Christianity and Culture Course

Out of concern for the safety of our students and staff, Christianity and Culture Course 2020 has been cancelled.  We shall resume the course for the summer of 2021.

  The ‘Christianity and Culture in Rome’ course aims to form University professors, administrators, and staff in their knowledge and appreciation of the fundamental role that Christianity has played in the formation of Western civilization, and to thus better equip them for the challenges of the new evangelization of contemporary culture. It attains these ends through three principal means:

1. The systematic study – historical, philosophical, and theological – of the key elements that make up the Catholic ‘Vision of the World’ (Weltanschauung), especially its vision of the human person, of God, and of the natural world, and an analysis of the contemporary society from this perspective.
2. Guided visits in Rome where the theory of the Catholic Vision of the World is enriched by witnessing the historical development of a Christian culture.
3. Religious activities like daily mass, opportunities for confession, a pilgrimage to Assisi, and an audience with the Pope, in order to encourage a personal and transforming encounter with Christ.

  Cost Euro 1300.00 which includes lectures, all visits and museum entrances, lunch and transport in Rome. Flights and hotel not included.   Director Fr. Sameer Advani, LC    Dates Approximately July 21 – 31 each year.   Program

Day	Conference		Visit
Day 1	Introduction to the course, methodology, and goals		Welcome cocktail
Day 2	The human person, culture, and Christianity	1. What is culture? The relation between the person and culture   2. Christianity as culture   3. The historical development of Christianity and its construction of a Christian culture	The Rome of the Romans: the culture in which Christianity is born	Coliseum, Roman Forums, Palatine Hill
Day 3	The Christian vision of man	1. Who is man?   2. The drama of human existence	The early Church: persecution and mission	Catacombs of St Sebastian, Basilica of St Paul.
Day 4	The perfection of man through the life of virtue	1. Virtues and vices as the ‘interior culture’ of the human person and his perfection   2. Principles to judge the human act.	The foundation of a new Christian civilization: the monasteries	Subiaco
Day 5	Christianity and science	1. The Christian vision of the natural world.   2. The Christian development of science.   3. Challenges of current scientific visions of the world.	The triumph of the Church and the Christian world.	St Peter’s Basilica   The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel
Day 6	Christian society	1. Christian vision of human society   2. Does a Christian economic or political system exist? Principles for social action		St Mary Major, St John Lateran, Church of the Holy Cross
Day 7	Pilgrimage to Assisi		The Church in crisis and the providence of God who guides history through human instruments	Basilica of St Francis, Basilica of St Clare, House of St Francis, Church of St Damian, Basilica of Mary of the Angels
Day 8	Free day
Day 9	Christianity in the modern world	1. Understanding  the historical and cultural changes of the last 4 centuries   2. Engagement with the modern world: philosophical and theological principles of dialogue	Cineforum: Silence
Day 10	Deus Caritas Est: eros and agape	1. The Christian vision of God and of salvation	The construction of a new Christian society: the saints and creative minorities	Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Gesu…
Day 11	The role of the Catholic University in the construction of a new Christian culture   Concluding banquet		The prophetic and eschatological church		Orvieto