Peace and Justice Studies Program

Stephen J. Casey, M.A., Coordinator

Overview

The Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church (1971) reported that “actions on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel…” The 32nd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus (1974-75) established a pedagogical norm for its own institutions of higher education when it determined that the practice of faith was inextricably linked to the promotion of justice. In this vein the University's Peace and Justice Program was instituted to bring academic studies, including classes, community service and interdisciplinary research, into the process of building a more just and thus more peaceful society.

The Peace and Justice Concentration will be an attractive complement to the academic programs of students planning careers in law, international relations, human services, ministry and teaching – to name only the most obvious. However, any students who have a personal interest in the problems of peace and justice, regardless of their career goals, can benefit from its multi-disciplinary concentration of courses. It is open to majors from all the undergraduate schools of the University. Eight courses (24 credits) must be taken by students in order to have “Peace and Justice Concentration” added to their transcript. Courses may be taken as part of the cognate requirement (with permission of the chairperson of the major) or as part of the general education requirements.

The following courses will provide students with the opportunities to reflect critically on the social, economic, psychological, political and structural issues impeding the establishing of a just and peaceful society.

1. Requirements in Theology (any two of the following):

   T/RS 231	Social Ethics
   T/RS 232	John Paul II and Catholic Social Thought
   T/RS 234	Twentieth-Century Peacemaker
   T/RS 236	Prophets & Profits
   T/RS 237	Politics: A Christian Perspective
   T/RS 239	Money and Power in the Biblical Tradition
   T/RS 313	Faith and Justice in the Prophetic Tradition
   T/RS 331	God and the Earth
   T/RS 332	Jesus and the Moral Life
   T/RS 334	Church and Contemporary Social Issues

2. Electives (any five courses listed below can be counted; others may be included with approval from the program coordinator):

   CHEM 104	Science and Society
   CHS 338	Poverty, Homelessness & Social Justice
   COMM 220	Responsibility in Communication
   COMM 311	Political Communication
   ECO 462	Urban and Regional Economics
   ECO 465	Development Economics
   ENLT 226	Novels by Women
   ENLT 228	Race in Anglo-American Culture 1600-1860
   ENLT 348	Colonial & Post-Colonial Fiction
   GEOG 217	Cultural Geography
   HIST 211	The Third World
   HIST 216	Race in American History
   HIST 224	Ethnic and Racial Minorities in NEPA
   HIST 333	Multiculturalism in Human Services
   INTD 209	The Holocaust
   LIT 207	Literature of American Minorities
   MGT 473	Organizational Social Responsibility
   NSCI 201	Science and the Human Environment
   PHIL 213	Environmental Ethics
   PHIL 218	Feminism: Theory & Practice
   PHIL 227	Political Philosophy
   PHIL 410	Philosophy of Culture
   PHYS 106	Energy and the Environment
   PS 216	Women's Rights & Status
   PS 227	Women, Authority and Power
   PSYCH 220	Social Psychology
   S/CJ 210	Law and Society
   SOC 116	Community Organization
   SOC 224	American Minority Groups
   SPAN 314	Topics in Latin American Culture & Civilization

3. Integrative Capstone Course: (required in junior/senior year)

T/JP 310 — Toward a Just and Peaceful World — 3 credits

This course will reflect on the various issues and problems raised by peace and justice study. It will consider the relationship of religion, moral philosophy and the social/political concerns embraced in the quest for a human world order. Faculty from several disciplines will make presentations. Each student will write a paper from the perspective of his/her major area of concentration.