Assessment

Two 3,500 word papers and a 30 minute presentation.

Module Aims

This year-long Reading Course will examine the political vision of Pope Francis, as found in Fratelli Tutti. Students will undertake a close reading of FT, coupled with secondary reading material on the encyclical. Students will examine in particular the implications of FT for the migrant and refugee debate. The work of a number of key theologians and philosophers writing in this area will be closely studied, affording students a comprehensive understanding of the various dymanics of this debate. In particular, several works by Kristin Heyer, David Hollenbach, Alexander Betts, and Anna Rowlands will be examined in depth.

Indicative Syllabus:

• The contributions of leading experts such as Heyer, Betts, Hollenbach, and Sandel.
• A critique of the social and political vision of CST and its application to the migrant debate
• Civic virtue, the rise of populism, and the common good
• Identity and the common good
• A “politics of the common good” versus narrow nationalism
• The global reality of migration and refugees
• Climate refugees: displacement and homelessness because of climate change

Bibliography

• — Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, 2020.
• — David Hollenbach, The Common Good and Christian Ethics, (Cambridge, CUP, 2002).
• — ______________ , Humanity in Crisis, (Georgetown University Press, 2019).
• — Ethna Regan, Theology and the Boundary Discourse of Human Rights, (Washington : Georgetown University Press, 2010).
• — Michael Sandel, Justice : What’s the Right Thing To Do ? (New York : Farrer Straus and Giroux, 2009).
• — Anna Rowlands, Towards a Politics of Communion : Catholic Social Teaching in Dark Times, (London : T&T Clark, 2021).
• — Kristin Heyer, Kinship Across Boarders, A Christian Ethic of Immigration, (Washingtown : Georgetown University Press, 2012).
• — Silas Allard, Kristin Heyer, Raj Nadella (eds.), Christianity and the Law of Migration, (London : Routledge, 2022).
• — Alexander Betts, The Wealth of Refugees : How Displaced People can Build Economies, (Oxford : OUP, 2021).
• — Alexander Betts, Paul Collier, Refuge : Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World, (Oxford : OUP, 2017).