Content

This unit will examine Catholic social and political ideas and movements in Europe and elsewhere, and evaluate their impact and interpretation in Australia. It will consider key issues in Catholic social movements in Europe, outline the backgrounds to the papal social encyclicals and trace their development internationally to Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.

Unit code: CH2230Y

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 18.0

Unit level: Undergraduate Level 2

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Face to Face

Proposing College: Yarra Theological Union

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Learning outcomes

1.

Show competence in reading and interpreting the main social encyclicals

2.

Demonstrate the importance of key social concepts: the common good, solidarity, social and distributive justice, capitalism, communism, socialism, corporatism

3.

Describe key debates about Catholic social movements

4.

Critique the strengths and weaknesses in the development of Catholic social thought

Unit sequence

A foundational unit in Church History or Moral Theology

Pedagogy

The unit requires students to read closely the major social justice encyclicals in light of the historical context and the social justice debates at the time. Students are also required to discuss their findings and evaluate Church social reform efforts overseas and their impacts in Australia. The unit will outline the development of Catholic social thinking in Australia, including as reflected in the social justice statements of the Australian bishops. The lecturer will also make use of film and digital resources which succinctly portray various aspects of these developments. Written assessment requires significant reading and evaluation.

Indicative Bibliography

  • Duncan, Bruce. Crusade or Conspiracy? Catholics and the anti-Communist Struggle in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2001.
  • Faggioli, Massimo. John XXIII: the Medicine of Mercy. Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 2104.
  • Himes, Kenneth R., ed. Modern Catholic Social Teaching: Commentaries and Interpretations. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown UP, 2018.
  • Hogan, Michael. Australian Catholics: The Social Justice Tradition. Melbourne: Collins Dove, 1993.
  • Ivereigh, Austen: The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2014.
  • Mathews, Race. Of Labour and Liberty: Distributism in Victoria 1891-1966. Melbourne: Monash Publishing, 2017.
  • Pabst, Adrian. The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Pope Benedict XVI’s Social Encyclical and the Future of Political Economy. Cambridge, UK: James Clarke & Co., 2011.
  • Rourke, Thomas R. The Roots of Pope Francis’s Social and Political Thought: From Argentina to the Vatican. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. Tornielli, Andrea & Galeazzi, Giacomo. *This Economy Kills: Pope Francis on Capitalism and Social Justice. Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 2015. Vallely, Paul. *Pope Francis: Untying the Knots. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Essay

Essay 2,500 words

2500 60.0
Essay

Essay 2,000 words

2000 40.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by John Capper on 27 Sep, 2019

Unit record last updated: 2021-06-07 08:43:50 +1000