Concentration Chair: Rev. Deacon Thomas J. Davis, Jr.
Courses articulate authentic Catholic teaching with respect to bioethical issues. They provide students with a solid Magisterial foundation in medical ethics and bioethical science. Some of the topics discussed in an interdisciplinary model are technological reproduction, the criteria for brain death, genetic engineering, end-of-life decisions, “living wills,” fetal tissue research, cloning and various legal issues pertaining to bioethical procedures.
Concentration Goals
- To teach students a fully Catholic understanding of bioethical principles and issues as concerns life issues, in their diversity and changes.
- To teach students biological, medical, legal (e.g., advance directives) and ethical terminology and how to interpret what members of these different disciplines are saying when using this terminology.
Concentration Outcomes
- Students will demonstrate an ability to explain, in a popular way, the fully Catholic approach to bioethics, on a variety of life and death issues.
- Students will manifest a capacity to understand and interpret developing medical, biological, and legal approaches to life and death issues in a fully Catholic manner.
Co-requisites for Theology:
- PHS 607 Philosophy for Theologians
- DTH 600 Faith and Revelation (Prerequisite is PHS 607)
Theology Core:
- DTH 731 One and Triune God
- DTH 751 Christology (Prerequisite is DTH 731)
- MTH 611 Fundamental Moral Theology I
- SAS 651 Synoptic Gospels
Non-NCBC Concentration Core:
- BIE 625 Catholic Bioethics
- BIE 651 Medical Ethics
- BIE 661 Biology and Biotechnologies for Ethicists
- BIE 639 Bioethics and the Law
Non-NCBC Concentration Electives (Choose one of the following):
- MTH/PHE/PAS 680 Marriage and Theology of the Body
- BIE 796 Bioethics in the Post Christian Culture
Comprehensive Exam Course
- ENG 890 MA Summative Evaluation: Comprehensive Exam & Professional Paper (Theology)