Girls Division Theology Department

The Theology Department of Regis Jesuit High School seeks to assist each young woman in the development of her spiritual life. The department strives to cultivate a climate in which personal faith can grow from the knowledge presented in the Catholic Christian Tradition. The Theology curriculum is designed to heighten the student's awareness of the primacy of her relationship with God, which becomes the catalyst for her response in Christian service. The courses offered by the department educate the student to integrate Catholic Tradition, Jesuit Spirituality, and religious values that are authentic in doctrine and contemporary in presentation. The promotion of Gospel values, examination of scripture and current moral issues, fostering global awareness with a commitment to social justice are key components of the Theology curriculum. Four credits are required for graduation: Theology I through Senior Level Theology.

Regis Jesuit teaches under a curriculum developed in response to the mandate by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, which among other things, required all students attending Catholic High Schools in the United States to take four full years of Theology. It should be noted that teachers will supplement readings from a variety of other sources such as the Catechism of The Catholic Church and Encyclicals.

Freshman Theology consists of an introduction to Catholicism including Sacraments, the place of Scripture and Tradition and an introduction to Morality. Included in the freshman year is an introduction to Jesuit history, life and spirituality. A couple of fun and distinguishing units studied this year are the four women martyrs who ministered and died in El Salvador in the 1980’s and the study of famous Jesuits.
Sophomore Theology is dedicated to the study and analysis of the stories of the Old and New Testaments. With the Old Testament, we will ask the questions which deal with life, its origin, its meaning, and its ultimate destination in God, and we will find answers using a combination of Hebrew and Christian perspectives. We will examine how God established an order in creation, how sin disrupts this order, and how God set in motion a plan for salvation which will culminate in the person of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament tells the story of how God uses his chosen people Israel, specifically Jesus, to bring about this worldwide redemption. With the New Testament, we continue to ask the questions which deal with life and its meaning and its destination with God. We will find answers through God’s complete self-revelation in Jesus Christ. We will examine how Jesus ushers in the reign of God, thus fulfilling the saving action of God begun in the Old Testament. In studying and analyzing the writings of the New Testament we will look at the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the establishment the Church, and the continuing work of God in the world. Thus will we encounter the living Christ in ourselves and in the community surrounding us.
Junior Theology can be called Sacramentality as it explores what it means to be a human being (Anthropology) created in the image and likeness of God as free creatures capable of growing in knowledge and love. Whereas in freshman year, students explore Sacraments and morality, as juniors they expand their study to more than the seven formal sacraments. Students look at what it means to encounter themselves and others as they explore God in the world and in their lives. What makes it possible for human beings to be part of God, and for God to be part of human life? Students study psychology and philosophy including Aristotle, Immanuel Kant and Utilitarianism among other contemporary philosophical responses to how to live. Questions of what it means to look at the world from a sacred as distinguished from a secular point of view are raised. What does it mean to encounter God through human life and relationships? The class also explores the implications these perspectives have for the way people live their lives (Ethics).
Senior year, students are required to choose two from the five electives offered: