Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius · Courses
PH
4 courses with the subject PH, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
PH 101SOURCES FROM ANTIQUITY I
This course introduces the philosophies that shaped Western and Byzantine civilization and how their thought was taken up by the Church Fathers to be developed in dialogue with Judaeo-Christian doctrine. This course will examine contemporary Greco-Roman approaches to philosophy that influenced a variety of patristic authors and their theologies. The student of this course will encounter the following: • Primary philosophical schools during the New Testament period. • Doctrines of Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, and Roman philosophers, who exercised an influence on the New Testament and early Christianity. • Primary texts from the Platonic and Aristotelian tradition that were influential on patristic and Byzantine writers. • Neo-Platonic texts used in patristic and Byzantine authors. • Selections from Greek and Byzantine Fathers under the influence of the aforementioned philosophies. • The question of Byzantine philosophy and the interplay between philosophy and theology in historic Byzantium. • The intra-Christian debates about the utility or truth of philosophy. 2 hours; 1 semester 75 B.C.S. Academic Catalog – FINAL February 12, 2025
This course examines late antiquity as foundational for the philosophical syntheses of outstanding Byzantine theologians of the first and second millennium. The students of this course will encounter the following themes: • Byzantine scholiasts and their contribution to Byzantine theology. • The philosophical synthesis of Anastasius the Sinaite and John Damascene. • The philosophical propensities of Photius of Constantinople. • The resurgence of Hellenic and Hellenistic philosophy in second millennial Byzantium. • The philosophical struggles beginning with Barlaam the Calabrian and Gregory Palamas and their culmination in 1368. • The translation of Latin philosophers, Fathers, and Scholastics into Greek in Byzantium. • Latin and Byzantine philosophical interaction until the fall of Constantinople. 2 hours; 1 semester
This course primarily serves as a capstone for the philosophical formation received during the aspirancy stage of formation. Drawing from the various disciplines covered in previous philosophy courses, the seminar will seek—through readings and lectures—to enable students to articulate the conceptual and historical relationships that exist between philosophical thought and theology. Throughout the course, particular focus will be given to the question of Eastern Catholic identity and the role of philosophical wisdom in the service of the Byzantine Catholic Churches. By the end of this course, students shall be able to: • Identify and explain the applications of philosophical concepts in theology— both in general and historically—in relation to Christianity in general and Byzantine
Studies of particular themes, periods or texts in Philosophy may be offered as an elective of 1-3 credits depending on enrollment, students’ needs and interests, faculty availability and approval of the Dean. 76 B.C.S. Academic Catalog – FINAL February 12, 2025
