Theology and Religious Studies Major

Program Learning Outcomes

Students will:

Articulate how religion, theology, and spirituality underlie and correlate with a broad range of human experience
Articulate the particularities of various faith traditions (including creedal vision, moral teachings, historical context, social expression, and key rites and symbols) in the context of the plurality of world religious traditions, as encouraged by Vatican II’s stance on the Catholic Church’s relationship with other faiths
Articulate how religious traditions work for social justice and the good of the entire human family as well as the environment that sustains it
Employ knowledge of academic methods and practices characteristic of the study of theology and/or religion, including the different contributions of textual, historical, social, and interdisciplinary studies

Major Requirements (40 units)

Gateway Courses (12 units)

First-Year seminar that qualifies for D-2 Core (THRS 195),
or
Any D-2 Core course
THRS Core D-3 Ethics course
THRS 101 - Methods and Theories in THRS

Electives (24 units)

Students complete 16 units of coursework within one of the thematic areas:

Christianity
Religion, Ethics, and Social Justice
Global Religions and Theologies
Asian Religions

The remaining 8 units of coursework can be completed from any thematic area.

Christianity:

Global Religions & Theologies:

Asian Religions:

Religion, Ethics, & Social Justice:

Capstone Seminar (4 units)

Once students have completed their prerequisites and at least two-thirds of their electives, they will be eligible to enroll in the Capstone seminar. The seminar rotates among THRS full-time faculty every spring semester. In collaboration with the professor overseeing the Capstone seminar, each student must complete a thesis of about 25 pages, under the direction of a faculty member best qualified to oversee the research interests of the student.

As part of the Capstone seminar grade, at the end of each academic year students give a public defense of their Capstone thesis with a panel of no less than three department faculty members. The panel consists of the Capstone seminar professor, the research adviser, and a third reader selected from the department faculty.

See adviser for course selection.