The course studies the main ethical challenges of social life in light of Christian faith and the Franciscan tradition. We will examine how to build a peaceful and just society by mastering the three great human drives: the craving for possession (economic ethics), the ambition for power (political ethics), and the desire for recognition (ethics of culture and communication). In spiritual life, these are expressed through the three evangelical counsels: poverty, obedience, and chastity.
Within these three areas, we will explore specific topics of moral and social theology, including justice, human rights, economic systems, labor, private property, just war and peace, ecology and sustainability, inculturated evangelization, leadership, and synodality, media and digital culture, technology, artificial intelligence.
By the end of the course, students will have deepened their understanding of the Church's teachings on the intrinsic sociability of human beings and how to live it out in an organized social life.
Required Texts
- Carbajo-Núñez, Martín, Sister Mother Earth. Franciscan Roots of the Laudato Si’, TAU Publishing, Phoenix (AZ) 2017, ISBN 978-1-61956-560-9.
- Carbajo-Núñez, Martín, A free and fraternal economy. The Franciscan perspective, ISBN 978-1-61956-564-7.
Recommended Texts
3. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (Available online - hereafter: CSDC) (
available online)2.Kruse, John V.,
Discovering the Franciscan Intellectual Tradition: a life-giving vision, Franciscan Institute publications, St. Bonaventure (NY) 2017.
4. Martín Carbajo-Núñez,
“Everything is connected.” Integral ecology and communication in the Digital Age, TAU, Phoenix (AZ) 2021. (ISBN 978-1-61956-640-8)
5. Kenneth R. Himes (ed.),
Modern Catholic Social Teaching. Commentaries & interpretations, Second edition, Georgetown Univ. Press, Washington DC 2018 (hereafter:
MCST) (1
st ed.:
MCSTold)
6.
Carbajo-Núñez, Martín, The universal fraternity. Franciscan roots of Fratelli tutti, TAU publishing, Phoenix (AZ) 2023. ISBN 978-1-61956-659-0 (
UnivFrat)
