Third-Year Academic Program

Third Year students take pivotal courses that raise important questions about values, ethics, faith and belief: Moral Inquiry, Catholic Intellectual Traditions & Writing in the Disciplines.

Moral Inquiry

Moral Inquiry courses provide students with the ability to understand the varying or conflicting solutions that, in a global world, have been proposed to answer fundamental moral and ethical questions. Third Year students are introduced to different philosophical, political, cultural and religious beliefs in order to explore such questions. In this way, Stonehill students are equipped to assess for themselves claims about moral and ethical issues.

Recent Moral Inquiry Courses Include:

  • The Debate over Slavery in Antebellum America (History)
  • Introduction to Moral Reasoning (Philosophy)
  • Dirty Hands: Moral Dilemmas (Political Science)
  • Islam and the Bible: Jewish and Muslim Morality and Ethics (Religious Studies)
  • Gods, Kings and Justice in the Ancient World (Religious Studies)

Catholic Intellectual Traditions

Catholic Intellectual Traditions courses explore, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, enduring questions that shaped Catholicism from ancient times to the present: What is the meaning of human nature? What is the best human life to live? What is the nature of the universe?

Catholic Intellectual Traditions courses invite students to address these questions so that each student will have a sustained, critical engagement with Catholic thought and practice.

Recent Catholic Intellectual Traditions Courses Include:

  • Topics in Catholicism and Literature (English)
  • Migrants, Immigrants, Refugees: Justice Issues and Catholic Responses (Religious Studies)
  • Women, Slaves & Sin: Paul and the Creation of Christianity (Religious Studies)
  • Liberation Theology: Latin American Perspectives (Religious Studies)
  • Christian Theology as Ideology (Religious Studies)
  • Globalization: Catholic Perspectives and Responses (Religious Studies)
  • American Catholic Social History (History)

Writing-in-the-Disciplines

Another feature of the third year at Stonehill is the Writing-in-the-Disciplines requirement. Writing-in-the-Disciplines courses introduce students to the stylistic and scholarly conventions of particular disciplines and fields. Students fulfill this requirement through advanced writing-intensive courses offered in their majors.

These courses build on students’ experiences in First-Year Seminars and provide valuable opportunities to practice the craft of writing in the context of their chosen disciplines or fields of study.

Recent Writing-in-the-Disciplines Courses Include:

  • Historical Theology and Writing (History)
  • Cell Biology (Biology)
  • Reading, Writing, and Presenting in Neuroscience (Neuroscience)
  • History of Art (Visual & Performing Arts)

For You