The Liberal Arts core offers twelve courses, taken three at a time over four semesters, in an order that follows the natural order of the disciplines and the subjects considered. Students who complete the program with a minimum GPA of 2.0 receive a Certificate in Liberal Arts awarded by the Aquinas Institute.
The curriculum consists of three tracks. The Humanities track pursues knowledge in the mode of the particular, especially through literature, but also through history and through philosophical works read for their historical witness. The Philosophy track pursues knowledge in the mode of universal principles, as available to human reason. The Theology track pursues both modes, not as available to human reason but as revealed by God. Each track covers four semesters, for a total of twelve courses.
Humanities
Philosophy
Theology
HMN 101: Ancient Greece & Rome
(2 credits)
Homer, Iliad
Virgil, Aeneid
PHL 101: Tools of Philosophy
(2 credits)
Aristotle, Categories; On InterpretaÂtion
Plato, Phaedo, Meno
Porphyry, Isagoge
THL 101: Salvation History I
(2 credits)
Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, selections from the prophetic writings (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)
HMN 102: Divine Comedy
(2 credits)
Dante, Commedia: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
PHL 102: Philosophy of Nature
(2 credits)
Aristotle, Physics I–III.3
Plato, Timaeus (selections)
Presocratic fragments
THL 102: Salvation History II
(2 credits)
Gospel of Luke, Acts of the Apostles, Romans, Hebrews, Revelation
St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I.1
HMN 201: Comedy and Tragedy in the Human Soul
(2 credits)
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Henry V, King Lear, The Tempest, Othello, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure
PHL 201: Philosophy of Man
(2 credits)
Aristotle, On the Soul
St. Thomas Aquinas, Principles of Nature, Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul
THL 201: The Mystery of the Trinity
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Compendium Theologiae 1–49
HMN 202: God and the Human Soul
(2 credits)
Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life
Augustine, Confessions
Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul
PHL 202: Ethics
(2 credits)
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Plato, Symposium
THL 202: The Incarnation
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas Compendium Theologiae 202–246
The Graduate Theology Curriculum offers an integrated program of twenty-one courses in Sacred Scripture, Patristics, Dogmatic Theology, and Moral Theology, in which students discuss exclusively primary sources with their teachers. In keeping with our mission, the Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas enjoys pride of place.
Courses may be taken one or more at a time. (In the Dogmatic Theology track, the earlier courses are often prerequisites for the later courses.)
The Scripture track teaches not only the Word of God, but how to approach it in a humble and disciplined spirit, in the school of spiritual masters. The Dogmatic Theology track revolves around the two great mysteries of the Christian Faith: the Trinity and the Incarnation, the effects of which are extended and applied in the sacramental life of the Church. Three semesters of Patristics introduce students to great and influential writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the Greek Fathers, and the Latin Fathers. Four semesters of moral theology look at the goal of human life (happiness/beatitude), the nature and structure of moral acts, the framework of law, the aid of grace, and the theological and cardinal virtues.
Students who complete the program with a minimum GPA of 2.0 receive a Master of Arts in Theology awarded by the Aquinas Institute.
Sacred Scripture
Dogmatic Theology
Patristics & Moral Theology
THL 511: Old Testament
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Psalms or Isaiah
THL 512: Existence and Attributes of God
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, qq. 1–13
THL 513: Early Church Fathers
(2 credits)
Anonymous early Christians, Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Desert Fathers and Mothers, Cyprian of Carthage, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil the Great
THL 521: Gospels I
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew or John
THL 522: The Mystery of the Holy Trinity
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, qq. 27–43
THL 523: Middle Church Fathers
(2 credits)
Ephrem, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
THL 611: Gospels II
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Matthew or John (continued)
THL 612: Creation
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, qq. 44–64
THL 613: Late Church Fathers
(2 credits)
John Chrysostom, Pseudo-Dionysius, Theodore the Studite, Maximus the Confessor, John Damascene
THL 621: Commentary on Romans
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans
THL 622: Theological Anthropology
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, qq. 75–119
THL 623: Human Acts and the Final End
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, qq. 1–21
THL 711: Commentary on I Corinthians
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on I Corinthians
THL 712: The Incarnation
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, qq. 1–26
THL 713: Law and Grace
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II, qq. 90–114
THL 721: Commentary on Galatians & Ephesians
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Galatians
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Ephesians
THL 722: Life of Christ
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, qq. 27–59
THL 723: Theological Virtues
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, qq. 1–46
THL 811: Commentary on Hebrews
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews
THL 812: The Sacraments
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, qq. 60–83
THL 813: Cardinal Virtues
(2 credits)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, qq. 47–170