Undergraduate Courses
CDU offers the option of earning undergraduate college credits. This may be useful in fulfilling requirements for a degree or updating a certificate. CDU also offers a Bachelor's Degree Completion program.
For more information on this please go to  Bachelor of Arts in Theology Degree Completion.
Please select from the following links form more information:
Features of Available Course Formats
Online Fourteen-week Semester-Based Courses –
- Web-based course material with the exception of required textbooks
- Instructor / Student online interaction
- Supportive online learning community
- Asynchronous education that allows study time flexibility
- Fixed semester calendar with twelve weeks of lessons; two weeks to complete Final Exam
- Access to online Student Center
Online Three-week Seminar Courses –
- Same web-based format as the above semester-based online courses
- Three to Four weeks of lessons with additional time for term paper
- Access to online Student Center
Paper-based Courses –
- Printed-on-paper course materials
- Instructor / student interaction through correspondence
- Independent self-study
- May be started at any time, to be completed within six (6) months
- Access to online Student Center
Undergraduate Course List
CLICK on the course title to view a description and further details about each course.
Online Semester-Based Courses
Online Individual Based Courses
The Online Individual is an individual study with instructor only. CDU recommends students take the online group format (116-0800) during a regular trimester. The Online Individual format has been designed for students who may be enrolling after the beginning of a trimester. The Undergraduate Registrar can help with course selection.
Online Seminar Courses
Click here for a Complete Listing of 2008 Undergraduate Online Seminar Courses.
Paper-Based Courses
Curriculum Introduction
"I am the way, the truth and the life"
While every CDU course offers a thorough instruction in a specific area of study, one course alone, while helpful, cannot possibly convey the full life of the Church. Many students complete their first CDU course in an initial area of interest. Often, they find they want to know more, much more. With each completed course, students begin to grow in their knowledge and love of Christ and the Church. The full CDU curriculum helps students systematically explore the beauty, wisdom, and mystery of the Church's life in Jesus Christ.
Based on the words of Jesus, who is "the way, the truth and the life," Christian life consists of three major elements: doctrine- the truth about God and us; Christian ethics- the way we respond to God's truth; and spirituality- God's divine life shared with us. Accordingly, the CDU curriculum, following a recurring theme of the Second Vatican Council, flows around these three themes - doctrine, Christian ethics, and spirituality. In this way students can select a particular course and see the relationship to the other inseparable aspects of the Christian life.
After the completion of Vatican II, the Bishop of Krakow, Poland, sought ways to implement the teachings of the Council in a way that would help Catholics in his diocese become more aware of Christ's desire to share intimately His life and mission with believers today. He focused on a common theme which runs through his many encyclical teachings as Pope, and most recently in his encyclical, The Splendor of Truth. In his book on Vatican II, Sources of Renewal, Pope John Paul II says, "Christ and the Christian encounter each other intimately in the priestly, prophetic and kingly mission, and it is this participation which forms the essential characteristics of the Christian."
In the most recent gift of the Church to us, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, (CCC), we are graced with a yet more penetrating light of the Spirit which responds today to the needs of the Church in the Third Millennium. In the words of Pope John Paul II, the new Catechism helps us to rediscover "the admirable unity of the mystery of God" and experience, with modern relevance, true joy in the beauty of the Faith and its vitality.
The goal of every Christian is to come to a deeper knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. Making His mission our mission means participating in His three-fold office.
The prophetic office involves knowing and passing on the truth about God and His love, about ourselves and our need for love. These truths, unveiled in Revelation and formulated in Sacred Scripture, Tradition, the Creeds, and now summarized in the new CCC, make up the doctrine of the Church. The CDU courses in doctrine, annotated to the CCC, help believers better understand how "to love others as God has loved us" (John 15:12).
The kingly, or royal office, flows from responding to God's grace and living His truth in our daily lives. It means following Jesus' way—the way of the Commandments, the way of the Beatitudes, the way of the Gospel. CDU courses in Christian ethics, enriched by the CCC, help believers better understand how "to love others as God has loved us" (John 15:12).
The priestly office, based on knowing God's truth and practicing it, inspires us to offer our lives and our world back to God through prayerful worship. This ordinary priesthood, the gift of all those who have been baptized, prompts believers to say, like St. Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). It includes participation in the sacramental life of the Church where doctrine, Christian ethics and spirituality are inseparably united. CDU courses in spirituality, enhanced by numerous references to the CCC, explore the ways we are called by grace to a more intimate union with God through Jesus Christ.
This three-fold mission of Christ, the prophet, king, and priest, forms the structure of the CDU curriculum. While this three-fold organization reflects a vision emphasized by Vatican II and championed by Pope John Paul II, those with academic experience of Catholic higher education will recognize that CDU courses maintain the traditional categories of theological reflection. All CDU courses reflect the highest academic standards.
|
