Grace

Pontifical Beda College
First Semester 200

Fridays, 9.00-10.35

Click here for a printable copy of the syllabus

The course examines the Roman Catholic understanding of the human person and its relationship to God. The major issues in God’s interaction with humanity in grace will be considered. A historical approach will allow the various dimensions to emerge in their historical context and thus linked to other ages and to the questions of today.

Each student is responsible for attending class, reading the assigned materials on time, participating in the discussion, and completing an essay. There will also be an exam at the end of the course. Students are also encouraged to explore the issues of the course in supplementary reading.

Essay

The length and due date for the essay are set by the Dean of Studies. Choose one of the following figures in the history of thought about grace. In your paper, discuss the writer’s understanding of grace and the human person by (1) giving a summary of how the person treats grace and Christian anthropology; (2) evaluate this understanding in relation to the thinking of other figures in the tradition; (3) discuss positive aspects that this position contributes to the understanding of grace and the human person. Draw on at least 2 substantial treatments along with encyclopedia articles.

• Bonaventure

• Duns Scotus

• Gregory Palamas

• Martin Luther

• John Calvin

• John Wesley

• Ignatius Loyola

• James Arminius

• Francisco Suarez

• Domingo Bañez

• Cornelius Jansens

• Luis Molina

• Francis de Sales

• Antoine Arnauld

• Blaise Pascal

• Jonathan Edwards

• Karl Barth

• Henri DeLubac

• Reginald Garrigou-LaGrange

• Matthias Scheeben

• Reinhold Niebuhr

• Paul Tillich

• Karl Rahner

• Hans Urs von Balthasar

• Vladimir Lossky

• Jürgen Moltmann

• Teilhard de Chardin

• Clark H. Pinnock

• Leonardo Boff

Select Bibliography

• Charles Baumgartner, La grâce du Christ (Paris: Desclée, 1963).

• Henri de Lubac, Surnaturel (Paris: Cerf, 1946).

• Stephen J. Duffy, The Dynamics of Grace: Perspectives in Theological Anthropology (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1993).

• Stephen J. Duffy, The Graced Horizon (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1992).

• Donald Fairbairn, Grace and Christology in the Early Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).

• Piet Fransen, The New Life of Grace (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1969).

• Donald L. Gelpi, The Gracing of Human Experience: Rethinking the Relationship Between Nature and Grace (Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2001).

• John A. Hardon, History and Theology of Grace: The Catholic Teaching on Divine Grace (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).

• Charles Journet, The Meaning of Grace (Princeton: Scepter Publishers, 1960).

• Norman Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)

• Michael Schmaus, Dogma, vol. 5 (London: Sheed and Ward, 1975).

• Panayiotis Nellas, Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987).

• Thomas C. Oden, The Transforming Power of Grace (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993).

• Peter Phan, Grace and the Human Condition (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1988).

Note: Handouts to accompany the lectures can be found here no later than the day before class.

Class schedule

• 16 October
  Introduction and Biblical Background
  Christian Anthropology> Terms and Issues
  Handout

• 6 November
  Patristic Perspectives: Justin, Irenaeus, the Cappadocians, Nicea and Chalcedon
  Texts: Justin Martyr, First Apology, Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations, Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses
  Handout

• 13 November
  Patristic Perspectives: Augustine
  Texts: Augustine, On Free Choice of the Will, On Nature and Grace
  Handout

• 20 November
  Patristic Perspectives: Maximus the Confessor, Constantinople II, Nicea II
  Texts: Maximus the Confessor, Chapters on Love, John of Damascus, On Divine Images Handout

• 27 November
  Medieval Perspectives: Anselm and Thomas Aquinas
  Texts: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, qq. 109-114
  Handout

• 4 December
  Reformation Perspectives: Luther and Calvin
  Texts: Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, book 3
  Handout

• 11 December
  Council of Trent
  Texts: Council of Trent, Decree on Justification
  Handout

• 18 December
  Dominicans and Jesuits
  Texts: Luis de Molina, On Divine Foreknowledge
  Handout

• 8 January
  Jansenism
  Texts: see Blaise Pascal, Pensées
  Handout

• 15 January
  20th Century Non-Catholic Understandings of Grace
  Texts: Karl Rahner, Foundations of the Christian Faith, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theodrama, vol. 2
  Handout

• 22 January
  Contemporary Roman Catholic Perspectives
  Texts: Leonardo Boff, Liberating Grace, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Discipleship of Equals
  Handout