Understanding Life through the Sacraments and Science

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This Catholicism and Disciplines (CAD) course will be an intersection of Catholic theology and various disciplines in the sciences (primarily biology and chemistry, some physics). According to the Catholic Church, our ultimate goal is life in heaven and to be in union with God. This pursuit requires a desire to be a saint. A key ingredient of sainthood is sanctifying grace and the seven Sacraments are major channels of sanctifying grace. The Sacraments, some of which draw upon natural elements, reveal the goodness of God’s creation. As St. Paul writes (Rom 1:20): “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.” In this CAD course, students will have the opportunity to encounter God and his creation through (i) scripture and Catholic teaching and (ii) scientific observations, albeit limited and incomplete, of nature as-is (e.g. water molecules), contemporary miracles (i.e. nature, healing and Eucharistic miracles) or biomedical tools (e.g. CRISPR-Cas9 to edit genome). This CAD course is organized into four modules: Foundational Concepts, Creation, Redemption and Sanctification. For the latter three modules representing salvation history, Catholic theology and teaching (Bible, Catechism, etc) will be presented first followed by the related science content.