"Words, words, words... My kingdom for a word!"

WEEK TWO ESSAY: 

Please choose and write your response to ONE of the questions listed below, then email your essay as an attachment in .doc(x) or .pdf format to Christina (cstrafaciuiw@gmail.com) by MONDAY night, January 16th at 11:00pm.

1. Explain St. Paul's understanding of human freedom as evidenced in the following passages of Scripture:
* Romans 6: 11-23; 7: 2-12; 8:1-5
* Galatians 4:21-31
Your response should include an explanation of how these verses relate to CCC 1744-45.

2. Determine the object, the end, and the circumstances of the widow's actions in Luke 21:1-4 and Judas' actions in John 13:1-30. Then, compare and contrast your findings. 

3. The word conscience appears 30 times in the New Testament. Please explain the meaning St. Paul intends when he speaks of conscience in three or four of the following passages:
* Rom 2:15; 13:5
* 1 Cor 8:12; 10:27-29
* 2 Cor 1:12; 5:11
* 1 Tm 1:19
* Heb 10:22
Your response should include an explanation of how these verses relate to CCC 1786-1789.

GUIDELINES for ESSAYS:

Essays should be 450-500 words in length. This means four (4) to five (5) completely developed paragraphs, cohesively organized around a solid thesis statement and supporting arguments. Each essay should be double-spaced, using Times New Roman font at 12pt with standard margins (1” top-bottom, 1-1.25” right-left). No cover page is needed, but your name and the date should appear at the top of the first page... please!

+AJPM

Future Moral Theologians

In mid-December, the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family announced the results in the 2011 Father Michael J. McGivney College Essay Contest.

What God Has Joined Together Let No Man Separate: Truth and Freedom in Contemporary Moral Discourse
Michael A. Wahl
Providence College

On the Relationship of Freedom, Truth, and Faith as Found in the Theology of Pope Benedict XVI and Blessed John Paul II
Stephen C. Barany
University of Notre Dame

The essay contest, which takes place annually, asked students to respond to the following question:

Commenting in 1993 on problems in modern ethical thought, John Paul II spoke of a general tendency of "detaching human freedom from its essential and constitutive relationship to truth" (Veritatis Splendor, 4). He also made the following claim: "The attempt to set freedom in opposition to truth, and indeed to separate them radically, is the consequence, manifestation and consummation of another more serious and destructive dichotomy, that which separates faith from morality" (Ibid., 88). What does it mean to speak of an "essential and constitutive relationship" of freedom to truth? If freedom needs truth, does truth need freedom? How do both need faith? Write an essay discussing these questions.

Through the Father Michael J. McGivney College Essay Contest, which is named for the founder of the Knights of Columbus, the Pontifical John Paul II Institute seeks to encourage deeper reflection on the themes of culture, person, God, love, marriage, and family, especially as developed in the theological work of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The contest is open to college students who are in their junior or senior years in the given academic year.

+AJPM