Foundational Curriculum and Advanced Courses

MUSC/THEO 303–Theology of Worship and Its Music This course provides an introduction to the subject by analyzing and expounding the apposite documents of the ecclesiastical Magisterium, from the Motu Proprio of St. Pius X (1903) to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) of Vatican II and the instruction Musicam Sacram of 1967. (3 credits)

MUSC 304—Gregorian Chant This course will involve a systematic study of the different genres of Gregorian chant in the Mass and Divine Office. (3 credits) Prerequisite (not a corequisite): MUSC 101B and 102B or demonstrated competency.

THEO 304 Practicum: Theology of Worship and of its Music This course offers practical experience in applying sound theological principles to weekly sung worship, including the music “proper to the Roman liturgy”, Gregorian chant, according to the Classic Solesmes Method. Pre- or co-requisite: THEO 303; no musical prerequisites. (1 credit hour: Practicum may not be repeated for credit.)

MUSC/HIST 305–History of Music in Western Civilization This course is a one-semester introduction to the history of music in Western civilization. Since this course is open to students with no musical background, it will begin with an overview of some of the simpler technical aspects of music that are a sine qua non for intelligent listening and discussion of this fine art. After this, the course will deal with the study of the compositions, events, and people in music history, but also with writings about music and how music fits in with the culture and other arts of the times. There will be a listening component in which students will be required to recognize recordings of important compositions in music history. (3 credits)

MUSC 310–Choir Apprenticeship In this course the student works with the professor and a chaplain to organize, present, and direct a significant liturgical event (e.g. Sunday sung Vespers) in the life of the College. (2 credits) Prerequisite (not a co-requisite): One-year’s participation in Choir. Open only to students minoring in Liturgical Music.

MUSC 311–Lessons Private musical lessons on a weekly basis for Liturgical Music Minors. Students may enroll in this course only by permission of the Director of Liturgical Music. Normally, only lessons in organ or voice meet the requirements of this course. Students should consult the Director of Liturgical Music for more information about MUSC 311. (1 credit)

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Philosophy

The ultimate happiness that man can have in this life must consist in the contemplation of the first causes; for the little that can be known about them is more lovable and excellent than everything that can be known about lesser things. . . . And it is through the completion of this knowledge in us after the present life that man is made perfectly happy, according to the words of the Gospel: This is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God.

St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Book of Causes

Philosophy, the “love of wisdom,” begins in wonder and ends in an organized natural knowledge of the ultimate causes of all things. It is an essentially speculative discipline, one that seeks knowledge for its own sake and not for its usefulness. It is not a means to a liberal education but, along with theology, is the very purpose and end of a liberal education. Desirable in itself, philosophy also prepares the mind for the understanding of theology, the study of God based on Divine Revelation.

The beauty of wisdom imposes upon philosophy an orderly communication of its riches. Philosophy imparts to its students the tools of rational thought, applies them first to an investigation of the physical world and its most noble part, mankind, then looks to ordering our practical lives for the sake of wisdom, and finally considers each thing in its highest aspect, namely as a being participating in a limited way in the unlimited being of God. At Christendom College, this communication is reflected primarily in the arrangement of courses studying philosophy systematically and secondarily in the arrangement of courses studying philosophy historically. In the first semester a student is introduced to philosophy through a course which is both historical and systematic. This initial course focuses both on early Greek philosophy, a historical framework within which the systematic problems and aims of philosophy are presented, and through logic, the systematic science providing the intellect with its most powerful tools. He then takes a course on the philosophy of human nature, man being the greatest of God’s changeable creations. He proceeds to study ethics, a consideration of human action in its relation to human happiness. Finally the student investigates metaphysics, the culmination of philosophy and the natural fulfillment of liberal education. Metaphysics is the science of being qua being, a science that ultimately aims at a natural knowledge of God. Two courses in the history of philosophy, Medieval Philosophy and Modern Philosophy, end the core sequence with an inductive approach to philosophical problems. These latter courses also have a practical aim: they prepare the student to live and act effectively in the modern world by showing him the patterns of thought which have molded it.

The philosophy courses in the core curriculum not only introduce the student to wisdom, they also provide the ability to integrate the liberal arts by showing their relation to each other and to philosophy and theology in an organized view of the whole of reality. The elective courses in philosophy build on the knowledge acquired in the core curriculum, deepening an understanding which in the core curriculum itself inevitably remains somewhat elementary.

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