Mary is a classical figure in the Christian
tradition, meaning that as a symbol of the faith she possesses
both a permanence and an excess of meaning for our lives.
This course is aimed at deepening one’s understanding of
Mary’s mystery for Christian faith. Covering the whole of
the Church’s history of theological reflection on Mary and
the development of Mariological doctrine, this course will
build upon previous foundations by inviting the participant
to become actively engaged in the process of historical
theology—of listening to how the human voices of the past
speak to us today. Covering everything from the Gospel narratives
and patristic theology, to the development of catholic dogma
and devotional practice, this course will challenge the
participant with the questions: Who is Mary? And who is
she for Christians today?
Unit 1: This unit will introduce the main
questions surrounding Mary and her importance for Christian
life today, while exposing us to the historical methodology
Fr. Daley will employ throughout this study. After laying
this foundation, we will examine the early Church’s understanding
of Mary from the 1st century Christian Gospels to the 5th
century doctrine of Theotokos. The emphasis is placed on
maintaining an intimate connection between Mary and Jesus.
Unit 2: This unit will focus on the development
of three main Marian dogmas: her holiness and perpetual
virginity, her Assumption, and her Immaculate Conception.
Through tracing this development, one can see how Mary emerges
on her own as a locus for theology. In other words, the
question will not be who is Mary in relation to Jesus, but
who is Mary in herself?
Unit 3: This unit shifts the attention
to us, to how Christians have experienced and responded
to Mary over the centuries in devotional prayers, litanies,
poetry, visions, and apparitions. The end of this lecture
will lay out good criteria for evaluating such devotional
practices and their fruitfulness for the Christian faith
which worships God in Christ.
Unit 4: Approaching Vatican II, the church
was living in “an age of Mary,” and within 15 years of the
council, her significance for the church and in the lives
of Christians had faded significantly. This unit will look
closely at the theological milieu that led up to Lumen Gentium
8, and the fallout after the Council. Attention here is
given to the Church.
Unit 5: To this point we have studied
and experienced Mary from a variety of angles: as she relates
to Jesus, who she is in herself, how she relates to the
lives of faith of past Christians, and how she relates to
the church. What does it all mean? How can we understand
Mary today? This final unit attempts to synthesize Mary’s
many relationships in the Christian Tradition, and offers
a refreshing, even startling view of who Mary can be for
us.
- Created by Notre Dame Theology
Professor.
- Six weeks in duration, with one week
for orientation.
- Typically 15-20 students in each course.
- Lectures delivered by video via web-streaming.
A CD-ROM of lecture also available for purchase.
- Supplemental readings are provided
to encourage further exploration of topic, internet links
provided for all readings.
- Weekly written assignments (150-200
words) required.
- Weekly facilitator moderated chat sessions
with students in course.
All course materials available online
in the course.
Requirements for course include:
- Weekly viewing or reading of lecture
texts.
- Participation in class discussion using
discussion area (minimum 2 comments, questions or responses
weekly.)
- Weekly written assignment (150-200
words.)
- Weekly chat session with other course
participants (attend minimum of 3 during course).
- Course evaluation.
- 4 to 6 hours a week (time varies from
student to student depending on your learning style and
schedule.)
A Certificate of Completion awarding 30
Contact Hours will be sent upon completion of all course
requirements.
This course offers an optional Supplemental
CD. While the video lectures for the course are available
in the course via webstreaming, Supplemental CDs containing
the video lectures can be purchased for viewing the lecture
without being connected to the Internet or for reviewing
the lecture after the course has ended.
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Fr. Daley is a historical
theologian, who specializes in the study of the early
Church, particularly the development of Christian
doctrine from the fourth to the eighth centuries.
He has prepared a critical edition of the works of
the sixth-century Greek theologian Leontius of Byzantium,
which is to appear in the series "Corpus Christianorum,"
and has written a number of articles for scholarly
journals on ancient Christology, Trinitarian theology
and eschatology. His most recent books are The
Hope of the Early Church, (1991) and On The
Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies,
(1997), Gregory of Nazianzus (2006) [in the
series, The Early Chuch Fathers], and translated
Hans Urs von Balthasar's book, Kosmische Liturgie,
as Cosmic Liturgy: the Universe According to Maximus
the Confessor (2003). Presently he is working
on a commentary on the Book of Psalms drawn from Patristic
exegetical sources. In January and February, 2002,
he delivered the annual D'Arcy Lectures in the University
of Oxford, a series entitled: God Visible: Patristic
Christology Reconsidered. The lectures should
appear as a book before long. A past president of
the North American Patristic Society, he is an editor
of the scholarly journal Traditio, and also
serves on the editorial board of the Journal of
Early Christian Studies. He has been a trustee
of Le Moyne College, Boston College, Georgetown University
and Fordham University, and is executive secretary
of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation in North
America. B.A., Fordham University (1961);
B.A., University of Oxford (1964); M.A., Oxford (1967);
Ph.L., Loyola Seminary, Shrub Oak, NY (1966); Lic.theol.,
Hochschule Skt. Georgen (Frankfurt, Germany, 1972);
D.Phil., University of Oxford (1978)
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