Catholic Studies
Search for Human Fulfillment (CAST 1001) - Professor William Neu
The following site will feature links to reading assignments and related recommendations chosen by Professor William Neu for his course entitled: The Search for Human Fulfillment (CAST 1001) . . .
Course Outline - Reading Assignments
I. First Class Session
II. Overall Framework
Karl Jaspers. The Origin & Goal of History (Chapter 3 - "Prehistory"), [pps. 28-43]
III. Human Equality, Personal Uniqueness, Human Rights
- United Nations Declaration of Human RightsThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. The UDHR is widely recognized as having inspired, and paved the way for, the adoption of more than seventy human rights treaties, applied today on a permanent basis at global and regional levels (all containing references to it in their preambles).
- Pacem in TerrisEncyclical of Pope John XXIII on Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity, and Liberty. April 11, 1963. Paragraphs: 3,5,9, 11-15, 17-23, 25-30, 34, 44, 75, 77, 105-106, 132, 142-144
IV. Human Nature
- Aristotle - De Animapps. 2.2, 4, 5; 3.3, 4, 8, 9, 12. Concept of Prosopon; Plotinus "Emanations"; Boethius "Individual Substance of a Rational Nature"E-Book
Michael Sandel - Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
Personalism (Levinas), relationship (Aristoteliancategories)
V. Philosophical and Theological Anthropology (Distinction Between Philosophy and Theology)
- W. Norris Clarke - Person and Beingpps. 32-82, 94-108
VI. Image of God, Transcendence, Human Dignity
- Dignitatis HumanaeDeclaration on Religious Freedom on the Right of the Person and of Communities to Social and Civil Freedom in Matters Religious Promulgated by his Holiness Pope Paul Vi on December 7, 1965
Callan Slipper: "Towards an Understanding of the Human Person According to the Mystical Experience of Chiara Lubich in the Paradise of '49" pps. 331-361. In Paradise, Reflections on Chiara Lubich's Mystical Journal, Donald Mitchell, ed.
VII. Jesus Christ
- Nicene Creed"Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last, the beginning and the end of everything. The Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works"
- Gaudium Et SpesParagraphs 22-24
- Jacques Maritain - A Maritain Reader"The Human Condition" Chapter 11, pps 180-196
VIII. Trinitarian Anthropology - Unity and Diversity, Love and Freedom, Subsidiarity and Solidarity (Maritain, Coda)
William Neu - The Theology of the Church's Relationship with Liberal Society in the Light of the Notions of Religious Freedom Declared by the U.S. Constitution's 1st Amendment and Dignitatis Humanae: From John Courtney Murray to Piero Coda, (pps. 106-107, 113-119)
IX. Natural Law, Conscience (Synderesis), Morality, Virtues (Aquinas), Itinerary (3 Stages of Spiritual Life)
- John Henry Newman - An essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent"Belief in One God" (pps. 101-121)
- International Theological Commission - "In Search of a Universal Ethic: A New Look at the Natural Law" (2009)(Paragraphs - 46, 48-51, 68, 74-75, 84, 105)
X. Fulfillment, Perfection, Sanctity, Present Moment (Maximilian Kolbe)
Happy (Movie)
Groundhog Day (Movie)