Minor in Bioethics
Overview
The program is inspired by Ex Corde Ecclesiae’s special call for Catholic universities to “respond to the problems and needs of the age” (no. 31). The Catholic tradition has long considered questions of bioethics, and has a wealth of deep, coherent, and nuanced Magisterial teaching as well as other philosophical and theological reflection to offer. Students in the minor will receive a solid foundation in the Church’s bioethical teachings, principles, and reasoning, and how to apply and defend those teachings in the sometimes complicated and confusing encounters of human life. Through real-life case studies that involve consideration of not just theological principles, but medical information, legal realities, and other data as well, students will see the mutual enrichment of the disciplines urged by Ex Corde Ecclesiae at a practical level. Such theoretical and practical training will take place in conversation with secular bioethics. Encouraged by the vision that Ex Corde Ecclesiae sets forth for the Catholic university’s engagement with culture, students will be immersed in controversial questions of bioethics, consider convergence and divergence between Catholic and secular perspectives, and learn to engage in fruitful and charitable dialogue with others.
Given the growing recognition of the need for bioethics expertise, and the centrality of bioethics in upholding the dignity of human persons, the minor will be of great value to students who plan to pursue graduate studies and/or careers in bioethics, philosophy, theology, health care, scientific research, education, ministry work, or journalism, but also any students who have an interest in bioethics or the Catholic moral tradition, and students who may participate in health care decisions (theirs or others’) at any point in their lives. Careers in bioethics include academia, public policy work, and hospital- or hospital system-based clinical ethics work. The minor is open to students in any major, Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Curriculum Requirements
The preponderance of the credit hours required by the minor must be taken at Belmont Abbey College. Nine credit hours may not count toward a major or minor in another department. Only classes completed with a grade of “C” or better will fulfill the minor requirements.
It is the student’s responsibility to see that all degree requirements for graduation are fulfilled.
Total Credits Required: 15
Minor Program Requirements
| TH332 | Bioethics in the Catholic Tradition | 3 |
| TH335 | Clinical & Research Ethics | 3 |
TH442
| | 3 |
Elective Courses-Choose TWO from 6 Credit Hours
| BI300 | Genetics | 4 |
| BU423 | Law, Ethics, and Risk in Health Care | 3 |
| HC200 | Healthcare Terminology | 3 |
HC302W
| | |
HC403
| | |
HA412
| Legal Aspects of Healthcare | 3 |
HA450
| | |
HA451
| | |
NU307
| | |
| PC225 | Integration of Psychology | 3 |
| PC305 | Biological Psychology | 3 |
| PC350 | Advanced General Psychology | 3 |
| PC370 | Human Sexuality | 3 |
| PC380 | Psychology of Trauma | 3 |
| PC402 | Interviewing Case Mgmt and Crisis Interv | 3 |
| PH301 | Ethics | 3 |
| PH305 | Phil of Science and Nature | 3 |
| PH330 | Philo of Mind and Human Nature | 3 |
| TH330 | Introduction to Moral Theology | 3 |
| TH340 | Catholic Social Teaching: God and the Good Society | 3 |
| TH345 | Theology of Sexuality and Marriage | 3 |
| TH370 | Theology and Science | 3 |