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Theology Courses

This is a survey course of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. First semester material surveys the Old Testament by looking at historical context, genre, theme, and audience. The material covered in the second semester will give a survey of the New Testament Gospels and a careful study of the person of Jesus, distinguishing between Gospel and historical perspectives. Students will learn and exercise tools for critical reading through the study of the scriptures and critical inquiry throughout this year-long course. The course also includes an introduction to the Catholic life at STA along with a study of the tradition of Saint Teresa of Avila and the mission of our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph.

Prerequisites: None
Grade: 9
Course Length: One year
Credit: One credit

The focus of this course is on the history of the concept of God as well as the development of the Catholic institution in response to God. The timeline of content studied will begin at the advent of the idea of God in human history, the passage of these early ideas to the beginning of the Church in St. Paul’s New Testament writings, and continue through ecclesial history to the early 21st Century with a focus on how we live out the sacramental life in response to the Second Vatican Council. Students will learn and exercise tools for critical reading comprehension in theological, philosophical, and historical writings. Students will also learn and exercise tools for thoughtfully articulating personal responses to these ideas in discussion and essay writing.

Prerequisites: None
Grade: 10
Course Length: One year
Credit: One credit

This year-long course will examine the social nature of the human condition as it relates to our Trinitarian God and study the concept of justice as defined by both society and Scripture and ultimately revealed by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Students will be exposed to the Catholic Church’s large body of teachings which address social justice. With this information in hand, each student will choose a social issue of concern and analyze it in terms of all that was learned then create an action plan to help solve the problem. With direct service being an integral part of justice and STA’s mission statement of serving the dear neighbor without distinction, the junior community service component will be incorporated into this course.

Prerequisites: None
Grade: 11
Course Length: One year
Credit: One credit

This course serves as a culmination and as a sending forth for our senior students. It will be a semester recap of theology at STA and also focus on preparing students to carry their faith into the future! Students will find inspiration in sacred scripture, learn what it means to be an active part of the Church, delve into personal spirituality and be motivated to serve the dear neighbor without distinction in line with our founding Sisters of St. Joseph’s mission.

Prerequisites: None
Grade: 12
Course Length: One year
Credit: One credit

This course is an introduction to the history, belief-systems, practices, and divisions of the world’s major religions. It focuses especially on Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Baha’i Faith, Native American and African spirituality, with a brief focus on other modern movements.  This course utilizes aspects of role-play game pedagogy to create more flexibility in how students earn their grade and increase engagement with the material; this does not affect the content itself and students are not graded on role playing (though they can earn points for doing so if they choose).

Prerequisites: 87% cumulative GPA
Grade: 12
Course Length: One year
Credit: One credit
Option: Dual Enrollment options requires 87% cumulative GPA (additional fees apply)