Welcome to the Religious Studies department blog. We invite you to use this web site for scholarly religious, spiritual, and philosophical studies. We dedicate this site to all the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, faculty, and students who have gone before us. We pledge ourselves to their legacy and their mission trusting in God’s eternal guidance.
Dr. Jerry Roussell, Jr., Chairperson
RELIGIOUS STUDIES DEPARTMENT MISSION STATEMENT:
Through studying sacred scriptures, origins, histories, pastoral and spiritual care skills, and theological frames of Western and Eastern religious traditions, students are encouraged to discover ways of living their religious beliefs and values and serving others with compassion and care. The program seeks to help students to understand and express human experiences of connectedness with the Sacred in their everyday lives through addressing questions of healing, meaning, purpose, ethics, and spirituality. The program offers ways of integrating theology through application and ministerial settings.
The Religious Studies graduate programs’ offer broad curriculum breadth and provide the highest quality of theological training and preparation within an educational, professional, and spiritual context catalyzing growth in knowledge of self, others, and the Divine. The programs offer a life-changing experience educational and transformative academic, professional, personal, and integrative experience. These programs serve a preparation for doctoral degrees.
Bachelor of Arts Mission Statement (2008-2010 catalog, page 129)
The Department of Religious Studies addresses questions of healing, meaning, purpose, and the good. The Sacred Scriptures of religious traditions are examined, and students begin to learn their sacred paths and to find their spiritual home. Students also discover ways of living their religious beliefs and values and serving others with compassion and
care. Because of the challenges of the world today, people are recognizing the value of the foundational texts of religious traditions, human wholeness, meaning, and purpose. For instance, studies in medicine have demonstrated the effects of prayer in healing and corporations have prospered while doing good things in the community.
THE PURPOSE OF THE BACHELOR OF ARTS DEGREE IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
The purpose of Religious Studies is to understand and express the original human experiences of connectedness with the Sacred and all of reality. People express understanding in words and concepts, and then they engage their understandings
as principles of life and action for a community. Spirituality is the acting out of religion in every aspect of daily life; it includes the experience of communication (prayer) with
the Divine. Morality refers to the right behavior that springs from a sense of belonging to a group and of being connected to the entire cosmos. Theology is the study of God, in which the intellect is called on to reflect on personal and communal religious experience and Sacred texts.
People study philosophy to better understand religious studies. Philosophical issues explore their deepest desires and cares in a disciplined, reflective way. What does it mean
to be, for example, and not to be? What makes life worth living? Or, what values have stood the test of time, and how might I incorporate them into my own struggles to be good? What is the moral worth of the earth, and of the non-human creatures that live here too? These are philosophical and ethical questions, as important today as they have been
in all ages and cultures. By studying the classics of various philosophical traditions, we learn to think and quest
Master of Arts: Applied Theology Mission Statement (2008-2010 catalog, page 188)
The Master of Arts in Applied Theology (MAAT) is a life-changing experience. People
participate in this intensive ministry preparation program to become more effective care
providers. Participants grow in their knowledge of self, others, and the Holy. Through personal and group reflection students strengthen their sense of personal and spiritual integration and gain an awareness of ministerial strengths and weaknesses.
PURPOSE OF the MASTER OF ARTS Degree IN APPLIED THEOLOGY: An Interfaith Pastoral and Spiritual Care Degree
The Master of Arts in Applied Theology is a cohort approach that provides grounding in how to put theology into practice in a diversity of situations and scenarios. It emphasizes
the pastoral and spiritual care implications with a Judeo-Christian, interfaith focus within a Catholic institution. The program develops a broad and fundamental comprehension of the social, cultural, and behavioral factors that impact theological application.
The program helps individuals define their images of the Divine, their practice of spirituality, and their commitment to service. Through pastoral practice and theological reflection on that experience, students learn pastoral presence, communication skills, and assessment methods. The program addresses issues of pastoral counseling, liturgy and symbol, scriptural resources, and prayer. Through readings, discussion, lecture, writing, reflection, supervision, and pastoral application, participants develop their own theologies and methods of exercising pastoral and spiritual care. Marylhurst University
welcomes students of all faiths and cultures.
Master of Divinity Mission Statement (2008-2010 catalog, page 192)
The Master of Divinity is a transformative and life engaging experience. People participate in this comprehensive ministry preparation program to grow in their effectiveness as care providers and in their theological competence.
This program assists people in reaching their dreams. People grow in wholeness through a greater understanding of self, their connection with others, the universe, and the Divine.
The program enhances full human potential through developing unity with others along their spiritual paths. As Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, the Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, says: “Since we tread along the same way, let us extend a hand to one another to help surmount the difficulties that present themselves.”
The M.Div. develops a strong and balanced theological foundation within an educational,
professional, and spiritual context. Individuals deepen their sense of personal and spiritual integration through an appropriation and awareness of ministerial strengths and
weaknesses.
The Master of Divinity provides a wide ranging curriculum through theological, biblical,
historical, pastoral care, ethical, and spirituality courses.
THE PURPOSE OF the MASTER OF DIVINITY (M.Div.) Degree (2008-2010 catalog, page 192)
The program assists individuals to articulate with greater clarity their theological and scriptural perspectives, their practice of spirituality, and their commitment to service.
Individuals develop greater insights in theology, religious history, scriptural understanding, pastoral care, and spirituality. The program addresses issues of pastoral counseling, liturgy and ritual, theological resources and assessment, and prayer. Through readings, interactive exercises, discussion, lecture, writing, reflection, supervision, and pastoral application, students engage their own theologies and applications in ministerial settings.
