N.B.: These course numberings and descriptions apply to the academic year of 2018-2019.
For previous versions, please consult the catalog of the corresponding year.
For a course listing according to years/semesters, please go here.
1st Digit The first digit represents the level of the course.
2nd Digit The second digit codifies the course itself, to distinguish it from other courses within the same category.
3rd Digit The third digit indicates the semester and year in which the course is offered (eight semesters during four years).
Example: SS 125 Western Civilization I is a 1st level course, #2 of the Social Sciences courses and offered during the 5th semester of the program.
H 115 Art and Music History and Theory I (3 credits). No Prerequisites. This course is designed as an introduction to the basic concepts of art and music, and to their development from Antiquity up through the High Middle Ages (11th century). While the history of art and music will be presented in their respective progression, common underlying aesthetic and ideological principles are identified and reflected upon in order to evaluate and appreciate better the patrimony and the impact which the visual arts and music exert on man. In particular, for painting, sculpture, and architecture the following periods are dealt with: Pre-History, Ancient Near East, Egypt, Crete, Mycenae, Greece, Rome, early Christianity, Byzantium, Pre-Romanesque, and Romanesque. Each period and artistic style is placed within the socio-cultural context of the epoch, emphasizing underlying ideas and beliefs. The most representative works of art in each period are presented; primary texts about art and aesthetics, with particular regard to the historiographical methodology for art history, are also discussed. A guided visit to the Yale Gallery of Art in New Haven and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston provide firsthand experience of the material covered in class. For music, a general introduction into music theory is provided, including the question of the value of music in its aesthetical and ethical dimension, with a special emphasis on the authors of antiquity. The historical account is initiated with musical documents from Antiquity and carried forward until the dawn of polyphony. Taught by Mrs. Louise Joyner and Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC.
H 216 Art and Music History and Theory II (3 credits). Prerequisite: H 115. This course builds on the previous one and includes a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY). It, too, follows a socio-historical presentation of painting, sculpture, and architecture during the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classical and Romantic periods. The seminar provides the venue to discuss the most representative artists and their works. For music, the historical survey continues with music from the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Classical and Romantic periods. After the appropriate introductions, students are given the opportunity to listen to pieces by the major composers and analyze the characteristics of their principal works. Taught by Mrs. Louise Joyner and Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC.
H 317 Art and Music History and Theory III (3 credits). Prerequisite: H 216. This course builds on the ones from last year and, with the same class methodology and dynamics, carries the historical survey and reflection forward from Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classicism to Romanticism. Particular attention will be paid to the growing importance during this period of art criticism, the impact of museology and art historical-methodologies. Monthly museum visits will intensify the personal exposure to artworks of various collections available in New England. Music history focuses on the periods of Classics (Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven) and the Romantic age in its international ramifications. The exposition of composers and their works is backed up by insights into the cultural and especially ideological circumstances of the time. Taught by Louise Joyner and Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC.
H 418 Art and Music History and Theory IV (3 credits). Prerequisite: H 317. This course concludes the socio-historical survey of art and music, specializing in twentieth-century and contemporary art and music. It includes—in art—Impressionism, Expressionism, Futurism, Cubism, Abstraction, Pop Art, and New Realism; and—in music—the development of atonal, serial, and experimental music, ending with a section on sacred music throughout the past century. Seminar discussions, museum and concert visits bring to life the theoretical principles and the historical account provided in the lectures. The course culminates in a panoramic overview of the whole arc of artistic development and elucidates interlocking trends between the arts and other areas of culture. Taught by Mrs. Louise Joyner and Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC.
H 125 Western Literature I (3 credits). No prerequisites. In this course, students read, analyze and discuss selected works from ancient authors. The authors or themes treated are as follows: introduction to Greek literature, Homer, Hesiod, Lyric Poets, Greek Tragedy, Plato and Aristotle’s literary criticism, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Catullus, Early Medieval Epics (from Beowulf to the Nibelungenlied) and Petrarch. A weekly seminar period is dedicated to Virgil’s Aeneid, with students reading the entire work and preparing a presentation on a specific topic. A discussion of major themes and topics—such as literary devices, ideas and intuitions regarding human nature—follows each presentation. Taught by Baltazar López, with the seminar groups being directed by Baltazar López, Jesús Guerrero, Bob Murphy, and Fr. Miguel Ángel de la Torre, LC.
H 226 Western Literature II (3 credits). Prerequisite: H125. This course entails reading, analysis, and discussion of selected works from medieval and renaissance authors. The authors or themes treated are as follows: Dante, Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Cervantes, the Spanish Golden Century, French Theater, Jonathan Swift, and Goethe, finishing with Romanticism in England, Spain, and Italy. For the seminar, students choose among the following works: Dante’s Divine Comedy, a selection of Shakespeare’s plays, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Cervantes’ Don Quixote, and a selection of poetry taken from the Spanish Golden Century. They prepare different presentations throughout the semester with the help of various commentaries and under the modality suggested by each seminar director. Taught by Baltazar López, with seminar groups being directed by Baltazar López, Jesús Guerrero, Bob Murphy, and Fr. Miguel Ángel de la Torre, LC.
H 327 Western Literature III (3 credits). Prerequisite: H 226. This course entails the reading, analysis, and discussion of selected works from modern authors such as Montaigne, Moliere, Goethe, Swift, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, Dickens, Hugo, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Irving, Hawthorne, Twain, and Frost. The course also includes a seminar to gain an appreciation for the particular power of poetry and to understand a variety of its formal elements. Taught by Baltazar López, with seminar groups being directed by Baltazar López, Jesús Guerrero, Bob Murphy, and Fr. Miguel Ángel de la Torre, LC).
H 428 Western Literature IV (3 credits). Prerequisite: H 327. This course entails reading, analysis, and discussion of selected works from 20th- century authors. The authors treated are as follows: Faulkner, Eliot, Hemingway, Doyle, Chesterton, Greene, Kafka, Fabre, Claudel, Mauriac, Camus, Ionesco, Cela, Solzhenitsyn, and Marquez. The course also includes a seminar which treats the modern essay and short stories. Taught by Baltazar López, with seminar groups being directed by Baltazar López, Jesús Guerrero, Bob Murphy, and Fr. Miguel Ángel de la Torre, LC.
H 448 Currents of Contemporary Culture: Analysis and Response (2 credits). Prerequisite: SS 327 Western Civilization III. In order to be able to dialogue in a meaningful and effective way with people of our time, students will study relevant texts and articles in order to analyze, understand, discuss, and evaluate not only the main manifestations of contemporary cultural trends but also their origins. Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to, LGBTQ, feminism, New Age “spirituality”, globalization, social media, the role of music, populism and neo-nationalism, generational issues (Gen X, Millennials), and what Pope Benedict XVI indicates with the term of “dictatorship of relativism.” These phenomena will be studied in preparation for evangelizing in the modern world.
H 458 Adveniat Regnum Tuum! Art as a Legionary Apostolate (2 credits). Prerequisite: H317. This elective course builds on those from the previous three semesters of art history survey by taking a deeper look at a wide array of ecclesiastical monuments from a theological perspective. The first portion of this course will offer a historical survey and reflection focusing on Sacred Art and Architecture through the lens of Church History. The sacramental nature of Sacred Art, its catechetical use, and its place within the context of spirituality, will be studied and reflected upon in light of primary sources. Church architecture, both modern construction and historic restorations, will be evaluated in terms ecclesiastical norms with the goal of discernment for beauty. As both the Legionary motto and the title for this course suggest, the many forms which art can, and has, assumed as an efficacious apostolate for the New Evangelization will be explored in the face of contemporary culture. The methodology for this elective course will be a seminar that includes a combination of lecture and group discussion format. Taught by Louise Joyner.
H 468 Athetics Ancient and Modern (2 credits). Athletic contest, agón, has been central to our culture from its origins. This course will study athletics ancient and modern, drawing from literary, archaeological, art historical, and video evidence. The first part of the course will deal with antiquity: topics will include athletics in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Bronze age Greece; the ancient Olympics and other pan-Hellenic athletic festivals; the pan-Hellenic sanctuaries of Olympia, Delphi, Nemea, and Isthmia; and Roman games and venues and their place in Roman society and political culture. The second part will consider the 19th and 20th centuries: the foundation of the modern Olympic games as an example of Romantic Hellenism, baseball as a chapter in the social history of the United States, the World Cup soccer championship as an arena for international politics. The concluding part will consider philosophical and theological responses to athletics, both negative and positive, from Tertullian (“we hate others without cause and rejoice in achievements not our own”) to Josef Ratzinger/Benedict XVI (“the game is an attempt to return to paradise”). Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
L 205 and L 206 Ecclesiastical Latin I and II (2 credits each). Prerequisite: mastery of basic Latin morphology and syntax. The course focuses on analyzing and translating a selection of hymns and prayers from the Catholic Mass and other ceremonies, an introduction to the Latin of the Vulgate, the Church Fathers, and the Medieval Latin of the Doctors of the Church. Students learn the vocabulary words that occur most frequently in the texts they are translating. Each week, translation of original Latin texts is combined with a systematic grammar review. Taught by Fr. John Sweeney, LC.
L 207 Select Reading of Ecclesiastical Latin (2 credits). Prerequisite: L 206. This course will lead the students through texts from the Church liturgy and ecumenical councils, principally the Liturgy of the Hours and Gaudium et Spes. Taught by Fr. John Sweeney, LC.
L 215 Introduction to Classical Latin Readings (2 credits). Prerequisite: mastery of basic Latin morphology and syntax. This course will introduce the students into the translation of classical Latin texts in ascending degree of difficulty, with the idea of easing the students into more complex texts. Taught by Fr. Miguel Ángel de la Torre, LC.
L 216 Selections of the Confessions of St. Augustine (2 credits). Prerequisite: L 215. The course includes the reading of selected texts from the autobiography of St. Augustine, and the emphasis is on reading comprehension. Taught by Fr. Miguel Ángel de la Torre, LC.
L 217 Latin in the Classical Tradition (2 credits). Prerequisite: L 216. While the students continue strengthening their command of Latin grammar, they read a representative selection of texts by classical Roman authors and explore the cultural contexts in which the texts were written. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
L 325 Latin Prose I: Cicero’s Pro Archia (2 credits). Prerequisite: Elementary Latin morphology and syntax. Cicero’s Pro Archia, delivered in 62 A.D. is a masterpiece of ancient rhetoric, which poses a legal issue limited enough for us to get a good grasp of and evaluate, and which also contains an influential passage on the value of the liberal arts. We will read the oration together, construing the Latin carefully, paying attention to Ciceronian techniques of rhetorical artistry, and considering his discussion in the confirmatio section of the speech on the value of humanities study. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
L 326 Latin Prose II: Seneca’s Epistulae Morales and St. Augustine (2 credits). Prerequisite: L 325. This semester continues our survey of Latin prose from Cicero to Augustine. We will read together a number of the Epistulae Morales of Seneca and consider his Stoic thought, particularly as it may be consonant with Christian moral teaching, as well as several other writers of the first century A.D. After that we will turn to selections of St. Augustine, drawn from his sermons and his Biblical commentaries, as found in the readings of the Office of Readings, and, at greater length, from his Confessions. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
L 327 Latin Patristic Prose (2 credits). Prerequisites: L 326 or L 216. Patrology is the study of the life, writings, and teachings of the earliest Christian writers and theologians. The Fathers of the Church defended and explained the faith in times of persecution and establishment, controversy and peace, over the first seven centuries of Christianity. We will read together selections from the Fathers of the Church who wrote in Latin in the western empire, accomplishing a chronological survey of their writings. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
G 135 and G 136 Greek Basics I and II (2 credits each). No prerequisites. This course is for those students who have no previous familiarity with Greek. Through an organic program they will learn the basics of grammar and vocabulary as we learned our mother tongues. Taught by Baltazar López.
G 105 and G 106 Biblical Greek I and II (2 credits each). No prerequisites. This course is designed to introduce students to a more extensive reading of Biblical texts. It combines a review of grammar with the reading of selected passages from the New Testament. Students continue to learn vocabulary and are expected to master the words that occur most frequently in the New Testament texts. Taught by Fr. John Sweeney, LC.
G 215 and G 216 Biblical Greek and Beyond I and II (2 credits each). Prerequisite: Elementary Greek Grammar. This course offers texts from the New Testament, along with a systematic review of Greek grammar. In addition to identifying relevant aspects of grammar and syntax, students are expected to exegetically read and discuss the significance of each text. The course then adds selections from the Septuagint, and, to link these texts to broader culture, includes some classical Greek texts and other topics of ancient Greece. Students are introduced to more advanced syntactical constructions. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
G 207 Select New Testament Readings (2 credits). Prerequisite: G 106. This course leads the students in the reading of select New Testament texts, from the order of the simplest to the most complex. Taught by Fr. John Sweeney, LC.
G 217 Selections of Early Christian Greek Texts I (2 credits). Prerequisite: G 216. Students continue reviewing the basics of Greek grammar and syntax, including the article, nouns, the three declensions, pronouns, and all major verb forms. They exercise this knowledge by translating texts from the Gospels and the epistles of St Paul and St John, from the Fathers of the Church, and from classical Greek authors such as Herodotus and Plato. An effort is made to explain the biographical background and context of each work presented. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
G 325 Greek of the New Testament and the Septuagint (2 credits). Prerequisite: Elementary Greek grammar. We will read together selections from the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament), reviewing and consolidating our knowledge of koine Greek grammar, morphology, and vocabulary as necessary, while trying to gain some mastery and ease with this kind of Greek. As time allows there will also be other readings of various kinds of Hellenistic Greek. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
G 326 Classical Greek Prose: Plato’s Apology of Socrates (2 credits). Prerequisite: G 325. In the Apology of Socrates, Plato dramatizes the trial of Socrates in Athens in 399 BC some five or ten years after the event. We will read the work together, making the transition to reading Attic Greek prose and discussing the issues that the work poses. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
G 427 Greek Patristic Prose (2 credits). Prerequisite: G 326. Patrology is the study of the life, writings, and teachings of the earliest Christian writers and theologians. The Fathers of the Church defended and explained the faith in times of persecution and establishment, controversy and peace, over the first seven centuries of Christianity. We will read together selections from the Fathers of the Church who wrote in Greek, accomplishing a chronological survey of their writings. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
L 318 Selections of Classical and Medieval Latin (2 credits). Prerequisites: L 327. This course is designed to introduce students to the reading of classical and Christian texts up until medieval times, concluding with St. Thomas Aquinas. Advanced syntax constructions are introduced or reviewed. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
L 428 Latin Poetry (2 credits). Prerequisite: L 427. We will read together works by a number of Roman poets, surveying material from Catullus and Lucretius through Vergil, Horace, and Ovid, and on to Christian Latin poets. We will pay attention to rhythm, diction and other aspects of formal artistry; important themes in Roman poetry; and the Christian appropriation of the Latin poetic tradition. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
G 318 Selections of Early Christian Greek Texts II (2 credits). Prerequisite: G 217. Students continue reviewing the basics of Greek grammar and syntax, including the article, nouns, the three declensions, pronouns, and all major verb forms. They exercise this knowledge by translating texts from the Gospels and the epistles of St Paul and St John, from the Fathers of the Church, and from classical Greek authors such as Herodotus and Plato. An effort is made to explain the biographical background and context of each work presented. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
G428 Greek Poetry: Homer and Tragedy (2 credits). Prerequisite: G427. . We will read substantial selections from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Reading the epics in the original allows us to enter deeply into the Homeric world of thought and culture. We will consider the oral dialect of Homer, in its morphology, vocabulary, and structure, learning some structural linguistics along the way, and gain mastery of the prosody of the hexameter and skill in realizing in performance this fundamental kind of Greek music. We will also consider the significance of oral poetics to human culture. Selections from tragedy, lyric, and Nonnos’ hexameter Paraphrase on the Gospel of John will also be read. The choice of readings can easily accommodate any particular interests and needs of class members. Taught by Dr. Charles Mercier.
SC 207 Euclid’s Elements (3 credits). No prerequisites. This course covers the definitions, postulates, common notions, and all of the propositions in Books I to IV of Euclid’s Elements. Regular tutoring sessions are offered for those students in need of more assistance in learning and applying the subject material. Taught by Bob Murphy.
SC 228 Biology for Bioethics (3 credits). No prerequisites. This course focuses on the themes of biology needed to understand today’s most relevant bioethical questions. The following fields are discussed in this course: key persons in the history of biology, life, the cell, genetics, the human body, embryology and biotechnology, evolution, and ecology. Taught by Dr. Gary Tennyson and Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP.
SC 237 Physics for Philosophy (3 credits). Prerequisites: proficiency in mathematics – Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Geometry. This course explores the ideas and ramifications of the greatest minds of natural philosophy: Aristotle, Newton, Einstein, and Heisenberg. Their ideas and principles about the workings of nature are explored and discussed with the purpose of understanding about the way nature works. True understanding does not end with ideas but in a discovery of how nature truly behaves. Students consider various applications and solve problems. Special emphasis is given to modern physics. The professor is available twice a week for a tutorial. Taught by Dr. Heric Flores.
SC 247 The Two Central Theories of Modern Science, Classical and Quantum Mechanics: History and Theory (2 credits). This course outlines the two central theories of modern science, with both history and theory integrated into one method of study: classical mechanics (with its beginnings in Galileo and Newton) and quantum mechanics (arguably the most successful physical theory of all time). Readings and discussions will present the history of the development and its relation to science in the Middle Ages. Problem sets and demonstrations will build up the students’ theoretical understanding, as well as provide ways to understand the original experiments and physical insights. This course treats both theories as simply as possible but formulated at the highest level of contemporary physics; instead of focusing on solving extremely complex problems (as one does in regular physics courses), this course focuses on principles and derivations, on what the math means and what can be built on it. Although the course is heavily mathematical, the only prerequisites are algebra and geometry (especially some knowledge of basic trigonometry); all the rest will be derived. This course is intended for students who love math and are not afraid of it, even if they may not be the best at it. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
SS 125 Western Civilization I (3 credits). No Prerequisites. This course intends to highlight important aspects that arise within cultures and peoples from ancient cultures down through the end of the early Middle Ages. In the lecture classes, special attention is paid to cultural development with regards to currents of thought in the philosophical, political, and economic fields and their effect on daily life and culture as a whole. Connections are drawn between socio-economic conditions and the progress of the arts and sciences, as well as their place in and effect on the social order. Furthermore, the course intends to provide patterns of judgment and understanding of the present political and cultural situation of the world in view of its roots and causes in previous periods. The seminar seeks to provide the students with exposure to primary sources and encourages them to begin formulating their own opinions about historical events. This course covers readings from early Mesopotamian Civilization to about 1050 A.D. Students are required to read primary sources on a variety of topics, formulate a thesis on each topic, and express that thesis in class discussion. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
SS 226 Western Civilization II (3 credits). Prerequisite: SS 125. This course is a continuation of World History I and follows the same dynamics. It consists of a discussion of cultures and peoples, predominantly of Western Europe, from the High Middle Ages (1100s) down to the mid-nineteenth century. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns, Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC, and Fr. John Bender, LC.
SS 327 Western Civilization III (3 credits). Prerequisite: SS 226. This course will discuss themes of Western Civilization from the sixteenth century to the turn of the twentieth century. The classes build on the historical account previously studied and analyze underlying questions with the help of source texts in order to gain a more profound understanding of events as listed in the class calendar. Sociopolitical themes such as freedom, revolution, nationalism, imperialism, etc. will be studied in their various historical manifestations and in their relevance for the world of today. The previous source book seminar is now integrated into the general class setting. Taught by Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC, and Fr. John Bender, LC.
SS 428 Western Civilization IV (3 credits). Prerequisite: SS 327. This course is a discussion of the most important events and trends of 20th century and contemporary history. Review and analysis follow the same parameters as in the previous semester. Taught by Fr. Andreas Kramarz, LC, and Fr. John Bender, LC.
SS 215 Writing (2 credits). No prerequisites. This course presents key concepts and skills needed for the effective communication. After an initial introduction to the art of thinking and logic, the student is presented with elements needed for college-level writing to ensure succinct and powerful writing of descriptive or narrative pieces, explanatory and argumentative essays, articles, and blogs. Taught by Dr. Timothy Kearns.
SS 245 Estilo (2 credits). No prerequisites. This course is designed to help Spanish-speaking students better express themselves in their written native language, with a view to producing articles and essays for a wider audience. This course will be held in Spanish. Taught by Fr. Miguel de la Torre, LC.
SS 236 Communications I (2 credits). No prerequisites. This course presents essential elements of effective public speaking through lectures and analysis of models. Students continuously prepare, deliver, and improve —through classroom feedback— a variety of oral presentations. All participants are divided up in coaching groups for individual practice and review. Taught by Fr. Christopher O’Connor, LC, and Fr. Miguel de la Torre, LC. Coaching sessions by Fr. Christopher O’Connor, LC, Fr. Miguel de la Torre, LC, and Jesús Guerrero.
SS 317 Communications II (1 credit). Prerequisite: SS 236. This course is a workshop where students can put into practice much of the theory learned in the previous year. It includes analysis of models, individual and team exercises, and peer-evaluation. Students also learn how to reframe hot-button issues to foster constructive dialogue. Taught by Fr. Christopher O’Connor, LC, and Fr. Miguel de la Torre, LC. Coaching sessions by Fr. Christopher O’Connor, LC, Fr. Miguel de la Torre, LC, and Jesús Guerrero.
ML 005 and ML 006 Elementary Remedial English I and II / 025 and ML 026 Introduction to English (Remedial) I and II (no credits). These courses, differing according to the level of pre-existing knowledge, are designed to bring non-native English speakers who arrive for the first year of the program to a college level of English. They take place before the beginning of the first semester. Taught by the LVA School of Danbury, CT.
ML 015 and ML 016 Intermediate Remedial English I and II (no credits). This course is designed for non-native English speakers who arrive for the first year of the program and need to continue strengthening their English proficiency. Taught by Mrs. Melanie Sánchez.
ML 028 Spanish I (3 credits). No particular prerequisites. This course is an elective offered to help students acquire an intermediate level of Spanish. Taught by Mrs. Melanie Sánchez.