Rich, Poor, and War

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course examines the interrelationships between economic injustice and violence. We begin by delineating two basic understandings of the nature of violence, that set out by Catholic social teaching and that which is dominant in American thought and law. We then investigate the gap between rich and poor both in the U.S. and worldwide. In the body of the course, we address the ways in which economic disparity intersects with the problem of violence in a wide range of social spheres, from the economic (workplace conditions), to the international political realms (terrorism, war, and revolution) to the domestic (domestic violence and sexual assault). In each case, we will examine various Christian responses to violence, from encouragement and fomentation to conciliation and forgiveness.