Revised 7/23/03
Theology Department Theology Homepage

Course Review Questions for Test & Exam

This is guide, meant to help you become aware of what you know and what you might need to learn better. This review might be especially helpful in the assgined readings. If you can answer these, you are probably reading and understanding as you should. If you are not able to answer these, try to figure out why. Are you doing the assigned work with care and attention? Are you paying attenitin in class? Are you reviewing the content of each class as you write the objective part of your jounal? Are you thinking about the ideas of the class in your life as your write the subjective part of yor journal? If you are doing the work and not getting it, see me. I might be able to offer suggestions about to really get an assigned reading.


First Week : Reason

  1. Review and know and understand the answers on the practice test.
  2. What is the difference between between fact, opinion, and belief? What do these have to do with faith?
  3. What is theology? Who is the greatest theologican in the history of the Church and how did he describe theology? List at least four different fields of theological study.
  4. What is philosophy? What are some major, recurring philosophical questions? How does a philosopher look for truth? Why is G.K. Chesterton a good example of the philosophical method? List some of the different kinds of philosophical study.
  5. Which famous philosphical question does the reading devote a section? This is a major theme of this course, and will be for your next two years of theolgy. For all of us, this is a life-long challenge.
  6. List what the text offers as "three types of knowing." Give a concrete example of each from the reading. Be able to offer examples of this from your life. What is the "greatest obstacle to knowledge from authority?" Do you agree? Why is an open mind a terrible risk?
  7. List and explain the "five common thinking errors from the text." Give an example of each from your experience.
  8. List and explain the "five steps to critical thinking."
  9. List and explain what the text offers as the "process of knowing."
  10. What does it mean to be "intellectually humble"?
Know and understand Plato's "allegory of the cave." How does the life of Socrates illustrate this? How does the life of Eric Clapton illustrate this?

Words you should know: apologetics, Doctor of the Church, Tradition, epstemology, experiential knowledge, empirical knowledge, authority, knowledge from authority, reason, induction, deduction, non-sequiturs, false or vague premises, ad hominem, begging the question, red herrings, ignorance, culpable ignorance, conscience, encyclical, herd need., Magisterium, ecumenism.

Second Week : The Human Condition

  1. List ten aspects of the human condition.
  2. What is the classic, philosophical problem of evil?
  3. Summarize the key ideas of Rabbi Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People
  4. Summarize what these historical figures have said aboout the human condition: Pascal, Marcus Aurelius, Buddha, Fromm, Plato and Aristotle.
  5. What does the Christian doctrine of original sin offer about the human condition? Would the above thinkers agree or disagree with this view of man?
  6. List and explain three effects of original sin.
  7. According to Chrisitan theology, what are the four last things every person faces?
  8. How does the video Crisis in Faith demonstrate the human condition in the modern world?
Terms you should know: human condition, original sin, concupiscence, annihilation, particular judgment, final judgment, parousia, purgatory, despair, alienation

Third Week : What is Faith?

  1. Three ideas presented at the beginning of the week, to add to the first two weeks: Aristotle's theory of living a good life, M. Scott Peck's idea of the importance of maps in a person's life, and Thomas Jefferson's advice to his nephew and ward Peter Carr.
  2. What is the secular definition of faith?
  3. Give the four charactersitics of biblical faith from the freshman text. Show how David does or does not meet each criteria.
  4. Give the Catholic definition of faith. List its seven major characterstics. In The Mission which of the major characters demonstrate this?
  5. Describe nihilism. Describe radicalism. What is the Golden Way?
Words you should know: nihilism, radicalism, skepticism, fanaticism, fundamentalism, grace, free will, blind faith, virtue, justice, prudence, fortitude, temperance, cardinal virtues, theological virtues.

Fourth Week : Challenges to Faith

  1. Be able to summarize the eky ides of Nietzsche, Hobbes, Ignatius, Jesus, andyour ideas on the meaning of life, what it means to be human, reason, and morality..
  2. What is scientism?
  3. Give Readings' three stages in the relationship between science and faith.
  4. What are three limitations of the scientific method?
  5. List Zanzig's major negative societal values from the freshman text.
  6. Be able to explain why Fr. Kavanaugh orries that advertising is shpaign our cultural values, our images of what it means to a person, of what whapiness is all about.
  7. Summarize the message of "The Merchants of Cool" about the meaning of life, about morality, about reason, about what it means to be human.

Fifth Week : Jesus: Model of Faith, Model of Humanity.

  1. Summarize what Jesus shows us in his life and teachings about God, about the meaning of life, about reason, about morality, and about what it means to be human.
  2. How does the Readings answer the quesiton, "Are there reasons to believe?"
  3. Summarize "knowledge of God via the natural world." Which are most persuasive?
  4. Summarize "knowledge of God via the human person." which are most most persuasive?
  5. Images of faith: The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, Jesus.
  6. Give the key ideas of Monika hellwig's "Finding God in All Things."
Let me, and your classmates, know if there is anything missed on this review.


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