptic issue and the adoption of the modified theory of the two documents, the course provides an overview of the Gospel according to Mark.
It then introduces the Gospel according to Matthew and studies the texts of its first two chapters, covering the narrative sections with extra focus on the five speeches of this gospel.
Studying the Gospel according to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles is of particular importance, since both books were written by this same synoptic evangelist. The course offers a brief presentation of Luke’s main themes before presenting his whole works and highlighting the unity between his two books.
The critical reading of the synoptic books points to the key literary and theological characteristics of each evangelist. The method used in this synchronous approach is the critique of composition, a feature specific to the critique of the author’s writing with a view to discovering his theological thinking.
THEO331The Holy Trinity
3 credits
The Holy Trinity is a mystery, the mystery of the living God who is One and Triune: Father, Son, and Spirit. This Trinitarian confession is the Christian hallmark of discourse on God. The specificity of the Christian faith is rightly expressed in the paradoxical and problematic appellation of Trinitarian monotheism. If belief in the triune God cannot be interpreted as a break with Jewish monotheism, then how can divine unity and uniqueness be thought of in coherence with the entirety of biblical revelation? If God’s unfathomability makes him immune to the rationalist reductions that would like to capture his essence, is it possible to give an account of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit other than in a
credo quia absurdum? These questions involve biblical theology, the history of dogma, systematic theology, and patristic theology. Following an introduction designed to show the place of Trinitarian theology in Christian dogmatics as a whole and a preliminary chapter dealing with Christian monotheism, the course is divided into four parts: biblical, historical, patristic, and systematic. The purpose is to explore the ever-actual “sites” of Trinitarian theology on their own grounds.
THEO311The Prophets
3 credits
The course consists of an introduction to the prophetic movement, one of the major theological currents in the biblical tradition. Beginning with an in-depth examination of the main features of the prophet’s personality and activity, as revealed in the texts, the course examines the various prophet books, focusing on a few excerpts chosen to illustrate the different prophetic literary genres. Far from being exhaustive, the course aims to help students acquire a certain familiarity with prophetic language and thinking.
THEO465Theology of Saint Thomas
2 credits
“Nothing but you, Lord.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas)
Searching for God remains a form of rational asceticism supported by faith, lived in an action that adheres to the Gospel and is nourished by the Sacraments. Following in the footsteps of the “Doctor Angelicus” means responding to what Saint Paul VI once said: “All of us who are faithful sons and daughters of the Church can and must be his disciples, at least to some extent!”. This papal invitation sums up the reference to Saint Thomas Aquinas in philosophy and theology, as recommended by the Church, particularly in the Second Vatican Council and subsequently in the new Apostolic Constitution (Veritatis Gaudium) on Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties.
Alongside the course on the philosophy of Saint Thomas, regarded by himself as the “handmaiden of theology”, this course follows in Thomistic footsteps, focusing on the Summa theologiae, starting with the search for God and culminating in the meaning of the beatific vision of God himself.