Special Events and Conferences
Carroll's Theology faculty have organized numerous major conferences to stimulate reflection on issues related to religion and society. Speakers at these special conferences have included Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina and Betty Williams of Northern Ireland. Theology faculty also assisted in organizing a visit from Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Conferences have featured topics such as "Raising Lazarus: On the Frontiers of Life-Extending Technology," "Business, Labor, and Religion: Cooperation and Conflict," "Prophecy and Politics," and many others.
The theology department at Carroll is a member of Theta Alpha Kappa (TAK), the National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theological Studies. The purpose of the society is to encourage, recognize, and support excellence in these areas of study, as well as to prepare students for the rigors of graduate work.
Theology Club
The Theology Club at Carroll is a popular student-run club that provides students an opportunity to explore religious questions and contemporary religious issues in an open, non-threatening atmosphere that respects and encourages different points of view. All students at Carroll are welcome to participate in the club, which sponsors casual dinners, movie nights, guest speakers, community projects, student presentations and conferences.
Outcomes
- Margaret Scanlon ('04) will be attending Weston Jesuit School of Theology in the Fall of 2005.
- Katherine Greiner ('05) will be attending Weston Jesuit School of Theology in the Fall of 2005.
- Anjalie Graham ('05) will be volunteering for a year at an orphanage in Tanzania, East Africa, beginning in June 2005.
"After graduating from Carroll, I entered graduate school well-equipped and well-prepared to continue to develop as a theologian, with a crucial sense of reverence towards and responsibility for the discipline."
- Kat Greiner, '05
"Carroll College’s theology department is a wonderful department, full of vitality, diversity, academic rigor, and incredible wisdom. The professors are well educated spiritual people who, as gifted theologians and teachers, taught me how to think critically while nurturing an authentic love for our faith tradition. In the theology classes at Carroll, it's not about having the right answers, it's about developing honest and critical questions. The theology program's curriculum provided wonderful historical, biblical, and philosophical background along with a good introduction into more modern theological discourse. Yet, the theology department did not only provide information and content, they taught me how to be a theologian. Through the professors' wisdom and experience, intense respect for their students, and authentic commitment to their vocations as theologians and teachers, I was encouraged to see myself as a theologian rather than merely a student of theology."
- Katherine Greiner, '05
"Choosing to study theology at Carroll was in large part due to the people that I encountered within the department. Knowing my professors personally and surrounding myself with other impassioned students made studying theology especially exciting. In my theology classes I was exposed to a variety of texts from early Patristic writings to contemporary publications and was encouraged to consider these texts critically and thoughtfully. On many occasions I had the opportunity to reflect on various social issues from the perspective of faith and Catholic teaching."
- Stephanie Pung, '06
"Carroll's theology program challenged and enabled me to develop the skills and character that have allowed me to be successful in graduate studies in theology. At Carroll I was encouraged to involve and invest myself in my Catholic faith through academic study, participation in the life of the Church, and by asking critical questions of our tradition. As a student I felt that my own academic and personal journey was made a priority by the faculty both in and outside the classroom, and I am indebted to them not only for their excellent teaching but for their continued example, guidance, encouragement and friendship. "
- Cole Mannix, '07