Catholic Studies

Overview

About Catholic Studies at Saint Louis University

From philosophy and theology, to art and music, to economics and medicine, this undergraduate major offers an integrated Catholic worldview that empowers students to see the world clearly, and to understand otherwise disparate sectors of reality in relation to one another and to the implications of Christ’s Incarnation. Here, material culture, creedal beliefs, philosophical commitments, and spiritual practices coalesce in the truly Catholic understanding of the structuring of governments, civic engagement, economic choices, medical practices, the arrangement of family life, educational systems, and the role of beauty in the public square.

Learning Outcomes:

• Graduates will be able to articulate the central concerns of the Catholic intellectual tradition and describe key contributions made to it in both the first and second millennium of its development.

• Graduates will be able to draw upon the Catholic intellectual tradition to describe, analyze, and evaluate developments in two or more disciplines or fields of activity, including philosophy, theology, literature, music, art, architecture, history, politics, and the natural and social sciences.

• Graduates will be able to articulate how characteristic elements of Jesuit spirituality, such as “finding God in all things” and “discernment of spirits,” contribute to reflection on the good life and help orient Catholic engagement of culture.  

• Graduates will be able to employ methods and materials from the Catholic intellectual tradition to analyze in depth a question of contemporary cultural significance.