If you are a human person, this course is for you! We will explore the fundamental questions each of us has about who we are, the purpose of our lives, and the way to grow in freedom and happiness.
Just as there is knowledge of the empirical sciences, worked out through observation, reflection and experimentation, which we can study, so there is a worked out and accumulated ethical knowledge about the human person, the soul, the spiritual faculties of the intellect and the will and the emotions that are conditioned by our bodies. A clear understanding of how all this works together is extremely useful, because even a minor error in the perception of our nature leads to serious errors in self-understanding, and what is more, in our lives.
From the foreword by Fr Giertych, Papal Theologian
| Weeks | Topic |
|---|---|
| Session One - Wed Aug 3 | Philosophical Anthropology |
| Session Two - Wed Aug 10 | Emotions, Part I |
| Session Three - Wed Aug 17 | Emotions, Part II |
| Session Four - Wed Aug 24 | Spiritual Faculties of Intellect and Will |
| Session Five - Wed Aug 31 | True Human Freedom, Part I |
| Session Six - Wed Sep 7 | True Human Freedom, Part II |
| Session Seven - Wed Sep 14 | Emotions and Faith |
| Session Eight - Wed Sep 21 | A Note on Repression |
The Nature of the Human Soul: Philosophical Anthropology & Moral Theology analyzes the nature of the faculties of the soul, with special emphasis on the intellect, will, and emotions as the primary faculties for human action. Using Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas’s classical teachings, Sr. Mary Angelica Neenan, O.P., describes the faculties according to their natures and operations, with a view toward discussing the complications of human choices and actions.The Nature of the Human Soul is intended to prepare the student for further study into the nature of morality itself and the necessary connection with the teaching of the Gospel and the action of grace in the soul.
Sr Mary Helen OP
Sister Mary Helen, OP is a religious sister from the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. Growing up in Melbourne, she studied Chemical Engineering and Science at Monash University before going on to further studies abroad in Moral Theology and Education. Sister Mary Helen has joyfully witnessed the transformation that happens when students take time to step into the luminous intellectual, moral and spiritual world of Aquinas. She is very excited to open this world to you.
