.

The Catholic Commitment of Today’s Filipino: A Synthesis

Th 151 V/DLQ 10
Department of Theology, SOH

Agustin Martin G. Rodriguez, PhD

Second Semester 2019-2020 MWF 12:00 – 1:00 pm

3 Units SOM 303
Consultation Hours MWF 11:00 – 12:00 noon

The Course:

With the background from various core courses, this Ignatian integrative course draws
from philosophical and theological perspectives in discussing selected life questions,
e.g., suffering and the pursuit of happiness, brokenness and the pursuit of wholeness,
finitude and the infinite. It proposes approaches to making life decisions, developing
moral imagination, and cultivating leadership and commitment. By its very nature, life
questions need a more reflective approach that combines phenomenology,
hermeneutics, and Ignatian discernment.

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Develop a discerning sensibility by describing and interpreting fundamental

movements of personal freedom;
2. Analyze and articulate the decision-making process in the light of Ignatian
humanism;
3. Be able to articulate the meaning and demands of Christian commitment;
4. Develop a personal perspective on leadership and mission in society.

More particularly to this professor, the student should be able to:

1. Articulate the meaning of Christian commitment in relation to human flourishing.

2. Explain and apply the meaning and method of Ignatian discernment.
 .,

3. Apply the conception of human flourishing rooted in Christian commitment to

leadership and social responsibility.
4. Demonstrate how this discernment method could help them articulate their lives as
vocation.

Course Outline:

I. The Human Journey and the Call

a. Outline:
i. Human becoming in the face of death (Week 1)
ii. The journey toward death and the vocation of love (Week 2)
iii. Death as the perfection of love (Week 3)

b. Outcomes:
i. The student will be able to present a possible framework for human
becoming before the reality of death
ii. The student will be able to explain how human life is a growing in love
iii. The student will be able to show how freedom is rooted in the
fundamental choice to love

c. Tests:
i. Outline of the reading
ii. Reading based exam

d. Reading:
i. Troisfontanes, Roger. “Death: The Test of Love and The Condition for
Liberty,” CrossCurrents Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer 1957), pp. 201-212.

II. Brokenness, Finitude, and Possibility

a. Outline
i. Human becoming and vocation (Week 4)
ii. Of fate and finitude (Week 5)
iii. The order of love and the call of destiny (Week 6)
iv. Finite being, the call of the infinite, and the necessity of discernment
(Week 7)

b. Outcomes:
i. Students will be able to articulate the concepts of finitude, destiny, and
fate
ii. Students will be able to explain the concept of ordo amoris
 .,

iii. Students will be able to explain why discernment is necessary for

human flourishing

c. Tests:
Outline of the reading
One to two page essay on the section

d. Reading:
Rodriguez, Agustin Martin G. “Of Destiny Fate and Becoming,”
Philosophy Today, Spring 2002.

III. The Call to Self

a. Outline
i. What is vocation and the call of the infinite (Week 8)
ii. The pattern of the call of Mary (Week 8)
iii. Committing to the call that calls you to yourself (Week 9)
iv. What is Ignatian discernment (Week 10)
v. The listening to the Infinite and the Examen as an example (Week 10)
vi. Discerning the human role in the work of the Infinite (Week 11)

b. Outcomes
i. Students will be able to discuss the concept of vocation
ii. Students will be able to identify the pattern of vocation in everyday life
iii. Students will be able to apply the Examen
iv. Students will be able to discuss other forms of discernment

c. Test
i. Examen chapter outline
ii. Paper on forms of the Examen or discernment

d. Readings
i. Martin, James. Jesus: A Pilgrimage, (New York: Harper One, 1989) pp.
33-50.
ii. _____. “Chapter 4,” The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything. (New York:
Harper One, 2010).

IV. Witnessing Love as The Christian’s Destiny or The Christian Meaning of Leadership

a. Outline:
i. The end of life as we know it (Week 12)
ii. The necessity of repentance and rebirth (Week 12)
iii. The call for leaders (Week 13)
.,

iv. What leadership means (Week 14)

v. The Atenean leader (Week 14-15)

b. Outcomes:
i. The student will be able to articulate the necessity for repentance and
rebirth
ii. The student will be able to explore contemporary crises and identify
the necessity for leadership in social transformation
iii. The student will be able to articulate the basic principles of leadership
in the light of their Ateneo education

c. Readings
i. Rodriguez, Agustin Martin G. “Repentance and Rebirth at the End of
Life as We Know It,” Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia, [S.l.], v.
1, n. 2, sep. 2011. ISSN 2094-9375. Available at:
<https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/apah/article/view/129
/61>. Date accessed: 22 Dec.
ii.

GRADING

Class Standing 60 %

4 chapter exams composed of one outline and one written exam

Outline = 1/3
Written exam = 2/3

Final Oral Exam 30 %

Final Paper 10%

GRADING SYSTEM

Letter Range Meaning

Excellent. Covered all concepts and developed them

A 3.80 to 4.00 exhaustively. Showed a superior and critical understanding of
the lessons. Insightful.

Very Good. Covered main concepts and developed them

B+ 3.50 to 3.79 thoroughly. Showed a superior understanding of the lessons.
Insightful.
.,

Good. Covered main concepts and developed them thoroughly.

B 3.00 to 3.49 Showed a comprehensive understanding of the lessons.
Insightful and sufficiently developed.

Above Average. Covered basic concepts and developed them

C+ 2.50 to 2.99 adequately. Showed a basic understanding of the lessons. No
insight.

Average. Covered basic concepts but did not develop them.

C 2.00 to 2.49
Showed a basic understanding of the lessons. No insight.

Below Average. Covered few of the basic concepts but did not
D 1.00 to 1.99 develop them. Showed a problematic understanding of the
lessons. No insight.

Failure. Covered very few or none of the basic concepts. No

F 0.00 to 0.99 development. Showed little or no understanding of the lessons.
No insight.

Final Grade Raw Score

A 3.80 to 4.00

B+ 3.50 to 3.79

B 3.00 to 3.49

C+ 2.50 to 2.99

C 2.00 to 2.49

D 1.00 to 1.99

F 0.00 to 0.99

CLASSROOM POLICIES

 Attendance
.,

In accordance with university policy, you are allowed nine instances of absence for
this course. Attendance will be checked 5 minutes after the bell. A late is a cut.

 Decorum

Behave and avoid making unnecessary noise in class. Always bring your copy of the
text to be discussed. If you misbehave or make unnecessary noise in class, or if you
show up without the text to be discussed, I may send you out of class and consider
you absent. You may eat and drink in class, as long as you and what you are eating
or drinking is not bothersome. Pay attention. You are responsible for what you miss
or misunderstand.

 Academic Dishonesty

Dishonest behavior during tests and acts of plagiarism are, according to the
Undergraduate Student Handbook (http://ls.ateneo
.edu/global/UserFiles/File/Student_Handbook_2012_Edition.pdf), major offenses.
If I catch you committing an act of academic dishonesty, you will receive a failing
grade for the requirement involved, and I will file an official complaint against you
with the ADSA.