Continuing Professional Development - Catholic Theology

This course contains one module, ‘Catholic Theology: A Preliminary Tour’, the core module for the MA in Catholic Theology by Distance Learning. This is a fully online module to be completed part-time over 12 months.

Catholic Theology: A Preliminary Tour explores the nature of theology in the Catholic tradition, providing a first step into, and a grounding for, postgraduate theological study. It is designed to enable people with first degrees in a range of disciplines to test their interest in theology, while also extending and deepening the engagement with key elements in the Catholic tradition for those who may have studied theology before.

The module begins by exploring a variety of answers to the question “What is theology?”, including the student’s own. It then follows a broadly historical path, touching on the doctrine of the Trinity, key issues in Christology, scholasticism and debates around the theme of nature and grace, the Reformation and ecumenism, the Enlightenment and its relevance to Catholic theology, Vatican II, its origins and its reception. The module concludes with an exploration of a contemporary area of debate and discussion: students can choose to focus on “Theology and Prayer”, “Theology and Evil” or “Universal salvation”. Throughout students are enabled to explore and analyse a range of theological styles, from patristic and scholastic to recent liberation and African theologies, and to examine issues about the nature of theological method and the relevance of the study of theology to their own life and commitments.

Course Structure

This is a stand-alone module from the MA in Catholic Theology by Distance Learning, that can be completed on its own or used as a steppingstone into the Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, or MA in Catholic Theology by Distance Learning especially by those whose former academic study was in an area other than Theology or a closely related academic discipline.