Faith and Moral Development
Professor Randall Smith
Fall 2003

I. Course Description:
    One of the fundamental premises of this course is that moral acts and living the moral life are precisely the things that lead to our ultimate end and goal as human persons, which is happiness, or fulfillment as a complete and whole human person.  Sins, on the contrary, are precisely those things that, though they promise greater freedom and happiness, rob us of the freedom and happiness they promise.
    Given this view of the relationship between the moral life and sin, our question is this: How do human beings become good?  If we are living what St. Paul calls "the life of sin and death," how are we to be transformed so that we may "have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10); indeed, so much so that it will be "poured" into our laps, "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over" (Lk 6:38)?
    Such are the promises of faith and the rewards of God's grace.  And yet, as Christ also says in the passage from Luke quoted above: "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."  While it is true that we can love because God has loved us first (cf. 1 Jn 4:19), yet we too must love.  We are meant to "love one another as God has loved us" (cf. Jn 13:34 and 15:12).  Or as it says in 1 Jn 4:11: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
    Thus, our question about the moral life comes down to this: How do we become people of love?  How are we to be transformed from people of fear and anger into people of love and selfless giving?  How are we to become, from a Christian standpoint, "another Christ" (alter Christus)?
    Well, that is the question of this course.  And the student should be aware that, according to the great Fathers of the Christian moral tradition, such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, God meets us where we are and often transforms us in time, because our lives are lived out in time, over a duration.  So we might expect that this transformation that is worked in us and in which we are, to a certain degree, knowing participants, will be a transformation that takes place over a period of time.  Thus, we have the notion of a "moral development" over time.  How does this "development" take place?  How can we better understand and participate in the transformation that God is trying to work in us?
    In order to foster this greater "understanding" of our faith and of the process of moral development, we will be looking at several classic themes in Christian-Catholic moral theology:  in particular, themes related to the natural law and the virtues, the relationship between the Old Law and the New Law, and the role of the passions in the moral life.

II.  Procedures and Requirements:
    The means to our goal of an increased "understanding of faith" will involve both reading and reflection. Reading assignments will be announced by the instructor on a week-by-week basis and will be posted on the course web site (actually, it is a "Blackboard" site, about which I will say more in a moment).  Your reflection on the course material will be facilitated by review questions that will also be posted regularly on the course web site.  Some of these review questions will need to be completed and turned in for a grade; others are merely for your own benefit. You will also be asked to demonstrate your knowledge of the course material on three exams, spaced at regular intervals during the course of the semester. You should be aware that the questions on these exams will be taken largely from the review questions.  If you are keeping up with the review questions, you should have no difficulty in preparing for the exam.  I will also be available outside of class to help you prepare for these exams.

A Note on Participation, Preparation, and Attendance:
    This is an upper-level class, so students should be prepared to do more mature work than in, say, an introductory level class.  It has always been this instructor's view that learning should be an  active process.  That means that students should take an active role.  Often in this "valley of tears," we are stuck with classes so large that it makes class discussion rather difficult, if not nearly impossible.  So lecture is usually the order of the day.  In this class, however, I am hoping that we can have somewhat less lecture and proportionately more class discussion.  
    There is one big problem with this proposal: it requires more effort on the part of the students.  Class discussion, in this context, does not just mean expressing whatever thought happens to come into your head.  (One often hears the motto, "It is so much easier to discuss an issue, when one remains un-burdened with any knowledge of subject-matter."  This is, unfortunately, an accurate description of many class discussions in many schools.)  It is absolutely necessary, therefore, that the student be prepared to talk in class.  And by that, I mean, not only must you be prepared to open your mouth and express a thought, but you must also be able to show that you have read the relevant texts and understood them, so that the thought you express is well-informed and helpful to the discussion.  This doesn't mean that you need always agree with the text; far from it.  It merely means that you must have a thoughtful opinion, informed by some knowledge of the text.
    One caveat, however, about class discussions: This is still a relatively big class (experience shows that anything over seven is too many) , and we do have to keep things moving along, so I can't necessarily call on everyone every time.   I have found in the past with classes this size that discussions often tend to veer wildly off into other interesting, though perhaps only tangentially related, topics.  There is only one answer to this problem: discipline on the part of the students.  Please listen to your classmates (this is an absolute requirement!), and try to respond to what is being said.
    Nota bene: Above all, you should be self-aware enough to realize that it is very difficult to make your point clearly and concisely, the first time, in front of thirty or so of your classmates.  Thus, due to the limitations of the class size, on the one hand, as well as the personal limitations of each interlocutor on the other, students may find class discussions interesting (I hope), but a bit frustrating.
    Please be patient.  Please persevere.

    Please also be forewarned that I will take attendance daily, and I will often ask questions at random during my lectures about the reading material.  My questions will often be drawn from the review questions posted on the web site.  You should be able to demonstrate some knowledge of the text.  If it is clear that you have not done the reading at all, then don't be surprised if this fact ends up being reflected in your final grade.  Please also note that more than one absence will result in a decrease of one-third letter grade.  Further absences will result in further proportionate decreases.  Regular and prompt attendance, on the other hand, coupled with demonstrated knowledge of the reading material, can do wonders for you.

    Please note that your grade will be figured according to the following formula:

First Two Exams: 20 % each (40 % total)
Final Exam: 25 %
Review Questions and Reading Quizzes: 20 %
Class Participation: 15 %


III.  Texts Required for the Course:
    There are a number of books required for the course, all of which can be purchased at the University Bookstore.  (I would not purchase all of them, however, until you are sure we need them all.  I hope to get to both the Blumenthal and the Goleman books, but the brevity of our time may not permit it.)  The books are the following:

* Pope John Paul II, The Splendor of Truth
* Josef Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues
* Philip Hallie, In the Eye of the Hurricane: Tales of Good and Evil, Help and Harm
    * Christopher Browning, Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
* David Blumenthal, The Banality of Good and Evil
* Henry Fairlie, The Seven Deadly Sins Today
* Robert J. Spitzer, Healing the Culture

    Please be assured I want you to do well in this course, and I will do whatever I can to see to it that you get the grade to which you aspire.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at:      rsmith@stthom.edu  

    My office is on the second floor of Hughes House, Room 207.  My office phone number is:  (713) 942-5059.  You are welcome to call, but for various reasons, I find that I am better about responding to e-mail messages than voice mail messages.

    Welcome to you all!