Welcome Home…. Saint John Bosco High School

1. Welcome Home…. Saint John Bosco High School Dr. Rodriguez, Ed.D.

2. Theology I: Course Description • With an over-arching emphasis on both personal and communal religious formation, this course will introduce students to the field of theology from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church. • Four core areas of theology will be examined: • Historical, • Biblical • Moral • Systematic) throughout the course along with its allied disciplines (Liturgy, Spirituality, and Law). The purpose of this is to provide a substantial introduction to the tradition, history and practices within the Catholic Tradition.

3. Agenda: August 17, 2011 • Prayer • Review Course Syllabus • Review Classroom Procedures • Focus Question: • Given what you now know about the course content, what areas of Catholic Theology are you interested in? What do you hope to explore in this course and why? • Homework Assignment • Student / Parent Contract

4. Agenda: August 18, 2011 (Blue) • Prayer • Stages of Faith Development • Focus Question (Continued from August 17 Meeting): • Given what you now know about the course content, what areas of Catholic Theology are you interested in? What do you hope to explore in this course and why? • Homework Assignment • Reread Sweeney Article: • Interview one adult with the following question: Describe your image of God. • Research Saint Anselm’s Definition of Theology. Write a brief statement on what you believe he means.

5. Agenda: August 19, 2011 (Gold) • Prayer • Stages of Faith Development • Focus Question (Continued from August 17 Meeting): • Given what you now know about the course content, what areas of Catholic Theology are you interested in? What do you hope to explore in this course and why? • What does faith mean to you? • Homework Assignment • Reread Sweeney Article: • Interview one adult with the following question: Describe your image of God. • Research Saint Anselm’s Definition of Theology. Write a brief statement on what you believe he means.

6. Agenda: August 22, 2011 (Blue) • Prayer • Discuss homework assignment: • Reread Sweeney Article: • Interview one adult with the following question: Describe your image of God. • Research Saint Anselm’s Definition of Theology. Write a brief statement on what you believe he means. • Focus Question: • How do you know what you know about God? Philosophical assumptions consist of a stance toward the nature or reality (ontology) and how the person knows what she or he knows (epistemology). • The Meaning of Experience • MLA Review • Homework Assignment • Quiz on Stages of Faith Development(Friday) • Question #1 on page 11 of text (Friday)

7. Agenda: August 23, 2011 (Gold) • Prayer • Discuss homework assignment: • Reread Sweeney Article: • Interview one adult with the following question: Describe your image of God. • Research Saint Anselm’s Definition of Theology. Write a brief statement on what you believe he means. • Focus Question: • How do you know what you know about God? Philosophical assumptions consist of a stance toward the nature or reality (ontology) and how the person knows what she or he knows (epistemology). • The Meaning of Experience • MLA Review • Homework Assignment • Quiz on Stages of Faith Development(Friday) • Question #1 on page 11 of text (Friday)

8. The Meaning of Experience (Lane) • Experience involves a human subject and reality • A human being capable of seeing, feeling, thinking and discerning. • Reality embraces the external world in which the subject lives. • Experience is the product that arises out of the interaction that takes place between the subject and reality. • Community • Provides the horizon of understanding • Experience without understanding is an empty event (TS Eliot)

9. The Meaning of Experience (Lane) • Sense-Experience • Everyday subject-object encounters we have in life. • Ordinary experiences • Depth-Experience • Special moments when we go beneath the surface of life to discover a deeper dimension. • Extraordinary experiences. • It is here that we discover truth, meaning, value, and beauty. • The world of immediate experience = the world of the child • Every religious experience is ALWAYS a DEPTH-EXPERIENCE, though NOT every DEPTH EXPERIENCE is necessarily a religious experience.