Columbus School of Law

 Catholic Social Teaching and the Law (2 hrs.) — req. QP

Religion and the Law > Advanced Courses
 

This course introduces students to the basic tenets of Roman Catholic Social Teaching — the response of the Catholic Church to the social, political, and economic order as it has evolved over the past 115 years. These teachings began with the 1891 papal encyclical Rerum Novarum and have developed through later encyclicals, documents of the Second Vatican Council, and pastoral letters of bishops’ conferences. Dominant principles include the dignity of the human person, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the preferential option for the poor. This course will compare American approaches to the formation of law and policy with the Catholic ideal in four special areas: economic and labor regulation, family and life issues, war and peace, and domestic social policy (e.g. welfare reform, etc.). There will be no final examination, but each student is to write a paper, lead a class on the paper topic, and participate in the discussion of the papers of fellow students. This course requires a qualifying course paper that fulfills one half of the upper level writing requirement. Refer to Academic Rule X — Writing Requirement and Directed Research. Faculty.