Commentary to Proposed Revisions to the Theology & Religious Major
History – TRS has spent most of the last three years in an extensive self-assessment
process, focusing on three major components: end-of-term assessments of student
work to evaluate specific outcomes in the TRS major (starting in December 2011),
the department’s program review (completed May 2012), and a formal process of
using this information to improve the major (fall 2013). The result is this proposal
to the UEPC.
The Elements of the Proposed Revisions
1. One of the strengths of the TRS major (and a general feature of this field of
study) is its broad, interdisciplinary nature. There is no one discipline or
methodology that marks theology as a whole, much less the study of religion
as a whole. Everything from Neo-Thomism to Judith Butler finds a home in
this field. That said, no one can do everything well, so the TRS department
has been working over the last decade to determine and embed the specific
skills and methodologies that every SMC major in theology and religion will
have learned to employ. These skills (defined in learning outcome #4) are as
follows:
a. Biblical exegesis – The department remains committed to TRS 97
(recently developing a transfer-equivalent, TRS 189), which
introduces every student at Saint Mary’s to the academic skills of
biblical exegesis: historical, literary, and theological. In the old TRS
major, students were required to build on this work with an UD
course in Scripture (any course was allowed). In our attempts to
scaffold more explicitly both skills and content, we have decided that,
instead of any course, the UD Scripture course for the TRS majors
must be a course that features a substantive exegetical assignment
(featuring a multi-stage writing process and intensive work with
academic commentaries), and the course also must be focused on one
or more of the gospels. (Currently, the two courses in the catalog that
meet this description are TRS 114 and TRS 115; other options that
meet the core outcomes may be added in the future.) We desire that
advanced exegetical skills be one of the core competencies of all of our
majors (and one that is essential for those continuing on to graduate
school), and the gospel focus is an acknowledgement that all
responsible Christian theological work is first and foremost rooted in
the stories of Jesus.
b. Systematic theology – This was probably one of the weakest areas in
the old TRS major. While we offered lots of great courses in modern
theology, majors were not required to take anything specific, and the
choices in the required group “Contemporary Christian Thought”
varied quite widely. In order to ensure that every major has a solid
level of Catholic systematic theological skill in their repertoire, we
have decided to replace the broad requirement in Contemporary
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Christian Thought with a new course, TRS 129, Fundamental
Questions in Contemporary Theology. This course will be designed to
ensure that students are familiar with the essential issues, questions,
and methods of the contemporary field of theology. In many ways, it
is a partner to our long-standing course, TRS 169, Theory and Method
in the Study of Religion, which plays a similar function with regard to
the essential issues, questions, and methods of the contemporary field
of religious studies. TRS 129 has not yet been offered. A subgroup
within the department is working on an experimental proposal to be
submitted to the chair of the UEPC; the first-run will occur in spring
2015.
c. Religious studies – The skills of religious studies have long been a
strength of the department, with all majors completing the robust
work of TRS 169, Theory and Method in the Study of Religion. As in
the other two skill sets above, we are still, however, working to
improve student learning. In this case, we have chosen to tie the
World Religions requirement in the major much more closely to these
skills. In the old major, any course in a non-Christian religious
tradition could be used to satisfy the World Religions requirement.
This created serious imbalance, as some of the courses (those taught
by ranked faculty) included strong theoretical units using religious
studies methodology, while other courses (those taught by lectures)
more closely resembled simple introductions to the beliefs and
practices of other faiths. While both kinds of courses make sense in
the broader SMC curriculum, we have decided that majors need to be
building their religious studies skills and thus must take one of the
World Religions courses that features such a component (currently
TRS 153-156).
2. One of the features of the new core curriculum is the requirement that every
student learn to Write in the Disciplines. Our goal in this area (in a way
similar to the descriptions above) is to take the good work that we already do
and more carefully streamline it. In this case, we have made two major
changes. First, as discussed, we are requiring the UD Scripture course to
feature heavy work in exegesis. Second, we have decided to require a spring
capstone course (one of our Intensive Inquiry courses: TRS 190-196), which
will henceforth be a WID course. (We are currently working with Tereza in
the Writing Center and the Core Curriculum Committee to ensure that the
course meets best practices for writing instruction and the requirements of
the core.) Moreover, unlike in the past (when students simply had to take
any two Intensive Inquiry courses), this capstone course will no longer be
allowed to take the place of one of the required areas in the major. The
assumption is that the relevant required area will be completed before the
capstone is undertaken, making the capstone a “third tier” of work in the
field. For example, in spring 2015, the capstone will focus on the dialogue
between Christianity and the World Religions, and the expectation (clearly
communicated through advising) is that students should have completed at
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least one UD course in both theology and world religions before the capstone.
Similarly, in spring 2016, the capstone will be a third tier course on the
Apostle Paul, requiring UD Scripture work (with exegesis) before it is taken.
3. Unchanged areas –
a. Students will continue to be required to select one course from the
areas of Christian History and Ethics. Because all courses in these
areas feature the relevant outcomes, we deemed no need for greater
specificity. However, the catalog listing was amended to clearly
indicate which courses do count, matching the much clearer listings in
the other areas.
b. Students continue to need a total of two Intensive Inquiry courses in
the major. One will be filled by the new capstone. The other can be a
second pass through a capstone course (whose topic will vary year to
year) or an Intensive Inquiry elective (offered each fall).
c. The major continues to require a minimum of 10 courses. While
many of our majors take more than the required number of courses,
extensive study (documentation available) of peer programs from
around the country found that this size was standard in the field.
Maintaining the 10-course requirement also conforms to the
philosophical outlook of the department. Because theology and
religious studies are inherently interdisciplinary and interested in the
dialogue between religion and the world, we strongly encourage our
majors to pursue minors (or even second majors) in other, relevant
fields.
d. The other outcomes for the major were either unchanged or changed
with the purpose not of transformation but clarification of their
content.
e. Likewise, there are no changes in the structure of the TRS minors at
this point with the exception of letting minors choose between TRS
169 and the new TRS 129. (Majors must take both.) All other changes
are simply clarifications.
Impact – We see no significant impact to the college from these changes. No new
space is required by the major. Old space is simply reconfigured and retooled to
better serve the learning outcomes. TRS will continue to offer the full range of its
courses as part of the general education of all students in the core curriculum. Our
majors will simply be more carefully directed into specific courses that will be more
focused on meeting their specific needs. There is no increase in the total number of
TRS offerings that will be directed to majors only. We will continue to offer one
Intensive Inquiry course for majors and minors each semester. The change in
content is that the spring course will function as a capstone and feature WID.
Likewise, we will continue to offer one methods course for majors and minors each
term. The change is that, instead of offering TRS 169 both semesters, we plan to
offer TRS 169 in the fall and TRS 129 in the spring. No significant change in library
resources (beyond the standard yearly budget) is required by any of these proposed
changes to the major.