Moral Theology: Online High School Course:

Update: This live course has concluded and is now available as a recorded course through our Subscription Service. This is a great way to learn at your own pace when your schedule allows.To subscribe or learn more: Online Catholic Courses

Theology 101: Christian Anthropology is going along splendidly. I can't believe how much I've learned alongside the students. Miss Ashour is a wonderful teacher. Christian Anthropology finishes up tomorrow and the next course in the Theology 101 series will begin October 13, 2009 -- Moral Theology. The third and final course in the series, Social Ethics, will begin in January. These courses can be taken independently of one another or together. All are recorded and will be made available to view on your own time in the upcoming months.

If you would like to enroll in Moral Theology here is all of the information:
Instructor's Biography
Having had 20 years of experience in the classroom, 3 years of experience working at St. Mary's Catholic Church at Texas A&M University as one of the Campus Ministers, and Master Degrees in Humanities and Theological Studies from the University of Dallas, Monica Ashour comes to us with a breadth and depth of vision that will solidify and electrify high school students. Orthodox, passionate, and pedogogically adept, Miss Ashour reaches youth especially in the areas of Christian Anthropology, Moral Theology, and Social Ethics. Her former students come to her often with gratitude in preparing them for the various experiences that they faced in college. Here is a direct quotation from one of her former students who was a junior at the time of writing:

Miss Ashour, I wanted to thank you for preparing me in class for Shakespeare in Italy. I got so much more out of Rome because of my education (you!) prepared me for the wealth of culture and religion it offers. All I have learned in your class about Catholicism and truth made The Vatican and the major basilicas come alive for me.
--Mary M.

Course Description
Every human person is called to the perfection of charity (cf. LG #40). This vocation has been revealed through Jesus Christ and can be accomplished only in and with Jesus Christ, whose Paschal Mystery is made present in the Church’s liturgy—the “great work in which God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified” (SC #7). To further man’s sanctification, the Second Vatican Council has asked that “. . . special care should be given to the perfecting of moral theology. Its scientific presentation should draw more fully on the teaching of Holy Scripture and should throw light upon the exalted vocation of the faithful in Christ and their obligation to bring forth fruit in charity for the life of the world” (OT #16).

Therefore, this course will attempt to focus upon the moral life, first of all, within the context of man’s vocation in Christ, the model of holiness, who took the form of a slave, emptied himself, and learned obedience through suffering; secondly, within the context of man’s natural endowments, his capacity for virtue; and finally, within the context of charity as the form of the virtues and the goal of all man’s strivings since “God is love” (1Jn 4:8).

Week-By-Week Outline:
Week 1:
Quick review of Christian Anthropology: Man made in God’s image and likeness (the 4-fold communion before the Fall: Trinitarian Theology (our goal: we are made for union and communion with God); Christian Anthropology based on Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body, “the most suitable education about man;” freedom; Natural Law, secularist relativism; redemption and the Mass; grace and justification—Catholic and Protestant perspectives; drawn from and geared toward the Gift of Self of Jesus at Calvary participated in at Mass; the source of Revelation—Jesus, entrusted to us in Scripture & Tradition as guided by the Magisterium; infallibility; objective Truth and subjective experience; the danger of sentimentality; C.S. Lewis’ “Man and Rabbit” and “Weight of Glory” (Morality is not the essence of Christianity; abundant life in Christ is)

Week 2:
3 fonts of the moral act; “the acting person” (Pope John Paul), Mortal sin and venial sin; the radical and moderate Fundamental Option Theory related to the Protestant “once saved, always saved; Veritatis Splendor (Pope John Paul); salvation and sanctity; purgatory; indulgences; conscience—defined, formation of, and the 4 scenarios

Week 3:
Nominalism and William of Ockham’s influence on Moral Theology, leading to relativism ( which is what Pope Benedict says is the worst evil of today);the split of the Medieval Synthesis of faith and reason; Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address; proportionalism (from Veritatis Splendor and as commented on by Dr. Janet Smith); proportionalism’s wrong application to moral acts: contraception, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, and other intrinsically evil acts.

Week 4:
Virtue and vice; emotions’ proper role; Marriage and sexuality: The beauty behind the Church’s teaching regarding marriage and family life, related back to our telos, our goal of union and communion with Christ, the Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church who takes us to the Perichoresis, the inner exchange of life and love of the Blessed Trinity. Eschatology.

Goal:
Each student, challenged and emboldened to think deeply, will receive skills to meet the challenges of living “in the world but not of the world.”

Fee:
The regular price is $60.

Dates and Time:
This is a four-week course. Classes will begin Tuesday, October 13, 2009 and meet every Tuesday through November 3, 2009. The classes will begin 1:00 PM Eastern Time (noon Central) and are one hour long.

Enrollment Period:
Enrollment is currently open.

Misc. Details:
Miss Ashour will be available via email in between classes to answer questions and take comments. Recordings of the classes are provided to students within 24 hours and available for 6 months.

Equipment Requirements:
Students are required to have high-speed internet. A headset with microphone is required. You can find them reasonably price at Amazon. To check your connection with the online classes visit: http://www.webex.com/lp/jointest/.

Next in the series: Social Ethics