Course Number: DTH 731
Course Title: One and Triune God
Professor
Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson
Email: ctoolin@holyapostles.edu
1. COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is a doctrinal study of the nature and attributes of God as known by revelation and reason. The God we know and love is One and Three. Topics in this course address both aspects of God, the unity of God and the three-ness of God. The work St. Thomas Aquinas is used to expose students to these truths to be believed and to form a foundation for further growth and study.
2. ENVISIONED LEARNING OUTCOMES
The goal of this course is to provide students with detailed information about the Oneness of God and the Trinity of Persons and to ensure students can articulate this information. Topics that should be mastered include, but are not limited to:
- Students will demonstrate the ability to discuss the existence of God and the possibility of seeing Him
- Students will demonstrate the ability to use theological language and the names of God that express the unity of His essence and the trinity of His Persons
- Students will demonstrate the ability to explain major aspects of One and Triune theology (e.g., God's attributes; begetting, relation and origin of Persons; notions; Persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; major heresies; and missions)
3. COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 2 and 3. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 2
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 4 through 6. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 3
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 7 through 10. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 4
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 11 through 13. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 5
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 14 and 15. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 6
Assignment:
Read Summa I, Questions 16 through 18. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 7
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 19 through 21. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 8
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 22, 25 and 26. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 9
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 27 and 28. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 10
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 29 through 32. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 11
Assignment:
Read Summa I, Questions 33 through 35. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 12
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 36 through 38. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 13
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 39 through 41. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time.
Week 14
Assignment:
Read and summarize Summa I, Questions 42 and 43. Post your summary by Thursday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read and comment on the summaries of only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Read, but do not post on, A Short Guide to Ancient Heresies.
Week 15
Final Exam. There is no reading or posting assignment this week as your final exam must be taken this week.
4. COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Discussion Postings.
In weeks when a discussion post is required, you must post your summary by Thursday, midnight, Eastern Time. You also must respond to the summaries of at only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time. Weekly discussions will close promptly at 12:01 a.m., Sunday, Eastern Time of the week they are due, no exceptions.
Exceptions to post after the midnight due dates will only be granted for serious cases, i.e. serious health/family issues… not for vacations. You must contact your professor for consideration of any exceptions. Note that 50% of your discussion posting grade is based on your responses to only two other students by Saturday, 11:59 pm, Eastern Time. Thus, if permission is given to post beyond the weekly due date, you cannot receive full credit for the posting of that week.
Discussion topics are listed within each week’s lesson container in the Lessons tab.
Your comments can be to raise a question or to discuss a point that another student has posted. Please do not add your summary response as an attachment.
2. Complete all reading assignments.
Reading assignments are listed in the Lessons Tab under the appropriate week.
3. Final exam.
A list of review questions is in the Info Section for you to test your own knowledge base. As you complete each reading assignment, you should learn the content and how to work with it.
The exam is a closed book, essay exam to be taken on Populi. You will receive four questions to answer. Each exam is generated as the student takes it; that is, no two students will have the same exam. Try to write for at least 30 minutes on each question. You do not need to arrange to have a proctor.
5. EVALUATION
- Summaries 25%
- Responses 25%
- Final Exam 50%
6. DISABILITIES ACCOMMODATIONS POLICY
Holy Apostles College & Seminary is committed to the goal of achieving equal educational opportunities and full participation in higher education for persons with disabilities who qualify for admission to the College. Students enrolled in online courses who have documented disabilities requiring special accommodations should contact Bob Mish, the Director of Online Student Affairs, at rmish@holyapostles.edu or 860-632-3015. In all cases, reasonable accommodations will be made to ensure that all students with disabilities have access to course materials in a mode in which they can receive them. Students who have technological limitations (e.g., slow Internet connection speeds in convents) are asked to notify their instructors the first week of class for alternative means of delivery.
7. ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY
Students at Holy Apostles College & Seminary are expected to practice academic honesty.
Avoiding Plagiarism
In its broadest sense, plagiarism is using someone else's work or ideas, presented or claimed as your own. At this stage in your academic career, you should be fully conscious of what it means to plagiarize. This is an inherently unethical activity because it entails the uncredited use of someone else's expression of ideas for another's personal advancement; that is, it entails the use of a person merely as a means to another person’s ends.
Students, where applicable:
- Should identify the title, author, page number/webpage address, and publication date of works when directly quoting small portions of texts, articles, interviews, or websites.
- Students should not copy more than two paragraphs from any source as a major component of papers or projects.
- Should appropriately identify the source of information when paraphrasing (restating) ideas from texts, interviews, articles, or websites.
- Should follow the Holy Apostles College & Seminary Stylesheet (available on the Online Writing Lab’s website at http://www.holyapostles.edu/owl/resources).
Consequences of Academic Dishonesty:
Because of the nature of this class, academic dishonesty is taken very seriously. Students participating in academic dishonesty may receive a zero for the assignment and may be removed from the course and from the program.
8. ATTENDANCE POLICY
Even though you are not required to be logged in at any precise time or day, you are expected to login several times during each week. Because this class is being taught entirely in a technology-mediated forum, it is important to actively participate each week in the course. In a traditional classroom setting for a 3-credit course, students would be required to be in class 3 hours a week and prepare for class discussions 4.5 hours a week. Expect to devote at least 7 quality hours a week to this course. A failure on the student’s part to actively participate in the life of the course may result in a reduction of the final grade.
9. INCOMPLETE POLICY
An Incomplete is a temporary grade assigned at the discretion of the faculty member. It is typically allowed in situations in which the student has satisfactorily completed major components of the course and has the ability to finish the remaining work without re-enrolling, but has encountered extenuating circumstances, such as illness, that prevent his or her doing so prior to the last day of class.
To request an incomplete, distance-learning students must first download a copy of the Incomplete Request Form. This document is located within the Shared folder of the Files tab in Populi. Secondly, students must fill in any necessary information directly within the PDF document. Lastly, students must send their form to their professor via email for approval. “Approval” should be understood as the professor responding to the student’s email in favor of granting the “Incomplete” status of the student.
Students receiving an Incomplete must submit the missing course work by the end of the sixth week following the semester in which they were enrolled. An incomplete grade (I) automatically turns into the grade of “F” if the course work is not completed.
Students who have completed little or no work are ineligible for an incomplete. Students who feel they are in danger of failing the course due to an inability to complete course assignments should withdraw from the course.
A “W” (Withdrawal) will appear on the student’s permanent record for any course dropped after the end of the first week of a semester to the end of the third week. A “WF” (Withdrawal/Fail) will appear on the student’s permanent record for any course dropped after the end of the third week of a semester and on or before the Friday before the last week of the semester.
10. ABOUT YOUR PROFESSOR
Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson, Ph.D., S.T.L is a Professor of Dogmatic and Moral Theology. She holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and a licentiate from Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. She serves as the Registrar and Institutional Statistician, teaches graduate courses on campus and through distance learning, and is the author of numerous theology articles. A wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she divides her time between Connecticut and Vermont.