The Fall 2024 course in the Institute’s ongoing Continuing Education Series will be “Ressourcement and the Vision of the Fathers.”  It will be held on Wednesday evenings from September 11 to December 4, 2024.

In the 20th century theologians in both the East and West turned their attention to the writings of the earliest Church Fathers. This “return to the sources” sought to reinvigorate the highly specialized and technical theology of the day with the vigor and spirit of the Church’s earliest masters. Rather than discovering merely the primitive origins of what would be perfected in later theology, these scholars discovered in the Fathers a rich, integrated theological vision in which the meaning of Christ transfigured the whole of creation and the innermost depths of man’s life. Such engagement was indispensable for the developments of key themes in 20th-century theology in the areas of anthropology, ecclesiology, and sacramentality. This course will introduce some significant patristic authors including Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, and John of Damascus, as well as their 20th-century reception by theologians such as Hans Urs von Balthasar, Jean Daniélou, and Georges Florovsky.

The course will be taught in person and offered online simultaneously. The in-person class meetings will be in McGivney Hall Room 006 on The Catholic University of America’s campus.

The class fee is $150. To register, please complete the online registration form. Payment can be submitted via check, cash, or credit card. To submit a credit card payment, please click here.

This course can be taken toward renewal requirements for VCEA licensure. Numerous high schools in the Archdiocese of Washington accept the course for CEU credits.

If you have questions, please contact [email protected] or call 202.526.3799.