TRL 320 ASY SU16 Syllabus

TRL 320 Christian Vocation to Justice (Summer 2016) 3.0 Credits
This course will be conducted online via the UGF Moodle system.
Professor Kristen McGuire (750-5481; kristen.mcguire@ugf.edu)
Office Hours: By appointment only. Always available by phone or email. Prefer by request at
office 201B in Sullivan Hall, at a mutually agreeable time.
I. Course Description
TRL 320 Christian Vocation to Justice. Through practical experience, theory, and selected issues,
this course explores the call to contribute as Christians toward a more just society. The practical
dimension includes examination of one’s own social stances and encourages action for justice.
The theoretical aspect includes discussion of moral norms for life in society and how they
develop. The issues represent questions of importance to church and society, such as peace and
nonviolence, economic justice, the sacredness of human life, racial and sexual equality, and human
rights.
II. Course Objectives/Student-Learning Outcomes
• Describe what is meant by the term “social justice” and its implications for society and the
human person
• Identify and define the fundamental principles of social justice
• Describe how social justice contributes to the search for world peace.
• Explain the ways in which economic systems can lead to just or unjust conditions for the
worker.
• Identify the implications of seeing the relationship between man and the environment as one of
either stewardship or dominion.
III. Prerequisites to this Course and/or Requirements this Course Fulfills
TRL 200 is required prior to taking this course, or instructor approval. This course satisfies a
portion of the requirements for a major or minor in Theology and Ministry.
IV. Required Texts
• The Compendium of Social Justice. Available at:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeac
e_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html. You can read the required sections online,
but this will be more time consuming – you can also download it and save to a Word doc.
Abbreviated as Comp. in the assignment table.
• Additional texts as provided via Moodle
• You will find a Bible useful, as well as a doctrinal document for any Church you may be
affiliated with. Roman Catholics should look at the Compendium above & the Catechism.
• For your papers, please use the following reference, the notes/bibliography style, not the
author/date style. Turabian, Kate. Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and
Dissertations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 8th
ed., 2013) Here is a short guide:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html
TRL 320 Christian Vocation to Justice
Revised On 6/17/2016
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V. Course Requirements
• Quizzes (=Qz): four, with multiple choice and short answers.
• Final Examination: A comprehensive examination, comprised of only essay-type
questions. Questions will be provided by July 3, and the final must be submitted by July 15.
• Paper(s): Two papers are required, each five - seven pages long. One will be an interview
paper DUE June 17, the other a reflection paper DUE July 2. Grading will be based
primarily on content.
o 1) The interview paper due June 17, the student will conduct an interview with
a person (or persons) involved in social justice work in their local community. A
list of social justice agencies in the Great Falls area will be provided via Moodle.
This person (these persons) can be from a public, private or religious agency. The
student will find out what the person(s) does and most importantly why. The
student will then analyze the person’s work in terms of the definitions provided in
the first weeks of class related to the “common good,” “justice,” “praxis,” and
tensions between individual goods versus societal goods. What elements of the
person’s values would you describe as Christian? What challenges does this person
face on the job related to faith and the practice of religion? Are there doctrinal
issues related to the work this person is doing? Does this person engage with those
doctrinal issues? Demonstrate the correspondence between what the interviewee is
doing and the Catholic social justice values.
o 2) The reflection paper (DUE July 9) will require the student to reflect on their
own stance towards a selected contemporary social justice issue and how it does
or does not reflect a Christian understanding of the issue. It will also include a
personal plan of action (real or hypothetical) on how the student would approach
the given issue if they were in a position to do so. For example, if the student
chooses to analyze immigration in the US, the student would present the needs of
immigrants, how Christians might frame their understanding of immigration and
immigrants’ rights based on the Bible and/or church doctrine, and summarize the
various ways that individuals and agencies are trying to help meet the needs of
immigrants. The paper should conclude with the student’s personal plan of action
that would bring justice to immigrants. Citations of Bible or official church
teaching(s) are required.
General information on the Format of Papers
o Format for Papers
Papers will be submitted electronically. Text should be black, double-spaced, with margins set
at one inch all around. Use Times New Roman font, 12 pitch (size). Quotations of three lines
or more should be in 10 pitch, indented and single-spaced. Emoticons, and “text message”
style shorthand are not to be used. Use footnotes, not end notes or parenthetical
references, based on Turabian text in required book section. All pages of the body should
have a header containing the student’s name and page number in the upper right-hand corner.
Cover page and bibliography (both required) are not included in the page count.
o Late Submission of Papers
Any paper submitted after the designated time on the due date will be considered one day late.
For each day that a paper is late, points will be deducted. No more than 15 points will be
deducted for late papers.
o Grading Criteria for the Paper
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Each paper is worth 30 points
Item Points
 Was the paper submitted on time?
 Correct length = 5 pages
 Grammar and spelling adequate.
4 points possible
 Is the paper formatted properly? 2 points
 Are a bibliography and footnotes included,
and are they accurate?
5 points
 Is the thesis statement clearly identifiable? 2 points
 Are biblical and/or doctrinal documents
cited to support the presentation of a Church
or Christian value system?
6 points
 Are definitions of social justice concepts
accurate and reflect the content of this
course?
2 points
 Does the student compare and contrast their
own view (thesis) with the interviewee or
scholars mentioned?
3 points
 BOTH Are concepts of social justice
included with definitions, and does the
student address these concepts in thesis,
arguments and conclusion
6 points
VI. Grading
Graded Assignments Worth…
Quizzes & Forum Posts (four throughout the semester at 5 points each) 20
Interview Paper (20 June by 5:00pm) 30
Reflection Paper (9 July, by 5:00pm) 30
Final Examination (midnight 15 July) 20
Total Points 100
The final grade, should the student fall into this grading track, is: 100-94% = A, 93-83% = B, 82-
70% = C, 69-60% = D, below 60% = F.
Classroom Discussions: Key aspects of any college level learning are: 1) Peer Learning and 2)
Student-Instructor interaction. In an online class, this occurs in the discussion forums. The value
of “peer learning” is that it allows you to see things not just from the instructor’s perspective.
You give voice to your own perspective and benefit from hearing how others approach the same
material. (Just reading the material is boring – sharing ideas and alternative views is what makes
the online environment an engaging experience.) We will have one discussion board that will
remain active throughout the summer session. Since there are a limited number of students
involved, the structure of the discussion board will be somewhat informal. Students are required
to read all posts and to post at least once per week.
VII. Class Attendance
A. “Students are expected to attend all classes and complete all assigned work. Attendance
includes attending on-campus classes and logging on a minimum of 3 times per week for
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on-line courses. The specific attendance and grading policy for each class is determined by
the instructor and is listed in the course syllabus. Students who miss classes due to
participation in University sanctioned events are required to make up any work or
assignments they have missed in an equitable manner determined by the instructor and
should not have their grade affected by the absence itself. In isolated cases involving
family or medical emergencies, students are encouraged to speak with their instructors.
Instructors may require documentation of family or medical emergencies.” (UGF Catalog:
“Academic Policies”)
B. Instructor’s additions to the attendance policy: Attendance will also be measured by a
review of Moodle links accessed and completed assignments.
C. Habitual unexcused absences (defined as failing to sign onto the Moodle site and/or
failure to complete assignments for fourteen consecutive days) will result in a failure of the
course; regardless of the scores received from other graded assignments.
D. Missed Work: Students are responsible for completing all work. Normally, this would
include downloading documents from the course website. All graded assignments must
be completed as noted in the syllabus. Assignments not completed (unless alternate
arrangements have been made) will be graded as “0” points
VIII. UGF Policy on Academic Misconduct
“Students should exhibit high standards of academic conduct. All acts of dishonesty in academic
work constitute academic misconduct. Such acts include:
Cheating: use or attempted use of unauthorized material or the work of another student
in any academic assignment, paper or examination.
Plagiarism: representation of another’s work as one’s own. This includes the
unauthorized and unacknowledged use of the phrases, sentences, paragraphs, ideas,
illustrations, drawings, photographs, or computer programs of another whether by using
exact or nearly exact words without quotation marks or by omitting citations or both.
The course instructor is the initial judge of whether a student is guilty of academic misconduct.
Should a student disagree with an instructor’s judgment, the student may appeal the instructor’s
decision by following the "Academic Related Appeals Process" on page xxi of the UGF Catalog.
The minimum penalty for an act of academic misconduct shall be a grade of "F" (failure) on the
paper, assignment or examination involved. More severe penalties may be enforced by individual
instructors, provided that such penalties are identified in the course syllabus. The maximum
penalty for plagiarism that may be levied is a grade of "F" (failure) for the course. Copies of
plagiarized work will be placed on file with the Coordinator of Student Faculty Relations. Severe
or repeated instances of academic misconduct will result in more severe sanctions up to and
including expulsion.” (UGF Catalog: “Academic Policies”)
IX. UGF Provision for Special Needs
Accommodation for documented disabilities: If you have a documented disability and would like
the professor to make accommodations, visit with Kay Seilstad, Disability Counselor, in the
Center for Academic Excellence or call Kay at 406-791-5212.
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X. Assignment Schedule
Week Dates Lecture Topics Reading Assignment(s)
To be read before class
Assignments
1 23 May Intro. to class and
materials
Please try to read these
articles and watch these
videos before class begins.
If possible.
What does Social Justice
look like?
Article on Mitch Snyder
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/news/
RememberingMitchSnyder.html
Video on Mitch Snyder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=FzZJe8oTSu4
Article on Carol Fennelly in NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/13/gar
den/at-home-with-carol-fennelly-
sheltering-storm.html
Reaction
Forum 1 on
Moodle
2 23-27
May.
OT/Biblical Perspectives
NT/Biblical Perspectives
on Justice
Who is a Prophet?
The Prophets (Heschel), Chapters 1 &11
The Prophetic Imagination ch 5
(Brueggeman) online reading
Something Beautiful for God, optional
3 30 May
– 3 June
In Depth – The Dignity of
the Human Person
Definitions: What is the
Common Good? What is
Solidarity? Truth? Justice?
Freedom?
What is the “Preferential
Option for the Poor?”
Comp. §34-48
Comp. §124-151
Comp. §164-191
Comp. §197 - 208
In the Company of the Poor, Ch 4 & 5
(Gutierrez & Farmer)
1st
Paper
Interview
Subject Due
4 6-10
June
In Depth - The Family as
the Basis for Society
What is Subsidiarity?
Christian within the
Society
Comp. §209 - 245
Comp. §185 - 191
Catholic Social Teachings Summary
Quiz on 7
Catholic
Social
Teachings
5 13-17
June
Church and State
Christians and Citizenship
Immoral Man and Moral Society
(Niebuhr) online reading Ch 1,2 & 3
Centesimus Annus
1st
Paper Due
Reaction
Forum 2 on
Democracy
5

Week Dates Lecture Topics Reading Assignment(s)
To be read before class
Assignments
6 21-24
June.
Workers and Working
Conditions
Catholic Worker
Movement
Comp. §255 - 300
Rerum Novarum
Dorothy Day, By Little and By Little
2nd
Paper
Topic Due
7 27 June.
– 2 Jul.
Globalization and World
Economy
Foreign Debt and Foreign
Aid/Subsidizing War
Comp. §428-450
Populorum Progressio (Paul VI)
Pope Francis Reading on UN
Reaction
Forum 3 on
Global
Poverty
8 4-9 July World Peace in a Nuclear
Age/Christian Pacifism
Sustainable Living
Caring for God’s Creation
Comp. §488 - 520
Comp. §451-487
Laudato Si. Excerpts (optional)
Reflection
Paper Due
9 10 – 15
July
Review for Final Open Book Essay Test Final Due
July 15 by
Midnight.
Final Exam Must be Submitted by 12 am (midnight) on July 15, 2016
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XI. The Grid
University Goals
and Objectives
Major/Minor/Concentration
Competency Objectives
(Class) Behavioral
Objectives
Assessment
Measures
What does it mean
to participate in
intellectual inquiry?
Construct a critical, grounded
understanding and
appreciation of the roots and
function of religion in life.
Ask questions,
challenge
assumptions and
share your insights
with the class.
Graded
assignments; Use of
the online
discussion forums.
What does it mean
to be human?
Identify and explain central
Christian and Catholic social
doctrines and ethical
principles.
Explain/describe the
basics of social
justice.
Graded
assignments; Use of
the online
discussion forums.
What does it mean
to “make a living”
and to live as a
productive human
being?
Demonstrate consistently the
value of community and the
interrelatedness of all creation.
Explain/describe
how living a morally
“just” life
contributes to the
common good
Graded
assignments; Use of
the online
discussion forums.
What does it mean
to participate in the
spiritual and
religious dimensions
of life?
Make sound moral decisions
that contribute to a world of
respect, service, and justice.
Explain/describe the
basics of social
justice
Graded
assignments; Use of
the online
discussion forums.
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XII. Additional Reading and Selected Bibliography
Heschel, Abraham. The Prophets. (New York: Harper & Row, 1962)
Farmer, Paul and Gutierrez, Gustavo. In the Company of the Poor (NY: Maryknoll, 2008)
Niebuhr, Reinhold. Immoral Man and Moral Society. (NY: Doubleday, 1932)
Ellsworth, Russ. By Little and By Little: The Selected Writings of Dorothy Day.
Muggeridge, Malcolm. Something Beautiful for God. (New York: Harper & Row, 1972)
Pope Francis. Laudato Si, 2015.
Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio, 1967.
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TRL 320 ASY SU16 Syllabus

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